Edwin M. Stanton

Family and early life

Ancestry

Before the American Revolution, Stanton's paternal ancestors, the Stantons and the Macys, both of whom were Quakers, moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina. In 1774, Stanton's grandfather, Benjamin Stanton, married Abigail Macy. Benjamin died in 1800. That same year, Abigail moved to the Northwest Territory, accompanied by much of her family. Soon, Ohio was admitted to the Union, and Macy proved to be one of the early developers of the new state. She bought a tract of land at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, from the government and settled there. One of her sons, David, became a physician in Steubenville, and married Lucy Norman, the daughter of a Virginia planter. Their marriage was met with the ire of Ohio's Quaker community, as Lucy was a Methodist, and not a Quaker. This forced David Stanton to abandon the Quaker sect.

Early life and education

Edwin McMasters was born to David and Lucy Stanton on December 19, 1814, in Steubenville, Ohio, the first of their four children. His early formal education consisted of a private school and a seminary behind the Stanton residence, known as "Old Academy". At age 10, he was transferred to a school taught by a Presbyterian minister. Stanton later experienced his first asthma attack, a malady that haunted him for life, sometimes to the point of convulsion. Because of his asthma, Stanton was unable to participate in highly physical activities, so he found interest in books and poetry. Stanton regularly attended Methodist church services and Sunday school. At age 13, Stanton became a full member of the Methodist church.

David Stanton's medical practice afforded him and his family a decent living. When David Stanton suddenly died in December 1827 at his residence, the Stanton family was left destitute. Stanton's mother opened a store in the front room of their residence, selling the medical supplies her husband left her, along with books, stationery and groceries. The young Stanton was removed from school and worked at the store of a local bookseller.

Stanton began his college studies at the Episcopal Church-affiliated Kenyon College in 1831. At Kenyon, Stanton was involved in the college's Philomathesian Literary Society. He sat on several of the society's committees and was often a participant in its exercises and debates. Stanton was forced to leave Kenyon just at the end of his third semester for lack of finances. At Kenyon, Stanton's support of President Andrew Jackson's actions during the 1832 nullification crisis, a hotly debated topic among the Philomathesians, led him into the Democratic Party. Furthermore, Stanton's conversion to Episcopalianism and his revulsion of the practice of slavery were solidified there. After Kenyon, Stanton worked as a bookseller in Columbus. He had hoped to obtain enough money to complete his final year at Kenyon, but a small salary at the bookstore dashed the notion. Stanton soon returned to Steubenville to pursue studies in law.

Early career and first marriage

Stanton studied law under the tutelage of Daniel Collier in preparation for the bar. He was admitted to practice in 1835 and began work at a prominent law firm in Cadiz, Ohio, under Chauncey Dewey, a well-known attorney. The firm's trial work often fell to Stanton .

At age 18, Stanton met Mary Ann Lamson at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, and they soon were engaged. After buying a home in Cadiz, Stanton went to Columbus, where his betrothed was. Stanton and Lamson had wished to be married at Trinity Episcopal, but his illness rendered this idea moot. Instead, the ceremony was performed at the home of Trinity Episcopal's rector on December 31, 1836. Afterwards, Stanton went to Virginia, where his mother and sisters were, and escorted the women back to Cadiz, where they would live with Stanton and his wife.

After his marriage, Stanton partnered with the lawyer and federal judge Benjamin Tappan. His sister also married Tappan's son. In Cadiz, Stanton was situated prominently in the local community. He worked with the town's anti-slavery society, and with a local newspaper, the Sentinel, writing and editing articles there. In 1837, Stanton was elected the prosecutor of Harrison County, on the Democratic ticket. Further, Stanton's increasing wealth allowed him to purchase a large tract of land in Washington County, and several tracts in Cadiz.

Rising attorney (1839–1860)

Return to Steubenville

Stanton's relationship with Benjamin Tappan expanded when Tappan was elected the United States senator from Ohio in 1838. Tappan asked Stanton to oversee his law operations, which were based in Steubenville. When his time as county prosecutor was finished, Stanton moved back to the town. Stanton's work in politics also expanded. He served as a delegate at the Democrats' 1840 national convention in Baltimore, and was featured prominently in Martin Van Buren's campaign in the 1840 presidential election, which Van Buren lost.

Stanton was a member of Steubenville Freemasons Lodge No. 45 in Steubenville, Ohio. When he moved to Pittsburgh, Stanton became a member of Washington Lodge No. 253 on 25 March 1852 as a charter member. He resigned on 29 Nov. 1859.

In Steubenville, the Stantons welcomed two children. Their daughter, Lucy Lamson, was born in March 1840. Within months of her birth, Lucy was stricken with an unknown illness. Stanton put aside his work to spend that summer at baby Lucy's bedside. She died in 1841. Their son, Edwin Lamson Stanton, was born in August 1842. The boy's birth refreshed the spirits in the Stanton household after Lucy's death. Unlike Lucy's early years, Edwin was healthy and active. However, grief would return once again to the Stanton household when Mary Stanton was left bedridden by a bilious fever. Never recovering, she died in March 1844. Stanton's sorrow "verged on insanity", say historians Benjamin P. Thomas and Harold M. Hyman. He had Mary's burial attire redone repeatedly, as Stanton demanded she look just as she had when they were wed seven years prior. In the evenings, Stanton would emerge from his room with his eyes filled with tears and frantically search the house with a lamp, all the while asking, "Where is Mary?"

Stanton regrouped and began to focus on his cases by the summer. One such case was defending Caleb J. McNulty, whom Stanton had previously labelled "a glorious fellow". McNulty, a Democrat, was dismissed from his clerkship of the United States House of Representatives by unanimous vote and charged with embezzlement when thousands of the House's money went missing. Democrats, fearing their party's disrepute, made clamorous cries for McNulty to be punished, and his conviction was viewed as a foregone conclusion. Stanton, at Tappan's request, came on as McNulty's defense. Stanton brought a motion to dismiss McNulty's indictment. He employed the use of numerous technicalities and, to the shock and applause of the courtroom, the motion was granted, with all charges against McNulty dropped. As every detail of the affair was covered by newspapers around the country, Stanton's name was featured prominently nationwide.

