Who was the Superior General,

Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee?

vs.
Directions: As a class, we want to discover who the superior general of the American Civil War was. Was it
Ulysses S. Grant of the Union, or Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy? In order to do this, we will be hosting a
fictional award show in which the award for Best Military General of the American Civil War is being
presented. Half of the class will be supporting General Grant, while the other half is supporting General Lee. As
a team, you must utilize the information provided to you to write and perform the following speeches. At the
end of all of the speeches, we will decide which team presented a more convincing nomination for their general.

1. Nomination speech: Why does your general deserve the award?
2. Dramatic Inspirational battle speech before a major victory for your general. Should be dramatic and
inspiring.
3. Speech against the other general: Why does that general deserve to NOT win the award.
4. Speech as the general himself. Why do you deserve to win?



Robert E. Lee Quotes Ulysses S. Grant Quotes
What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts
with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.
Robert E. Lee

I have been up to see the Congress and they do
not seem to be able to do anything except to eat
peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is
starving.
Robert E. Lee

In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible
has never failed to give me light and strength.
Robert E. Lee

It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we
should grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee

We must expect reverses, even defeats. They
are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to
call forth greater energies, and to prevent our
falling into greater disasters.
Robert E. Lee

We failed, but in the good providence of God
apparent failure often proves a blessing.
Robert E. Lee

We have fought this fight as long, and as well
as we know how. We have been defeated. For
us as a Christian people, there is now but one
course to pursue. We must accept the situation.
Robert E. Lee

The art of war is simple enough. Find out
where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as
you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and
keep moving on.
Ulysses S. Grant


In every battle there comes a time when both
sides consider themselves beaten, then he who
continues the attack wins.
Ulysses S. Grant


Although a soldier by profession, I have never
felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have
never advocated it, except as a means of peace.
Ulysses S. Grant


If you see the President, tell him from me that
whatever happens there will be no turning
back.
Ulysses S. Grant


I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes
all summer.
Ulysses S. Grant


No other terms than unconditional and
immediate surrender. I propose to move
immediately upon your works.
Ulysses S. Grant


Lees Major Victories Grants Major Victories
-Second Bull Run
-Fredericksburg
-Chancellorsville
-Fort Henry
-Fort Donnellson
-Shiloh
-Vicksburg
-Chattanooga
-Appomattox Court House.





Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S Grant was one of the very few who seemed to have the courage to accept that war was
murderous but had to be fought as such and not shied away from. Knowing this, he was ruthless and
determined. He played a war of attrition against Lee, knowing he had more men and spent their lives in order to
win. Overall, Union losses were 40%. Confederates lost 60%, though totals were higher for Union.

Grants 1862 triumphs at Fort Henry and Fort Donnellson in western Tennessee won him the nickname
Unconditional Surrender Grant, and placed him before the public eye. However, when a surprise attack by
Confederate forces at the Battle of Shiloh yielded devastating casualties during the first day's fighting,
President Abraham Lincoln received several demands for Grant's removal from command. Nevertheless,
Lincoln refused, stating, I cant spare this man. He fights. The following day, Grant's Army - bolstered by
troops under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell - fended off Confederate advances and ultimately won the day.

Grants hard-won victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in May of 1863 was a strategic
masterpiece. On May 1, 1863, Grant's army crossed the Mississippi River at the battle of Port Gibson. With
Confederate forces unclear of his intentions, Grant sent a portion of his army under Gen.William T. Sherman to
capture the state capital, Jackson, while setting his sights on Vicksburg with a view toward permanently closing
the Confederate supply base. When initial assaults on the city demonstrated the strength of Vicksburg's
defenses, the Union army was forced to lay siege to the city. On July 4, 1863, after 46 days of digging trenches
and lobbing hand grenades, Confederate general John Pemberton's 30,000-man army surrendered. Coupled
with the Northern victory at Gettysburg, the capture of Vicksburg marked the turning point in the war. It also
made Grant the premier commander in the Federal army. Later that same year, Grant was called upon to break
the stalemate at Chattanooga, further cementing his reputation as a capable and effective leader.

