Edwin M . Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton ( December 19 , 1814 – 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 effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory . After Lincoln ' s assassination , Stanton remained as the Secretary of War under the new 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 President Johnson being impeached by the House of Representatives . Stanton returned to law after retiring as Secretary of War , and in 1869 was nominated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by Johnson ' s successor , Ulysses S . Grant ; however , he died four days after his nomination was confirmed by the Senate . Early life and career . Stanton was born in Steubenville , Ohio , the eldest of four children to David and Lucy Norman Stanton . Throughout his childhood and adult life Stanton suffered from asthma . His mother ran a general store in Steubenville . His father was a physician of Quaker stock . Stanton ' s father died in 1827 when Edwin was only thirteen . He was forced to leave school to help support his mother . Stanton began his political life as a lawyer in Ohio and an antislavery Democrat . After leaving Kenyon College he returned to Steubenville in 1833 to get a job to support his family . He began studying law , and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1836 . At 21 , he argued his first court case . Stanton built a house in the small town of Cadiz , Ohio , and practiced law there until 1847 , when he moved to Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . He resided at one point in Richmond , Ohio , in what is now Everhart Bove Funeral Home . Stanton and Clement Vallandigham were “ intimate personal friends ” before the Civil War . Stanton loaned Vallandigham $ 500 for a course and to begin a law practice . Both Vallandigham and Stanton were Democrats , but had opposing views of slavery . Law and politics . Stanton ' s legal career would bring him to practice in Ohio , then Pittsburgh , and finally in Washington , D . C . In 1856 , Stanton moved to Washington , D . C . , where he had a large practice before the Supreme Court . In 1859 , Stanton was the defense attorney in the sensational trial of Daniel E . Sickles , a politician and later a Union general , who was tried on a charge of murdering his wife ' s lover , Philip Barton Key II ( son of Francis Scott Key ) , but was acquitted after Stanton invoked one of the first uses of the insanity defense in U . S . history . Stanton was sent to California in 1858 by the US Attorney General as special Federal agent for the settlement of land claims , where he succeeded in breaking up a conspiracy to defraud the U . S . government of vast tracts of land of considerable value . Attorney general . In 1860 Stanton gave up a successful law practice and was appointed United States Attorney General in the lame - duck presidential administration of James Buchanan . He strongly opposed secession , and is credited by historians for changing Buchanan ' s governmental position away from tolerating secession to denouncing it as unconstitutional and illegal . Time of war . Civil War . After Lincoln was elected president , Stanton agreed to work as a legal adviser to the inefficient Secretary of War , Simon Cameron , who was reassigned by Lincoln because of allegations of corruption . Cameron was replaced by Stanton on January 15 , 1862 . He accepted the position only to " help save the country " . He was very effective in administering the huge War Department , but devoted considerable amounts of his energy to the persecution of Union officers whom he suspected of having traitorous sympathies for the South , the most famous of these being Maj . Gen . Fitz John Porter . Stanton used his power as Secretary to ensure every general who sat on the court - martial would vote for conviction or else be unable to obtain career advancement . On August 8 , 1862 , Stanton issued an order to " arrest and imprison any person or persons who may be engaged , by act , speech or writing , in discouraging volunteer enlistments , or in any way giving aid and comfort to the enemy , or in any other disloyal practice against the United States " . The president recognized Stanton ' s ability , but whenever necessary Lincoln managed to " plow around him " . Stanton once tried to fire the Chief of the War Department Telegraph Office , Thomas Eckert . Lincoln prevented this by praising Eckert to Stanton . Yet , when pressure was exerted to remove the unpopular secretary from office , Lincoln refused . His high opinion of Stanton can be seen from the following quote : Stanton became a Republican and apparently changed his opinion of Lincoln . Lincoln ' s assassination . On April 15 , 1865 , Stanton rushed to the Petersen House , where President Lincoln had been taken after he had been shot at Ford ' s Theatre . The Secretary of War took charge of the scene . Mary Lincoln was so unhinged by the experience of the assassination that Stanton had her ordered from the room by shouting , " Take that woman out and do not let her in