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== Relieving McClellan ==
[[File:lincolnmcclellan.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|Lincoln with McClellan in Sharpsburg, October 1862.]]April 12, 1861 , marked the beginning of the Civil War when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter. President Lincoln, who had been inaugurated scarcely more than a month prior, engaged in the war with the goal of preserving the Union. Initially, ending slavery was not an issue for which he fought. Throughout the first year of the war, however, his thinking began to change. The humanity of ending slavery altered his him to a degree but more practical implications caused him to act. By eliminating slaves from the South's war machine, Rebel forces would weaken while those of the Union would strengthen. One On September 22, 1862, five days after the horrific battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland, Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation with the goal of frightening the South into submission. This tactic did not garner the intended result and after the Battle of Antietam ended with no decisive victor, Confederate General Robert E. Lee retreated with his army back into Virginia. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was able to escape unhindered due to the ineffectual command of Union leader, George B. McClellan.[[File:lincolnmcclellan.jpg|thumbnail|250px|Lincoln with McClellan in Sharpsburg, October 1862.]] McClellan was revered by his troops yet proved to be a great frustration to Lincoln, who, after Antietam, stated that McClellan had a “case of the slows.” The general had the good fortune of receiving the orders of General Lee prior to the battle at Antietam Creek. The orders had been dropped by a Confederate courier and fell into the hands of the Union commander. He had possession of these orders two days prior to the ensuing battle yet failed to act to prevent Lee from carrying out his strategies. Additionally, on September 17, when the Union army had Confederate troops trapped in what was called the "sunken road", a request was sent to McClellan for reinforcements. McClellan not only failed to send more troops, which may have crushed Lee’s army and thus ended the war, but he also called off the attack. Ironically, when Robert E. Lee replaced Joseph Johnston as the leader of the Army of Northern Virginia just three months prior, General McClellan was pleased because he deemed Lee to be “cautious and weak under grave responsibility.”<ref>McPherson, 462.</ref>
After Lee and his army made a successful retreat back onto Confederate soil, President Lincoln met with McClellan to personally relieve him of command. With the Emancipation Proclamation waiting on his desk and understanding its war implications, Lincoln knew he needed a strong and decisive leader to command an aggressive war. Although he did not want to harm his fellow countrymen, he knew harsher tactics were necessary, as the Union could "no longer play a game in which it stakes all, and its enemies stake nothing.”<ref>McPherson, 506.</ref> Lincoln was forced, in part by the South and in part by his own commanders, to change his focus and shift the course of the war.
