[aomagrat]

John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, David Farragut, Robley Evans, William Halsey, Chester Nimitz.

[swolf]

Hannibal, Chengis Khan & several of his staff most notably Subudai, Tamerlane, Gustavus Adolphus, John Churchill, Ulysses Grant, Douglas MacArthur, Chester Nimitz, Marshall Zhukov...

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

Lord Horatio Nelson

[atomicpossum]

Anyone who fought the French. Except the French.

[Guillermo]

Douglas MacArthur is right up there...

[narses]

Julius Ceaser, Erwin Rommel and George Patton.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Grant? Are you nuts? The only reason he beat Lee was that he had far more men who were much better equipped. If Lee and Grant had swapped sides, the South would not have lasted two years.

[Noachian]

I would have to say Patton, and MacArthur.

Both were outstanding generals with an insight for their "craft" that made them stand out from others.

[SiVisPacemParaBellum]

Here's quite a list:
http://www.pattonhq.com/militaryworks/leaderslist.html

[Renatus]

I'm a Union man. But I believe Stonewall Jackson was one
of the greatest generals that ever lived.

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

Good questions! There were many fine commanders in the history!

Julius Caesar
Ghengis Khan
Atilla the Hun
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Normandy Invasion)
George Washington (Valley Forge, etc.)
Rommel (Brilliant Tactician)
Zhukov (Brute Force in relatively undisciplined army)
"Bull" Halsey (Brillian Tactician)

Notice I did not question their idealogy but their skills in commanding a large army and the example of leadership.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Add to the list General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was undoubtely one of the finest generals in the civil war. It was he who came up with the saying, "Get there firstest, with the mostest."

[PhotoFixer3]

Muhammad didn't do to bad..

[wagglebee]

Robert E. Lee was a far better commander than Grant, he simply lacked the resources to defeat Grant. However, Lee made one serious blunder, and that was trying to invade the North and then trying it again a year later. Losing at Antietam was a huge blow to the South's morale and then it was followed by the defeat at Gettysburg. Had Lee simply let the North come to him, public opinion would have eventually won the war for the South. This would have basically been the same tactic that Washington had used in the Revolution.

Other commanders on your list should be: Julius Caeser, William the Conquerer, Wellington, John Paul Jones, Patton, Eisenhower (though he was a lousy president), MacArthur and Schwarzkopf.

[Alouette]

Patton. Eisenhower. Sherman.

[TexConfederate1861]

The Greatest American General was Robert E. Lee.

Even West Point teaches that!

US Grant was not that great of a General. He threw thousands of men into positions to win by sheer numbers. Not the making of a tactician.

[snowsislander]

John Singleton Mosby.

[Fiddlstix]

Too many to name. There have been many.
Among my all time favorites:
King Leonidas, Sam Huston, George Patton

[Phsstpok]

Clearly most of the best and brightest are lost to history. Here are a few that stand out from what history has found its way to me.

Sun Tzu
Sargon
Charles Martel
Nathan Bedford Forrest (no one said racists couldn't be great tacticians)
Patton

Anyone after Patton is too close to really examine with any objectivity.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

I have a Question:

To the best of your ability, this is because, I really don't know:

Lets say, could be any President, a Nuclear device is set off in the US, and the President does NOT reply with the equivalence (at least). Can the President be overruled by the Military? I was always curious.