Who is the greatest general

[minionofmidas]

At first I asked myself: Which of these won against the odds? None of them, of course. Lee and Jackson won anyways, and the others were clear favs from the outset.
Then I thought: What war can you think of where America wasn't the favorite? None.
This led to about two anti-american seconds before I released I can't think of any war in the last twohundredandfifty years where the chances weren't at least almost even for the side that eventually won, except the Chinese-Vietnamese one of the late seventies. There are probably a few more, but I can't think of any now. In other words, America is far from alone in this respect.
So I voted for the one among the winners who had the hardest task: George Washington.

[minionofmidas]

Except that Grant wasn't the first to come up with the Anaconda ("I like it when they give things daft names like that"). Winfield Scott, the Union's first supremo (whatever the title, I have a terrible memory for titles), outlined the idea right at the beginning of the war. It's just that he was sacked after Bull Run, and his plans collected mildew for one or two years before Grant put them back on the agenda.