Lincoln and His Admirals

Written by Craig L. Symonds

Narrated by David de Vries

Abraham Lincoln began his presidency admitting that he knew "but little of ships," but he quickly came to preside over the largest national armada to that time, not eclipsed until World War I. Written by naval historian Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals unveils an aspect of Lincoln's presidency unexamined by historians until now, revealing how he managed the men who ran the naval side of the Civil War, and how the activities of the Union Navy ultimately affected the course of history.

Beginning with a gripping account of the attempt to re-supply Fort Sumter-a comedy of errors that shows all too clearly the fledgling president's inexperience-Symonds traces Lincoln's steady growth as a wartime commander-in-chief. Absent a Secretary of Defense, he would eventually become de facto commander of joint operations along the coast and on the rivers. That involved dealing with the men who ran the Navy: the loyal but often cranky Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, the quiet and reliable David G. Farragut, the flamboyant and unpredictable Charles Wilkes, the ambitious ordnance expert John Dahlgren, the well-connected Samuel Phillips Lee, and the self-promoting and gregarious David Dixon Porter. Lincoln was remarkably patient; he often postponed critical decisions until the momentum of events made the consequences of those decisions evident. But Symonds also shows that Lincoln could act decisively. Disappointed by the lethargy of his senior naval officers on the scene, he stepped in and personally directed an amphibious assault on the Virginia coast, a successful operation that led to the capture of Norfolk. The man who knew "but little of ships" had transformed himself into one of the greatest naval strategists of his age.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Aug 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781977388452

Reviews for Lincoln and His Admirals

[richard7920 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was purchased with the object of investigating the operations of the Union Navy during the war and the relationship between Lincoln and his admirals. Maybe there is just not that much to tell. In any event, despite presenting an apparently "well-researched" account, this book is, to put it mildly--a huge disappointment. First, it presents very little "new" information and gives an account of a few naval events that are simply a recapitulation of these same events that one finds in more general histories of the war. Secondly, the effort is replete with long passages about non-naval subjects, including almost an entire chapter on emancipation. Almost no attention is directed at the actual creation and development of the Union navy, one of the greatest military accomplishments during the war. Short generalized accounts of the major naval battles and very sparse descriptions of both the vessels and men who manned them provide the bulk of prose in his book. Very thin gruel indeed. A disappointing effort from a former professor at West Point and one who is held in great esteem among American Civil War scholars. In short this book is a painful disappointment.

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an examination of how Lincoln evolved into an active commander-in-chief through the prism of naval warfare, with live examples of how it was his job to bridge the gap between services in the conduct of the war. About the best chapters deal with either the ill-fated efforts to relieve Fort Sumter or the farrago that was the war on the Western waters. Apart from the theme of Lincoln’s evolution as a war leader, there is also the matter of the care and feeding of flag officers, and how Lincoln collaborated with Secretary of the Navy Welles, or not, in terms of finding competent naval leadership.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I chose this book to read, I didn't look very carefully and therefore, didn't realize that it was the same subject by the same author of [Civil War at Sea]. That said, the majority of the information included in this book was the same as CWatS just organized a bit differently with a few different events included. I would suggest reading one or the other, not both because there is basically little difference.

