Throughout the four years of war, Mr. Lincoln spent a great deal of time
in the War Department, receiving news from the front and conferring with
Secretary of War Stanton concerning military affairs.
Mr. Lincoln’s War Secretary, Edwin M. Stanton, who had succeeded
Simon Cameron, was a man of wonderful personality and iron will. It is
generally conceded that no other man could have managed the great War
Secretary so well as Lincoln. Stanton had his way in most matters,
but when there was an important difference of opinion he always found
Lincoln was the master.
Although Mr. Lincoln’s communications to the generals in the field
were oftener in the nature of suggestions than positive orders, every
military leader recognized Mr. Lincoln’s ability in military operations.
In the early stages of the war, Mr. Lincoln followed closely every plan
and movement of McClellan, and the correspondence between them proves
Mr. Lincoln to have been far the abler general of the two. He kept close
watch of Burnside, too, and when he gave the command of the Army of the
Potomac to “Fighting Joe” Hooker he also gave that general some fatherly
counsel and advice which was of great benefit to him as a commander.