Stanton, Edwin M

Stanton, Edwin M(cMasters)

(born Dec. 19, 1814, Steubenville, Ohio, U.S.—died Dec. 24, 1869, Washington, D.C.) U.S. secretary of war (1862–68). A lawyer and abolitionist, he was appointed U.S. attorney general in 1861 and secretary of war in 1862. He ably administered the Union military effort in the American Civil War, and he later helped lead the investigation of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Conflict with Pres. Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policy and his alliance with the Radical Republicans led to Stanton's dismissal by Johnson, in deliberate violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Stanton refused to leave office, but he resigned after Johnson was acquitted in the impeachment trial.