'Yes. Both he and Haupt are on their way. Same courier boat that brought us here.'
'And the meeting with Stanton before he left?'
'Tense, to say the least It's obvious Edwin wasn't pleased with how you outmaneuvered him.'
Lincoln chuckled softly and shook his head.
'Edwin means well, most of the time. It's just that Grant is not part of his circle. He felt a need to control him.'
' 'Means well most of the time'? I do think that Edwin believes he is running the war by himself. He'll try to somehow knock Grant off his tracks.'
'One of the advantages of being a city under siege,' Lincoln replied. 'Communications between us and Harrisburg will be difficult for now. Grant can do as he wishes with my authority behind him.'
Lincoln sighed, looking up at the ceiling.
'I would have thought that by now we would all see the situation clearly and bury our differences. In the next eight weeks we will either win this war or lose it Gettysburg and Union Mills focused that clearly for me. The crisis has come. We're like the two farmers who hitched two sets of mules to a wagon pointing in opposite directions and then fell into arguing about it for the rest of the day. We've got to get them all pointed in the same direction, with only one driver on top.
'Grant sees that. In the East he will point everything at Lee, and Haupt will give him the means to do it In the West we stand in place on the Mississippi, just hold what we have for the moment Any thoughts of taking Mobile, Charleston, Texas, and Florida are to be abandoned, the men shipped here. The second big effort will be with Rosecrans on Chattanooga and then Atlanta. Once Sherman has consolidated our hold on Vicksburg, he will join Rosecrans and take command. That will be it No other campaigns this summer and fall. Every available man here, to face Lee and no one else. If we lose some gains elsewhere, that will be in the short run.
'Grant understands this new kind of war, Elihu. It's frightful. War is now a machine, a steam-powered juggernaut God save us, in a way, the old image of war did have its appeal, even though boys wound up dying, often in droves. Grant can guide this juggernaut, pushed by a thousand factories and locomotives. It's ghastly, but if in the end it saves this republic, and perhaps scares everyone so badly that we will never see a war here again, then the sacrifices will be worth it'
Lincoln sat back, precariously balanced with feet up on the table so that his chair almost tipped over. He pulled a small paring knife out of his pocket, opened it and went to work on his fingernails.
'And yet the political games still play out,' he sighed.
'It's always been that way, sir. We're no different from the Romans, the Greeks. Remember Alcibiades? Even though the city-states knew they were collapsing under the weight of their wars, still Athens worked at cross- purposes with itself and squandered its best generals. We're no different'
'I hoped we could be. I believe we can be,' Lincoln said softly. 'A fair part of the world, at this moment wishes us to fail. They are praying even now for it, because we represent something different. A belief that the common man is the equal of any king, of any despot of any fanatic claiming mat God is behind him. If we fail now, if we let this continent sink into divided nations that ultimately will fight yet again and divide yet again, then the dream of our forefathers will be for naught.'
He shook his head and chuckled self-consciously.
'Sorry for the speech, Elihu.'
'I rather like them at times, Mr. President. When they come from the heart they remind me of why I first got into politics.'
Lincoln chuckled.
'I wonder at times how many out there believe that idealism did drive some of us to this path. To hear our opponents and the press behind them, one would think that we did it simply to grasp for power and money. I'll be hanged, Elihu, but if I wanted that, I'd have stayed in my practice and charged the railroad companies exorbitant fees.'
'It's always that way, sir. When they can't fight you on principles, the only recourse is to smear you or to kill you.'
Lincoln said nothing for a moment, slowly nodding his head.
'Do you think Grant will measure up to the job?' Lincoln asked.
'Yes, I do believe he will. His record already indicates that As you asked, I observed him closely the last week. There was no puffing up the way so many would have, like McClellan or Hooker. He took his responsibilities calmly, without pomp or fanfare. You saw that touch of his private's uniform. It wasn't posturing; it's just the man is so simple in that sense that he believes that is how he should dress and behave. I like that.'
'So do I.'
Lincoln smiled and nodded to his stocking feet on the tabletop.
'Mrs. Lincoln is always telling me that George Washington never would have put his bare feet up on a table, but Elihu, I think he did.'
Elihu laughed softly in reply.
'Well, sir, when it comes to George Washington, honestly I can't see him in stocking feet Andy Jackson, of course, but not Washington.'
Lincoln smiled.
'Grant's staff, the generals under him, they worship the man,' Elihu continued, 'but he will tolerate no open displays. As you said, he sees this war as a grim, filthy business. And the quickest way to resolve it is to apply every ounce of strength we have into one terrible blow at the key point. We talked a lot about that He says that war has changed forever. It is now an entire nation, its industry, its strength, applied to the battlefield. He grasps that our strength might not be in terms of certain generals, such as Lee, but rather in an unrelenting combination of manpower and industry. That he sees as the key to victory.'
'You like him, don't you?'
'Yes, I do. I remember him from before the war. Poor man, washed up from what had happened to him. We talked several times; he was gentle, quiet, soft-spoken; hard to believe he had been trained as a soldier. I think he was haunted by what he saw in Mexico, and frankly I liked that, in spite of his turning to the bottle as an answer.
'He hates war. He hates the waste and the blood. Someone told me that in one of his first battles in Mexico, a close friend, standing by his side, was decapitated. It has given him nightmares ever since.'
Lincoln said nothing.
'There is no talk of glory in this man the way we heard with McClellan, Hooker, Pope, and too many others.'
'Will he see it through and not lose his nerve?'
'Sir. The question is more will
Lincoln looked at him quizzically.
'Many of the papers up north are howling. The riot in New York was a near run thing, as were the riots in Cincinnati and Philadelphia. If we lose one more fight like Union Mills, you might be facing a collapse, the Democrats in Congress will call for a meeting with Davis, who, as you know, is this night not a dozen miles from here. If You refuse, they might seek to impeach you, and I fear that more than one member of your Cabinet would go along with it'
Lincoln shook his head.
'Thank God for the Founding Fathers,' he said softly. 'Sir?'
'In their wisdom they gave the executive four years in office. Until that term expires, I will hold the course. I swore an oath before God to defend our Constitution and I shall do it Congress can howl, they can scream. I don't care what they say now. Congress might be swayed by the passions of the moment but I will not be. If my Cabinet turns against this course, I will fire them. If need be, I will stand alone. As long as Grant can field an army, I will support him and I will hold this course. If the people, in their wisdom, or because of the fears and lies of the demagogues, should vote me out, then so be it but until then, I will plow the furrow I am in.'
Elihu smiled.
'Then Grant is your man.'