The Spy of the Rebellion also reveals a few surprising connections between the Adams Express case and the Lincoln plot. First, Kate’s cover in Baltimore as Mrs. Barley of Montgomery, Alabama — a fake Southern identity so that the secessionist women would trust her — was based on her experiences living in Montgomery for several months while undercover for the Adams Express case. Later, after Pinkerton’s team learned of the assassination plans in Baltimore, Kate went to New York to try to convince Norman B. Judd, one of Lincoln’s advisors, of the situation’s seriousness, while Pinkerton had gone directly to Philadelphia to begin working on a solution. Judd was unconvinced until Edward Sanford, Pinkerton’s client in the Adams Express case, suddenly appeared at the door. Sanford’s input was a convincing factor for Judd, and the stage was set for Pinkerton to speak to Lincoln in Philadelphia.

Despite the fact that this story has enough action to be a movie, the mission to save Lincoln from the Baltimore assassins only makes up the first few chapters of The Spy of the Rebellion. After that, Pinkerton goes on to describe his team’s (including Kate’s) various espionage exploits during the Civil War, and lemme tell ya, it’s much more interesting than anything you learned about in school. It details how, in addition to going undercover among Confederate women to gain useful information for the Union, Kate also headed up a whole department of women spies within Pinkerton’s agency. By his own report, Pinkerton’s spiel to potential women recruits was: “In my service you will serve your country better than on the field. I have several female operatives. If you agree to come aboard you will go in training with the head of my female detectives, Kate Warne. She has never let me down.” All of these women detectives likely had incredible stories of their own; however as The Professor noted, Pinkerton’s case files were destroyed in an 1871 fire, so the stories not published in his books are lost to history.