[nbmars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Craig Symonds, Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of ten previous books, examines Lincoln’s presidency through the lens of the naval side of the Civil War, a perspective often neglected in Civil War scholarship. He accomplishes several goals.One is to show the importance of naval operations for the Civil War. Another is to show Lincoln’s growth as a leader during his four years of presidency. A third is to enlighten readers about “Lincoln’s admirals,” since they are relatively unknown compared to “Lincoln’s generals.”When Lincoln assumed the presidency, he had no knowledge of navies or navy matters, yet had to oversee the development and deployment of the largest naval force in American history to date. The very week Lincoln took office, he was beset by the crisis facing Fort Sumter - located in the middle of Charleston Harbor - which needed to be re-supplied or surrendered. He had to borrow New York City tugboats to help supplement America’s tiny marine arsenal to re-supply the fort. But by the midsummer of 1864, the U.S. Navy had more than six hundred warships in commission. Symonds observes that this scale of naval development would not be eclipsed until the world wars. Symonds quotes Hannibal Hamlin, Lincoln’s first-term vice president, as saying that “eulogists make the mistake of constructing a Lincoln who was as great the day he left Springfield as when he made his earthly exit four years later.” This does Lincoln a disservice, Symonds claims, in understating the enormous strides he made while in office.Lincoln was forced to become a student of naval warfare just as he had to become a student of land warfare. He effected a blockade of the South, wrestling not only with its legal technicalities, but also with the logistics of doing so without enough ships. He also had to deal with intermittent international crises involving foreign governments. Some, intent on the profits that would come from trading with the South, resisted interference at neutral ports. Others wanted contracts honored with the South for such goods as cotton and tobacco that had been executed prior to the outbreak of hostilities.Lincoln had to cope with constant internecine conflicts not only among his admirals, and those aspiring to be admirals, but also between “Mars” and “Neptune” in his cabinet (as he referred to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles). (Telllingly, Gustavus Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, wrote in a letter, ”I feel that my duties are two fold: first, to beat our southern friends; second to beat the Army.”)Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, was, as Symonds characterizes him “by turns blunt, challenging, cantankerous, and tiresomely earnest. He was protective of his commander in chief and jealous of the influence exercised on him by others, especially Secretary of State William Henry Seward.” In fact, conflict between Welles and Seward eclipsed that between Neptune and Mars. Seward was constantly “interfering” in naval matters because of his (and Lincoln’s) overriding interest both in keeping Britain and France out of the war, and avoiding a new war with either of them. Lincoln often played the role of judge between his jousting secretaries, requiring written answers to his “interrogatories” to justify their positions.One source of animosity between not only Welles and Stanton but which also involved Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, was the scramble for captured or abandoned cotton, or “white gold.” Since fortunes could be made from the cotton, not only did Navy, War, and State fight over custody of the cotton, but the three services stole captured cotton from each other. Another problem was that there was no protocol in the American military for a combined command of army and navy operations. Achieving cooperation was difficult, and fraught with resistance and counter accusations. Yet many big battles in the Civil War depended on joint land and river maneuvers. Lincoln often had to get involved, even directing the movement of ships and the dispatch of supplies. Not until Ulysses S. Grant took over as General-in-Chief of all the armies of the United States did Lincoln find a leader with both the ability and the respect to handle the competing branches of the services.One interesting complication concerned “the contrabands,” as escaped black slaves were called. Union army leaders could not provision or protect all the escapees they were attracting. Many were quietly added to the navy’s ships. The Army thought that having armed ex-slaves about would be threatening to civilians. But blacks serving on ships were virtually invisible. Moreover, white sailors were happy to assign the drudgework of maintaining the vessels to former slaves. Welles insisted the blacks so employed earn pay. [As of January 1, 1863, in the Final Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln declared that "such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service."]Most of the portraits that Symonds paints of the navy leaders are not flattering. Charles Wilkes, for example, “entered the war with a well-earned reputation for cupidity and obstinacy, and lived up to it during the war.” David Dixon Porter was “brash, self-promoting, and not always truthful.” Lincoln came to think of Samuel Francis DuPont as “a nautical George McClellan.” Lincoln’s favorite admiral, John A. Dahlgren, was judged to have gone insane. [In all fairness, it was also thought from time to time that General William T. Sherman had gone insane.] The reluctance of some of the naval officers to fight “compelled [Lincoln] to become involved in the planning and execution of particular campaigns, even directing an amphibious landing on the Virginia coast to capture Norfolk.”Much of the book chronicles the unrelenting carping and complaining among admirals and aspiring admirals, bemoaning their equipment, expressing jealousy over appointments and assignments, and seeking retribution for various slights. Some even enlisted various political champions to plead their cases personally to Welles or the President.But Lincoln was fond of the navy and its ships and technology, and on his last full day of life, he took Mary down to the Navy Yard to tour the ironclad Montauk. Afterwards, he told the officers he was going to Ford’s Theater that night, and they should feel free to join him as his guests. As Symonds remarks at the end of his book: “Many of them accepted at once. It promised to be a festive evening.”This book is a welcome addition to the category of “niche” books on Lincoln. The navy’s role was greater than most people assume, and the way in which its growth parallels and illustrates Lincoln’s growth provides an interesting perspective on this great man, about whom we can never read too much.Co-Winner of Gettysburg College's 2009 Lincoln Prize

[alinny458 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Much has been written about Lincoln in his role of Commander and Chief of the Army but this book takes a different perspective on Lincoln as military leader of the Navy. The book reveals many similar parallels to his experiences with his land generals. Many of his admirals had major cases of the 'slows' and needed to be cajoled to attack. Lincoln was very much a hands-on leader when he had to be. I found most interesting Lincoln's taking actual command of the recapture of Norfolk, an episode I knew nothing about. This is an excellent book that anyone with more than a passing interest in Lincoln and his leadership will want it on their bookshelf. My only reason for not giving this book a 5 rating is that the author would digress into the legal and diplomatic aspects of the war at sea that while relevant tended to significantly slow the pace of the book.