Letter signed C. [Charles] Gibson, Atlantic City, to Governor Gamble, Uncle. I received your last letter just as I was leaving Washington, had already taken leave of Mr. Bates and bought my tickets. I was the more inclined to this course because I anticipated your election and I thought you recommendations would come with greater force when you were in office as the Union governor. I had, before receiving your letter, suggested to Mr. Bates my return to Washington in the contingency of the election by the convention of a good man to the office of governor. He said the administration was extremely anxious to bring matters to a condition in which the federal armies could be safely withdrawn. He did not seem fully to appreciate that many Missourians would serve faithfully as militiamen under the state government in supporting the laws, both federal and state, within the borders of the state, who would not enter the federal armies in this contest. I expect Mr. Bates to meet me either here or in Philadelphia shortly after the adjournment of Congress, when we intend visiting Colonel Van Allen of New York. I will then convene freely on the subject. I do not think the administration is inclined to force us all into the Republican Party, but many persons connected with it would like to do so. What I fear more than anything else is an attempt of the abolitionists to usurp the government and under the pretense of preserving the union and taking advantage of the passions inflamed by the war, to accomplish their hellish purposes. They know this would destroy all hopes of the Union by dividing the north and united the south to a man. I took occasion, on my last visit to Washington, to say to the President that Mr. Pomeroy of Kansas was doing us more injury by his abolition resolutions that Mr. Breckenridge was by his secession speeches. Mr. Bates, who was with me, joined heartily. During the next session of Congress I look for much trouble from these fanatics. As Governor of Missouri you can now represent with some force any outrages committed by our troops. I presume as a matter of course these representations should be first made to General Fremont, but if he does not correct them with nothing will give me greater pleasure than to represent in the strongest manner to the government at Washington the absolute necessity of punishing such offenses. I have done so as regards the shootings in the streets of St. Louis, but I was alone in my remonstrance and failed, except that I succeeded in getting Fremont stationed there. I fear the immediate presence of an immense army, army jobbers and contractors in and around Washington has localized the ideas of those in power, and so the importance of maintaining the government in distant parts is not fully appreciated. At least it appears to me this is the case regarding matters in Missouri. I am not interested in property in Norristown…too far from Washington, and as you will now be required by the constitution of Missouri to reside within the state, I suppose I will have to make some disposition of it. Individuals mentioned include Edward Bates, Colonel Van Allen, Congress, Pomeroy, General John C. Fremont, Breckenridge and President Lincoln. Places mentioned include Washington, St. Louis, Missouri and Norristown, Pennsylvania. (4 pages), 1861 Aug 2

Item — Box: 9, Folder: 5

Staff Only

Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center
Hamilton Rowan Gamble Papers (A0549)
Letter signed C. [Charles] Gibson, Atlantic City, to Governor Gamble, Uncle. I received your last letter just as I was leaving Washington, had already taken leave of Mr. Bates and bought my tickets. I was the more inclined to this course because I anticipated your election and I thought you recommendations would come with greater force when you were in office as the Union governor. I had, before receiving your letter, suggested to Mr. Bates my return to Washington in the contingency of the election by the convention of a good man to the office of governor. He said the administration was extremely anxious to bring matters to a condition in which the federal armies could be safely withdrawn. He did not seem fully to appreciate that many Missourians would serve faithfully as militiamen under the state government in supporting the laws, both federal and state, within the borders of the state, who would not enter the federal armies in this contest. I expect Mr. Bates to meet me either here or in Philadelphia shortly after the adjournment of Congress, when we intend visiting Colonel Van Allen of New York. I will then convene freely on the subject. I do not think the administration is inclined to force us all into the Republican Party, but many persons connected with it would like to do so. What I fear more than anything else is an attempt of the abolitionists to usurp the government and under the pretense of preserving the union and taking advantage of the passions inflamed by the war, to accomplish their hellish purposes. They know this would destroy all hopes of the Union by dividing the north and united the south to a man. I took occasion, on my last visit to Washington, to say to the President that Mr. Pomeroy of Kansas was doing us more injury by his abolition resolutions that Mr. Breckenridge was by his secession speeches. Mr. Bates, who was with me, joined heartily. During the next session of Congress I look for much trouble from these fanatics. As Governor of Missouri you can now represent with some force any outrages committed by our troops. I presume as a matter of course these representations should be first made to General Fremont, but if he does not correct them with nothing will give me greater pleasure than to represent in the strongest manner to the government at Washington the absolute necessity of punishing such offenses. I have done so as regards the shootings in the streets of St. Louis, but I was alone in my remonstrance and failed, except that I succeeded in getting Fremont stationed there. I fear the immediate presence of an immense army, army jobbers and contractors in and around Washington has localized the ideas of those in power, and so the importance of maintaining the government in distant parts is not fully appreciated. At least it appears to me this is the case regarding matters in Missouri. I am not interested in property in Norristown…too far from Washington, and as you will now be required by the constitution of Missouri to reside within the state, I suppose I will have to make some disposition of it. Individuals mentioned include Edward Bates, Colonel Van Allen, Congress, Pomeroy, General John C. Fremont, Breckenridge and President Lincoln. Places mentioned include Washington, St. Louis, Missouri and Norristown, Pennsylvania. (4 pages), 1861 Aug 2

