This is a short history that looks at the Civil War careers of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, the two most celebrated generals of the war. From the preface: "During the early years of the Civil War someone tauntingly asked Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the United States Minister to England, what he thought of the brilliant victories which the confederate armies were then gaining in the field. "I think they have been won by my fellow countrymen," was the quiet answer. Almost half a century has passed since that reproof was uttered, but its full force is only just beginning to be understood....