General Grant

[sararichards_23]

why is General Grant your favorite?

[8thvacav]

He's not.....lol

[sararichards_23]

oh yea thnks that don't help

[sgtcsa]

8thcav,
I don't believe I've told you, but I must say, that you've picked a good unit for you to represent. I think that you said you had family in Virginia, or at least fought with a Va. unit, is this right? Anyway, it's rather nice to see a Northerner who looks upon the South with such ferver as you do. Kinda' makes me feel at home. Anyway, I found it rather humorous that someone should ask you why Gen Grant was your favorite General. That's got to be a joke........................right? Anyway, I liked your answer.........simple, direct, and to the point.

regards,
SgtCSA

I like Grant as I think his prowess as a soldier was only surpassed by his ability as president.

[johan_steele]

Ms Richards, my apologies for the lack of serious replies to your query. They fail to do justice to the board.

Grant was a far better General than he was a President, after all he made Bobbi Lee surrender. As a President he has been underrated. Stephen Ambrose does a decent job on him in his To America. I think at the heart of things he was a good man, warts and all.

I wouldn't call him a favorite Civil War General or favorite President of mine but as Generals go he was certainly one of the best in the War. His strategic thinking was something the Lee & the CS failed to cope w/. It was after all his Vicksburg campaign that broke the back of the CS... probably the reason Aphillbilly loves him so. He had problems like any other man, but he rose above them.

He had mixed relations w/ his subordinate officers, most who showed noted competance he advanced and championed, but for those who crossed him he neither supported nor really appreciated when they excelled. He wasn't really a great leader of men, he lacked Lee's or McClellan's magnetism. Grant never inspired nor encouraged his men to cheer him as they passed, he would rather they save their breath for the march. In his own way he loved his men, he didn't shout it he didn't care for the pomp and show or spit and polish parades; he was a fighting man. Instead he endeared himself to his men by ensuring they had the supplies they needed, to uphold their rights when captured.

His willingness to incur heavy casualties in order to grind down Leewas both a weakness and a strength in his leadership. Grant would readily admit that he was not a perfect general nor was he a perfect person.

His strengths as a General derived from his strength of character, his battlefield results that were so central to Union victory mark him as the greatest General of the Union Army and one of the Great Generals of US military history.

For further reading on him I might suggest: Cattons Grant Moves South & Grant Takes Command, Geoffrey Perret Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity and of coarse his personal memoirs.

[bill_torrens]

Shane,

"Bobbi Lee"? The Army of Northern Virginia was commanded by a woman? Did the people who called him "Granny Lee" have inside information?

I take the view that Grant was a decent man, and I acknowledge that his Vicksburg campaign was a masterpiece. But overall I believe that his greatest strength as an army commander (and I swear I'm not being facetious) was his lack of imagination.

Bill

[yankeewoman]

bill,

Bulldogs have very little imagination; they just hang on.

I liked Grant as commander of the Union Army. He was focused, not ruthless; he saw what had to be done to win. He knew there was a price to be paid.

For southern generals, I would take Joe Johnston over anyone, including Jackson. Lee fought well, but I feel that he gets more credit than what is deserved. He was an excellent defensive general, but had trouble with his offensive skills (early in the war in the Western theater and later at Antietam and Gettysburg).

[bill_torrens]

Bulldogs have very little imagination; they just hang on.

Well, precisely.

You make my point (or one of my points) for me. Saying that someone lacks imagination is generally taken as a criticism, or even a term of abuse. But there are many walks of life, and many situations, where a fertile imagination is a positive handicap. For me it is the most crucial of Grant's characteristics.

[johan_steele]

Bil my apologies for my fat fingers, Y should replace the I... hehehe I'm a product of the US education sys. I wasd a kolage studant, it taked me four yars to larn to type this way.