Lincoln Lincoln finding his General

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OTD - July 13, 1863, Lincoln writes Gen. Grant: "I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. . . . When you got below, and took Port-Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned Northward East of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong."
Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, 13 July 1863, CW, 6:326.

 

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Lincoln's Search for a Winning General
John C. Gibson

Lincoln - What was the USA's biggest mistake in the Civil War? | Famous People of the Late Unpleasantness

McDowell was given a losing hand from the start. Yes, but after reading Searching For Irvin McDowell I am convinced he was also temperamentally unsuited to command an army. Lincoln mistakenly believed the secessionists had less popular support by harping on pre-secession hesitation rather...

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