At 28 Lincoln rode his horse into Springfield Illinois

Dismounted and picked up his saddlebags and entered the general store of Joshua Speed.

HE asked for the price of blankets for a single bed and then confessed that he did not have enough money to pay for them.

Speed felt drawn to the tall, awkward-looking young man, "I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in my life" He gave Lincoln a double bed free of charge.

Lincoln:

"Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction.... Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

At Hartford Connecticut, striking shoe workers told Lincoln they could not live on $250 a year. He said: "Thank God that we have a system of labor where there CAN be a strike"

Lincoln when asked to make a public statement that would quiet the south's fear of slavery replied:

"...It would make me appear as if I repented the crime of having been elected and was anxious to apologise and beg forgiveness....

You think Slavery is right and ought to be extended; we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. For this, neither has any just occasion to be angry with the other..."

 

General McClellan Vs General Grant:

George B. McClellan had been a start pupil at West Point and had served with distinction in the Mexican war…. (After) General Scott retired, McClellan became general-in-chief. Soon, he started complaining about being pestered. He said Lincoln was pressing too hard for action and that it was not true that his army outnumbered General Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederates at Manassas by three to one (The figures for the army proved to be true).

McClellan’s army of 121,000 was now at Yorktown. He took a look at Confederate defences and decided he needed ‘big guns’ to blast them out of the way. Lincoln called for action "at once". But the cautious McClellan took his time… McClellan then began to doubt that he had enough men…. Lincoln listened to McClellan’s plea for more men and prepared t send him the 35,000 men guarding Washington…meanwhile Jeb Stuart's cavalry shook up McClellan by riding completely around the union army. N called for more troops and blamed incompetents in Washington for his losses. Lincoln read his demands for more troops and said "Sending men to that army is like shovelling fleas across a barn – not half of them get there".

Speaking on V on another occasion, Lincoln commented: "He’s got the slows"

When Lincoln visited McClellan (at the warfront), McClellan handed him a letter. It told Lincoln what the government's policy should be toward the south: no abolition of slavery, no reorganisation of the conquered states and so on and on. Here a general was clearly meddling in affairs that were none of his business. Lincoln (ever astute) thanked McClellan for the letter and said nothing more about it.

(Subsequently) Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck to the post of general-in-chief of the army.

Lincoln put McClellan in charge of defending Washington (against General Lee). Lee’s army was dangerously spread out, and a copy of his plans showing this state of affairs was discovered in an abandoned Confederate camp. McClellan saw his big chance – but failed to move with the speed that Lee would have shown in such a situation.

Lee (sensing his own danger) stationed his men along the Antietam creek and sent messengers to hurry (reinforcements) there.

McClellan s army reached the creek but amazingly, he did not order an attack. He wasted another day while part of Jackson's force joined Lee.

When McClellan finally attacked on the one day later, he fought his battle a little at a time, that is he attacked the confederate left, then centre then finally right. This piecemeal attack gave Lee the chance to shift troops to one hard-pressed part of his line to another. At the day's end, Jackson’s men arrived to save Lee’s army from disaster…

Grant had been a stoop-shouldered failure in Galena Illinois. A drinking problem had forced him from the army, and he had failed twice in business. But when the war came, Grant showed the ability to train raw troops.

Grant again had a drinking problem. McClellan was ready to get rid of him, but Lincoln went ahead and made him a major general. Lincoln now turned on McClellan and ordered him to begin his campaign by February 22. McClellan did not move.

On the Tennessee River…General Johnston's confederates pounced on General Grant’s army. Grant was surprised but did not lose his nerve. He calmly chewed on a cigar and organised his defences….General Johnston was killed (in the counter attack). At first Grant was praised for another victory. Then charges were made that he had been surprised because he was drunk (partly true).

Grant, although ambitious for advancement in the army, had remained largely disinterested in politics. He had, however, impressed Abraham Lincoln with his self-reliance, bulldog tenacity, and confidence in final victory; so, early in 1864 he was promoted to lieutenant general and named general in chief of all the Federal armies. Grant did well in this top command; he was able to see the big picture of the war as well as its parts and skilfully co-ordinate the movements of the many armies of the Union.

Lincoln listened to demands for Grant’s dismissal and said "I can’t spare this man – he fights".

 

 

 

 

McClellan went on to become Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party – against whom did he run Lincoln of course! He lost 212 to 12 (electoral votes).

Ulysses Grant went on to become President of America in 1868.