The National tribune., 1909-07-22
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
(Continued from page ope. }

lin battle-in short. being broken down
Iby many particular hurts, besides the
general infirmities of ags-1 feel that
have become an incnnibranee 10 the
army as well as TO mNfelf, and that
fought, giving way Ia aIyoGpt;ef com
Imander to seek the pauiativqs of phys
IicaI pain and exhaustion. ACCORDINGLY
1 beg the President. at the seaElies; mo-
ment, to allow me To heHplacsd on the
officers retired list. and then quietly to
lay myself up, probably forever, some-
where in or about New York. Hut wher-
ever 1 may spend my little Remainder
of life my frequent and latest prayer
will be, God save the Union.
II have the honor to be. sir, with
high respect, your obedient servant,
Winfield Scott
Gen. Scott was finally retired Nov. 1.
1851, went to Europe for a little while,
and died at West Point May 30. 1866.
| He had the qualification before his
death of seeing the Union, which he
had served so graDdly, restored and
peace smiling upon the distracted land
Gen. John C. Fremont.
Another commander who was to be
a thorn in the side of the President was
Gen. John Charles Fremont. Fremont
was a man of inordinate ambition. His
ambition was being constantly stirred
by Mrs. Fremont, a beautiful and ac-
lcomplished woman, who was the daugh-
ter of that grand old Missoat1an, Seii-
ator Thomas Hart Benton. Fremont had
run away with Jessie Benton when he
was only a Second Lieutenant and he
was constantly being melted by her TO
do something to give him fame and
prominence. In California he had
shown himself so insubordinate and in
capable as to bring about a court-mar-
fiol dicr,ofSco1 from the ArUlv after
which he went into politics and was
elected Senator from the new state
of California. He became an ardent
Free Soiler, and was nominated by the
young Republican Party for President
in 1856 and made a phenomenal run
His achievements as pathfinder
were made much of in the campaign
Literature. Upon the outbreak of the
war he sought employment, and was
made Major-General in the Regular
Army, to rank next after Gen. Geo. B.
l Mcclellan.
Fremont was one of the many men
in the country who thought themselves
superior in ability and experience to
Abraham Lincoln. He expected that
Lincoln would make a complete fail
ure-so complete as to enforce a
change, and after Fremont was made a
Major-General and ordered to COM
mand beyond the Mississippi he I'm
gered about Washington to take ad
vantage of any cataclysm until Gen.
Scott peremptorily ordered him 10 re-
pair to his command. There he showed
extraordinary incompetence. by which
Gen. Lyon was sacificed. He set UP a
sort of vice regal court in st. Louis, and
began acting as if an independent ruler.
At that time the course that the Border
;. States were to take was afl-important,
and every military and political act had
ha pnnSiderG1 with fp
them. For his own conscience and foI
the highest political wisdom President
Lincoln was exceedingly, ,desirous thai
all OF the promises to the Republican
Party should be vigorously fulfilled. In
spite of this Fremont. thinking himself
IStrong enough to oyerrule the PreSi-
dent. issued proclamation confiscat-
ing the property Of all persors in the
lS.ete of Missouri who shall take up
arms against the United States. or who
shall be directly proven to have taken
an active part with their enemies in
Tie field" He ordered the slaves of all
such persons to be freed, and estab-
, lished "a Bureau of Abolition" 10 carry
out Fremont's idea of manunfitting al
the slaves in Missouri. This gave the
greatest offense to theslpeopIe of the
Border States. as well as to ;!Ie .ii,oder-
ate Republicans and Democrats. who
were carrying the burden of the war.
EhtHeTcu dDOut NM a mum
Der of his old coterie of ill-favOr In
California, and TO these was added q
most astonishing clique of adventurer.
from Europe, whom our troubles hat
attracted to where the quarry was.
frightful regime of extravaganza ant
/, grave Irregularities followed, which
enormously increased the burden of TIL,
! President, since they We're done unGe
! ! the cover OF the great name of the frs
y Presidential candidate of the Repub
{ lcan Party. In the midst of this oc
Cured the useless sacrifice OF Gen
F.. Lyon and the humiliation of the sur
i render of Lexington, both directl.
n traceable to Fremont's gross incompe
a tence. President Lincoln was inaii
forced to remove Fremont in Novem
r Der.
Troubles In Kentucky.
l. Far from being the smaller of LII
d lmomentous burdens which Presiden
t Lincoln wa.s carrying at this time wa
x his solicitude as to tine attitude of Ken
n lucky, his native State The centrs
made her as important to the West a
Virginia was to the East. The COZ
j. spirators had made every possible pre-
:, paration for carrying the State into 81
g ccssion with her Governor, a large poi
ton OF the Legislature, Vice Presidei
4 | Brecklnrldge ana zen. >. Is. buckHe
u controlling her militia, actively in fave
:. of withdrawing from the Union. I'll
w Kentucky people. who did their ow
thinking, absolutely refused TO
i'd stampeded into secession as those
other States had been, yet such was II
he grasp that Magoffin and his coterie ha
upon the State machinery that 1t va
necessary for the Union men to a.
2f with great circumspection. and Pres
n dent Lincoln had to carefEIly scan II
cc conditions so as to give all possible a
en- to them.
To The elections in Kentucky having r.
u; suited in Union majority in the lie
IS islature It was determined for the tin
=. being t. maintain the neutrality of II
cd State. This was for the purpose
IN gaining time to consolidate the Unit