Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814 â€" December 24, 1869) was
an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under
the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War.
Stanton's management helped organize the massive military resources of
the North and guide the Union to victory. However, he was criticized
by many Union generals, who perceived him as overcautious and
micromanaging. He also organized the manhunt for Abraham Lincoln's
assassin, John Wilkes Booth.After Lincoln's assassination, Stanton
remained as the Secretary of War under the new US president, Andrew
Johnson, during the first years of Reconstruction. He opposed the
lenient policies of Johnson towards the former Confederate States.
Johnson's attempt to dismiss Stanton ultimately led to Johnson being
impeached by the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Stanton returned to law after he retired as Secretary of War. In 1869,
he was nominated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by
Johnson's successor, Ulysses S. Grant, but Stanton died four days
after his nomination was confirmed by the Senate.Before the American
Revolution, Stanton's paternal ancestors, the Stantons and the Macys,
both of whom were Quakers, moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina.
In 1774, Stanton's grandfather, Benjamin Stanton, married Abigail
Macy. Benjamin died in 1800. That year, Benjamin's widow moved to the
Northwest Territory, accompanied by much of her family. Soon, Ohio was
admitted to the Union, and Macy proved to be one of the early
developers of the new state. She bought a tract of land at Mount
Pleasant, Ohio from the government and settled there. One of her sons,
David, became a physician in Steubenville, and married Lucy Norman,
the daughter of a Virginia planter. Their marriage was met with the
ire of Ohio's Quaker community, as Lucy was a Methodist, and not a
Quaker. This forced David Stanton to abandon the Quaker sect. Edwin Stanton Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter