The Woman Who Saved Abraham Lincoln's Life Used Some Wild Undercover Tactics

If you were asked to identify the most significant women in American history, you might name the likes of Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and a host of others. But one name far less likely to come up is that of Kate Warne. Though relatively unknown today, as we’ll see she played a key part in U.S. history. Without Warne, America’s development as a nation might’ve turned out very differently.

Who was Kate Warne?

If you were asked to identify the most significant women in American history, you might name the likes of Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and a host of others. But one name far less likely to come up is that of Kate Warne. Though relatively unknown today, as we’ll see she played a key part in U.S. history. Without Warne, America’s development as a nation might’ve turned out very differently.

A trailblazer

Warne was a trailblazer for American women, the very first female detective the nation had ever seen. She worked for the famed Pinkerton Agency in its early days during the mid-19th century. And she took part in some highly critical missions. Once she even shared a railway carriage on an overnight journey with none other than President Abraham Lincoln.

A thwarted actress

Warne was born in 1833 in Erin, New York, to parents of limited means. Her dad was a man of the church, which may explain why he was dead set against her youthful ambition to take to the stage. Quite how that thwarted ambition translated into the career she actually pursued with the Pinkerton Agency remains something of a mystery, though acting skills turned out to be essential in her work.

A secretarial position

Warne broke into the private investigation world simply by responding to a Pinkerton job advert in 1856. Presenting herself at the agency’s Chicago bureau, she went straight to the point, demanding to talk to Allan Pinkerton himself, the founder of the outfit. It’s said that he thought she must have been looking for a secretarial position.

No female detectives

Pinkerton’s sexist stereotyping can perhaps be forgiven, because in the mid-19th century there were no female detectives in America. But detective was of course the position that Warne, 23 years old and already widowed, wanted. Pinkerton was later to describe the impression that Warne had made on him at that first meeting in his 1874 book The Expressman and the Detective.

Perfectly self-possessed

“I was seated one afternoon in my private office, pondering deeply over some matters, and arranging various plans, when a lady was shown in,” Pinkerton wrote. “She was above the medium height, slender, graceful in her movements, and perfectly self-possessed in her manner. I invited her to take a seat, and then observed that her features, although not what would be called handsome, were of a decidedly intellectual cast.”

Dark blue eyes

“Her eyes were very attractive, being dark blue, and filled with fire,” Pinkerton continued. “She had a broad, honest face, which would cause one in distress instinctively to select her as a confidante, in whom to confide in time of sorrow, or from whom to seek consolation. She seemed possessed of the masculine attributes of firmness and decision, but to have brought all her faculties under complete control.”

First impressions

Despite this favorable first impression, Pinkerton added, “I told her it was not the custom to employ women as detectives, but asked her what she thought she could do. She replied that she could go and worm out secrets in many places to which it was impossible for male detectives to gain access. She had evidently given the matter much study, and gave many excellent reasons why she could be of service.”

Getting at the bad guys

Warne made her case for the job of detective. “Women have an eye for detail and are excellent observers,” Warne told Pinkerton, her words quoted in a March 2022 Smithsonian Magazine piece. She went on to argue that she’d be uniquely qualified to get at the bad guys by cultivating friendships with their unsuspecting wives and girlfriends. And she’d be able to take advantage of the fact that undercover female detectives were entirely unknown at the time.

Pinkerton flummoxed

Pinkerton himself was somewhat perplexed by this young woman and her plainspoken arguments. As Brian McNary, currently a vice president at Pinkerton, told Smithsonian, “Allan was flummoxed at first. It [was] really not a customarily appropriate position for a lady.” But Pinkerton was swayed by Warne’s qualities and took her on.

Who was Allan Pinkerton?

Getting a job as the first American detective at the Pinkerton Detective Agency was no mean feat. Pinkerton was recognized as the premier private investigation agency of its day and had contracts to provide security for various railroad companies. The founder Allan Pinkerton had been born in Scotland in 1819 and arrived in America during 1842.

A political radical

Though his father had been a police officer in Scotland, Pinkerton’s chosen trade was cooper, a maker of barrels. He was also a political radical and left the country of his birth for a life in America in 1842 with the authorities hot on his heels. Once in the U.S., he continued his work as a cooper but soon moved into law enforcement.

