In the winter of 1864 while Grant prepared for the inevitable spring campaign in Georgia, Congress revived the rank of lieu-tenant general for the purpose of giving it to its most victorious general. When the bill passed, President Lincoln called Grant to Washington to receive his commission and to assume command of all the armies.

Major General Henry W. Halleck, who became Grant's chief of staff, then handled administrative matters and implemented the commander's orders, thus creating a modern chain of com-mand and freeing Grant to take the field. Accompanying the Army of the...

"Judging Lincoln "collects nine of the most insightful essays on the topic of the sixteenth president written by Frank J. Williams, chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and one of the nation s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln. For Judge Williams, Lincoln remains the central figure of the American experiencepast, present, and future.
Williams begins with a survey of the interest inand influence ofLincoln both at home and abroad and then moves into an analysis of Lincoln s personal character with respect to his ability to foster relationships of equality among his...

In February 2009, America celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and the pace of new Lincoln books and articles has already quickened. From his cabinet's politics to his own struggles with depression, Lincoln remains the most written-about story in our history. And each year historians find something new and important to say about the greatest of our Presidents. Lincoln Revisited is a masterly guidePub to what's new and what's noteworthy in this unfolding story--a brilliant gathering of fresh scholarship by the leading Lincoln historians of our time. Brought together by...

By late 1878, after a year and a half abroad, Ulysses S. Grant had visited every country in Europe, and he was homesick. "I have seen nothing to make me regret that I am an American. Our country: its resources; energy, inginuity and intelligence of the people, &c. is more appreciated abroad than at home." Grant decided to return through Asia. After "a delightful run" to Dublin and northern Ireland, he left Paris with his wife Julia, son Frederick, and a few friends in January, 1879.

Heading east, Grant kept a travel diary. On the voyage to Bombay, travelers socialized on deck. "Four of...

In the final weeks of the 1880 campaign, Ulysses S. Grant left Galena and headed east to stump for the Republican ticket. At rallies in New England, upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York City, sometimes several times a day, the reticent Grant warmed to his role. Sounding a familiar postwar theme, he repeatedly condemned voter harassment in the South, asserting the right of "our fellow-citizens of African descent, ... to go to the polls, even though they are in the minority, and put in their ballot without being burned out of their homes, and without being threatened or...