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[[File:burnside.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|General Ambrose Burnside.]]

Lincoln understood the magnitude of the Emancipation Proclamation and the ensuing consequences. With the threat of their very social, financial, and cultural fabric coming to an end, the Confederacy would fight more vigorously. The Proclamation inflamed Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his fellow Southerners. Lincoln showed no sympathy toward the Confederate ''government'' when he stated, “Having made war on the Government, they were subject to the incidents and calamities of war.”<ref>Gideon Welles, "The History of Emancipation," ''The Galaxy,''14 (December, 1872), 842-843.</ref> The “calamities” of which he spoke, included the emancipation of slaves, who were to be taken into Northern ranks as "contrabands", and for the Union Army to “strike more vigorous blows.”<ref>Welles, 842-843.</ref> Lincoln realized that McClellan was not the man for the job and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside on November 7, 1862. After the debacle at Fredericksburg in December of that year, Lincoln replaced Burnside with “Fighting Joe” Hooker, an arrogant Irishman from Boston, who advocated governing the country through a military dictatorship. When Hooker failed at Chancellorsville, he was summarily replaced by George Meade on June 28 1863, two days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.<ref>Thomas Cutrer, Lecture,(Glendale, AZ, April 2011).</ref>

Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the war, produced greater than 51,000 dead and wounded soldiers over the course of the first three days of July, 1863. Lee opted to again retreat from Yankee soil, never to return. The following day, General Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of John C. Pemberton and his 30,000 troops at Vicksburg, Mississippi. This accomplishment by Grant secured the entire Mississippi Valley for the Union.<ref>Eric Foner, ''Give Me Liberty! An American History''(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), 512.</ref>

Grant’s success at Vicksburg made a lasting impression on the president while Meade’s success at Gettysburg was diminished by his refusal to pursue Lee while in retreat. Conversely, Grant was willing to take risks in order to win battles and destroy the enemy. This did not go unnoticed by Lincoln, who wanted "generals who will fight battles and win victories.”<ref>Shelby Foote, ''The Civil War: A Narrative,'' vol.2, (New York: Random House, 1963), 217</ref> Grant, unlike McClellan, was not afraid to fail, which resulted in his ability to make bold decisions upon which he courageously acted. This was the type of man Lincoln needed to lead his army but dared not replace Meade after his victory at Gettysburg. In a bold move, Abraham Lincoln reopened the position of Lieutenant General and bestowed the position upon Grant, who was then effectively in charge of all Union forces.

When the spring of 1864 arrived, Grant was General-in-Chief, Henry Halleck stepped down to the position of Chief-of-Staff, William T. Sherman commanded the Army of Chattanooga, and George Meade maintained command of the Army of the Potomac. Grant made plans for all of his armies to act in concert at the beginning of May. Once Grant took charge of all Federal troops, the president allowed him to work autonomously, without the breath of Washington upon his neck. After bestowing this elite command upon Grant, Lincoln said to him, “The particulars of your plan I neither know nor seek to know…I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon you.”<ref>Alfred H. Burne, ''Lee, Grant and Sherman: A Study in Leadership in the 1864-65 Campaign'' (1938;repr., Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000), 6.</ref> Lincoln was putting his complete faith in Grant’s abilities; something to which neither man was accustomed.