NEW-YORK TIMES, March 18, 1864

• General Ulysses S. Grant
• President Abraham Lincoln

The top of the front page reports the appointment of Ulysses S. Grant to the command of the armies of the United States, including the general order issued by the President appointing Grant to the command of the armies, signed in type: Abraham Lincoln.
Hereafter is a message from Grant that begins: "I assume command of the armies of the United States...", signed in type: U. S. Grant. Also a report on Grant's departure for Washington to assume command, plus the names of the members of his staff.
Also on the front page: "Horrors of the Rebellion" "The Late Executions of North Carolina Unionists" "24 Loyal Southern Soldiers Hung at Kinston" "What it Costs a Southern Man to Fight for the Union" and more.
Eight pages, nice condition.

Background: The March 18, 1864 front page of The New York Times highlights a decisive turning point in the American Civil War, publishing President Abraham Lincoln’s official executive order assigning Ulysses S. Grant to supreme command of all Union forces. Following Grant’s crucial western victories at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, Congress had revived the prestigious rank of Lieutenant General—a title previously held only by George Washington—specifically for Grant, whom Lincoln formally commissioned in Washington on March 9. Printed directly on the front page and signed in type by Lincoln, General Orders No. 98 formally relieved Major General Henry W. Halleck as General-in-Chief (reassigning him to Chief of Staff) and placed Grant in operational control over every military theater. This front-page report documented the structural shift that unified the Union's disparate military operations into a single, coordinated strategic offensive, paving the way for Grant’s high-pressure Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee and the eventual end of the war thirteen months later.