Allan Pinkerton

Civil War Spies

(1819-1884)

The name Allan Pinkerton sent fear into the hearts and minds of bank-robbers and the other surly types that preyed upon railroad trains during the Civil War. Allan Pinkerton, the namesake of which Pinkerton's Security is named for, was the man that initiated detective work as a career in the United States.

His rapid rise to the top of law enforcement in the Union states in 1850 was in stark contrast to his troubled start across the Atlantic. An Englishmen, Pinkerton fled the island after becoming involved in the social reformist movement called named Chartism. This was because of the "charlatan" nature of the group’s members. The international fugitive created one of the worlds leading detective agencies, that still conducts business the way Pinkerton himself would have liked, get the bad guy.

Born in the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland in 1819, the Holmes-like Pinkerton must have had detecting in his bones. Early trouble with the law and the unfortunate death of his father at a very early age compelled the young Pinkerton to see Scottish rights as a religion if not a social movement.

Ever the protestor, Pinkerton was forced to evacuate Scotland and his family and start a new life in the land of opportunity, America. His ascent to the "other side" of law enforcement came as a surprise as one day when he was fetching wood from a nearby island in Illinois; he stumbled upon a group of counter-fitters. He knew what he had to do, what his fine Scotland Yard beliefs compelled him to, get the bad guys.

And get them he did as the entire clan of villains was arrested although unofficially, by Pinkerton himself. The small town of Dundee was thrilled with the bravery and chivalrous actions beset by Pinkerton and before long he accepted a post as the Sheriff of Dundee. A fast promotion to sheriff of Cook County landed the great Pinkerton in Chicago.

After creating his life-long dream, The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, Pinkerton went about assisting the Union in its Civil War endeavors. Being a Scott, one would think that he would have chosen to support the Confederates yet his Yankee roots ran a little deeper than his disconnected, by choice, past. Spying and espionage tactics were what the great Pinkerton was good at and in various southern cities he did just that.

Pinkerton wrote his memoirs in a few books one of which is rather well received, "The Molly Maguire’s and the Detectives", is a recount of his experience with the infamous terrorist-miners of Pennsylvania.

Pinkerton died in 1884.

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