During the American Civil War the penalty for desertion was execution But the Union armies rarely executed deserters because their commander-in-chief Abraham Lincoln pardoned nearly all of them This infuriated Edwin Stanton the Secretary of War who believed that Lincoln rsquo s leniency only enticed would-be deserters But Lincoln empathized with soldiers who had lost their nerve and who had given in to their fear in the heat of battle And his empathy endeared him to his soldiers They loved their ldquo Father Abraham rdquo and their affection led the soldiers to want to serve Lincoln all the more When
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