Existing comment:
Clash of Titans
Both Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant had sterling records of success gained hundreds of miles apart. The Battle of the Wilderness marked the first confrontation between the two. A nation, the world, awaited the result.
Lee:
brutally successful against great odds. A gambler, but a calculated one. Wildly popular with the people of the Confederacy, much beloved by his soldiers, and respected -- sometimes feared -- by his Union enemies. For much of the war, he had held the initiative in Virginia.
Grant:
more famous than popular, still largely unknown to the Army of the Potomac. A man of relentless determination, always mindful of the huge advantages the Union held in men and material. Though Grant commanded all Union armies, in the coming campaign he would give his personal attention to the Army of the Potomac. |