Summary

Chapter 18 focuses on Grant’s initial attacks against Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Grant’s eventual goal was to meet with Butler’s Army of the James for an attack on the Confederate capital at Richmond. Moving toward that goal, Grant crossed the Rapidan River on May 4th, 1864 and soon met Lee’s troops at the Battle of the Wilderness. Though they fought to a tie, Union troops were able to continue advancing, boosting their morale and that of the Northern people, who were disheartened by repeated Union retreats from Confederate territory. The two armies met again at Spotsylvania Courthouse, where the Northern army suffered heavy casualties but still made important strategic gains in killing a large number of Confederate officers. The South, owing to a much small population, did not have the ability to replace these men.

Chapter 19 begins by describing...