John Palmer Usher (1816-1889) Usher was indeed a faithful if dull supporter of the president but he had little impact on Administration deliberations. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles once recorded how Usher talked at a Cabinet meeting “without much point or force, on a subject he did not understand, nor to which he had […]

Edwin M. Stanton (1814-1869) Nicknamed “Mars”, Edwin M. Stanton was a pro-Breckinridge Democrat who was Attorney General under President James Buchanan (1860-61) and Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson(1862-68). Stanton succeeded Simon Cameron to whom he had given… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

James Speed (1812-1887) James Speed was the Attorney General of the United States who succeeded Edward Bates in late 1864. He was the brother of Joshua Speed, who had been Mr. Lincoln’s closest friend in Springfield before Speed returned to Kentucky in 1841. The friendship was… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Caleb B. Smith (1808-1864) Secretary of the Interior (1861-63), Caleb B. Smith was the Chairman of the Indiana Republican delegation at the Chicago Republican National Convention in 1860 who seconded Mr. Lincoln’s nomination. His selection fulfilled an obligation unfortunately incurred by Lincoln’s… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

William H. Seward (1801-1872) Secretary of State in Lincoln’s Cabinet, William H. Seward was the Senator from New York (Whig, Republican, 1849-61) who was the leading candidate for Republican presidential nomination in 1860. His association with New York Republican boss Thurlow Weed tainted him in the eyes of… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Hugh McCulloch (1808-1895) Secretary of the Treasury (1865-69), Hugh McCulloch was the third to occupy that post in the administration of President Lincoln. An Indiana banker who traveled to Washington in 1862 to object to national banking legislation, he nevertheless took a… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) Andrew Johnson was the war Democrat who became Lincoln’s second vice presidential running mate in 1864 after being offered the Democratic vice presidential nomination by Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. Johnson supported John Breckinridge in the… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

James Harlan (1820-1899) An attorney, sometime co-counsel to Abraham Lincoln, judge and university (Iowa Wesleyan) president, he was generally loyal to President Lincoln and headed the President’s campaign fund raising and the Republican congressional committee in 1864. The President’s Illinois friends had pushed the… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Hannibal Hamlin (1809-1891) Vice President elected on 1860 Republican ticket but unexpectedly dropped on 1864 Union ticket in favor of Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee War Democrat. He had a cordial but not close relationship with the President. He exercised an important role in the selection of… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

William Pitt Fessenden (1806-1869) As a leading Senator in December 1862, he helped instigate actions which brought relations among President Lincoln and Radical Republicans in the Senate and Cabinet to a head and almost led to the ouster of… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >