Who is the greatest American commander?
George Washington is the greatest American commander in our ranking: he held the Continental Army together for eight years and won independence at Yorktown in 1781 with French help. Ulysses S. Grant and George S. Patton tie him on 46 points, and Dwight D. Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur complete the top five of the fifteen.
America’s commanders range from a Virginia planter who kept a ragged army in being for eight years to the generals and admirals who led millions across Europe and the Pacific. This list ranks fifteen of them, from Washington’s Continental Army in 1775 to MacArthur’s landing at Inchon in 1950, judged on generalship alone: each led an American army or fleet in person, Confederate commanders such as Robert E. Lee count, and presidents count only for the battles they commanded themselves. The fifteen are ranked by score for recognition, battlefield record, consequence, legacy and certainty, not by date; see how we chose them.1
This page ranks the commanders. For the wars they fought, from the colonial wars to Vietnam, with every American battle on this site grouped by era, see our guide to the military history of the United States.
1 George Washington, 1732 to 1799
- Lived
- 1732 to 1799
- Served
- Virginia Regiment in the French and Indian War; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, 1775 to 1783
- Greatest victory
- Yorktown, 19 October 1781, with Rochambeau and de Grasse
- Record
- Won Boston, Trenton, Princeton and Yorktown; lost New York, Brandywine and Germantown
- Legacy
- Kept the army in being for eight years; returned his commission to Congress in 1783
A Virginia planter who had commanded the Virginia Regiment in the French and Indian War, George Washington was chosen by the Second Continental Congress in June 1775 to command its new Continental Army.2
His first success was guns and surprise: Henry Knox hauled the cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, Washington placed them overnight above the harbor, and the British left the city. Then came the defeats: New York in 1776, which he was forced to abandon, and Brandywine and Germantown in 1777, which cost Philadelphia. Down to barely 3,000 men by mid-December 1776, he crossed the icy Delaware on Christmas night and surprised the Hessians at Trenton, 1,500 of them against about 2,400 Americans by the American Battlefield Trust’s count, then won again at Princeton.3
In 1781 he wanted to retake New York, but his French allies preferred the Chesapeake. Washington agreed and marched south while de Grasse’s fleet drove off the British navy, trapping Cornwallis’s 9,000 men at Yorktown with 19,900 French and Americans, by the Trust’s count. The surrender on 19 October took a third of all British forces in North America out of the war. Myth vs fact: Yorktown was no purely American victory; Washington needed the French navy to take a British position, as the Miller Center notes.4
Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, consequence, legacy and certainty: his war created the United States. He lost more battles than he won, so battlefield record is 3. He is No. 1 because, level with Grant and Patton on 46 and on recognition, he passes Patton on consequence and Grant, level there too, as the older man.
2 Ulysses S. Grant, 1822 to 1885
- Lived
- 1822 to 1885
- Served
- Mexican War, 1846 to 1848; Union army, 1861 to 1865; general-in-chief from March 1864
- Greatest victory
- Vicksburg, surrendered 4 July 1863
- Record
- Won Forts Henry and Donelson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and the war in Virginia; surprised at Shiloh, beaten at Cold Harbor
- Legacy
- Took the surrender of Lee’s army at Appomattox, 9 April 1865; later President
Ulysses S. Grant graduated 21st of 39 from West Point in 1843 and was clerking in his family’s leather store in Galena, Illinois, when the Civil War began.5
In February 1862 he took Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the first real Union victory, demanding “unconditional and immediate surrender.” At Shiloh he was caught by surprise and won only on the second day. Vicksburg was his masterpiece: he crossed the Mississippi below the city at the end of April 1863, cut loose from his supply line and beat two Confederate forces in five battles before laying siege. On 4 July Pemberton surrendered his army, 30,000 men by the American Battlefield Trust’s count, more than 27,000 by the Miller Center’s. In November he broke the siege of Chattanooga. As general-in-chief he fought Lee from the Wilderness to Petersburg; at Cold Harbor on 3 June 1864 about 7,000 men fell within the first hour, an assault he always regretted. On 9 April 1865, with two of his corps across his path, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.6
