Grant and Lee: A Study in Personality and Generalship

The author is a British military historian who approached the study of these two famous Civil War generals from an objective, neutral viewpoint. And the conclusions that he draws would be controversial indeed. For so long the standard view was that Lee was the outstanding general of the war and that Grant won mostly by superiority in numbers without regards to casualties. JFC Fuller presents a convincing argument to the contrary, including casualty figures, disproving this long held conclusion. He elevates Grant to the supreme position. Judge for yourself. If you dare.

Major General Fuller did a great job in weaving this comparative story of two of the best known U.S. Civil War generals. He discusses where each went wrong, and where each went right. He kept this book as unbiased as possible while looking at Grant and Lee through a military historian’s lens. I highly recommend this as a read.