The President answered that the people
wanted him to take Richmond, and asked if he could do it. Grant
said that he could if he had the soldiers, and the President
promised that these would be furnished him. Grant did not stay in
Washington to enjoy the new honors of his high rank, but at once
set about preparations for his task. It proved a hard one. More
than a year passed before it was ended, and all the losses in
battle of the three years that had gone before seemed small in
comparison with the terrible numbers of killed and wounded that
fell during these last months of the war. At first Grant had a
fear that the President might wish to control his plans, but this
was soon quieted; and his last lingering doubt on the subject
vanished when, as he was about to start on his final campaign,
Mr. Lincoln sent him a letter stating his satisfaction with all
he had done, and assuring him that in the coming campaign he
neither knew, for desired to know, the details of his plans. In
his reply Grant confessed the groundlessness of his fears, and
added, "Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the
least I can say is, the fault is not with you."
He made no complicated plan for the problem before him, but
proposed to solve it by plain, hard, persistent fighting. "Lee's
army will be your objective point," he instructed General Meade.
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