Attorney in Pittsburgh

In Pittsburgh, Stanton formed a partnership with a prominent retired judge, Charles Shaler, while maintaining his collaboration with McCook, who had remained in Steubenville after returning from service in the Mexican–American War. Stanton argued several high-profile suits. One such proceeding was State of Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company and others in the United States Supreme Court. The case concerned the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the largest suspension bridge in the world at that time, and an important connector for the National Road. The bridge's center rose some 90 feet (27 m), but proved to be a nuisance to passing ships with tall smokestacks. With ships unable to clear the bridge, enormous amounts of traffic, trade and commerce would be redirected to Wheeling, West Virginia, which at the time was still part of Virginia. On August 16, 1849, Stanton urged the Supreme Court to enjoin Wheeling and Belmont, as the bridge was obstructing traffic into Pennsylvania and hindering trade and commerce. Associate Justice R. C. Grier directed those who were aggrieved by the bridge's operations to go to a lower court, but left an avenue open for Stanton to file for an injunction in the Supreme Court, which he did.

Oral arguments for the Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont began on February 25, 1850, which was also when Stanton was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. Wheeling and Belmont argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matters concerning the case; the justices disagreed. The case proceeded, allowing Stanton to exhibit a dramatic stunt, which was widely reported on and demonstrated how the bridge was a hindrance—he had the steamer Hibernia ram its 85 feet (26 m) smokestack into the bridge, which destroyed it and a piece of the ship itself. May 1850 saw the case handed over to Reuben H. Walworth, the former chancellor of New York, who returned a vivid opinion in February 1851 stating that the Wheeling Bridge was "an unwarranted and unlawful obstruction to navigation, and that it must be either removed or raised so as to permit the free and usual passage of boats." The Supreme Court concurred; in May 1852, the court ordered in a 7–2 ruling that the bridge's height be increased to one hundred eleven feet (thirty-four meters). Wheeling and Belmont were unsatisfied with the ruling and asked Congress to act. To Stanton's horror, a bill declaring the Wheeling bridge permissible became law on August 31, effectively overriding the Supreme Court's ruling and authority. Stanton was disgruntled that the purpose of the court—to peacefully decide and remedy disputes between states—had been diminished by Congress.

McCormick v. Manny

A by-effect of Stanton's performance in Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont was that he was sought after for other prominent cases, such as the McCormick Reaper patent case of inventor Cyrus McCormick. In 1831, a young McCormick created a machine to harvest crops. The device was particularly useful in the burgeoning wheat fields of the Western United States. Demand for McCormick's invention grew rapidly, attracting fierce competition, especially from fellow inventor and businessman John Henry Manny. In 1854, McCormick and his two prominent lawyers, Reverdy Johnson and Edward M. Dickinson, filed suit against Manny claiming he had infringed on McCormick's patents. McCormick demanded an injunction on Manny's reaper. Manny was also defended by two esteemed lawyers, George Harding and Peter H. Watson. McCormick v. Manny was initially to be tried in Chicago, and the two lawyers wanted another attorney local to the city to join their team; the recommended choice was Abraham Lincoln. When Watson met Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, he had a dim first impression of him, but after speaking with Lincoln, Watson saw that he might be a good choice. However, when the venue of the proceedings was transferred to Cincinnati rather than Chicago, and the necessity for Lincoln was negated, Harding and Watson went for their first choice, Edwin Stanton. Lincoln was not made aware that he had been replaced, and still appeared at the proceedings in Cincinnati with his arguments prepared. Stanton's apprehension towards Lincoln was immediate and severe, and he did well to indicate to Lincoln that he wanted him to absent himself from the case. The case proceeded with Harding, Watson and Stanton and Manny's true defenders; Lincoln did not actively participate in the planning or arguing of the case, but stayed in Cincinnati as a spectator.

Stanton's role in Manny's legal trio was as a researcher. Though he admitted that George Harding, an established patent lawyer, was more adept at the scientific aspects of the case, Stanton worked to summarize the relevant jurisprudence and case law. To win McCormick v. Manny for Manny, Stanton, Harding and Watson had to impress upon the court that McCormick had no claim to exclusivity in his reaper's use of a divider, a mechanism on the outer end of the cutter-bar which separated the grain. A harvesting machine would not have worked properly without a divider, and Manny's defense knew this. However, to assure a win, Watson opted to use duplicity—he employed a model maker named William P. Wood to retrieve an older version of McCormick's reaper and alter it to be presented in court. Wood found a reaper in Virginia, which was built in 1844, one year prior to McCormick's patent being granted. He had a blacksmith straighten the curved divider, knowing that the curved divider in Manny's reaper would not conflict with a straight one in McCormick's reaper. After using a salt and vinegar solution to add rust to where the blacksmith had worked to ensure the antiquity of the machine was undeniable, Wood sent the reaper to Cincinnati. Stanton was overjoyed when he examined the altered reaper and knew the case was theirs. Arguments for the case began in September 1855. In March 1856, Justices John McLean and Thomas Drummond delivered a ruling in favor of John Manny. McCormick appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, and McCormick v. Manny, was, all of a sudden, a political issue, and the matters concerning the case found their way to the floor of Congress. Stanton would later appoint Wood to be superintendent of the military prisons of the District of Columbia during the Civil War.

Second marriage

In February 1856, Stanton became engaged to Ellen Hutchinson, 16 years Stanton's junior. She came from a prominent family in the city; her father was Lewis Hutchinson, a wealthy merchant and warehouseman and a descendant of Meriwether Lewis. They were married on June 25, 1856, at Hutchinson's father's home. Stanton moved to Washington, where Stanton expected important work with the Supreme Court.

