Lee is overrated in my opinion. Stonewall Jackson and perhaps Nathan Bedford Forrest,Moliere wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:31 pmIke wasn't really a field commander as much as a politician and strategic director of the War. He was great at dealing with the personalities of all the competing Ally generals and politicians.Jaddison wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:20 pm Don't think Patton is the greatest American general, not even close. It's clear we needed heroes for PR purposes and the press gave them to the public. Patton was pretty flawed- suggest reading An Army at Dawn to get a a more detailed look at Patton in North Africa. He was also morally flawed- the affair with his niece by marriage was an ongoing thing. Patton's wife was on her way to divorce him when the accident happened. Eisenhower, George Marshall, US Grant and probably Winfield Scott would be in the pantheon as would George Washington. If general means flag officer you can throw in Thomas McDonaugh from 1812, Nimitz, Ernest J. King...reluctantly MacArthur and the man who personally saved us from disaster in Korea Oliver P. smith....al these men are on par with if not better than Patton. Other than MacArthur none sought personal glory and press like Patton did.
Washington was great because he understood that winning meant not facing the British and risking his entire army. As long as he could keep moving around and allow the Continentals to claim they had an army then they won the morale and PR battle against the British, giving time for the French to enter the war. And what made Washington greater was that twice he walked away from ultimate power.
If we're talking about field commanders then what about the Confederate generals like Lee? Grant won because he didn't care about losses. He knew it was a numbers game and the North had the numbers, finances, and infrastructure to grind the South down.
Eisenhower out generaled the Gernans. He, Marshall and King are the reason there was a D-Day in 1944. Any major screw ups an the invasion is pushed off for quite a while. I think I would throw Curtis LeMay into the mix of great generals as well.
Grant gets a bad rap but he really was a brilliant commander just look at what came before him- they all had the same resources.
Do you think Patton could have done what Washington did? From all I have read I doubt it.