Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary

Edwin Stanton (1814–1869) served as Secretary of War in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet and was among the most powerful and controversial figures in the administration. A Democrat and prominent trial lawyer before the Civil War, Stanton opposed slavery privately while serving briefly as President Buchanan's Attorney General before taking on the role of Lincoln's aggressive Secretary of War. During the Civil War, Stanton raised, armed, and supervised an army of a million men. He directed military movements and arrested and imprisoned thousands for actions such as resisting the draft or calling for an armistice. His controversial methods led some to accuse him of complicity in Lincoln's assassination. On April 14, 1865, Stanton rushed to Lincoln's deathbed after the President was shot. With Secretary of State William Seward critically wounded the same evening, Stanton took control of the government. He announced the President's death to the nation, summoned General Grant to protect the Capitol, and gathered evidence from witnesses at the theater to prepare for a murder trial. Walter Stahr's biography is the first major account of Stanton in fifty years, examining this stubborn genius who was both reviled and revered during his lifetime.