Yellow Tavern, Battle of – Encyclopedia Virginia
The newly appointed general-in-chief of Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant, decided to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac rather than in an office in Washington, D.C. Leaving George G. Meade in charge of the details, Grant sent the army not after Richmond, as his predecessors had done, but after Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. The resulting Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864 led to bloody battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. In spite of casualties in the tens of thousands, Grant continued to take the offensive. His cavalry commander, Phili...
Source: encyclopediavirginia.org