Edwin Stanton under President Abraham Lincoln, during a majority of the American Civil War, was the Secretary of War. He presided over the Union military from 1861 - 1865. He tended to be criticized by his generals as being too micromanaging and too cautious. Stanton and President Andrew Johnson, whom replaced President Lincoln after his assassination clashed over the post-war policies Stanton so strongly believed in. He backed Lincoln’s plan to advance black peoples rights in the South. When Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated by John Wilkes-Booth, Stanton organized a manhunt for his capture. Before his appointment as Secretary of War, in 1860, he was appointed as the United States Attorney General.
