A. What kind of person was Grant?
i. He was a drunk
1. No evidence-based, mostly on gossip and envy
2. His close colleagues testified he rarely, if ever, drank
ii. He failed at everything he tried before the Civil War
iii. He managed to overcome Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia only by
blunt tactics with a lot of casualties
iv. His two presidential terms were riddled with corruption, and he appointed
friends and family to official offices without credentials
v. J.F.C Fuller called him the foremost general of the Civil War and compared
him favorably with General Lee
b. What made him such an effective leader?
i. When he was appointed to 21st Illinois, he was able to make unruly farm boys
with no discipline into great soldiers.
ii. He showed immediate signs of quiet authority and control over the men.
iii. He lost battles, but he didn’t lose a campaign.
iv. He was calm in a crisis.
1. He did not panic
2. Moral courage: taking responsibility and making decisions
v. He never accepted defeat, even when it appeared he had been beaten.
vi. He wasn’t concerned with what Lee would do; instead, he was involved with
what he would do.
vii. He had common sense
viii. He was simplistic
ix. He realized that other generals were just as afraid of him as he was of them.
1. He was able to compel their surrender.
x. Able to mobilize people
xi. Trusted his subordinates
1. Cared about them.
c. What was his strategy?
i. He was willing to take the most significant risks.
ii. Campaign of attrition
1. More men and more resources
iii. He forced surrender
iv. He played offensively instead of defensively
i. He was a drunk
1. No evidence-based, mostly on gossip and envy
2. His close colleagues testified he rarely, if ever, drank
ii. He failed at everything he tried before the Civil War
iii. He managed to overcome Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia only by
blunt tactics with a lot of casualties
iv. His two presidential terms were riddled with corruption, and he appointed
friends and family to official offices without credentials
v. J.F.C Fuller called him the foremost general of the Civil War and compared
him favorably with General Lee
b. What made him such an effective leader?
i. When he was appointed to 21st Illinois, he was able to make unruly farm boys
with no discipline into great soldiers.
ii. He showed immediate signs of quiet authority and control over the men.
iii. He lost battles, but he didn’t lose a campaign.
iv. He was calm in a crisis.
1. He did not panic
2. Moral courage: taking responsibility and making decisions
v. He never accepted defeat, even when it appeared he had been beaten.
vi. He wasn’t concerned with what Lee would do; instead, he was involved with
what he would do.
vii. He had common sense
viii. He was simplistic
ix. He realized that other generals were just as afraid of him as he was of them.
1. He was able to compel their surrender.
x. Able to mobilize people
xi. Trusted his subordinates
1. Cared about them.
c. What was his strategy?
i. He was willing to take the most significant risks.
ii. Campaign of attrition
1. More men and more resources
iii. He forced surrender
iv. He played offensively instead of defensively
