Originally Posted by hunter1
By most accounts, Robert E. Lee is one of the most talented battlefield tacticians and commanders in all of recorded human history. However, most historians seem to believe that Lee was only a So-So Strategist, and that placing him in charge of the entire Southern Army was a poor choice. Lee was far better suited for 2 stars than 5 stars.
Stonewall Jackson is a bit more difficult to judge. I've done a lot of reading on his career, and he did have a lot of talent, but his most fearsome attribute on the battlefield was his pure faith that his God would not allow him to die until his time had come, and then, that there was no way to avoid that fate. There are numerous accounts from his officers and soldiers that he would just nonchalantly ride or walk into battle with bullets whizzing past his head, his revolver still in its holster and his sword raised high... "Give them the Lead, Boys! And when the Lead is gone, give them the bayonet! And when the bayonet is broken, give them the knife! And when the knife is gone, give them the fist!"
I have read accounts of Northern soldiers witnessing this general, who would not draw his firearm but would raise his sword and march to the front of the battle lines, declaring, "Only God decides who lives and who dies today, boys!"
Those tales are surely apocryphal, of course, but that's the way that several Northern soldiers remembered it. That is some scary shit to see a man who has absolutely no fear come charging towards you with a sword.
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