ItwasLincoln’sfatetoseehispolicyonceagainatthemercyofhisCommandingGeneral。Thatwashissituationinthespringof1862wheneverythinghungonMcClellanwhofailedhim；againintheautumnoftheyearwhenMcClellansonarrowlysavedhim。Thespringof1864paralleled，inthisrespect，thatotherspringtwoyearsearlier。Tobesure，Lincoln’spositionwasnowmuchstronger；hehadagreatpersonalfollowingonwhichherelied。Butjusthowstrongitwashedidnotknow。Hewastakingagreatriskforcingapolicyhigh-handedindefianceofCongress，whereallhisbitterestenemieswereentrenched，glowering。IfhisGeneralfailedhimnow——
ThemanonwhomthishugeresponsibilityrestedwasGrant。
LincolnhadsummonedhimfromtheWestandplacedhimattheheadofallthearmiesoftheRepublic。AstoHalleckwhohadlongsinceprovedhimselfperfectlyuseless，hewasallowedtolapseintoobscurity。
GranthaspreservedinhisMemoirshisfirstconfidentialtalkwithLincoln：“HetoldmehedidnotwanttoknowwhatI
proposedtodo。ButhesubmittedaplanofcampaignofhisownthathewantedmetohearandthendoasIpleasedabout。HebroughtoutamapofVirginiaonwhichhehadevidentlymarkedeverypositionoccupiedbytheFederalandConfederatearmiesuptothattime。HepointedoutonthemaptwostreamswhichemptyintothePotomac，andsuggestedthatanarmymightbemovedonboatsandlandedbetweenthemouthsofthosestreams。