Myth vs fact: the “butcher” label ignores the arithmetic. By Edward Bonekemper’s figures, the drive to the James cost the Army of the Potomac 41 percent of its men but Lee 46 percent, and Grant took the surrender of three whole armies.7
Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, consequence and certainty: his campaigns saved the Union, and every list of great American generals we checked names him. Shiloh and Cold Harbor cost a point on battlefield record, and legacy is 4; level with Washington and Patton on 46 and on recognition, he follows Washington as the younger and passes Patton on consequence.8
3 George S. Patton, 1885 to 1945
- Lived
- 1885 to 1945
- Served
- US Army, 1909 to 1945: 304th Tank Brigade, 1918; Seventh Army in Sicily, 1943; Third Army, 1944 to 1945
- Greatest victory
- The Third Army’s drive across France and the relief of Bastogne, 1944
- Record
- Won in Morocco, Sicily, France, Lorraine and the Ardennes; his Hammelburg raid failed, March 1945
- Legacy
- Named most often (17%) in Gallup’s 2000 poll of the greatest American general
George S. Patton graduated from West Point in 1909 and in 1917 set up the Army’s tank school in France, working out how tanks and infantry should fight together; he led the 304th Tank Brigade at Saint-Mihiel and was wounded in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in September 1918.9
After the Morocco landings of November 1942, his Seventh Army took Palermo and Messina in Sicily in 1943, before he lost his command for slapping two soldiers with combat stress. Given the Third Army on 1 August 1944, he broke through the German defenses, cleared Brittany and, in the National WWII Museum’s account, beat the Fifth Panzer Army at Arracourt in September. Before the Germans struck in the Ardennes, he had his staff plan how to halt his eastward attack, turn ninety degrees and strike north; at Eisenhower’s conference in Verdun on 19 December he promised an early attack, and on 26 December his 4th Armored Division broke through to Bastogne. Myth vs fact: the film’s instant, improvised turn is “not very good history,” the historian David Zabecki writes; it worked because it was planned days ahead. His worst gamble came in March 1945, when he sent 314 men behind German lines to free the prison camp at Hammelburg, where his son-in-law was probably held; 32 were killed and only 35 made it back.10
Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, legacy and certainty: Americans named him most often in Gallup’s poll of the greatest general. Hammelburg costs a point on battlefield record, and his was one of several armies that beat Germany, so consequence is 4; level with Washington and Grant on 46 and on recognition, he goes third on consequence.11
4 Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890 to 1969
- Lived
- 1890 to 1969
- Served
- US Army, 1915 to 1952; Allied commander in North Africa, 1942 to 1943; Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, 1943 to 1945
- Greatest victory
- D-Day and the Normandy campaign, from 6 June 1944
- Record
- Won North Africa, Sicily, Normandy and the war in the west; Kasserine Pass was lost under his command, February 1943
- Legacy
- General of the Army, December 1944; NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, 1950; President, 1953 to 1961
Dwight D. Eisenhower spent World War I training troops in the United States, but he graduated first of 245 from the Army’s Command and General Staff School in 1926 and served for years as Douglas MacArthur’s aide. In November 1942 he commanded the Allied landings in North Africa.12
In February 1943 the Germans drove the inexperienced Americans back at Kasserine Pass; Eisenhower fired the field commander, Lloyd Fredendall, and brought in Patton, and on 13 May the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered, almost 250,000 of them prisoners by the National Park Service’s count. As Supreme Commander he owned the decisions of D-Day: on 4 June he postponed the invasion on a bad forecast, early on 5 June he gambled on a break in the storm and gave the order, and he drafted a note taking all the blame if it failed. The landings rested on over 160,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen. He then took command of all the Allied land forces and held to a broad front against Montgomery’s call for a narrow push to the Low Countries. When the Germans broke through in the Ardennes, he told his generals at Verdun on 19 December to treat it as an opportunity, not a disaster, and the counterattack from the south reached Bastogne a week later. Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945.13
Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, consequence and certainty: he led the coalition that freed western Europe. He commanded from headquarters, not in battle, and Kasserine was lost on his watch, so battlefield record is 3; Americans remember him as much as a president as a general, so legacy is 4.
