Watch John Bicknell Discuss Fraught Lincoln-Fremont Relations

By: Kelsey S. Johnston

Baltimore, Maryland

June 3, 2025

Author John Bicknell recently discussed his research on President Abraham Lincoln and John C. Frémont with Lincoln Group members, and the program is now available on the Lincoln Group's YouTube channel.

In 1856, Fremont—the famed "Pathfinder" of the American West—became the Republican Party's first presidential nominee, running on an anti-slavery platform. Five years later, now a Union general under President Lincoln, he sparked a national crisis by unilaterally declaring emancipation in Missouri. Drawing on extensive research, Bicknell chronicles the volatile relationship between these two leaders as they grappled with slavery, military strategy, and the nation's future.

The presentation about Bicknell's new book, The Pathfinder and the President: John C. Fremont, Abraham Lincoln and the Battle for Emancipation, featured a fresh perspective on the complex political and military dimensions of Civil War leadership, the crucial role of border states in shaping Union strategy, and illuminated the personal dynamics that affected wartime decision-making. After the presentation, Bicknell participated in an animated Q&A session with LGDC members.

Bicknell was born, raised, and educated in Indiana. He was a journalist for more than 30 years, as a reporter, columnist and editor in Florida and Washington, D.C. He is also the author of Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856, America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation and co-editor of the 2012 edition of Politics in America; and senior editor of the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 editions of The Almanac of America Politics. He lives in central Illinois.

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