Manhunt – The Secret Line

With George Sanders (Anthony Marble) owning newspaper The Weekly and beginning to paint Stanton (Tobias Menzies) in a negative light to northern readers, Stanton, Conover/Wallace (Josh Hunter), and Baker (Patton Oswalt) try to strategize. Sanders is convinced that Stanton ordered the hit on Confederate President Jefferson Davis and is willing to smear Stanton’s name at any cost. While Stanton remains silent on that matter, he encourages Conover to write a story that shows fraud was committed instead. Knowing that Sanders is only going to protect John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) and destroy Lincoln’s (Hamish Linklater) progress, Stanton later seeks a warrant from a federal judge to stop Sanders.

Mary Simms (Lovie Simone) continues to work for Dr. Mudd (Matt Walsh), but that time is coming to an end. As Mary is cleaning the house and having orders barked at her, she finally snaps and quits. With her new plot of land granted by the government, Mary is ready to leave Mudd once and for all…despite Mudd’s racially-fueled protests. Not willing to stick around another day, Mary leaves and sprints out the front door into the night. In the upcoming days, she decides to put together a school on her property to educate the local black children.

In a flashback to five months prior to Lincoln’s assassination, George Sanders has gathered a group of men to help destroy Lincoln’s grand plans for the nation. To convince New Yorkers to secede from the Union, he enlists the help of one of the men at that meeting to start a fire at a hotel in the city. In a more sinister turn, Sanders also wants the northerners to watch their city burn the same way that cities in the South have burned. Fortunately, Baker manages to arrest the arsonist before he can create more destruction and has him taken in for questioning.

In the present, Baker is ready to shake things up and gathers his men to raid and arrest the robber barons that are inside The Gold Room on Wall Street. For the South to gain power, they are working to drive down the price of the US Greenback and increase the price of gold in the process. However, Baker’s men barge in and begin arresting the men…one of them being Stanton’s former father-in-law Jonathan Lamson (Bill Kelly).

In the West Village, Lincoln’s funeral procession has made a stop. However, Eddie Stanton (Brandon Flynn) is concerned when none of the security has arrived. Eddie gives orders to pull together some form of security and heads inside to attend to Mary Todd Lincoln (Lili Taylor) and the man who currently has her ear….Booth’s brother Edwin (Nick Westrate). When Stanton arrives he is met with disapproving looks. However, Stanton is more concerned when he notices that Edwin is in conversation with Mary. Eddie informs Stanton that Mary’s son Robert (Maxwell Korn) is also concerned for his mother, believing that he may need to find an institution for his mother as she is in an emotional crisis.

Flashback to 3 months prior, Mary interrupts a meeting with her husband and Stanton to share her disapproval of Robert wanting to enlist. While Lincoln insists that there are many families who have seen their sons go off to fight and all are contributing to the fight, Mary is insistent that she does not want Robert to become another statistic. Stanton offers the possibility that Robert joins Grant’s outfit for the best possible chance of survival, and Mary agrees to that compromise.

Present day, Stanton is approached by Edwin Booth for a conversation. While Edwin wants to find out how to restore his good name, Stanton takes the opportunity to ask Edwin if he knows of his brother’s whereabouts. But for Edwin, he and his brother have not spoken since the Manhattan Fire Plot. In another flashback at the Winter Garden Theater, Edwin and John had a conversation about the war. While Edwin does not agree with John’s stance, John is eager to no longer perform for northerners and instead take his talents to all theaters in the South. Since the fall of Richmond, John’s loyalties and love remain solely to the South.

Still on the run, Booth and David (Will Harrison) await the return of the River Ghost (Keith Brooks). In the meantime, David wishes to read Booth’s life story and is eager to know everything about him. Booth appreciates the praise, but is self-deprecating on his way to greatness. Finally, the River Ghost does arrive and provides the men with a boat for the next leg of their journey.

After the raid on The Gold Room, Stanton arrives to Baker’s office and finds that it has been ransacked and emptied. Stanton asks Baker about his raid on The Gold Room, he realizes that Lamson was there and decides to interrogate his former father-in-law about Sanders and his dealings with President Johnson (Glenn Morshower). Meeting at a restaurant, Stanton, Eddie, and Lamson gather and Stanton decides to question Lamson about the deal. Though Lamson holds a lot of disdain for Stanton, he explains how Johnson granted Sanders the summer uniforms contract.

At the U.S. Union Army Hospital, Eddie arrives and finds out that Lincoln’s security detail is there….and they have smallpox. Considering that nobody else has come in with smallpox, Eddie and Dr. Hammond (Jeffrey Charles Morgan) deduce that the only thing the sick men have in common is that they were wearing new uniforms. As smallpox can be transported on clothing, the race is on to find out who supplied the uniforms.

Wallace meets with Sanders, where the summer uniforms contract is discussed. Wallace explains to Sanders that while Johnson may have made that deal, he will need to meet with Stanton to get the final approval. Sanders agrees and says that Stanton will have to meet him at his office. Even though Stanton wishes for a more neutral ground, Sanders claims that NYC is run by him and his office will have to be the meeting place. Stanton agrees but is attacking by a masked man on the way to the meeting.

In a final flashback, Lincoln and Stanton talk about the path to victory. When Lincoln asks what the shortest route will be, Stanton determines that it would be removing Davis from power. Lincoln asks Stanton to remove Davis by any means necessary, meaning that it was Lincoln who ordered the assassination attempt on Davis and not Stanton.

Stanton arrives to Sanders’s office and the men talk. While Stanton wants to know the whereabouts of Booth, Sanders explains that he cannot be bought as money and influence are things he has in abundance. Stanton is willing to grant the summer uniforms contract in exchange for information, but Sanders refuses to budge. Ultimately, the meeting ends with Sanders pointing a gun at Stanton claiming that he could kill him in broad daylight and he would get away with it….but Stanton uses that opportunity to signal Baker and his men to burst in and arrest Sanders. Baker is out to find the map of The Secret Line, the path that Booth is taking through the South.

Heading outside, Stanton sees Eddie and is told about the uniforms. Both men realize that they need to find out the shipping manifest for the uniforms, but must get to them first before they are destroyed for smallpox. They stop the burning and after reviewing the manifest, realize Sanders was sending the new uniforms via The Secret Line. As Stanton and Baker now have a map to direct them to Booth, Sanders manages to get out of jail and back into society through his financial influence. The race is on to locate Booth and reveal the Confederacy plans as quickly as possible.