great soldiers and great generals were
not always great leaders, President Lincoln became the able director,
the actual commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States.
He planned and ordered the larger movements of the War, and he held
the reins above and about all his armies, scarcely relaxing his
watchful care for a moment,--until events demonstrated the wisdom
with which he confided the military interests of our beloved country
and the conduct of the war to Ulysses S. Grant.

Some of us remember with what persistence during the Winter of 1862
and 1863 many newspapers and a large share of the Northern people
joined in the cry of "On to Richmond!" Censure and criticism ran
riot even among Northern Republicans. In a three-line memorandum
the President showed the fallacy of that outcry, when he wrote:
"Our prime object is the enemy's army in front of us, and not with
or about Richmond at all, unless it be incidental to the main
object." At a later day he said to Hooker: "I think Lee's army,
and not Richmond, is your sure objective point."

Modest and simple as he always was, never seeking power with
inordinate ambition, simply that he might use power; still he was
never afraid to assume responsibility when it was his duty to assume
it.

I called on him one evening at the Soldiers' Home. We spent the
evening together, and naturally we talked of the war. He discussed
almost all of his generals, beginning with McClellan. At that time
McClellan was down on the James, and Pope was in the saddle in
Virginia. Pope, he feared, would be whipped, unless he could get
more troops, and he was trying to get McClellan back in order to
save Pope. At that time he had not yet lost his faith in McClellan,
but he was complaining that McClellan was never ready for battle.
After making all possible preparations, and with the enemy in front,
he would overestimate the size of the enemy's force, and demand
more troops. Yet Mr. Lincoln said that he would rather trust
McClellan to get his army out of a tight place than any other
general that he had.

After his election he invited his principal competitors for the
nomination to enter his cabinet. He had not the slightest jealousy
of any living man. He was not afraid, as some of our Presidents
have been, to have his cabinet composed of the greatest men of his
time. He was a bigger man than any of them, and no thought of
jealousy ever entered his mind. Both Seward and Chase