Thanks,

The second least likely scenario is that powerful persons in the Administration acted absent the President’s ‘blessing’ and knowlingly contrary to his wishes. The reason for my conclusion? Simple! The choice of Ulrich Dahlgren as a participant. As noted in my comment on RMR2, no one in his right mind would choose someone personally close to the President for such a task knowing that the President would disapprove and put an end to it should he have learned of it prior to its execution.

Frankly, with all this ‘new’ information, the scenario that MOST fits the facts involves Lincoln’s involvement. The only thing here is, was it active or tacit. Did Lincoln conceive of the plan or, having heard of its conception give his active blessing for its follow through – or, having learned of what was afoot, did he merely walk away and take no direct part either in its completion or its prevention. No matter which of these scenarios is ‘the truth’, the fact is, Lincoln WAS involved and virtually (if not actually) from the ‘get-go’.

Furthermore, if Stanton did destroy the papers afterward to my mind simply makes Lincoln’s involvement all the more clear. Stanton was not the kind of man who would have been concerned about public knowledge that he was involved. Indeed, he might have been quite proud to have been so had the matter been successful. On the other hand, Stanton was apparently very moved by Lincoln’s death (as I have already stated) and would have done anything to prevent his memory being tarnished. So the destruction of the Dahlgren papers is far more likely to have been Stanton’s attempt to keep Lincoln’s name out of the whole shameful affair.

Mr. Wittenberg also cites my point about Lincoln wanting to end the war before he came up for re-election given the war-weariness of the North. He further cites my point that Lincoln would probably have concluded that once the Confederate GOVERNMENT was gone, the ‘secessionist beast’ would have been headless and probably the whole movement would have simply ended once Southern military leaders had no more civilian government to lead the effort. America’s military had, from the beginning, been subservient to civilian rule (thank you, George Washington!).

So, on the whole, I can see nothing in what is known so far that in any way absolves Lincoln of involvement other than the myths and cult grown round the man since his assassination. Had he died an old man in his bed, perhaps more objectivity might be displayed in this matter by those who simply refuse to believe that ‘Honest Abe’ could have done such a thing.

I think your analysis is spot on.

There will be more about this later tonight….

I look forward to hearing the results of your investigation into the relationship between Stanton and the radicals.

Eric

You’re very welcome. I think you all now have some sense of why this whole topic so intrigues me, and why I’ve spent years gnashing my teeth over it. It’s very much like peeling an onion–you peel away one layer and find many more underneath.

Eric

Absent any harder evidence to the contrary, your conclusion will, I think, stand the test of time. Excellent, judicious treatment.

Lincoln certainly gave tacit approval to the destruction wrought by Sherman and Sheridan. Both these occurred months later–and under a whole different set of circumstances–than the Dahlgren raid. And tacit approval of laying waste to Confederate resources is a whole different proposition than okaying the murder of one’s counterpart.

As for Stanton and Lincoln’s relationship, there was closeness and admiration on both sides. However, they often disagreed, and worked around each other. Stanton was never the insider that Seward and others became, and he was quite capable of doing underhanded and secretive things that Lincoln did not know about. I find it only barely plausible that he could have sanctioned Dahlgren, however, but I think that slightly more likely than Uric acting completely on his own.

This entire useful discussion has sent me on a tangent looking into Stanton’s relationship to the Radicals during 1863-1864. I may have something original to report this fall.

Bill

Bill

While speculating, I must confess that every time I think of the Dahlgren plan with respect to the Confederate government my mind wanders forward a year to the Lincoln assassination, which has been viewed by some as a planned Confederate Secret Service retribution for what might have been done a year earlier. And if your hypothesis is true with respect to Stanton, the same type of case could be made for the role of Judah Benjamin in those last desperate days of the Confederacy, whom one could certainly see preserving Davis’s own plausible deniability. Benjamin had taken the heat for Davis a number of times.

Very interesting post, Eric, and thanks for giving your fans the opportunity to comment on your work in progress.

I’m not aware of any other such instances, but I think your point is valid.

It’s this sort of feedback (and that given by Chuck) is why I put this up–I was looking for legitimate criticism and am quite pleased to have received it.

Eric

I don’t think it will, as it represents only about four pages of a 100,000 word manuscript. In the big scheme of things, it’s just a handful of pages.

I really do appreciate the thoughtful input and thank you for it again.

Eric

I’m certainly not an expert on CW White House politics, but it does seem that Stanton and Lincoln worked quite well together. I would take a look at Stanton’s record — are there any other instances where he set up some sort of initiative on his own without telling the president? Did he have a habit of freelancing? If so what was Lincoln’s reaction? IAC he never seems to have said or done anything to reprove Stanton for it.

Like FDR, Lincoln was a dissembler, and while he did not shrink from the dirty details of war and politics, he did take pains to disassociate himself from them, preferring to rely on trusted subordinates. Example: you usually don’t see Lincoln’s name associated with Sherman’s making Georgia howl, or the Burning in the Shenandoah, but Lincoln obviously knew about it and tacitly approved.

As far as his postwar policy goes, I’m not sure that makes a case for his war policy, which I read as being “Harsh War, Just Peace.”