This is the dramatic story of Lincoln in the role of commander-in-chief, his search for a winning general, and his emergence, forced on by necessity, as a master strategist.

Here is the Lincoln who, in loneliness and doubt, bore the whole burden of liquidating an archaic command system riddled with personal and political influence, and of forging a modern one superior to the high command of any other country at that time. This is not a history of the Civil War, but the story of the direction of the war by the President. We see the developing picture of Lincoln as a war director how he sometimes fumbled and erred, but how he steadily increased in stature until he stood above all his generals.

Many figures of the Civil War come to life in incisive sketches. Here we see the generals whom Lincoln appointed and tried to use and discarded when they failed: McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Buell, Rosecrans, Fremont, McClernand, and others. The book culminates with the appearance of Grant, the general whom Lincoln trusted above all the rest, and the one to whom he confided many of the great powers he had previously withheld.