A month after Lincoln appointed Grant as Lieutenant General, William O. stoddard, Lincoln's personal assistant, came to the president's office and asked Lincoln what Grant was like.
"Well ... I simply don't know what to think of him. He is the quietest little guy you have ever seen. " Lincoln said. "People you know he won't make a fuss. I believe he had been in this room for two or three minutes before I knew he was here. It's everywhere. The only evidence you can prove where he is is that he screwed up! Where he is, things will move! "
The president told stoddard that, unlike other generals, Grant made no excuses to avoid an attack. "When Grant came to power, I was waiting to see what his favorite can't be. I take it for granted that we should ride cavalry, because we don't have enough horses to ride our existing people. There are about fifteen thousand people near Harper Ferry, but they have no horses to ride. That day, as I expected, Grant sent for me; But what he wants to know is whether to dissolve them or turn them into infantry. "
1864 After the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-6, Lincoln waited for the news of Grant. A reporter from the new york Tribune brought a report and a personal letter from General Grant. "He told me, Mr. President, I want to tell you that we have no way out." President Lincoln was very frustrated with the concessions or refusal of the former federal generals to advance. He kissed a reporter from the Tribune.
Unify the grand strategy and win the war.
Unlike Grant's predecessors, mcdowell, McClellan, Pope, burnside, Hook and Mead, Grant really understood that winning the war required a unified grand strategy.
1864, Lincoln appointed Grant as commander of the Union Army and found the key to victory. In order to cooperate with Lincoln's other strategic actions and weaken the Confederate resistance, Grant made a military plan, which finally left General Lee with no choice but to surrender. Although there was no written plan, Lincoln and Grant combined all parts of federal power in a complementary way, making it more painful for the Confederate people to continue the war than to rejoin the Union. This comprehensive strategy, including political, economic, diplomatic and military actions, finally led to the victory of North Korea.
Brutality and abundant resources alone are often not enough to achieve the expected results. By carefully planning a complete national strategy, Lincoln and his senior general Grant laid the foundation for winning the Civil War.
Before 1864, Lincoln and his commanders did not have a unified strategic goal. Although the Federation won a series of victories in the middle of 1863, including the occupation of Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga, the future of the Federation is still uncertain. The new year will include elections, and voters who are dissatisfied with the progress of the war will support an suihua government. In short, this bloody war has so far liberated only one state (Tennessee) and some small areas near waterways.
When Grant became Commander-in-Chief, the Union Army consisted of 19 different departments. The Potomac Army is an independent command without territorial restrictions. Grant has 17 different commanders working independently. He expressed concern about the political parties in the army and the lack of unity in the struggle against the enemy. Due to the lack of unity and coordination, the commanders of the Southern Alliance were able to transfer their inferior troops to the local area to better match the superior troops of the Northern Alliance. In Grant's view, this ability to dispatch troops reduced the impact of federal victory on the morale of the southern army, rather than on the southern people.
Grant changed the federal military strategy, from a single army and campaign to a comprehensive and consistent defeat of the Confederacy. He plans to launch a joint attack on all rebels and resources in the south. Grant also adjusted his strategy of hard struggle according to the social system in the south. He protected the private property of federalists and neutrals, while destroying public property, railways and factories, which contributed to the Confederate War. So Grant put forward a strategy, which is to launch a coordinated attack directly against the rebels, while the people indirectly support the rebels.