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Lamon (Ward Hill) Papers
mssLN
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Ward Hill Lamon papers
Creator:
Lamon, Ward Hill, 1828-1893
Identifier/Call Number: mssLN
Physical Description:
38.6 Linear Feet
(33 boxes, 4 volumes)
Date (inclusive): 1848-1894
Date (bulk): 1861-1879
Abstract: This collection contains the personal and professional papers of attorney and United States Marshal of the District of Columbia
Ward Hill Lamon (1818-1891), a close friend and a biographer of Abraham Lincoln. The collection includes source materials
for Lamon's biography of Lincoln and papers covering Lamon's own life and career, including numerous letters addressed to
Lamon seeking Lincoln's patronage and papers related to Lamon's activities during the Civil War.
Language of Material: English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Ward Hill Lamon papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased by Henry Huntington from George D. Smith, January, 1914.
The papers were purchased in 1912 by George D. Smith from Ward H. Lamon's daughter Dorothy (Lamon) Teillard.
Ward Hill Lamon (1827-1893), law partner and friend of Abraham Lincoln, was born near Winchester, Virginia, and brought up
on a farm in Berkeley County, now West Virginia.
Lamon's association with Lincoln began in 1852, in Danville, Illinois, and continued there for five years. Then he moved
to Bloomington where he became very active in the newly formed Republican Party, and in furthering the cause of his friend;
the middle of February, 1861 found him en route to Washington, D. C., as companion and virtual body guard of the President
elect, and a few months later, upon the outbreak of war, he was appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia.
After Lincoln's death, Lamon resigned (June 1865) to become a law partner of Judge Jeremiah S. Black practicing as a claims
attorney in Washington, afterwards he also opened a law office in Martinsburg, West Virginia, which, during the 1780s, became
his headquarters. Throughout this period he made repeated efforts to secure some kind of official appointment, but always
without success, until finally, discouraged and in poor health, he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he remained for nearly
ten years practicing law, speculating in mining properties, and writing for the press.
In 1886 he returned to Washington and spent the rest of his life in writing and travel. In 1895, two years after Lamon's
death, his daughter, Dorothy Lamon Teillard, published an extended version of her father's work under the title
Recollections of Abraham Lincoln (1895).
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Ward Hill Lamon, chiefly dating from 1861 to 1879. The collection
contains source materials for a biography of Abraham Lincoln, including three volumes of materials purchased from William
Henry Hendon in 1869 and the correspondence related to the purchase; an unpublished typescript of Lamon's history of the Lincoln
administration, and other papers relating to his historical work, including items concerning the controversy over his
Life of Abraham Lincoln (published in 1872) and preparation of the second volume, never published.
Also included are papers that cover Lamon's own life and career. There are numerous letters with recommendations and applications
for office appointments under Lincoln, addressed to Lamon as intermediary; papers relating to Lamon's attempt to organize
a brigade of Unionist Virginians in 1861, with Lamon equipped as Colonel; office correspondence related to Lamon's role as
United States Marshal of the District of Columbia (1861-1865) and his claims practice after the war; and papers related to
a political attack on Lamon in 1862 by abolitionist senators over the continued enforcement of the fugitive slave law. There
are some papers related to cotton traffic and blockade running, 1864-1865.
Personal correspondence and documents include letters related to the hardships of relatives and friends living in the loyal
border counties of Virginia (1861-1865); political news and gossip from Illinois; and documents about Lamon's financial transactions
including wartime speculation and dealings in Colorado mining properties. There are also materials related to Lamon's efforts
to secure a government appointment including his run as a Republican candidate for West Virginia in the 45th Congress; and
applications for the office of Governor or Judge in the West, or a consular appointment abroad. There are also syndicated
newspaper articles.
Persons represented by ten or more pieces consist of:
- Amos Beckwith (12 pieces)
- Corrydon Beckwith (11 pieces)
- Mary A. Brown (12 pieces)
- David Davis (25 pieces)
- Hamilton G. Fant (12 pieces)
- John S. Gallaher (13 pieces)
- William H. Hanna (13 pieces)
- William Henry Herndon (38 pieces)
- Robert B. Holliday (12 pieces)
- Charles Edward Hovey (12 pieces)
- David O. Laws (12 pieces)
- William Ward Orme (21 pieces)
- Philip Pendelton (11 pieces)
- Charles H. Russell (10 pieces)
- John Wilson Shaffer (18 pieces)
- Leonard Swett (40 pieces)
- John Palmer Usher (11 pieces)
- Lawrence Weldon (10 pieces)
- John H Wickizer (13 pieces)
Some notable items include:
- Black, Jeremiah Sullivan. Letter to Ward H. Lamon, ... the millions of white men through all the country with wealth and intelligence have far less power in regard to their own affairs than the same number of persons in Russia and Turkey... York, March 7, 1869
- Frémont, Jessie (Benton). Letter to Lamon, ...I had written and copied a great deal to you. But the usual leakage at Washington makes public Gen. Thomas' & Gen. Hunter's plans. This explains to all why Hunter does not advance & why orders from Gen. Frémont are left unattended to... [St. Louis, October 31, 1861]
- Garfield, James A. letter to Ward H. Lamon, 1880 September 13 (LN 232)
- Grant, Ulysses S. letter to Edwin M. Stanton (contemporary copy), 1865 March 4 (LN 2348)
- Grant, Ulysses S. letter to Sidney S. Jerman (contemporary copy), 1865 March 27 (LN 1114)
- Herndon, William Henry. Analyses of the character and mind of Abraham Lincoln. 1865, December 12 and 26; 1866, January 23; 1870, March 3 (4 pieces)
- Johnson, Andrew letter to Ward H. Lamon, 1861 April 16 (LN 378)
- Lamon, Ward Hill. Unpublished typescript of the history of Abraham Lincoln's public and private life from his inauguration until his assassination, intended to be volume II, of Lamon's Life of Lincoln. [Denver, 1886]
- __________. Speech in support of Andrew Johnson. 1866
- __________. Autograph draft of the text of the statement, which was signed by Lamon, regarding the so-called Antietam Episode. September 12, 1864
- Logan, Stephen Trigg. Six letters from Judge Logan to Lamon, his son-in-law. Springfield, 1861-1865
- Maguire, John. Letter to Lamon giving recollections of Lincoln's attitude on the cotton traffic in 1864-1865. [Approximately 1870]
This finding aid was updated in 2022 by Melissa Haley as part of the American Presidential Papers Project with enhanced description
of the presidential material present.
Individual call numbers in the collection: mssLN 1-2470.
Items written by Abraham Lincoln that were originally part of this collection were transferred to the
Abraham Lincoln collection, mssLincoln, by Huntington Library staff in the mid-20th century.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Abolitionists -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Biographers -- United States -- Archives
Fugitive slaves -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States -- History -- Sources
Lawyers -- United States -- Archives
Politicians -- United States -- Archives
Unionists (United States Civil War) -- Virginia.
Colorado -- History -- 1876-1950 -- Sources
Illinois -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
Biographies -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Manuscripts -- United States -- 19th century
Personal Papers -- United States
Professional papers -- United States
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
Herndon, William Henry, 1818-1891 -- Archives
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
Lamon, Ward Hill, 1828-1893 -- Archives
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Friends and associates -- Archives
United States. Marshal (District of Columbia) -- History -- Sources.