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Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant Essay
Pages:1 (454 words)
Sources:2
Subject:People
Topic:Ulysses S Grant
Document Type:Essay
Document:#16282781
After all, "he was headed South, toward Richmond, not back to Washington in retreat. To Grant, even the heavy losses in the Wilderness signified a victory. The Confederates had no reserves to replace the dead and wounded. But Grant could call on a huge supply of civilians to fill the Union armies" (People & events: Grant's greatest battles, 2006, PBS).
At Cold Harbor, Grant lost 12,000 men but while his causalities were much higher than the Confederates, he knew that Sherman and other Union generals were destroying what was left of the South elsewhere. After nine months, the Union was able to starve the blockaded forces of Lee out of Petersburg. When Lee retreated, Grant took Richmond, and Lee eventually surrendered at Appomattox. It was Grant's willingness to sacrifice his men that eventually brought the war to its end. Grant's decision was bloody, but it could be argued that waiting even longer would have resulted in more Union casualties, as the South struggled on. Without Grant's audacity, the war would have surely been fought more cautiously, but perhaps with more devastating consequences.
Works Cited
McPherson, James (2000). Ordeal by fire. New York: McGraw-Hill.
People & events: Grant's greatest battles. (2006). The American Experience. PBS. Retrieved
October 17, 2009 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
Ulysses S. Grant. (2009). Ohio History. Retrieved October 17, 2009 at…
Sample Source(s) Used
Works Cited
McPherson, James (2000). Ordeal by fire. New York: McGraw-Hill.
People & events: Grant's greatest battles. (2006). The American Experience. PBS. Retrieved
October 17, 2009 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_general.html
Ulysses S. Grant. (2009). Ohio History. Retrieved October 17, 2009 at http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=155
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