Letter signed C. Gibson [Charles Gibson], Atlantic City, to Governor Gamble [Hamilton R. Gamble], August 2, 1861

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Hamilton Rowan Gamble Papers consist of deeds, early land grants, surveys, a St. Louis court docket book (1816-1833), bills of sale, legal papers regarding land ownership and business agreements, letters pertaining to causes of the Civil War, letters regarding the raising of a state militia, correspondence with political and military leaders, account books and receipts. Papers pertaining to land cases include deeds from French and Spanish ownership of this area, such as a deed between Pierre Chouteau and his wife who sold land for $248 to Meriwether Lewis (box 1/folder 2); a land grant to Andrew Bowen from President James Monroe with the presidential seal (box 1/folder 5); notes on Doit Delany’s land between Creve Coeur Lake and the Missouri River, part of a land grant to Antoine Reynal by the Spanish government (box 6/folder 1); a copy of the land paper from May 23, 1772, signed by Laclede Liguest, et al., designating land granted in the name of the king (box 5/folder 3). Papers regarding slave cases in the courts of Missouri include an 1805 freedom suit by Celeste, an Indian woman, versus Madame Chevalier (box 1/folder 2). An 1827 case of Margrite versus Pierre Chouteau, Sr., explains that the plaintiff’s grandmother, an Indian, was taken in war by the French and possibly sold as a slave in 1769 (box 2/folder 5). Subsequent papers in the collection show that the case was dismissed in 1838 for want of jurisdiction (box 6/folder 6). Letters to and from Gamble from the years before and during the Civil War illuminate the issue of slavery and emancipation in a border state. A copy of a letter from Gamble in 1861 states his view of abolitionists (box 9/folder 13). A copy of an address at an 1862 meeting of loyal states in support of President Lincoln and emancipation bears a notation that Governor Gamble refused to sign it as governor of Missouri (box 10/folder 3). The original draft and copy of Gamble’s 1863 message before a party convention concerns emancipation for the state of Missouri (box 10/folder 7). Critical papers and letters between Gamble and President Abraham Lincoln cover such issues as: raising and paying for a state militia (box 9/folder 3); the situation in Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War (box 9/folder 8); and disagreements between Gamble and Union generals over who should be in control of the state militia (box 10). Collection includes several letters signed by President Lincoln (box 9/folder 12, box 10/folder 9). The collection includes official papers with government seals from 1824 when Gamble was appointed secretary of state of Missouri (box 2/folder 2), and from 1849 on a certificate admitting Gamble as an attorney and counselor of the U.S. Supreme Court (box 8/folder 5). Miscellaneous letters consist of one against gambling and playing roulette from “The Friends of Morality” (box 4/folder 6); plans for a 2nd Presbyterian Church on 5th Street, including drawings of the church interior (box 7/folder 1); and a letter soliciting donations to establish Linden Wood Female College (box 8/folder 9). Other letters and journal entries discuss treatments of diseases, e.g., cholera and neuralgia (box 8/folder 5). Receipts and account books show costs of clothing, household items, food, building materials and bills of sale for slaves to and from Gamble (box 2/folder 6; box 3/folder 7; box 5/folder 1, 5; box 7/folder 5; box 8/folders 4, 6, 11; box 9/folder 2). Letters written near the end of the Civil War, shortly before Gamble’s death, discuss the status of the provisional government (box 10/folder 7).