Compare And Contrast Grant And Lee

The analysis that Catton’s had for the two generals was that they were two strong men that grew differently from each other. For example, General Robert E. Lee grew up believing in traditional, and personified with the English knights and country squires. Also, Lee believed that the lower class should be backed by an ownership of the land so therefore the land would be key source of wealth for the country. However, General Ulysses S. Grant had a completely different mindset from General Robert E. Lee, Grant was looking towards the future and striving to better himself and others in the country. He also believed that you should earn everything and not should be hand giving. Grant only wanted to see the country to succeed and Lee wanted the

Before being generals clashing on the battlefield both were students at West Point with slightly different experiences. Robert Lee’s father was in the military, so it was only natural for a true Virginia blood to attend West-Point to join the military (Staff, para. 2). Grant, on the other hand, was actually registered by his father to

General Robert E. Lee from Virginia grew up with and stood for a noble way of life. His vision for his country were traditions and culture. In A Study In Contrast paragraph 5 it stated, “His background were family, culture, tradition, and he embodied a way of life that had come down through the age of knighthood and the English country squire.” Lee stood

Lee’s background supported his view of the United States. In the text Grant and Lee A Study In Contrasts by Bruce Catton it states on page 96 ”Lee was born privileged and and believed the upper class had strength and virtue.”He maybe thought full and high of himself. Lee was from Virginia and had old aristocratic concepts and was born privileged which gave him a better start in life in the beginning. Also in the text it states “Lee saw himself in relation to his own region.” Lee might’ve agreed to all the rules and all of his region because men were willing to die for Lee's beliefs. Lee's background supported his view of the United States because he was born

The Actions of U.S. Grant and R.E. Lee and Its Effects on Civil War Just like any war, The Civil War has two sides with different opinion. In one side, the Union Army is following their leader Lt. General Ulysses S Grant. In other side of the battlefield, General Robert E Lee leads the Confederate Army. Does the war fought for slavery? Slavery is part of it but it is not the only reason this war is fought.

Grant and Lee are different in many ways. General Lee was tidewater Virginia, and in his background were family, culture, and tradition. He had embodied a way of life that came down through the age of knighthood and the English country squire. General Grant was the son of a tanner on the western frontier. He had come up the hard way and embodied nothing in particular except the external toughness and sinewy fiber of the men that grew up behind the mountains. He was one of the body of men who owed reverence of obeisance to no one, who were self-reliant to a fault, who cared hardly of anything of the past but had a sharp eye for the future.

He grew up with a great love of all country life and his state. This stayed with him for the rest of his life. He was a very serious boy and spent many hours in his father's library. He loved to play with some his friends, swim, and he loved to hunt. Lee looked up to his father and always wanted to know what he was doing. George Washington and his father, "Light-Horse Harry Lee," were his heroes. He wanted to be just like his father when he grew up.

Despite the mistakes his father and brother made, Lee managed to grow learning the ways of a true Southern gentleman. The departure of his father and two older half-brothers made Lee the man of the house at an early age. His mother, Ann Carter, raised Lee in modest circumstances and helped him to learn standard of conduct. Lee grew up in modest conditions, and though he received the normal education for someone of his class, he had to earn his own living and didn’t live the easy-going plantation life that most members of his family did. Since his mother did not have sufficient cash to send Lee to go to college, he chose instead to enter West Point military and academy. He entered in 1825 at the age of 18. At West Point Lee excelled tremendously. He finished second in his class and didn’t receive one demerit during his four years there (A feat that has yet to be repeated since then). Lee entered Engineer Corps after graduation where he was employed to build and maintain military installations and assist the Federal Government in the enormous work of providing internal improvements in order to settle border disputes on the frontier lands.

No matter how much something can differ some characteristics are shared. As strange as it sounds it’s very true, both Grant and Lee are two different yet similar people. As these two fights for what they believe in, though their beliefs are different they share some qualities. Ulysses S. Grant wanted the nation to expand and look forward towards the future. Robert E. Lee thought that an old aristocratic way of life was the better choice and that it can survive and dominant in American life.

Even though Lee and Grant both attended the US Military Academy at West Point, the backgrounds that sent them there as well as the events upon leaving differ greatly. The childhood experiences that worked to mold the two different individuals into men were completely different. Lee was the fourth of child of Ann Carter and Colonel Henry Lee, a poor Calvary leader during the Revolutionary War and an ex-Governor of Virginia. Despite being raised with the elite Lee worked hard but still had little money for college. He was left to follow father’s footstep in the military by attending West Point Academy (PBS.org 1). Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant to Hannah and Jesse Grant, a tanner. He failed at almost everything he attempted including chores. His only exception was his interaction with horses. His father quickly discovered he

Lee was born in the slave state of Virginia on January 19, 1807; fifteen years before Ulysses S. Grant, who was born in Ohio, a free state, on the 27th of April, 1822. The two generals led very different lives: Grant came from a religious, hard working, and relatively poor background, Lee was from an honorable family with a respectable amount of money. The two generals studied in the United States Military Academy in West Point, but with very different intentions; Grant did not have any interest on becoming a soldier, but was forced by his father to enter the school and Lee had every intention on becoming a condecorated soldier. These differences ended up greatly defining their years on the Academy; Lee, who aspired to become a great soldier and future commander, graduated second in the class of 1829, while Grant, who was not very fond of military life, was 21st in a class of 39 students and was assigned to the infantry even though he was considered an amazing horse

During the times of Civil War, there were many Commanding Generals that came along. But two stand out amongst all, Ulysses S. Grant of United States of America and Robert E. Lee of Confederate States of America. Both men had formally fought, not along side of each other, in the Mexican-American War. At one point Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant worked together in the Mexican-American War. They both gained a war time experience, Grant as a quartermaster and Lee as an engineer who positioned troops and artillery during their participation in the Scott’s march from the coastal town of Vera Cruz to Mexico City. Both men were vastly different with different styles and background who not only won the affection of their men but respect of

The childhood of Robert Edward Lee played a pivotal role in the way he would see the world as a man. Lee was born into an aristocratic family of Virginia with a deeply rooted American history.

Although Grant and Lee had individual beliefs that clashed with one another they also had a few things in common. For example, Catton points out they were both great fighters that displayed a lot of tenacity and fidelity to their separate causes. Grant battled and endured his way down the Mississippi Valley despite his military handicaps and personal discouragements while Lee still had faith at Petersburg after all hope was lost. Also, their fighting qualities were very similar and they both refused to give up as long as they were able to fight. They were both also very daring and resourceful in that they had the ability to move quickly and think faster than the enemy. Most importantly, they were alike in the sense that they had the ability to turn away from war and come to peace once the fighting had ended. As a result, this helped the nation become whole and united again. Their gathering at Appomattox was a great moment in American history.

In the Civil War, both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee played major roles in how it turned out. They have many similarities and differences, and the author of the essay that will be analysed, Bruce Catton, brought out and explained those similarities and differences. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee come from completely different backgrounds, Grant growing up on the Western frontier, while Lee was a tidewater Virginian. Catton’s purpose for contrasting them is to show their obvious differences, but the reason for comparing them afterwards is to show the similarities that aren’t as apparent as their differences, by saying how similar they were on the battlefield, despite their contrasting childhoods and views.