Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- 1 Introduction: The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Part I Major Battles and Campaigns
- 2 The Battles of Virginia, 1861
- 3 The Battles of Tennessee, 1862
- 4 The Battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861–1863
- 5 The Peninsula Campaign
- 6 The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864
- 7 The Second Bull Run Campaign
- 8 The Antietam Campaign
- 9 The Western Theater, 1862–1863
- 10 The Battle of Fredericksburg
- 11 The Chancellorsville Campaign
- 12 The Gettysburg Campaign
- 13 The Vicksburg Campaign
- 14 The Battles of Tennessee, 1863
- 15 The Overland Campaign
- 16 The Georgia Campaign
- 17 The Carolinas Campaign
- 18 The Tennessee Campaign, 1864
- 19 The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns
- Part II Places
- Index
- References
15 - The Overland Campaign
from Part I - Major Battles and Campaigns
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2019
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- 1 Introduction: The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Part I Major Battles and Campaigns
- 2 The Battles of Virginia, 1861
- 3 The Battles of Tennessee, 1862
- 4 The Battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861–1863
- 5 The Peninsula Campaign
- 6 The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864
- 7 The Second Bull Run Campaign
- 8 The Antietam Campaign
- 9 The Western Theater, 1862–1863
- 10 The Battle of Fredericksburg
- 11 The Chancellorsville Campaign
- 12 The Gettysburg Campaign
- 13 The Vicksburg Campaign
- 14 The Battles of Tennessee, 1863
- 15 The Overland Campaign
- 16 The Georgia Campaign
- 17 The Carolinas Campaign
- 18 The Tennessee Campaign, 1864
- 19 The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns
- Part II Places
- Index
- References
Summary
The year 1864 opened to a mixed military picture. In the American Civil War’s western theater, Union forces had won a string of victories, securing the Mississippi River and much of Tennessee. In the east, the Army of the Potomac, led by Major General George G. Meade, had rebuffed General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg but had achieved little of significance since then. Profound war weariness gripped the Northern populace. It was an election year, and President Abraham Lincoln rightfully questioned whether voters would give him a second term. Unless Federal armies won victories, the presidential race seemed destined to favor an opposition candidate willing to negotiate with the South, enabling the Rebels to achieve through political means the ends that had eluded them by force of arms.
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- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War , pp. 292 - 314Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019