Ward Hill Lamon and Allan Pinkerton were constantly at odds with one another over the best way to keep Abraham Lincoln safe. At one point, Lamon wanted to give Lincoln weapons to defend himself against whatever was waiting for him in Baltimore (with, yes, guns, brass knuckles, a knife, and a slingshot) but Pinkerton thought it might send the wrong message, saying “For I at once protested saying that I would not for the world have it said that Mr. Lincoln had to enter the National Capitol armed.”

However, attempting to sneak around Baltimore did end up being a topic of embarrassment for Lincoln throughout his time in office as the press would continue to use it repeatedly whenever they wanted to knock him for something.

Tune in tomorrow for PART 3!