USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief in March 1864. Grant directed Sherman to drive through the South while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Detailed explanation-2: -President Lincoln wanted a commanding general who would take initiative and responsibility and act independently, freeing Lincoln from having to make military decisions. Grant was happy to oblige.

Detailed explanation-3: -Message of President Abraham Lincoln Nominating Ulysses S. Grant to Be Lieutenant General of the Army, February 29, 1864; Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46.

Detailed explanation-4: -His basic plan for the 1864 campaign was to immobilize the army of Gen. Robert E. Lee near the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, while Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman led the western Union army southward through Georgia. It worked.

Detailed explanation-5: -When Ulysses S. Grant took command of all United States armies in March of 1864, he promised to change how the Union war effort was being conducted. 1864 was a crucial “make it or break it” year in the Civil War. The nation had already gone through unspeakable bloodshed and war weariness was at an all-time high.