The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln : Chapter 8 - Unsuccessful Generals

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter eight of the Boy's Life of Abraham Lincoln by
Helen Nicolay. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
recording by Tom Weiss Tom's Audio books dot Com. Chapter eight,
Unsuccessful Generals. So far, mister Lincoln's new duties as president

(00:21):
had not placed him at any disadvantage with the members
of his cabinet on the old question of slavery. He
was as well informed and had clearer ideas than they.
On the new military questions that had come up since
the inauguration, they, like himself, had to rely on the
advice of experienced officers of the army and navy, and

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since these differed greatly, mister Lincoln's powerful mind was as
able to reach true conclusions as were men who had
been governors and senators. Yet the idea lingered that because
he had never before held high office, and because a
large part of his life had been passed in the
root surroundings of the frontier, he must of necessity be
lacking in power to govern, be weaker at will without

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tact or culture, must in every way be less fitted
to cope with the difficult problem so rapidly coming upon
the administration. At the beginning, even Secretary Seward shared this view.
Mister Lincoln must have been surprised, indeed, when, on the
first day of April, exactly four weeks after his inauguration,

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his Secretary of State, the man he justly looked upon
as the chief member of his cabinet, handed him a
paper on which were written some thoughts for the President's consideration.
It was most grave and dignified in language, but in
substance bluntly told mister Lincoln that after a month's trial,
the administration was without a policy, domestic or foreign, and

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that this must be remedied at once. It advised shifting
the issue at home from slavery to the question of
union or disunion, and counseled the adoption of an attitude
toward Europe which could not have failed to rouse the
anger of the principal foreign nations. It added that the President,
or some member of his cabinet must make it his

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constant duty to pursue and direct whatever policy should be adopted,
and hindered very plainly that although he, mister Sewart, did
not seek such responsibility, he was willing to assume it.
The interest of this remarkable paper for us lies in
the way mister Lincoln treated it, and the measure of
that treatment gives us of his generosity and self control.

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An envious or a resentful man could not have wished
a better opportunity to put a rival under his feet.
But though mister Lincoln doubtless thought the incident very strange,
it did not for a moment disturb a serenity or
his kindly judgment. He answered in a few quiet sentences
that showed no trace of passion or even of excitement,

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and on the central suggestion that some one person must
direct the affairs of government, replied with dignity, if this
must be done, I'm must do it, adding that on
affairs of importance he desired and supposed he had a
right to have the advice of all the members of
his cabinet. This reply ended the matter, and as far
as is known, neither of them ever mentioned the subject again.

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Mister Lincoln put the papers away in an envelope, and
no word of the affair came to the public until
years after both men were dead. In one mind, at least,
there was no longer a doubt that the cabinet had
a master. Mister Sewart recognized the president's kindly forbearance and
repaid it by devotion and personal friendship until the day

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of his tragic death. If after this experience, the Secretary
of State needed any further proof of mister Lincoln's ability
to rule, it soon came to him, for during the
first months of the war, matters abroad claimed the attention
of the cabinet, and with these also the untried Western men,
showed himself better fitted to deal than his more experienced advisors.

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Many of the countries of Europe, especially France and England,
wished the South to succeed. France because of plans that
Emperor Napoleon the Third had for founding French colonies on
American soil, and England because such success would give her
free cotton for her mills and factories. England became so
friendly toward the rebels that mister Sewart, much irritated, wrote

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a dispatch on May twenty one, eighteen sixty one, to
Charles Francis Adams, the American minister at London, which, if
it had been sent as he wrote, it would almost
certainly have brought on war between the two countries. It
set forth justly and with courage what the United States
government would and would not endure from foreign powers during

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the war with the South. But it had been tended
in the heat of indignation, and was so blunt and
exasperating as to suggest intentional disrespect. When mister Sewart read
it to the President, the latter at once saw this,
and taking it from his secretary of State, kept it
by him for further cance consideration. A second reading showed

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him that the first impression was correct. Thereupon the frontier lawyer,
taking his pen, went carefully over the whole dispatch, and
by his corrections so changed the work of the trained
and experienced statesman as entirely to remove its offensive tone,
without in the least altering its force or courage. Once again,

