close friend and assuaging administration concerns. Dana reported to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that he found Grant, as historian John D. Winters writes, to be "modest, honest, and judicial . . . 'not an original or brilliant man, but sincere, thoughtful, deep, and gifted with a courage that never faltered.' Although quiet and hard to know, he loved a humorous story and the company of his friends." Dana also observed the growing problem of cotton speculators, who were often going beyond established limits into rebel territory with the purpose of trading and often collaborating with the rebels. Dana warned President Lincoln and Stanton that the cotton trading and all related activity needed to be stopped, maintaining that General Grant was in full agreement with his assessment and recommendations. Dana went through the Vicksburg Campaign and was present at the Battle of Chickamauga and the Chattanooga Campaign. He urged placing General Grant in supreme command of all the armies in the field, which Lincoln did on March 2, 1864. After returning to Washington, Dana received a telegram from assistant Secretary of War H.P. Watson, instructing him to go to Washington to pursue another investigation, and was received by Stanton, who offered him the position of Assistant Secretary of War, which he accepted. It was reported in the New York papers the next morning. Dana held this position from 1863 to 1865. With the likely exception of John Rawlins, Dana had a greater influence over Grant's military career than any other political or military man. Return to journalism In 1865–1866, Dana conducted the newly established and unsuccessful Chicago Republican, when the paper was owned by Jacob Bunn, and published by A.W. (Alonzo) Mack (1822-1871). He became the editor and part-owner of The Sun, a New York City newspaper, in 1868, and remained in control of it until his death. Upon taking control of the organization, he announced his credo: It will study condensation, clearness, point, and will endeavor to present its daily photograph of the whole world's doings in the most luminous and lively manner. Under Dana's control, The Sun opposed the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson; it supported Grant for the presidency in 1868; it was a sharp critic of Grant as president; and in 1872 took part in the Liberal Republican revolt and urged Greeley's nomination. In contrast with "the young Dana [who was] touched by the Transcendental wand,