Andy Núñez - Wilderness and Spotsylvania 1864: Grant versus Lee in the East

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Series editor Marcus Cowper

The American Civil War had been raging for three years by May of 1864. In the West, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant had achieved a string of victories from the fall of Vicksburg to the relief of Chattanooga. In the East, Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee had managed to keep the Union Army of the Potomac at bay, even making forays into Union territory. Lee had been stopped cold at Gettysburg, and retreated back to Virginia, the Army of the Potomac following along.

Union President Abraham Lincoln felt that there would be no ending the war unless Lees army was decisively defeated. He sent for Ulysses S. Grant to come eastward and the events began to come together for the main event of the Civil War. The two most aggressive and successful commanders on both sides would clash in the campaign that would decide the course of the war in the east.

Since mid-1861, Lincoln had run through a large string of commanders for the main eastern army, from Irvin McDowell, George B. McClellan, John Pope, McClellan again, Ambrose Burnside, Fighting Joe Hooker to George Meade. All of them let opportunities slip and lost sight of the real way to shut down the Confederacy: destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. Most saw capturing Richmond as the prize, but few made more than half-hearted attempts to do so. Most of them started with big plans, then got cold feet the closer they got to real battle, or were bewildered by Lees ability to throw away the tactics book and get away with it, like dividing his army at Chancellorsville to take down Joe Hooker.

Grant the bulldog. Former commander of the Army of the Potomac and potential presidential candidate George McClellan cautions President Abraham Lincoln about bringing Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to the East to defeat Robert E. Lee, but Lincoln was determined to win. (Library of Congress)

Meade faced down Lee at Gettysburg in July 1863, but instead of snapping at his heels, he slowly swept Lee along, as in Lincolns words, like an old woman shooing her geese across a creek. Lee was back in Virginia, rebuilding his army and surely preparing for another advance. Frustrated, Lincoln called for Grant.

Ulysses Simpson Grant (Commander of the Union Army). Appointed to the newly created rank of lieutenant-general, Ulysses S. Grant would soon find himself Commander in Chief of all Union armies and on a collision course with the Confederacys star general. Grant was not a favorite with many generals, but Lincoln saw in this man a kindred spirit. Grant served in the Mexican War, then resigned his captaincy and went into a series of failed business ventures. When the war started, he managed to get a position thanks to a political friend and his star slowly rose through Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Lincoln called Grant to Washington in early 1864 to take command. A man of action, he soon saw a clear strategy that would win the war, by pressing the Confederacy simultaneously on all fronts. With an overwhelming superiority in men and materiel, he was confident of victory.