Lincoln as Commander in Chief

[Bill Richter]

On to Richmond was a political strategy, designed to appeal to the public. The generals all thought it was no good. But the problem was that commanding generals are often saddled with political realities. What Lincoln liked about Grant was Grant's willingness and ability to recognize political realities, like working with Ben Butler, Franz Sigel, David Hunter, John McClernand, and others, who were poor leaders militarily.

Each of these men had political qualities that were important to Lincoln and the Republican Party when it came to votes. Butler had commanded the largest number of troops in US history at a Massachusetts militia camp in the late 1850, he also had to votes of nominal Democratic millhands. Sigel was a great favorite with the German voters in several mid-west states. Hunter had Radical Republican support. McClernand raised scores of Union regiments from Democratic areas of southern Illinois. Unlike the other generals Grant did his best to used these men getting rid of them as they proved unable to fight the war properly. It was something Scott and McClellan never understood.

This is what made Grant a great general--he understood the need to help the politicians with their problems, and Lincoln helped him with his and gave him cover with the public as he lost nearly 100,000 men in the 1864 Overland Campaign against Richmond and brought Robt E Lee to bay at Petersburg in a siege that Lee could not win. After the Election of 1864, with Lincoln safely reelected, Lincoln reciprocated and allowed Grant to clean his military house at will. Grant was a much better politician than he gets credit for being.