Letter signed Wm. M. McPherson, St. Louis to, Gov. Gamble. I received a letter from Mr. Humphreys saying Gov. Morgan would come to St. Louis this week on business and is anxious to meet you concerning the affairs of the country. The meeting will be confidential, and I hope you will come down to meet him. I have read the following extract from a letter received from an intelligent member of the Legislature: “They propose to depose the present Governor, declare the Speaker acting Governor, and order an election for Governor as soon as practicable.” I have no doubt the Radicals are trying to buy Conservatives enough by the promise of offices to give them the power to do it. It is said they have caught George Anderson with the bait of running him for Governor. I have also learned that a high military officer has said in confidence, that if the Legislature deposed you and you attempted to exercise the office as Governor he would arrest you for treason. I could not get the name but I have no doubt Genl. Loan is the officer. Now if Gratz Brown begins this move you must give him and his company a touch of their own game and try a few arrests on them. Genl. Edwards, I think, could meet their case. If I were you I would ship Genl. Loan to some retired spot. You may say you would be glad to be rid of office. Granted…but you cannot allow these scamps to succeed in their plans. From the little talk I hear about railroads I fear nothing practicable will be done. Individuals mentioned include Gov. Morgan, George Anderson, Genl. [Ben] Loan, Gratz Brown. Subjects mentioned include Radicals, Conservatives. (4 pages), 1863 Feb 23

Item — Box: 10, Folder: 5

Staff Only

Letter signed Wm. M. McPherson [William M. McPherson], St. Louis, to Gov. Gamble [Hamilton R. Gamble], February 23, 1863

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).