The spring of 1864 brought a new Union commander and a different strategy to win the war. President Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general and commander of all Union forces in March, a rank and responsibility last bestowed on George Washington during the Revolutionary War. With it came responsibility for running the war. Grant laid out a crushing plan of constant attack and pressure, “to employ all the force of all the armies continually and concurrently, so that there should be no recuperation on the part of the Rebel, no rest from attack, no opportunity to reinforce first one and then another point with the same troops, at different seasons; no possibility of profiting by the advantages of interior lines; no chance to furlough troops, to reorganize armies, or recreate supplies; no respite of any sort, anywhere, until absolute submission ended the War.”1 Total war.
Born and raised in Ohio and an expert horseman with distinguished experience in the Mexican-American War, Grant proved his abilities as a quartermaster skilled in moving and supplying armies. But his drinking problem led to his resignation from the Army in 1854. He floundered in civilian life, failing in various business ventures. Personally against slavery, at great financial cost, Grant freed an enslaved man, William, whom he had acquired from his father-in-law. The decision created a row in Grant’s divided family, and he made it over the strident objections of his father-in-law and wife, who were ardent Democrats and supported slavery.
Grant’s life would dramatically change with the onset of war. Initially, failure seemed to follow him when Major General George B. McClellan rejected his efforts to be recommissioned as a captain in the US Army.2 The governor of Illinois appointed him as a military aide. Grant mustered regiments into the militia and was promoted to colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry Regiment. Under the command of Major General John Frémont, Grant’s star rose during battles at Fort Donelson and, later, at Shiloh and Vicksburg. Success on the battlefield led to more success and promotion. A genius in war, Grant consistently won battles and campaigns that had been rare in the Union Army during the early years of the conflict. Grant’s offensives were not intended to occupy large swaths of Southern territory but instead aimed to destroy the South’s armies, the Confederacy’s infrastructure, and its ability to wage war.
Once he was appointed overall commander, whether Grant had enough time to influence the looming presidential election via Union victories was in question. Both sides were exhausted from war—the South, like any insurgency, merely needed to survive to outlast the North. Despite its overwhelming troop advantages, the North, like the British nearly a hundred years earlier, never had enough troops to take and hold large amounts of ground and pacify a hostile Southern population. Plus, involvement and aid from France or Britain remained a possibility for the Confederacy. These great powers saw value in a divided United States, hindering its ability to emerge as a rival. Lee, for his part, would fight Grant’s strength (far more significant numbers of men and materiel) in a conventional manner—unlike Washington, who changed strategy against the British based on circumstances. Numbers were not Lee’s strength; he rarely had superiority in numbers. At the same time, he saw the value of covert operations, but he often viewed them as undisciplined and ungentlemanly.
Despite Lee’s bias, Southern guerrillas and Rangers continued to develop an asymmetric form of warfare that favored their smaller forces, tying up large numbers of Union troops as they ambushed their lines of communication. Other Confederate leaders understood that this form of warfare had the potential to prolong the war significantly and enhance the survivability of the South, perhaps making possible a favorable Southern political solution. Political will became paramount to continuing the war. Both sides were locked in a desperate contest of will, a race involving an evolving form of special operations and unconventional warfare that would play a crucial role in determining the course of the war.