The Loyal War Governors' Conference was an important political event of the American Civil War. It was held at the Logan House Hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on September 24 and 25, 1862. Thirteen governors of Union states came together to discuss the war effort, state troop quotas, and the ultimate support of President Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation. The leaders also suggested the removal of General George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. The meeting was established and hosted by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, who was a staunch defender of the war effort and Lincoln Administration policies. Ultimately, the event provided Lincoln much-needed support from the Northern states. History of the meeting In the late summer of 1862, the war effort was going poorly for the United States and President Abraham Lincoln. The commander-in-chief wished to release a proclamation that would free the slaves in the southern states, but was afraid to do so for fear that the Union's border states still practicing slavery would secede. If he issued the proclamation prematurely, it would appear as a last cry for help to both the country and the world. Lincoln needed a military victory so that he could announce the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania sent out a telegram invitation on September 6 to all Union governors to "meet at a point in the border states" to discuss the states' involvement in the war effort. Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, another radical and sometime opponent of Lincoln, supported the meeting in order to promote more radical measures such as emancipation that he thought were the only path to victory, writing that he hoped "to save the Prest. from the infamy of ruining his country" (Neely, ed., Lincoln Encyclopedia, p. 5). Altoona, Pennsylvania would be that "point" of location for the meeting. The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, allowed Lincoln to claim the victory he so desperately needed. This key event would be a main topic among the governors. The state executives began to arrive at the Logan House Hotel in Altoona on September 23. The city was the ideal location for the meeting: it was near both the Midwest states as well as New England, and it also provided excellent transportation and luxury due to the massive Pennsylvania Railroad center that was based in Altoona. In fact, during the Gettysburg