A Spy for the Union

Timothy Webster, best known for his work as a spy for the Union during the Civil War, began his career as a New York City policeman. In the mid-1850s he left the police department and took a job for Allan Pinkerton with his newly formed detective agency. He went on to serve the US as a spy in the Civil War. For a time he was the Union's top spy, but his career came to an abrupt end when, in 1862, he was betrayed and became the first spy executed in the Civil War.