Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief (Classic Reprint)
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| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Greene, Francis V.) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief Among the manifold duties devolving upon Lincoln during the four years of his Presidency none exceeded in importance the exercise of his constitutional functions as Commander-in-Chief of the army; for manifestly upon the success of the armed forces in the field depended the issue of the momentous political questions at stake. It is the purpose of this article to examine the manner in which Lincoln performed these military functions, and to venture an opinion upon it; partly from the technical military stand-point, and partly from the larger, wider stand-point of political expediency; and to support this opinion by Lincoln´s own words, penned by his own hand, and showing in a most interesting manner the working of his brain. For various reasons it was not necessary for him to devote personal attention to the details of the other departments; but the operations of the army were in Lincoln´s thoughts every waking hour for 1502 long days. Scarcely a day passed that he did not visit the War Department or the houses of McClellan or Halleck; and hardly, if ever, a day that Stanton or Halleck did not visit the White House. The responsibility of military success or failure was on Lincoln, and he knew it. There were the Secretary of War, the General-in-Chief, the generals in the ¿eld, the Committee on the Conduct of the War, with virile men like Ben Wade and Zach Chandler as members, but the final arbiter was Lincoln. How, then, did he perform the duties of his military leadership, wisely or unwisely? Was his military judgment sound or defective? Let the facts, and his own words, speak for themselves. Little need be said of his brief service in the Black Hawk War of 1832, when, at the age of twenty-three, he served first as captain of a company of mounted volunteers, and afterward, when this company was disbanded, as a private in Captain Iles´s company until the close of the war. It was a hunting expedition rather than a military campaign. Lincoln was elected captain, by a large majority, because he had "the necessary muscles and fighting pluck to whip any rough in his company." He maintained discipline by his strong right arm, and any man who could down him in a fair and square ¿ght with his fists was welcome to the captaincy. But none could. Among the many contrasts in Lincoln´s career perhaps none is more striking than that between his position as a captain and private in the motley collection of rough frontiersmen with whom he served in 1832, and his position as Commander-in-Chief of nearly 1,000,000 veteran soldiers in 1864. He had been President less than twenty-four hours when, on the morning of March 5, he learned the precarious situation at Fort Sumter, then not publicly known. He at once called on General Scott for reports and advice, and on March 12 Scott stated in writing: "It is, therefore, my opinion and advice that Major Anderson be instructed to evacuate the fort ... and embark with his command for New York." Scott had served with distinction in the War of 1812, had conducted a brilliant campaign resulting in the capture of the City of Mexico, was now the senior officer in the army, and the highest military authority in the land. Lincoln instantly and wisely overruled him. For various reasons, stated in his message to Congress of July 14, "this could not be allowed." Lincoln´s orders were exactly the opposite, to organize an expedition for the relief of Fort Sumter; and no one worked more loyally to carry them out than General Scott. A few days later it was a question of Fort Pickens in Florida. Scott recommended that it be evacuated. Lincoln sought other advice, reached his decision that Fort Pickens should be re-enforced, and sent this order to Scott on Sunday, March 31: "Tell him that I wish this thing done, an
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