Secret Service

The United States Secret Service began on July 5, 1865 in Washington D.C. to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William Wood was sworn in by secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch. Chief Wood was widely known for his heroism in the Civil War and was very successful in his first year, solving more than two hundred cases. Because he was so successful it helped prove the value of the Secret Service and in 1866 the National Headquarters was established in the Department of the Treasury building in Washington, D.C.

The same day President Lincoln established the Secret Service; John Wilkes Booth assassinated him at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The country mourned and news spread that the President had been shot. It was the first time in our nation's history that a President had been assassinated. As cries from citizens rang out, Congress began to think about adding Presidential protection to the list of duties performed by the Secret Service. However, it would take another 36 years and the assassination of two more Presidents James A. Garfield and William McKinley before the Congress added protection of the President to the list of duties performed by the Secret Service.

A few years in 1867 the secret service was broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government." This appropriation resulted in investigations into the Ku Klux Klan, non-confirming distillers, smugglers, mail robbers, land frauds,