Lincoln vs. Frémont and His "Hasty Emancipation"

As the early days of the American Civil War were unfolding and the destiny of the republic was being contested on the battlefield, President Abraham Lincoln was engaged in a no less perilous type of battle. For Lincoln, the maintenance of Union loyalty within the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware was of critical importance to the ultimate preservation of the nation. "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky," he observed in the early days of the Civil War. A difficult task, to be sure, and the Western Department’s commander sure didn't make it easy for him. As you'll read inside "Lincoln vs. Frémont," Lawrence Weber's feature article in the Early Summer edition of the Civil War Quarterly, the Major General nicknamed "The Pathfinder" had his own plans for part of the nation's contested regions. A "Hasty Emancipation" In less than three weeks after the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, citing concerns for the public safety in Missouri, Frémont declared martial law in the state “in order to suppress disorders, to maintain as far as now practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens.” That was all well and good, but what he said next threatened the entire course of the war. “The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part wit