Episode
The Complicated History of the Pinkertons
- Podcast
- History Shorts
- Published
- Sep 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 744
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Before the FBI or Secret Service became household names, there were the Pinkertons. Founded by Scottish immigrant Allan Pinkerton in 1850, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency hunted train robbers, infiltrated criminal gangs, protected Abraham Lincoln, and developed an enormous network of private investigators. Their famous logo—a watchful eye above the words "We Never Sleep"—helped give us the term "private eye." But the Pinkertons had a darker role. Industrialists hired them to infiltrate unions, break strikes, and confront workers. At their height, the agency reportedly employed more operatives than the United States had soldiers. In this episode of History Shorts , we trace the remarkable and controversial history of the Pinkerton Agency—from Civil War espionage and Wild West outlaws to violent labor disputes—and explore how a private detective organization became one of the most powerful forces in nineteenth-century America. SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.patreon.com/c/HistoryShortsPodcast ADVERTISE : https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/advertise LEARN MORE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/ SPONSORED BY: https://www.podcastrepublic.net/get-it-now