Ward Hill Lamon

Background

Ward Hill Lamon, the son of George and Elizabeth (Ward) Lamon, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, but lived as a boy at Bunker Hill, Berkeley County, now in West Virginia.

Education

He received a common-school education in West Virginia. In 1847, he attended the University of Louisville to receive his law degree.

Career

After his studies Lamon returned to Danville, where he was soon admitted to the bar. In 1852 he became the Danville partner of Lincoln, whose circuit-riding life he shared and whose friendship he enjoyed to a marked degree. By 1859 he had moved to Bloomington. Having joined the Republican party, he campaigned for Lincoln and was chosen to accompany the President-Elect to Washington in February 1861, being particularly responsible for Lincoln's safety when rumored assassination plots caused the scheduled itinerary to be changed to a secret night journey from Harrisburg to Washington.

In March 1861 he was sent as Lincoln's personal agent to Charleston, S. C. , where he found himself the target of popular derision. After conferring with Governor Pickens and Major Anderson, both of whom received from him the impression that Fort Sumter would be evacuated, he reported to Lincoln the inflamed condition of Southern sentiment. On April 6, 1861, Lincoln appointed him marshal of the District of Columbia. After the outbreak of war he tried to raise a "loyal" brigade in Virginia; took in Illinois troops to fill up his incomplete organization; served briefly in the field; and then returned to the marshalship at the capital. His giant frame, handsome appearance, and exuberant, swashbuckling air made him a conspicuous figure as he made arrests, executed the orders of the circuit court of the District, and performed such ceremonial duties as introducing people to the President at levees.

Intense in his hatred of abolitionists, he was drawn into controversies over escaping slaves and figured in various conflicts between the military and civil authorities. Out of this situation grew various senatorial attacks upon him and the court he served, as well as clashes with the military governor of the district of Washington (H. G. Pearson, James S. Wadsworth, 1913, pp. 136-39). The radical onslaughts upon the marshal reacted upon Lincoln, who was criticized for keeping a Southern pro-slavery man in a position so responsible and so personally close to himself. When plots were suspected on every hand in 1864, Lamon slept next to Lincoln's bedchamber and supervised the patrolling of the White House grounds. It was the regret of his life that he was absent from Washington (on a mission to Richmond) on the night of the assassination.

Resigning as marshal in June 1865, he became a law partner of Jeremiah S. Black. In 1872 there was issued The Life of Abraham Lincoln from His Birth to His Inauguration as President, by Ward H. Lamon. This book was written by Chauncey F. Black and was based chiefly upon material that Lamon bought from W. H. Herndon. It was intended as the first volume of an extended biography; but public dissatisfaction with its realistic treatment of Lincoln caused the project for the second volume to be dropped.

From 1879 to 1886, his partnership with Black having been dissolved, he lived in Colorado, chiefly Denver, seeking health and practising law. His later years were spent mainly in Washington and in European travel. He died near Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Achievements

• Lamon was mainly known as a personal friend and self-appointed bodyguard of U. S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was famously absent the night Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, having been sent by Lincoln to Richmond, Virginia. He also participated in publishing the book about the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lincoln's Love Affairs: And His Early Experiences as a Lawmaker (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Lincoln's Love Affairs: And His Early Experi...)

  • Ward H. Lamon and the Chicago tribune

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865

    ( When President-elect Abraham Lincoln was preparing to g...)

  • Abraham Lincoln's Law Practice: Lincoln as Lawyer and Debater (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's Law Practice: Lincoln as L...)

  • The Life of Abraham Lincoln as President

    (This book was written by Ward Hill Lamon- Abraham Lincoln...)

Connections

Lamon was married to Angelina (Turner) Lamon. She died in April 1859, leaving one daughter. His second wife, Sally (Logan) Lamon, daughter of Stephen T. Logan, had died in Brussels, Belgium, in 1892.

Father:

George Lamon

Mother:

Elizabeth (Ward) Lamon

Spouse:

Sally (Logan) Lamon

Spouse:

Angelina (Turner) Lamon

Partner:

Jeremiah S. Black

Friend:

Abraham Lincoln

U.S. President