The Army of the Potomac was the major Union army in the eastern theater of the American Civil War, existing from 1861 to 1865. The army had a strength of 120,000 troops at the start of the Overland Campaign of 1864, and the army was commanded by Irvin McDowell in 1861, George B. McClellan in 1861-1862, Ambrose E. Burnside in 1862, Joseph Hooker in 1863, and George G. Meade from 1863 to 1865. From May 1864 to April 1865, Ulysses S. Grant commanded the army during its operations while Meade had formal command, and Grant led a masterful campaign that succeeded in outmaneuvering the Confederate Army and capturing Petersburg and Richmond at the end of the war. It would fight in famous battles such as the First Battle of Bull Run at the start of the war, the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, the Battle of Chancellorsville and Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the Overland Campaign in 1864, and the Battle of Petersburg in 1865.
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