The Cabal

This chapter examines Edwin M. Stanton's power as secretary of the War Department during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln's visit with General Winfield Scott represented the latest in a series of consultations he had sought as part of his military education. He had a conversation with retail tycoon Alexander T. Stewart about the war in general, and the Virginia theater in particular, with Stewart pronouncing Major General George B. McClellan a great humbug, and suggesting John Pope as his replacement. The next day Lincoln and Stanton then conferred with General Irvin McDowell in Manassas. The rest of this chapter discusses the short-lived reconciliation between McClellan and Stanton, Henry Halleck's appointment as general in chief, Lincoln's call for volunteers to reinforce the Army of the Potomac and his proclamation freeing rebels' slaves, and Stanton's persecution of Brigadier General Charles P. Stone. It also considers Stanton's orders nullifying much of the Bill of Rights.