Emergence in Washington

In Pennsylvania, Stanton had become intimately acquainted with Jeremiah S. Black, the chief judge in the state's supreme court. This friendship proved profitable for Stanton when, in March 1857, the recently inaugurated fifteenth president, James Buchanan, made Black his attorney general. Black's accession to his new post was soon met with a land claims issue in California. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican–American War and gave California to the United States, the United States agreed to recognize valid land grants by Mexican authorities. This was followed by the California Land Claims Act of 1851, which established a board to review claims to California lands. One such claim was made by Joseph Yves Limantour, a French-born merchant who asserted ownership of an assemblage of lands that included important sections of the state, such as a sizeable part of San Francisco. When his claims were recognized by the land commissioners, the U.S. government appealed. Meanwhile, Black corresponded with a person named Auguste Jouan, who stated that Limantour's claims were invalid and that he, under Limantour's employ, forged the date listed on one of the approved grants. Black needed an individual loyal to the Democratic Party and to the Buchanan administration, who could faithfully represent the administration's interests in California; he chose Stanton.

Ellen Stanton loathed the idea. In California, Edwin would be thousands of miles away from her for what was sure to be months, leaving her lonely in Washington, where she had few friends. Moreover, on May 9, 1857, Ellen had a daughter whom the Stantons named Eleanor Adams. After the girl's delivery, Ellen fell ill, which frightened Edwin and delayed his decision to go to California. In October 1857, Stanton finally agreed to represent the Buchanan administration's interests in California. Having agreed to a compensation of $25,000, (~$703,363 in 2024) Stanton set sail from New York City on February 19, 1858, aboard the Star of the West, along with his son Eddie, James Buchanan III, the president's nephew, and Lieutenant H. N. Harrison, who was assigned to Stanton's detail by the Navy. After a tempestuous voyage, the company docked in Kingston, Jamaica, where slavery was disallowed. On the island, the climate pleased Stanton greatly, and at a church there, Stanton was surprised to see blacks and whites sitting together. Afterwards, Stanton and his entourage landed in Panama and left there on a ship three times larger than the one on which they came, the Sonora. On March 19, the company finally docked in San Francisco and bunkered at the International Hotel.

Stanton took to his work with haste. In aid of his case, Stanton, along with his entire party and two clerks, went about arranging disordered records from California's time under Mexico. The "Jemino Index" that he uncovered gave information on land grants up to 1844, and with the assistance of a Congressional act, Stanton unearthed records from all over the state pertaining to Mexican grants. Stanton and company worked for months sorting the land archives; meanwhile, Stanton's arrival in California produced gossip and scorn from locals, especially from those whose land claims would be in jeopardy should Stanton's work prove victorious. Further, President Buchanan and Senator Douglas were wrestling for control of California, and Stanton was caught in the crosshairs, resulting in a defamatory campaign against Stanton by Douglas' supporters. The campaign disheartened Stanton, but barely distracted him.

Daniel Sickles trial

Daniel Sickles was a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. He was married to Teresa Bagioli Sickles, the daughter of composer Antonio Bagioli. Sickles' wife had begun an affair with Philip Barton Key, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia and the son of Francis Scott Key, writer of The Star-Spangled Banner. On Sunday, February 27, 1859, Sickles confronted Key in Lafayette Square, declaring, "Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my home; you must die", then shot Key to death. Sickles then went to the home of Attorney General Black and admitted his crime. The subsequent Thursday he was charged with murder by a grand jury. The Sickles affair gained nationwide media attention for both its scandalous nature and its proximity to the White House. Soon, the press speculated that Daniel Sickles' political esteem was due to an affair between his wife and President Buchanan. Prominent criminal lawyer James T. Brady and his partner, John Graham, came to Sickles' defense, and solicited Stanton to join their team.

Arguments for the trial began on April 4. The prosecution wanted to advance the theory that Sickles had also committed adultery and did not pay very much mind to his wife or her activities. When the judge disallowed this, the prosecution opted instead to highlight the heinous nature of Sickles' murder, and not address his reasons for committing the crime. Sickles' defense countered that Sickles had suffered from a temporary bout of insanity, the first successful such instance of an insanity plea in American jurisprudence. The events in the courtroom during the trial were nothing if not dramatic. When Stanton delivered closing arguments, stating that marriage is sacred and that a man should have the right to defend his marriage against those who chose to defile the purity of the sacrament, the courtroom erupted in cheers. A law student described Stanton's argument during the trial, "a typical piece of Victorian rhetoric, an ingenious thesaurus of aphorisms on the sanctity of the family." The jury in the case deliberated for just over an hour before declaring Sickles not guilty. The judge ordered Sickles' release from arrest. Outside the courthouse, Sickles, Stanton and company met a throng of individuals in adulation of the victory.

Early work in politics (1860–1862)

During the 1860 United States presidential election, Stanton supported Vice President John C. Breckinridge, due to his work with the Buchanan administration and his belief that only a win by Breckinridge would keep the country together. Privately, he predicted that Lincoln would win.

In Buchanan's cabinet

In late 1860, President Buchanan was formulating his yearly State of the Union address to Congress, and asked Attorney General Black to offer insight into the legality and constitutionality of secession. Black then asked Stanton for advice. Stanton approved a strongly worded draft of Black's response to Buchanan, which denounced secession from the Union as illegal. Buchanan gave his address to Congress on December 3. Meanwhile, Buchanan's cabinet was growing more discontent with his handling of secession, and several members deemed him too weak on the issue. On December 5th, his secretary of the treasury, Howell Cobb, resigned. On December 9th, Secretary of State Lewis Cass, disgruntled over Buchanan's failure to defend the government's interests in the South, tendered his resignation. Black was nominated to replace Cass on December 12. About a week later, Stanton, at the time in Cincinnati, was told to come to Washington at once, for the Senate had confirmed him as Buchanan's new Attorney General. He was sworn in on December 20th.

