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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
At Antietam, that's arguably true, but at Gettysburg Lee ignored Longstreet's advice and ordered Pickett's charge. I don't think it can be denied that that was a major blunder. He had developed a case of what pilots call "target fixation."
I don't think it would have been that quick or easy, but I agree with your point. I'm not denying that Lee was one of the greats, both as a general and as a man, but he made some of the same mistakes Grant did. I'm merely saying that contemporary quotes from Lee and others show Grant to be underrated as both by later generations.
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I won't deny that Lee screwed up at Gettysburg. I think he got a little over zealous in that battle and thought he had it whupped. He could have won that battle had he listened to Longstreet! But it's a good thing for the north that he did screw up. Otherwise Lincoln was about ready to abandon ship and end the war. Lincoln wasn't going to allow and couldn't afford to let the South to invade the north like the north had been invading the South.