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Biographical Notes
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Allan Pinkerton
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On January 19, 1861, Samuel Morse Felton, President of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, summoned Pinkerton to meet with him in New York City. Felton was in charge of the last leg of the president elect's trip to Washington D.C. and had received reports that an assassination attempt would be made on the president as he passed through Baltimore. Pinkerton's associates infiltrated the group suspected of planning the attack on the president, confirmed that there was indeed such a plot, and recommended that the president travel through Baltimore early and in secret. A second source (Winfield Scott) confirmed the existence of the plot and Lincoln took Pinkerton's advice. Following the surrender of Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861, Pinkerton wrote to Lincoln volunteering his Agency's services. Lincoln had Pinkerton come to Washington and outline how he could be of service, but nothing came of it. In May 1861, McClellan was appointed a major general and given command of the Department of the Ohio. McClellan asked Pinkerton to organize his intelligence service. In the succeeding days Pinkerton and his associates went into the Confederacy and began accumulating information for McClellan. Following the Union defeat at Bull Run, McClellan was given command of the Army of the Potomac and Pinkerton accompanied him to Washington, D.C. in July 1861. In September 1861 Secretary of State, William Seward, established his own Secret Service under the command of Lafayette C. Baker.
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In Washington, Pinkerton inevitably had to deal with Confederate spies, including the infamous Rose O'Neal Greenhow. (She provided the Confederates with the information on General Irvin McDowell's plans that facilitated the Southern victory at Bull Run.) Pinkerton succeeded in proving that Greenhow was a spy and succeeded in getting her confined, but in the process a number of well placed Northerners were exposed as having wittingly or unwittingly assisted her. (She was later paroled.) Simultaneously Pinkerton operatives continued to collect information behind Confederate lines. One of Pinkerton's most valuable agents was Timothy Webster. The vast majority of his information was accurate, but his report of November 5, 1861, contained an important error. Webster estimated that the Confederate force facing McClellan in his advance on Richmond numbered 116,430 men. On the basis of this report McClellan chose to delay launching his attack. It was later learned that Webster's strength figures were about 400,000 too high. McClellan's delay frustrated the president and contributed to events that eventually led to his removal as Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac. (The Confederates eventually discovered who Webster was and hanged him.) When McClellan was finally fired Pinkerton left the Army of the Potomac, but continued to work for the government on matters of theft and fraud.
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In 1864 the Democratic party nominated McClellan as their presidential candidate. Pinkerton predicted a Lincoln victory. Following Lincoln's assasination in April 1865, Pinkerton again volunteered his services in tracking down the assassin, but John Wilkes Booth was killed before Pinkerton could become involved. Pinkerton appears to have believed that Booth was part of a conspiracy that involved the Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. After the Civil War ended telecommunications and railroads expanded rapidly and so did Pinkerton's business. During President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial Pinkerton, working for the president, obtained transcripts of the proceedings in the secret tribunals held by his political enemies. On October 6, 1866, John, Frank, Simon and William Reno robbed the express car on an Ohio and Mississippi train as it departed Seymour, Indiana. It was the first of several similar events and Pinkerton was called in to catch the criminals. Although John Reno was captured the rest of the gang continued to rob railroad cars, banks, county offices, and post offices in Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa. The Pinkertons eventually caught up with various members of the gang, but vigilante justice intervened and several of the gang members were lynched. Several members of the gang fled to Canada and were the subject of international negotiations. In the end the gang was broken and the publicity arising from the case reached to Britain and Europe. Pinkerton's business expanded.
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In 1868 he was urged to accept the position of Superintendent of the New York City Police Department. He refused. That same year he suffered a severe stroke and his right side was paralyzed. It took him two years to regain the use of his limbs and to be able to speak coherently. He was diagnosed as incurable by the leading doctors of the day, but he refused to give up. He invented his own regiment and forced himself to exercise. He moved to a mineral spring in St. Louis, Michigan, and forced himself to walk every day. In September 1870 he was walking up to twelve miles a day and could once again speak and, with effort, sign his name. During this period he built an elaborate estate called the Larches on 254 acres of land eighty-three miles south of Chicago. Following its completion, he and Joan entertained on a lavish scale. He returned to work in Chicago in September 1871. On October 8, 1871, the great fire leveled much of Chicago and completely destroyed his offices (then called the National Detective Agency) and all of his records. In 1872 the economy took a down turn and in 1873 Jay Cooke failed. Pinkerton almost went under in the resultant depression, but managed to squeak through by the skin of his teeth. It was at this time that he began writing books for publication. They sold well and he hired ghost writers to help. All in all he published eighteen different titles.
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From 1866 to 1882 Frank and Jesse James captured the headlines with a spectacular series of robberies. In January 1875 a group of Pinkerton operatives attacked the James home. Jesse and Frank had escaped shortly before the attack, but Jesse's half-brother was killed and his mother was badly wounded. Popular opinion turned against the Pinkertons and their reputation was severely damaged. This was one case that Allan did not bring to a successful conclusion. Jesse was killed by a fellow gang member - Frank Ford. Another case that occupied Allan's attention during this period was that of the Molly Maguires. This was a secret organization that operated in the Pennsylvania coal mining region. Pinkerton succeeded in infiltrating a member of his organization into the Molly Maguires and eventually obtained enough information to prove that they had committed assorted crimes including murder. Allan Pinkerton died on July 1, 1884, and Joan died two years later. The firm was taken over by their two sons - William and Robert.
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