Posted on 05/18/2018 9:39:06 AM PDT by Magnatron
Being underrated doesn’t make him the greatest if he’s tweaked in rating.
So?
Patton had the right instincts, including hating the Russians.
Duval did a better job of being Lee in “Gods & Generals”!
Duval was but no one has ever come close to capturing Lee on the screen. Lee was a big man for that time standing six feet tall. He was 54 when the war started. Why he is portrayed as a short old man has always puzzled me. He was also considered to be the most handsome man in the US Army. Portraits of him done before the war certainly show a very handsome man.
He captured three armies in the field and beat every general the Confederates sent against him. If that doesn't qualify for greatest then what does?
Imagine what he could have been had he not been such a sot.
So you're saying he beat all the Confederates while liquored up? What does that say about his opponents?
There are many factors involved in winning battles, not all of which necessarily involve talent, brilliance, skill or obviously even sobriety on the part of a given general. It may say something significant regarding Grant, or it may merely say that the north had superior supply lines.
Agree!
Grant was much shorter then Lee, that’s pointed out in one of Catton’s books.
Actually that’s mostly myth!
Read Catton’s books on Grant: “Captain Sam Grant, Grant Takes Command & Grant Moves South”.
No it’s not myth, he resigned his commission rather than face court martial due to being drunk on duty, he was disciplined numerous other times while stationed in California. He had a lifelong problem with alcohol. Let’s not get to misty-eyed idealizing the man, he had flaws, one major one being his drinking.
Does the same apply to Lee?
I have read everything that exists on Grant. Yes he had a problem in his early days - which includes the California time. I am aware of those actions but he didn’t go through the Civil War stone drunk ordering men to their deaths willy-nilly. People who say that seem to think that somehow that builds up Lee. I am not deifying Grant in any way, I am very much aware that was a flawed and complex man. He is still one of our Great Military Captains.
Heh. When I was a young skull full of mush dad told me US Grant is where the US got its name from once.
I have no need to build up Lee. Grant had a lifelong problem with alcohol, even Lincoln was aware but chose to dismiss it.
Grant was a terrible General with was a butcher with his men simply because he had more of them he could afford to sacrifice.
About Cold Harbor, he allowed hundreds of his men to die.
The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this lapse of judgment.
Not hundreds but thousands. The general history of Cold Harbor is the 7000 men died in the first 20 minutes. Many modern historians dispute this but there’s certainly contemporary reports to support the common wisdom. Yes, it was a bad call and Grant admitted it. Even in his memoirs he admitted this was his big regret of the the war - the last charge at Cold Harbor. But he only did it once whereas Lee made it repeatedly. And he certainly helped make up for it in the week that followed.
I am not a Martin Sheen fan at all but I thought he nailed Lee. I know that puts me in a small minority on FR. Even now when I read something and Lee is quoted, I hear Sheen’s voice saying the words as I read.
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