Ike. U.S.A.
He held the the great alliance together, and managed to keep Montgomery and Patton fighting for the same side. But he was tough as nails, never letting personal friendship get in the way of decision making as with Patton, nor letting his personal dislike of Montgomery blind him to Monty's effectiveness as a battlfield general.
Lee. C.S.A.
He accomplished more with what he had to work with than any general before or since. He took command of the Confederacy's main army in the middle of General McClellan's thrust at Richmond up the pennisular in June of 1862. He quickly reorganized the army under two main wings, his left under Jackson coming in from the west, and his right under Longstreet. A series of costly but hard hitting offensives drove the massive federal army off the pennisular and back into their boats. As they were being sent west to join General Pope above Mannasses, VA, site of the first Bull Run Battle, Lee swung his army north west to meet him, and at Second Bull Run, totally routed a second federal army of much larger size, all within sixty days.
Virginia was clear of Federal Troops. His next campaign took him into Maryland. A full one-third of his army refused to fight on Northern soil due to conscience. But with the 40,000 he had left he fought an army of 90,000 to a standstill at Antietam on September 17, 1962. He sat there a whole day waiting for McClellan to attack him again. He went back to Virginia unmolested. His 20,000 consciencious objectors were waitng, and returned in less than a year with two more victories and almost 80,000 troops to see his tide reach its peak at Gettysburg.
His use of divisions, cavalry, and artillary in concerted action, concentrating the bulk of his forces on the enemies weakest points, and his willingness to take great risks, are still major topics of academic study at West Point. He was not only a master strategist as commander of a major army, almost always beating his enemy to the field, and choosing his own ground, but also a master tactician. In many regards, he is the inventor of modern warfare, in that he learned to adjust his tactics to the capability of his weapons. More could be said, but no need.
Sad thing is he was not a U.S General. He left the U.S. Army before reaching that rank, and made his fame as a C.S.A. General. But he was the greatest one produced by the U.S. Military and its traditions. It is generally agreed that if he has stayed loyal to the Union and accepted command of its main army, the war would have ended much sooner, and the union more properly healed, for he was a great man, not just a great general.
[ January 31, 2005, 02:42 PM: Message edited by: DavidFWhite3 ]