Timothy Webster (March 12, 1822 – April 29, 1862) was a British-born American lawman and soldier. He served as a

Pinkerton Pinkerton may refer to: Places * Pinkerton, Ontario, named after surveyor and early settler Matthew Pinkerton * Pinkerton's Landing Bridge, railroad bridge in Pennsylvania People * Allan Pinkerton (18191884), Scottish detective and spy * Bill ...

agent and Union spy, and was the first spy in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

to be executed.

Early life

Webster came to America with his parents in August 1830 and settled in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. He became a policeman in New York City sometime before 1850. He met Allan Pinkerton in 1853 and took a job with Pinkerton's private detective agency in 1856.Recko (2013) ''A Spy for the Union: The Life and Execution of Timothy Webster''. Webster married Charlotte Sprowles on October 23, 1841 in Princeton, New Jersey and the couple had four children, two of whom died young. Their son, Timothy Jr., born in 1843, joined the Union Army from Onarga, Illinois on July 30, 1862 and was wounded in the

Battle of Brices Crossroads The Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, also known as the Battle of Tishomingo Creek or the Battle of Guntown, was fought on Friday, June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn, Mississippi, then part of the Confederate States of America. A Federal expedition fro ...

near Ripley, Mississippi on June 11, 1864, and taken to a Confederate prison in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

where his leg was amputated. He subsequently died there on July 4, 1864. His body was transported north to Onarga, Illinois and buried in the Onarga Cemetery next to his grandfather, Timothy Webster Sr., who died in Onarga in 1860.Goff (2000) ''Timothy Webster the story of the Civil War spy and his family''.

Civil War

In early 1861, Pinkerton sent Webster and Hattie Lawton to pose as a Southern gentleman and wife (Mrs. Webster) in the Baltimore area and became a member of a pro-Southern group in order to report on secessionists' plans and activities.Beymer (1910) "Timothy Webster: Spy". Some of the information provided by Webster gave support to Pinkerton's assertion that there was a Baltimore Plot to assassinate Lincoln as he moved through Baltimore on his way to his inauguration in 1861. After the outbreak of war, Pinkerton began to provide agents to the Union armies under George B. McClellan. Webster continued to gather information on the Confederacy from 1861 through 1862 in southern Maryland and

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. In Richmond in 1862 he was stricken with inflammatory rheumatism''Intelligence in the Civil War'', CIA publication and was too ill to send reports back to Pinkerton. As a result, Pinkerton sent Pryce Lewis and John Scully to locate Webster. The two men were recognized as being Union spies and captured by the Confederacy. Scully eventually revealed information that caused Webster and Lawton to be arrested. Confederate officers had trusted Webster many times with valuable documents and information and the Confederacy was extremely embarrassed by Webster's betrayal. While Lewis and Scully were eventually released, Webster was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by hanging. Hattie Lawton was imprisoned and later released in an exchange of prisoners.

Death

When Pinkerton heard the news of the sentence, he and President Lincoln sent a message to the Confederacy threatening that if Webster was put to death, the Union would reciprocate by hanging a Confederate spy.Fishel (1996). ''The Secret War for The Union''. Union policy had been to keep Confederate spies in jail and exchange them for Union prisoners. The Confederacy ignored the threat and on April 29, 1862, Timothy Webster climbed the gallows in Richmond, Virginia at Camp Lee. After the initial attempt to hang Webster failed, he was helped to the gallows again and was heard to say, "I suffer a double death!" before being killed on the second attempt. He was buried in Richmond, but in 1871, Pinkerton sent George Bangs and Thomas G. Robinson (Timothy's son-in-law) to Richmond to locate his body and bring it to

Onarga, Illinois Onarga is a village in Onarga Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,368 at the 2010 census, down from 1,438 at the 2000 census. Geography Onarga is located in western Iroquois County at (40.715432, -88.00692 ...

for burial. He was buried next to his father, Timothy Webster Sr., and his son, Timothy Webster III.

Footnotes

References

*Beymer, W. G. (1910). "Timothy Webster: Spy". October 1910. ew York ''Harper's Monthly Magazine''. *Cuthbert, N. B., & Pinkerton, A. (1949). ''Lincoln and the Baltimore plot, 1861 from Pinkerton records and related papers''. Huntington Library publications. San Marino, Calif, Huntington Library. *Fishel, E. C. (1996). The Secret War for The Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. *Goff, P. D. (2000). ''Timothy Webster the story of the Civil War spy and his family''. Elgin, Ill, Goff Publications. *Pinkerton, A. (1883). ''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. Comp. from official reports prepared for President Lincoln, General McClellan and the provost-marshal-general.'' New York, G.W. Carleton & Co. *Recko, Corey (2013). ''A Spy for the Union: The Life and Execution of Timothy Webster''. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Co. *United States. (2005). . Washington, D.C., Central Intelligence Agency.

External links