General Grant having by his effective campaign won the confidence of the people, President Lincoln in 1864 made him lieutenant-general, thus placing him in command of all the Northern forces. In presenting the new commission, Lincoln addressed General Grant in these words: "As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you." General Grant made answer: "I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving upon me; and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." Early in May, 1864, Grant entered upon his final campaign in Virginia, and while he marched with his army "On to Richmond," General Sherman, in Georgia, pushed with his army "On to Atlanta" and "On to the sea." Both generals were able, and both had able opponents. Grant crossed the Rapidan and entered the Wilderness, where Lee's army contested every foot of his advance. In the terrible fighting that followed Grant's losses were severe, but, with "bull-dog grit," to use Lincoln's phrase, he pressed on, writing to the President his stubborn resolve, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." It did take all summer and more, for Grant found it impossible to capture Richmond by attacking it from the northern side. He therefore transferred his army across the James River, and attacked the city from the south; but at the end of the summer Lee still held out. Nor did Lee relinquish his position until April 2, 1865, when he was compelled to retreat toward the west. Grant pursued him closely for a week, during which Lee's troops suffered great privation, living mainly on parched corn and the young shoots of trees. Aware that the Southern cause was hopeless, the distinguished leader of the Confederate armies, after a most brilliant retreat, decided that the time had come to give up the struggle. While suffering from a severe sick headache, General Grant received a note from Lee saying that the latter was now willing to consider terms of surrender. It was a remarkable occasion when the two eminent generals met on that Sunday morning, in what is known as the McLean house, standing in the little village of Appomattox Court House. Grant writes in his "Personal Memoirs": "I was without a sword, as I usually was when on horseback on the field, and wore a soldier's blouse for a coat, with the shoulder-straps of my rank to indicate to the army who I was.... General Lee was dressed in a full uniform which was entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value--very likely the sword which had been presented by the State of Virginia.... In my rough travelling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high and of faultless form. [Illustration: THE MEETING OF GENERALS GRANT AND LEE AT APPOMATTOX.]