Chapter 21: “I Feel Trouble in the Air”: Summer–Fall 1863

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Welcome to the Deep Dive.

Imagine a summer where the fate of a nation really hangs by a thread.

You've got a leader grappling not just with a brutal war, but shifting public opinion, an ambitious cabinet, and these huge moral questions.

Yeah, that's the summer of 1863, and that's where we're heading today.

It's this incredibly pivotal moment.

Absolutely.

So this Deep Dive takes us right into that crucial period of the American Civil War.

It's just after the big union wins at Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

Right, but beneath that sort of surface triumph, new challenges, immense ones, were already bubbling up.

And they demanded, well, truly extraordinary leadership from Abraham Lincoln.

And extraordinary is the word.

Today, we're really pulling back the curtain on Lincoln's political genius.

We'll see him facing enormous pressure.

From all sides.

Yeah, and alongside figures like Frederick Douglass, the fiery abolitionist whose trust Lincoln really needed to earn.

And Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War, blunt, indispensable.

Can't forget him.

And Salmon Chase, Treasury Secretary, who, well, he had his own presidential ambitions complicating things even more.

Definitely added a layer.

So our mission, really, is to unpack how Lincoln, this man often called Unassuming, navigated all these swirling currents.

We want to look at his knack for coalition building, his own moral growth, the strategic calls he made.

Decisions that shaped not just the war, but the very definition of what it meant to be an American citizen.

You can see how his choices then laid the groundwork for, hopefully, a truly unified nation, even with these deep, deep divisions.

And we're drawing a lot here from the insights in Team of Rivals.

Okay, so let's dive in.

The Emancipation Proclamation is official.

A huge moment arrives.

The Union starts formally recruiting black soldiers.

How did that really begin to take shape?

Well, it started pretty quickly, actually.

This is about three weeks after the proclamation.

Secretary of War Stanton, always a pragmatist.

He authorized Massachusetts Governor John Andrew to raise two regiments of black troops.

Okay.

But Massachusetts didn't have a huge black population, so they brought in Major George L.

Stearns to head up recruitment, reaching out to other northern states.

And crucially, Stearns went straight to Frederick Douglass for help.

Ah, Douglass.

He'd been pushing for this for ages, hadn't he?

Arguing the war couldn't be won without, as he put it, the black man's arm.

How did he leverage his influence?

He used everything he had.

His monthly magazine, speeches all across the north.

He issued these really powerful calls directly linking military service to citizenship.

That's a powerful link.

Hugely powerful.

He famously said, he who fights the battles of America may claim America as his country and have that claim respected.

For Douglass, this wasn't just about fighting.

It was about earning your rightful place.

An incredibly potent message.

And it led to the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

Why was that specific regiment so symbolic?

Oh, it was groundbreaking.

The first black regiment raised entirely in the north.

It was led by Captain Robert Goldshaw, son of wealthy Boston abolitionists.

Right.

And incredibly, two of Frederick Douglass's own sons, Charles and Louis, they joined up.

Yeah.

And the day they marched through Boston, May 28th, thousands of people poured into the streets, cheering.

Douglass himself was there, just beaming with pride, watching their manly bearing.

It was more than a parade.

It felt like symbol of a nation starting to change.

And Lincoln himself, who I recall had some initial reservations, was now fully committed.

What drove that shift for him?

Yeah, he'd had reservations, but now he saw it as a strategic imperative.

He was pushing generals like Banks, Hunter, Grant's speed up enlistment.

He even leaned on Governor Andrew Johnson in Tennessee to raise black troops.

Really pushing it.

He wrote very clearly, the colored population is the great available and yet unavailable of for restoring the union.

He thought, you know, the sight of 50 ,000 armed black soldiers would end the rebellion at once.

Even Salmon Chase, who'd been for this earlier than Lincoln, noted the president was now thoroughly in earnest in this business.

It was pragmatic.

He saw the military necessity.

So the idea of black soldiers fighting was gaining ground, but the day to day reality that was often much tougher.

Right.

What kinds of discrimination did they face?

Oh, absolutely.

Their bravery was clear.

Port Hudson, Millikin's Bend, Fort Wagner, they earned huge respect,

but they faced, well, blatant discrimination, less pay than white soldiers, no enlistment bounties.

