Hattie Lawton, also known as Hattie H. Lawton,[1] Hattie Lewis,[2][3] and Hattie Lewis Lawton[4] was an American detective, who worked for Allan Pinkerton, of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Lawton may have been born around 1837,[5] although most details of her life, before and after the American Civil War, are unknown. "[Hattie] Lawton was part of Pinkerton's Female Detective Bureau, formed in 1860 to 'worm out secrets' by means unavailable to male detectives."[6]
Baltimore assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln
Hattie Lawton, along with fellow female Pinkerton detective Kate Warne, worked with other Pinkerton agents who actively participated in the detection of the 1861 Baltimore assassination plot against President-elect Abraham Lincoln. In order to remain undetected, she posed as the wife of Timothy Webster.[1][2] It has also been said that she, and Warne, learned more about the assassination plots against Lincoln than the male detectives who were part of the same agency.[7]
American Civil War
During the American Civil War, Hattie Lawton continued to work with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. According to Pinkerton's account, in the early part of 1861, Lawton was stationed in Perryville, Maryland, with Timothy Webster, another Pinkerton agent.[1] Lawton was recruited to the agency along with Elizabeth H. Baker,[8] by Warne, who headed the agency's Female Detective Bureau, which was based in Chicago, Illinois.[9]
After Pinkerton began his "Secret Service" for Gen. George B. McClellan, Lawton and Webster were added to the payroll of the Pinkerton's service in Washington on August 8, 1861.[4] Lawton again posing as Timothy Webster's wife appeared in Richmond, Virginia, in the early part of 1862.[10] The two were sent by Pinkerton to Richmond to gather intelligence about Confederate army movements.[11]
Arrest and imprisonment
Hattie Lawton tended to Timothy Webster when he fell ill at the Monument Hotel in Richmond,[12] which prevented intelligence reports from being sent back to Allan Pinkerton.[10] John Scobell, an African American Union spy, worked with the "twenty-five-year-old beauty", Hattie Lawton, during this time, posing as her servant.[5][13]
Allan Pinkerton sent two agents, Pryce Lewis and John Scully, to Richmond, Virginia, to find out what happened to Webster and Lawton. They found Webster and Lawton, but Lewis and Scully were recognized as Pinkerton agents, arrested and later released as part of a prisoner exchange on March 18, 1863.[14] Various sources indicate that one or both of the men, either to save their own lives or after being tricked, revealed the identity of Webster. Webster and Lawton were arrested and after a quick trial both were found guilty.[15]
Timothy Webster was sentenced to death and executed, on April 29, 1862.[16] Lawton was sentenced to one year in Castle Thunder prison in Richmond, Virginia. In Confederate records, Lawton was described as "Mrs. Timothy Webster", one of a party of four Federals, exchanged for Confederate spy Belle Boyd, on December 13, 1862.[14]
During her imprisonment, Richmond's most accomplished Union spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, visited Hattie Lawton, but it is unclear whether Van Lew was aware of the real identity of "Mrs. Timothy Webster".[6] Lawton also attempted to persuade Confederate officials of Webster's innocence, but was unsuccessful.[17]
Post-war years and death
Following her release from prison, nothing is known regarding Lawton's post-war years or death.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Cuthbert, Norma Barrett (1949). Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 1861: From Pinkerton Records and Related Papers. San Marino, California: Huntington Library. p. 4.
- ^ a b Recko, Corey (2013). A Spy for the Union: The Life and Execution of Timothy Webster. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 75. ISBN 9780786474905.
- ^ Recko, Corey (2019). "Hattie Lewis, a Pinkerton Operative and Civil War Spy". Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ a b Fishel 1996, pp. 131.
- ^ a b Quarles, Benjamin (1953). The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Russell & Russell. p. 89.
- ^ a b Rhoades, Priscilla (August 2002). "The Women of Castle Thunder". The Kudzu Monthly. Archived from the original on September 27, 2008.
- ^ "'The Lincoln Conspiracy' performed in Boca". Sun Sentinel. March 21, 2014. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ Ness, Chris (July 19, 2017). "Wild Women of the West: Elizabeth Baker". Cowgirl. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ Gormly, Kellie B. (March 29, 2022). "How Kate Warne, America's First Woman Detective, Foiled a Plot to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ a b Fishel 1996, pp. 148.
- ^ Bonansinga, Jay (September 4, 2017). "The Weakest Link". HistoryNet. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ "Life behind enemy lines – the story of Newtown's American Civil War spy". Powy's County Times. July 18, 2021. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ Melton, H. Keith (February 23, 2021). "Philadelphia Is a Secret Spy Mecca". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ a b Fishel 1996, pp. 597.
- ^ "Book Review: The Pinks". Security Management. ASIS International. August 7, 2019. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ Intelligence in the Civil War (PDF) (Report). Central Intelligence Agency. 2007. pp. 9, 18, 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 12, 2007. Retrieved September 1, 2023. 2007 date listed here
- ^ Thompson, Erin E. (April 24, 2023). "Confederates Execute First Civil War Spy" (Press release). Fort Huachuca: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. United States Army Intelligence Center. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
Further reading
- Bonansinga, Jay (2011). Pinkerton's War: The Civil War's Greatest Spy and the Birth of the U.S. Secret Service. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780762775590.
- Enss, Chris (2017). The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781493030668.
- Fishel, E.C. (1996). The Secret War for The Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780395742815.
- Pinkerton, Allan (1883). The spy of the rebellion : being a true history of the spy system of the United States Army during the late rebellion, revealing many secrets of the war hitherto not made public, compiled from official reports prepared for President Lincoln, General McClellan and the provost-marshal-general. New York: G.W. Carleton & Co.
- Rose, P.K. (1999). "The Civil War: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence". Center for the Study of Intelligence. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on October 23, 2004. Retrieved September 1, 2023. 1999 date listed here
- Stewart, John (2019). Pinkertons, Prostitutes and Spies: The Civil War Adventures of Secret Agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476679075.
External links
- Security History: Detective Hattie Lawton, ASIS
- Meet History’s Trailblazing Female Detectives, Masterpiece, PBS
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