The war effort had sputtered in Virginia for three years until President Abraham Lincoln appointed General U. S. Grant as General-in-Chief of all Union armies. By maintaining his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Grant established an uneasy relationship with the army's commander, Gen. George Meade, the victor of Gettysburg. How these men worked together to bring Robert E. Lee to surrender is covered in this volume. The relationship began cordially with Grant initially promising to only provide broad strategic directions to Meade. The latter would then direct his army as he desired. However, as the war churned on and Grant believed Meade's army was underachieving, he took a progressively stronger role in its activities.

How these two strong-willed military leaders worked together to achieve a common goal was not easy. The thin-skinned Meade constantly worried about losing his job and railed against any hint of disrespect by the press, politicians, or the general public. Grant worried less about image and concentrated on ending the war.

Using a wealth of first-person accounts and maps, this book covers the seminal campaigns of 1864-65 (including the Overland, Petersburg, and Appomattox Campaigns) to help explain the complex and evolving relationship between the two men.