Chapter 19

Lincoln's Personal Attention to the Military Problems of the War--Efforts to Push forward the War--Disheartening Delays--Lincoln's Worry and Perplexity Brightening Prospects--Union Victories in North Carolina and Tennessee--Proclamation by the President--Lincoln Wants to See for Himself--Visits Fortress Monroe--Witnesses an Attack on the Rebel Ram "Merrimac"--The Capture of Norfolk--Lincoln's Account of the Affair--Letter to McClellan--Lincoln and the Union Soldiers--His Tender Solicitude for the Boys in Blue--Soldiers Always Welcome at the White House--Pardoning Condemned Soldiers--Letter to a Bereaved Mother--The Case of Cyrus Pringle--Lincoln's Love of Soldiers' Humor--Visiting the Soldiers in Trenches and Hospitals--Lincoln at "The Soldiers' Rest"