5 Douglas MacArthur, 1880 to 1964
- Lived
- 1880 to 1964
- Served
- US Army, 1903 to 1951: 42nd Division, 1917 to 1918; Army Chief of Staff, 1930 to 1935; Southwest Pacific, 1942 to 1945; Korea, 1950 to 1951
- Greatest victory
- The landing at Inchon, 15 September 1950
- Record
- Lost the Philippines, 1942; won in New Guinea and returned at Leyte, 1944; won at Inchon; driven back when China entered Korea, 1950
- Legacy
- Five-star General of the Army; relieved by Truman, 11 April 1951
Douglas MacArthur graduated first in West Point’s class of 1903, won two Distinguished Service Crosses and seven Silver Stars with the 42nd Division in France and later became Army Chief of Staff.14
His Pacific war began in disaster. On 8 December 1941 his air force near Manila was caught on the ground; on Bataan, PBS’s American Experience recounts, 80,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians ran short of food, and in April 1942 it fell, the largest American army ever to surrender. He rebuilt his name in New Guinea. His first victory, at Buna in January 1943, cost by the same account nearly two casualties for every one inflicted; then he learned to sink Japanese convoys from the air and bypass strongholds, the method the MacArthur Memorial calls island hopping. He landed on Leyte in October 1944.15
In Korea others warned that Inchon’s narrow channel and extreme tides made a landing too risky; he argued that was why the enemy would not expect one. The Marines took the port on 15 September 1950, and Seoul was retaken on 26 September. Then he drove for the Chinese border, discounting warnings that China would intervene, and in late November hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops sent his armies into retreat. After he attacked Truman’s policy in public, he was relieved on 11 April 1951.16
Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition and certainty, but the loss of the Philippines and the retreat in Korea hold his battlefield record to 3. His campaigns helped win the Pacific war rather than decide it alone, so consequence is 4, and his clash with Truman still divides how he is remembered, so legacy is 4.
6 Chester Nimitz, 1885 to 1966
- Lived
- 1885 to 1966
- Served
- US Navy from 1905; commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet from 31 December 1941, and of the Pacific Ocean Areas
- Greatest victory
- Midway, June 1942
- Record
- Coral Sea and Midway in 1942, then the central Pacific offensive to Japan’s surrender; directed from headquarters, not at sea
- Legacy
- Promoted to the new five-star rank of Fleet Admiral, December 1944; signed the surrender in Tokyo Bay for the United States
Chester Nimitz graduated seventh of 114 from Annapolis in 1905, ran his first command, the destroyer Decatur, aground, and made his name in submarines; the Naval War College, he later said, prepared him for the fight with Japan. Roosevelt picked him over 28 more senior flag officers, and on 31 December 1941 he took over a shattered Pacific Fleet.17
He built on what Pearl Harbor had spared, the submarine base and the carriers, which he sent raiding the Marshalls, the Gilberts and Wake. Navy code breakers then found that Japan’s next target, “AF” in its signals, was Midway; a false report that Midway was short of water, echoed in a Japanese message about “AF,” confirmed it. Nimitz trusted the intelligence and set an ambush with his carriers ready and waiting. On 4 June 1942 Japan lost four irreplaceable fleet carriers, the Americans one of three, a victory the Navy’s historians credit to the aviators’ skill and sacrifice, plus a great deal of good luck. From Pearl Harbor he then coordinated the offensive across the Pacific to Japan’s unconditional surrender, at its height commanding, the Pacific War museum counts, more than two million men and women, 5,000 ships and 20,000 aircraft. On 2 September 1945 he signed the surrender for the United States aboard the Missouri.18
Why it ranks here: Midway turned the Pacific war, so consequence and certainty take full marks; he directed it from Pearl Harbor rather than at sea, so battlefield record is 4, and few Americans outside the Navy know his name, so recognition is 3, which holds him to 40.
