About the Author

William C. Harris, a professor emeritus of history at North Carolina State University, is the author or editor of eleven books, including With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union and Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency. His most recent book, Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union, won the prestigious Lincoln Prize in 2012.

Reviews

"Lincoln and the Union Governors, by noted Lincoln historian William C. Harris, brings to the forefront the importance of northern state executives to Lincoln's war efforts. Harris pays particular attention to those governors who, basically, served as war ministers, including Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Richard Yates of Illinois, and Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa. Likely, most students who have limited familiarity with the particulars of the Lincoln presidency and the American Civil War will know very little about the governors who oversaw Union army recruitment in their states."--Stacy Pratt McDermott, Lincoln in Brief: A Review Essay--Stacy Pratt Mcdermott "The Annals of Iowa/State Historical Society of Iowa" (5/24/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"As partners with the Lincoln administration, Northern governors played a vital role in the prosecution of the war for the Union and freedom. William C. Harris offers a fresh interpretation of this alliance, which was sometimes fraught with tensions and recriminations but proved in the end to function in a war-winning fashion."--James McPherson "There are many fine studies of Lincoln and his generals but lamentably few accounts of Lincoln and the Union governors, who played as important a role as did those generals in the Northern war effort. With this book, the first on the subject in more than sixty years, Harris adds to his impressive list of important works on Lincoln. It is a most welcome addition to the Concise Lincoln Library."--Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life "Harris is an accomplished and acclaimed historian whose prize-winning books offer absorbing, original, and readable reinterpretations of both Lincoln scholarship and Civil War history. This book represents this generation's most thorough, important, and persuasive analysis of Lincoln's political and personal relationship with the governors of the loyal states during the Civil War. Mining a host of little-consulted historical documents, Harris has produced a fascinating and often suspenseful narrative account of Lincoln's efforts to keep the Border States in the Union, encourage the northern governors to support the war effort, and overcome regional rivalries and political conflicts as he eloquently guided the nation toward the twin goals of reunion and emancipation. Lincoln and the Union Governors is a masterful retelling of the crucial partnership between Lincoln and the governors that will enthrall readers, fill significant gaps in our understanding of the Civil War, and find a place on any history enthusiast's bookshelf."--Kenneth J. Winkle, author of Abraham and Mary Lincoln and Lincoln's Citadel: The Civil War in Washington, DC