On this day, the Army of the Potomac embarks on the biggest
campaign of the Civil War and crosses the Rapidan River in
Virginia, precipitating an epic showdown that eventually decides
the war. In March 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of all
the Union forces and devised a plan to destroy the two major
remaining Confederate armies: Joseph Johnston's Army of the
Tennessee, which was guarding the approaches to Atlanta, and
Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Grant sent William T.
Sherman to take on Johnston, and then rode along with the Army
of the Potomac, which was still under the command of George
Meade, to confront Lee. On May 4, the Army of the Potomac moved
out of its winter encampments and crossed the Rapidan River to
the tangled woods of the Wilderness forest. Grant had with him
four corps and over 100,000 men. The plan was to move the
Federal troops quickly around Lee's left flank and advance
beyond the Wilderness before engaging the Confederates. But
logistics slowed the move, and the lon