March 9 - General Ulysses S. Grant is given command of all of
the armies of the United States by President Lincoln. President Lincoln appoints General Grant to
command all of the armies of the United States.
General William T. Sherman
takes over Grant's Army of the West.
May 4 - The Union Armies begin a massive coordinated campaign.
Grant and his 120,000 soldiers advance towards Richmond to engage
General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, which has been whittled down to
64,000 men. Thus begins a war of attrition (whoever is left
standing). Meanwhile, in the West, Sherman's troops advance
towards Atlanta to fight Joseph E. Johnston's Army of
Tennessee.
May 5-6 - Battle at the Wilderness.
May 8-12 - Battle at Spotsylvania.
June 1-3 - Battle at Cold Harbor: Grant's forces suffer a high
number of casualties during a raid on the Rebel fort.
June 15 - After Union forces fail to capture St-Petersburg,
and cut off the Confederate rail lines, Grant's troops begins a nine
month siege on Lee's army.
July 20 - General William T. Sherman's Army of the West fights
against
General John B. Hood's Rebels in Atlanta.
August 29 - George B. McClellan is nominated as Democratic
candidate. He is set to run against Republican incumbent Abraham Lincoln
in the upcoming presidential election.
September 2 - Sherman takes Atlanta. This victory by the
Army of the West plays a key role in Lincoln's campaign for re-election.
October 19 -
Cavalry General Philip H. Sheridan's Union forces defeat
Jubal Early's
troops in the Shenandoah Valley.
November 8 - Abraham Lincoln is re-elected President.
November 15 - Sherman continues his campaign against the
Rebels in Atlanta, destroying the city's warehouses and railroad
facilities, then with the approval of president Lincoln and General
Grant, he and his Army of the West undertake a March to the Sea.
December 15/16 - General George H. Thomas
and 55,000 Federals, which includes "Negro troops", defeat John B. Hood's
Confederate Army of Tennessee at Nashville.
December 21
- Sherman's forces leave nothing unscathed as they
continue their March through Georgia, he takes Savannah, which he then
offers to Lincoln as a "Christmas present".
