After his arrival in St. Louis, Colfax met Frémont on September 14, 1861, and petitioned him to send troops to cut off Price from capturing Lexington. Colfax believed Frémont had 20,000 troops under his command in St. Louis. Frémont informed Colfax that he only had 8,000 troops in St. Louis and was unable to spare any. In addition Frémont told Colfax that Lincoln and federal authorities in Washington had requested him to dispatch 5,000 of his troops elsewhere. Colfax suggested that Frémont reply that he could not spare any troops or Missouri would be lost to the Confederacy. Frémont declined, recognizing that he had a reputation for being insubordinate, and not wanting to appear unwilling to follow the instructions of his superiors in the Lincoln administration. Frémont had earlier angered President Lincoln over his controversial August 30 edict that put Missouri under martial law and emancipated rebel slaves outside of the Confiscation Act. Price captured Lexington on September 20 and threatened to take the whole state of Missouri. Frémont finally responded on September 29. Having a force of thirty-eight thousand troops, he arrived at Sedalia southeast of Lexington, threatening to trap the rebels against the Missouri River. On September 29, Price abandoned Lexington, and soon was forced to abandon the state headed to Arkansas and later Mississippi.