re: On this date 155 years ago....

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Grant's strategy was an acceptance of Lee's superiority.

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Incorrect.

Grant actually underestimated Lee and admits it as much in his memoirs. After the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant realized it was time to change tactics and made his famous flanking march around Lee's army to cross the James River south of Richmond.

When you read Lee's dispatches you get the sense that the man he is fighting is unlike any commander he has faced up to that point in time. There were moments early in the campaign (particularly on May 6 and May 12) where Grant almost split Lee's army in two. The timely arrival of reinforcements saved Lee's army from disaster on both occasions.

Lee also had some near misses to deliver a decisive blow against Grant. Longstreet's counter-attack against Grant on May 6 may have dealt a major blow to the Army of the Potomac if Longstreet had not been seriously wounded by his own men. Ewell also had a shot to turn the flank of Grant's right flank but failed to take advantage of the opportunity until it was too late.

Lee also missed a golden opportunity at the North Anna River in late-May. Grant's army was divided into three separate pieces by flood waters and Lee a good chance at destroying one of its three parts before he got hit with a severe case of diarrhea. The Battle of North Anna River merely devolved into a sharp but short skirmish and not the grand set-piece battle Lee had hoped for.

Both Grant and Lee battled each other to a stalemate from May 5-June 5, 1864. There had been two draws (The Wilderness and the North Anna River), one Union victory (Spotsylvania Court House) and one Confederate victory (Cold Harbor). After Cold Harbor, Grant slipped around Lee and got Lee bogged down around Petersburg where Lee's army slowly collapsed over the course of nine brutal months of siege warfare.