Joseph Gales Shelton - Lincoln guard at Ford's?

[Rhatkinson]

I read this article off a DC history twitter feed: http://buff.ly/1zZOSF5 and it states that Shelton was assigned to the White House as a guard during the War and accompanying the President to Ford's on 4/14/1865. The quotes from the story stump me because I cannot find anything but a brief mention of Shelton's death on the bottom right corner of page 13 of the paper. There is nothing else regarding him on the next page.

Regardless, I have never heard Shelton's name mentioned in connection with the night of the assassination, and would guess this is probably not true. I can't even tell if Shelton was DC Police or US Army.

Heath

[RJNorton]

Hi Heath. I had the following information on file.

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In the fall of 1864 it was decided that a detail of the Washington Metropolitan Police force would be assigned to protect the President. This was at the request of Ward Hill Lamon, United States Marshall for the District of Columbia and a close friend of Lincoln's. Lamon had become increasingly fearful for the President's life. On November 3, 1864, the initial detail was composed of John R. Cronin, Alphonso Dunn (or Donn), Thomas F. Pendel, and Alexander (or Andrew) C. Smith. Changes were occasionally made, although the detail was never more than 5 officers at any one time. Other officers who served in the detail included William S. Lewis, William H. Crook, George W. McElfresh, Thomas T. Hurdle, Joseph Shelton, John F. Parker, and D. Hopkins. Parker was assigned to the detail sometime between late February and early April, 1865.

SOURCES: "The Mystery of Lincoln's Guard" by James O. Hall in the May, 1982, issue of the Surratt Society News, and "Lincoln's Missing Guard" by Fred Hatch in the April 2006 edition of the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination.

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Personally, I have never read that Shelton was on duty that night. I have seen Crook, Pendel, and Donn mentioned with regard to the White House that night, and Parker at Ford's, but no mention of Shelton whatsoever for the night of April 14th.

[Jim Garrett]

Rich and I cover Shelton in "The Lincoln Assassination, Where Are they Now". He is buried in Congressional Cemetery. He claimed to have helped carry the dying President across the street to the Petersen house. Funny thing about that, he seems tobe the only one to remember him at Ford's. Just sayin'