Stanton met a cabinet in disarray over the issue of secession. Buchanan did not want to agitate the South any further and sympathized with the South's cause. On December 9th, Buchanan had agreed with South Carolinian congressmen that the military installations in the state would not be reinforced unless force against them was perpetrated. However, on the day that Stanton assumed his position, Maj. Robert Anderson moved his unit to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, which the Southerners viewed as Buchanan reneging on his promise. South Carolina issued an ordinance of secession soon after, declaring itself independent of the United States. The South Carolinians demanded that federal forces leave Charleston Harbor altogether; they threatened carnage if they did not get compliance. The following day, Buchanan gave his cabinet a draft of his response to the South Carolinians. Secretaries Thompson and Philip Francis Thomas, of the Treasury Department, thought the president's response too pugnacious; Stanton, Black and Postmaster General Joseph Holt thought it too placatory. Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, was alone in his support of the response.

Stanton was unnerved by Buchanan's ambivalence towards the South Carolina secession crisis and wanted to stiffen him against complying with the South's demands. On December 30th, Black came to Stanton's home, and the two agreed to pen their objections to Buchanan ordering a withdrawal from Fort Sumter. If he did such a thing, the two men, along with Postmaster General Holt, agreed that they would resign, delivering a crippling blow to the administration. Buchanan obliged them. The South Carolinian delegates got their response from President Buchanan on New Year's Eve 1860; the president would not withdraw forces from Charleston Harbor.

Cameron's advisor

On July 21st, the North and the South experienced their first major clash at Manassas Junction in Virginia, the First Battle of Bull Run. Northerners believed the battle would end the war and decisively defeat the Confederacy; however, the bloody encounter ended with the Union Army retreating to Washington. Lincoln wanted to bolster Northern numbers afterwards, with many in the North believing the war would be more arduous than they initially expected, but when more than 250,000 men signed up, the federal government did not have enough supplies for them. The War Department had states buy the supplies, assuring them that they would be reimbursed. This led to states selling the federal government items that were usually damaged or worthless at very high prices. Nonetheless, the government bought them.

Soon, Simon Cameron, Lincoln's secretary of war, was being accused of incompetently handling his department, and some wanted him to resign. Cameron sought out Stanton to advise him on legal matters concerning the War Department's acquisitions, among other things. Calls for Cameron to resign grew louder when he endorsed a bombastic November 1861 speech given by Col. John Cochrane to his unit. "[W]e should take the slave by the hand, placing a musket in it, and bid him in God's name strike for the liberty of the human race", Cochrane said. Cameron embraced Cochrane's sentiment that slaves should be armed, but it was met with repudiation in Lincoln's cabinet. Caleb B. Smith, the Secretary in the Department of the Interior, scolded Cameron for his support of Cochrane.

Cameron inserted a call to arm the slaves in his report to Congress, which would be sent along with Lincoln's address to the legislature. Cameron gave the report to Stanton, who amended it with a passage that went even further in demanding that slaves be armed, stating that those who rebel against the government lose their claims to any type of property, including slaves, and that it was "clearly the right of the Government to arm slaves when it may become necessary as it is to use gunpowder or guns taken from the enemy". Cameron gave the report to Lincoln, and sent several copies to Congress and the press. Lincoln wanted the portions containing calls to arm the slaves removed, and ordered the transmission of Cameron's report be stopped and replaced with an altered version. Congress received the version without the call to arm slaves, while the press received a version with it. When newspapers published the document in its entirety, Lincoln was excoriated by Republicans, who thought him weak on the issue of slavery, and disliked that he wanted the plea to arm slaves removed.

Lincoln's secretary of war (1862–1865)

Early days in office

Under Cameron, the War Department had earned the moniker "the lunatic asylum." The department was barely respected among soldiers or government officials, and its authority was routinely disregarded. The generals wielded operating authority in the army, while the President and the War Department intervened only in exceptional circumstances. The department also had strained relations with Congress, especially Representative John Fox Potter, head of the House "Committee on Loyalty of Federal employees", which sought to root out Confederate sympathizers in the government. Potter had prodded Cameron to remove about fifty individuals he suspected of Confederate sympathies; Cameron had paid him no mind.

Stanton was sworn in on January 20. Immediately, he set about repairing the fractious relationship between Congress and the War Department. Stanton met with Potter on his first day as secretary, and on the same day, dismissed four persons whom Potter deemed unsavory. This was well short of the fifty people Potter wanted gone from the department, but he was nonetheless pleased. Stanton also met with Senator Benjamin Wade and his Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. The committee was a necessary and fruitful ally; it had subpoena power, thus allowing it to acquire information Stanton could not, and could help Stanton remove War Department staffers. Wade and his committee were happy to find an ally in the executive branch, and met with Stanton often thereafter. Stanton made a number of organizational changes within the department as well. He appointed John Tucker, an executive at the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and Peter H. Watson, his partner in the reaper case, to be his assistant secretaries, and had the staff at the department expanded by over sixty employees. Further, Stanton appealed to the Senate to cease appointments of military officers until he could review the more than 1,400 individuals up for promotion. Hitherto, military promotions were a spoils system, where individuals favorable to the administration were given promotions, regardless of merit. This ceased under Stanton.

On January 29, Stanton ordered that all contracts with foreign manufacturers for military materials and supplies be voided and replaced with domestic contracts, and that no such further contracts be made with foreign companies. The order provoked apprehension in Lincoln's cabinet. The United Kingdom and France were searching for cause to recognize and support the Confederates, and Stanton's order might give it to them. Secretary of State Seward thought the order would "complicate the foreign situation." Stanton persisted, and his January 29 order stood.

General-in-Chief

Lincoln eventually grew tired of McClellan's inaction, especially after his January 27, 1862, order to advance against the Confederates in the Eastern Theatre had resulted in no action by McClellan. On March 11, Lincoln relieved McClellan of his position as general-in-chief of the whole Union army, leaving him in charge of only the Army of the Potomac, and replaced him with Stanton. This created a bitter chasm in the relationship between Stanton and McClellan. McClellan's supporters claimed that Stanton "usurped" the role of general-in-chief, and that the Secretary of War should have no authority over military commanders. Lincoln ignored such calls, leaving military power consolidated with himself and Stanton.

