From the Rapidan River to the James, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (above), commanding the armies of the United States, found all his efforts to capture Richmond and destroy the Confederacy blocked by Gen. Robert E. Lee (below) and his Army of Northern Virginia. Finally, Grant turned his attention to Petersburg.
Union Movements Confederate Movements Major Battles and Engagements WILDERNESS MAY 5-7, 1864 SPOTSYLVANIA MAY 8-19, 1864 COLD HARBOR JUNE 3-13, 1864 PETERSBURG CAMPAIGN JUNE 1864-APRIL 1865 FIVE FORKS APRIL 1, 1865 SAYLER’S CREEK APRIL 6, 1865
Such a man was found in Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the victor at Vicksburg and Missionary Ridge, who was brought east and, on March 9, 1864, commissioned lieutenant general to be responsible for all the Union armies. Unlike his predecessor, Henry W. Halleck, Grant decided not to remain in Washington but chose instead to accompany the Army of the Potomac, where he would provide general direction to the military operations but leave the execution of them to that army’s commander, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.
Maj. Gen. George G. Meade commanded the Army of the Potomac during the 1864-65 Virginia campaign. With General Grant actively directing most of the military operations, Meade was in the awkward position of serving much like a corps commander in his own army. He nevertheless functioned well in this difficult situation.
UNION STRATEGY 1864
To accomplish the conquest of the Confederacy, the Northern plan called for a huge two-pronged attack. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, in command of the southern prong, was assigned the task of destroying Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate Army of Tennessee, capturing Atlanta, marching to the sea, and then turning north to effect a junction with Grant.