They weren't allowed to become commissioned officers.

That's infuriating.

It was.

And Douglas, you know, he kept insisting this is no time for hesitation.

Once let the black man get upon his person, the brass letters U .S.

and there is no power, which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship.

He saw the uniform itself as a claim.

But just as they were proving their courage, this terrifying new threat emerged from the Confederacy.

What was that?

It was horrific.

The Confederate Congress passed an ordinance.

It doomed to death or slavery, every Negro taken in arms and every white officer who commands Negro troops.

Death or slavery.

Just barbaric.

It had an immediate chilling effect.

Black enlistments plummeted.

Even Douglas found his audiences shrinking.

He got incredibly frustrated and he publicly called out Lincoln's silence on it.

He blamed Lincoln directly.

He argued that until Lincoln acted, he was equally with Jefferson Davis responsible.

Strong words.

Douglas felt so disillusioned, he actually stopped recruiting for a time.

Wow.

What was his reasoning then?

He basically said, colored men have much overrated the enlightenment, justice and generosity of our rulers at Washington.

A really painful loss of faith.

He felt he couldn't ask men to risk death or enslavement without stronger backing from their own government.

So Douglas is furious.

Recruitment is stalling.

How did Lincoln, despite maybe appearing silent, actually respond to this huge threat?

What was his play?

Well, behind the scenes, Lincoln was formulating a response.

Took a little time, but by late July 1863, he issues the order of retaliation.

Okay, what did that order do?

It stated clearly, no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war.

And it made a direct threat.

For every Union soldier killed in violation of war laws, a rebel soldier would be executed.

For every Union soldier enslaved, a rebel soldier would be put to hard labor.

Tip for tack.

Exactly.

Now, some critics said it was almost too late, but Douglas himself later sort of conceded that Lincoln, being a man of action, might've been waiting for a case, a specific incident, to make the order have maximum impact, a calculated delay.

That makes sense.

And this whole situation sets up a really pivotal meeting.

Douglas decides he has to go see Lincoln directly.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, Douglas felt this huge tumult of feeling heading to the White House.

He wasn't sure how he'd be received, you know?

Understandable.

But the meeting itself was surprisingly warm.

Lincoln saw him in the crowded hall, called him in within minutes.

Douglas later wrote,

I was never more quickly or more completely put at ease than in that of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln stood up, shook his hand, said, I know who you are, Mr.

Douglas.

Sit down.

I'm glad to see you.

Just like that.

Just like that.

Douglas was really struck by Lincoln's transparent countenance, his honesty.

It showed Lincoln's willingness to engage, even with sharp critics.

And Douglas laid out his concerns, the unequal pay, the threats, the lack of commissions.

How did Lincoln respond?

How did he justify his decisions?

Lincoln listened intently, with very apparent sympathy, according to Douglas.

He was candid.

He said the unequal pay was a necessary concession to get the initial bill through Congress, but he promised, in the end, they shall have the same pay.

A political reality, maybe?

Perhaps.

He also assured Douglas he'd sign commissions for any black officers Stanton recommended.

And his reason for delaying the retaliation order, he said he needed to wait for battles where black soldiers had really distinguished themselves for bravery.

Why?

He feared a public outcry, the perception that white men were to be killed for negroes.

He needed battlefield heroism to justify it politically.

Lincoln also admitted having grazed misgivings about endless retaliation cycles, finding the idea of hanging men for a crime perpetrated by others was revolting to his feelings.

Douglas respected that humane spirit, even if he disagreed with the timing.

Interesting.

And Lincoln pushed back a bit, too, on Douglas's criticism.

He did.

He acknowledged Douglas's critique of his tardy, hesitating, and vacillating policy, but then he firmly stated, it cannot be shown that when I have once taken a position, I have ever retreated from it.

Standing his ground.

So this meeting, it sounds like it really forged a deeper connection.

Absolutely.

It established this crucial relationship built on mutual respect, even with their disagreements.

Douglas was clearly impressed by the reception, later saying Lincoln received him just as you have seen one gentleman receive another.

It was about building trust, building that coalition.

Okay, so having navigated those tricky waters with Douglas and the policy on black soldiers, Lincoln then turns his focus to public opinion.