Meanwhile, McClellan was preparing for the first major military operation in the Eastern Theatre, the Peninsula Campaign. The Army of the Potomac began its movement to the Virginia Peninsula on March 17. The first action of the campaign was at Yorktown. Lincoln wanted McClellan to asssault Yorktown, but McClellan instead laid siege. Washington politicians were angered by McClellan's choice. McClellan, however, requested reinforcements for the siege: the 11,000 men in Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin's division, of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell's I Corps. Stanton wanted I Corps to stay together and march on to Richmond, but McClellan persisted, and Stanton eventually capitulated.

In addition, Stanton ordered McClellan to transfer one of his corps east to defend Washington.

By late June 1862, the Army of the Potomac was just a few miles from the Confederate capital, Richmond. Then Confederate commander Robert E. Lee launched his Seven Days counterattack. McClellan and the Army of the Potomac were pushed back to Harrison's Landing in Virginia, where they were protected by Union gunboats.

In Washington, Stanton was blamed for McClellan's defeat by the press and the public. On April 3, Stanton had suspended military recruiting efforts under the mistaken impression that McClellan's Peninsula Campaign would end the war. With McClellan retreating and the casualties from the campaign piling up, more men were needed. Stanton restored recruiting operations on July 6, when McClellan's defeat on the Peninsula was firmly established, but the damage was done. The press, angered by Stanton's strict measures regarding journalistic correspondence, unleashed torrents of scorn on him, furthering the narrative that he was the only encumbrance to McClellan's victory.

War rages on

In the final days of August 1862, Lee defeated the Union Army of Virginia in the Second Battle of Bull Run. Many people, including Halleck and Stanton, thought Lee would attack Washington. Instead, Lee invaded Maryland.

Lincoln, without consulting Stanton, perhaps knowing Stanton would object, merged the Army of Virginia into McClellan's Army of the Potomac. McClellan won the Battle of Antietam, pushing Lee back into Virginia. McClellan's success emboldened him to demand that Lincoln and his government cease obstructing his plans, Halleck and Stanton be removed, and he be made general-in-chief of the Union Army. Meanwhile, he failed to move aggressively against Lee's retreating army. McClellan's unreasonable requests continued, as did his indolence, and Lincoln's patience with him soon grew thin. On November 5 Lincoln fired McClellan, and then appointed Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside to command of the Army of the Potomac.

Burnside's attack at Fredericksburg on December 13 was a disaster.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker replaced Burnside on January 26, 1863. Stanton did not much care for Hooker, who had openly criticized Lincoln's administration and had been insubordinate while serving under Burnside. He preferred Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans from the western theater, but Lincoln disregarded Stanton's opinion. As Thomas and Hyman tell it, Lincoln "chose Hooker because that general had a reputation as a fighter and stood higher in popular esteem at that moment than any other eastern general."

But in the Battle of Chancellorsville in early May 1863, Lee defeated Hooker with 17,000 Union casualties.

Stanton's attempts to raise Northern spirits after the defeat were hampered by reports that, under Hooker, the Army of the Potomac had become grossly undisciplined. Indeed, Hooker's headquarters was described as "combination of barroom and brothel." Stanton petitioned for liquor and women to be forbidden in Hooker's camps.

Lee invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania in June, causing fear in Washington. Disturbing reports came from Hooker's subordinates, such as Brig. Gen. Marsena Patrick: "[Hooker] acts like a man without a plan, & is entirely at a loss what to do, or how to match the enemy, or counteract his movements." Furthermore, like McClellan, Hooker kept overestimating Lee's numbers, and said the Lincoln's administration did not have full confidence in him. Hooker resigned on June 27; Stanton and Lincoln decided that his replacement would be Maj. Gen. George Meade, who was appointed the following day.

End of the war

Grant became general-in-chief of the Union Army, and also took charge in Virginia. In the 1864 Overland Campaign, Grant drove Lee's army back, and besieged them in Petersburg near Richmond, but suffered heavy casualties.

This led to widespread discouragement in the North, and possible Democrat victory in the 1864 elections. Stanton took action to prevent this. Before the election, he ordered that soldiers from key states such as Illinois, Lincoln's home state, receive furloughs so they could go home to vote. Stanton also used his powers at the War Department to ensure that Republican voters were not harassed or threatened at the polls.

Lincoln was re-elected and Republicans also won major congressional and gubernatorial victories in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and New York. Stanton's work played no small part in securing the victory, especially his furlough order. "The men who were doing the fighting had voted for more of it in order to make their efforts worth while," Thomas and Hyman state.

On March 3, 1865, the day before Lincoln's second inauguration, Grant wired to Washington that Lee had sent representatives to him to sue for peace. Lincoln initially responded that Grant should get peace with the South by any means necessary. However, Stanton declared that it is the president's responsibility to negotiate with rebels; otherwise, the president is useless and little more than a figurehead. Lincoln immediately changed his position. At Lincoln's urging, Stanton told Grant to "have no conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of Gen. Lee's army, or on some minor, and purely, military matter." Further, Grant was not to "decide, discuss, or confer upon any political questions. Such matters the President holds in his own hands; and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions." Grant agreed.

On April 2, 1865, Union troops finally broke into Petersburg. Stanton, who had stayed close to his telegraph for days, told his wife that evening: "Petersburg is evacuated and probably Richmond. Put out your flags." Stanton was worried that President Lincoln, who was visiting Grant's headquarters, was in danger of being captured, and warned him. Lincoln disagreed, but was happy for Stanton's concern. The president wrote Stanton: "It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I think I will go there to-morrow."

