Grant was hardly surprised that Lee had abandoned Richmond; his only surprise was that he had held it for so long at such dear cost. In later years, he expounded on Lee’s error in holding on to Richmond: “After I crossed the James, the holding of Richmond was a mistake . . . Lee sacrificed his judgment as a soldier to his duty as a citizen and the leader of the South. I think Lee deserves honor for that, for if he had left Richmond when Sherman invaded Georgia, it would have given us another year of war.”
