TFSmith121
Banned
Yep - and to be fair, at Cold Harbor, Grant was the
Yep - and to be fair, at Cold Harbor, Grant was the AG commander, Meade was the Army commander. Some responsibilities lay with both men.
Grant commanded forces - army or army group - that forced the surrender of three enemy armies in the field (Donelson, Vicksburg, and Appommatox), and substantially defeated two other armies in two separate battles (Shiloh, Chattanooga), either one of which presumably would have vaulted him into the ranks of great captains, especially given the realities on the battlefield during the course of the respective actions.
It is also worth pointing out that Grant commanded, and sucessfully, at almost every level from battalion and brigade commander in 1862 to army group and general-in-chief in 1864-65, with stops along the way at corps and army level; the only level he did not command in combat along the way was divisional commander, really, and Belmont sort of qualified, given the detached forces involved.
Lee never commanded at any level less than (roughly) divisional in West Virginia, and was jumped over corps to army in 1862 when he replaced Smith.
Jackson started out at the regimental and brigade level, went to division and then corps, and then acted as a detached "small" army commander and corps commander, alternately, beneath Lee.
He (Jackson) never came close to carrying out the responsibilities Grant did, and quite successfully, and much less over the time frames and distances Grant was responsible for commanding...
Grant was the great captain of the era, by a long shot.
Best,
I've also thought of Grant as a great general.... except at Cold Harbor.
Yep - and to be fair, at Cold Harbor, Grant was the AG commander, Meade was the Army commander. Some responsibilities lay with both men.
Grant commanded forces - army or army group - that forced the surrender of three enemy armies in the field (Donelson, Vicksburg, and Appommatox), and substantially defeated two other armies in two separate battles (Shiloh, Chattanooga), either one of which presumably would have vaulted him into the ranks of great captains, especially given the realities on the battlefield during the course of the respective actions.
It is also worth pointing out that Grant commanded, and sucessfully, at almost every level from battalion and brigade commander in 1862 to army group and general-in-chief in 1864-65, with stops along the way at corps and army level; the only level he did not command in combat along the way was divisional commander, really, and Belmont sort of qualified, given the detached forces involved.
Lee never commanded at any level less than (roughly) divisional in West Virginia, and was jumped over corps to army in 1862 when he replaced Smith.
Jackson started out at the regimental and brigade level, went to division and then corps, and then acted as a detached "small" army commander and corps commander, alternately, beneath Lee.
He (Jackson) never came close to carrying out the responsibilities Grant did, and quite successfully, and much less over the time frames and distances Grant was responsible for commanding...
Grant was the great captain of the era, by a long shot.
Best,
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