"Grant’s Pursuit of Lee" from U.S. History by Boundless is used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. © 2014, boundless.com.

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Grant’s Pursuit of Lee

General Grant's Union army pursued General Lee's Confederate army in the Overland Campaign, resulting in an important victory for the Union.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

• Describe Grant's Overland Campaign in pursuit of Lee, and the resulting Union victory.

KEY POINTS

• Grant's Overland Campaign was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864.

• Important Battles of the Overland Campaign included the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the Battle of North Anna, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and ended in the siege of Petersburg.

• The Overland Campaign was the thrust necessary for the Union to win the war, and although Grant suffered a number of tactical defeats (most notably Cold Harbor), the campaign was a strategic success for the Union.

TERMS

• Overland Campaign The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War.

• Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870) A career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.

• Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) became the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877) following his dominant role in the second half of the Civil War.

Grant's Overland Campaign was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and other forces against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This was the first time the Union armies would have a coordinated offensive strategy across a number of theaters. Although previous Union campaigns in Virginia targeted the Confederate capital of Richmond as their primary objective, this time the goal was the destruction of Lee's army. Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army.

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In March 1864, Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, although Meade retained formal command of that army. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies. Grant and President Abraham Lincoln devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions.

Despite Grant's superior numbers, he had manpower challenges. Because he was operating on the offensive in enemy territory, Grant had to defend his supply lines; for this reason, Grant chose to rely on waterborne supply lines instead of the railroads in Virginia's interior. Furthermore, since many of his soldiers' three-year enlistments were about to expire, they were naturally reluctant to participate in dangerous assaults. To deal with these challenges, Grant supplemented his forces by reassigning soldiers manning the heavy artillery batteries around Washington, D.C. to infantry regiments.

Crossing the Rapidan River on May 4, 1864, Grant sought to defeat Lee's army by quickly placing his forces between Lee and Richmond and inviting an open battle. Lee surprised Grant by attacking the larger Union army aggressively in the Battle of the Wilderness, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Grant did not withdraw his army following this setback, but instead maneuvered to the southeast, resuming his attempt to interpose his forces between Lee and Richmond. Lee's army was able to get into position to block this movement. At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Grant repeatedly attacked segments of the Confederate defensive line, hoping for a breakthrough, but the only results were again heavy losses for both sides.

Grant maneuvered again, meeting Lee at the Battle of North Anna. Here, Lee had an opportunity to defeat portions of Grant's army, but illness prevented Lee from attacking in time to trap Grant. The final major battle of the campaign was waged at Cold Harbor, in which Grant gambled that Lee's army was exhausted and ordered a massive assault against strong defensive positions, resulting in disproportionately heavy Union casualties. Maneuvering a final time, Grant surprised Lee by stealthily crossing the James River, threatening to capture the city of Petersburg, the loss of which would doom the Confederate capital.

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Pontoon Bridge across the James River Pontoon bridge across the James River

After Lee learned that Grant had crossed the James, he realized that he would be forced into a siege of the capital city. Petersburg, a prosperous city of 18,000, was a supply center for Richmond, given its location just south of the capital, its site on the Appomattox River providing navigable access to the James River, and its role as a major junction for five railroads. The taking of Petersburg by Union forces would make it impossible for Lee to continue defending the Confederate capital. This represented a change of strategy from that of Grant's Overland Campaign, in which confronting and defeating Lee's army in the open was the primary goal. Now, Grant selected a geographic and political target and knew that his superior resources could besiege Lee there, pin him down, and either starve him into submission or lure him out for a decisive battle. The resulting Siege of Petersburg from June 1864 to March 1865 led to the surrender of Lee's army in April 1865 and the effective end of the Civil War.

The Overland Campaign was the thrust necessary for the Union to win the war, and although Grant suffered a number of tactical defeats (most notably Cold Harbor), the campaign was a strategic success for the Union. By engaging Lee's forces and not permitting them to escape, Grant forced Lee into an untenable position. But this came at a high cost. The campaign was the bloodiest in American history: approximately 55,000 casualties on the Union side and 32,600 on the Confederate. It inflicted proportionately higher losses on Lee's army and maneuvered it into a siege at Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, in just over eight weeks.

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Overland Campaign, from the Wilderness to Crossing the James River Overland Campaign, from the Wilderness to crossing the James River