Lincoln assassinated

On April 14, Lincoln invited Stanton, Grant, and their wives to join him at Ford's Theatre the next evening. Lincoln had invited Stanton to go with him to the theatre several times, invitations Stanton routinely rejected. Further, neither Stanton's nor Grant's wives would go unless the other went. The Grants used a visit to their children in New Jersey as their excuse. Finally, Lincoln decided to go to the theatre with Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée. Stanton retired home that night after visiting a bedridden secretary Seward. He went to bed at about 10 pm. Soon after, he heard Ellen yell from downstairs: "Mr. Seward is murdered!" Stanton rushed downstairs. Upon hearing that Lincoln, too, might be dead, Stanton grew intensely animated. He wanted to leave immediately. He was cautioned: "You mustn't go out ... As I came up to the house I saw a man behind the tree-box, but he ran away, and I did not follow him." Stanton paid little mind to the man; he found a cab and went to Seward's home.

At his arrival, Stanton was told that Lincoln had in fact been attacked. Stanton ordered that the homes of all members of the cabinet and the vice president be put under guard. Stanton pushed through a crowd at the secretary's home to find an unconscious Seward being attended to by a doctor in a bloody third-floor room. Seward's son, Frederick, was left paralyzed by the attack. Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, who had come to Seward's home moments before, decided to go to Ford's Theatre to see the president. The two secretaries went by carriage, accompanied by Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs and David K. Cartter, a judge of the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Stanton found Lincoln at the Petersen House across from the theatre. Lincoln lay on a bed diagonally because of his height. Several accounts say that when he saw the dying President, Stanton began to weep. However, William Marvel in Lincoln's Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton wrote that "Stanton's emotional detachment and his domineering persona made him valuable that night, as others wallowed in anguish." Thomas and Hyman wrote: "Always before, death close at hand had unsettled him close to the point of imbalance. Now he seemed calm, grim, decisive, in complete outward control of himself." Andrew Johnson, about whom Stanton, and the country, knew little, was sworn in as president at 11 am on April 15. However, Stanton, who had planned to retire at the end of the war, "was indeed in virtual control of the government", according to Thomas and Hyman. "He had charge of the Army, Johnson was barely sworn in and vastly unsure of himself, and Congress was not in session."

Johnson administration (1865–1868)

Sherman's truce

Lt. Gen. Grant, failing to find Stanton at the War Department, sent a note to his home by courier on the evening of April 21. The matter was urgent. Maj. Gen. Sherman, who had established his army headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, had negotiated a peace deal with Confederate commander Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, with the grace of Confederate States secretary of war John C. Breckinridge. Sherman had been authorized to negotiate with the Southerners only in matters regarding the military, as Grant had been with Lee. Sherman explicitly acknowledged that his negotiations with Confederate leaders were to stay firmly in the realm of military policy, but flouted the limitations anyway. Sherman's deal contained, as expected, a termination of hostilities with the South, but also specified that Southern governments that had rebelled against the United States were to be recognized by the federal government once they swore allegiance to the United States. Further, the deal's terms provided for federal courts to be reinstated in rebellious states, as well as the restoration of property and voting rights to Southerners, and a blanket pardon for Southerners who had rebelled. The deal went even further, allowing Southern troops to place their weapons in the hands of their states' governments, which would effectively rearm the Southern states. Sherman's truce also allotted power to the Supreme Court to resolve jurisdictional disputes between state and local governments in the South, which was a political issue, and not a legal issue, making that a power the court did not constitutionally have.

The courier arrived at Stanton's residence breathless, interrupting his dinner. When he heard the news, Stanton, "in a state of high excitement", rushed to the War Department. He sent for all members of the cabinet in the name of the president. Johnson's cabinet, along with Grant and Preston King, Johnson's advisor, convened at 8 pm that night. Word of Sherman's actions was met with unanimous condemnation by those present. President Johnson instructed Stanton to tell Sherman his deal had been rejected, and that "hostilities should be immediately resumed after giving the Confederates the forty-eight hours' notice required to terminate the truce". Grant would go to Raleigh at once to inform Sherman of Stanton's edict, as well as to assume command of troops in the South.

Stanton took the matter to the press. In addition to publicizing the details of Sherman's deal, Stanton said Sherman intentionally flouted direct orders from both Lincoln and Johnson, and listed nine reasons Sherman's deal had been categorically rejected. Further, Stanton accused Sherman of recklessly opening a path by which Jefferson Davis might flee the country with specie Davis purportedly took with him after abandoning Richmond. The latter claim was based in Sherman's removal of Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's forces from the Greensboro railway—Greensboro was the place to which Davis and other Confederate officials fled. Stanton's words were damning. "It amounted to a castigation of Sherman and virtually accused him of disloyalty", say Thomas and Hyman. Moreover, Sherman being among the most respected generals in the country, Stanton's publication endangered his place in the administration.

Reconstruction

The war was done, and Stanton now bore the substantial task of reshaping the American military establishment such that it would be as capable an apparatus in peacetime as it had proven to be in wartime. To this end, in the North, Stanton reorganized the army into two sections; one to handle "training and ceremonial chores", and another to quell the American Indians in the west, who were agitated and blusterous as a result of the war. In the South, a high priority was mending the power vacuum left in Southern states after the rebellion. Stanton presented his military occupation proposal, which had been endorsed by Lincoln, to the President: two military governments would be established in Virginia and North Carolina, with provost marshals to enforce laws and establish order, tasks the marshals had proven most capable of in the weeks after the end of the war.

President Johnson had promised his Cabinet in their first meeting on April 15 that he would uphold his predecessor's plans for Reconstruction, plans that the deceased president had discussed at length with Stanton. On May 29, 1865, Johnson issued two proclamations; one appointed William Woods Holden as the interim governor of North Carolina, and another pardoned individuals involved in the rebellion, with a few exceptions, if they agreed to loyalty and acceptance of all laws and edicts regarding slavery. Johnson also recognized Francis Harrison Pierpont's government in Virginia, as well as the governments in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, which were formed under Lincoln's ten percent plan. Further, Johnson offered the ten percent plan to several other Southern states.

