The Inauguration on March 4, 1861 was another logistical nightmare. Benjamin French asked me to be an assistant marshal for the event. Our job was to work with General Winfield Scott to use all the resources that we could muster to insure that no one would disrupt the ceremony. That entailed posting sharp shooters on the roofs of buildings, having military personnel, some in uniform and others in civilian clothes, guarding the intersections and standing both on and in front of the platform where the president would speak.
Cavalry were assigned in front, in back and alongside the carriage that carried Mr. Lincoln and President Buchanan to the capitol. I was uncomfortable with all the potentially disastrous situations. I was serious about being aware and alert and even took the day off from my usual proclivity toward alcoholic beverages.
Fortunately, the day went off without a hitch. Mr. Lincoln seemed comfortable with the new responsibility. Mrs. Lincoln took me aside and asked me if I remembered that she had predicted, probably a dozen years ago, that Mr. Lincoln would someday be President. I certainly do remember. She had told me, “He is to be President of the United States someday. If I had not thought so I never would have married him.”
The day ended with the Inaugural Ball. I was exhausted, but encouraged that our intense planning had made the event safe for the chief executive.
The newspaper reporter writing about the event, mentioned that the presidential carriage was guarded by a cavalry troop that included “a giant, garbed in a coat of military cut, with two pistols and a bowie knife in his sash of red, mounted on a splendid horse in the center of the guards in the rear of the vehicle.” The man he was describing was me.
W. H. Lamon
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