Who was the greatest ever american military leader and why?

Answer 1

General George S. Patton. I can't say why other than he was a brilliant commander of the American allied forces and managed to stay one step ahead of the German army.

Answer 2

I'll give you a few:

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson because he personified the spirit of attack.

Robert E. Lee,who except for an unforgiveable blunder at Gettysburg would have led the Confederate States to at least a stalemate with the Union.

Geroge Washington, who built an army out of rabble and sent the British running.

John Pershing who forged an army in the face of allies that wanted American troops to be fed piecemeal into the hell of the trench warfare. He prevailed and kept the army in American hands and control.

In World War II, several outstanding leaders emerged:
Omar Bradley - truly a soldier's soldier
George Patton - visionary and resourceful, never, not since Stonewall Jackson, has one man's personality driven an army.
Dwight Eisenhower - far more effective as a chief executive and decisive leader who will be remembered as the man who kept the fragile Allies together.

We really must also consider Douglas MacArthur. For all his posturing, his ego, his desire for the limelight, he was a highly effective planner. The US Army had comparatively fewer causualties in the Pacific theater. A lot of that was due to MacArthur. (and another part of that was the extreme bravery and sacrifice of the navy and especially the US Marine Corps.
In Korea, MacArthur saved that country; his landing in Inchon will be forever seen as a brilliant military move: daring, imaginative and successful. His later run ins with Truman, however, showed that military men don't always understand the US Constitution. His firing was 100% justfied.

Great question and to all, great answers (for the most part).

Answer 3

I should think that George Washington is that person. Not because he was a skilled tactitian, he was not. It is because of his character that he is among the greatest. He kept an army together in the face of unimaginable odds; he kept the Brits from winning by never loosing that army; he held to the long view of the war and siezed the critical moment at Yorktown; and most importantly, he established the tradition of a military that defers to civil authority without question. He was a man of in-born moral ascendency, enormous self-discipline, and great force of command.

Answer 4

George Patton because of his military genius, ability to for-see situations before they develop (such as the threat of communism) and for always going on the attack whether in battle or in his personal life.

Answer 5

Ulysses S. Grant - figured out very early in the Civil War exactly how to defeat the CSA, which he did. He realized that the strength and superiority of the Union was based on keeping his army supplied and fit, and to take control of "communications" [in military speak, that means lines of supply.] Within a few months of taking command of forces in the west, he captured Paducah, Kentucky - thereby taking control of the Ohio River. He captured Fort Henry, taking control of the Cumberland River. He captured Fort Donelson, including an entire CSA Army, and took control of the Tennessee River. He kept Kentucky and Tennessee in the Union, and effectively isolated Missouri from the CSA - keeping control of the Mississippi river down as far as Vicksburg.

The next year he captured Vicksburg, thereby taking control of the entire Mississippi, and severing the CSA from the west. He also captured another CSA army at Vicksburg.

Remember that the Civil War was not only military, but a political war. This man had huge numbers of people out to get him - mostly to aggrandize themselves. He quietly and effectively saw the war through to the finish, never faltered, never blamed others.

When Lincoln was being urged to fire Grant, his response was "I cannot spare this man. He fights."

Answer 6

Nathanial Bedford Forrest, went from private to General in three years.

Answer 7

George Washington created an army out of nothing and held that ragged force together through years of defeat & misery and ultimately won a war. If one truly studies Washinton one realizes that he was a sound tactician and a brilliant strategist.

Peace....

Answer 8

Dwight.D.Eisenhower. He had to fight not only against the dogged Germans but also against many odd political personalities within allies for successful running of campaign in the west european theaters of ww-2.

Answer 9

I agree with my friends, Chief Sitting Bull, (Tatanka-lyotanka).

Answer 10

Sitting bull