hanna260
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2015
- Location
- Just Around the Riverbend
Alright we had a thread about ranking the Confederate generals, why not the Union? Can everyone name their top five Union generals (or officers)?
Here's mine. The list's a little bit unorthodox (but hey, should provoke discussion, right?
). The ratings are totally arbitrary and up to you (though if you feel like coming up with a ranking system, go for it!) But explaining would be great. 
1. Ulysses S. Grant- Should be self explanatory but the Man who saved the Union, the only man in the war to capture 3 armies, and the man who personally received Robert E. Lee's surrender. He fought successfully in both theaters of the war and made what I consider to be the war's most brilliant campaign- the Vicksburg campaign. He was an excellent strategist (who did not contrary to popular belief use the strategy of attrition in the Wilderness, he actually tried multiple times to out-maneuver Lee) but a bit of a ham-fisted tactician.
2. George Thomas. Listing him before Sherman might be a bit controversial but Thomas has a lot of defenders and fans, who will help me out The defeat he did at Nashville was marvelous, and he earned the name "Rock of Chickamauga for a reason." He was according to JMC Fuller, perhaps the best tactician on the Union side.
3. William Tecumseh Sherman- Uncle Billy, ravager of the South, and perhaps the war's most imaginative and innovative strategist, though a rather poor tactician. He is often credited (rather unfairly) for pioneering the tactics of hard war. He defeated both Joe Johnston and John Bell Hood (admittedly perhaps not the hardest thing to do), and was a reliable subordinate to Grant throughout the earlier battles of the Western theater.
4. George Meade- this may be one of the more controversial choices but he was the first to have a successful defeat of Lee's army at Gettysburg- where contrary to popular (Shaara's) opinion he did not merely stand and watch things happen but actually delivered a very good performance. He was hampered during the Overland Campaign a bit by a wonky command structure and made some mistakes, but was also a hard fighter before Gettysburg.
5. Samuel Curtis. Who is this you ask (or knowing this crowd, you don't)? The commander of the Trans-Mississippi. We had a thread on him. You can read about how great he was here. http://civilwartalk.com/threads/was-general-curtis-a-great-general.110463/ I'm going to go with he was a great general for his efforts in the Trans-Miss- which as someone in the thread said helped win the bloody war.
Honorable Mentions to William Rosecrans, Emory Upton, John Buford, John Reynolds, and Winfield Scott Hancock.
Here's mine. The list's a little bit unorthodox (but hey, should provoke discussion, right?
). The ratings are totally arbitrary and up to you (though if you feel like coming up with a ranking system, go for it!) But explaining would be great. 1. Ulysses S. Grant- Should be self explanatory but the Man who saved the Union, the only man in the war to capture 3 armies, and the man who personally received Robert E. Lee's surrender. He fought successfully in both theaters of the war and made what I consider to be the war's most brilliant campaign- the Vicksburg campaign. He was an excellent strategist (who did not contrary to popular belief use the strategy of attrition in the Wilderness, he actually tried multiple times to out-maneuver Lee) but a bit of a ham-fisted tactician.
2. George Thomas. Listing him before Sherman might be a bit controversial but Thomas has a lot of defenders and fans, who will help me out
The defeat he did at Nashville was marvelous, and he earned the name "Rock of Chickamauga for a reason." He was according to JMC Fuller, perhaps the best tactician on the Union side.3. William Tecumseh Sherman- Uncle Billy, ravager of the South, and perhaps the war's most imaginative and innovative strategist, though a rather poor tactician. He is often credited (rather unfairly) for pioneering the tactics of hard war. He defeated both Joe Johnston and John Bell Hood (admittedly perhaps not the hardest thing to do), and was a reliable subordinate to Grant throughout the earlier battles of the Western theater.
4. George Meade- this may be one of the more controversial choices but he was the first to have a successful defeat of Lee's army at Gettysburg- where contrary to popular (Shaara's) opinion he did not merely stand and watch things happen but actually delivered a very good performance. He was hampered during the Overland Campaign a bit by a wonky command structure and made some mistakes, but was also a hard fighter before Gettysburg.
5. Samuel Curtis. Who is this you ask (or knowing this crowd, you don't)? The commander of the Trans-Mississippi. We had a thread on him. You can read about how great he was here. http://civilwartalk.com/threads/was-general-curtis-a-great-general.110463/ I'm going to go with he was a great general for his efforts in the Trans-Miss- which as someone in the thread said helped win the bloody war.
Honorable Mentions to William Rosecrans, Emory Upton, John Buford, John Reynolds, and Winfield Scott Hancock.
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