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On August 14, 1861, Crittenden was one of three Kentuckians who met with the president to urge him to veto the First Confiscation Act which allowed Union forces to confiscate slaves being used in direct support
of the Confederate war effort. Lincoln did not, but he did step in to stop Fremont’s more aggressive actions in Missouri as part of his effort to
hold the Border States, including Kentucky, and assured Crittenden and others in the border state that he and the federal government would not mettle with their affairs. However, on September 4, 1861, Confederate forces moved in to attempt to take control of Kentucky, and Union forces entered the state in response. On December 10, 1861, the Confederacy claimed Kentucky as one of its states and added a central star to their flag in response, but the official state government of Kentucky remained loyal to the Union. As both sides worked to take control of the state, a large battle to determine the state’s fate was inevitable both politically and on the battlefield.
Union forces under Brigadier General George Thomas moved to attack Major General George Crittenden’s forces at Mill Springs in early 1862. George Crittenden, son of John Crittenden, ordered his men to attack
the Union forces preemptively at dawn on January 19, 1862, to prevent additional Union troops from consolidating. General Felix Zollicoffer was killed early in the battle when he approached a Union officer of the 4th Kentucky Infantry leading to disarray among the Confederates. Crittenden rallied his men, but Thomas’s men fought off Crittenden’s attack and
then successfully turned Crittenden’s left flank, forcing the Confederates to retreat. Crittenden was unable to regain control of his men leading
to a disastrous rout culminating in Crittenden’s men fleeing the state, leaving behind Zollicoffer and around 124 others killed and around 400 others wounded or missing plus numerous artillery pieces, horses, and other valuable equipment. General Crittenden himself was wounded but escaped. Stragglers from his army continued to arrive in Tennessee at the end of the month and into February.
The rout effectively terminated George Crittenden’s career as a commander, including accusations that he was drunk during the battle and of treason against the Confederacy, though he remained in the Confederate Army in lesser roles. For the Union, the Battle of Mill Springs was their first major victory after multiple humiliating Union defeats.
As such, it was both a victory for Representative Crittenden’s cause of keeping Kentucky in the Union and a humiliation for his family. The victory was shortly followed by the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donnelson
in Tennessee in February, which soon overshadowed the Battle of Mill Springs, but those battles took place after the date on this carbine.
Thus, on February 1, 1862, the defeat of Representative Crittenden’s son
in Kentucky was the only major Union victory and was significant in bolstering Union morale overall, securing eastern Kentucky, and keeping the state within the Union. Though the battle was fought on January 19, the news of the victory was largely published towards the end of the month which meant that Lincoln’s attention was particularly drawn to
the state and its most influential Unionist leader on February 1, 1862, a perfect time to present a firearm to the Kentucky statesman. Newspapers such as the Weekly Sentinel of Indianapolis and Daily Delta of New Orleans in February 1862 reported that Crittenden was heavily distressed by the fact that his eldest son was fighting for the Confederacy and had been disgraced at Mill Springs. The wording of the inscription certainly seems
to be designed to salve any discomfort he was feeling concerning how
the nation, and the president in particular, was feeling regards to the elder statesman’s own patriotism and contributions to the country, and perhaps Lincoln hoped to nudge Crittenden more to support emancipation as part of his effort to restore the Union.
In early 1862, Lincoln was also working to deal with slavery and runaway slaves both within the rebelling states and particularly in regards to the Border States. In the later, Lincoln was trying to find ways to encourage the states to choose emancipation themselves as he had repeatedly promised not to interfere directly. Lincoln met with Crittenden and other
border state representatives to discuss compensated emancipation in their states. Crittenden was an important figure to persuade if Lincoln was going to secure emancipation in the Border States given his influence,
but Crittenden could not be persuaded to support the effort. He was
also working on keeping the Border States content in regards to federal policy concerning slaves in the rebelling states, and there he found more agreement with Crittenden. For example, on January 20, 1862, the Rutland Daily Herald of Vermont reported that fugitive slaves were being treated the same as other property and “We would therefore have it subject to confiscation like other property. We would not have our army return a fugitive slave any more than we would have it return a fugitive horse from the enemy,-and such we understand to be the distinct policy of President Lincoln. Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, gives his cordial assent to this policy, and it is the policy which will wipe out slavery ultimately, and save the Union presently, and therefore we are in favor of it most heartily.”
Though George’s defection to the Confederacy and his defeat at Mill Springs served as a humiliation and strain for John Crittenden, he remained proud of his other sons as well as some of his grandsons who fought for the Union. Thomas’s actions on the battlefield in particular were a source of pride; he served admirably at Shiloh and was promoted to major general and then fought with distinction again at Stone’s River later in the year where his command is credited with playing a major role in the Union victory and the younger Crittenden argued that the Union should stand and fight rather than withdraw.
As Lincoln continued to move toward emancipation more broadly both
on military and moral grounds, he personally met with Crittenden more, including a meeting with the congressman as well as John W. Crisfield of Maryland and William A. Hall of Missouri on December 18, 1862, to discuss their concerns and opposition regarding the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln was set to put in effect on January 1, 1863, which would declare all slaves within the rebelling states “thenceforward, and forever free.”