What was happening politically, and why write a big public letter?

Well, those victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg created this slightly deceptive feeling that peace might be near.

But the copperheads, those northern Democrats against the war, were spreading rumors that Lincoln had rejected Confederate peace offers.

Undermining him.

Exactly.

So Lincoln knew he had to counter that narrative and really shore up public support for war aims, especially now with emancipation and black troops in the mix.

He decided to write a public letter to an old friend, James Conkling, to be read at a big rally in Springfield.

And he didn't just dash it off.

Tell us about him reading it to William Stoddard.

What does that show?

It shows how carefully he thought about communication.

He tracked down Stoddard, one of the secretaries, and said something like, what I want is an audience.

Nothing sounds the same when there isn't anybody to hear it and find fault with it.

He wanted feedback.

Yeah, real -time feedback.

There's that funny story where Stoddard questioned Lincoln's metaphor about Uncle Sam's web feet for the Navy gunboats.

And Lincoln basically said, well, some of them did get a shore.

Laughing it off, but keeping the phrase.

He wanted to know how it sounded.

So what were the core messages in this Conkling letter?

What did he really want people to understand?

First, he promised transparency about any real peace proposals.

But second, he was absolutely firm on emancipation.

He wrote, It cannot be retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life.

Why?

Because the promise being made must be kept.

Powerful stuff.

And third, he hammered home the vital role of black soldiers.

He quoted commanders saying the emancipation policy and the use of colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion.

The ending was almost poetic,

contrasting the black men who helped mankind onto this great consummation with the white men who strove to hinder it.

It was a strategic masterpiece, really.

So more than just answering critics, it was about reshaping the narrative.

Definitely.

Leveraging the recent winds to cement support for these controversial policies, framing them as both morally right and militarily essential.

And how did it land?

How was the letter received?

Well, there was a hiccup first.

A shortened version got published initially, and Lincoln was apparently mortified.

But once the full text came out, it got excellent reviews.

People praised its clarity, its felicity of thought.

John Hay, his secretary, called it a great utterance of a great man.

So it worked.

It really did.

The New York Times went so far as to declare Lincoln the most popular man in the republic after it came out.

It successfully reframed the debate.

Okay.

So Lincoln's riding high on this wave of public support, but then boom, a military crisis hits.

What happened in mid -September?

Yeah.

Just as things felt a bit calmer, the news from Chickamauga came in.

A stunning Confederate victory.

General Rosecrans army was routed.

It was compared to a bull run.

A real disaster.

How did Lincoln take it personally?

He was deeply disturbed.

He told John Hay, I believe I feel trouble in the air before it comes.

He couldn't sleep.

The situation in Chattanooga was suddenly critical.

The union held it, but they desperately needed reinforcements, maybe 20 or 30 ,000 men, fast.

A huge blow.

And this crisis leads to this incredible logistical story involving Stanton.

What was his big idea?

Stanton had this audacious plan.

He calls this late night emergency meeting Lincoln Halleck Seward Chase.

Lincoln was apparently considerably disturbed because Stanton had never summoned him before.

It must be serious.

Right.

Stanton lays it out, moved 20 ,000 men from the army of the Potomac all the way to Tennessee under General Hooker.

20 ,000 men across that distance.

How did they react?

Skepticism, mostly.

Halleck, the general in chief, figured it would take 40 days.

Lincoln, always with a dry quip, said something like, you can't even get one corps into Washington in the time you fixed for reaching Nashville.

Stanton was not amused.

He knew the danger was imminent.

But then came the crucial moment with Colonel D .C.

McCallum, the head of military railroads.

Stanton asks him how long.

This is pause and McCallum says,

seven days.

That's unbelievable for the time.

Exactly.

Stanton's like, I told you so.

But Lincoln, ever the careful one, steps in.

I have not yet given my consent.

Colonel McCallum, are you sure about this?

Putting him on the spot.

Totally.

And McCallum pledges his life on it.

That's when Lincoln gives the okay.

He tells Stanton, Mr.

Secretary, you are the captain.

Given necessary orders and I will approve them.

Trusting his man, but only after that, direct assurance.

And did they actually do it?

They did.

Stanton worked apparently more than 48 hours straight.

Just relentless commandeering trains coordinating everything across different railroad gauges, which was a nightmare.

