Lincoln's Informer

Winner: Albert Castel Book AwardIn a recent poll of leading historians, Charles A. Dana was named among the Twenty-Five Most Influential Civil War Figures Youve Probably Never Heard Of. If you have heard of Dana, it was probably from his classic Recollections of the Civil War (1898), which was ghostwritten by muckraker Ida Tarbell and riddled with errors cited by unsuspecting historians ever since. Lincolns Informer at long last sets the record straight, giving Charles A. Dana his due in a story that rivals the best historical fiction. Dana didnt just record history, Carl J. Guarneri notes: he made it. Starting out as managing editor of Horace Greeleys New York Tribune, he led the newspapers charge against proslavery forces in Congress and the Kansas territory. When his criticism of the Unions prosecution of the war became too much for Greeley, Dana was drafted by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to be a special agentand it was in this capacity that he truly made his mark. Drawing on Danas reports, letters, and telegramsthe most remarkable, interesting, and instructive collection of official documents relating to the Rebellion, according to the custodian of the Union war recordsGuarneri reconstructs the Civil War as Dana experienced and observed it: as a journalist, a confidential informant to Stanton and Lincoln, and, most controversially, an administration insider with surprising influence. While reporting most of the wars major events, Dana also had a hand in military investigations, the cotton trade, Lincolns reelection, passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, and, most notably, the making of Ulysses S. Grant and the breaking of other generals. Danas reporting and Guarneris lively narrative provide fresh impressions of Lincoln, Stanton, Grant, and other Union war leaders. Lincolns Informer shows us the unlikely role of a little-known confidant and informant in the Lincoln administrations military and political successes. A remarkable inside look at history unfolding, this book draws the first complete picture of a fascinating character writing his chapter in the story of the Civil War.