Lamon, Ward Hill

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Ward Hill Lamon
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Spouses
    2
    No. of Children
    1
    Family
    George Lamon (father), Elizabeth Ward (mother), Angelina Turner (first wife), Sally Logan (second wife)
    Occupation
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Republican
    Government
    Lincoln Administration (1861-65)

    Ward Hill Lamon (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    By 1852 [Ward Lamon] had become the Danville law partner of Abraham Lincoln and, together with other circuit-riding attorneys, including William Herndon and David Davis, was an intimate friend of the future president. Lamon was described by Stephen Oates as a "legendary boozer, who spent much of his time in the saloon under his office, where he sang lewd and comic songs" and by David Donald as one "famous for his rendition of Southern songs, for his wide assortment of smutty jokes, for his vocabulary of profanity, and for his capacity for liquor." Lamon remained close to Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. He helped organize Lincoln's 1858 senatorial campaign against Stephen Douglas and his 1860 presidential campaign. In February 1861 Lamon undertook to serve as Lincoln's bodyguard, replete with "two revolvers, two derringers, and two large knives," as the president-elect was secretly transported to Washington prior to his inauguration.
    Jonathan Lurie, "Lamon, Ward Hill," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/11/11-00506.html.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Lamon, Ward Hill. The Life of Abraham Lincoln: From His Birth to His Inauguration as President. Boston: Osgood, 1872. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Lamon, Ward Hill," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6055.