I think Ulysses S. Grant is vastly underrated as a man and as a general. I know people think this and that about his drinking habits, which I think have been exaggerated way out of line. The fact is, he never demanded more men or material from the war department, he took over an army that had a long history of retreating and losing. That army had no confidence in their fighting ability and Grant came in as a real outsider. He had so many disadvantages going into the 1864 campaign, now 100 years ago. But he met every test and rose to the occasion unlike I’ve ever seen in American history. He was a very tough yet very fair man and a great soldier. He’s not been given his due...Grant devised a strategy to end the war. He alone had the determination, foresight, and wisdom to do it. It was lucky that President Lincoln didn’t interfere or attempt to control Grant’s strategic line of thinking. Lincoln wisely left the war to Grant, at least in the concluding moves after he came east. Grant is very undervalued today, which is a shame, because he was one of the greatest American generals, if not the greatest.
Eisenhower's response to Richard Nixon when he said that Lee was the better general:
"I wouldn’t say that, Dick. In fact I think it’s not a very reasoned opinion. You forget that Grant captured three armies intact, moved and coordinated his forces in a way that baffles military logic yet succeeded and he concluded the war one year after being entrusted with that aim. I’d say that was one hell of a piece of soldiering extending over a period of four years, the same time we were in the last war.”
Quote which sums up Grant perfectly:
After the first day at Shiloh William Sherman found Grant smoking a cigar and trying to stay out of the rain. "Well, Grant," Sherman said, "We've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" "Yes," replied Grant, "Lick 'em tomorrow though."
And he did.
Good post. Thanks.
Few heroes stand up to close inspection.
Grant does. He was not great at everything he did except for being a general. He was one of the first to approach it as a technical problem to be solved. He outflanked Lee, cut off the southwest from the rest of the Confederacy, and allowed Sherman to do his thing.
Many other generals would have played politics, Grant just got the job done
Eisenhower sucked as a general and didn’t know what he was talking about in discussing Grant. He took over after the South had lost far too many men and the war of attrition was wearing them down. He took over after Gettysburg. He had huge advantages over Lee once he took over and frequently threw mens lives away.
And Shiloh? Grant should have been fired and court-martialed for his buffoonery, laziness and sheer dishonesty.
In my ever-so-humble opinion, Eisenhower himself was one of our greatest Generals, and Presidents. I vaguely remember Truman and definitely remember Ike.
“He is a butcher and is not fit to be at the head of an army. Yes, he generally manages to claim a victory, but such a victory! He loses two men to the enemy's one. He has no management, no regard for life.”Mary Todd Lincoln