Just as Jefferson Davis had deprived his Eastern forces to send Longstreet to the West, so did the federal leaders divert all sorts of troops to Tennessee. General Joseph Hooker, who had seen little action since the Battle of Chancellorsville, was sent west with two divisions of the Army of the Potomac, and General William T. Sherman, who had recently captured Meridian, Mississippi, was ordered to march east. Most important was the choice of commanding general, however, and given his recent success at Vicksburg, Grant was the natural choice.

Some Union generals developed outsized egos and resented each new batch of orders. This was never the case with Grant: the moment he had his orders, he confirmed their arrival and said he would head to Tennessee. What he did not reveal, however, was that he had taken a bad fall from a horse, and that one leg was badly injured. It was a wounded, limping Grant who made his way to Tennessee.