7 William T. Sherman, 1820 to 1891
- Lived
- 1820 to 1891
- Served
- Union army, 1861 to 1865; commander in the Western Theater from 1864; general-in-chief of the Army, 1869 to 1883
- Greatest victory
- Atlanta, taken 2 September 1864
- Record
- Took Atlanta and Savannah and marched through the Carolinas; overrun at Shiloh, repulsed at Kennesaw Mountain
- Legacy
- The March to the Sea; took the largest Confederate surrender of the war, April 1865
William Tecumseh Sherman graduated from West Point in 1840, left the army in 1853 and was running a military academy in Louisiana until the state seceded. At Shiloh in 1862 he ignored warnings of a Confederate attack and his division was overrun; he then led a corps under Grant at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and in 1864 took over in the West.19
Marching on Atlanta in May 1864 with superior numbers, he mostly refused to attack entrenched lines and swung round Johnston’s flanks again and again. The great exception failed: his frontal assault on Kennesaw Mountain on 27 June cost about 3,000 Union casualties to 1,000 Confederate, by the American Battlefield Trust’s estimate. In late August he went for the last railroad into the city, and Hood abandoned Atlanta on 1 September; its fall helped re-elect Lincoln. From 15 November, cut loose from their supply lines, about 60,000 men marched for the sea, living off the land and wrecking railroads, and on 21 December took Savannah, which Sherman offered Lincoln as a Christmas present. In late April 1865 he accepted the surrender of Johnston’s forces, the largest of the war. Myth vs fact: Atlanta was not burned to the ground, as Gone with the Wind implies; 400 houses still stood when his army left, and on the march he leveled no towns.20
Why it ranks here: Full marks for certainty and a consequence of 4: Atlanta and the march broke the South’s will. He won few pitched battles and was surprised at Shiloh and repulsed at Kennesaw, so battlefield record is 3, and three of the four American reference lists we checked name him, so recognition is 4.
8 John Paul Jones, 1747 to 1792
- Lived
- 1747 to 1792
- Served
- Continental Navy, 1775 to the end of the war; later a rear admiral in Russian service
- Greatest victory
- HMS Serapis off Flamborough Head, 23 September 1779
- Record
- Raided Whitehaven and took HMS Drake, April 1778; took HMS Serapis, 1779, but the convoy it guarded escaped
- Legacy
- Congressional Gold Medal, 1787; laid in the crypt of the Naval Academy chapel, 1913
John Paul, born in Scotland, went to sea at 13, fled to Virginia after killing the ringleader of a mutiny in 1773, added Jones to his name and joined the Continental Navy as a first lieutenant in December 1775.21
In April 1778 he took the sloop Ranger into the Irish Sea, raided Whitehaven, the only American operation of the war on English soil, and off Carrickfergus took the evenly matched sloop Drake. In 1779 he led a makeshift squadron whose French captains resented his orders. Off Flamborough Head he went for a Baltic convoy and its escort, the 50-gun Serapis; by World History Encyclopedia’s account his consorts ignored his signals, and one even fired into the locked ships. Outgunned in the old 42-gun Bonhomme Richard, Jones grappled the enemy and fought for some three and a half hours until Captain Pearson struck; the Richard sank, and Jones sailed off in the Serapis. The convoy escaped, and the historian Jack Warren calls the battle of no military importance. Myth vs fact: “I have not yet begun to fight!” was first printed in 1825, from Lieutenant Richard Dale’s account; Benjamin Rush heard Jones tell it as “we have had but a small fight as yet.”22
Why it ranks here: Full marks for legacy as the navy’s first hero, voted a gold medal by Congress in 1787 and buried at Annapolis since 1913, but his victories changed little in the war, so consequence is 2, and his famous reply rests on an account printed decades later, so certainty is 4; he ties Winfield Scott and David Farragut on 38 and goes first on recognition.23
9 Winfield Scott, 1786 to 1866
