Abraham Lincoln held several offices in his rise to the top where he eventually held the highest office on the land as president of the United States of America. Not only that, he also scored several first records albeit some unenviable like being the only person to hold a patent and become president as well as the first president to be assassinated while in office.  Several aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s life have been documented by various writers and historians as well as reporters. The historiography analysis seeks to verify the underlying sources of these accounts as well as how well the writer has elucidated these facts.

Abraham Lincoln had several other responsibilities that were connected to his office of presidency. These responsibilities required his attention at varied times and the success he achieved in these endeavours can be measured by way of the results he achieved. Abraham Lincoln held the post of the commander in chief of the armed forces. This role demanded a lot of war front intelligence from him as well as tactical tenacity to enable him overcome his enemies. More still, the wars that Lincoln was engaged in were fought against the very citizens of his country who sought to secede from the central federation (McPherson 2009).

In this text, we examine the way Abraham Lincoln’s role as commander in chief has been presented by the author, McPherson as well as examining the underlying and related references to verify the accuracy of the presented as well as any biases that can be identified from the publication. Lincoln’s triumphs as well as challenges in his efforts the combat slavery and succession from periphery states comes as a big writing point for this text.

For a start McPherson borrows heavily from other historians on who have written extensively on the life and the various roles played by Lincoln. He has cited works from such authors as Ballard C, William T, Ferenbahcer as well as various other sources such as debates and academic papers that make reference to Lincoln. One of the most outstanding observations by McPherson that he has sufficiently supported from the various articles he has made a passing reference to is the fact the by the time of ascending to power, Lincoln was not the most suitable candidate for the post of commander in chief. To his credit, in an effort to overcome these shortcomings, Lincoln vociferously studied all available literature about war and military strategy (Simon J, 1974). Lincoln was able to develop a very good understanding of strategy at both national level and military level. He seemed to follow the maxim of various military strategists that war is second alternative of propagating national policies where political approach does not seem to be working (Allan N 1990)

McPherson has brought out a picture of a Lincoln who was a quite aggressive commander besides being quite persistent as well as brilliant. He was known as a self trained commander besides being a self educated lawyer. His belief in aggressively pursuing his enemies at times posed a challenge since it required that he operates with generals who shared a common intensity of ideal in pursuing the victory that they sought after. McPherson details the energy with which the commander in chief pursued these victories. It was due to such pursuits that Lincoln was often forced to replace his general s in an effort to get one with the appropriate level of aggressiveness.

This view as stated by McPherson is reiterated by a separate source. According to History.Net a history magazine, Abraham Lincoln was actively engaged in offensives on all fronts in the year 1863. Such was the urgency in which Lincoln expected the generals to prosecute the war that in 1863 he was forced to replace General Haleck H and later General McLellan G B as generals. All this was done in an effort to ensure that the right degree of aggressiveness. As presented by McPherson, the commander in chief was intent on finding a general who would find offer appropriate synergy to his political genius.

Lincoln later, through the military assumed the control of the telegraph services. This was placed under military control. The main reason behind this was to give the presidency a means through which to reach the generals on the front and give them orders on the way to progress with the engagement (Neevins 1950). One of the key needs on any commander in chief is the ability to effectively communicate and stay in touch with his generals on the ground. This increases efficiency as well as enabling the commander in chief to easily give directions to the generals.