![]() ![]() With high casualties, Lee drove McClellan away from Richmond during the Seven Days battles and then moved into central and Northern Virginia to sweep Pope’s army, undermined by McClellan, off the battlefield at Second Manassas (also known as Second Bull Run). Despite its disastrous start, Shiloh was a major strategic and tactical victory for Grant.Īfter assuming command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862, Lee achieved fame and success through victories over McClellan and Maj. On the first day of “Bloody Shiloh,” Grant saved his army, and on the second he daringly counterattacked and drove the enemy forces from the battlefield and back toward Corinth. His army was surprised at Shiloh in April 1862 by a massive attack by Rebel forces that had been gathered from around the Confederacy. The February 1862 capture of Forts Henry and Donelson was a major blow to the left flank of the Confederacy and ranks among the most significant actions of the Civil War.Īfter advancing his Army of the Tennessee deep into the Confederacy - to Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, in far southwestern Tennessee - Grant was so focused on moving on to capture Corinth, Miss., that he became careless. Within two weeks, he captured that better-defended fort and a 14,000-man army in a manner that earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. Grant, on his own initiative, then moved on to Fort Donelson. Within days, Grant and Navy Flag Officer Andrew Foote launched an upriver assault and quickly captured the fort. McClellan’s “slows” in the East and ordered all Union forces forward, Halleck authorized the attack on Fort Henry. Halleck that a joint Navy-Army force capture Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, Halleck told him such a campaign was none of his business. Nevertheless, Lee acted as though he were a Union general and attacked again and again as though his side had the burden of winning and also had an unlimited supply of soldiers.Īlthough Grant initially had difficulty obtaining a Civil War command, he soon achieved success. The Union, not the Confederacy, had the burden of winning the war, and the South, outnumbered about 4-to-1 in white men of fighting age, had a severe manpower shortage. Then it took him a mere month to save a Union army trapped in Chattanooga and drive the Rebels there back into Georgia - with a giant assist from Lee (more on that later).įinally, Grant was brought to the East to face Lee’s army, which he defeated within a year to effectively bring the war to a close.Īlthough Lee has been praised for his offensives against the Union Army of the Potomac, he was carrying out an aggressive strategy with aggressive tactics that were inconsistent with what should have been a Confederate grand defensive strategy. He drove the Confederates from the Mississippi Valley, the primary western theater of the war, through a series of brilliant battles and campaigns - from the early capture of Forts Henry and Donelson through the unparalleled Vicksburg campaign. Grant, a national general, was the most successful Union or Confederate general of the war.
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