By March 1864, the Civil War had stretched on for nearly three tiring years, and President Lincoln was determined to end it.

That spring, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant as commander of all Union armies. Already the mastermind of several impressive victories in the Western Theater, Grant came east to assume command of the Army of the Potomac. His rise to the top signaled a dramatic change in the way the Union would carry out the rest of the war. Rather than trying to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia in one decisive battle, Grant planned to wear down the Confederacy by attacking it economically and psychologically as well as militarily. He waged total war on the South.

Total war was a controversial move. The plan was to destroy not only the Confederacy’s military, but also its ability to feed and supply its armies. To accomplish this goal, Union commanders marched through Southern territory destroying crops, livestock, railroads, factories, bridges, and any other economic resource that would help the Southern cause. In doing so, the Union army lived off the bounty of Southern lands, taking what it needed and destroying the rest.

One of the earliest experiments with total war took place in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, which was well known for the agriculture that supplied much of the food for the Confederacy. Grant sent General Philip Sheridan and his cavalry to drive the Confederates out of the valley. Sheridan gained control of the area by September 1864, then slowly retreated across the valley destroying crops, barns, and mills as he went. These scorched-earth tactics destroyed some of Virginia’s best farmland, leading to difficulty feeding both civilians and the army.

Far more famous were the actions of General William Sherman in November 1864.

Sherman was Grant’s most trusted general who was placed in charge of the western Army of Tennessee when Grant went east. Sherman marched deep into Georgia in 1864, capturing Atlanta just before the presidential election and giving Lincoln the good publicity he needed to win a second term.

After securing Atlanta, Sherman then took his force on a 300-mile march to the sea that ended with the capture of Savannah, Ga. This march of destruction was unlike anything the South had ever seen.

In a letter to a friend, Sherman boasted that “I am going into the very bowels of the Confederacy, and propose to leave a trail that will be recognized fifty years hence.” Indeed he did. Sherman’s troops fanned out into a 60-mile wide column and destroyed anything of military value along the way.

Not only did the devastation deprive the Confederate armies of supplies, it traumatized the citizens of the South. Many of them lost their will to fight, which is what Sherman counted on when he employed such tactics.

Southern wives wrote to their husbands with news that their crops and livestock had been destroyed and their slaves had escaped. Many Confederate soldiers deserted the army to return home and try to support their families. Sherman’s March to the Sea did much to damage Southern morale.

Sherman once wrote that “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war and not popularity seeking. If they want peace they and their relatives must stop the war.” While the tactics of Sheridan and Sherman do seem brutal, they were effective to that end. Most historians agree that these tactics shortened the war.

With the South in ruins, Grant concentrated on destroying the Army of Northern Virginia. He fought Lee several times in 1864 and early 1865, wearing out Lee’s underfed and undersupplied army. In these final days, many Confederate soldiers marched without shoes and others deserted by the thousands.

Unable to put up a strong fight, the Confederates abandoned the capital of Richmond to Grant, who captured it on April 3, 1865.

Less than a week later, Grant caught up with the remnants of Lee’s army at Appomattox Court House, Va. Unable to continue the fight, Lee capitulated to Grant on April 9, 1865.

An armistice between most other armies after Lee’s surrender marked the end of four horrible years of the Civil War.