ABOLITIONISM - FEE, John G.

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Partial autograph letter signed concerning the prospects for emancipated African Americans. An impassioned letter from the leading Kentucky abolitionist John G. Fee (1816-1901), written near the close of the Civil War and addressing the urgent question of how to govern and support the newly emancipated population.Fee writes to General John McCauley Palmer (1817-1900), military commander of the District of Kentucky. The letter, unfortunately incomplete, was probably written in early 1865, during Fee's time at Camp Nelson. First established as a supply depot and hospital, Camp Nelson became a refuge for thousands of enslaved people fleeing bondage and a major recruitment centre for United States Colored Troops. Fee notes that part of the camp's land had been seized from secessionists: "Twelve hundred acres of the land in this camp did belong to notorious rebels - rebels who made up a rebel company - went out with Bragg. Another twelve hundred belong to copperheads, to say the least of them".Fee outlines his vision for emancipated African Americans in Kentucky, urging policies that would encourage independence and self-reliance: "Now allow me to suggest that this people be made self supporting... this will be a good to them as well as relief to the public crib. It will throw upon them responsibility, stimulate them to industry and cultivate self reliance. May I suggest that it is better to give to them land than bread. Some - the young, crippled and infirm - need an asylum. But

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