Founding the Pinkerton Detective Agency

After a spell as a police detective in Chicago, Pinkerton set up his agency in 1850. As we’ve said, by the time Warne joined Pinkerton, it was already a prestigious organization. And confirming Pinkerton’s hunch on giving her a job, Warne now added to the kudos of the agency with some highly successful cases. 

Adams Express Company robberies

One early case that Warne investigated was the Adams Express Company robberies. Senior staff at Adams, headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, believed that an employee called Nathan Maroney had stolen $10,000, a truly substantial sum at the time. But he’d previously been a model worker and there were no concrete leads to prove his guilt.

Pinkerton called in

Things took a turn for the worse, though, when another $40,000 disappeared into thin air. This was entirely too much for the bosses at Adams Express — they had to act. What they did was call in Allan Pinkerton’s outfit in 1859. And that’d turn out to be a wise move. Among the detectives whom Pinkerton assigned to the job was Kate Warne. She was to target Belle, Maroney’s wife.

A belle to catch a Belle

To do that, Warne had to use the acting skills she’d never had a chance to actually practice on the stage. A Northerner originally from New York, she had to transform herself into a Southern belle. The thinking was that it’d take a belle to catch a Belle. So Warne rented a room not far from Philadelphia in Pennsylvania’s Jenkintown, where Mrs. Maroney was to spend the summer.

Madame Imbert

Warne took on the persona of a Southern lady called Madame Imbert and succeeded in befriending Belle. The detective spun a tale about her background. She claimed that her husband was a convicted forger who was serving a lengthy jail sentence. This, it transpired, was a very smart way to win Maroney’s confidence. Maroney now believed she and Madame Imbert had something in common: both were married to crooks.

A full confession

The upshot of Warne’s undercover work was that Nathan Maroney eventually made a full confession. And most of his ill-gotten gains were recovered, too. Pinkerton was later to pay tribute to Warne’s work on the case. “She succeeded far beyond my utmost expectations,” he wrote. And Maroney’s experience in acting the part of a Southern belle would come in very useful a couple of years later.

Very brave

John Derrig, a former police detective and an authority on Warne, told Smithsonian, “She was able to blend in well. [She] dress[ed] the part or fit right into whatever situation she was in. She was very brave and she was comfortable doing what she was doing because she was good at it.” So her detective skills were formidable.

Bureau chief

In 1860 Pinkerton rewarded Warne for her outstanding achievement in the Adam Express case by forming a Female Detective Bureau and placing her at the head of it. And this was the role she’d fill for the remainder of her life. It seems that Pinkerton now had complete confidence in his first female detective.

Unreserved faith

Current senior staff member of Pinkerton, Brian McNary, told the Smithsonian, “Allan placed unreserved faith in her ability. He was fond of saying she had never failed him.” And Pinkerton himself wrote that Warne was “rather a commanding person, and with an ease of manner that was quite captivating at times; she was calculated to make a favorable impression.”

Bitter divisions

But it was in 1861 that Warne undertook the most important assignment of her career. It was the year Abraham Lincoln moved into the White House after winning the 1860 election for the Republicans on an anti-slavery ticket. And of course later in the year the Civil War erupted. So as Lincoln campaigned for and won the presidency, America was a country already riven by bitter divisions.

Assassination plots

There’d been previous threats to Lincoln’s life and Warne was deeply involved in undercover activities designed to foil these assassination attempts. In early 1861 prominent railroad boss Samuel M. Felton asked Pinkerton to act against a conspiracy to murder Lincoln before he was inaugurated. Smithsonian Magazine quoted Felton’s words about this plot to subvert the democratic process.

Deep-laid conspiracy

According to Felton there was a “deep-laid conspiracy to capture Washington, destroy all the avenues leading to it from the North, East and West, and thus prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln in the Capitol of the country.” Plus he warned that Lincoln was at genuine risk of assassination.

Plausible threats

Felton said that an assassination attempt was most likely in Maryland’s Baltimore. It was the only slave-holding city on the railroad route Lincoln would follow from his home in Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration. And the threat was deemed to be all too plausible, so action was urgently required.

Baltimore

Further evidence of plotting came from Warne. She used her acting skills to once again play the part of a genteel Southern lady. This time she infiltrated the higher echelons of Baltimore society to garner what intelligence she could about conspiracies in the city. And in the process she uncovered a scheme to do away with Lincoln.

