English-born Timothy Webster, a New York City policeman, had become one of Allan Pinkerton's espionage operatives early in the war and had gathered and passed information in Baltimore and Richmond while posing as a southern gentleman. Falling ill in Richmond in early February, he had been betrayed and arrested in late March 1862. After a three week trial in Richmond, Webster became the first spy executed during the war despite all efforts and threats of retaliation from the Union. He was hanged at the old fairgrounds outside Richmond. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
William G. Geymer, On Hazardous Service: scouts and spies of the North and South (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1912), 287.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Battles/Soldiers
