Ulysses S Grant is the Undisputed GOAT US General

Grant revolutionized modern warfare with total warfare, naval collaboration, modern siege and entrenchments. He was an early practitioner of amphibious warfare and promoted extensive collaboration with Farragut/Porter in the navy while in the West. Grant had a plan to put out the Confederacy, a strategic one, the only Union general up to that point to apply pressure to the Confederacy in the East and make that theater collapse. His victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson set the stage for the new age of amphibious warfare. His coordination with Admiral Foote’s naval flotilla led to the surrender of Fort Henry before Grant could even attack and later Fort Donelson through continuous bombardment into submission. He was the most stoic of all US generals, there is a story about Grant posing for a picture in Mathew Brady’s studio. An assistant accidently broke a skylight above his head and glass came raining down in shards that could have killed him. Grant supposedly looked up at the window and then back to the camera. That was it. It didn’t even jar him. Later in the war, there was a massive explosion on a steamship docked nearby caused by a group of confederate terrorists. Everyone hit the deck but Grant. He ran towards it..

Grant was tenacious, aggressive, and unrelenting. Once he set his sights on a target, Grant relentlessly pursued his objectives to the very end, often much further than his opponents were willing (or able) to go. But, contrary to what many neo-Confederates would say, I would argue that Grant was not a butcher, or one dimensional. Rather, Grant was dedicated, and would not turn back as did McClellan, Hooker, and Burnside. Further, Grant's battles like Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga prove that he was able to use maneuver to destroy his enemies. In Vicksburg he was pitted not only against the confederate army but also General McClernand who was also vying for a promotion. Grant landed his troops on the other side of the Mississippi with no supply line and no communications back to Halleck. The only wagons he brought with him were heavily loaded with munitions. Everything else was found by foraging and living off the land. When Grant landed his troops, he was quickly opposed by the armies of Pemberton and Johnston (Pemberton manned the garrison, while Johnston fought a dynamic defense). Johnstons forces began engaging Grant almost immediately. The Confederates sought a repeat of the 1862 campaign, where Grants rear areas were ravaged and he was forced to retreat. But Grant had cut his supply line to the Mississippi river, and so there was nothing to be ravaged that wasnt protected by a large army. Johnston lost a tremendous amount of time and energy by trying to cut Grants line of communication, and all the while Grant pushed forward towards Jackson, MS, defeating Confederate details as he went. The Confederates were pushed into Jackson and Johnston's army was smashed. Grant then turned on Pemberton, who had based himself out of Vicksburg and had harassed Grants flank the whole time. Grant hemmed Pemberton into the city, and laid a classic siege envelopment of the town which led it to fall on July 4 1863. Not only did Grant win a major series of battles and destroy two Confederate armies, but the capture of Vicksburg was a major strategic victory for the Federals. It closed all trans-Mississippi trade for the Confederacy, and freed up Union troops to push even deeper into the South. And it was done thanks to US Grant, who won a truly Napoleonic victory. In Chattanooga he was faced similar or worse odds than Rosecranz at Chickamauga. With union forces trapped/starved in Chattanooga surrounded by Braxton Bragg, he hurriedly assembled an assault force with Sherman, Thomas and Hooker working together. His concerted attack up the middle with Thomas to take Missionary Ridge and utterly shatter Bragg’s line was kind of similar to Pickett’s charge except actually well-calculated and successful.

For my money, Vicksburg is undeniable proof that Grant was a master of maneuver warfare, better than the level of Lee. But then there is the whole sticky business of the Overland Campaign, and the massive casualties sustained. But I would argue that the Overland Campaign was a whole different beast, a new and shockingly modern system of warfare which would be more comfortable in 1914, than in 1864. In this new system, both sides will suffer (and the Union will suffer more, it cannot be denied), but I will suggest that it was necessary, it was the best approach to the situation, it conceals an artful campaign of maneuver, and it has inspired American Military thinkers ever since. “Grant the butcher” actually lost less men than Lee, the real butcher. Throughout the Civil War Grant's armies incurred approximately 154,000 casualties, while having inflicted 191,000 casualties on his opposing Confederate armies. Compare that to Lee who had 209K casualties. After the retreat from Gettysburg, the Confederate army occupied positions on the south side of the Rappahannock River, while the Union camped on the North side with Meade unwilling to cross and attack the army of the Potomac head on. After several sideshows in the west , US Grant became only the 3rd general in US history to be given the rank of US army Lieutenant general (the other two being George Washington and Winnfield Scott). Now given overall command of Union forces. He took over the Army of the Potomac, and only May 4, 1864 he began crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan River. Lee had set up his base of operations on the other side of the Wilderness, a dense area of forest on the south side of the Rappahannock River. When Lee learned of Grant's movements, he immediately ordered an attack into the Wilderness. After several days of confused fighting, Lee was in definite possession of all the major avenues out of the Wilderness towards headed directly towards Richmond. Most Union Generals, once in this position, quickly abandoned the campaign and returned North in defeat (and it should be remembered that the Battle of Chancellorsville was fought on exactly the same ground). But Grant, while defeated tactically, did not accept the traditional strategic implications of that defeat. Where almost every other general would have called himself checked, Grant simply tried a new strategy. Instead of fighting on Lee's terms, Grant would simply continue applying pressure on Lee's exposed flanks. As such, Grant did something that no other Union general had ever done. He turned Lee's flank.

Throughout his tenure in the civil war he arguably went undefeated aside from Cold Harbor. Grant was the only general during the civil war who received the surrender of three Confederate armies. Grant and Sherman were one of the greatest one-two punches in the history of warfare and could have certainly defeated or at the least held their own with any other army in the world at that time. There is no other US general that can really match US Grant’s resume. He is truly the GOAT.