My Thoughts on the Book, Pinkertons, Prostitutes, and Spies: The Civil War Adventures of Secret Agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton, by John Stewart, 5/1/2026…

Wow. What an absolute piece of tripe! In Pinkertons, Prostitutes, and Spies: The Civil War Adventures of Secret Agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton, John Stewart, the author, sends many punches Allan Pinkerton’s way, but none of them land. None of them.

Stewart’s biggest problem with Pinkerton, especially his book, The Spy of the Rebellion (1883), is that the original detective makes bogus claims, introduces false events—and even false people—and tells flat-out lies. Steward complains and complains and complains about Pinkerton’s shenanigans, but offers no proof or verifications that counter Pinkerton’s tales.

Here’s what Stewart does: he complains about a particular Pinkerton falsehood, refers to newspaper articles at the time that have little to do with this “falsehood,” then introduces a different character or event while glossing over his original point. This cycle of “blasted falsehood/irrelevant article/completely new and unrelated concept” continues until the very end of this book. It gets tiring. I wound up skipping paragraphs, knowing I’ll learn nothing, scanning for the next concept.

Mostly, the subjects of this book, whose names appear in the title, Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton, are introduced in the beginning, followed by the author’s ridiculous formula of idea presentation. The first chapter deals with Webster’s execution, and for a few chapters afterwards discusses a few concepts concerning him. Hattie Lawton, who is sometimes confused with two other Pinkerton women, acts as Webster’s wife while they are in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy at the time.

Webster as well as Lawton are supposed to be spies, but the author spends little time describing how they are so. He is mostly sick in bed, and she is mostly at his side. And in no way are these concepts “Civil War Adventures.” Webster carried mail from time to time back and forth across enemy borders, making a pit stop at Washington, D.C., to have copies made of letters from the South to thwart any of their military plans.

Never one to abandon a book, I waited restlessly for this book to be over. I do not recommend. There must be better books about the Pinkertons and the U.S. Civil War out there. I’m bound to find one or two.