Grant's Overland Campaign was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George G. Meade, and other forces against Confederate General 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. President Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army.
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. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies. Grant and 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, because 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, where 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.
Pontoon bridge across the James River
This image show a 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.
Grant's Overland Campaign, May–June 1864
This map shows the Overland Campaign, from the Battle of the Wilderness to crossing the James River.