Greatest American General

[carpro]

Who would you consider to be the U.S.'s greatest general? Admirals count for the purpose of this discussion.

Categorize by era or talent if you wish.

 

[Stratiotes]

NB Forrest, hands down. Possibly the most gifted tactician ever.

 

[JGrubbs]

Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, CSA

 

[carpro]

Two Confederate Generals with no mention of Robert E. Lee.

I'm stunned.

 

[Pastor Larry]

I would say Lee, and then probably Jackson.

 

[JGrubbs]

The Old Man would be on my list of the top 5, but I believe that Jackson was a better General than Lee.

Lee even referred to Stonewall as his "right arm".

 

[Stratiotes]

Lee was definitely close - but I still think Forrest and Jackson were both better. Of course, neither proved themselves at the same level of command so it is a bit of an unfair comparison really.

 

[carpro]

What about greats like George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas McArthur, Norman Swartzkopf, Tommy Franks , George Patton, Creighton Abrams, Chesty Puller, or Chester Nimitz?

Do we begin and end with the conferacy in the Civil War?

 

[JGrubbs]

Most of those are great generals as well, but the question posed was "Who would you consider to be the U.S.'s greatest general?", we had to pick just one.

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by JGrubbs:
Most of those are great generals as well, but the question posed was "Who would you consider to be the U.S.'s greatest general?", we had to pick just one.

Of course, but you could categorize by era or unique abilities.

For instance, I would suggest "Chesty Puller" as the bravest leader of men.

Or Dwight Eisenhower as the greatest from WWII.

Or Tommy Franks as the greatest contemporary general.

Or the other side of the Civil War, since they won, could have been Bill Sherman or Ulysses Grant.

I didn't mean to make it so limiting. My apologies for not making myself clear.

 

[church mouse guy]

It wasn't Custer.

 

[blackbird]

General George Marshall---the "Brains" behind WW2

General Dwight Eisenhower(My Military hero)---hands down the best US General of all time!(though I would have loved to have met General George Patton of the Allies and Field Marshall Erwin Rommel of the Germans!!)

Stormin' Norman Swartscoft(sp--but you boys know who I'm talkin' about!!!)

Running neck and neck for last place, though---

General George A. Custer and General William Westmorland

 

[rsr]

Nominating Benedict Arnold, who captured Ticondergo, came within an eyelash of taking Montreal after an impossible journey and played a pivotal role at Saratoga, where victory convinced the French to enter the war. And, to boot, he built a navy on Lake Champlain from scratch and thrwarted Carleton's plan to split the colonies.

Of course, there was that unpleasant episode later ...

 

[Stratiotes]

For a better "appreciation" of Stormin' Norman, try _Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War_. It is often the case that the men who deserve the real credit are often overlooked. Not detracting from Schwartzkopf's abilities so much as drawing attention to who the idea man was behind him.

 

[WallyGator]

Douglas McArthur, hands down.

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by blackbird:
Running neck and neck for last place, though---

General George A. Custer and General William Westmorland

I believe you hit this nail squarely.

 

[rsr]

For that honor I would nominate Ben Butler.

 

[Kayla]

Wait I have something to say...Don't bite my head off but aren't Lee, Stonewall, and Forrest illeagal submissions because they were generals of the confederate states of America which at the time was a different country.

 

[Kayla]

BTW, as a missourian I submit General Omar Bradley and John J. Pershing. Eisenhower couldn't have done D-day without Bradley. His home is about 25 miles from mine btw.

 

[pinoybaptist]

Originally posted by carpro:

Originally posted by JGrubbs:
[qb] <snip>

Or the other side of the Civil War, since they won, could have been Bill Sherman or Ulysses Grant.

</snip>

Loser or winner, it's Lee for me, then Jackson.

Later generals will be Patton, then Mc'Arthur (Douglas), then Westmoreland.

On the other side of the fence - Rommel and Mao and Vo Nguyen Giap.