User:Srfrantz/Sandbox

Hattie Lawton
[[i killed herref>. Most details of her life before and after the Civil War are unknown.

“Hattie Lawton was part of Pinkerton's Female Detective Bureau, formed in 1860 to ‘worm out secrets’ by means unavailable [[Media:Insert non-formatted text here]][[Image:

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]] to male detectives. ” Lawton continued to work for Pinkerton during the Civil War. She was part of the team that participated in the detection of alleged 1861 Baltimore assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln and according to Pinkerton's account, in the early part of 1861 Hattie was stationed in Perrymansville, Maryland with Timothy Webster, another Pinkerton agent.

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 8th 1861. Lawton again posing as Timothy Webster’s wife appeared in Richmond in the early part of 1862. The two were sent by Pinkerton to Richmond to gather intelligence about Confederate army movements.

Lawton tended to Webster when he fell ill at the Monument Hotel in Richmond and this prevented reports back to Pinkerton. John Scobell, an African-America northern spy, worked with the "twenty-five-year-old beauty" Hattie Lawton during this time posing as her colored servant.

Pinkerton sent two agents, Pryce Lewis and John Scully, to Richmond 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 then released. 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. Webster was sentenced to death and executed on April 29, 1862. Lawton was sentenced to one year of prison, but was released in early 1863 in exchange for a Union soldier .(from footnote in Rhoades:Donald E. Markle, Spies & Spymasters of The Civil War (New York, 1994), 187-188.)

During her imprisonment, Richmond's most accomplished Union spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, visited Lawton but it is not clear whether Van Lew was aware of the real identity of Mrs Timothy Webster.

After her release from prison, nothing is known about Lawton.--S. Frantz 01:56, 10 October 2007 (UTC)