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Date Posted: 08:57:38 10/31/05 Mon
Author: Sophist
Subject: Grant was the better general.
In reply to: Celebaelin 's message, "Lee" on 07:38:09 10/31/05 Mon

I don't see Lee getting much credit for Fredericksburg -- Burnside was a bad general. Hooker's plans at Chancellorsville were well constructed; Jackson took a huge risk and got lucky when O.O. Howard failed to follow Hooker's express order (and when others noticed Jackson's maneuver and did nothing). At Antietam, a competent general would have destroyed Lee's army. McClellan was not that general. Lee made disastrous choices at Gettysburg (helped along by his subordinates) and got hammered. When he did face a competent general, indeed a brilliant one, in Grant, he lost.

Lee's overall strategy was narrow in conception (defending VA alone) and poor in execution (using up resources he couldn't afford to waste). His tactical victories were more a result of incompetent opponents than his own brilliance.

This doesn't mean he was a bad general. He did certain things very well, among them finding and retaining outstanding subordinates like Longstreet and Jackson. He also took full advantage of interior lines. He was a good general but not a great one. The outstanding American general of the war was Grant.

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