Three years of combat in the East had witnessed some of the war's most vicious fighting, tremendous bloodshed, and the making and breaking of numerous reputations. None of which had gained either side a decisive military advantage.
Since the war's beginning in 1861, each side had managed to gain temporary advantages over the other at various times. The Union Army of the Potomac under George McClellan had advanced to within a few miles of the Confederate capital at Richmond in the spring of 1862, while the Confederates under Robert E. Lee had twice taken the war into Union territory, in the fall of 1862 and again in the spring and early summer of 1863.
In each case however, the defender had turned the attacker back. The result was that by 1864 the 'line in the sand' that divided these two battered armies remained virtually unchanged from where it had been drawn in 1861. After three years, the war in the East was at a stalemate.
Although frustrated by his failure to destroy the Union army as had been his desire, General Lee and his men had, through this military stalemate, still managed to obtain an important advantage: They had advanced the cause of Confederate survival.
For the South, stalemate equaled survival, and as stated before, survival equaled victory. The longer the Confederacy could hold the Union at bay, the better their chances of achieving independence. And in the East, holding the Union at bay was exactly what they were doing. At a tremendous cost in lives and resources to be sure - but the job was being done. (Some believe the cost was too high, but that is for another day as well.)
If the war were to be viewed strictly in terms of the Eastern Theater, then as of 1864 the Confederacy was clearly on the road to victory. Had their efforts in the West managed to obtain results similar to those in the East, it is likely that the Confederacy would have emerged as the winner, and obtained their independence.
The primary reason this did not happen is due to the remarkably different pattern followed by the war in the Western Theater.
Western Theater: Union Success, and Offensive Victory
The Western Theater was the only major theater of the war in which one side obtained a permanent military advantage over the other. In the end, this would prove to be vital.
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