Introduction

Biography

A con­vert­ed Jew, Al­man en­list­ed in the Am­er­ican na­vy in 1854 as an ap­pren­tice, and served un­til 1868. He was at the Wash­ing­ton Na­vy Yard when pre­si­dent Abr­ah­am Lin­coln was shot.

He was one of the few men who knew of the fi­nal dis­po­si­tion of as­sas­sin John Wilkes Booth’s bo­dy, but he was sworn to sec­re­cy.

After two years of ser­vice with the Unit­ed States Gov­ern­ment, he re­signed and be­came an evan­gel­ist, tak­ing charge of the mis­sion that la­ter be­came Em­ma­nu­el Bap­tist Church on Suf­folk and Grand in Man­hat­tan, New York.

He was or­dained in the Fifth Ave­nue Bap­tist Church in 1871 and served as pas­tor of Em­ma­nu­el Bap­tist Church un­til 1899.

At one time he was com­mand­er-in-chief of the Na­tion­al As­so­cia­tion of Na­val Ve­ter­ans, hold­ing the title of Ad­mi­ral. He was al­so chap­lain of the Grand Army of the Re­pub­lic, and the Far­ra­gut As­so­cia­tion of Na­val Ve­ter­ans.

He is some­times con­fused with Sam­uel Al­man, the Rus­sian-Brit­ish com­pos­er (1877–1947).

Works

• The Gos­pel of Joy, with Sam­uel H. Speck (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ol­iv­er Dit­son, 1879)
• Our Trea­su­ry of Song, for Use in the Em­ma­nu­el Bap­tist Church, with Hu­bert Main (New York: Big­low & Main, 1883)