Slavery

[Christine]

I really have enjoyed reading everybody's comments. I think that even the Northern Democrats understood what the result of Union victory would be - freedom for the slaves. Frederick Aiken, no great fan of Lincoln or emancipation, sent these comments to Frederick W Seward in the fall of 1861:

“ . . . if voting is to be allowed in the army, interested men, who hoping for future place and preference under Fremont if he shd. be successful as a candidate for the Presidency will get within the lives of the army and advocate emancipation and if politics shd. run high the army will be divided and the Union’s sacred cause humiliated. It was on this very subject of Emancipation wh. made leading northern democrats tender footed last spring & winter when it was apparent that war was surely coming and now I think I may safely say for every democrat in the army that for the cause of the Union they are ready to destroy; if necessary in preparing the way for victory, every species and description of Southern property and more than that, they expect to see the Emancipation of slaves follow as a natural consequence of the war, but I do not believe they can soon be brought to fight for that idea alone. To oppose fighting for emancipation would not be treason. In my judgment men who now advocate it are doing infinite mischief. . . many men . . comprehend the importance of preserving our nationality. For that the entire north will fight. For that the entire north will stand by the man whose wisdom best covers the whole subject."