A Civil War-era cartoon of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase bleeding Uncle Sam into a bowl marked “Treasury,” from January 25, 1862. Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery. Washington, D.C., July 17, 1861. Each morning, Salmon Portland Chase arrived at the colonnaded building on Pennsylvania Avenue that housed the Treasury. Ten to 12 hours later, he emerged. He ate dinner at home and then worked another two to three hours, however long he could keep his enormous head from collapsing. The next morning, he repeated the same grueling routine. A solemn man with tremendous self-discipline and unfaltering faith in himself, Treasury Secretary Chase faced the greatest challenge of his career — and the most urgent of the many problems plaguing the Union in those tense months after Fort Sumter. President Lincoln had given him the unenviable task of figuring out how to fund the war. Chase landed the job not because of any financial experience — he had none — but as a reward for supporting Lincoln at the Republican convention. Neither of them could have anticipated how important a position it would become. Read the rest at the New York Times Disunion blog.

A Civil War-era cartoon of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase bleeding Uncle Sam into a bowl marked “Treasury,” from January 25, 1862. Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery.

Washington, D.C., July 17, 1861.

Each morning, Salmon Portland Chase arrived at the colonnaded building on Pennsylvania Avenue that housed the Treasury. Ten to 12 hours later, he emerged. He ate dinner at home and then worked another two to three hours, however long he could keep his enormous head from collapsing. The next morning, he repeated the same grueling routine.

A solemn man with tremendous self-discipline and unfaltering faith in himself, Treasury Secretary Chase faced the greatest challenge of his career — and the most urgent of the many problems plaguing the Union in those tense months after Fort Sumter. President Lincoln had given him the unenviable task of figuring out how to fund the war. Chase landed the job not because of any financial experience — he had none — but as a reward for supporting Lincoln at the Republican convention.

Neither of them could have anticipated how important a position it would become.

Read the rest at the New York Times Disunion blog.

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