[Michael.SF.]

I think to really delve into an answer to that you would have to separate the role of Generals into two categories: Field Generals vs. Organizational Generals. My nominees would be:

Patton and Lee as Field Generals and Marshall and Ike as Organizational Generals

However, Lee filled the role of an organizational General during the early years of the CW. I am not sure which other Generals accomplished both tasks.

I would also scratch Sherman. The actions of his troops on the March to the Sea should have resulted in his Court Martial.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I'm not saying Sherman was a saint by any means, his name is still anathema in Georgia for what he did, but he was probably the foremost visionary when it came to the way warfare had evolved from the Napoleonic to modern era. His march to the sea is probably the first instance since Rome overran Carthage that we've seen what "Total War" is.

Patton and Lee as Field Generals and Marshall and Ike as Organizational Generals

Can't argue with that. Patton and Lee were masters on the battlefield, Ike and Marshall did their best work in anonymity while MacArthur and Patton got the headlines.

The best at both jobs? Omar Bradley, perhaps?

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

BTW: Bradley and Patton could, and often did, run circles around Ike when it came to operations in 1944-45. Patton was put on a leash by SHAEF, so Bradley, knowing he was planning an offensive, would instruct him to not "be able" to contact him for 48 hours. Then the 3rd Army would roll...

[archy]

I think to really delve into an answer to that you would have to separate the role of Generals into two categories: Field Generals vs. Organizational Generals.

A serious study of such leadership really requires three categories. Try as *Marshals,* those who led entire armies on multiple fronts, then your *Field Generals* leading multi-Corps and multi-divisional Armies, and finally simply *Generals* operating Divisions or Brigades- usually.

My nominees would be: Patton and Lee as Field Generals and Marshall and Ike as Organizational Generals

*Marshals*: George C. Marshall , Halder, Zhukov, F.M. Alexander Suvarov ,von Moltke, Alexander III, king of Macedon, Frederick II of Prussia

*Field Generals*: Patton, Lee, Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur , George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Gen. Sir Bernard Law Montgomery

*Generals, Brigade and Divisional*: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Patrick Cleburne, Stonewall Jackson, Scipio Africanus, George Henry Thomas, Zhuge Liang, MGen John E. Sloan, Gotthard Heinrici, LtGen. John [Iron Mike] O’Daniel

I would also scratch Sherman. The actions of his troops on the March to the Sea should have resulted in his Court Martial.

Sherman's bungled relief of Burnside at Knoxville takes him out of the running in any event. Ever wonder why there's no major stateside U.S. military base named Ft. Sherman? [Though there's one in Panama...]

Remember Napolean's dictum that a good commander may be forgiven being defeated should superior numbers or resources be thrown at him, but cannot ever suffer being surprised....

And too, it's a mark of a good leader if he sets an example for his troops by surviving the wars in which he's fought.