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A review by zena_ryder
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson
4.0
A great, readable book on Lincoln as commander in chief. I really felt for him as he tried to get general after general to actually fight this war and get it over and done with. In particular, the mystery of McClellan and how long Lincoln put up with him becomes a little more understandable in this book. (He was charismatic and likeable; and he was hard to replace — even if there had been a decent, available general — because his soldiers adored him.) But I suspect that without knowing McClellan first hand, it will always be somewhat mysterious.
The impression I had before was that the war took a dramatic turn for the better (from the Union perspective) after Gettysburg, but this book painted the turn less dramatically. It was less a turn, and more a slight leaning. There was still plenty of failure, loss, incompetence and lack of nerve after Gettysburg. If it hadn't been for Grant and Sherman, the Union probably would have lost the war — and slavery would have continued without opposition, in the independent Confederacy.
The impression I had before was that the war took a dramatic turn for the better (from the Union perspective) after Gettysburg, but this book painted the turn less dramatically. It was less a turn, and more a slight leaning. There was still plenty of failure, loss, incompetence and lack of nerve after Gettysburg. If it hadn't been for Grant and Sherman, the Union probably would have lost the war — and slavery would have continued without opposition, in the independent Confederacy.