who were ulysses s grant and robert e lee?
General-in-Chief Commander
neutral
 Booth and a group of co @-@ conspirators originally plotted to kidnap Lincoln but later planned to kill him , Vice President Andrew Johnson , and Secretary of State William H. Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy 's cause . Although Robert E. Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier , Booth believed the American Civil War was not yet over because Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston 's army was still fighting the Union Army . 

contradiction
 The careers of both officers ascended considerably after that time . In Sherman 's case , this was in part because he developed close personal ties to Grant during the two years they served together in the West . During the long and complicated campaign against Vicksburg , one newspaper complained that the " army was being ruined in mud @-@ turtle expeditions , under the leadership of a drunkard [ Grant ] , whose confidential adviser [ Sherman ] was a lunatic . " 

neutral
 While McClellan 's 87 @,@ 000 @-@ man Army of the Potomac was moving to intercept Lee , two Union soldiers ( Corporal Barton W. Mitchell and First Sergeant John M. Bloss of the 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry ) discovered a mislaid copy of Lee 's detailed battle plans — Special Order 191 — wrapped around three cigars . The order indicated that Lee had divided his army and dispersed portions geographically ( to Harpers Ferry , West Virginia , and Hagerstown , Maryland ) , thus making each subject to isolation and defeat if McClellan could move quickly enough . McClellan waited about 18 hours before deciding to take advantage of this intelligence and reposition his forces , thus squandering an opportunity to defeat Lee decisively . 

contradiction
 In January 1865 , Lincoln , who had been re @-@ elected the previous November , sent Francis Blair as an emissary to Richmond , hoping to secure reunion without further bloodshed . Both sides agreed to a meeting at Fort Monroe , Virginia . Benjamin drafted vague instructions for the Southern delegation , led by Vice President Alexander Stephens , but Davis insisted on modifying them to refer to North and South as " two nations " . This was the point that scuttled the Hampton Roads Conference ; Lincoln would not consider the South a separate entity , insisting on union and emancipation . 

entailment
 The fighting of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War between Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant ’ s Army of the Potomac and Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia was reported considerably more often in the newspapers than the battles of the Western Theater . Reporting of the Eastern Theater skirmishes largely dominated the newspapers as the Appomattox Campaign developed . 