In his 1865 message to Congress, the Democratic Johnson contended that the only necessary proof of loyalty a state needed to show was ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. Republicans in Congress disagreed; Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens thought black suffrage was vitally necessary to the nation's security and the continuing dominance of the Republican Party. Republicans used parliamentary procedures to ensure none of the Southern delegates, who were mostly former Confederate leaders, took a seat in Congress, and established a predominantly Republican joint committee to decide Reconstruction matters.

Concerning Reconstruction, the president and Congress were deeply divided. Johnson, even when his amnesty policy had come under heavy criticism, had obdurately supported and continued it. Republicans in Congress, however, came to prefer Stanton's military occupation proposal. The president's support from moderate Republicans dwindled after the gruesome anti-Negro riots in Memphis and New Orleans. The public seemed to be against Johnson as well. In the 1866 congressional elections, Republicans made sweeping gains on their Democratic rivals. In both the House and Senate elections, Republicans gained a two-thirds plurality of the seats. In the new year, some Republicans sought to use their majority to oust Johnson. They presented the Tenure of Office Bill, written with Stanton in mind. The president had long considered dismissing Stanton and replacing him with Maj. Gen. Sherman; the Tenure of Office Bill would have made this illegal without the advice and consent of Congress, which was unlikely to be given for Stanton, who was firmly supported by and cooperating with Republicans. When the bill reached the president's desk, he vetoed it. His veto was overridden the same day.

Impeachment

On January 13, 1868, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to reinstate Stanton as Secretary of War. Grant, fearing the Act's prescribed penalty of $10,000 in fines and five years in prison, doubly so because of his high likelihood of being the Republican presidential nominee in the upcoming election, turned the office over immediately. Stanton returned to the War Department soon after in "unusually fine spirits and chatting casually", as newspapers reported. His reemergence precipitated a tide of congratulatory writings and gestures, thanking him for his opposition to the greatly disliked Johnson. The president, meanwhile, again began searching for an agreeable person to take the helm at the War Department, but after a few weeks, he seemed to accept Stanton's reinstatement with resignation. He did try to diminish the power of Stanton's office, however, regularly disregarding it. However, with his ability to sign treasury warrants and his backing by Congress, Stanton still held considerable power.

Johnson became singularly focused on enacting Stanton's downfall. "No longer able to bear the congressional insult of an enemy imposed on his Official family," Marvel says, "Johnson began to ponder removing Stanton outright and replacing him with someone palatable enough to win Senate approval." Johnson sought Lorenzo Thomas, the army's adjutant general, to replace Stanton, to which he agreed. On February 21, Johnson notified Congress that he was dismissing Stanton and appointing Thomas as secretary ad interim. Stanton, urged by Republican senators, refused to concede his post. That night, Republicans in the Senate, over Democratic resistance, pushed through a resolution declaring Stanton's removal illegal. In the House, a motion was presented to impeach Johnson. On February 24, the motion was agreed to, and Johnson impeached, with a party-line 126 yeas and 47 nays.

Johnson's trial began in late March. With a predominantly Republican Senate, Johnson's conviction seemed to many a foregone conclusion. However, throughout the process, several senators began showing hesitance to remove the President from office. Stanton, meanwhile, had remained barricaded in the War Department's headquarters for weeks, sneaking off once in a while to visit his home. When it seemed to Stanton that Johnson would not remove him forcefully from office, he began spending more time at home. Stanton watched closely as the trial, which he was convinced would end with Johnson's conviction, continued for several months. When it came time to vote, 35 voted to convict, 19 to acquit, falling one short of the 36-vote supermajority needed for a conviction. The remaining proceedings were delayed for several days for the Republican National Convention. On May 26, after Johnson had been acquitted on all of the 10 other charges, Stanton submitted his resignation to the president.

Later years and death

Campaigning in 1868

After Johnson's acquittal and Stanton's resignation, Johnson's administration seized upon the narrative that those who wanted his impeachment were black-hearted, especially Stanton. However, Stanton left office with strong public and Republican support. In other matters, however, Stanton was in peril. His health was in a dire state, the product of his relentless efforts during and after the war, and his finances were greatly lacking. After his resignation, Stanton possessed only the remnants of his salary and a $500 loan. Stanton rejected calls from his fellow Republicans that he run for the Senate, choosing instead to resume his law practice.

Stanton's law efforts stalled when he was called on in August 1868 by Robert C. Schenck, the Republican candidate for one of Ohio's seats in the House of Representatives. Schenck's rival, Democrat Clement Vallandigham, was well known among Republicans for his Copperhead politics, and disliked by Stanton. Believing that Democratic victory at any level would imperil the results of the war, and nullify Republican efforts during the war, Stanton went on a tour of Ohio to campaign for Schenck, other Ohio Republicans and Grant, the Republican presidential nominee. Meanwhile, Stanton's health continued to deteriorate. His physician warned him against making lengthy speeches as his asthma irritated him severely. Stanton's illness precipitated his return to Washington in early November. His feeble state was replaced by excitement when Republicans were victorious in the Schenck–Vallandingham race and the presidential election.

Illness worsens

Afterwards, Stanton took to arguing a case in the Pennsylvania federal court involving disputed West Virginia lands, which were valued in the millions of dollars because of their coal and timber. By this time, Stanton's illness was painfully visible. He grew so sickly that papers related to the case had to be delivered to him at his home. The court ruled against Stanton's client, but Stanton won an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court to have the case remanded back to the lower court. At Christmas time, Stanton was not able to travel down the stairway of his house, so the family celebrated in his room.

Many speculated at the time that Grant, who had largely ignored Stanton for several months, was due to reward him for his campaigning efforts. Stanton stated, however, that should a position in Grant's administration be offered, he would reject it. Ohio congressman Samuel Shellabarger wrote: "[Stanton] says he has not a great while to live & must devote that to his family..." Early in the new year, Stanton was preparing provisions for his death. However, when spring arrived, Stanton's condition improved. When the rejuvenated Stanton appeared at a congressional enquiry, talks of Grant rewarding Stanton resumed. Several thought Stanton a good fit for the esteemed role of ambassador to Great Britain. Instead, Grant offered Stanton the United States diplomatic mission to Mexico, which he declined.

