Two Generals You Never Knew – Lee and Grant

Georgia Sixth

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
Location
Texas
I wish to share this delightful talk by historian William C. Davis given at Gettysburg. He addresses a batch of myths about both General Lee and General Grant, citing the widespread acceptance of inaccurate ideas about both those men. He then compares the two, calling out ways he feels they were very similar, then cites how they were very different.

Two things he mentioned that really jarred me:
(1) Davis claims Lee ceased referring to himself as an American after 1865
(2) Lee and Grant did not think highly of each other's military and command ability

 
Davis has the (blame? distinction?) of being the writer who drew me into Civil War history to begin with, via his Duel Between the First Ironclads. I can't watch this video just yet, but I will as soon as I have an opportunity...
 
This is a great presentation -- especially the description of cheese :sick: William C. Davis is a fabulous speaker.
 
One has to read the opening pages of Grant's memoirs carefully. He did not like school. School is boring. He liked working and travel, which meant horses and wagons, in those days.
He loved going to the towns like Louisville and Cincinnati. He was one those guys that never worried about getting lost, because he was sure he would get it figured out. Moving to Louisiana or spending time in Mexico was exciting, except for the absence of his fiance.
He could read terrain and compare it to a map, and see how the terrain worked for operations.
It is not hard to see how he won within the US Army and against the Confederates.
Mr. Davis cuts through the balogna and gets to the heart of the matter. This guy Grant had all the advantages.
 
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Grant was teaching himself the skill of generalship. He had a supportive marriage, and much better health, than Lee.
Grant was fighting for free government and had the support Lincoln and a strong cabinet.
His section of the country could produce everything from iron rails, to canned milk, to horse forage, and get it to where it needed to be.
Grant has to be judged on not whether he won, he was going to win. But the campaign started in May 1864, and by November 1864, Sheridan had the Shennadoah under complete control; Sherman had strategic options in Georgia, and Lee could not move from Petersburg without the government having to flee. That was 6 months.
 
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