“…The headquarters of the army will be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field.” — President Abraham Lincoln, March 10, 1864
On February 16, 1862, Grant won the largest battle of the war at Fort Donelson, capturing Simon Bolivar Buckner’s forces. Northern newspapers reported that the Confederates suffered 14,000 casualties, including about 12,000 prisoners of war taken by Grant. Although he was promoted to major general, for a brief time General Henry W. Halleck relieved Grant of his position, claiming he was drunk and negligent of his duties. A victor at Donelson, Grant had his army stripped from him until he requested an investigation into the matter. Early in the war, Halleck detested Grant and sought ways to remove him from authority, until Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered Halleck to produce evidence or drop the issue.
Grant completed all reports and informed Halleck of his trip away from headquarters to plan further movements into Tennessee, but a Southern sympathizer telegraph operator stole Halleck’s reports. Lincoln pressured Halleck to restore Grant to his position. Shortly afterward, at the Battle of Shiloh, Grant was surprised, and his forces were dangerously close to being pushed back into the Tennessee River. The offensive general endured two brutal days of fighting; while the Union defeated the Confederacy, it was a horrific battle. Both sides suffered 23,500 casualties, and Grant was blamed for being surprised—called an imbecile and a “drunkard” in the newspapers.
After casualty lists were published in Northern and Midwestern papers, Lincoln was pressured to remove Grant. Halleck personally took command of the Union forces in the field, placed Grant second in command, and slowly moved his armies toward Corinth, Mississippi. Left on the sidelines and ignored for his fighting advice, Grant asked for a leave of absence, which Halleck approved. While packing his belongings, General William Tecumseh Sherman, who had fought alongside Grant at Shiloh, inquired why he was leaving. Grant told his friend, “I am getting in the way,” unable to bear the shame cast upon him by Halleck.
Earlier in the war, Sherman was labeled unstable after suffering a mental breakdown, but Shiloh had given him a second chance. He told Grant the same would happen to him if he remained patient for another opportunity. Lincoln later ordered Halleck to Washington, D.C., to replace General George McClellan in overseeing the war effort, while keeping Grant in the field to oppose the Confederates in the West.
From 1862 to 1863, Grant was expected to capture the formidable Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Overlooking the Mississippi River, its fortifications assaulted Union shipping and hampered the war effort. For months, Grant tried various approaches to capture Vicksburg, but the terrain and river tributaries made it nearly impossible. Again, rumors spread that Grant was drinking and incompetent and should be dismissed. Lincoln did not know Grant personally, but said he was the only “friend” Grant had in the North.
Lincoln’s patience proved worthwhile. On April 16, Grant risked the entire Western war effort by floating men and supplies down the Mississippi River under the Vicksburg guns. Sherman, his closest friend, vehemently warned that the plan was too risky. Grant reasoned that capturing Vicksburg was only possible by moving below the guns and onto the same side of the river as the enemy. Within weeks, he divided and defeated two Confederate armies. On May 14, Grant’s forces captured Jackson, Mississippi, as his son Frederick rode his pony ahead of the advancing Union troops. Frederick later attended West Point and attained the rank of major general.
Lincoln believed Grant fought a new type of warfare—breaking away from his base and maintaining relentless pressure on Generals Joseph Johnston and John C. Pemberton. Both Confederate leaders failed to halt Grant’s advance, which pushed Pemberton back into Vicksburg’s fortifications. Johnston urged Pemberton to abandon the city and fight in the open, but Pemberton—born in Pennsylvania and married to a Virginian—refused to leave. His decision, controversial even to Jefferson Davis, effectively trapped his army in a siege. Sherman’s cavalry assaulted Johnston to prevent him from attacking Grant’s rear.
From May 25 to July 4, Grant surrounded the Confederates, starved them into submission, and pressured Pemberton to surrender. Writing to a friend, Lincoln praised Grant, saying, “His campaign from the beginning of this month up to the twenty-second day of it is one of the most brilliant in the world.” Grant captured 29,000 Southern soldiers, paroled most back to their towns, and demonstrated that the Confederacy’s defeat was inevitable. Lincoln later admitted, “When you turned northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong.”
By 1863, Lincoln ordered Grant to command a new military district spanning from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. Fearing Confederate advances after the disastrous Battle of Chickamauga, Lincoln sent reinforcements to ensure Grant could defend Chattanooga. Grant united elements of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Bragg, the Army of the Cumberland under General George Thomas, and the Army of the Tennessee under General William T. Sherman.
Soon, Grant reopened supply lines, brought in reinforcements, horses, and supplies, and drove the Confederates from Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain by November 25. Washington sought Grant’s advice on how to defeat General Robert E. Lee. He stressed the need for an army of at least 60,000 to operate in southern Virginia and North Carolina to destroy Confederate supplies.
Representative Elihu Washburne, who had championed Grant’s rise since 1861, urged Congress to promote him to lieutenant general, declaring that Grant “has fought more battles and won more victories than any man living.” Grant simply replied that “success over the enemy was what he craved above everything else.”
Grant’s promotion cemented his belief in total war against the Confederacy. At his promotion ceremony, many were struck by his modest appearance—he wore a private’s uniform with stars sewn on and knew only the song “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
When Grant arrived in Washington to meet Lincoln, he was greeted with the fanfare once reserved for McClellan. At the Willard Hotel, the clerk initially denied him a room—until learning he was General Grant. After a bath and meal with his son Frederick, Grant met Lincoln later that evening. The president was relieved to finally hand the war to a commander who would finish it.
Lincoln wrote a speech for Grant’s promotion ceremony, but Grant declined to use it, saying he would speak his own words. After years of frustration with hesitant generals, Lincoln was pleased to find one unafraid of Lee and determined to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. When invited to a play, Grant quipped he’d had enough of “show business.” He instead met with General George Meade, retaining him in command of the Army of the Potomac, and told him, “Wherever Lee moves, you shall follow.”
Within six months, Grant and Sherman executed their twin campaigns: Grant pressed Lee in Virginia, Sheridan conquered the Shenandoah Valley, Sherman captured Atlanta, and Lincoln won reelection over McClellan.