Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 77

Grant waged his bloody Overland Campaign in 1864.

This is often characterized as a war of attrition, given high Union losses at battles such as the Battle of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor.

Even though they had the advantage of fighting on the defensive, the Confederate forces had " almost as high a percentage of casualties as the Union forces ".

The high casualty figures of the Union alarmed the North ; Grant had lost a third of his army, and Lincoln asked what Grant's plans were, to which the general replied, " I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.