Books about Mr. Lincoln Anastaplo, George. Abraham Lincoln: A Constitutional Biography (Lanham Maryland: Rowland & Littlefield, 1999)   Anderson, Dwight. Abraham Lincoln: The Quest for Immortality (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962)   Angle, Paul M. Here I Have Lived: A History of… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

George B. McClellan (1826-1885) George B. McClellan, known as “Little Mac” and “Little Napoleon,” was the Union General who served as both Commander of the Army of the Potomac and General in Chief after the resignation of General Winfield Scott (whom McClellan circumvented) in November 1861. He maintained his headquarters in… Abraham Lincoln’s White House […]

Joseph Hooker (1814-1879) Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker was the Union Army General who succeeded General Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1863 despite his grandiose notions of becoming a dictator. He had a reputation for being aggressive in… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Joseph Holt (1807-1894) Judge Advocate General (1862-1865), Joseph Holt, was offered the post of Attorney General by President Lincoln in late 1864. A Kentucky Democrat turned Radical Republican, he had served briefly as Secretary of War under President Buchanan. He declined the second… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Henry W. Halleck (1815-1872) Henry W. Halleck, “Old Brains,” was the Union Army General who commanded the Department of Missouri (succeeding John C. Frémont) before his appointment as General in Chief in July 1862. Halleck was a military theoretician who was… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) “Unconditional Surrender.” Union general who was a West Point graduate. He reentered the Army with difficulty in Civil War, but after capture of Fort Donelson, he swiftly rose to command Army of Mississippi, leading it to the capture of Vicksburg [in July 1863]. His occasional lapses into… Abraham Lincoln’s White House […]

John Dahlgren (1809-1870) Navy ordinance expert and officer in charge of Washington Navy Yard, which President Lincoln frequently visited, John Dahlgren also invented the Dahlgren cannon. He chafed at shore duty and longed to be at sea; finally, in 1864 he was appointed to command the… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Benjamin Butler (1818-1893) Benjamin Butler AKA “Spoons” and “Beast” was a War Democrat who supported John Breckinridge for President in 1860 after earlier supporting Jefferson Davis for the Democratic nomination. Butler ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts in 1860 as a Breckinridge Democrat. After the fall of Fort Sumter, he became… Abraham Lincoln’s White House […]

Ambrose E. Burnside (1824-1881) Ambrose E. Burnside, “Burn,” was the General of Army of Potomac, who succeeded George McClellan in November 1862. A failed Rhode Island businessman who designed a rifle later used in the Civil War, he worked for the Illinois Central Railroad under George McClellan when Lincoln was… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Frank P. Blair, Jr. (1821-1875) Francis P. Blair, Jr. was a Union general who served in Missouri and West. A Republican congressman from Missouri (1857-58, 1861, 1864) at the outset of the war, he organized pro-Union military units among German-Americans which were instrumental in keeping Missouri in Union. An early political backer of… Abraham Lincoln’s […]