Grant's camp system and offensive defence

Grant did not make field entrenchment the centre of his camps, preferring troops to drill and practise shooting for offensive action. His camps still had artillery positions, active patrols, and sentries that could support a fighting withdrawal. Prepared Confederate positions would be costly to assault and difficult to bypass while Union supply depended on the rivers. One possible reading is that Grant's camp system could draw an aggressive commander such as Johnston into the open, though this remains an inference rather than a proven plan.