Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861].

Annotation

[1]   ALS, IHi. This letter was delivered to General Curtis by Simon Cameron on October 12. Cameron carried also a letter from Lincoln to Fremont which is presumably not extant but is mentioned by Cameron in his letters to Lincoln of October 12 and 14 (DLC-RTL). Curtis replied under date of October 12, ``The question you propose . . . seems easily answered. It is only a question of manner and time. . . . '' (Ibid.). Cameron's letter of October 14 related an interview in which Fremont ``. . . . made an earnest appeal to me. . . . In reply to this appeal, I told him that I would withhold the order [for his removal] until my return

to Washington. . . . '' (Ibid.). The copy of Winfield Scott's order removing Fremont which is in the Lincoln Papers bears the date October 7, but appears in the Official Records (I, III, 553) under date of October 24, 1861. While Cameron was in St. Louis, Montgomery Blair was in the North sounding out leading persons on Fremont's removal. His letters of October 5 and 7 related that William C. Bryant, Horace Greeley, Governor John A. Andrew and others, received the proposed removal very well (Ibid.).