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[RJNorton]

(08-03-2016 12:45 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Just a side response to the fact that Mrs. Lincoln saved Parker from the draft: I don't think that instituted any friendship between the two. The prime duty of the White House guards (of which he was one) was to protect the interior furnishings from the constant theft, vandalism, souvenir snipping, etc. Mrs. Lincoln had spent a lot of money on much of those furnishings and wanted them protected.

According to Mr. James O. Hall Presidential protection was important, too.

Mr. Hall writes:

"Ward Hill Lamon, United States Marshall for the District of Columbia and a close friend of President Lincoln, had become increasingly fearful for the President's life. In October of 1864 he asked Superintendent Webb (who preceded A.C. Richards) to furnish a detail of police officers to be stationed at the White House."

Mr. Hall goes on to say that these officers reported to Lamon himself at the White House, and that Parker was not part of the original detail but became a member in March 1865.

Mr. Hall also mentions that on March 22, 1865, Superintendent A.C. Richards prepared a list of his officers who could not provide draft subsitutes. Two of the men named were White House officers: Joseph Shelton and John F. Parker.

I read somewhere, and I forget where, that Mary Lincoln (in addition to the note she wrote for Parker) wrote a note for Shelton as well (saving him from the draft, also).