In May 1864, the new commander of all Union forces, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, ordered his armies to attack on all fronts. In Virginia, the object for Grant, as it had been for the eight generals who had preceded him was to take Richmond.

Grant’s new plan was slightly different from hispredecessors’; his main force of about 100,000 men under George G. Meade would march south 50 miles overland from Fredericksburg to attack the Confederate capital.