...sissippi and captured Vicksburg, whose largest force within the campaign had only been 40,000, was there as commander; not as a general of a particular army, but as generalissimo of the armies of the United States . General Grant, perhaps because he did not wish to follow in the footsteps of McClellan, adopted the overland route to Richmond by way of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. He crosse...