Lincoln and his Marshal
Abraham Lincoln of Antietam Battlefield, September
1862. U.S. Marshal Ward Hill Lamon, who was as tall as the
President, was seated at left so as not to distract from Lincoln.
Lamon acted as Lincoln's unofficial body guard. On Thursday, April
13, 1865, Lincoln sent Lamon to Richmond, Virginia. The next
night, Lincoln went to see "Our American Cousin" at Ford's theatre.
Picture - Library of Congress
Returning from Fort Sumter,
Lamon again met briefly with the governor. He urged Pickens to allow
Anderson and his men to evacuate the fort unharmed. Pickens decided
against Lamon's advice.
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12. 1861, the South Carolina forces began
bombarding the fort. After withstanding the cannonade for 34 hours,
Major Anderson surrendered his command on the afternoon of April 13. The
Civil War, the supreme test of the federal system of government, had
Worried that his contribution to the war as U.S. Marshal would not be
enough, Ward Hill Lamon decided to do more. On the morning of April 22.
1861, he renewed his oath to "support, protect and
defcnd" the Constitution. In the summer of that first year of war. Lamon
began enlisting army volunteers among loyal Virginians. He hoped to form
a "Virginia Brigade" to fight in the Union Army.
President Lincoln supported the plan and Secretary
of War Simon Cameron authorized Lamon to draw on the
Union Army for arms. ammunition, and other supplies. Although Lamon
hoped to find volunteers
among loyal Virginians, that proved difficult because of the
"demoralization of the people there" over Union defeats. In September
1861, he traveled to Pennsylvania and Illinois enlisting recruits. He
returned with a command of seven hundred men. Early in the war, the
"Virginia Brigade," as Lamon insisted on calling it, guarded the forts
along the Potomac River. Lamon wore the rank of brigadier general. but
he also retained his commission as U.S. Marshal. In addition to his
Lamon took upon himself the difficult task of
protecting Lincoln, who had no patience with protective measures. One
story has it that on the night of Lincoln's inauguration Lamon slept,
with pistols and Bowie knife, on the floor outside the new president's
bedroom, his large body stretched in front of the door. The marshal also
accompanied Lincoln on many of the president's trips. In November 1863,
for example, Marshal Lamon escorted the President to Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, where Lincoln dedicated the new Union cemetery.
"As God is my judge, I believe if I
had been in the city, it would not have
happened and had it, I know the assassin would not have escaped
Lincoln objected to Lamon's
constant efforts to protect him. A fatalist, the President shrugged off
the idea that someone would kill him. "He (the President) thought me
insane upon the subject of his safety," Lamon remembered in late April
1865, "and that I had been for the past four years insanely apprehensive
of his safety." Even after attempts had been made on Lincoln's life, the
made little effort to protect himself.
On Thursday, April 13, 1865, Lincoln sent Marshal Lamon to
Union-occupied Richmond. At their final interview before Lamon's
departure, the marshal begged the President to take care. The next day,
Lincoln accepted an invitation to attend Laura Keene's one thousandth
performance in Our American Cousins. John Wilkes Booth, who truly
was insane over Lincoln's safety, also made a brief. and wholly tragic,
appearance at Ford's Theater that night.
"As God is my judge," Lamon
lamented. "I believe if I had been in the city, it would not have
happened and had it, I know that the assassin would not have escaped the
town." After Lincoln's assassination, Lamon performed one last duty for
his murdered friend. He and his deputies arranged the last rites, taking
Lincoln's remains home to Springfield for the funeral.
Less than two months later, Lamon resigned his commission as United
States Marshal for the District of Columbia.
Excerpt from Frederick S. Calhoun, United States Marshals and
Their Deputies, 1789-1989