Sorting out the White House Staff

[RJNorton]

(06-08-2018 06:42 PM)kerry Wrote:  ETA: Thought that just occurred to me. In place of McManus and Burns, Pendel and Dunn/Donn were hired from the police force as ushers/doorkeepers. Pendel claims he was clearly intended as a bodyguard - I forget if Dunn was as well. But Lincoln wanted no fuss and plain clothes, so they seem to have initially posed as ushers. Perhaps this was an intentional deception? And the other doorkeepers were somehow taken care of elsewhere? I don't see Crook mentioned much.

Kerry, I checked to see what names I had regarding the White House policemen, and here's what I found:

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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.

SOURCE: "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 Frederick Hatch in the April 2006 edition of the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination.