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Great Military Leaders-Robert E. Lee I chose the biography, Great American Generals Robert E. Lee, by Ian Hogg, because I have always been fascinated about the Civil War and especially about one of the greatest heroes of American history General Robert E. Lee.
I also chose this particular book because I feel that the author Ian Hogg is a very credible source for this paper because he is a prolific writer in the field of defense and military technology. He is a weapons expert, having written many books on all types of rifles, shotguns and small arms, such as Modern Rifles, Shotguns and Pistols, and Modern Small Arms. He is an acknowledged expert on infantry weapons and is thought to be the worlds leading expert on this and artillery strategies. He is a well-known author of military history, and works as a weapons evaluator in addition to his writing. Robert E.
Lee was a highly motivated soldier. He probably acquired this personality trait from his youth. Robert s mother left his father when he was only four years old. Robert s mother was an invalid from the time he was born.
After the split from his father most of the duties of the family were put on Roberts shoulders. Robert successfully raised his little brothers and sisters and also took care of his mother. He also displayed his motivating skills as superintendent of Westpoint Military Academy. In his three years of service there, Lee established some highly successful procedures that contributed to the reputation of the Academy, and he also raised the academic standard of the Academy. Lee was always in the best physical shape and prepared for battle in his younger years.
He was a lead by example kind of a soldier. He did not expect any one of his soldiers to do anything that he would not do. He would constantly be out there in the battlefield with his fellow soldiers. He did not like to be on the sidelines barking orders in to his men, he preferred to be next to them communicating his instructions directly to his men. Lee was known as a soldiers General. He showed his soldiers respect and he got it in return ten-fold.
Lee was continually seeking self-improvement. He graduated from Westpoint second in his class, he then went on to become a Lieutenant in the Army Corp. of Engineers. In three years he was promoted to assistant to the chief of engineers. After only four years of assisting the chief of engineers he was promoted to captain.
His next assignment was to Mexico for two years as an engineering officer. There he was praised for his gallantry and good conduct. After his stint in Mexico he was relocated to Westpoint Military Academy where he as to be the superintendent. After a couple of years there the Civil War broke out and Lee joined the Confederate army, and in 1865 he was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of all the Confederate soldiers. Robert E. Lee s technical prowess was unmatched in his time.
He was the type of leader that made everyone else around him a better soldier just with his presence. He was regarded as one of the best military leaders of his time, and he is still considered one of the best military strategists ever. Because of his brilliant leadership and skill in strategy, he won the praise of General Scott. Scott called Lee the greatest military genius in America, and the best soldier I ever saw in the field.
He had a knack for anticipating the actions of his opponents and for comprehending their weaknesses. Many of Lee s tactics were not fully understood until the twentieth century. He was such a great leader that Lincoln asked him to lead the Union soldiers against the South, instead he decided to go with his home and fight with the Confederate soldiers. Lee led many successful battles against the Union including Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorville. It was all to end though, Lee had his last stand at Gettysburg. Lee went into the battle out manned and out matched.
Lee had problems with getting supplies and enough men to sustain a solid attack. Eventually Lee was forced to surrender to Ulysses S. Grant, another equally skilled Military leader. Lee decided to stay and fight for the South even though he knew that the North had a superior army and other resources. He did not want to see his state invaded by force. Lee also demonstrated good conceptual skills when it came to his decision making.
In the beginning of the war between the states, Lee found himself facing the most difficult decision of his life. He believed in the abolition of slavery, but not by force. He believed in a united nation, but not one that could be maintained only by swords and bayonets. Lee was in favor of all of the right things just not in favor of using violence to obtain them.
He did not have any choice in the matter, there was to be a fight and he had to pick a side. After the war was over he could have went into politics, but he did not want to have any part of a political system the led to the death of so many of his fellow countrymen. The particular book that I chose did not outline exactly any one particular battle of Lee s. It was more of a book about Lee s life and how he came from an adverse background and raised to greatness. It did talk briefly about his particular style of battle though.
Lee was a very intelligent military leader. He joined the battle at Gettysburg to aid in his fellow troops fight. His objective was to defeat the Union army and sustain as few casualties and loss of supplies as possible. He intelligently maneuvered his troops around Grants and began his offensive attack. When Lee arrived at Gettysburg with his troops he caught Grant off guard, but soon Grant had more men and supplies and began winning the battle again. Lee did a tremendous job at this battle with so few men and resources, he had to rely on his skills as a creative General.
This was a slow and drawn out fight that lasted days. Lee always had his men s best interest in mind. He set up his positions so he would lose as few men as possible, but he did not have the resources to continue. When he realized he could not maintain enough men or supplies to win the battle, and without sacrificing any more of his men, Lee surrendered. Lee is arguably the greatest General in American Warfare history; he has been called a hero by many Americans. He was a great soldier and commander on the battlefield.
Lee was a man of great integrity and honor, a true Southern gentleman, and the fact that Lee was on the losing side of a war in which there were no winners should not matter. Robert E. Lee is a man who should never be forgotten, and I think that many present military leaders could learn something from him.
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