Team of Rivals (185 page)

In letters to his wife, Mary Ellen
(64)
, General George B. McClellan regularly derided Lincoln, his cabinet, and most of the hierarchy in the Union army, while crediting himself with every success. Admirers hailed him as a young Napoleon
(65)
.

Lincoln went through a succession of generals, including Ambrose E. Burnside
(68)
and Joseph Hooker
(69)
, before he found a winning team in Ulysses S. Grant
(66)
and William T. Sherman
(67)
.

Antislavery leader Frederick Douglass
(70)
and Senator Charles Sumner
(71)
urged Lincoln to bring blacks into the Union army. Ultimately, almost two hundred thousand black men served, including this young soldier
(72)
.

Lincoln took more than a dozen trips to the front, both to consult with his generals and to inspire the troops
(73)
. Scenes of the dead littered on the battlefield
(74)
tore at his heart.

Lincoln and his son Tad walked through the Confederate capital of Richmond on April 4, 1865. Freed slaves crowded the streets, shouting, “Glory! Hallelujah!” when Lincoln came into view.

As Lincoln lay dying in the Petersen boardinghouse, he was surrounded by family, members of his cabinet, congressmen, senators, and military officials. When Lincoln died at 7:22
A
.
M
. on April 15, 1865, Stanton proclaimed: “Now he belongs to the ages.”