Outside of the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, very little is written about the autumn of 1863. Events in Virginia during the fall of 1863 have almost nothing written about them. The autumn of 1863 was a critical time in Virginia because it set the stage for Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign of 1864 in Virginia. How did Grant come to be in Virginia? The commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, Major General George G. Meade, is the answer. Generals Grant and Meade both won victories in the summer of 1863. Meade defeated General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. Grant delivered Vicksburg, Mississippi, to President Abraham Lincoln. Grant attached himself to Meade’s command in the spring of 1864. What happened for Grant and Meade during the autumn of 1863 that led to Grant’s arrival in Virginia in the spring of 1864? What prompted Lincoln to promote…