Grant Takes Command

This biography by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Bruce Catton covers Ulysses S. Grant's leadership during the final phase of the Civil War. The account begins in summer 1863, following Grant's victory at Vicksburg, when President Lincoln promoted him to head the Army of the Potomac. Though initially unknown to the Union's military leadership, Grant demonstrated strategic brilliance and determination throughout the war's final eighteen months. Grant's campaigns in Virginia—including the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg—proved decisive in weakening Confederate forces. In spring 1865, he secured Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, ending the conflict. Days later, Lincoln's assassination occurred; Grant had regarded Lincoln as "incontestably the greatest man I have ever known." Despite this tragedy, Grant's military achievements preserved the Union and the principles Lincoln championed. Catton presents Grant as an extraordinary military strategist whose battlefield leadership proved crucial to the Union's survival.