Chapters 15-16 Summary and Analysis

"What Will the Country Say!" is the title of Chapter 15, and is taken from the desperate pronouncement by Lincoln on receipt of the news that the Union had lost a major battle at Chancellorsville.

Donald writes that the first half of 1863 is a low point for Lincoln's administration. Although he has averted the crisis of the dissolution of his cabinet, he "still had much to learn about how to be President" (p. 408). In the field, the Union forces make little headway, hampered by generals who are sometimes more concerned in fighting over personal issues with other generals than in attacking Confederate troops. General Burnside loses the support of his subordinate generals, who will not agree to his plans for attack. Lincoln eventually replaces him with General Joseph Hooker.

With most of his attention directed toward the war, Lincoln leaves...