In March 1864, President Lincoln elevated Grant to the rank of lieutenant general, and named him
general-in-chief of the Armies of the United States. Making his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac,
Grant was determined to crush Robert E. Lee and his vaunted Army of Northern Virginia at any cost. Though
plagued by reticent subordinates, petty squabbles between generals and horrific casualties, the
Federal host bludgeoned Lee from the Rapidan River to the James in what one participant would later describe
as "unspoken, unspeakable history." The battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and the
subsequent siege of Petersburg effectively destroyed the rebel army, leading to the fall of Richmond and Lee's
surrender at Appomattox Court House. Though Grants forces had been depleted by more than half during the
last year of the war, it was Lee who surrendered in 1865.

As a general, Grant ensured his soldiers were self-sufficient and each soldier carried three days rations
and 50 rounds. He injected energy into his people, always encouraging fortitude. At Shiloh despite pain from an
injury he was a rock of strength and organized ammunition supplies, redeployed new troops and rode about the
front line plugging gaps, offering encouragement and trying to stop the fleeing troops. He also visited every
divisional commander in turn, and inspired them with his own determination.

He cared about people and liked to be at the front. He did not pursue Confederates at Shiloh as he felt his
men were too tired, for which he was reprimanded. He understood the psychology of defeat and after Vicksburg,
he allowed Confederates to go home if they promised not to bear arms again.
He was driven by idea of 'the Union' rather than being anti-slavery.
He cared about his troops and demonstrated this.
He inspired his people by clarity and action rather than oratory.
He had a strategic understanding of war (not just battle
He pushed his men and sacrificed them as he saw fit.
He was tenacious and determined.
He was composed and cool in battle.
Robert E. Lee

Confederate general Robert E. Lee is perhaps the most iconic and most widely respected of all Civil War
commanders. Though he opposed secession, he resigned from the U.S. Army to join the forces of his native
state, rose to command the largest Confederate army and ultimately was named general-in-chief of all
Confederate land forces. He repeatedly defeated larger Federal armies in Virginia, but his two invasions of
Northern soil were unsuccessful. In Ulysses S. Grant, he found an opponent who would not withdraw regardless
of setbacks and casualties, and Lees outnumbered forces were gradually reduced in number and forced into
defensive positions that did not allow him room to maneuver. When he surrendered the Army of Northern
Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, it meant the war was virtually over.

On May 31, 1962 Lee was asked to take full command of the Confederate army. Knowing he could not
win by retreating into defensive works, within three weeks Lee took the offensive, initiating the Seven Days
Battle, a series of fights that drove the Federals back down the peninsula. In the Seven Days Battle, Lee led a
series of skillful offensive operations that repelled the Union forces outside Richmond. In the final battle,
Malvern Hill, Lee threw his men in a series of costly charges against strong Union positions but failed to take
the hill. Perhaps Lee was looking to dispel his "Granny Lee" reputation; perhaps he was remembering that
frontal assaults had often worked in Mexico; perhaps he sensed victory was just one more charge away.
Whatever his reason, the Seven Days showed both his capacity for maneuver and surprise and his willingness to
sustain significant losses in pursuit of victory, traits that would arise again. Lee had driven the enemy away
from the gates of Richmond, however, and his star began to rise in the South.

Lee became one of those rare generals who thought strategically, broadly designed his tactics, and took
chances. He understood the generals of the North better than those generals understood themselves. He came up
with the strategy for Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall: Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign during the
spring of 1862, making Jackson the most celebrated officer in the Confederacy-until he was later eclipsed by
Lee. In late June, Lee's smaller force bluffed Major General George B. McClellan's army into withdrawing, and
two months later Lee outmaneuvered Major General John Pope and defeated the Army of Virginia at the
Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29-30. On September 17, with a force half the size of McClellan's Army
of the Potomac, Lee repulsed the Federals in a drawn battle at Antietam. After President Lincoln replaced
McClellan with Major General Ambrose Burnside, Lee bloodied the massive Union army on December 13 at
Fredericksburg.

Lee's men adored him. In victory and defeat, they witnessed his great strength of character, his high
sense of duty, and his humility and selflessness. Even Northerners accepted Lee as the greatest general of the
Civil War.

Napoleon said that "the personality of the general is indispensable, he is the head, he is the all of the
army." This was never truer than with Robert E. Lee and his army--the character of Lee was the source of the
indomitability of the Army of Northern Virginia from the time he took command of it in June 1862. Lee had
hardened and strengthened his character through a lifetime of almost Biblical self-denial. He had lived his life
strictly by devotion to the self-sacrificing virtues of duty and religion. There is thus an impenetrability to Lee's
personality.