Lincoln, the Cabinet, and the Generals
Chester Hearn has taken on a huge task in describing and analyzing Lincoln’s relations with his egotistic Cabinet members and his mixed bag of generals. If not flawless, Hearn’s effort nevertheless is largely successful. This book contains less military analysis than James M. McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom and less political analysis than Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. It is much shorter than both and not long enough to cover all the ground necessary for comprehensive study and conclusions. Its 299 pages of text do provide a smooth-flowing, condensed version of the war from the president’s perspective. It is a stronger political tome than a military one. Its treatment of battles is brief at best. To his credit, Hearn does not hesitate to express his opinions about many of the political and military issues. His views may be debatable — like most Civil War analyses — but they are useful in stimulating thought and perhaps round table and classroom discussions. Errors do creep in. Some of my quibbles are with confusion about when Charles A. Dana was sent to “spy” on Ulysses Grant, the misplacement of Grant’s Chattanooga breakout prior to the November 1863 elections and Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, omission of John Bell Hood’s Atlanta area offensives as a factor in Atlanta’s fall, use of the wrong date for Lee’s 1865 attack on Fort Stedman, misuse of “implied” instead of “inferred,” and mistakenly describing John Wilkes Booth’s escape from Ford’s Theatre in a carriage. Nevertheless, Hearn has produced an enjoyable and readable overview of the Civil War that should appeal to those who do not wish to tackle an 800-page giant. I recommend this book. Reviewer: Edward Bonekemper
Book Review Editor Ed Bonekemper, adjunct military history lecturer at Muhlenberg College, is the author of four Civil War books.
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Notes, bibliography, index, 370 pp. 2010, LSU Press,