The First Modern Commander in Chief The American Civil War was the deadliest war in American History. No other war since then has taken as many American lives as the Brothers’ War. One of the most difficult responsibilities in this war was that of the president: to successfully end the war, stomp out the confederate rebels and restore the Union. This in no way would be an easy task, even for the brilliant civilian strategist Abraham Lincoln. Although he did not know it at the time, Lincoln would soon set the precedent for how all other presidents would exercise the power of Commander in Chief in all future wars. The book I read was Lincoln and His Generals written by one of the greatest historians in modern history, T. Harry Williams. …show more content…
T. Harry Williams does an amazing job describing the plans and actions taken by Lincoln in his role and Commander in Chief. He explains how Lincoln revolutionized the role of a president by closely working with his generals and helping plan and strategize what to do with the Union’s forces. One criticism I have about Williams’ writing is that he goes into such extensive detail about the planning, that it is easy to get lost in the text. He provides only two maps throughout the whole book so it became increasingly difficult for me to visualize what was going on without having to look up maps online and even then I was often still confused. The author also seems to side with Lincoln on almost all matters, even when a consensus of experienced generals of the time disagreed with the President. This made me question his objectivity as many of the plans that Lincoln disagreed with were usually fundamentally sound but were only revealed to be worse plans in hindsight. Other than those two things I believe Williams did an excellent job at describing the actions of Lincoln in the war and how he interacted with his generals. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone inquiring about how Lincoln revolutionized the role of Commander in Chief or anyone that is interested in Lincoln’s presidency. If one is looking for strictly a book about the military history of the Civil War, this is not the book for them however it is a very interesting read and gives the reader a better sense who Lincoln really was and what he did to win the
Brandon Smith Mr.Dittmar 12/14/2014 American History Book Report #2 “Killing Lincoln” Killing Lincoln is a very good easy to read historical book. I already knew some about when Lincoln was shot and how he died but this book put in so much more little details that any other thing I have gotten information from. I feel like Bill O'Rreilly did a very good job writing this book. I really like the way that it was wrote using the time and different days for the chapters. That helped give the book some detail and helped me understand what was going on in the book and when important scenes were easier to understand.
The Real Lincoln by Thomas D’Lorenzo is retelling the story of America’s sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln. D’Lorenzo however is taking an unconventional and controversial route by attacking President Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and political agenda overall. This concept is a struggle for most Americans because of the overwhelming positivity that people have about President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy of ending slavery and reuniting a divided country. However there are two sides to every story and D’Lorenzo does just that, causing him to take on risque theories that are explored in this book.
February 1864 Abraham Lincoln the current president at the time made Ulysses S. Grant commander and chief of all the union army. Grant started to plan a major attack on the Confederate´s capital of Richmond. Grants big plan was to keep the confederates busy protecting their capital while another part of the union run in and take Georgia. This would make it impossible for the confederates general Lee to send troops to Georgia. This would be Ulysses S. Grant´s first fight as general for the union.
Fifteen years earlier during the Mexican-American War, which trained many of the Civil War, President James K. Polk sent General Winfield Scott with only broad instructions. His orders explicitly stated, “it is not proposed to control your operations by definite and positive instructions, but you are left to prosecute them as your judgement, under a full review of the circumstances, shall dictating.” Therefore, Scott and his commanders knew there would not be sufficient time to coordinate with civilian authorities, thus making his decisions in the field supreme. However, in the Civil War, this structure evolved when Lincoln used the telegraph to create a centralized power to handle military action, resulting in diminished authority from commanders in the field. By inserting himself into battlefield activity, whether invited or not, Lincoln maintained his virtual presence in the minds of his
Jeff Shaara did a outstanding job of portraying the generals’ thoughts and feelings. It was so well written that I felt more connected to the characters and understood them more because I read about the events of the Civil War through their point of view. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, especially if they want a glimpse of the American Civil War and its heroic
Lincoln’s plan was to bring the nation together and stop the fighting. Along with Lincoln there were other great commanders by his side. General McDowell led the second battle of the Civil War making the North realize this wasn’t going to be an easy battle to win. General Grant led the Union to a victory and the capture of the first Confederate capital. General Sherman led the Union to another victory and ended the Confederacy control on the Mississippi Valley.
There are many different books that tell the story of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. One such book is Killing Lincoln, written by Bill O’Reilly. This book is not only about the assassination of President Lincoln, but it’s about the end of the Civil War too. O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln has many strengths and weaknesses, overall, it’s a good book.
While Watkins’ account of the war was a thrilling read, he himself states that he was not writing history but only his recollections. It is for this reason, that many of the major battles he discussed, I felt weren’t given enough attention. Shiloh and Chickamauga were two of the most influential battles in the Civil War and Watkins only covers them briefly. He also writes his memoirs as if he were talking to a friend and relaxing on his front porch; while this creates a lively story it is hard to follow if you do not already know who the generals are that he discusses. Furthermore, his recollection of what happened is twenty years old and memories can be misleading or faulty.
While the leaders made the major decisions and plans, the generals in charge of action on the battlefield were Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. The Civil war was one of the most gruesome and brutal wars in American history. Both the northern and the southern armies were comprised of zealots willing to die
Accessed 10 Jan. 2018. Hollar, Sherman. Biographies of the Civil War and Reconstruction: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and More. Chicago, Britannica Educational Pub., 2013. Holzer, Harold.
He teaches the reader about a couple of the most important battles and generals of the civil war. Instead of being a plain research book about the civil war, he gives us accounts of true yet hilarious events during the civil war, such as a soldier rushing into battle with half of his hair shaved because he couldn’t finish his haircut. Or even about the time opposing soldiers did not fight and instead met at a river to trade goods like newspaper, tobacco, and card in makeshift boats. Steve Sheinkin explains the Civil war in simple, perhaps oversimplified tales and fact. This, however, does not take away the depth of the book, fully going into slavery and the impact of cotton, he does his part in explaining the Civil War.
It helps the reader truly understand the events leading to the war, the results from the war, and what the soldiers went through both during and after the war. Most of the information presented in Adams book is not normally presented in History classes and helps the reader broaden their knowledge on the topic. The book is also well organized. Adams presents his information in order. He starts off talking about the myths of the war, then goes to the events leading to the war, the talks about the war and what the soldiers went through, and then finishes the book with the results of the war.
Throughout the book of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America, written by William E. Gienapp, I thought over and over when is there going to be some action in the book? When is the boring part going to be over? The book was an okay book; it could have been better. To anybody who wants a little history session needs to read this book.
I would recommend this book to someone who is into history and Abraham Lincoln. Growing up I used to think Abraham Lincoln was cool and inspiring. This book has helped me realize who Lincoln was. This book is really good at going into details from every aspect of Lincoln 's life. This book starts from the very beginning to the the very end of Lincoln.
Presidents are elected to preform and achieve greatness in America; they serve as the commander and chief of armed forces, and they find ways in coming up with agreements regarding trade and aid along with many other things. Being the president is obviously not an easy task. Have you ever thought about who you thought the best presient of the United States of America was? According to a debate in Taking Sides written by Larry Madaras and James SoRelle they presented an argument between Phillip Shaw Paludan and Melvin E. Bradford debating if Abraham Lincoln was America’s Greatest President. Many people agreed and disagreed whether or not President Lincoln was the greatest; however the sides of two professors were part in the Taking Sides issue of yes or no.