- Lived
- Born 13 June 1786 near Petersburg, Virginia; died at West Point on 29 May 1866
- Served
- US Army 1808 to 1861, a general for 47 years; Commanding General of the Army from 1841
- Greatest victory
- The capture of Mexico City, September 1847
- Record
- Won Veracruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec (1847); captured at Queenston Heights (1812)
- Legacy
- Victor of the Mexican War; author of the Anaconda Plan of 1861
Winfield Scott, a Virginian commissioned in 1808, served 53 years, 47 of them as a general. His first battle, at Queenston Heights in 1812, ended with his outnumbered landing party captured; in 1814 his drilled brigade fought at Chippawa and Lundy's Lane, where he was badly wounded. In 1838 he oversaw the removal of the Cherokee, the Trail of Tears.24
His masterpiece came in 1847. On 9 March he put 10,000 to 12,000 men ashore near Veracruz and took the port within three weeks. At Cerro Gordo on 18 April he outflanked Santa Anna and took 3,000 prisoners; the Mexican strength there is given as 9,000 by the American Battlefield Trust and 13,000 to nearly 17,000 by other accounts. He then crossed the Pedregal lava field to win at Contreras and Churubusco on 19 and 20 August, by K. Jack Bauer's account against perhaps three times his 8,500 men, stormed Chapultepec on 13 September and entered Mexico City. James Oberly calls it a campaign won against a larger enemy defending its own capital. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo then gave the United States California and New Mexico. In 1861, aged 74, he devised the Anaconda Plan to strangle the South.25
Why it ranks here: Winning every battle of a campaign fought deep in enemy country gives him full marks for battlefield record, and a war won, with the Mexican Cession, gives consequence 4; but few Americans now know his name, so recognition and legacy are 3. He ties John Paul Jones and David Farragut on 38, goes below Jones on recognition and above Farragut as the older.
10 David Farragut, 1801 to 1870
- Lived
- Born 1801 in Tennessee; died 14 August 1870 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
- Served
- US Navy from 1810; rear admiral 1862, vice admiral 1864, admiral 1866
- Greatest victory
- Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864
- Record
- Took New Orleans (1862) and Mobile Bay (1864); turned back at Vicksburg (1862) and Port Hudson (1863)
- Legacy
- "Damn the torpedoes!", the words tradition gives him
David Glasgow Farragut, born in Tennessee in 1801, became a midshipman at nine and, by the American Battlefield Trust's account, commanded a captured prize ship at twelve. A Southerner, he chose the Union in 1861.26
In April 1862 he bombarded Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans for six days, then early on 24 April led his ships single file past their guns. Within a week New Orleans and both forts had surrendered, and Congress created the rank of rear admiral for him. Upriver he did less well: he passed Vicksburg in the summer of 1862 but had to withdraw, and in March 1863 the guns of Port Hudson drove his flotilla back in an attack the Trust says he seriously bungled.27
At Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864, lashed in the Hartford's rigging, he led his fleet past Fort Morgan. When the monitor Tecumseh struck a mine and sank with 94 men and the column stalled, he took the flagship straight through the minefield. The ironclad Tennessee surrendered, the forts fell by 23 August, and one of the last open Confederate ports was closed, which helped re-elect Lincoln. Myth vs fact: whether he shouted "Damn the torpedoes!" is uncertain; Craig Symonds writes only that he purportedly did, and that he had little choice anyway.28
Why it ranks here: Opening the Mississippi's mouth and closing Mobile earn consequence 4, and the famous phrase legacy 4, but Vicksburg and Port Hudson hold battlefield record to 4, and outside naval history recognition is 3. He ties John Paul Jones and Winfield Scott on 38 and goes third: below Jones on recognition and below Scott as the younger.
