Hattie Lawton
{{Infobox person
| name = Hattie Lawton
| image = Hattie Lawton and Timothy Webster.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = Hattie Lawton with fellow, Union, Pinkerton agent, Timothy Webster, before his execution by hanging, in Richmond, Virginia, for wartime espionage, from the 1882 book, The Spy of the Rebellion: Being a True History of the Spy System of the United States Army During the Late Rebellion..., by Allan Pinkerton
| birth_date = c. 1837
| birth_place =
| death_date = (aged ?)
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| known_for = Female detective, in the Pinkerton Detective Agency's Female Detective Bureau and Union spy in the American Civil War
| other_names = Hattie H. Lawton, Hattie Lewis Lawton
| nationality = American
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Hattie Lawton, also known as Hattie H. Lawton,{{cite book |last=Cuthbert |first=Norma Barrett |date=1949 |title=Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 1861: From Pinkerton Records and Related Papers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLbfAAAAMAAJ |location=San Marino, California |publisher=Huntington Library |page=4}} Hattie Lewis,{{cite web|last=Recko|first=Corey|url=http://coreyrecko.com/hattielewis|title=Hattie Lewis, a Pinkerton Operative and Civil War Spy|date=2019|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514104810/http://coreyrecko.com/hattielewis|archive-date=May 14, 2023|url-status=live}} and Hattie Lewis Lawton{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=131}} was an American detective, who worked for Allan Pinkerton, of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Lawton may have been born around 1837,{{cite book |last=Quarles |first=Benjamin |date=1953 |title=The Negro in the Civil War |url=https://archive.org/details/negroincivilwar0000quar |location=Boston |publisher=Russell & Russell |page=89}} 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."{{cite web |last=Rhoades |first=Priscilla |title=The Women of Castle Thunder |website=The Kudzu Monthly |date=August 2002 |url=http://www.kudzumonthly.com/kudzu/aug02/CastleThunder.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927210547/http://www.kudzumonthly.com/kudzu/aug02/CastleThunder.html |archive-date=September 27, 2008 |url-status=dead }}
==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, another Pinkerton agent.{{cite book |last=Recko |first=Corey |date=2013 |title=A Spy for the Union: The Life and Execution of Timothy Webster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XOyAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=9780786474905 |page=75 }} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2014/03/21/the-lincoln-conspiracy-performed-in-boca/|title='The Lincoln Conspiracy' performed in Boca|website=Sun Sentinel|date=March 21, 2014|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901215503/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2014/03/21/the-lincoln-conspiracy-performed-in-boca/|archive-date=September 1, 2023|url-access=subscription}}
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. Lawton was recruited to the agency along with Elizabeth H. Baker,{{cite web|last=Ness|first=Chris|url=https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-wednesday-elizabeth-baker/|title=Wild Women of the West: Elizabeth Baker|website=Cowgirl|date=July 19, 2017|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326003404/https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-wednesday-elizabeth-baker/|archive-date=March 26, 2023|url-status=live}} by Warne, who headed the agency's Female Detective Bureau, which was based in Chicago, Illinois.{{cite web|last=Gormly|first=Kellie B.|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-kate-warne-americas-first-woman-detective-foiled-a-plot-to-assassinate-abraham-lincoln-180979829/|title=How Kate Warne, America's First Woman Detective, Foiled a Plot to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln|date=March 29, 2022|website=Smithsonian|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406142014/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-kate-warne-americas-first-woman-detective-foiled-a-plot-to-assassinate-abraham-lincoln-180979829/|archive-date=April 6, 2023|url-status=live}}
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.{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=131}} Lawton again posing as Timothy Webster's wife appeared in Richmond, Virginia, in the early part of 1862.{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=148}} The two were sent by Pinkerton to Richmond to gather intelligence about Confederate army movements.{{cite web|last=Bonansinga|first=Jay|url=https://www.historynet.com/the-weakest-link/|title=The Weakest Link|website=HistoryNet|date=September 4, 2017|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901221359/https://www.historynet.com/the-weakest-link/|archive-date=September 1, 2023|url-status=live}}
=Arrest and imprisonment=
Hattie Lawton tended to Timothy Webster when he fell ill at the Monument Hotel in Richmond,{{cite web|url=https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/19448148.life-behind-enemy-lines---story-newtowns-american-civil-war-spy/|title=Life behind enemy lines – the story of Newtown's American Civil War spy|website=Powy's County Times|date=July 18, 2021|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901215728/https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/19448148.life-behind-enemy-lines---story-newtowns-american-civil-war-spy/|archive-date=September 1, 2023|url-status=live}} which prevented intelligence reports from being sent back to Allan Pinkerton.{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=148}} John Scobell, an African American Union spy, worked with the "twenty-five-year-old beauty", Hattie Lawton, during this time, posing as her servant.{{cite web|last1=Melton|first1=H. Keith|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/philadelphia-is-a-secret-spy-mecca|title=Philadelphia Is a Secret Spy Mecca|website=The Daily Beast|date=February 23, 2021|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626072648/https://www.thedailybeast.com/philadelphia-is-a-secret-spy-mecca|archive-date=June 26, 2022|url-status=live}}
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.{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=597}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/online-exclusives/2019/book-review-the-pinks/|title=Book Review: The Pinks|website=Security Management|publisher=ASIS International|date=August 7, 2019|access-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126114712/https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/online-exclusives/2019/book-review-the-pinks/|archive-date=November 26, 2022|url-status=live}}
File:CastleThunder.jpg, Richmond, Virginia, 1865.]]
