View single post by BHR62
 Posted: Fri May 6th, 2011 07:18 pm
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BHR62
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Joined: Sun Dec 12th, 2010
Location: Indiana USA
Posts: 236
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Mana: 
 the who had the better soldiers and generals argument is hard to resolve. The Yanks had to fight on their opponents territory virtually the entire war. That makes a big difference. Even when Lee went north twice he got beat by McClellan and Meade. IMO, that was Lee's worst decisions. He wasted his manpower with little chance of victory. A reb was said to have said, "the Yanks shoot straighter up north." Yank generals: Grant, Sherman, Hancock, Sedgwick, Meade, Reynolds, Thomas were the equal or better than their counterparts on the Reb side. Resources favored the north but you still got to go out and use those resources wisely. Once Grant got into overall command the war was over. He like Lincoln was committed to winning the war at all costs. Grant put all armies on the offensive at the same time preventing the Rebs from transferring their troops between hotspots. I think strategically Grant was by far the best general of the war.