Supreme Court nomination

Stanton's health varied for much of 1869. In the latter half of the year, after hearing that Congress had created a new associate justice seat on the Supreme Court, Stanton decided that he would lobby Grant to name him to that position. Stanton used Grant's close friend, Bishop Matthew Simpson, as his proxy to convince Grant of his suitability for a place on the Supreme Court. Grant bypassed Stanton, however, and nominated Attorney General Ebenezer R. Hoar for the seat on December 14, 1869. The following day, Associate Justice Robert Cooper Grier announced his resignation, with the effective date of February 1, 1870, thus creating another vacancy for Grant to fill. Petitions in support of naming Stanton to fill the vacancy on the Court were circulated in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. They were delivered to the president on December 18, 1869. Grant and Vice President Colfax went to Stanton's home to personally extend the nomination on December 19, Stanton's 55th birthday. Grant officially submitted the nomination to the Senate on December 20, and Stanton was confirmed that same day by a vote of 46–11. Stanton wrote a letter of acceptance to the confirmation the next day, but died before assuming office as an associate justice. He remains the only confirmed Supreme Court nominee who accepted but died before taking the prescribed oaths.

Death and funeral

On the night of December 23, 1869, Stanton complained of pains in his head, neck and spine. His doctor, Surgeon General Joseph Barnes, was called. As had happened on many nights before, Stanton's asthma had made breathing difficult. Stanton's lungs and heart felt constricted, which kept Stanton's wife and children, as well as Barnes, by his bedside. Stanton's condition began to improve at midnight, but then he began, as Marvin states, "[gasping] so strenuously for air that someone ran for the pastor of the Church of the Epiphany, and soon after he arrived Stanton lost consciousness." Stanton died at about 3 am on December 24.

Stanton's body was placed in a black, linen-inlaid coffin in his second-story bedroom. President Grant had wanted a state funeral, but Ellen Stanton wanted as simple an affair as could be had. Nonetheless, Grant ordered all public offices closed, and federal buildings draped in "raiments of sorrow". Flags in several major cities were lowered to half-staff, and gun salutes sounded at army installations around the country. On December 27, his body was carried by artillerymen to his home's parlor. President Grant, Vice President Schuyler Colfax, the Cabinet, the entire Supreme Court, senators, representatives, army officers and other important officials all attended Stanton's funeral. After the eulogy, Stanton's casket was placed atop a caisson, and drawn by four horses to Washington D.C.'s Oak Hill Cemetery at the head of a mile-long (1.6 km) cavalcade.

Stanton was interred beside the grave of his son James Hutchinson Stanton, who had died in infancy several years earlier. An assortment of Cabinet officials, generals, justices and senators carried Stanton's coffin to its final resting place. One of Stanton's professors from Kenyon College performed a service at the graveyard, and a three-volley salute was issued, ending the ceremony.

Stanton on U.S. postage

Edwin Stanton was the second American other than a U.S. president to appear on a U.S. postage issue, the first being Benjamin Franklin, who appeared on a stamp in 1847. The only Stanton stamp was issued March 6, 1871. This was also the only stamp issued by the post office that year. The Stanton 7-cent stamp paid the single rate postage for letters sent from the U.S. to various countries in Europe.

Legacy

A distinctive engraved portrait of Stanton appeared on U.S. paper money in 1890 and 1891. The bills are called "treasury notes" or "coin notes" and are widely collected today. These rare notes are considered by many to be among the finest examples of detailed engraving ever to appear on banknotes. The $1 Stanton "fancyback" note of 1890, with an estimated 900–1,300 in existence relative to the millions printed, ranks as number 83 in the "100 Greatest American Currency Notes" compiled by Bowers and Sundman (2006). Stanton also appears on the fourth issue of Fractional currency, in the amount of 50 cents. Stanton Park, four blocks from the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is named for him, as is Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville, Florida.

A steam engine, built in 1862, was named the "E. M. Stanton" in honor of the new secretary of war. Stanton County, Nebraska, is named for him. Stanton Middle School in Hammondsville, Ohio, is named after him. A neighborhood in Pittsburgh is named for him (Stanton Heights) as well as its main thoroughfare (Stanton Avenue). Stanton Park and Fort Stanton in Washington, D.C., were named for him, as was Edwin Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia. Stanton Street in Trenton, New Jersey, was also named in his honor. Edwin L. Stanton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., was named for his son, who served as the secretary of the District of Columbia.

In popular culture

Stanton appears in the 1905 Thomas Dixon novel The Clansman. The book depicts Stanton's actions between war's end and Johnson's impeachment, and the role he played in Reconstruction policies. This book was adapted into the film The Birth of a Nation, though Stanton does not feature prominently in the movie.

In the 1930s, a book written by Otto Eisenschiml accused Stanton of arranging the assassination of Lincoln. Although these charges remain largely unsubstantiated, Eisenschim's book inspired considerable debate and the 1977 book and movie, The Lincoln Conspiracy. Stanton was also portrayed negatively in the 1971 TV movie/re-enactment, They've Killed President Lincoln!, narrated by Richard Basehart.

Stanton appears prominently in the alternate history Civil War trilogy by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen.

Stanton has been portrayed on screen numerous times:

Oscar Apfel – Abraham Lincoln (1930 film)

Edwin Maxwell – The Plainsman (1936 film)

Raymond Brown – Lincoln in the White House (1939 short film)

Richard H. Cutting – The Gun That Won the West (1955 film)

Roy Gordon – The Great Locomotive Chase (1956 film)

Harlan Warde – Death Valley Days, episode "The Stolen City" (1961 TV episode)

Bert Freed – Lincoln (1974 miniseries)

Robert Middleton – The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977 film)

Richard Dysart – The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd (1980 film)