End of the Line

The election of 1864 is the last chance for the Confederacy to somehow escape the closing jaws of the Union advance. If battlefield losses can turn northern voters against Lincoln, then perhaps there is a chance.

Lincoln himself privately doubts he will be re-elected. But when Atlanta finally falls to Sherman, Lincoln's re-election is assured. He wins in a landslide, capturing almost all of the military vote.

South of Virginia, Sherman's Union army is marching north virtually unopposed, to meet up with Grant and put the final stake in the heart of the Confederacy at Richmond. Token rebel opposition in the Carolinas is extinguished.
Sherman in the Carolinas, 1865 map

  Walls Closing In
After Lincoln's re-election, the outlook turns truly grim for the South. Union troops in South Carolina walk into the state capital unopposed, while the Rebels have already abandoned Charleston as indefensible. At this point, the Confederacy should probably surrender, as further resistance is pointless. Instead, it stubbornly fights on, with the full commitment of Lee.

Siege of Petersburg, 1865 map

  Lee Exhausted
Everything now depends upon Petersburg. Grant is gradually extending his lines around the city, with an army twice the size of Lee's, forcing the Confederates to extend their earthworks in response. The numbing struggle continues for nine months, gradually inching west, with a series of costly battles that leave both sides mauled. Grant loses one-third of his troops, while southern losses through action and desertion leave Lee with barely half his army, which was only half the size of Grant's to begin with.


Lee surrenders at Appomattox, 1865 map

  Run for the Mountains
Grant finally gets around the end of Lee's lines at Petersburg, threatening the vital supply connection to Richmond. The Confederate government packs up its remaining gold and evacuates Richmond by train. Lee pulls his entire army out of Petersburg that same night, beginning a desperate race towards the relative safety of mountains, to the west. He never gets there. He is trapped by fast-moving cavalry, and finally surrenders his starving army to Grant at Appomattox, which effectively ends the war.