Genesee News

Found a jaw-dropping story about Col. William Fenton's Civil War service in the Detroit Free Press, Sept. 28, 1864.

At that time, Col. Fenton (D) was running against Henry Crapo (R) to be elected Governor of Michigan, and the mud-slinging got pretty intense between the parties, culminating in shocking accusations being leveled at Fenton stemming from his Civil War service on behalf of the Union.

As reported by the Free Press, which supported Fenton, "Col. William M. Fenton, our candidate for Governor, is recklessly and falsely assailed by the republican press."

It continued, "These charges stated that Col. Fenton proposed to the officers of his regiment to wave a white flag and march into rebel lines and turn their guns upon the government and their 41,000 Michigan comrades."

What did they allege was the cause of this startling proposal of Fenton's to switch sides during the Civil War? 

A General Hunter, who was commander of Fenton's 8th Regiment, "issued an order saying the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, having declared themselves out of the Union, are placed under martial law; and martial law and slavery being incompatible in a free country, the Slaves of said States are declared free forever."

Allegedly, Col. Fenton opposed this order on the basis that "he enlisted to fight for the restoration of the Union and not the abolition of slavery."

The Free Press spat back, "The pretence that some of the officers have heard Colonel Fenton say that he would rather go over to the enemy and surrender as a prisoner of war than serve under said order of Gen. Hunter, would not be received as evidence in any justice's court in the State. Do these men pretend they have heard any such thing? No. Do they tell us who among the officers ever heard such a statement? No, nothing of the kind. The statement has not the coherence and plausibility of the most common slander related in a talking neighborhood. It is false from beginning to end."

It's unclear how damaging these accusations were to Col. Fenton's campaign, but it couldn't have helped, and Crapo defeated Fenton for Governor 55% of the vote to Fenton's 45%.

Original source can be found here.