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Subject: Greatest American General
dirtykraut    12/17/2007 7:46:04 PM
My pick: Robert E Lee. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, and with 1/3rd the population base and 1/4th the industrial base of the North and with a considerably smaller economy, he managed to fight the North for four years, often inflicting three times as many casualties as he incurred. This was something almost unheard of in war back then.

Other contenders in my choice were: Winnfield Scott, Creighton Abrams, Omar Bradly, George C Patton. I was a little iffy about putting Patton on this list, as he was a prima-donna who needed a load of supplies to accomplish his objectives.

Anyways, I know we've had Greatest general threads, which I agree is probably too difficult to guage. However, considering how short US history is, I think we can come to a general consensus on this.
 
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Show Only Poster Name and Title     Sort in Reverse Order Posted
RockyMTNClimber    Grant   12/17/2007 7:52:01 PM
 
He knew how to round up Lee and he did.
 
Check Six
 
Rocky
 
 
 
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Cato1    Rocky, DirtyKraut   12/18/2007 1:31:37 PM
You hit the nail on the head. Lee was the finest practitioner of 19th century manouver warfare the war produced. However, he had the poor luck of fighting the first practitioner of industrial warfare. I also believe, that Lee's tactical and operational acumen are somewhat overrated. DirtyKraut, I think that your question is still too broad. Best at what command echelon? Douglas MacArthur may have been the finest (and certainly most courageous) Brigadier General the U.S. Army has ever produced, but IMHO his perfomance at higher levels was severely lacking. I've always believed that the  best American commanders of the Second World War found themselves at the Corps level of command when the war ended. What would 3rd Army have looked like with J. Lawton Collins in command? Or Manton Eddy? I've always had a soft spot for Maurice Rose and Walton Walker(dealt with the NORKs, the CHICOM's and worst of all,Dugout Doug himself).

Cato
 
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Herald12345       12/18/2007 1:58:17 PM
Winfield Scott. CREF here for WHY.

Winfield Scott in the American Civil War.

Compared to him, Lee was a piker.

Herald

 
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WarNerd       12/18/2007 2:04:02 PM
I think the first thing that we need to agree on is a set of criteria on which to rate them, and a weighting system for the results.
 
Personnaly, for the Civil War period, I favor Sherman.  He was not the battlefield commander that Lee and Grant were, but his strategic understanding of the implications of industrial warfare probably did more to end the war then Grant's string of victories.
 
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dirtykraut       12/19/2007 8:56:14 PM
Cato, I'm going to take it a bit further and suggest that the best American generals throughout US history have been at the corps level. When I made this list I took into account versatility and tactical ability. Feel free to add some criteria as well.
 
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