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.