History 269 The Civil War and Reconstruction
| Generals in Blue and Gray |
 © 2006 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College. [Copyright notice] According to Napoleon, ultimately it is not men who matter in warfare, but rather The Man, the commanding general. Grant and Lee were supported by scores of generals representing a tiny fraction of the men who fought in the war, but their importance cannot be overstated. (When Lee heard that Jackson had lost his left arm at Chancellorsville he said, "I have lost my right arm." Grant compared the loss of Sedgwick to an entire division.) Armies depended on generals for training, resources, logistics, deployment, inspiration and tactical direction. A common myth is that
the South had the best military talent of the Civil War; but an objective assessment reveals that both sides had their share of fine generals and lousy ones. In
Ezra J. Warner's classic reference books on the subject, Generals in Gray
(1959) and Generals in Blue (1964), the author profiled 425
Confederate generals and 583 Union generals.
Profiles of the most famous ones, compiled from various biographical
sources, are listed in the attached index:
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