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  • Lincoln's Forgotten Ally: Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky
  • Christian McWhirter
Lincoln's Forgotten Ally: Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky. Elizabeth D. Leonard. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8078-3500-5, 424 pp., cloth, $40.00.

There were several similarities between the lives of Joseph Holt and Abraham Lincoln: both men were born in Kentucky; both valued education early; both were skilled orators and lawyers; both became heavily involved in national politics as the secession crisis escalated; and both evolved into firm opponents of slavery and believers in some degree of black legal and social equality.

However, there were also significant differences. Holt came from a much more prominent family. Indeed, his relatives singled him out for greatness and gave him abundant financial and emotional support—sometimes too much. In addition, Holt's views on slavery crystallized much later than Lincoln's. Born into a slaveholding family, he never lived outside of the South and remained enmeshed in slave society until the Civil War. Lukewarm to the "peculiar institution," he nevertheless owned slaves and bought several in person. Once the war broke [End Page 264] out, his abhorrence of disunion drove him into the emancipationist camp, and he never looked back.

Slavery aside, the starkest difference between Holt and Lincoln was that Holt survived the war. He lived until 1884, by which point his firm belief in the perpetual Union and the necessity of a vigorous Reconstruction made him an anachronism and consigned him to obscurity. Fiercely resisting the reconciliationist interpretation of the war, Holt was first caricatured as an autocrat and later dropped from public memory altogether.

Elizabeth D. Leonard's new biography of Holt effectively reclaims him from the historical trash bin. Having first placed him at the center of her previous book, Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War, Leonard here explores his critical role in events before, during, and after the Lincoln administration. A prominent figure in the antebellum Democratic Party, Holt was even considered a viable presidential candidate in 1856. He was satisfied with an administrative appointment, however: James Buchanan made him commissioner of patents, and he subsequently served as postmaster general. When secession provoked Secretary of War John B. Floyd's resignation, Holt briefly filled the role. In that capacity, he participated in the crucial decision to send the Star of the West to reinforce Fort Sumter and was responsible for ensuring Lincoln's safety during the presidential inauguration. Following the outbreak of war, Lincoln dispatched Holt to Kentucky, where he worked hard to keep the state in the Union and maintain a steady flow of armed recruits.

The most important phase of Holt's career began in September 1862, when Lincoln appointed him Judge Advocate General—a position he would hold until 1875. Leonard views Holt's appointment, which came at the same time as Lincoln's adoption of emancipation and hard war, as central to the president's overall strategy. Furthermore, once Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, the military courts experienced an exponential increase in power and workload. Holt was considered loyal, trustworthy, and energetic enough to supervise such an effort, and Leonard convincingly demonstrates that the president's confidence was well-placed. Meeting frequently in person to consider cases, the two men routinely found themselves in agreement and worked well together.

However, Leonard argues many of the same traits that made Holt an effective judge and administrator also contributed to his negative public image and subsequent obscurity. From an early age, Holt held enormous pride in his accomplishments, beliefs, and work ethic and never hesitated to lash out at those who criticized him. As judge advocate general, he became a prime target [End Page 265] for critics of Lincoln's military and judicial policies—often characterized as a heavy-handed puppet for the administration. Indeed, one of Holt's first duties was to preside over the court-martial and subsequent discharge of Gen. Fitz John Porter. This divisive trial pitted Democrats and proponents of a conciliatory war against Republicans and those favoring hard war. Each observer's estimation of Holt's conduct largely depended on their...

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