[TSL RE: SLAVERY, CIVIL WAR, ABOLITION, EMANCIPATION] Typed Signed Letter from H. C. McDougal to Col. Wells Howard Blodgett

Typed Signed Letter from the Kansas City lawyer H. C. McDougal on his letterhead to Medal of Honor winner Col. Wells H. Blodgett. 3pp. 8.5 x 11' folded in half and pasted together at top left corner. McDougal responds to an inquiry from Blodgett regarding the dissolution of slavery in the state of West Virginia with reference to 'some interesting data relating to the same subject matter in Missouri and Maryland.' McDougal first explains that West Virginia did not abolish slavery as a state prior to the 13th Amendment. He then clarifies the scope and intent of Lincoln's emancipation proclamation with special regard to border states such as Missouri and West Virginia in which slavery remained legal until federal abolition. As a counter-example, he notest that Maryland abolished slavery over a year in advance of the 13th Amendment: 'As Maryland was the first of our American colonies (if not indeed the first law making power on earth) to establish and guarantee religious freedom and toleration by law (A.D. 1649; 2 Kent 36); so over 200 years later, Maryland was the first of our Southern states to abolish the curse and crime of human slavery.' On September 30, 1862, Wells H. Blodgett was a 23-year old First Lieutenant serving with the 37th Illinois Infantry in fighting around Newtonia, Missouri. 'With a single orderly [he] captured an armed picket of eight men and marched them in as prisoners.' Blodgett was awarded the Medal of Honor for this action in 1894. Henry Clay McDougal was a lawyer, judge, and longtime resident of Gallatin, Missouri. 'During his 15 years of residence here, McDougal was directly involved in the exploits and prosecutions against outlaws Frank and Jesse James . In August and September, 1883, McDougal was special counsel in the background for the prosecution of Frank James in Gallatin. . McDougal?s acquaintances with men who made American history in the period between the Civil War and 1900 comprise an astonishing list, including Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, U.S. Grant, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley plus hundreds of other historical names of significance including Jefferson Davis.' (Daviess County Historical Society).…