More confounding and problematic was the foray of the second emissary, Ward Lamon, Lincoln’s sometime bodyguard who had accompanied him on his inaugural journey. In Charleston he and Hurlbut parted company. Lamon checked into the Charleston Hotel and there met with Governor Pickens. Lamon was known to be a close associate of Lincoln’s, and thus his visit had a quasi-official aura. He also bore with him a letter of introduction from Postmaster General Montgomery Blair stating that he had been sent to Charleston as an agent of the post office, but no one seemed to take this letter seriously. The
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