[Illustration: Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) and Jefferson Davis
(1808-1889) were born in Kentucky only a few miles apart. Lincoln
educated himself, eventually settled in Illinois, and became a
highly successful frontier attorney.]
[Illustration: Davis graduated from West Point, became a wealthy
Mississippi planter, and served successively as Secretary of War and
U. S. senator. Both men were tall and of striking appearance; both
married strong-willed women.]
The destiny of Civil War America lay largely in the hands of four men:
Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses Simpson Grant, and Robert
Edward Lee. Since an abundance of printed works exists on the lives and
careers of these leaders, given here are but a few generalities
concerning each.
In many respects, Lincoln long seemed mysteriously complex. But those
who knew the man quickly dropped any impression that Lincoln was crude
or provincial. "He is the best of us all," his Secretary of State,
William H. Seward, once stated. The solemn-looking Lincoln was a deeply
earnest chief executive who devoted his last four years to reuniting a
shattered nation that he loved dearly and to raising the nation to a
higher moral and spiritual level. He was kind, genial, compassionate,
and religious (though he attended church without joining any
denomination).
Lincoln possessed several ingredients of greatness. He had a deep love
of humanity, a keen understanding of men, and a fantastic patience with
the generals and politicians who tried him by their lack of strength and
capacity. He was also a man of total integrity and deep humility. As a
patriot he believed firmly that "this government of the people, by the
people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Not once
in those years of passion did he express the slightest hatred for the
Union's enemies. In his second inaugural address, delivered a month
before his death in 1865, Lincoln closed by stating: "With malice toward
none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us
to see the right, let us continue the work we are in ... [and] do all
that may achieve a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with
all nations."
[Illustration: On July 7, 1865, four persons convicted of conspiracy
in the assassination of Lincoln were hanged at the Washington
Arsenal. Among the four was Mrs. Mary Surratt (second from left),
the first woman in America to be executed for a capital offense.]
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, deserves better treatment
than history has accorded him. The years have not been kind to his
memory for two reasons: 1) he led the losing side; 2) when compared to
his Northern counterpart, Lincoln, Davis left much to be desired in both
personality and statesmanship. Unlike Lincoln, Davis was handsome,
well-educated, and experienced in political and military affairs.
However, he lacked administrative skill. He tried to do all of the
government's work--and he was a slow worker. Worst of all, Davis was
never able to gain the affection of his people in a degree remotely
approaching the love heaped on Lincoln by the North.
Yet Davis did his best in an impossible job. He was harassed and
criticized by jealous governors, independent generals, an apathetic
vice-president, and a Confederate Congress more noted for constant
arguing than for constructive activity. Ever-present from without was an
enemy that heavily outweighed the South in resources.
[Illustration: The Confederate "White House" in Richmond stands at
the end of East Clay Street. President Davis and his family lived in
this imposing three-storied home throughout the four years of war.
The home is now a noted museum.]
Davis was in a sense doomed to failure from the start, but his devotion
to the South never wavered. In spite of many physical handicaps, he
demonstrated throughout his life honesty, courage, fortitude, and a
firmness in the right as _he_ saw the right. In sectional terms, he may
be adjudged one of the true patriots in American history.
Military analysts often assert that U. S. Grant was "the first of the
modern generals" and that Robert E. Lee was "the last of the
old-fashioned generals." What this implies is that two able field
commanders fought one another differently: Grant introducing all-out,
total war, Lee relying on a 500-year-old concept of limited warfare.
Certainly Grant was original in much of his strategy. To him a single
victory meant very little. The long-range result of a continual
hammering was the important factor. "The art of war is simple enough,"
he once stated. "Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you
can. Strike at him hard as you can, and keep moving on." Grant's
aggression, therefore, became attrition--that is, a skillful, systematic
grinding down of the South's whole capacity to fight. War under Grant
became modern war: all-inclusive and brutal. He meant it that way, for
he always thought of war as a cruel, bloody business to be ended as
quickly as possible.
[Illustration: Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was born in Ohio,
entered the Civil War from Illinois, and spent his last years in New
York. He served two terms as 18th President of the U. S. Grant
completed his memoirs only a week before his death from throat
cancer.]
[Illustration: Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was the son of Virginia's
Revolutionary War hero, "Lighthorse Harry" Lee. Following a
distinguished army career, Lee became president of impoverished
Washington College (now Washington and Lee University).]
This short, unimpressive looking general succeeded where others had
failed because he had the willingness to give an order and the strength
to see it carried out. He did not use the lightning tactics of Napoleon
or Lee. Yet he had the determination and stubbornness to keep plodding
after the enemy. He was thus a soldier of the mold of Frederick the
Great and the Duke of Wellington. Perhaps Lincoln best summed up Grant
when he answered criticisms of the general with the observation: "I
can't spare this man. He fights."
Robert E. Lee has two historical handicaps: 1) he fought against the
Union; and 2) he is the only American general who ever lost a war. Yet
practically everyone who studies the life of this devoted Virginian soon
agrees with Sir Winston Churchill, who termed Lee "one of the noblest
Americans who ever lived, and one of the greatest captains known to the
annals of war."
Lee is most remembered for an almost flawless character. He did not
believe in slavery, but his heart and birthright were in Virginia.
Therefore, he turned down command of all U. S. forces in 1861 and
offered his services to his native state. As an army commander Lee
usually displayed great boldness in action, an ingenious capacity for
choosing the right field positions, and an uncanny ability to anticipate
his opponent's next move. With faith in his own judgment and in the
fighting quality of his army, Lee would then devise his strategy.
Confederate politics forced Lee to fight for the most part on the
defensive, and many writers attribute the Southern nation's long life to
Lee's genius in combating an enemy that sometimes greatly outnumbered
him.
Lee's chief weaknesses as a general were his depthless humility and
courtesy. Too often he entrusted to his principal lieutenants decisions
he himself should have made. He seemed always to assume that everyone
around him would strive for victory as earnestly and as completely as he
did. Much of this devotion to principle did rub off on his army. One of
Lee's sharpest critics eventually admitted: "Few generals have been able
to animate an army as [Lee's] self-sacrificing idealism animated the
Army of Northern Virginia.... What this bootless, ragged, half-starved
army accomplished is one of the miracles of history."