Important March 1864 General Order — Abraham Lincoln Appoints General Ulysses S. Grant to Command of the Armies of the United States — Promotes Generals William T. Sherman and James B. McPherson
Important March 1864 General Order — Abraham Lincoln Appoints General Ulysses S. Grant to Command of the Armies of the United States — Promotes Generals William T. Sherman and James B. McPherson
Item No. 6404202
This document—General Orders No. 98, dated March 12, 1864—would prove to be very consequential as the Civil War entered its final acts. In it, President Abraham Lincoln relieves Major General Henry W. Halleck as General-in-Chief and promotes Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant “to the command of the Armies of the United States” (the rank of lieutenant generally having just been revived by act of Congress). Grant, who had captured large rebel armies at Fort Donelson in 1862 and Vicksburg in 1863, and who had since relieved a besieged Union army in Chattanooga, now was summoned east to take command of all Union armies.
The order further states, “The Headquarters of the Army will be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant General Grant, in the field.” The phrase “in the field” would prove true. Grant’s plan called for several Union armies to coordinate simultaneous movements designed to corner Confederate armies in Virgina and Georgia, and he chose to personally supervise operations by attaching his headquarters to the Army of the Potomac.
In addition, the order assigned General Halleck “as Chief of Staff of the Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant General Commanding.” To fill the role Grant had just vacated in Chattanooga, “Major General W. T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, composed of the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas.”
Further, General James B. McPherson was promoted to command the Army of the Tennessee, which Sherman had commanded.
The order concludes:
In relieving Major General Halleck from duty as General-in-Cheif, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed.
The order was printed on paper measuring about 5” x 7 1/4”. It has four holes in the left margin for binding—this would have been done by the order’s recipient. Orders were bound together for reference.