Smart People Say The Stupidest Things President Abraham Lincoln July 10, 2014September 22, 2016 0 Comment abraham lincoln, Commander-in-Chief, Interesting quote, Politics, Union Army Interesting quote from a great man. When Lincoln was Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army, the penalty for desertion was death, sometimes amended to branding deserters with a hot iron on the face. That’s a very strange kind of mercy.