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during eighteen sixty one, the country was in serious danger
of war with England, and the action of President Lincoln
at this time proved not only that he had the
will to be just even when his own people were
against him, but had the skill to gain real advantage
from what seemed very like defeat. One of the earliest
and most serious tasks of the government had been to

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blockade the southern ports in order to prevent supplies from
foreign countries reaching the Southern people, especially the Southern Armies,
considering the great length of coast to be patrolled and
the small size of the navy at the commencement of
the struggle. This was on with wonderful quickness and proved
in the main effective, though occasionally a rebel boat managed

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to slip in or out without being discovered and fired
upon by the ships on guard. In November, Captain Charles
Wilkes learned that ex Senators J. M. Mason and John Slidell,
two prominent Confederates bound on an important mission to Europe,
had succeeded in reaching Cuba, and from there had taken
passage for England on the British mail steamer Trent. He

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took the Trent and took Mason and Slydale prisoners, afterward
allowing the steamer to proceed on our way. The affair
caused intense excitement both in England and in the United States,
and England began instant preparations for war Lord Lyons. The
British Minister at Washington was instructed to demand the release
of the prisoners and a suitable apology within one week,

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and if this were refused, to close his legation and
come home. It was fortunate that Lord Lyons and mister
Swart were close personal friends and could, in spite of
the excitement of both countries, discuss the matter calmly and
without anger. Their conferences were brought to an end by
mister Lincoln's decision to give up the prisoners in the North.

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Their capture had been greeted with extravagant joy. Newspapers rang
with praises of Captain Wilkes. His act was officially approved
by the Secretary of the Navy, and the House of
Representatives passed the resolution, thanking him for his brave, adroit
and patriotic conduct in the face of all this. It
must have been hard, indeed, for mister Lincoln to order

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that Mason and sly Dell be given up, But though
he shared the first impulse of rejoicing, he soon became
convinced that this must be done. War with England must
certainly be avoided, and Captain Wilkes, by allowing the Trent
to proceed on our voyage instead of bringing her into
port with the prisoners, had put it out of the
power of his government to prove under international law that

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the capture was justified. Besides, all this as the President's
quick mind saw what others failed to note that by
giving up the prisoners, as England demanded, the United States
would really gain an important diplomatic victory. For many years,
England had claimed the right to stop and search vessels
at sea when she had reason to believe they carried

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men or goods hostile to her interests. The United States
denied the right, and yet this was exactly what Captain
Wilkes had done in stopping the trend. By giving up
the prisoners, the United States would thus force England to
admit that her own claim had been unjust, and bind
her in future to respect the rights of other ships

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at sea. Excited American feeling was grievously disappointed, and harsh
criticism of the administration for thus yielding to a foreign
country was not wanting. But American good sense soon saw
the justice of the point taken as the wisdom of
mister Lincoln's course. Heed that is slow to angers, as
the proverb is better than the mighty, and he that

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ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city great,
as was his self control in other matters. Nowhere did
mister Lincoln's slowness to anger and nobility of spirit show
itself more than in his dealings with the generals of
the Civil War. He had been elected president. Congress had
given him power far exceeding that which any president had

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ever exercised before. As President, he was also commander in
chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.
By proclamation, he could call forth great armies, and he
could order those armies to go wherever he chose to
send them. But even he had no power to make
generals with the genius and the training necessary to lead

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them instantly to success. He had to work with the
materials at hand, and one by one he tried the
men who seemed best fitted for the task, giving each
his fullest trust and every aid in his power. They
were as eager for victory and his earnest of purpose
as himself. But in every case some misfortune or some

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fault marred the result, until the country grew weary with waiting,
discouragement overshadowed hope, and misgiving almost engulfed his own strong soul.
Then at last the right men were found, the battles
were all fought, and the war was at an end.
His kindness and patience in dealing with the generals who

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did not succeed is the wonder of all who study
the history of the Civil War. The letters he wrote
to them show better that whole volumes of description could
do the helpful and forbearing spirit in which he sought
to aid them. First among these unsuccessful generals was George B. McClellan,
who had been called to Washington after the Battle of

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bull Run and placed in charge of the great new
army of three years volunteers that was pouring so rapidly
into the city. McClellan proved a wonderful organizer. Under his
skillful direct action, the raw recruits went to their camps
of instruction, fell without confusion or delay into brigades and division,
were supplied with equipments, horses, and batteries, and put through

