Grant arrived in Washington to receive his new promotion
on March 8, 1864. He then set about establishing a multi-theater
campaign unlike anything yet attempted in the Civil War. Again, Grant's
strategy revolved around continually killing Confederate soldiers–a
brutal but effective plan. He knew he could wear down the enemy
long before his own forces became depleted. In order for the strategy
to work, however, he needed to keep up a constant pressure on the
Confederate armies, who were under the command of Robert E. Lee.
The western campaign had been hugely successful, cutting the Confederacy
in two at the Mississippi River and reclaiming much of the land
lost when the western states conceded. In the eastern theater,
however, there had been little more than skirmishes for the better
part of a year.
Grant thus started, knowing he started. He knew that he
had the complete confidence of Lincoln. His own confidence never wavered.
Grant urged General William T. Sherman toward Atlanta. He sent
armies to Mobile, down the Shenandoah Valley, and one toward Richmond,
the Confederate capital. Total war had begun. Grant stayed with
General George Meade in northern Virginia, telling him, "Wherever
Lee goes, there you will go also."
In May 1864, the assault began. Grant's troops entered
the Wilderness on May 5–and some of the worst fighting America
has ever seen. The cavalry of J.E.B. Stuart–the eyes and ears of
Lee's army–were engaged south of the Wilderness, and Lee attacked
without knowing the full size of the 120,000-strong army Grant
commanded. Had Grant moved faster he might have been able to escape the
battle, but the sheer size of his armies, supply trains, and support
teams limited his mobility. The battle erupted in the dense rolling
underbrush known as the Wilderness. Hundreds fell, then thousands,
then tens of thousands. Brush fires erupted throughout the area
and claimed as many men as bullets and shells did.
Unlike previous Union generals, Grant advanced after the bloody
two days, and the two armies met again on May 8, 1864, at Spotsylvania
Court House. Exhausted, both armies paused to set up defenses
before the battle broke out on May 10. Lee won the battle after
several continuous days of Union assaults failed to break the Confederate
lines. Nonetheless, Grant was succeeding in his goal to wear down
the Confederates. The Union still had reinforcements coming in,
as new units arrived at Grant's post almost daily. The Confederates–already
only half the size of the Union army to begin with–could expect
no such reinforcements. They had exhausted their nation's manpower,
and at this point it was only a matter of time. Grant was now so
popular that he himself got twenty-two votes at the Republican
convention to renominate Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency.
Grant continued his assault on Lee's army. However, the
battle at Cold Harbor even gave Grant pause. Botched leadership,
confusing orders, and strong Confederate fortifications exacted
the second-worst toll of the war on the Union troops–6,000 Union
men fell in a single hour of the battle. It was the only day of
battle that Grant ever admitted regretting. However, the battle
had not been a total waste–although in Grant's terms that was different
from a defeat. Cold Harbor did not contribute to the success of
the Army, but did result in the deaths of a number of Confederate
troops, thus marking the battle at least a draw.
The Union Army did not stop. Grant began to search for
a new opening through which to attack the Confederate Army, and
he found it in small railroad town of Petersburg. His engineers
secretly constructed a pontoon bridge across the James River, and
all but a few corps of the army crossed behind Lee's lines to attack
Petersburg. When a frontal assault again failed, Grant settled
in for another siege. Time was still on his side. Failing to capture
Petersburg by surprise, he settled down to a regular siege. From
June 18, 1864, to April 2, 1865, the Army of the Potomac sat and
waited outside Petersburg. Grant figured he could starve Lee out.
Meanwhile, the other Union armies were far from idle.
General Philip Sheridan led a cavalry force through the Shenandoah
Valley, destroying much of the fertile cropland in the area. Farther
south, Sherman had begun his now-infamous march to the sea. He
cut a miles-wide swath through Georgia, laying waste to everything
in his army's path and ultimately capturing Savannah in December.
Petersburg fell in April 1865, and the final assault on
the Confederate capital of Richmond began on April 3. As Union
troops approached, the Confederate troops began to set fire to
the city and withdraw. On April 7, 1865, Grant made his first peace
overture to Lee. Lee responded with a question about the terms of
surrender. For the first time in his military career, Grant actually
offered some. He did not hear back from Lee until late on the night
of April 8, when, after another day of fighting as Grant's armies
drew a tighter noose around the remnants of Lee's forces, Lee proposed
they meet to discuss the terms.
After a sleepless night, Grant declined the meeting and responded
with an even more urgent request for surrender. Lee could play
games no longer. He announced his intention to surrender, and Meade
ordered a battlefield truce. The contrast between the two West
Point men at the surrender could not have been greater. Lee arrived
at the meeting in a full-dress uniform, while Grant wore nothing
but his shabby field uniform. The two men shook hands, and Grant
wrote out the terms of surrender he would accept: all officers
must pledge their men would not take arms against the U.S. again,
and they must surrender all equipment and supplies except for side-arms,
privately-owned horses, and personal baggage. Lee thanked Grant
for the "generous" terms, and mentioned that his cavalrymen and
artillerymen would appreciate the use of their horses. Grant said
that since the men would need those horses for planting and plowing,
he would allow the beasts to be taken. Lee accepted. He mentioned
his men were hungry after days on the run, and Grant ordered General
Sherman's army to provide 25,000 rations. When Grant emerged from
the house, cannons sounded to celebrate the victory. He immediately
silenced them, saying that the Confederates were once again "our
countrymen." Besides, Grant wrote that he felt "like anything rather
than rejoicing." The war was over.
Five days later, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham
Lincoln while he was attending a play at Ford's Theater.