11 Andrew Jackson, 1767 to 1845
- Lived
- Born 15 March 1767 in the Waxhaw settlement on the Carolinas border; died 1845 at the Hermitage, Tennessee
- Served
- Major general of Tennessee militia, then of the US Army from 1814; seventh president
- Greatest victory
- New Orleans, 8 January 1815
- Record
- Won Horseshoe Bend (1814) and New Orleans (1815); invaded Spanish Florida (1818)
- Legacy
- Hero of New Orleans; signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830
Andrew Jackson, a Tennessee militia general, led the war against the Red Stick Creeks. On 27 March 1814 he attacked their fortified town at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa with about 3,300 men, including 600 Cherokee and Lower Creek allies, against about 1,000 warriors. While the Cherokee crossed the river and struck from the rear, his infantry stormed the log barricade; more than 800 Red Sticks were killed, against 49 of Jackson's men. The Treaty of Fort Jackson then took more than 20 million acres from the Creeks.29
Now a regular major general, he held earthworks below New Orleans on 8 January 1815 against Sir Edward Pakenham's British veterans, and Pakenham fell. The Park Service's handbook puts about 4,000 Americans on the line against about 5,400 attackers; the American Battlefield Trust counts 5,700 against 8,000 and estimates 2,034 British casualties to 71 American. Myth vs fact: the battle is often said to have been fought after the war was over, but the Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, ended the fighting only when ratified, on 16 February 1815. Still, the Miller Center notes, it had no effect on the outcome. In 1818 he seized Spanish Florida; as president he signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.30
Why it ranks here: Two crushing victories with no defeat to match give him 4 for recognition and battlefield record, but New Orleans was fought after the peace was signed and he is remembered more as the president of Indian removal than as a general, so consequence and legacy are 3. He ties Robert E. Lee and Raymond Spruance on 37, passes Spruance on recognition and goes before Lee as the older.
12 Robert E. Lee, 1807 to 1870
- Lived
- Born 19 January 1807 at Stratford Hall, Virginia; died at Lexington, Virginia, on 12 October 1870
- Served
- US Army 1829 to 1861; Confederate commander of the Army of Northern Virginia 1862 to 1865
- Greatest victory
- Chancellorsville, May 1863
- Record
- Won the Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville; checked at Antietam, beaten at Gettysburg, surrendered 1865
- Legacy
- Idol of the Lost Cause; his skill now weighed against the cause he served
Robert E. Lee, second in West Point's class of 1829, served the United States Army for three decades; in April 1861 he refused command of its forces and went with Virginia into the Confederacy. He fought against the United States for a cause built on slavery: by the testimony of Confederate leaders themselves, the Park Service notes, slavery was central to secession and the war, and Lee, settling his father-in-law’s will, kept its enslaved people in bondage until the courts ruled against him.31
Given the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, he drove McClellan back from Richmond in the Seven Days and beat John Pope at Second Manassas, 55,000 Confederates against 70,000 Union troops by the American Battlefield Trust's count. At Chancellorsville in May 1863 he split an army of 60,000 in the face of 130,000, by the Park Service's figures, and sent Stonewall Jackson round the Union flank, the victory some call his masterpiece. Both his invasions of the North failed: Antietam in 1862 ended in a draw and retreat, and at Gettysburg in July 1863 Pickett's Charge broke on Cemetery Ridge. Ground down by Grant, he surrendered at Appomattox on 9 April 1865. Myth vs fact: the Lost Cause made him a blameless hero; World History Encyclopedia describes a believer in white supremacy, and calls that movement pseudohistorical.32
Why it ranks here: He counts because this page judges generalship and he was an American commander: textbook victories earn recognition and legacy 4, but he lost Gettysburg and the war, so battlefield record and consequence are 3. He ties Andrew Jackson and Raymond Spruance on 37, goes after Jackson as the younger and before Spruance on recognition.
