The fall of Vicksburg severed the Con federacy and in October, as little opposition was expected in that quarter, Grant proceeded to Chattanooga where Rosecrans, after the Tullahoma campaign (q.v.), and the disastrous battle of Chickamauga (q.v.) 19-20 Sept. 1863, was beleaguered by the Confederates under Bragg, while shortly afterward Burnside was besieged by Longstreet at Knoxville. By a series of swift and dramatic battles, 23-25 No vember, Grant captured Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge (see CHATTANOOGA) and com pletely routed Bragg (see RINGGOLD GAP ) , then sending Sherman to Burnside's relief at Knox ville (See CUMBERLAND GAP; ROGERSVILLE ; CA M PBELL'S STATION; KNOXVILLE) . This vic tory opened the way for Sherman's Meridian expedition (q.v.), his capture of Atlanta and his subsequent "March to the Sea." At its next session Congress not only passed a vote of thanks to Grant and his army and ordered a gold medal to be struck in his honor, but also on 29 Feb. 1864 revived the grade of lieutenant general and on 2 March confirmed Lincoln's nomination of Grant to that position. A few days later Grant proceeded to Washington and assumed command of the armies of the United States, making his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and immediately formulating plans to defeat the army under Gen. R. E. Lee and capture Richmond.
Grant's first movements, though unsuccess ful in their main design, resulted in crippling the enemy but only at disheartening sacrifices of troops. He pursued a merciless policy of attrition and proposed to exhaust Lee's army, even though his gains were not commensurate with the unprecedented cost of these operations. In spite of repeated partial reverses and tre mendous losses in killed and wounded, he never relaxed his hold on Lee's army, but slowly and inexorably drove it back upon Petersburg and Richmond. Grant sent Sherman against John ston who was protecting Atlanta and ordered B. F. Butler with the Army of the James to threaten Richmond from the southeast, while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac under Gen. G. G. Meade, attacked Lee. On 4 May 1864, with an army approximately twice the size of Lee's, Grant crossed the Rapidan, and on 5-6 May fought the bloody battle of the Wilderness (q.v.), suffering far greater loss than he inflicted (see also TODD'S TAVERN). Sheridan was then sent with the cavalry on a raiding expedition toward Richmond (q.v.; see also Po Rim); and on 10-12 May, Grant engaged in the hardest and closest fighting of the war in the series of battles including the *Bloody Angle* at Spottsylvania Court House (q.v.). In spite of Hancock's success at the *Angle,* Grant failed in his main purpose to break through Lee's centre, roll up his flanks and thus destroy the fighting morale of his army. But Grant had said: °I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer,* and accordingly continued to hammer at Lee, though for some time the latter managed to fight the Union army to a standstill and to frustrate every effort to draw him from his almost im (see NORTH ANNA ; HAWES' HOP ; PA &I U NKEY AND TOTOPOTOMOY ) . By this time also Gen. Franz Sigel had been de feated at New Market (q.v.) and Butler had been bottled up at Bermuda Hundred (see DREWRY'S BLUFF; SWIFT CREEK) , wherefore Lee was safe from attack on that quarter and the Shenandoah Valley was open. On 3 June Grant tried to break through Lee's lines at Cold Harbor (q.v.) but the enormous loss of life in this unsuccessful assault convinced him that flanking movements were futile and too costly and that his only hope of capturing Richmond lay in taking Petersburg. Gen. J.
H. Wilson led two cavalry divisions around Petersburg, destroying large sections of the Weldon and Southside railroads *(q.v.) and Sheridan made a raid toward Trevilian (q.v.), but the midsummer heat prevented extended offensive operations(see JERUSALEM PLANK ROAD; DEEP BOTTOM; SAINT MARY'S CH URCH ). On 30 July occurred the explosion of the Pe tersburg mine and the disastrous and abortive assault of the Confederate works. During the next few weary months attention was centred on the operations in the Shenandoah Valley (q.v.) where Jubal A. Early came in contact with Sheridan and finally on 19 Oct. 1864 was defeated by him at Cedar Creek (q.v.) ; on Sher man's campaign against Hood, resulting in the capture of Atlanta on 2 September and of Savannah on 22 December (see MARCH TO THE SEA ) ; on Schofield's failure at Franklin (q.v.) 30 November, and on Thomas' overwhelming defeat of Hood at Nashville (q.v.) 15-16 December.
During this time Grant was constantly tightening his hold on Lee's lines (see PrrEas BURG ; DEEP BOTTOM; GLOBE TAVERN; REAM'S STATION ; FORT HARRISON ; POPLAR SPRING CHURCH; HATCH ER'S RUN ( Bovmro N ROAD) ; FAIR OAKS AND DARBYTOWN ROAD) and waiting for Sherman and Sheridan to cut off Lee's sources of supplies from the south and west, planning thereby to starve him out. On 25 Ian. 1865 Fort Fisher (q.v.) was captured.
Sherman advanced from Savannah and pierced the Carolinas (see SAVANNAH TO GOLDSBORO ; KINSTON ) , and in March, after the battle of Hatcher's Run (Dabney's Mill and Armstrong's Mill, q.v.), Grant began his great offensive against the Petersburg lines, first repulsing a sortie by Lee at Fort Stedman (q.v.) 25 March. On 31 March and 1 April, Sheridan won vic tories at Dinwiddie Court House, White Oak Road and Five Forks (qq.v.), wherefore on the night of 2-3 April, Lee abandoned his untenable position at Petersburg and ordered his troops to concentrate at Amelia Court House, south of Appomattox. The next day (3 April) Rich mond was evacuated and the Union forces oc cupied the city, Grant continuing to pursue thc Confederates, then in a desperate plight their supply trains had been sent to the wrong place. By the 8th Lee was almost surrounded (see FARMVILLE AND HIGH BRIDGE; SAILOR'S CREEK) and therefore on the 9th, realizing the utter hopelessness and futility of further resist ance, he surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Grant afterward stated that he "felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly and had suffered so much for a cause,* and therefore his terms of surrender were very generous, winning for him the respect and ad miration of the Southern people. Subsequently, when a question arose as to whether Lee could be prosecuted for treason, Grant promptly de clared that the terms of surrender included Lee and if such a course were pursued he would resign his commission and appeal to the country. Grant returned to Washington amid the rejoicing of the entire nation, soon to be plunged into despair by Lincoln's assassina tion. On 23-24 May he reviewed the army parade at Washington and then visited many Northern cities, receiving innumerable gifts from admiring citizens and honorary degrees from Harvard University and other institutions.