The Pinkertons, formally known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, is a private security guard and detective agency established in the United States by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Originally founded as the North-Western Police Agency, the organization became one of the most prominent private law enforcement and investigation firms in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The agency gained early national recognition for its work in preventing an alleged assassination plot against President-elect Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore in 1861. During the American Civil War, Allan Pinkerton and his agents provided intelligence and counterintelligence services for the Union Army under General George B. McClellan.
Following the war, the Pinkertons were frequently contracted by railroad companies and the federal government to apprehend outlaws in the American West, including figures such as Jesse James, the Reno Gang, and the Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. The agency's logo, featuring an open eye with the slogan "We Never Sleep," served as the origin for the term "private eye."
In the late 19th century, the Pinkertons became heavily involved in labor-management disputes. Corporations hired the agency to infiltrate labor unions, provide plant security, and supply strikebreakers. This period of the agency's history is marked by significant controversy, most notably the Homestead Strike of 1892. During this event, a violent confrontation occurred between striking steelworkers and armed Pinkerton agents at the Carnegie Steel Company plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, resulting in multiple deaths on both sides. This incident led to the passage of the Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893, which prohibited the United States government from employing the agency or similar private paramilitary forces.
In the modern era, the organization transitioned away from labor operations toward corporate security and risk management. In 1999, the agency was acquired by the Swedish security firm Securitas AB. It currently operates as Pinkerton, a subsidiary providing specialized risk management, investigations, and protective services.
