Lincoln and the Civil War

6. War in Earnest

60 c h a p t e r s i x War in Earnest Abolitionists also erupted in anger when Lincoln removed his incompetent secretary of war, Simon Cameron, after Cameron had recommended in his annual report that slaves be liberated and armed. Dismayed by this ill-timed proposal, Lincoln ordered Cameron to strike it from his report. The war secretary did so reluctantly but only after some newspapers published the original document. In January 1862, Lincoln dismissed Cameron, mainly because the Pennsylvania politico was simply not up to the job. To replace him, Lincoln chose another Pennsylvanian, Edwin M. Stanton, an eminent attorney who had served in the cabinet during the final weeks of James Buchanan’s administration. The president demonstrated superhuman magnanimity in choosing Stanton, who had humiliated Lincoln in 1855 when they both served as counsel in a patent case. Then Stanton had viewed Lincoln as a contemptible provincial lawyer and snubbed him repeatedly. Some Republicans objected to the nomination of a former Democrat like Stanton, but Lincoln said, “If I could find four more democrats just like Stanton, I would appoint them.”1 He remarked that “he knew him to be a true and loyal man, and that he possessed the greatest energy of character and systematic method in the discharge of public business.”2 Stanton proved an exceptionally able secretary of war and a devoted friend to Lincoln. A New York attorney told Lincoln of “the reviving confidence which your appointment of Mr Stanton had given us. The whole nation thanks God, that you had the wisdom and the courage to make the change.”3 war in earnest | 61 Stanton’s appointment represented a key turning point in the war. The gruff new secretary of war infused energy into his department and the army. With his assistance, Lincoln began to assert himself more forcefully, showing less deference to timid generals. He studied military science as best he could and concluded sensibly that the North’s superior manpower and economic strength were likely to prevail only if the enemy was pressed simultaneously on all fronts. In January 1862, he wrote to Don Carlos Buell, “I state my general idea of this war to be that we have the greater numbers, and the enemy has the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points of collision; that we must fail, unless we can find some way of making our advantage an over-match for his; and that this can only be done by menacing him with superior forces at different points, at the same time; so that we can safely attack, one, or both, if he makes no change; and if he weakens one to strengthen the other, forbear to attack the strengthened one, but seize, and hold the weakened one, gaining so much.”4 Lincoln was not obsessed by a desire to wield power, but he took seriously his oath of office and conscientiously performed what he considered to be his duty, no matter how onerous that might be. He called the presidency “a big job,” about which “the country little knows how big.” To an Illinois friend, he confided, “This getting the nomination for President, and being elected, is all very pleasant to a man’s ambition; but to be the President, and to meet the responsibilities and discharge the duties of the office in times like these is anything but pleasant. I would gladly if I could, take my neck from the yoke, and go home with you to Springfield, and live, as I used, in peace with my friends, than to endure this harassing kind of life.”5 Soon after Stanton took office and Lincoln began to assert himself , the North started to win significant victories everywhere but the East. In January, Union troops defeated the Confederates at Mill Springs, Kentucky. The following month, General Ambrose E. Burnside captured Roanoke Island in North Carolina and, far more important, Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Andrew Hull Foote took Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee, opening the way for an invasion of the southwestern Confederacy. Upon hearing the news 62 | war in earnest about Donelson, where several thousand Confederates were taken prisoner, a Washingtonian exulted, “Our hearts are bursting with gratitude, our tears start, we grasp hands, we laugh, we say ‘God be thanked;’ our country’s honor is vindicated, the stain of our Flag is forever blotted out!”6 Lincoln had labored hard...