U.S. Grant Takes Command
150 years ago today, Ulysses S. Grant arrived in Washington after being named general-in-chief of all U.S. Armies.
General Ulysses S. Grant
By this time, the Civil War was in its fourth year and Grant was considered a hero in the North for having captured Confederate armies at Fort Donelson, Tennessee (1862) and Vicksburg, Mississippi (1863). Grant had also broken the Confederate siege of Chattanooga and drove that army out of Tennessee. Federal successes in the war’s Western Theater were largely due to Grant.
The Eastern Theater was a different matter. The Federal Army of the Potomac had been consistently thwarted in its efforts to destroy Robert E. Lee’s Confederates and capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. After winning a costly victory at Gettysburg the previous year, the Federals had stalled. Grant was promoted to change that.
The U.S. Congress passed a bill restoring the dormant U.S. Army rank of lieutenant general, or top general of all armies. Only two men had ever held such a rank before: Winfield Scott (by brevet only) and George Washington. The bill was sponsored by Elihu Washburne, a congressman representing Grant’s hometown of Galena, Illinois, and President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law with the clear intention of nominating Grant to take the new position. The Senate quickly confirmed Lincoln’s nomination, and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton summoned Grant to Washington to receive his new commission and assignment.
Grant arrived in Washington on March 8, 1864 unrecognized. But when he and his 14-year old son entered the Willard Hotel and registered as “U.S. Grant and son, Galena, Illinois,” word spread quickly that he was in town. Patrons in the dining room gave him three cheers when Grant and his son entered. After dinner, Grant proceeded to the weekly reception at the White House.
Grant was cheered by the reception attendees, and when he met Lincoln for the first time, the president personally greeted him, “Why, here is General Grant. Well, this is a great pleasure, I assure you!” In the East Room, Grant stood on a sofa for nearly an hour so that cheering guests could see him and shake his hand.
In a formal ceremony the next day, Lincoln presented Grant with his new commission and both men read brief prepared statements. Lincoln said, “as the country herein trusts you, so, under God it will sustain you…” Grant said, “With the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving upon me…”
Lincoln told Grant, “I wish to express my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I can understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know.” In Grant, Lincoln hoped he had finally found the commander who could destroy the Confederacy and win the war.
Grant soon established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac in northern Virginia. He would personally direct operations against Robert E. Lee and his legendary Confederates. Within two months, Grant and Lee would face off in the most horrible and destructive battles of the war.
