"I don't believe in strategy in the popular understanding of the term," said Grant, very seriously, as he removed the cigar from his lips. "I use it to get as close as possible to the enemy with little loss." "And what then?" asked Meigs. "Then? 'Up, guards, and at them!'" answered Grant, with more fire than usual. His practice was an exemplification of his rule; but he believed that, after strategy had done its utmost, there was, in this war of the Rebellion, a deal of terrible fighting to be done. With this view Grant placed himself where he could direct the movements of the army of the Potomac. Long before he assumed his present office, he had studied the problem, and he was now prepared to act vigorously and in earnest. He purged the army of incompetent men, sternly banished all fancy work from its lines, and gathered himself up for the mighty struggle. Sheridan was called from the West, and placed in command of all his cavalry. Meade, the hero of Gettysburg, was retained in command of the army of the Potomac. Butler was sent to operate on the south side of the James. Sigel commanded the force in the Shenandoah Valley, which was to protect Washington from a rebel force approaching in that direction. More important than all, Sherman, at the head of the combined armies which Grant himself had commanded at Chattanooga, was to move on Atlanta. Grant had harmonized the various divisions of the army, so that they were no longer to pull "as in a balky team," but all together. Richmond was the objective point of the army of the Potomac, while Atlanta--of vast importance to the rebels as a railroad centre, and for its founderies, machine-shops, military magazines, and storehouses for supplies--was the point to which the army of the Mississippi was directed. Grant had planned both of these campaigns, and he had thoroughly impressed it upon his subordinates that there was to be no giving up when strategy failed, no turning back, and no conducting war on peace principles. It was the rebel armies which constituted the power of the Confederacy, and these were to be destroyed. When they were used up, strategic points would lose their value. Through the month of April the busy notes of preparation for the strife were heard; men and material were gathered together, and nothing was left undone which could add even its mite to the prospect of success. Though the plan of the campaign was kept a profound secret in the breasts of only a few, so that it might not, as often before, be carried to the rebel leaders, yet the people were not blind to the signs of the times. Great bodies of men, and vast supplies of provision and ammunition, were moved to the front, and it was certain that operations on a grand scale were about to be commenced.