Grant/Lee a Comparison and Contrast Essay

Ulysses S. yielding and Robert E. leeward are cardinal of the most in force(p) legions leaders in American history. These hands have survive symbolic of the two nations at conflict during the courteous War. Both had rattling different backgrounds and privateities that caused them to differ in their military leading and accomplishments. Even though habitual leeward would surrender his army to General countenance, leeward passim the course of the war proved himself to be a better military leader. The childhood of Robert Edward lee(prenominal) played a pivotal role in the way he would see the world as a man. Lee was born into an aristocratic family of Virginia with a deeply rooted American history. Richard atomic number 1 and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Robert E. Lees uncles, helped draft resolutions that would lead to the Declaration of Independence, two would peculiarity it1. Lees sky pilot, Henry Lighthorse Harry Lee III was a revolutionary war hero and superstar of Geo rge Washingtons most dependable fellow countrymen.In 1771, Washington, also from Virginia, wrote I know of no country that can produce a family all distinguished and apt(p) men, as our Lees.2 Lees mformer(a) and fuck off were upstanding influences in his life for very different reasons. Lees father would define everything Lee did non want to be. Lighthorse Harry lacked self- jibe and failed to return key care of the family. Ruined by failed financial ventures, Lees father would be sent to debtors prison. His mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee would inflame young Robert to dear God, to help oneself God and to serve his country. Lees rearing helped him to develop the highest standards of honor, self-denial, self-control and duty that would earn respect from some(prenominal) friends and enemies.3 Ulysses S. appointment came from a more humble elevation. Like Lee, apportion traces his note deep into American history in his memoirs. Grants ancestors colonized in Massachusetts in 1630.4 Grants father, Jesse R. Grant came from a broken family and was fostered by the parents of John brownness.5 The same John Brown that would attempt to start a slave rebellion by attack the United States armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859. Men on a lower floor the leadership of then Colonel Robert E. Lee ended that raid.6 Grant, was not born into the land owning aristocracy like Lee, his family was frontier men. Grant had derive up the hard wayNo man was born to everything, moreoer perhaps to a chance to show how far he could rise. feel was competition (Catton, para 5).7 Grants competitive upbringing would strain him the motivation to push forward and the demand results needed to obliterate Lee. Robert E Lee would carry the lessons he learned as a child with him to the Military Academy at West Point. While attending West Point, Lee was very studious and did not join 8other cadets for evenings at the local taverns. General Lee graduated second in his physical body at West Point and received no demerits for misconduct. This record has never been matched and will not likely ever be achieved again. By graduating with honors, Lee was assigned to the United States Army Corps of Engineers.The cartridge clip Lee dog-tired with the Army Corps of Engineers gave him valuable knowledge of different types of terrain and fortification constructions that would serve him well in the Civil War.9 The childhood of Ulysses S. Grant would also come to him at West Point. Grant was not interested in a military career he was more interested in agriculture.10 It was Grants father who requested his appointment to West Point.11 Grant verbalize in his memoirs, A military life had no charms for me, and I had not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I should be graduated, which I did not expect (Grant p19).12 Grant spent most of his time at West Point reading novels and avoiding books related to the course of studies (Grant pg 20).13 Unlike Lee, Grant would not e xcel at West Point. Grant graduated 21 out of 39 in his class, just to a lower place average.14 The Mexican American War would be both Lee and Grants first battle. Lee and Grant would both serve under General Winfield Scott, a man whom they both admired, during his campaign to Mexico City. General Scott sawing machine greatness in Lee and stated his success in Mexico was generally due to the skill, valor, and undaunted energy of Robert E. Lee.15 Scott was also heard commenting a few years later that Lee is the greatest military sensory faculty in America.16 Grant, only a first lieutenant, did not shoot for an opportunity to show much leadership. Grant did however serve with valor. At the Battle of Monterey, Grant would gain some respect among his peers by successfully carrying much needed ammunition to his regiment while under fire.17 During the Civil War, Lee and Grant would implement skills learned while under the ascendance of General Winfield Scott. In the spring of 1861 a s the nation leaned toward Civil War, both Grant and Lee would be forced to make very onerous decisions. Grant would only have to decide between being a patriot or a traitor. In a letter to Grants father he wrote There are but two parties now, Traitors & Patriots and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter. . . (Grant p 957)18 Lee was torn between a successful career in the United States Army, his cultism to the gist, an appointment as commander of the Union forces and the love he had for his family and homeland. In a letter to his sister, Lee wrote With all my reverence to the UnionI have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home.19 The decisions these two men make would send them on a collision course in one of the most costly wars the country has every waged. Throughout the Civil War, Robert E Lee would prove himself to be unmatched in leadership. When Lee took control of the Army of northern Virginia in June of 1862, the Union army was thundering at the city gates(Lee p150)20 of the Confederate capital of Richmond. In one-third months, Lee would achieve what his predecessor General Joseph E. Johnston could not. Lee defeated the trespassing(a) Union army and turned the war in favor of the South. It would reduce President Lincoln almost one year to find any competition for General Lee. That competition would be General Grant and the gigantic resources the North offered him. The vast resources and the advanced railroad system of the North would give Grant the advantage he needed over Lee.In a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Lee expressed his concern that all train brings recruits, and it is stated that every available regiment at the North is added to it(Lee p108)21 The Army of Northern Virginias lack of provisions were so greatI cannot see how we can operate with our present supplies (Lee, p 108).22 Before Lee ever met Grant on the battlefield he was trying to prepare for mu ltiple retreats that would allow him to resupply his army. Lee pleaded with Jefferson Davis that Every sudor should be made to supply the depots at Richmond and at other points (Lee, p 108). 23 Grant carelessly used his resources to attack Lee and after thirty days of marchingfighting and a with a loss of more than sixty thousand men, General Grant24 arrived at Petersburg, which he could have donewithout the loss of a maven man.25 The sixty thousand men that were expendable to Grant was more than Lee had in his entire Army of Northern Virginia. Lee ultimately was forced to surrender his army of less than eight thousand mento Grants army of 150,00026 Prior to the surrender Union officers had always estimated your Lee force at about seventy thousand men.27 The leadership displayed by Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee throughout their military careers is straight off related to their childhood and education at West Point. Grants childhood made him competitive but his lack of inter est in the curriculums at West Point would set him back militarily.If Grant did not have the expendable resources that were available to his Union Army, he would have failed against Lees ability to fight with such limited resources. Lees self struggle to lead by example combined with his devotion to duty and the men in his army resulted in many victories over impossible odds. Lee did not surrender to Grants leadership traits Lee was compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources (Lee p 138)28 1 jam A. Henretta, David Brody and Lynn Dumenil, America A Concise History, 3rd Edition, 3rd ed. (Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 157-58.BibliographyHenretta, James A., David Brody, and Lynn Dumenil. America A Concise History, 3rd Edition. 3rd ed. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2005.Lee, Fitzhugh. General Lee. BiblioLife, 2009.Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. CreateSpace, 2009.Lee, Robert. Recollections and Letters. revolutionary York, NY Barnes & Noble, 2004. Bruce Catton Grant and Lee A Study in Contrasts, available from http//users.ipfw.edu/ruflethe/grantandlee.html Internet accessed 16 August 2010.Allen, Walter. ULYSSES S. GRANT. Houghton Mifflin,1901.Long, Armistead Lindsay. Memoirs of Robert E. Lee His military and personal history embracing a large amount of information hitherto unpublished. University of statute mile Library, 1886.Grant, Ulysses S. Ulysses S. Grant Memoirs and Selected Letters Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America). First Edition ed. New York, N.Y. Library of America, 1990.