September 2, 1861---"This thunderbolt will keep."

SEPTEMBER 2, 1861:       

President Lincoln writes to General John C. Frémont asking him to bring his Missouri emancipation proclamation into line with federal policy—that is, only those slaves involved in the Confederacy’s war efforts are to be liberated, no others. Lincoln is still afraid of losing the Border States to secession, particularly Kentucky, and advises Fremont, “This thunderbolt will keep.”