Robert E. Lee

As long as I'm writing about Civil War related things, this would be a perfect time to write about the romanticized Robert E. Lee. Lee is held in very high esteem. He was a brilliant tactician, certainly, as his performance in key battles, particularly Chancellorsville, attests. But it has always seemed to me he was little different than the Union general he faced.

One of the reasons the war lasted as long as it did, in my opinion, is that no one really wanted to fight it. This was the downfall of most Union generals prior to Grant's rise. They had a superior army, but lacked the will to use it. They lacked a focussed strategy to gain victory. They led invasions of the South aimed at Richmond, but with no real clue of how to win the war. When they won battles, they never followed up. So the first three years consisted of a series of half hearted invasions by the Union, where they met fierce resistance from Lee, which prompted withdrawal. The end result: a long series of ultimately meaningless but bloody battles.

Grant's great contribution was a desire to win. Before he invaded in 1864, he formulated a grand strategy covering the full battlefield, from Virginia to the west, to the sea. When he met Lee in battle, he did not withdraw but continued prosecuting the war. Simply put, unlike his predecessors, he fought the war like a war, and fought it to its conclusion.

Now, what about Lee? The difference between Lee and, say, McClellan is that Lee was on the defense most of the time. Even Union generals, when defending Union territory, could fight well. They were just rarely in that position. Usually they were the reluctant invaders. So, in defense, Lee was a brilliant leader. But, like his counterparts in the Union, he had no real strategy on how to win the war, nor the heart to win it. He was content to simply defend Virginia and repulse the invaders, hoping that eventually they would give up. As an invader, he was little better than the Union incompetents he typically faced. Witness the numerous mistakes at Gettysburgh, which crippled his army.