American Army Generals-Robert E. Lee Research Paper

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However, even Lee's most ardent apologists cannot ignore the very simple fact that Grant emerged the victor, Lee the loser in the great, final battle. 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.

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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 human beings wage war.

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