HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, September 8, 1861.
The PRESIDENT:
MY DEAR SIR: Your
letter of the 2d, by special messenger, I know to have been written before you
had received my letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid
development of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this
quarter. I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the
incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory
accounts; and, secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid before
you would demand too much of your time.
Trusting to have
your confidence, I have been leaving it to events themselves to show you
whether or not I was shaping affairs here according to your ideas. The shortest
communication between Washington and Saint Louis generally involves two days,
and the employment of two days in time of war goes largely towards success or
disaster. I therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the
result of my movements to justify me with you.
And so in regard to
my proclamation
of the 30th. Between the rebel armies, the Provisional Government, and home
traitors, I felt the position bad and saw danger. In the night I decided upon
the proclamation and the form of it. I wrote it the next morning and printed it
the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, acting
solely with my best judgment to serve the country and yourself, and perfectly
willing to receive the amount of censure which should be thought due if I had
made a false movement. This is as much a movement in the war as a battle, and
in going into these I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground
before me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection your better judgment
still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the liberation of slaves,
I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the correction. The
implied censure will be received as a soldier always should the reprimand of
his chief. If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself
thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity
of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation, and upon
the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary, and I think
so still.
In regard to the
other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I desire to say that I do
not think the enemy can either misconstrue or urge anything against it, or
undertake to make unusual retaliation. The shooting of men who shall rise in
arms against an army in the military occupation of a country is merely a
necessary measure of defense, and entirely according to the usages of civilized
warfare. The article does not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly
our enemies have no ground for requiring that we should waive in their benefit
any of the ordinary advantages which the usages of war allow to us. As
promptitude is itself an advantage in war, I have also to ask that you will
permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the proclamation in this
respect. Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong
and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our arms; and
hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,
I am, with respect and regard, very truly,
yours,
J. C. FREMONT.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 3
(Serial No. 3), p. 377-378; A copy of this letter can be found in The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
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