Draft of a Letter by an Unknown Member of Frémont’s Circle in the Western Department Outlining the Legal Arguments for Emancipation, Addressed to Frémont during his Tenure at the Western Department: “If you grant a pass to the slave, you recognize his power to enter into a solemn compact - so doing he ceases to be a slave, and your power of rendition ceases.”
[St. Louis, Missouri]: 1861. Handwritten letter on Western Department letterhead, 9 x 5 ½ inches bifolium. Docketed on rear “Rough sketch of letter to Maj Gen JC Fremont touching the rendition of a slave.”. In the turbulent summer and autumn of 1861, the headquarters of John C. Frémont’s Western Department.....