Kate Warne - Pre Civil War- "The Baltimore Plot" of 1861

Pre Civil War- "The Baltimore Plot" of 1861

Allan Pinkerton was secured by Samuel H. Felton, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, to investigate secessionist activity in Maryland. Felton believed that threats of damage to the railroad by "roughs and secessionists of Maryland." Allan Pinkerton soon was at work, placing agents at various points in Maryland to investigate the possibility of damage to the railroad. As the information came forth, Pinkerton became increasingly aware that the activity in Maryland did not just end with the railroad, but included the president-elect, Abraham Lincoln. Pinkerton received permission to continue his investigation and focus on the possible assassination plot.

As part of Allan Pinkerton's team at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, Kate was one of five agents sent to Baltimore, Maryland on February 3, 1861 to investigate the hotbed of secessionist activity occurring just months prior to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. (see also Maryland in the Civil War .) During the investigation, evidence supported attacks on the railroads and also unveiled the plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to take office. The secessionist feeling in Baltimore was that if Lincoln came through the city that he would leave in a casket. Under the aliases Mrs. Cherry and Mrs. M. Barley (M.B.) Kate tracked suspicious movement among the Baltimore secessionist It was in part through her undercover work in the guise of

a rich southern lady visiting Baltimore with a thick southern accent that apparently Mrs. Warne infiltrated secessionist social gatherings in the Baltimore area, places such as the classy Barnum Hotel posing as a flirting "southern belle" and was quick to not only verify that there was a plot to assassinate Lincoln, she developed details of how the assassination was going to occur.

Pinkerton had agents across Maryland and details kept unraveling. However, it was Kate specifically who supplied many key details to Allan Pinkerton and Pinkerton believed the plot was imminent. Warne had befriended secessionist in Maryland and collected many details in the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

The President-elect, Abraham Lincoln was traveling from his home Springfield, Illinois to the capital via a train tour that was to stop at notable cities along the way. His published program showed that Lincoln's last leg of the journey was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. Due to the configuration of the trains system, all southbound trains required a transfer to be made in Baltimore, Maryland. The Northbound station ended at Calvert Street and the Southbound train station started at Camden Street (now the Camden Yards station.) The distance between these two stations were about a mile by carriage ride. The secessionist plot to kill Lincoln was

just as Mr. Lincoln would be passing through the narrow vestibule of the Depot at Calvert St. Station, to enter his carriage. A row or fight was to be got up by some outsiders to quell which the few policemen at the Depot would rush out, thus leaving Mr. Lincoln entirely unprotected and at the mercy of a mob of Secessionists who were to surround him at that time. A small Steamer had been chartered and was lying in one of the Bays or little streams running into the Chesapeake Bay, to which the murderers were to flee and it was immediately to put off for Virginia.

After seeing the pieces of the plot coming together, Pinkerton requested of Kate on the morning of February, 18th to take the 5:10 evening train to New York City. Once there, she was to set up a meeting with Norman B. Judd and place into his confidence a letter from Pinkerton stating all of the hereto discovered details of the assassination attempt. After Kate Warne supplied details of The Baltimore Plot to Norman Judd, Judd set up a meeting between himself, Allan Pinkerton and Abraham Lincoln on the 21st of February. At this meeting, Lincoln was doubtful about an assassination plot, or that if such a plot existed that it should be taken seriously. However, a second independent source confirmed the plot by way of Frederick W. Seward, son of William H. Seward (the secretary of state designate.) From this point, Lincoln agreed that the assassination plot was plausible enough to take action. Lincoln decided to avoid hazard where it was not necessary, however he refused to cancel any of his scheduled plans in Harrisburg. His agenda included giving three speeches, raising of the American flag at Independence Hall and attending a high profile dinner. Accordingly, they made train arrangements that allowed Lincoln to fulfill his scheduled duties in Harrisburg. It wasn't until 5:45 that night that there was any deviation from his schedule. John George Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary interrupted the dinner party to excuse the president-elect. Lincoln then changed into a traveling suit, a soft felt cap and carried a shawl upon one arm to play the role of an invalid. Pinkerton meanwhile had the telegraph lines interrupted to prevent any knowledge of the deviation in the president-elect's schedule. At the station, Kate Warne entered the sleeping car through the rear along with Allan Pinkerton, Ward Hill Lamon and a still disguised Abraham Lincoln. She greeted president-elect Lincoln loudly as she would have a true brother. From Harrisburg, Lincoln rode to Philadelphia by a special Pennsylvania Railroad train. From Philadelphia he went to Baltimore by a special Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore train on the night of February 22/23. It is said that Warne did not sleep a wink on the overnight trip from Pennsylvania to Washington D.C that stopped in Baltimore. The disguises provided by Warne that night enabled Lincoln to make it through Baltimore without recognition and take his seat in the White House. It is believed that Pinkerton came up with the slogan to his agency "we never sleep" as a result of Kate Warne's guard of Lincoln that night. Kate was a key player in the foiled Baltimore assassination plot. Not only did she help to uncover details of the planned plot, but she also carried out most of the arrangements to smuggle Lincoln into Washington DC under secret cover. She couriered secret information and set up meetings as well as securing the necessary four berths on a train leaving Philadelphia under the pretext that these berths were for her sick brother and family members. The train pulled out shortly before 11 p.m. and arrived in Baltimore about 3:30 a.m. on February 23. Kate remained in Baltimore as the sleeping cars with Lincoln on board were shifted to another train, which arrived in Washington around 6 a.m.