42 e lusive v ictories
challenge for the Lincoln administration. Immediately after the attack
on Fort Sumter, Lincoln on his own authority called for 75,000 three-
month militia volunteers, then summoned an additional 300,000 men
to serve for three years while also authorizing an expansion of the
regular army. ( Th e assertion of emergency powers refl ected in these
actions, which had little or no legal basis, will be examined later.) Patri-
otism and a sluggish economy made it easy for northern governors to
meet and then exceed their state quotas. Th us, despite the refusal of
some Border States to cooperate, the ranks of the Union armies were
soon fi lled, and by April 1862 some 637,000 men were in uniform,
most classifi ed as U.S. Volunteers with specifi ed terms of enlistment.
Once the serious fi ghting began in 1862 and the appalling casualty lists
appeared in hometown newspapers, however, the eagerness to join
waned. Governors had to resort to such measures as enlistment bonuses
to entice new recruits, and by 1863 Congress would be forced to pass
the unpopular Conscription Act. As an added complication,
enlistment terms for two-year and three-year volunteers would expire in
the same season each year (in summer 1863 and summer 1864, respec-
tively), depriving the armies of many of their most experienced veterans
in the middle of major campaigns.
With the establishment of a mass military came the need to fi nd
offi cers to command it. For units up to regimental size, offi cers were
either elected by their men or appointed by state governors. Th e pres-
ident selected general offi cers, though their commissions required con-
gressional approval and many were recommended by lawmakers. To
Lincoln, too, fell the vital task of assigning senior commanders of
armies and military departments (eff ectively, geographic areas), choices
requiring special care because they had both military and political
implications. Often far removed from immediate political oversight,
these senior commanders faced delicate questions involving the preser-
vation of property, treatment of fugitive slaves, and management of
political dissent.
Several factors complicated the selection of senior military
leaders. First, neither the president nor anyone else had a basis upon
which to assess the fi tness for command of the many candidates, a
common problem at the outset of a war. Th e United States Army
had last fought a major war in 1846—the Mexican War (as it was then