1864 Token DeWitt JF 1864-1 Brass John C. Fremont Campaign

Coin Details

Description

This brass campaign token for John C. Fremont, cataloged as DeWitt JF 1864-1, dates from 1864 when Fremont briefly mounted a third-party challenge to President Lincoln's re-election. A group of radical Republicans, dissatisfied with Lincoln's prosecution of the Civil War and his cautious approach to emancipation, nominated Fremont at a convention in Cleveland on May 31, 1864. Fremont accepted the nomination of this "Radical Democracy" faction but withdrew from the race on September 22, 1864, after the fall of Atlanta and shifting political winds made Lincoln's re-election increasingly certain. The production of campaign tokens for Fremont's short-lived 1864 candidacy was necessarily limited, making this DeWitt JF 1864-1 a scarce piece. The brass composition was standard for campaign tokens of the era. Fremont's withdrawal was widely be part of a political deal in which Lincoln agreed to dismiss Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, a conservative whom the radicals despised, in exchange for Fremont's exit from the race. This token documents a largely forgotten episode in Civil War-era politics that briefly threatened to split the Republican Party during its most critical moment.

Rarity Notes

Brass campaign token from 1864. DeWitt JF 1864-1. Fremont's abortive 1864 third-party candidacy produced very limited campaign material. Scarce and historically significant.

Cross References

PCGS #913710; DeWitt JF 1864-1; 1864 Presidential Election; John C. Fremont; Radical Democracy Party