But they moved 23 ,000 troops and all their supplies to Tennessee in those seven days.

That's astonishing.

It was called the longest and fastest movement of such a large body of troops before the 20th century.

Just an incredible feat.

And people like Grant and Chase gave Stanton huge credit for basically saving Chattanooga.

Wow.

That really underscores the scale of the war effort and the personalities involved.

What does this episode and the eventual victory at Lookout Mountain tell us about that Lincoln -Stanton partnership?

It shows how vital they were to each other, despite being so different.

Lincoln really valued Stanton's drive, his indomitable energy, even his bluntness.

He called Stanton his Mars, his god of war.

An unlikely pair.

Totally.

Someone observed Lincoln's charity versus Stanton's secretiveness, Lincoln's calm versus Stanton's storminess.

But they needed each other.

There's that great story about Stanton supposedly calling Lincoln a fool.

Right.

A congressman complains Stanton countermanded Lincoln's order and called him a D .D.

fool.

And Lincoln just smiles and says, If Stanton said I was a D .D.

fool, that I must be one, for he is nearly always right.

That says so much about Lincoln's confidence and trust.

It really does.

He valued Stanton's effectiveness over any personal slight.

And Stanton, who initially underestimated Lincoln, came to deeply admire him.

They also shared this deep awareness of mortality, of the sheer human cost of their decisions.

Both had faced personal losses, right?

Yeah.

Stanton with cholera and his wife's death, Lincoln losing children and loving those somber poems like mortality.

They knew their orders sent thousands to their deaths.

Lincoln once reflected, wasn't it queer that he, who couldn't bear to cut the head off a chicken, was in the middle of this huge war?

How did they cope with that weight?

They both seemed to find some meaning in a sense of divine purpose.

Lincoln told a group of Quakers he believed God permitted the war for some wise purpose, intending some great good to follow.

That shared sense of immense, almost sacred responsibility deepened their bond.

So while Lincoln and Stanton are forging this tart bond, another key rival, Sam and Chase, is feeling increasingly sidelined.

What's going on with him?

Yeah, Chase felt it keenly.

He said it was painful, so near the springs of action and yet unable to touch them.

And this frustration fueled his ambition.

His dogged hope, the book calls it, that he would be the Republican nominee in 1864, not Lincoln.

And he saw an opening on reconstruction policy.

You mentioned that divide earlier.

Exactly.

The party was splitting.

You had the radicals who wanted immediate abolition, black suffrage, strict terms for the South, a total transformation.

Chase positioned himself with them.

And the conservatives.

They favored a more gradual approach, maybe compensated emancipation, more lenient terms for readmission, trying to appeal to Southern non -slaveholders.

Lincoln was generally seen as their standard bearer, though he often tried to bridge the gap.

It was a real tightrope.

So Chase starts maneuvering.

How did he try to advance his candidacy?

He started this covert campaign, writing hundreds of letters subtly criticizing Lincoln's leadership, suggesting he offered a more bold, resolute alternative, always denying he wanted the job, of course, but hinting he'd accept the burden.

Classic politics.

Did Lincoln know?

Oh, Lincoln was fully aware.

He got reports from allies.

He had that great line about the presidential chin fly biting Chase, basically saying, if Chase's ambition makes him work harder as treasury secretary, fine by me.

That's incredibly pragmatic, tolerating a rival in his own cabinet.

Lincoln saw it as bad taste, but strategically necessary.

He didn't want to fight with Chase, who was crucial for funding the war.

He saw Chase as a dubious ally.

He had to keep close.

He even used another analogy.

Chase was like a blue bottle fly, laying eggs in any rotten spot, whenever Lincoln made an unpopular move.

He really understood his rival's motives, and this tension really flares up in Missouri, right?

What was happening there?

Missouri was a microcosm of the whole Reconstruction fight.

The state's Republicans were in open warfare.

Conservatives like Frank Blair favored gradual emancipation.

Radicals demanded immediate abolition.

And they targeted Lincoln's appointee.

The Radicals accused General Schofield, who Lincoln appointed to be neutral, of siding with the Conservatives.

So the delegation of these Radicals, led by Charles Drake, heads to Washington to demand Lincoln fire Schofield.

