government. Lincoln
astonished him with his appointment as Secretary of War in January,
1862. Stanton justified the President's choice, and under his strong
if ruthless hand the War Department became sternly efficient. The whole
story of Stanton's relations to his chief is packed, like the Arabian
genius in the fisherman's vase, into one remark of Lincoln's. "Did
Stanton tell you I was a fool?" said Lincoln on one occasion, in the
odd, smiling way he had. "Then I expect I must be one, for he is almost
always right, and generally says what he means."

In spite of his efficiency and personal force, Stanton was unable to
move his friend McClellan, with whom he soon quarreled. Each now sought
in his own way to control the President, though neither understood
Lincoln's character. From McClellan, Lincoln endured much condescension
of a kind perilously near impertinence. To Stanton, Lincoln's patience
seemed a mystery; to McClellan--a vain man, full of himself--the
President who would merely smile at this bullyragging on the part of
one of his subordinates seemed indeed a spiritless creature. Meanwhile
Lincoln, apparently devoid of sensibility, was seeking during the
anxious months of 1862, in one case, merely how to keep his petulant
Secretary in harness; in the other, how to quicken his tortoise of a
general.

Stanton made at least one great blunder. Though he had been three months
in office, and McClellan was still inactive, there were already several
successes to the credit of the Union arms. The Monitor and Virginia
(Merrimac) had fought their famous duel, and Grant had taken Fort
Donelson. The latter success broke through the long gloom of the North
and caused, as Holmes wrote, "a delirium of excitement." Stanton rashly
concluded that he now had the game in his hands, and that a sufficient
number of men had volunteered. This civilian Secretary of War, who had
still much to learn of military matters, issued an order putting a stop
to recruiting. Shortly afterwards great disaster befell the Union arms.
McClellan, before Richmond, was checked in May. Early in July, his
peninsula campaign ended disastrously in the terrible "Seven Days'
Battle."

Anticipating McClellan's failure, Lincoln had already determined to call
for more troops. On July 1st, he called upon the Governors of the
States to provide him with 300,000 men to serve three years. But the
volunteering enthusiasm--explain it as you will--had suffered a check.