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Mine has to be Sherman. Hell imo his March to the Sea did more damage to the Confederacy and the results he got did more to end the war than Grant and all of his predecessors put together. Those rumors of his troops committing mass murder are either just that; rumors or vast exaggerations on the part of the South. It shows a lot to me that even though his kill count is nowhere near as high as Grant, his name is far more reviled in the old south. I guess that old saying about destroying a mans' property applies to him....
I like Sherman as well, but not for what he did so much as it is because he was the most interesting thinker about the concept of war, a pragmatic philosopher-warrier who had no use for romantic notions or puffery. "War is cruelty and you cannot refine it" I regard as the most precise and succinct summary ever applied to the art of organized homicide and destruction.
In terms of brilliant generalship, I am most in awe of Nathan Bedford Forrest. While his racial attitudes were among the most severe in an age of extreme racial attitudes, he was an incredible dynamo of a fighter. Absent much formal education of any sort, Forrest had still managed to make himself into a very wealthy busnessman, with one of those businesses being the slave trade. Then absent any sort of formal military training or experience, Forrest made himself into an astonishingly effective cavalry leader.
And if his field generalship was original and innovative, his personal exploits enhanced his reputation even more. Forrest didn't just lead, he fought, personally killing 21 Yanks in combat. He was wounded numerous times, including once by one of his own men who tried to assassinate him, but was killed by Forrest instead. And his most famous exploit at the end of the Shiloh battle...
Quote:
.. he drove through the Union skirmish line. Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when reaching the full Union brigade, Forrest charged the brigade single-handedly, and soon found himself surrounded. He emptied his Colt Army revolvers into the swirling mass of Union soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking and slashing. A Union infantryman fired a musket ball into Forrest's spine with a point-blank musket shot, nearly knocking him out of the saddle. Forrest grabbed an unsuspecting Union soldier, hauled him onto his horse to use as a shield, dumped the man once he had broken clear and was out of range, then galloped back to his incredulous troopers
All my compliments are focused on his war leadership and battle skills....by no means should that be taken as any sort of endorsement of Forrest's politics or ethics.
I note the terms of the OP: "Favorite" rather than "best" general. O.K., fair enough, and the OP has given his reasons for Sherman. We can have all kinds of different criteria for this, of course; our favorite general might be a dashing fellow, or we might like the literary quality of his memoirs. In Sherman's case, the OP is citing the amount of suffering caused, a lot of it to widows and children whose means of feeding themselves were destroyed. So Sherman is the OP's favorite because of his ruthlessness, which is exactly why he is not my favorite. (I do recognize that ruthlessness in war is often necessary and that it might even save lives in the long run, but that still doesn't make the most ruthless general my favorite).
Grant is my favorite because of his character. He operated in the field with a realtively small support staff and did not put on airs. Once when summoned to Washington to confer with Lincoln, Grant was accompanied by his 14-year-old son. The best suite in a certain hotel had been reserved for him, but upon arrival, he had on muddy field boots and was accompanied only by his son. He signed the register "U.S. Grant and son". The clerk didn't make the connection (such was the totally unpretentious demeanor and dress of Grant) and gave them a lesser room. The mistake was discovered later and apologies were made, but I think the incident is telling and it cements my admiration for Grant as a man.
Robert E. Lee: Now I know it sounds a bit cliche, but he kept the Confederacy going longer than anybody else, his military efforts made sure the state of Virginia never fell until very late in the war.
Nathan Bedford Forrest: My reasons are the exact same as Grandstander's, I even like how he found his own need for personal repentence before he died.
Patrick Cleburne: A pretty good general that was cut down too early in life, an Irish immigrant who finally found home in Arkansas and sided with the South when it came to grips because he felt he couldn't turn against Arkansas, and by extension his adopted hometown of Helena.
Joshua Chamberlaine: A College Teacher who repelled an attack on Little Round Top, and earned the Medal of Honor. I think Jeff Daniels did him justice.
Robert E. Lee: Now I know it sounds a bit cliche, but he kept the Confederacy going longer than anybody else, his military efforts made sure the state of Virginia never fell until very late in the war.
Nathan Bedford Forrest: My reasons are the exact same as Grandstander's, I even like how he found his own need for personal repentence before he died.
Patrick Cleburne: A pretty good general that was cut down too early in life, an Irish immigrant who finally found home in Arkansas and sided with the South when it came to grips because he felt he couldn't turn against Arkansas, and by extension his adopted hometown of Helena.
Joshua Chamberlaine: A College Teacher who repelled an attack on Little Round Top, and earned the Medal of Honor. I think Jeff Daniels did him justice.
Robert E. Lee, due to his grace and dignity. Really, he was an overrated general who was outclassed in modern tactics by Jackson, Grant, and Sherman, but as a man, I believe he was the most noble, and brilliant on the defensive.
Mine has to be Sherman. Hell imo his March to the Sea did more damage to the Confederacy and the results he got did more to end the war than Grant and all of his predecessors put together.....
Overstated I think. Sherman learned his trade while under Grant and in the West the campaigns of Sherman's army group were based on the achievements of Grant in clearing the Mississippi valley and securing Chattanooga. Not to mention the Army of the Cumberland having cleared Kentucky and much of Tennessee of rebels.
And Sherman's march to the sea would have come a cropper had Thomas not defeated Hood in Tennessee. The march worked because the rebels were already very weak and because he trusted another commander to do the fighting that was left. Not that that wasn't proper but it only worked because of situation that was long in the creation and that creation was as much Grant's, Buell's, Rosecrans's and Thomas's as Sherman's.
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Title of OP ("Favorite") is key here.
