Team of Rivals (184 page)

Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase
(51)
craved the presidency with every fiber of his being, an ambition shared by his beautiful daughter Kate
(53 left, and seated, right)
. Rumors circulated that her 1863 marriage to William Sprague
(52)
“was a coldly calculated plan to secure the Sprague millions” to finance her father’s 1864 campaign.

When his first war secretary, Simon Cameron
(54)
, resigned under fire, Lincoln called on Edwin M. Stanton
(55)
, who overcame his initial contempt for the president to embrace a deep friendship. The Lincoln and Stanton families spent their summers together at the Soldiers’ Home
(56)
.

Francis P. Blair and his wife, Eliza
(59)
, presided over a political dynasty that included their sons, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair
(61)
and Union general Frank
(60)
. Daughter Elizabeth’s
(58)
voluminous letters to her husband, Captain Samuel P. Lee
(57)
, left a vivid record of life in Washington during the Civil War.

In addition to their cabinet duties, both Navy Secretary Gideon Welles
(62)
and Attorney General Edward Bates
(63)
kept detailed diaries that recorded the inner workings of the Lincoln administration.