Grant Appointed Lieutenant-General--Takes Command in Virginia--Battles of the Wilderness--The Two Armies--Battle of Cedar Creek--Sheridan's Ride--He Turns Defeat Into Victory--Confederate Disasters on Land and Sea--Farragut at Mobile--Last Naval Battle of the War--Sherman Enters Atlanta--Lincoln's Re-election--Sherman's March to the Sea--Sherman Captures Savannah--Thomas Defeats Hood at Nashville--Fort Fisher Taken--Lee Appointed General-in-chief--Confederate Defeat at Five Forks--Lee's Surrender--Johnston's Surrender--End of the War--The South Prostrate--A Resistance Unparalleled in History--The Blots on the Confederacy--Cruel Treatment of Union Men and Prisoners--Murder of Abraham Lincoln--The South Since the War. The Confederacy having been dismantled in the Southwest--except in Texas, where secession simply awaited the result in other States--Virginia became the central battle-ground of the rebellion. There its chief energies were concentrated for the closing struggle, and there its greatest leader commanded. It was the part of wisdom, therefore, for the National Government to make its most successful general chief of all the National armies, with the understanding that he would personally direct operations in the most important field. Grant was appointed lieutenant-general in March, 1864, and he at once gave his attention to the Army of the Potomac, which Meade continued to command under his supervision. The Army of Northern Virginia was no longer the well-equipped host which had gained victory after victory in the earlier period of the war, but its spirit was undaunted, and Lee, as his resources diminished, displayed more signally than ever his remarkable military genius. The two great commanders were face to face, but not on the equal terms that in '62 or '63 would have presented a duel of giants. The Confederacy was falling, gradually, it is true, but the end was in sight. It was virtually confined to four States, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, and these but shells that only needed Sherman's march to the sea to prove how hollow they were. General Grant fought his way through the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and across the James River to Petersburg. His losses of men were enormous, but the strength of his army was maintained by a continuous supply of recruits from the North. Grant established his lines in front of Petersburg, and proceeded to reduce that place. He gave Lee no rest, and exhausted the Confederates with repeated surprises and attacks.