Timothy Webster was sentenced to death and executed by hanging, on April 29, 1862.{{cite report |date=2007 |title=Intelligence in the Civil War |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/Intel_in_the_CW1.pdf |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |pages=9, 18, 26 |access-date=September 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212073420/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/Intel_in_the_CW1.pdf |archive-date=December 12, 2007 |url-status=dead }} 2007 date listed [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212003327/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/index.html here] 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.{{sfn|Fishel|1996|pp=597}}
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". Lawton also attempted to persuade Confederate officials of Webster's innocence, but was unsuccessful.{{cite press release |last=Thompson |first=Erin E. |date=April 24, 2023 |title=Confederates Execute First Civil War Spy |url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/443221/confederates-execute-first-civil-war-spy |location=Fort Huachuca |publisher=Defense Visual Information Distribution Service |agency=United States Army Intelligence Center |access-date=September 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426000147/https://www.dvidshub.net/news/443221/confederates-execute-first-civil-war-spy |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |url-status=live}}
Post-war years and death
Following her release from prison, nothing is known regarding Lawton's post-war years or death.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Bonansinga |first=Jay |date=2011 |title=Pinkerton's War: The Civil War's Greatest Spy and the Birth of the U.S. Secret Service |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0SLBAAAQBAJ |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780762775590 }}
- {{cite book |last=Enss |first=Chris |date=2017 |title=The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rP0oDwAAQBAJ |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781493030668 }}
- {{cite book |last=Fishel |first=E.C. |date=1996 |title=The Secret War for The Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War |url=https://archive.org/details/secretwarforunio00fish |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |isbn=9780395742815 }}
- {{cite book |last=Pinkerton |first=Allan |date=1883 |title=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 |url=https://archive.org/details/spyofrebellionbe00inpink |location=New York |publisher=G.W. Carleton & Co. }}
- {{cite web |last=Rose |first=P.K. |title=The Civil War: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence |website=Center for the Study of Intelligence |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |date=1999 |url=https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/dispatches/dispatch.html |archive-url=https://www.webharvest.gov/peth04/20041023182059/http://cia.gov/csi/books/dispatches/dispatch.html |archive-date=October 23, 2004 |url-status=dead |access-date=September 1, 2023 }} 1999 date listed [https://www.webharvest.gov/peth04/20041017175314/http://cia.gov/csi/pubs.html here]
- {{cite book |last=Stewart |first=John |date=2019 |title=Pinkertons, Prostitutes and Spies: The Civil War Adventures of Secret Agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ2fDwAAQBAJ |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=9781476679075 }}
External links
- [https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/today-in-security/2019/august/security-history-hattie-lawton/ Security History: Detective Hattie Lawton], ASIS
- [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/miss-scarlet-and-the-duke-meet-historys-early-female-detectives/ Meet History’s Trailblazing Female Detectives], Masterpiece, PBS
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Category:Pinkerton (detective agency)
Category:Women in the American Civil War
Category:Crime in Richmond, Virginia
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Confederate States of America