On March 10, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to lieutenant general. He was given command of all Union troops. Grant planned a coordinated strategy to apply pressure on the Confederacy from many points. This was something President Abraham Lincoln had urged his generals to do from the beginning of the war. Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West. He moved his own headquarters to be with the Army of the Potomac (still commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade) in Virginia. Grant intended to maneuver Lee's army to a decisive battle. His secondary objective was to capture Richmond (the capital of the Confederacy). But Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. His coordinated strategy called for Grant and Meade to attack Lee from the north, while Major General Benjamin Butler drove toward Richmond from the southeast. Major General Franz Sigel was to control the Shenandoah Valley. Sherman was ordered to invade Georgia, break up the Confederate Army of Tennessee, and capture Atlanta. Brigadier Generals George Crook and William W. Averell were to operate against railroad supply lines in Tennessee and Virginia. Finally, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks was assigned the task of capturing Mobile, Alabama.