Born in Winchester, Va., in 1828, Ward Hill Lamon became friends with future President Abraham Lincoln when they became law partners in Illinois in 1852. When Lincoln became president just a few years later, he called on Lamon to join him in Washington.
Lincoln appointed Lamon as U.S. Marshal of the District of Columbia. Lamon later, in the days before the Secret Service, took the role of Lincoln's self-appointed bodyguard. In that role, Lamon is said to have punched a man who was skulking outside the White House with such force that he killed him. (The man was later found to be a Southerner in possession of several weapons.) Lamon also is said to have slept outside Lincoln's bedroom door on occasion.
However, on the night Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Lamon was not by his side. He had been sent by Lincoln on an assignment to Richmond, Va., in the days following Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. According to a recent biographer, American history would be much different if Lamon had been at Ford's Theatre that night.
"Lamon always felt guilty about not begin there, but he had been sent away by Lincoln," biographer Bob O'Connor told The (Martinsburg, W.Va.) Journal on the 150th anniversary of the assassination. "Lamon always said he would have killed Booth (before Booth could have killed Lincoln)."
After the assassination, Lamon wrote two books on Lincoln's life. He lived in Colorado for a while before moving to Martinsburg, where he died in 1893.
This simple micro cache is located just feet from his gravestone. There aren't many places to look, so it shouldn't be difficult. Please remember that as this is a cemetery cache, hunts should be limited to daylight hours.
Good luck, and happy caching!