. The lives and deeds of our self-made men . very bravest and most skilful of our army officers wentover to the new cause, to which they carried all theenthusiasm of youth and hope* Lincoln, in fact, wasin the condition of a man who should be put to a na-val race in an old ship from which his competitors hadtaken their pick of all the best sails, spars and hands. It is notorious that during the first year or twoof the war, while with every Confederate officer therebellion was an enthusiasm and a religion, for wThichhe was willing at any moment to die, there were onthe Lnion side many officers,
. The lives and deeds of our self-made men . very bravest and most skilful of our army officers wentover to the new cause, to which they carried all theenthusiasm of youth and hope* Lincoln, in fact, wasin the condition of a man who should be put to a na-val race in an old ship from which his competitors hadtaken their pick of all the best sails, spars and hands. It is notorious that during the first year or twoof the war, while with every Confederate officer therebellion was an enthusiasm and a religion, for wThichhe was willing at any moment to die, there were onthe Lnion side many officers, and those of quite highrank, who seemed to take matters with extreme cool-ness, and to have no very particular enthusiasm forfighting at all. These officers seemed to consider se-cession as a great and unlucky mistake—a mistake,too, for which they seemed to think the intemperatezeal of the Black Republicans was particularly in fault,and their great object seemed to be to conduct thewar with as little fighting as possible, using most con-. VSAaaXMa. V Vv . vXJXvvXTirw THE NEW YORKPU3LIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOU -DA: R L HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 365 ciliatory language, and always being sure to returnfugitive slaves whenever they could get a good oppor-tunity, thus apparently expecting in some favorablehour to terminate hostilities with another of thosegrand compromises which had been tried with suchsignal success in years past. The advancement of Stanton to the post of Secre-tary Of War, was a movement made after it becamesomewhat more a settled point than at first appeared,that war should mean war. His position during the whole war was, next to thatof the President, the most important, responsible andinfluential civil post in the United States, and his ser-vices as an organizer, an administrative and executiveofficer, and as a fearless, energetic, resolute, powerful,and patriotic citizen, were perhaps as nearly indispen-sable to the success of the nation in the war
Size: 1563px × 1599px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectunitedstatesbiograph
