Timothy Webster

Date of birth:12. 03. 1822
Date of death:29. 04. 1862
Age:40† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1800s
Time Imprisoned:
3 Months 28 Days
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Timothy Webster

Biography

Timothy Webster, an English-born operative of Pinkerton's detective agency, was one of the Union's most effective secret agents, moving through the South disguised as a secessionist courier. Betrayed after two fellow agents sent to check on him were recognized in Richmond, he was tried by the Confederacy as a spy and hanged there on 29 April 1862 — the first execution of a spy by either side in the Civil War.

Note: Pinkerton's institutional history gives April 30, 1862; this record uses April 29, 1862.

Case

Castle Godwin
Charges: Tried by the Confederacy as a Union spy operating in Richmond.
Incarcerated: 1862
Released: Apr 29, 1862
Sentence: Hanged at Richmond on 29 April 1862. Verdict as recorded: Convicted of espionage by Confederate authority, 1862
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Virginia

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