Allan Pinkerton and the Attempted Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln
Allan Pinkerton was a detective and spy, best known
for founding the Pinkerton Agency, the first detective
agency in America. Pinkerton had been asked by S. M.
Felton, the President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington
and Baltimore Railroad to investigate possible plots
to destroy the rail line connecting New York City to
Washington, DC. It was during this investigation that
Pinkerton and his agents uncovered a plot to assassinate
President-elect Abraham Lincoln as he traveled by rail
to his inauguration in Washington on the evening of
February 22, 1861. Six years later, a report circulating
throughout the press made mention of the assassination
plot. In this report, John A. Kennedy, Esq., of the
Metropolitan Police of New York City, takes full credit
for the discovery. In regards to rumors of the Pinkerton
Agency’s involvement in the discovery, he states,
“I know nothing of any connection of Mr. Pinkerton
with the matter.”
This pamphlet is Allan Pinkerton’s own response
to Kennedy’s comment (GLC00267.276). To set the
record straight, Pinkerton describes his role in transporting
Lincoln to Washington and includes letters from various
parties, including Lincoln himself, as proof of his
part in thwarting the assassination. While this document
serves as a rebuttal to Kennedy’s letter, Pinkerton
is quick to point out “Secrecy is the one thing
most necessary to the success of the detective, and
when a secret is to be kept, the fewer who know of it
the better. It was unnecessary for Mr. Kennedy to know
of my connection with that passage, and hence he was
not apprised of it.” The Pinkerton National Detective
Agency became famous as a result of their success with
this case, and led Abraham Lincoln to hire Pinkerton
agents for his personal security during the Civil War,
though they no longer served in this capacity at the
time of his assassination in 1865.
Melanie Leung
Manuscript Cataloger
Gilder Lehrman Collection
GLC00267.276: History and evidence of the passage
of Abraham Lincoln from Harrisburg, Pa. to Washington,
D. C. on the 22d and 23d of February, 1861.
For more information or to obtain copies, contact Alyson
Barrett at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.
|
Morn, Frank. The Eye That Never Sleeps: A History
of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1982.
Pinkerton, Allan. Thirty Years A Detective.
Warwick, New York: 1500 Books, 2007.
Steers, Edward. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln. Lexington: University Press
of Kentucky, 2001. |
