When Abraham Lincoln was elected president he asked his former law partner and friend Ward Hill Lamon to accompany him to Washington. A physically imposing man, Lamon was appointed by Lincoln the U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia. Out of friendship and loyalty the Virginian also considered himself the president’s bodyguard. On the night Lincoln was assassinated Lamon was on assignment in Richmond. The death of the president plagued Lamon the rest of his life as he believed his presence could have prevented the murder. He later lived in Martinsburg and is buried in Gerrardstown. r