Lesson 4: Ending the War

Lesson Focus

With Ulysses S. Grant in command, the Union adopted a new, aggressive strategy of 'total war.' This lesson explores how this brutal approach finally brought the Civil War to a close, despite immense costs.

People to Know

Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, Abraham Lincoln

Learning Objectives

• Explain how General Grant's new strategy of 'total war' changed the Union's approach to defeating the Confederacy.
• Discuss the key issues and outcome of the 1864 presidential election, which took place as the war neared its end.

In March 1864, President Lincoln gave Ulysses S. Grant full command of the Union army to end the war.

Grant introduced a new strategy of "total war," which targeted not just the Confederate army but also the South's resources and civilian morale.

Instead of retreating after battles like the Wilderness, Grant constantly pushed forward, accepting heavy Union casualties because he knew the South could not replace its losses. This relentless pressure began to break the Confederacy.

To support Grant's campaign, General William T. Sherman was ordered to destroy the Confederate army in the west.

Starting in May 1864, Sherman marched his 100,000 troops through Georgia. After capturing and burning Atlanta, his army carved a 60-mile-wide path of destruction to the Atlantic coast.

Pay special attention to this: Sherman's March destroyed Southern infrastructure and food supplies, crippling its ability to continue the war and breaking the people's will to fight.

The ongoing war made the Election of 1864 highly uncertain for Lincoln.

To broaden his appeal, the Republican party became the Union party and chose a War Democrat, Andrew Johnson, as Lincoln's running mate. For much of the year, it seemed Lincoln would lose.

However, Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September 1864 boosted Northern morale and demonstrated that Grant's strategy was working, securing Lincoln's victory and a mandate to finish the war.

By March 1865, Lee's army was trapped, defending Richmond from Grant's siege while Sherman's army advanced from the south.

Realizing his situation was hopeless, Lee evacuated Richmond. Grant's army pursued and cut off the Confederates.

To prevent more bloodshed, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant offered generous terms, allowing soldiers to return home peacefully, setting a tone of reconciliation for the nation.

Just five days after Lee's surrender, the nation's joy turned to shock and grief.

On April 14, 1865, while attending a play, President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer.

Note that Lincoln's death was a profound tragedy for both the North and the South. It removed the one leader with the vision and charity to “bind up the nation’s wounds” and guide a peaceful reunion after the devastating war.

In 1864, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant to win the war, which led to a new strategy of "total war."

Grant relentlessly engaged Lee's forces in Virginia, while General William T. Sherman's destructive march through Georgia crippled the Confederacy's resources and morale.

These military successes secured Lincoln's reelection and ultimately forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox in April 1865, bringing the nation's deadliest conflict to a close.