One of the most outspoken critics of President Lincoln and the abolitionists was the editor of the local Democratic newspaper and a friend and an advisor to Loras, Dennis A. Mahoney. Smyth, unlike Loras who had spent many years as a missionary in Alabama and as a slaveholder, supported the Union cause. Smyth preached a stinging sermon after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. That evening Smyth lost his coach house, carriage and horses to an arsonist. Local citizens, both Catholic and Protestant, built a new coach house and bought a new carriage and a pair of horses for the bishop.