59 pages 1 hour read

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2005

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Part 2, Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Master Among Men”

Chapter 16 Summary: “‘He Was Simply Out-Generaled’: Spring 1862”

Following Grant’s successes in the West, McClellan writes Lincoln to tell him of his plans to undertake a campaign in the East, but Lincoln is “provided little comfort” (425), as McClellan has made similar assurances for many months and has not acted on any of them. Furthermore, Stanton does not get along well with McClellan, as he, “unlike Lincoln […] did not ignore the arrogance of the general in chief” (427).

After further prodding by Lincoln, McClellan finally undertakes what becomes known as the Peninsula Campaign, an attack in Virginia; however, after much delaying, McClellan allows for the Confederates to have time “to bring in additional forces from various theaters […] where they prepared for a counteroffensive” (433). Ultimately, McClellan is able to bring the Norfolk Navy Yard back into Union hands, but the broader campaign is a failure, and the Confederates gain a strategic advantage: “It would take nearly three more years and hundreds of thousands of deaths for the Union forces to come as close to Richmond as they had been in May and June 1862” (444).

Chapter 17 Summary: “‘We Are in the Depths’: Summer 1862”

Following the Peninsula Campaign, Lincoln’s cabinet is split as to what to do with McClellan. The campaign has proved to be a disaster, and Lincoln is hounded in the Northern press after another in what appears to be a series of defeats.

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