Tried by War, written by James McPherson, tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's role as Commander in Chief during the American Civil War. This book spans from the day Lincoln begins studying military strategy books, to his last speech. It also talks about many of Lincoln’s appointed Military generals such as McClellan, Buell, Thomas, Grant, Halleck, and Burnside. The author, James McPherson, hails from Nevada. He is a noted historical writer, with a concentration on the American Civil War. In the course of his preface, he mentions a lack of literature specifically on Lincoln’s military prowess. This prompted McPherson to write about Lincoln’s position as the Commander in Chief.
The story begins as Lincoln is the newly elected President of the United States. Almost immediately, the country is thrusted into a civil war, and he must act as the new Commander in Chief. Throughout the beginning it is soon shown that many of the men Lincoln appointed …show more content…
He writes through a third person point of view as a narrative, relying heavily on the use of first person quotes. One can presume he wrote the book in this way to give a straightforward account of what happened, and the emotions running at the same time. McPherson does appear to have a slight bias, mainly against the ineffective generals, such as Buell and McClellan. A moment where he let his bias slip was when speaking of one of McClellan's failed missions “Yet, typically, McClellan himself did not seem to feel any sense of urgency. Six more hours went by before he issued orders to his corps commanders to break through the gaps in the South Mountain range” (McClellan, 124). This illustrates McPhersons disapproval of McClellan's actions. It can be said that Mcpherson did an exemplary job with his method of writing. This is evident because he enabled the reader to appreciate the complexities of Lincoln’s dilemmas as Commander of Chief during the civil
The story begins as Lincoln is the newly elected President of the United States. Almost immediately, the country is thrusted into a civil war, and he must act as the new Commander in Chief. Throughout the beginning it is soon shown that many of the men Lincoln appointed …show more content…
He writes through a third person point of view as a narrative, relying heavily on the use of first person quotes. One can presume he wrote the book in this way to give a straightforward account of what happened, and the emotions running at the same time. McPherson does appear to have a slight bias, mainly against the ineffective generals, such as Buell and McClellan. A moment where he let his bias slip was when speaking of one of McClellan's failed missions “Yet, typically, McClellan himself did not seem to feel any sense of urgency. Six more hours went by before he issued orders to his corps commanders to break through the gaps in the South Mountain range” (McClellan, 124). This illustrates McPhersons disapproval of McClellan's actions. It can be said that Mcpherson did an exemplary job with his method of writing. This is evident because he enabled the reader to appreciate the complexities of Lincoln’s dilemmas as Commander of Chief during the civil