Why Did Lincoln's Decision To Take Office Lincoln During The Civil War

Lincoln is perhaps one of the greatest wartime presidents and his entire presidency effectively took place during the civil war. However, before taking office Lincoln had no prior experience with war as a politician or a general. When he took office Lincoln was aware of his deficiencies in knowledge of military knowledge in comparison to the confederacies leader, Jefferson Davis. Lincoln was fully aware that he had to become a knowledgeable wartime leader with adept decision making quickly to successfully reunite the states. (p. 1-11)
One of Lincoln first decisions that had an immediate impact felt at Fort Sumter. Lincoln upon taking office was confronted with the dilemma of removing the troops from Sumpter or risking outright war and the possibility of more states succeeding. For this Lincoln turned to his cabinet to help counteract his current inexperience in dealing with a situation that he perceived correctly could start an official war between the union and confederacy. Many of his cabinate members advised him to with draw from fort Sumter, however the president decided to support the troops. However, before resupplying the fort the Lincoln
Both Generals believed that the union should be fighting a “soft” war against the confederates. This idea clashed with Lincoln’s idea of how the war should be fought. This made it challenging for the union to both go on the offensive and defensive. Offensively the generals did not deal as Lincoln expected them to with citizens harboring confederate Guerrillas. Similarly, on the defensive side of the war both generals blatantly dragged their feet to help the other armies that were retreating back into union territory. Because of the two generals lack of charisma to fight and Lincoln’s oversight to not replace them and give them continual second chances the union began to suffer. (p.