Originally Posted by Farragut

Have to say that the Confederate generalship in the West left much to be desired, indeed in my humble opinion the war was lost/won (depending on ones sympathies) in this theatre of operations. The poorest general? Well, for me it has to be Pemberton and not just because he allowed himself to be shut up in Vicksburg. Swiftly followed by Bragg of course!

Agree with the basic comment that the War was lost in the West, mainly by Bragg. Hood in 2nd place. For pure incomptence is Pillow.

Just a thought to all those that died in BoB, RIP and thanks

[QUOTE=David Hurlbert;35649]Despite General Sherman’s tenacity (and damn big Army), I think he definitely makes the list of one of America’s worst generals.

I disagree, he didn't bring a knife to a gunfight.....he brought an overwhelming force to soundly defeat Confederate forces in Atlanta. Then moved to Savannah to be re supplied. Along this march and the one through North and South Carolina, Sherman brought to the battlefield "Total War". Destroy what ever the enemy can use for war including food stores that the civilian population were giving to Confederate forces. You better re read your history books. Sherman was to the Civil War what Patton was to WWII

"Perhaps the originator and the first practitioner of what the twentieth century came to know as "total war," William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 commanded the Union armies of the West in the decisive drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta and the famous "march to the sea" across Georgia. In these campaigns and his later push northward from Savannah through the Carolinas, Sherman's troops carried the war to the Southern home front and blazed a wide path of destruction that delivered the death blow to the Confederacy's will and ability to fight. For the accompanying destruction, his name is still cursed in some parts of the South; but he is also recognized as a great strategist, a forceful leader, and--together with Ulysses Grant --the ablest Union general of the war."

This aired on TV last year and it was a candid look at what he accomplished
http://shop.history.com/detail.php?p...pa=PRF-2103262

My choice is General Lloyd Fredendall. This man used an entire engineer company to build him a huge Corps headquarters 70 miles behind the front. He also used an entire Anti-aircraft battalion to protect this headquarters. He very seldom if ever visited the front and had a bad habit of dismissing advise from commanders who had actually reconnoitered the terrain. But, his biggest blunder was positioning his units so far apart they had no chance of mutual support or employment of artillery, which was probably the army's best asset at that time.
He was responsible for the route at the Kasserine pass.