Comparison and Contrast Grant and Lee, Essay Example

General U. S. Grant (USA) and General R. E. Lee (CSA), both leaders of the Armies of their countries during the American Civil War, compare and contrast easily in terms of their fit for command and their military successes. Each had significant impact on future military strategy (entrenchments, maneuvers). Grant went on become the President of the United States while Lee went on to become the President of Washington (& Lee) College in Lexington, Virginia.

Lee was an aristocrat from Virginia. Grant was a rural kid from Illinois. Lee was second in his graduating class at West Point. Grant was fortunate just to graduate from West Point. Lee had a successful military career prior to the Civil War while Grant had resigned his commission only to pick it up again at the beginning of the conflict. Everything Lee did in life, except for his loss in the war, was successful. Except for the war, Grant did not find success at anything in his life, not even in the Presidency.

Lee was a brilliant soldier, especially when he was on the defensive. His efforts to engage the North through offensives met with dismal failure (Gates, 2003). The north overshadowed him in every respect except for experience from among its staff officers. Perhaps Lee’s worst decision was to invade Maryland. From there, he went on to Pennsylvania and met his Waterloo in the little town of Gettysburg. Lee came close to a political victory in his attempts to wear down his opposing forces.

Grant, an alcoholic, had an uncanny ability, in times of battle, to sustain heavy losses while continuing his attacks (Leddy, 2006). He grew weary from all of the political interventions that delayed his campaigns that took him from the west (Tennessee) to the east (Virginia). The war brought out the best in him as a tactical fighter and as a relentless puncher and counter puncher. He drew up and received Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House in April of 1865.

References

Gates, J. (2003). Robert E. Lee: Three views. Military Review, 83(1), 61-63.

Leddy, C. (2006). General Ulysses S. Grant: The soldier and the man. Civil War Times,  45(6).