of spencer repeating carbines and rifles in 1862 which by the last year of the war i i had had given union cavalry and some union infantry a great advantage in tactical combat and as you said, lincoln was instrumental ain getting john ericsson the contract for the monitor, and spent a great deal of time at the navy yard with john dahlgren, inventor of the foremost naval gun, watching the testing of the naval guns at the washington naval yard. he also went up to west pointe in june of 1862 and watched the test of parent rifle cannon at the cold spring army, which is just across the hudson river from west pointe. so lincoln was very much open and on top of the changing technology of warfare, and did, in fact, play a creative role in getting more advanced weaponry for the union army and navy. what about davis? davis is less hands-on than lincoln but i think every bit as interested in the potential of technology, and innovation and indeed in almost any conflict in history the
southern independence. the republican grip on congress was threatened and with it the fate of this huge and historic agenda. how the union was saved from that low point is another story told in my forthcoming book. it s an astounding chain of events, but we haven t time for that now. instead i m going to give the final word to charles sumner. perhaps the greatest figure of that tumultuous congress speaking of misunderstood individuals. our session has been busy, sumner wrote understatedly to a friend after congress adjourned. but then he added with justified pride, i doubt if any legislative body ever acted on so many important questions. thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you. we do have some time for questions. i would ask you to come up to this microphone if you have a question you d like to ask. anyone? others of you if you have questions, if you ll come up and be ready to ask your question. i was wondering, thomas crowell and several other authors wrote about th