text: As a result, Union enlistments from Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri increased by over 40,000.Internationally, Lincoln wanted to forestall foreign military aid to the Confederacy.He relied on his combative Secretary of State William Seward while working closely with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Charles Sumner.In the 1861 Trent Affair, which threatened war with Great Britain, the U.S.Navy illegally intercepted a British mail ship, the Trent, on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys; Britain protested vehemently while the U.S.cheered.Lincoln ended the crisis by releasing the two diplomats.Biographer James G.Randall dissected Lincoln's successful techniques: Lincoln painstakingly monitored the telegraph reports coming into the War Department.He tracked all phases of the effort, consulting with governors, and selecting generals based on their success, their state, and their party.In January 1862, after complaints of inefficiency and profiteering in the War Department, Lincoln replaced War Secretary Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton.Stanton centralized the War Department's activities, auditing and canceling contracts, saving the federal government $17,000,000.Stanton was a staunch Unionist, pro-business, conservative Democrat who gravitated toward the Radical Republican faction.He worked more often and more closely with Lincoln than any other senior official."Stanton and Lincoln virtually conducted the war together", say Thomas and Hyman.Lincoln's war strategy embraced two priorities: ensuring that Washington was well-defended and conducting an aggressive war effort for a prompt, decisive victory.Twice a week, Lincoln met with his cabinet in the afternoon.Occasionally Mary prevailed on him to take a carriage ride, concerned that he was working too hard.