Letters to the Editor — April 2021

Originally published April 2021 · p. 2

Letter to the Editor: The book review of Bruce Brager’s Grant’s Victory: How Ulysses S. Grant Won the Civil War in the February issue of CWN makes a point that Grant won the war because “he had more men and equipment.” This, of course, intimates that his generalship was less a factor than his superior numbers, never mind that he had to take the offensive continuously against Lee’s, for the most part, defensive stands. But it should be noted that there is a laundry list of Union generals earlier in the war who also had more men and better equipment but ultimately failed to bring Lee to his knees: George McClellan,

Ambrose Burnside, John Pope, and Joe Hooker come to mind. If “over the past decades a forest of trees has been turned into paper with the purpose of recording how brilliant Grant’s generalship was,” perhaps there is a reason for that. Greg Sweatt Foster City, Calif. Letter to the Editor: Joseph L. Wilson’s story “A Yankee Who Cheated Death” which appeared in the March issue was the most interesting article that I have read in quite a while. I look forward to reading more of Joe’s stories in Civil War News. Steve French Hedgesville, W.V.