During the Civil War, Lincoln exercised powers no 
previous president had wielded; he suspended the writ of habeas 
corpus and frequently imprisoned accused Southern spies and 
sympathizers without trial. Some scholars have argued that Lincoln's 
political arrests extended to the highest levels of the government 
including an attempted warrant for Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, 
though the allegation remains unresolved and controversial (see the 
Taney Arrest Warrant controversy). On the other hand, he often 
commuted executions. The war was a source of constant frustration for 
the president, and it occupied nearly all of his time. After repeated 
difficulties with General George McClellan and a string of other 
unsuccessful commanding generals, Lincoln made the fateful decision 
to appoint a radical and somewhat scandalous army commander: General 
Ulysses S. Grant. Grant would apply his military knowledge and 
leadership talents to bring about the close of the Civil War.

Despite his meager education and “backwoods” upbringing, Lincoln 
possessed an extraordinary command of the English language, as 
evidenced by the Gettysburg Address, a speech dedicating a cemetery 
of Union soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. While most 
of the speakers—e.g. Edward Everett—at the event spoke at length, some 
for hours, Lincoln's few choice words resonated across the nation and 
across history, defying Lincoln's own prediction that "The world will 
little note, nor long remember what we say here." Lincoln's second 
inaugural address is also greatly admired and often quoted.

Lincoln was the only President to face a presidential election 
during a civil war (in 1864). The long war and the issue of 
emancipation appeared to be severely hampering his prospects and 
an electoral defeat appeared likely against the Democratic nominee 
and former general, George McClellan. Lincoln formed a Union party 
which composed of War democrats and republicans. However, a series 
of timely Union victories shortly before election day changed the 
situation dramatically and Lincoln was reelected.

The reconstruction of the Union weighed heavy on the President's mind. 
He was determined to take a course that would not permanently 
alienate the former Confederate states. "Let 'em up easy," he told 
his assembled military leaders Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Gen. William 
T. Sherman and Adm. David Dixon Porter in an 1865 meeting on the 
steamer River Queen. When Richmond, the Confederate capital, was at 
long last captured, Lincoln went there to make a public gesture of 
sitting at Jefferson Davis's own desk, symbolically saying to the 
nation that the President of the United States held authority over 
the entire land. He was greeted at the city as a conquering hero 
by freed slaves, whose sentiments were epitomized by one admirer's 
quote, "I know I am free for I have seen the face of Father 
Abraham and have felt him."

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered 
at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This left only Joe 
Johnston's forces in the East to deal with. Weeks later Johnston 
would defy Jefferson Davis and surrender his forces to Sherman. 
Of course, Lincoln would not survive to see the surrender of all 
Confederate forces; just days after Lee surrendered, Lincoln was 
assassinated.