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a routine of drill, tactics and reviews that soon made
this Army of the Potomac, as it was called, one
of the best prepared armies the world has ever seen,
a perfect fighting machine of over one hundred and fifty
thousand men and more than two hundred guns. General mc
clellan excelled in getting soldiers ready to fight, but he

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did not succeed in leading them the fruitful victory. At first,
the administration had great hopes of him as a commander.
He was young, enthusiastic winning, and on arriving in Washington,
seemed amazed and deeply touched by the confidence reposed in him.
I find myself, he wrote to his wife, in a
new and strange position. Here, President, Cabinet, General Scott, and

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all deferring to me. By some strange operation of magic,
I seem to have become the power of the land.
His rise in military rank had equaled the inventions of
fairy tales. He had been only a captain during the
Mexican War, then he resigned two months after volunteering for
the Civil War. He found himself a major general in

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the regular Army for a short time. His zeal and
activity seemed to justify this amazing good fortune. In a fortnight, however,
he began to look upon himself as the principal savior
of his country. He entered upon a quarrel which edwal Scott,
which soon drove that old hero into retirement and out
of his pathway. He looked upon the cabinet as a

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set of geese, and seeing that the President was kind
and unassuming, in discussing military matters, he formed the habit
of expressing contempt for him in letters to confidential friends.
This feeling grew until it soon reached the mark of
open disrespect. But the President's conduct toward him did not change.

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Mister Lincoln's nature was too forgiving, and the responsibility that
lay upon him was too heavy for personal resentment. For
fifteen months he strove to make McClellan succeed, even in
spite of himself. He gave him help, encouragement, the most
timely suggestions. He answered his ever increasing complaints with unfailing

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self control. It was not that he did not see
McClellan's faults. He saw them and felt them keenly. If
General McClellan does not want to use the army, I
would like to borrow it, he said one day, stung
by the general's inactivity, into a sarcasm he seldom allowed
himself to use. But his patience was not exhausted. McClellan

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always had more soldiers than the enemy at Antietam, nearly
double his numbers. Yet his constant cry was for reinforcements.
Regiments were sent to him that could ill be spared
from other points. Even when his fault finding reached the
height of telegraphing to the Secretary of War if I
saved this army. Now, I tell you plainly that I

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owe no thanks to you or to any other persons
in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army.
The President answered him kindly and gently, without a sign
of resentment, anxious only to do everything in his power
to help on the cause of the war. It was
of no avail. Even the great luck of finding a

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copy of generalese orders and knowing exactly what his enemy
meant to do at a time when the Confederate general
had only about half as many troops as he had,
and these were divided besides, did not help him to success.
All he could do even then was to fight the
drawn Battle of Antietam and allow Lee to get away

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safely across the Potomac River into Virginia. After this, the
President's long suffering patience was at an end, but he
did not remove McLellan until he had visited the Army
of the Potomac in person. What he said on that
visit assured him that it could never succeed under such
a general. Do you know what that is he asked

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a friend, waving his arm towards the white tents of
the great army. It is the army of the Potomac.
I suppose, was the wondering answer. So it is called,
replied the President, in a tone of suppressed indignation. But
that is a mistake. It is only McLellan's bodyguard. On
November five, eighteen sixty two, McClellan was relieved from command,

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and this ended his military career. There were others almost
equally trying. There was General Fremont, who had been the
Republican candidate for president in eighteen fifty six. At the
beginning of the war, he was given the command at
Saint Louis and charged with the important duty of organizing
the military strength of the Northwest, holding the state of

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Missouri true to the Union, and leading an expedition down
the Mississippi River. Instead of accomplishing all that had been
hoped for, his pride of opinion and unwillingness to accept
help or take advice from those about him caused serious
embarrassment and made on ending trouble. The President's kindness and
gentleness in dealing with his faults were as marked as

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they were useless. There was the long line of commanders who,
one after the other tried and failed in the taclotta
to them, while the country waited and lost courage, and
even mister Lincoln's heart set, his care and wisdom and
sorrow dominated the whole, long, persistent struggle. That first sleepless
night of his after the Battle of bull Run was

