February 16, 1862

The balance of naval power on the western rivers tilts further to the Union with the commissioning of seven ironclad river gunboats, including Carondelt, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, all of which will provide essential in forthcoming combined army and navy operations.

January 15, 1862

Simon Cameron is gently removed from the cabinet, leaving to become U.S. envoy to Russia, and the Senate confirms Edwin Stanton as the new Secretary of War.  A formidable lawyer whose initial impressions of Lincoln were far from favorable, he will prove to be exceptionally energetic and efficient in the challenging post.

January 13, 1862

In a letter to Brigadier  General Don Carlos Buell, Lincoln reveals the effectivness of his study of millitary millitary affairs, and his overall strategy for winning the war.  “{M}y general idea of this war [is} we have the greater numbers, and the enemy has the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points od collision;  that we must fai, unless we can find some way of  making our advantage an over-match for his:  and that this can only be one by menacing him with supeerior forces at diferrent points, at the sametime; so that we can safely attack, one, or both, if he makes both no change;  and if he weakens one to strengthen the other, forbear to attach the strengthenedone, butseize, and hold the weakened one, gaininaso much.”