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The war was always the Union's to lose, and according to one historian "once the timid McClellan, the clumsy Hooker and Burnsides, and the dilatory Meade had passed," from command of the Union Army, the Confederacy "found itself up against Ulysses S. Grant, and its ultimate destruction was only a matter of time. 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant was both fearless and tenacious, and was the first Union commander to match his tactics with his opportunities. Once engaged by this dour mastermind, Lee's army could do little against his bulldog grip.
" the influx of new men, including African-American forces after the Emancipation Proclamation (as chronicled in the film Glory) sealed the Confederacy's doom.
However, to call Grant 'dour' is to deny his brilliance -- although less apt to seek conflict in battle than Lee, when taking Vicksburg "Grant ferried men and supplies across the river. In a risky move he had learned from Winfield Scott in the Mexican War, Grant cut himself off from his supply lines except for ammunition and medical supplies. He battled his way to Vicksburg and attacked the city, but was unable to break the Confederate line around it. Still, he had his enemy completely surrounded. Grant ordered his men to dig in, and after a two-month siege, the starving Confederates surrendered.
" During Grant's Overland Campaign, he used Lee's fondness for attack against him. "When the two-day battle ended" on the thick forest known as the Wilderness "Grant had lost almost 18,000 men -- 6,000 more than Lee had…to Grant, even the heavy losses in the Wilderness signified a victory. The Confederates had no reserves to replace the dead and wounded. But Grant could call on a huge supply of civilians to fill the Union armies.
Even when defeated, Grant used his superior manpower against Lee. He starved the Confederacy when he could not crush it, and pressed its weaker flanks with the might of other generals
. Grant worked well with General William Tecumseh Sherman, and the two men created a kind of 'total warfare' that Lee's tactical genius could not match
. Confederate apologists may romanticize Lee's character and grace in defeat, but it was Grant's approach that succeeded -- and Grant's tactics that have had a more lasting impact upon the way...
Lee." American Civil War. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://americancivilwar.com/south/lee.html
"Grant's greatest battles." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
Puffer, Raymond. "Damage them all you can; Robert E. Lee's army of northern
Virginia." Kliatt. FindArticles.com. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_2_38/ai_114326872/
"Ulysses S. Grant." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_ugrant.html
"Confederate General Robert E. Lee," American Civil War, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://americancivilwar.com/south/lee.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870," PBS, 2010
"Confederate General Robert E. Lee," American Civil War, 2010
"Ulysses S. Grant," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_ugrant.html
"Ulysses S. Grant," PBS, 2010
"Confederate General Robert E. Lee," American Civil War, 2010
"Ulysses S. Grant," PBS, 2010
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
Raymond Puffer, "Damage them all you can; Robert E. Lee's army of northern Virginia," Kliatt, FindArticles.com. Accessed November 19, 2010 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_2_38/ai_114326872/
Puffer, 2010.
"Grant's greatest battles," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
"Grant's greatest battles," PBS, 2010
"Grant's greatest battles," PBS, 2010.
"Ulysses S. Grant," PBS, 2001.
"Grant's greatest battles," PBS, 2010.
Works Cited
"Confederate General Robert E. Lee." American Civil War. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://americancivilwar.com/south/lee.html
"Grant's greatest battles." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
Puffer, Raymond. "Damage them all you can; Robert E. Lee's army of northern
Virginia." Kliatt. FindArticles.com. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_2_38/ai_114326872/
"Ulysses S. Grant." PBS. Accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_ugrant.html
"Confederate General Robert E. Lee," American Civil War, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://americancivilwar.com/south/lee.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
"Ulysses S. Grant," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_ugrant.html
"People & Events: General Robert E. Lee, 1807-1870," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/p_lee.html
Raymond Puffer, "Damage them all you can; Robert E. Lee's army of northern Virginia," Kliatt, FindArticles.com. Accessed November 19, 2010 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_2_38/ai_114326872/
"Grant's greatest battles," PBS, accessed November 19, 2010 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
Despite over 23,000 casualties of the nearly 100,000 engaged, both armies stubbornly held their ground as the sun set on the devastated landscape." This point is made time in again among the accounts of the battle, where historians laud General Lee's relentless fighting spirit even in the face of growing losses of precious men and materiel. For example, despite his enormous losses, General Lee continued to prosecute the battle in
Robert E. Lee was a significant figure in history and his actions impacted history in many ways. Lee is considered to be among other things, a great solider. He was also an ideal strategist and his decisions did lead to implications that can be seen today. Perhaps the most significant of his actions was choosing to support the Confederates. For example, had he decided to side with the North, the
Lee: The Last Years by Charles Bracelen Flood. Specifically, it will review and discuss the book. Flood's book looks at the final five years of Lee's life after the Civil War. It is a moving look at a man who gave so much to his people, and yet always felt that he had given so little. The author's thesis in this book is quite clear. He wants to show the
Robert Frost's adulthood was also riddled with loss. He often felt jealous and resentful that the quality of his poetry was slow to be recognized. Unable to support his family with his writing, for many years he had to work at various jobs, often as a teacher until his grandfather finally gave him land to live on and an allowance with on which to live (Meyers, p. 52). In addition,
In fact McClellan insists that notwithstanding all of Grant's capabilities and resources, Grant was not able to maneuver successfully against Lee until "Lee's field transportation gave out" (Hagerman, 66). Hagerman makes many assertions about the Civil War's generals that a reader of his book cannot immediately verify, but must take at face value. Deep in his book, for example, Hagerman claims that General Lee's cavalry battle at Yellow Tavern (May,
Winning the Civil War The American Civil War is considered the most costly of all the wars fought by this nation in terms of the human lives that were lost and the casualties which left young men mutilated, amputated, and barely able to carry on. Approximately 750,000 young men died by the war's end either from wounds inflicted in battle or from infection and lack of sanitation in hospitals.[footnoteRef:1] At the