A card with text written by President Abraham Lincoln granting Ward Hill Lamon and a friend passage to Richmond and back. The card is housed in a silver case with dark red moire silk lining. The text reads: Allow the bearer, W.H. Lamon & friend with ordinary baggage to pass from Washington to Richmond and return./ -- A. Lincoln / April 11, 1865. The pass was written three days before Lincoln was shot. Ward Hill Lamon (1828–1893) was an old law partner and friend of Lincoln’s. During the Civil War, Lamon served as the marshal of the District of Columbia and often acted as Lincoln’s self-appointed bodyguard. On April 11, Lincoln dispatched Ward Hill Lamon to Richmond. Before leaving, Lamon begged him: “Promise me you will not go out at night while I am gone.” The President, who, in Lamon’s words, “thought me insane upon the subject of his safety,” promised to do as well as he could. Title and Alt title supplied by cataloger.
Type
image
Format
image/jpeg
Extent
1 card: paper; 7 cm x 9 cm (2 1/2 in. x 3 1/2 in.)
Lamon, Ward Hill, 1828-1893 Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Autographs Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Source
Papers of Ward Hill Lamon, 1848-1894 (bulk 1861-1879). United States Civil War, Huntington Digital Library
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