Lincoln's Men by Davis, William C - 1999: How President Lincoln Became Father to an Army and Nation

Davis, William C. LINCOLN'S MEN: HOW PRESIDENT LINCOLN BECAME FATHER TO AN ARMY AND A NATION. (New York: 1999). 1st ed., 352p. No American president has enjoyed as intimate a relationship with his soldiers as Abraham Lincoln. Hundreds of thousands of men who never met or even saw Lincoln came to view him as a father figure. He, in turn, looked after them, provided for their families with the nation's first veterans benefits system, and offered the exemplary leadership that molded and sustained their resolve to bring the Union to victory. In the process, Lincoln became "Father Abraham" to the North, and the most important father of the nation since Washington. A refreshing and fascinating study of the emotional and symbolic bond between the men Lincoln had to rely on to save the Union, and the president who had to sustain them through the most brutal war in American history. As new; d.j.