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but the beginning of many nights and days through which
he kept unceasing watch. From the time in June eighteen
sixty one, when he had been called upon to preside
over the Council of War that decided upon the bull
Run campaign, he devoted every spare moment to the study
of such books upon the art of war as would
aid him in solving the questions that he must face

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as commander in chief of the armies. With his quick
mind and unusual power of logic, he made rapid progress
in learning to fixed and accepted rules on which all
military writers agreed. His mastery of the difficult science became
so thorough, and his understanding of military situations so clear,
that he has been called by persons well fitted to

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judge the ablest strategists of the war. Yet he never
thrust his knowledge upon his generals. He recognized that it
was their duty, not his, to fight the battles, and
since this was so, they ought to be allowed to
fight them in their own way. He followed their movements
with keenest interest and with the most astonishing amount of knowledge,

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giving a hint here and a suggestion there when he
felt that he properly could, but he rarely gave a
positive order. There is not space to quote the many
letters in which he showed his military wisdom or his
kindly interest in the welfare and success of the different generals.
One of the most remarked, must, however, be quoted. It

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is the letter he wrote to General Joseph Hooker on
placing him in command of the Army of the Potomac
in January eighteen sixty three, after mc clellan's many failures
had been followed by the crushing defeat of the army
under General mc clellan's successor, General Burnside, at the Battle
of Fredericksburg on December thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. I have

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placed you, he wrote, on giving General Hooker the command
at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course,
I have done this upon what appeared to me to
be sufficient reasons, And yet I think it best for
you to know that there are some things in regard
to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I
believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier, which,

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of course I like. I also believe you do not
mix politics with the profession in which you are right.
You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if
not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which within reasonable bounds,
does good rather than harm. But I think that during
General Burnside's command of the Army, you have taken Counsel

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of your ambition and thwarted him as much as you could,
in which you did a great wrong to the country
and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I
have heard in such a way as to believe it
of your recently saying that both the army and the
government needed a dictator. Of course it was not for this,
but in spite of it that I have given you

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the command. Only those generals who gain successes can set
up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success,
and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support
you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither
more nor less than it has done and will do
for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which

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you have aided to infuse into the army, of criticizing
their commander and withholding confidence from him, will now turn
upon you. I shall assist you as far as I
can to put it down. Neither you nor Napoleon, if
he were alive again, could get any good out of
an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And
now beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance,

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go forward and give us victories. Perhaps no other piece
of writing shows as this does how completely the genius
of the President rose to the full height of his
duties and responsibilities. From beginning to end. It speaks the
language and breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure
in popular confidence and in official authority. Though so many

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of the great battles during the first half of the
war were won by the Confederates, military successes came to
the North. Of course, from time to time. With such
fine armies and such earnest generals, the tide of battle
could not be all one way. And even when the
generals made mistakes. The heroic fighting and endurance of the
soldiers and other officers gathered honor out of defeat and

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shed the luster of renown over results of barren failure.
But it was a weary time, and the outlook was
very dark. The President never despaired. On the most dismal
day of the whole dismal summer of eighteen sixty two,
he sent Secretary Stewart to New York with a confidential
letter full of courage to be shown such of the

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governors of Free States as could be hastily summoned to
meet him there. In it, he said, I expect to
maintain this contents until successful, or till I die or unconquered,
or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsake me.
And he asked for one hundred thousand fresh volunteers with
which to carry on the war. His confidence was not misplaced.

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The governors of eighteen free states offered him three times
the number, and still other calls for troops followed. Soon
a popular song, we are Coming Father Abraham, three hundred
thousands strong, showed the faith and trust of the people
in demand at the head of the government, and how
cheerfully they met the great calls upon their patriotism. So

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week after week and month after month, he faced the future,
never betraying a fear that the Union would not triumph
in the end, but grieving sorely at the long delay.
Many who were not so sure came to him with
their troubles. He was beset by night and by day
by people who had advice to give or complaints to make.

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They besought him to dismiss this or that general, to
order such and such a military movement, to do a
hundred things that he, in his great wisdom, felt were
not right, or for which the time had not yet come.
Above all, he was implored to take some decided and
far reaching action upon slavery. End of Chapter eight recording

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by Tom Weiss Tom's audiobooks dot Com.