A direct challenge.

How did Lincoln feel about these Radicals personally?

Privately, he told Haye he felt closer to them in thought and sentiment that their faces are said Zion words.

He knew they were crucial in saving Missouri for the Union early on.

But, and this is key, Lincoln refused to be coerced.

He wouldn't denounce loyal Unionist conservatives just to please the Radicals.

This is simply monstrous, he said.

I cannot do anything contrary to my convictions to please these men.

Meanwhile, Chase openly courted the Radicals, inviting them to his home, which really annoyed Lincoln's allies.

So the big meeting happens.

How does Lincoln handle Drake and the delegation?

He listens patiently for like two hours while Drake reads out their demands.

Then Lincoln just calmly, logically dismantles their case.

He says the turmoil isn't Schofield's fault, it's inherent in civil war.

They hadn't provided real evidence of Schofield abusing power.

Haye wrote proudly that Lincoln crushed them with his candid logic and never cringed.

But he did eventually replace Schofield.

He did, but months later, and on his own terms.

When he became convinced Schofield was leaning to conservative, he replaced him with Rosecrans, whom the Radicals liked.

But he did it carefully, protecting Schofield's reputation and preserving his own authority.

It was all about timing and control.

That Missouri situation gets even messier, though.

Frank Blair, the conservative, comes back and gives this explosive speech.

Oh yeah, Blair returns and just rips into the Radicals, comparing their plans to the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.

And then he directly attacks Chase.

What did he accuse Chase of?

He accused Chase of manipulating the cotton trade for political gain.

Using his treasury post to build a machine against Lincoln.

Even calling him a traitor.

Indistinguishable from Jefferson Davis.

Yeah.

Really harsh stuff.

Wow.

How did Lincoln react to that kind of infighting?

Lincoln was dismayed.

He saw Blair damaging himself.

He gave Blair this incredibly wise advice.

Advice for anyone, really.

No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.

He used that analogy.

Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him.

Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.

Prioritize the main goal.

Wise words.

And the Blairs kept fighting.

Yeah.

Frank's brother Monte Blair took the fight to Maryland, attacking Radicals there.

There were calls for Lincoln to remove Monte from the cabinet.

Did Lincoln cave to that pressure?

Nope.

He refused to intervene against Monte's preferred candidate in a local election, saying it would be mean.

He kept his balance.

And ultimately, the Republicans won a huge victory in Maryland, declaring slavery is dead.

It showed public opinion was shifting.

Validating Lincoln's broader strategy, even his chase saw it as a victory for his side of the party.

So looking back at this whole period, summer and fall of 63,

what does it reveal about Lincoln's political genius?

People like Leonard Sweatt urged him to push for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery right then to undercut rivals.

Why didn't he?

Lincoln's answer was classic Lincoln.

The country was not yet ready.

He knew he had to hold all these discordant elements together first.

He wasn't going to act prematurely just for personal aggrandizement.

So it wasn't about inaction, but timing.

Exactly.

Sweatt himself said Lincoln's genius was ignoring men and ignoring all small causes, but by closely calculating the tendencies of events and the great forces which were producing logical results.

It was about reading the currents.

And moving with them.

Precisely.

John Forney, a journalist, put it perfectly.

Lincoln was the most truly progressive man of the age because he always moves in conjunction with capricious circumstances, not waiting to be dragged or wasting strength in premature struggles.

He understood the timing, the preparation needed for big changes to stick.

We've really covered a lot here this incredibly transformative period.

Lincoln evolving,

leading from arming black soldiers, navigating cabinet rivalries, that amazing troop movement, shaping public opinion, all while carrying this immense weight.

Yeah, his genius wasn't flashy speeches.

It was that strategic patience, that deep empathy, and this unwavering focus on the larger goal, what he called the great ends he ordains.

He balanced principle and practicality like few others could.

He wasn't just reacting.

He was carefully, deliberately shaping history.

So thinking about our world today, often so fast paced and polarized, what can we maybe learn from a leader who valued strategic delay?

Who let public opinion ripen?

Who stuck to a long -term vision despite all the pressure and rivalry?

What does it even mean to move in conjunction with propitious circumstances now?

Definitely something for us all to think about.

Absolutely.

Thanks for joining us on this Deep Jive.