[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and keep up with the latest history news. >> tonight on the civil war, we talk about edwin stanton, abraham lincoln's secretary of war. he gives us examples of stanton's broad powers during the civil war and suggests they were often apply to disregard for civil liberties. here is a preview. heard, most of his contemporaries described him as sly, dishonest and treacherous. that is how he survived in public life.

and by pursuing policies that were sometimes detrimental to the ultimate public good on the basis of what the most powerful faction at the moment desired in order to maintain his own position. i can't tell you that stanton was without redeeming qualities. i can tell you evidence of those qualities is difficult to find. [laughter] he was good to his mother. [laughter] i'm pretty sure he never beat his wife. [laughter] but in the realm of public service, his motives seemed more often selfish than benevolent, and his actions more pernicious than beneficial. countedell have opposition to the lincoln administration but not enough to make a difference in the outcome of the war. certainly enough to leave us with a greater legacy of wartime repression than is comfortable

today or was even necessary then. watch the entire program tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern on the civil war. durck talksan about his forthcoming book, "lincoln in indiana." he discusses abraham lincoln's childhood after his family moved to indiana in 1816, and how the formative years influenced lincoln's decision to practice law and seek the presidency. the lincoln group of the district of columbia posted this event. it is just over one hour. >> thank you, john. john mentioned our speaker tonight is dr. brian dirck, who is a professor at anderson university in anderson, indiana. he has several books about abraham lincoln including his , first book which was a