Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief. By James M. McPherson. (New York: The Penguin Press, 2008. Pp. xiii, 329.)

Historian James McPherson brilliantly addresses the role of President Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief of the United States in his book Tried by War (2008).  The author believes the scholarship dedicated to Lincoln lacks a review of his role as Commander in Chief and seeks to fill this void by analyzing how well Lincoln managed his responsibilities and obligations under the pressure of a civil war.  McPherson argues that all of Lincoln’s strategies, plans, and objectives centered on preserving the Union.  Consequently, Lincoln’s decisions and actions as Commander in Chief contributed to the foundation that propelled the United States to a world power. 

            The book is organized into ten chapters with an introduction and epilogue.  A few maps and photographs of important military and political characters as well as battle sites are scattered throughout the pages of the book.  McPherson uses an array of secondary sources, personal letters and memoirs, and relies heavily on the telegraph communications between Lincoln and the generals.  The narrative is a told chronologically and reviews Lincoln’s presidency through five categories: policy, national strategy, military strategy, operations, and tactics.  McPherson defines the goals of policy as the wars aims or the political goals of the nation.  National strategy is the mobilization of political, economic, diplomatic, psychological, and military resources to achieve the war aims.  Military strategy is the plans for the employment of the military to win the war.  Operations are defined as the management and movement of the military to execute the military strategy.  Tactics is the formation and handing of the military in battle (5).  McPherson uses the five categories as a guide to comprehend Lincoln’s actions and decisions as Commander in Chief. 

A significant portion of the book is dedicated to the first two years of the war during which Lincoln made mistakes and took missteps in managing the war and military generals.  Most notably, McPherson describes in detail Lincoln’s frustrations with his political and military general’s mistakes or hesitations in battle.  Lincoln started the war with a general that avoided hard fighting and ended the war with a general that aggressively destroyed the Confederate’s prized army and general.  Every general from George B. McClellan to Ulysses S. Grant is analyzed by their relationship with the president and their ability to achieve victory over Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy.  When the author introduces a new Union general, he gives background information on the individual and describes their personalities.  Additionally, Lincoln had to dedicate time, energy, and strategy to his political relationships with Radical Republicans and Democrats that questioned his actions under war powers granted to him in the Constitution.  McPherson artfully displays the political obstacles Lincoln faced and how he used unprecedented actions like the suspension of habeas corpus to achieve his national strategy, policy, and military strategy. 

            As the war progressed, Lincoln had to address the issue of slavery.  Lincoln used his skills as a politician to ease the country into the full emancipation of slavery. In the first two years, he used the title of contraband of war for slaves to gain protection under the Union military.  In the beginning of the war he wanted to maintain the Union as it was before secession with slavery intact but as the war progressed Lincoln realized slavery must be destroyed.  In the last two years of the war, Lincoln allowed former slaves to serve as Union soldiers to help defeat the Confederacy and he pushed for freedom of all slaves.  McPherson tactfully outlines the transformation of the issue of slavery in coordination with the transformation of the war as an armed conflict to a total war. 

            McPherson’s writing style is captivating and entertaining.  He narrates his arguments with ease and successfully adds to the historiography on Lincoln through the lens of his actions and responsibilities as Commander in Chief.  The book is meant for a diverse readership and the author deserves praise for making a complicated topic accessible and understandable. 

Texas Christian University                                                                              Brooke Wibracht