Abraham Lincoln signed U.S Civil War military commissionA military commission signed by Abraham Lincoln as President during the U. S Civil War in May 1864 Professionally restored and mounted on archival backing paper Sixteenth President of the United States (1809 1865), Abraham Lincoln successfully led the country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis the American Civil War (1861 1865). Lincoln is credited with piloting the Union to victory and ending slavery in North America. He