Private and confidential.
Washington D. C. Sept. 2, 1861.
Major General
Fremont,
My dear Sir: Two
points in your proclamation
of August 30th give me some anxiety. First, should you shoot a man,
according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our
best man in their hands in retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It
is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot, under the proclamation,
without first having my approbation or consent.
Secondly, I think
there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in relation to the
confiscation of property, and the liberating slaves of traiterous owners, will
alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us. perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for
Kentucky. Allow me therefore to ask, that you will as of your own motion,
modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth
sections of the act of Congress, entitled, “An act to confiscate property used
for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August, 6th, 1861, and a copy of which
act I herewith send you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not
of censure
I send it by a
special messenger, in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.
Yours very truly
A. Lincoln
SOURCES: Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,
Volume 4, p. 508;
A copy of this letter can be found in The Abraham Lincoln
Papers at the Library of Congress
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