Mrs. Cherry

Warne uncovered details of the plan to assassinate the president by becoming friendly with some of the wives and beaus of the actual plotters. She was sure to wear the secessionists’ cockade when she want to social events and assumed various false names including Mrs. Cherry. The plot called for the murder attempt to be made as Lincoln changed stations in Baltimore.

Personal security paramount

So those around the new president were highly nervous about his passage through Baltimore. Lincoln’s journey details were in the public realm, so personal security for him had to be paramount. It seemed that the plotters intended to stage some kind of attack at the Baltimore station where Lincoln was to change trains.

A potshot at the president

These conspirators would then take advantage of the ensuing confusion to take a potshot at the president. So Pinkerton’s task was clear. He’d have to arrange things so that the bad actors would have no opportunity to carry out their murderous plot. A plan was hatched — and at its center was Kate Warne.

Dead of night

The first part of the plan was to make sure that Lincoln arrived in Baltimore in the dead of night, taking advantage of the cover offered by darkness. This would mean that Lincoln would arrive in the city earlier than stated in his published itinerary. And the second element of the plan was disguise.

A president’s disguise

Lincoln, with his stove hat, somewhat cadaverous looks, and well-above-average height was instantly recognizable. So something had to be done to counter this: Lincoln was to play the part of an invalid. And the stovepipe headgear would be jettisoned in favor of a circular beaver hat. In an attempt to conceal his height Lincoln was also to stoop as if infirm. A shawl would mask his features.

Mrs. Barley

It fell to Warne to arrange the travel details. She posed as a Mrs. Barley and booked a sleeper carriage from Philadelphia to Washington with a stop-off in Baltimore. A very generous gratuity to a porter ensured that the carriage would have no other passengers. Mrs. Barley told the porter that her frail brother would be boarding the train at Baltimore.

A president’s fictitious sister

This invalid brother was of course actually Lincoln. So now Warne was to play the part of a real president’s fictitious sister. Pinkerton personally guided the disguised president to Mrs. Barley’s sleeper. Warne now escorted her supposed sibling to his seat. The History website quotes Warne’s memory of Lincoln’s words when the two first met on the train.

Charming and accomplished

According to Warne, the ever-gentlemanly Lincoln said “I believe it has not hitherto been one of the prerequisites of the presidency to acquire in full bloom so charming and accomplished a female relation.” And the plan worked a treat. Lincoln arrived alive and well in Washington at 6:00 a.m. The plotters had been comprehensively countered.

Awake and alert

In fact, Lincoln even managed to get some sleep during the overnight rail journey — but Warne didn’t. She remained fully awake and alert throughout, ready to respond to any threat to the president’s person. When the party arrived in Washington, Pinkerton sent an enigmatic massage announcing the good news to the railway bosses.

Safe delivery

The message read: “Plums has delivered Nuts safely.” Plums was Pinkerton, Nuts was Lincoln. And disaster had been averted, thanks in no small part to the sterling efforts of the extraordinary Kate Warne. The U.S. surely owes her a huge debt of gratitude. If Lincoln had been assassinated before he took up the presidency, who knows how America’s story might’ve turned out.

A career pinnacle

It’s entirely fair to class Warne’s involvement in the mission to foil Lincoln’s would-be assassins as the pinnacle of her career. But it was far from the end of her derring-do. Pinkerton provided crucial intelligence services for the Union forces during the Civil War — and Warne played an active role in that.

Civil War espionage

During her Civil War espionage work, Warne was again able to put her Southern belle act to good use. Sometimes she even served in the field with Pinkerton himself, posing as his wife. Operating under a dizzying number of different aliases, she befriended women in Virginia and Tennessee, surreptitiously pumping then for information about Confederate troop movements and deployments.

No household name

Since much of Warne’s work involved her going undercover, though, she was no household name during her life, despite her incredible exploits. Perhaps she could’ve gained a higher profile after a well-deserved retirement from active duty. But that wasn’t to be, since she died tragically young in her mid-30s during 1868, struck down by pneumonia.

Shining star

Contemporary Pinkerton man McNary told Smithsonian, “Among the brightest and shining stars of the history of Pinkertons, Kate Warne’s probably the least known and most loved of all of them.” Actually, it looks like that least-known tag might soon be blown away. Because according to Empire online, Emily Blunt’s to play the part of Kate Warne in a major movie production about her life.