Letter signed C. [Charles] Gibson, Philadelphia, to Governor H.R. Gamble [Uncle]. I have been waiting here just a week for Mr. Bates. I received a note from him today he will be here Thursday, but did not say whether any of his family will come with him. The news from Missouri fills me with grief. I feel both downhearted and indignant. The condition is attributable to the policy pursued by government agents in Missouri and to the neglect of Missouri matters in Washington. Immediately after the battle of Bull Run I appealed to Washington to send reinforcements to Missouri, but they did not see beyond the District of Columbia. Perhaps the battle of Springfield has lengthened their vision. I see by the journals that General Fremont had a flag boat for himself, and I understand privately he rides about St. Louis in a coach and four. As soon as I saw General Pope’s order for levying contributions from counties I wrote to Washington protesting against it. I see he is enforcing it in Palmyra. I earnestly hope I may be mistaken, that his course may not embitter the quarrel, and will restore tranquility to that region. I will confess my great surprise if it does operate well. I see General Fremont has ordered the organization of five regiments of Home Guards. The appointment of the officers of these regiments is a matter that properly belongs to you. The Governors in all the loyal states appoint certain officers in their regiments and you should be allowed to do the same in Missouri. Mr. Cameron is actuated, I think, in all his operation more by the love of self than of country and he wants to put all his friends in the places of the Government. I hope you will lose no time in asking the President for a public recognition of your Government, by giving you the choice of the offices in the Missouri Regiments. Send me a copy of your application and I will see that it gets before the Cabinet. I have written Mr. Bates several letters on Missouri but he has sent no detailed reply, probably because he expects to join me in a few days. Please give me a statement of your ideas so I may work more effectually for you in Washington. Individuals mentioned include Bates, General John C. Fremont, General Pope, Cameron, Missouri Regiments and Cabinet. Places mentioned include Washington, Missouri, Bull Run, Spring Field, St. Louis and District of Columbia. (6 pages), 1861 Aug 19

Item — Box: 9, Folder: 8

Staff Only

Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center
Hamilton Rowan Gamble Papers (A0549)
Letter signed C. [Charles] Gibson, Philadelphia, to Governor H.R. Gamble [Uncle]. I have been waiting here just a week for Mr. Bates. I received a note from him today he will be here Thursday, but did not say whether any of his family will come with him. The news from Missouri fills me with grief. I feel both downhearted and indignant. The condition is attributable to the policy pursued by government agents in Missouri and to the neglect of Missouri matters in Washington. Immediately after the battle of Bull Run I appealed to Washington to send reinforcements to Missouri, but they did not see beyond the District of Columbia. Perhaps the battle of Springfield has lengthened their vision. I see by the journals that General Fremont had a flag boat for himself, and I understand privately he rides about St. Louis in a coach and four. As soon as I saw General Pope’s order for levying contributions from counties I wrote to Washington protesting against it. I see he is enforcing it in Palmyra. I earnestly hope I may be mistaken, that his course may not embitter the quarrel, and will restore tranquility to that region. I will confess my great surprise if it does operate well. I see General Fremont has ordered the organization of five regiments of Home Guards. The appointment of the officers of these regiments is a matter that properly belongs to you. The Governors in all the loyal states appoint certain officers in their regiments and you should be allowed to do the same in Missouri. Mr. Cameron is actuated, I think, in all his operation more by the love of self than of country and he wants to put all his friends in the places of the Government. I hope you will lose no time in asking the President for a public recognition of your Government, by giving you the choice of the offices in the Missouri Regiments. Send me a copy of your application and I will see that it gets before the Cabinet. I have written Mr. Bates several letters on Missouri but he has sent no detailed reply, probably because he expects to join me in a few days. Please give me a statement of your ideas so I may work more effectually for you in Washington. Individuals mentioned include Bates, General John C. Fremont, General Pope, Cameron, Missouri Regiments and Cabinet. Places mentioned include Washington, Missouri, Bull Run, Spring Field, St. Louis and District of Columbia. (6 pages), 1861 Aug 19

Letter signed C. Gibson, Continental Hotel, Phil., to H.R. Gamble, August 19, 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).