Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army

Background. Henry Wager Halleck was a senior United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. His reputation as a military scholar and an urgent recommendation from Winfield Scott earned him the rank of major general in the regular army, effective August 19, 1861. Early in the American Civil War he served as a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater, commanding operations in the West from 1861 until 1862, during which his troops won many important victories while the Union armies in the East were repeatedly defeated and held back. This background predates the appointment itself.

Appointment. In the aftermath of the failed Peninsula Campaign in Virginia, President Lincoln summoned Halleck to the East to become General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States, as of July 23, 1862. Lincoln hoped that Halleck could prod his subordinate generals into taking more coordinated, aggressive actions across all of the theaters of war.

Performance. Lincoln was quickly disappointed by Halleck's performance, regarding him as "little more than a first rate clerk." Lincoln stated that he had given Halleck full power and responsibility as general-in-chief, and that Halleck ran it on that basis until Pope's defeat, after which he shrank from responsibility whenever possible. The passages do not date Lincoln's remark; it is quoted by Lincoln without a stated date.