again ! " At Lincoln ' s death Stanton uttered what became a memorable quote " Now he belongs to the ages " ( or possibly " angels " ) , and lamented , " There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen . " He vigorously pursued the apprehension and prosecution of the conspirators involved in Lincoln ' s assassination . These proceedings were not handled by the civil courts , but by a military tribunal , and therefore under Stanton ' s tutelage . Stanton has subsequently been accused of witness tampering , most notably of Louis J . Weichmann , and of other activities that skewed the outcome of the trials . Andrew Johnson ' s administration . Stanton continued to hold the position of secretary of war under President Andrew Johnson until 1868 . Stanton strongly disagreed with Johnson ' s plan to readmit the seceded states to the Union without guarantees of civil rights for freed slaves . The two clashed over implementation of Reconstruction policy , so Johnson removed Stanton from the Cabinet and replaced him with Ulysses S . Grant . However , this was overruled by the Senate , and Stanton barricaded himself in his office when Johnson tried again to replace Stanton with Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas , while radical Republicans initiated impeachment proceedings against Johnson on the grounds that Johnson ' s removal of Stanton without Senate approval violated the Tenure of Office Act . Stanton played a central role in the attempt to impeach President Andrew Johnson . Johnson escaped conviction by a single vote in the Senate . U . S . Supreme Court appointment . After this , Stanton resigned and returned to the practice of law . The next year he was appointed by President Grant to the Supreme Court , but he died four days after he was confirmed by the Senate . He died during an asthma attack in Washington , DC , and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery . Stanton did not take the necessary oath of office , according to the Supreme Court ' s official [ list of justices ] , which notes that : Marriage and family . On May 31 , 1836 , Edwin Stanton married Mary Lamson , and they had two children : Lucy Lamson Stanton ( born March 11 , 1837 ) and Edwin Lamson Stanton ( born August 1842 ) . They built a house in the small town of Cadiz , Ohio , and he practiced law there . Their daughter Lucy died in 1841 and their son Edwin died in 1877 . Mary Lamson Stanton died on March 13 , 1844 . The loss of his beloved wife sent Stanton spiraling into a deep depression . Then , in 1846 , Stanton ' s brother Darwin cut his own throat – " The blood spouted up to the ceiling " , a doctor recalled . So many losses in so short a time changed Stanton , replacing a hearty good humor with a brusque , even rude , intensity . He moved to Pittsburgh , lost himself in legal work , and turned into a ferocious litigator . He also met and wooed Ellen Hutchison , who became his second wife and later survived him . Stanton had taken a large pay cut to serve as Secretary of War , and his finances were not in good shape when he died . Congress voted Mrs . Stanton a sum the equivalent of one year ' s pension for a U . S . Supreme Court justice , since her late husband had been confirmed to the Court but not sworn in . Friends also collected a generous fund to care for her and her family . Stanton on U . S . postage . Edwin Stanton was the second American other than a U . S . President to appear on a U . S . postage issue , the first being Benjamin Franklin , who appeared on a stamp in 1847 . The only Stanton stamp was issued March 6 , 1871 . This was also the only stamp issued by the post office that year . The Stanton 7 - cent stamp paid the single rate postage for letters sent from the U . S . to various countries in Europe . Legacy . A distinctive engraved portrait of Stanton appeared on U . S . paper money in 1890 and 1891 . The bills are called " treasury notes " or " coin notes " and are widely collected today . These rare notes are considered by many to be among the finest examples of detailed engraving ever to appear on banknotes . The $ 1 Stanton " fancyback " note of 1890 , with an estimated 900 – 1 , 300 in existence relative to the millions printed , ranks as number 83 in the " 100 Greatest American Currency Notes " compiled by Bowers and Sundman ( 2006 ) . Stanton also appears on the fourth issue of Fractional currency , in the amount of 50 cents . Stanton Park , four blocks from the United States Capitol in Washington , D . C . , is named for him , as is Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville , Florida . A steam engine , built in 1862 , was named the " E . M . Stanton " in honor of the new Secretary of War . Stanton County , Nebraska , is named for him . Stanton Middle School in Hammondsville , Ohio is named after him . A neighborhood in Pittsburgh is named for him ( Stanton Heights ) as well as its main thoroughfare ( Stanton Avenue ) . The Edwin M . Stanton School ( Jacksonville , Florida ) and Edwin M . Stanton School ( Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places .