Lincoln and His Admirals
By Craig L. Symonds
(April 2009 Civil War News)

Illustrated, bibliography, index, 430 pp., 2008. Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, $27.97 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Patrick E. Purcell
Patrick E. Purcell, a graduate of Northeastern University, is a retired railroad manager. He is a former president of the Old Baldy Civil War Round Table in Philadelphia and was on the Board of Governors of the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia.

Review:
Early in his presidency, Abraham Lincoln told his Navy Secretary Gideon Wells, “I know but little about ships.” Fortunately, Welles and the assistant secretary, Gustavus Fox, proved to be exceptionally capable mangers of the department.

Although the Navy had its own loose canons (Charles Wilkes, Napoleon Collins, etc.), it did not suffer the equivalent of Army political generals such as Banks and Butler. (The highest rank filled by volunteers was acting volunteer lieutenant commander, which was filled by experienced mariners.)

While on an inspection tour in the Hampton Roads area in May 1862, the President personally led a landing part that would result in the Confederate abandonment of Norfolk, an operation that showed more initiative than that usually associated with many of his commanders.

Lacking a joint chief of staff, Lincoln frequently served as de facto commander of joint army-navy operations. The Navy was notably reluctant to become involved in river operations and was originally under Army direction on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

David Glasgow Farragut’s capture of New Orleans and the need to provide equal rank to the Army’s generals led to the promotion of Farragut and several other senior officers to the rank of rear admiral in July 1862 (the first in U. S. history).

While Lincoln searched for successful commanders (and would finally find his men in Grant and Sherman in the Army), results with his admirals would be mixed: Dupont and Dahlgren would fail at Charleston; Davis on the Mississippi, Lee on the North Atlantic and Goldsborough on the James would all disappoint the administration.

The capable Andrew Foote would die in mid-1863 and the vainglorious David Dixon Porter would succeed on the Mississippi and at Wilmington, N.C,. and would blame others for failures. But it was Farragut who achieved the Navy’s greatest triumphs at New Orleans and Mobile.

In the fall of 1863, President Lincoln commented, “…there had not been, take it all in all, so good an appointment in either branch of the service as Farragut…”

Craig Symonds, professor emeritus at the U. S. Naval Academy, provides a brilliant study on Abraham Lincoln’s management style and strategic thinking.

Many years ago T. Harry Williams wrote his classic Lincoln and His Generals (which ignored the Navy). Dr. Symonds shows that any analysis of Lincoln’s role as commander in chief must include both the Army and the Navy.

During the outpouring of books for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, this book will be a welcome addition, as it provides so many details of the President’s relationship and guidance to both services.