“We shouldn’t be trading with people who are making war against us,” agreed Fremont. “New York’s businesses are facilitating the commerce of the Confederate Union. They are underwriting its bonds and paying taxes to sustain its government. So why should they be allowed to profit from our trade?”
“Our Republican friends over there don’t seem to be any more principled than the Democrats, do they?” asked Curtin. “It makes no difference to them that their business is helping to sustain the Slave State war against us.”
“As long as they’re able to profit by trading with both sides they’ll do it,” Lincoln answered. “But, like John said, that has to stop. New Yorkers must be forced to decide whether to cast their lot with their Free State friends or with the slave interests in the so-called Confederate Union. They must decide whether the Confederates can keep them supplied with food, coal, and commerce better than we can.”
“I understand,” said Fremont. “My first order will be to appoint Reynolds the commanding officer of the Military District of Southern New Jersey. He will lead an expedition to occupy our side of the Delaware extending to Cape May. I’ll see to the strengthening of our lines in Northern New Jersey under Warren’s command. But I also have something else in mind.”
Fremont paused for effect.
“What is it?” Lincoln finally asked.
“Our men have taken control of the two northernmost counties of Virginia, in the strip that juts up past Pittsburgh. About four hundred slaves have been brought without our lines. Should you not set them free by executive proclamation? That would send a bolt of lighting into the fence the New Yorkers are sitting on. It would make them understand that this war is about freedom and not just about whether they’re going to be governed from Washington or Cleveland.
“We should also be advancing down the Kanawha, the Shenandoah, and into Delaware and Maryland. We should be arming the slaves and enlisting them in our army. Instead of waiting for the Confederate Union to attack us here, let’s make them defend their territory. Let’s make them garrison every slave plantation within a hundred miles of the military frontier. Then let’s see how many men they have left to attack us.”
Lincoln was startled by the boldness of Fremont’s plan. “You don’t think small, do you, John?” He sighed. “As much as I would like to follow your idea of freeing the slaves who come within our reach, I think it best that we say nothing about it for the time being. I would like to make a serious attempt in good faith to negotiate our way out of the Confederate Union. That will not succeed if we inflame the Confederates by freeing the slaves inside our lines in northwestern Virginia or at any other point where we may advance.”
Lincoln cut Fremont off before he could object. “Nevertheless, I will take your suggestion under advisement. If there is no negotiated peace within ninety days I will give my utmost consideration to announcing the liberation of slaves held within our lines.”
Fremont made no reply. I will find some way, by hook or by crook, to liberate the slaves within my reach. Not only will this advance my personal fortunes, but it is the right thing to do. It will throw the Confederates into a panic and cause them to divert their men into garrisoning their slave plantations instead of coming after us. Once Mr. Lincoln understands the wisdom of this policy he will endorse it.
That ended the political discussion. For the rest of the evening Fremont regaled Lincoln and Curtin with stories about the battle at Gettysburg, in particular how his surprise attack had panicked the unprepared Confederates and sent them scurrying back across the Maryland line.
“We would have bagged the whole lot of them if I hadn’t been knocked off my horse by that rock the Confeds threw at me,” Fremont boasted.
“What rock?” Lincoln asked. “I thought you were unhorsed by a shell splinter.”
“That’s what I thought too,” explained Fremont. “But it turned out to be a piece of stone that they cut out of my arm. The Confederates were in such a rush to attack us that their ordnance people forgot to pack ammunition for their cannons. One of their officers ordered his men to bust off the ornamental stone balls on the fence posts and shoot them at us. The stone balls busted up inside the cannon. Cut our men to pieces and broke up our attack. I’ve read in the Confederate press that they’ve taken to calling the Colonel who pulled that stunt ‘Stoneballs Jackson!’”
Lincoln laughed. “Well, keep a sharp lookout for old ‘Stoneballs’ in your next battle. A man with that moniker is bound to be dangerous! Who knows what he might think of next to shoot at you!”
“That’s right!” echoed Governor Curtin who had become tipsy on the wine. “Next time it might be horse turds they let loose at you!”
Fremont thought that was hilarious. Lincoln laughed too.
With that the discussion concluded and the men retired to their rooms. They would be rising early in the morning to take the stage into Gettysburg thirty miles south of town.
When the Lincolns closed the door Mrs. Lincoln began gossiping about the Fremonts. “Be careful what you say around those Fremonts. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. You know they’re in a free love marriage. Mr. Fremont goes tomcatting around with whomever he pleases, and Mrs. Fremont doesn’t mind it a bit. Mr. Fremont lets her handle the business and she lets him handle the affairs.”
Lincoln chuckled. What Mrs. Lincoln said had been substantiated by others. Lincoln suspected that the Fremonts’ unconventional marriage was one of the many irritants that had had caused the Free State Congress to declare him the “Provisional” President then boot him out of the office.
“Well, Dear,” said Mr. Lincoln. “Perhaps we’d best tend to our own marriage and let the Fremonts tend to theirs.”
Mrs. Lincoln snarled at the implication that their marriage was less than perfect, but her husband cut her off before she could cast one of her barbs. He smiled. “Not that we have much tending to do, Mother. Our marriage has brought us across a lifetime together. It has brought us a long way from that little frontier town of Springfield. It has brought us all the way to this new country.”
Mrs. Lincoln was charmed. “Yes, Father, you have become our Moses to lead us out of wilderness.” She took off her dress, loosened her corset, and sat down on the bed. “Would you mind reading me the speech you will make tomorrow?”
“I will be glad to,” said Mr. Lincoln, “as long as you promise not to heckle!”
Mr. Lincoln took his Gettysburg Address from out of his pocket and read it aloud:
Four score and several years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a Second War of Independence, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated may long endure. We are met on a battlefield of that war guarding the approaches to the Cradle of Liberty where that nation was conceived. We have come to honor those who here gave their lives so that the Lamp of Liberty lit by our fathers shall continue to illuminate the world unto the latest generation.
We may be certain that our dedication to the principles of 1776 will be tested as surely today as they were tested then. They were tested at Delphi, as surely as they were tested at Lexington and Concord. They were tested here again at Gettysburg as surely as they were tested at Bunker Hill. Now, as then, the embattled citizens of a Free Republic stood their ground and turned back the armies sent forth by the tyrant to conquer them.