|
Prev
| Next
| Contents
USED "RUDE TACT."
General John C. Fremont, with headquarters at St. Louis, astonished the
country by issuing a proclamation declaring, among other things, that
the property, real and personal, of all the persons in the State of
Missouri who should take up arms against the United States, or who
should be directly proved to have taken an active part with its enemies
in the field, would be confiscated to public use and their slaves, if
they had any, declared freemen.
The President was dismayed; he modified that part of the proclamation
referring to slaves, and finally replaced Fremont with General Hunter.
Mrs. Fremont (daughter of Senator T. H. Benton), her husband's real
chief of staff, flew to Washington and sought Mr. Lincoln. It was
midnight, but the President gave her an audience. Without waiting for an
explanation, she violently charged him with sending an enemy to Missouri
to look into Fremont's case, and threatening that if Fremont desired to
he could set up a government for himself.
"I had to exercise all the rude tact I have to avoid quarreling with
her," said Mr. Lincoln afterwards.
Prev
| Next
| Contents
Stories and Anecdotes About the Life of Abraham Lincoln
|
|