early in the war abraham lincoln thought he had found his general, general george mcclellan, a young, very intelligent individual, graduate of west point, graduated second in his class in 1946. lincoln thought mcclellan could bring the end to the war. it turns out problems involved along the way. after the battle of antietam in september of 1862, abraham lincoln is begging general mcclellan to move the army and to pursue the rebels, pursue robert ely and bring the end to this horrible war. and time and time again general mcclellan would have a series of excuses for the president on why he couldn't lead his soldiers to deliver a knockout blow to the confederate forces. in this letter written october 20 seventh 1862, you get a sense of mister lincoln -- he is losing his patience with his general. he writes general mcclellan, yours of yesterday received. most certainly i intend no injustice to any and if i have done any i deeply regret it but to be told after more than four weeks total in action of the army and during which period we have sent to the army every fresh horse we possibly co

days and is just as slow as george mcclellan oliver rhodus howard who is just nicknamed. oh howard and that can say at all. he is probably the most inept core commander of everyone you're seeing here in that includes dan sickles, and then you have henry slocum who would even board drywall, but he's a pretty brilliant brilliant man, but not a very daring commander. so joe hooker is gonna bring a list of characters to fight stonewall jackson robert e. lee and jeb st. three of the most audacious officers to fight in the american civil war he is not exactly bringing what i would call an a team to to bat. he does have men who are experienced in their respective roles. some aren't inexperienced in their respective roles like oliver, otis howard and dan sickles george meade. he has a little bit of experience from antietam john sedgwick. this is his first time commanding a core and then he's going to be given a wing of the army about 60,000 men. so we have a lot of new guys coming in to take on a veteran army that is commanded by robert e lee. lee at this time is 55 years old. he

he is traveling with george mcclellan out to manassas in march of 1862 at that point union commanders have the option to accept contrabands escaped slaves take them in and give them safety in the union lines or not and mcclellan is one of the commanders who will turn them back. and so what johnson folds into this, is that layer of uncertainty they're almost there. but is that even that a guarantee and so there is an edge to these paintings? we want to read them as benign images. we want to read them as affirmative images taking your future into your hands showing the initiative all of those american characteristics that we cherish so much. and then eastman johnson threatens to pull the rug out from under that particular vision by saying maybe maybe not. and so each of the works in this bay each of the works in this exhibition will carry forward those layers of meaning embedded in the time in which they were done as a point of principle and of pride every single quotation. you will find in the book accompanying this exhibition is from the 19th century from someone who survived the war.

northerners were tired of fighting and lincoln felt sure he would lose to the democratic nominee george mcclellan. mcclellan ran on a platform of negotiated settlement with the confederacy, immediate peace, and leaving slavery intact. lincoln calls douglas to the white house for an urgent meeting. douglas comes to washington and meets with lincoln in the white house. lincoln tells douglas, "i would like you to plan and embark upon a john brown scheme in which you will invade the south with an army of black and white, bring as many blacks as possible to union lines, worst case scenario, i will lose the election to mcclellan. but, thousands more blacks will be in union lines and free before slavery remains permanent in the confederacy. best case scenario, the thousands more blacks that come to union lines will aid the union effort and lead to a major victory and turn the tide of war and convince northerners the war will soon be over and we can finish off this fight." frederick douglass was amazed at this request. douglas had been a close friend of john brown. john brown, if you remember, was the mo