The Last Backwards Step: Grant Takes Command
Potomac had, in a sense, two commanders: the man who turned back Lee in Gettysburg and the one who had taken full command because of the former's inability to follow up on that victory.
His final piece of work was to devise of plan of attack by coordinating movements with his newly appointed commander of western forces, William T. Sherman. And the plan was rather simple. Sherman would march his men from Tennessee to Georgia with his objective being the capture of Atlanta and the destruction of Johnston's army while Grant would ensure Meade's movement south against Lee. This was to be the first time in the entire War that all Union forces were on the move. It would be the first time in the history of the War that those movements, particularly in Virginia, would not be retreats toward safer ground. And it would eventually prove to be the first time in the War that Northern success would become imminent. With Grant at the helm, the North had taken its last backwards step.
Sources
Davis, K.C. (1996). Don't know much about the Civil War. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Jaynes, G. (1986). The killing ground: Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.
McPherson, J.M. (1992). Ordeal by fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
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