U.S Grant, on the other hand, accumulated numerous demerits and finished in the bottom third of his class. And within six weeks of launching his Overland Campaign, he had Lee under siege in Petersburg, after which Lee was simply delaying the inevitable.
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Not just Grant, but a lot of top officers didn’t do that well at West Point.
And to be fair, Grant had a lot more resources than Lee at that point of the war.
OTOH, at the start of the war, Grant was a practical nobody working as a clerk in his father’s store.
I’ve always thought Lee’s reputation was very fortunate in his selection of opposing generals. I can’t remember the exact quote, but I think Lee knew the game was up when Grant didn’t retreat after The Wilderness.