Don Wildman

He is able to apply that to his battlefield expertise and then take it to another level in a way that surprised everyone, right?

I think, as you say, we could spend an hour and a half on these topics, but the Vicksburg campaign, a classic of military maneuvering, enormous story.

The Overland campaign, relentless using forces.

At that point, he's got them on his heels, but it's just...

It takes a certain kind of personality to do what Grant was able to do to close the deal on the Civil War.

And that's where he's blamed for being a sort of meat grinder.

Yeah, I mean, many have accused Grant of being too vicious in his ability to spend his troops and others relentlessly.

But this is what's always confused me about him, is how much did Grant understand what had gone wrong with the war prior to his taking over the General Command?

Or was he just going on his own instinct and saying, this is how you fight?

Was he seeing himself as a corrective to what was so flawed about the Union strategy prior to his command?

And once again, we have a military leader who ends up being a president, a politician, who has a huge role in reshaping the nation after the battle is done, so to speak.

Doesn't go so well for Grant.

He doesn't see his vision fully executed, but he does try.

And it's a lot to be said for the guy.

All right, we've done four generals.

Let's wrap this up with a caveat.

it's not fair what I'm about to do to you.

But let's choose.

Who's your favorite of these four generals in terms of their effect and impact on American history?

I certainly agree with you in so many regards.