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