Ward Hill Lamon

Ward Hill Lamon (January 6, 1828 – May 7, 1893) was an American law enforcement officer who was a personal friend and self-appointed bodyguard of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. Lamon was absent the night Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, having been sent by Lincoln to Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Lamon's family name was spelled by some relatives with an "e" and by others with an "a", and was pronounced as "lemon" regardless of spelling. Lamon's relationship with Lincoln has been traced by Clint Clay Tilton in Lincoln and Lamon. Lamon was born near Winchester, Virginia, studied medicine for two years, and moved to Danville, Illinois, when he was 19 to live with relatives. He attended the University of Louisville to receive his law degree and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1851.

In 1850, he moved back to Virginia, married Angelina Turner, and then returned to Illinois to practice law. Angelina was a daughter of Ehud and Priscilla Strode Turner, whose house at Beddington, West Virginia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 as the Priscilla Strode Turner House. Angelina died in April 1859, leaving a daughter, Dorothy, who was raised in Danville by Lamon's sister, Mrs. William Morgan.

In November 1860, Lamon married Sally Logan, daughter of Judge Stephen T. Logan. Logan had been Lincoln's law partner from 1841 to 1844.

Early years with Lincoln

Lamon's professional association with Lincoln started in 1852. Lamon became the prosecuting attorney for the Old Eighth Judicial district and moved to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1858. While Lamon had Southern sympathies and his hatred of abolitionism set him apart from Lincoln, they remained friends, despite their very different characters.