EDWIN M. STANTON
(Edwin McMasters Stanton)
Traitors and spies were their terms for Southern sympathizers in the Federal Government. Many of these would pass information to the rebels.
The nation was bitterly split over the issue of slavery and fighting a brutal civil war. The stress on the Government leaders was immense.
There was little thought of emancipating slaves or their value to the South by the senior officers of the Union Army at the beginning of the war. The Secretary of War changed that. See {629183}for a typical Union General’s view at the beginning of the war.
Edwin McMasters Stanton was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory. However, he was criticized by many Union generals, who perceived him as overcautious and micromanaging. He also organized the manhunt for Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
