Posted on 06/22/2018 11:46:12 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
God knows what you were reading. “Lee for Dummies”, maybe.
Good point. I thought the whole purpose of penetrating north into Pennsylvania was to draw the Union forces west and away from the Confederate capital of Richmond and the rest of Virginia. That’s it.
I would debate the issue with you but it is quite obvious that you are too ignorant and blockheaded.
Given the military technology of the times which made defense ascendant over offense. One could almost argue that Longstreet was the better general. Remember Longstreet wanted to park the Army of Northern Va on one of the those Pennsylvania ridge lines blocking the Union Army from Washington DC, make them attack! An opposite Picket's Charge!
I would eliminate almost every U.S. Civil War general from consideration as a great military leader. I say this because that war was fought using battlefield tactics that had already been proven costly and ineffective almost 100 years earlier in the American Revolution.
The Mexican elite wanted him to annex Mexico to the US, when Scott said no (Actually Polk wisely said no!) this elite then asked Scott to be the new dictator. Of course Scott said no to that also!
Napoleon made those tactics work, but by the 1840s Napoleonic tactics were obsolete. Of course all Civil War generals were taught to revere Napoleon.
“A great general, not really.”
Are you a great general? Plenty of actual great generals bear witness that Lee was a great general.
Winston Churchill, who knew a thing or two about history, labeled Lee the “noblest American”.
+1
Well, let's see.
On Gettysburg I've read Harry W. Phanz's three volume study on the battle, "Gettysburg" by Stephen Sears, "Gettysburg; A Testing of Courage" by Noah Andre Trudeau, "Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign" by Kent Masterson Brown, "One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863" by Wittternberg, Petruzzi, and Nugent. On Lee I've read Douglas Southall Freeman's biography of Lee as well as his "Lee's Lieutenants", "General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse" by Joseph Glatthaar, "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert Lee Through His Private Letters" by Elizabeth Brown Pryor, and "Robert E. Lee" by Noah Andre Trudeau. Never hear of "Lee for Dummies".
How about you?
Somehow America’s greatest general, Winfield Scott, didn’t make that list.
The South had a constitutional right and path to secede.
Lincoln chose the unconstitutional path.
I don’t bandy books with somebody who can’t spell “dog” right.
Thank you!
Close by is a small town with a Confederate statue.......
.....and the townsfolk would, no doubt, stand their ground to protect it.
This is our heritage too.....
General Lee was a gentleman and a warrior.
http://www.civilwarprofiles.com/dwight-d-eisenhower-in-defense-of-robert-e-lee/
August 9, 1960
Dear Dr. Scott:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War between the States the issue of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
That was half of it. He wanted to get away from Jefferson Davis, who talked about sending much of Lee's Army west to relieve Vicksburg. But the biggest part was to get out of Virginia and live off of the Union for a while. His Pennsylvania campaign was a huge hunt for supplies. His goal was to gather enough supplies for his army to see him through the winter. His commanders reported to Lee on a regular basis just how much they had accumulated.
I never understood how so many Southerners made that decision. Lee did not favor secession, and hoped that Virginia would not secede; but when they did, he decided he could not make war on Virginians. Why were so many Southerners loyal to their state over the Union, while the Northerners considered themselves Americans first?
It is the head to head Grant-Lee Overland Campaign I refer to whereupon Grant (as a butcher) simply drove his men in a battle of attrition at Lee - regardless of casualties - knowing Lee could ill afford major losses. Grant had almost twice the casualties of Lee at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania... and (basis some reports) 7,000 casualties in twenty minutes at Cold Harbor.
Nobody will say it. He wasn’t sexy, wasn’t well dressed, didn’t always succeed, got a lot of men killed. However, he understood war. He invented modern naval and land force coordination. He understood the enemy, and defeated the greatest tactical general of his time. Hated by the south, but he was the ultimate killer. He is my pick, because he won offensive campaigns in a time wherein entrenchment stagnated the battlefield.
Ulysses S Grant.
Aka Unconditional surrender Grant
Aka highest ranking military officer since George Washington.
I give honorable mention to many, Patton, Eisenhower, Lee, and Nathan Bedford Forest, and Curtis LeMay
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