13 Raymond Spruance, 1886 to 1969
- Lived
- Born in Baltimore on 3 July 1886; died at Pebble Beach, California, on 13 December 1969
- Served
- US Navy 1906 to 1948; Task Force 16 at Midway; Central Pacific Force, later Fifth Fleet, 1943 to 1945
- Greatest victory
- Midway, June 1942
- Record
- Won Midway (1942) and the Philippine Sea (1944); directed the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
- Legacy
- President of the Naval War College; the destroyer USS Spruance bears his name
Raymond Spruance, a quiet non-aviator from Baltimore, was commanding a cruiser division when, on the eve of Midway, he took over Task Force 16 and its two carriers from the sick William Halsey. On 4 June 1942 American dive bombers caught the Japanese fleet as its planes rearmed and set Akagi, Kaga and Soryu ablaze; Hiryu was hit that afternoon. Japan lost four fleet carriers and about 3,057 men, the United States one carrier and about 362. Myth vs fact: Spruance did not command the whole American force; he was subordinate to Frank Fletcher, though by Spencer Tucker's account he effectively had command in the battle, and the Naval History and Heritage Command calls his decisions important to its outcome.33
From 1943 he led the Central Pacific Force, renamed the Fifth Fleet, and directed the capture of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In June 1944, covering the Saipan landings with fifteen carriers, he refused to steam west to strike Ozawa's fleet, fearing a lure away from the beachhead, and let the Japanese come to him. They lost three carriers and 480 aircraft by the Park Service's count, more than 600 by EBSCO's, to about 125 American planes. Most of Ozawa's ships escaped, which the Park Service calls an apparent missed opportunity, but Japan's carrier air power never recovered.34
Why it ranks here: Two decisive carrier victories and no defeat give him full marks for battlefield record and consequence, but outside naval history few know his name, recognition 2, and he has no great place in popular memory, legacy 3. He ties Andrew Jackson and Robert E. Lee on 37 and goes below both on recognition.
14 Philip Sheridan, 1831 to 1888
- Lived
- Born 1831, birthplace unknown, raised in Ohio; died 1888
- Served
- US Army from 1853; Union division and cavalry commander; Commanding General of the Army from 1883
- Greatest victory
- Cedar Creek, 19 October 1864
- Record
- Won Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek (1864) and Five Forks (1865); his division routed at Chickamauga (1863)
- Legacy
- "Sheridan's Ride"; also the harsh winter campaigns against the Plains nations
Philip Sheridan, a short, combative Ohioan from West Point's class of 1853, commanded a division at Perryville and Stones River. At Chickamauga on 20 September 1863 Longstreet's attack poured through a gap in the Union line, struck his division in the flank and routed it with the rest of the army's right wing; how quickly he tried to return to the fight is still debated.35
Grant brought him east to lead the Cavalry Corps and in August 1864 gave him the Shenandoah Valley. He beat Jubal Early's smaller army at Third Winchester, 39,240 against 15,200 by the American Battlefield Trust's count, and at Fisher's Hill, then burned the valley's barns and mills. On 19 October Early surprised his camps at Cedar Creek and drove three corps from the field while Sheridan was at Winchester; he rode back, rallied them and counterattacked, a victory that helped re-elect Lincoln. Myth vs fact: the poem "Sheridan's Ride" has him save the day alone, but the Trust also credits Horatio Wright, and notes that Early's hungry men had stopped to loot the Union camps. On 1 April 1865 he broke Pickett's line at Five Forks, cutting Lee's last supply line, and Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond the next day; days later Sheridan's troops blocked his escape at Appomattox. After the war he directed winter campaigns that destroyed the camps of the Plains nations.36
Why it ranks here: Victories that cleared the Valley and ended the siege of Petersburg earn consequence 4, the rout at Chickamauga holds battlefield record to 4, and recognition and legacy are 3. He ties Omar Bradley on 36, level on recognition and consequence, and goes first as the older.
15 Omar Bradley, 1893 to 1981
- Lived
- Born near Clark, Missouri, on 12 February 1893; died 8 April 1981
- Served
- US Army from West Point's class of 1915; First Army and 12th Army Group 1944 to 1945; General of the Army 1950
- Greatest victory
- The Normandy breakout, Operation Cobra, July 1944
- Record
- Took Bizerte (1943); won the Normandy breakout (1944); surprised in the Ardennes (1944)
- Legacy
- "The soldier's general"; commanded 1.3 million men, the largest American field command of its time
Omar Bradley, a Missourian of West Point's class of 1915, had never seen combat when Eisenhower sent him to Tunisia after the defeat at Kasserine Pass. He took over II Corps from Patton on 15 April 1943, and on 7 May his corps captured Bizerte, the last port in Axis hands; he then led it in Sicily.37
On D-Day he commanded the US First Army. After weeks in the Norman hedgerows he conceived Operation Cobra, a narrow attack west of Saint-Lô behind a carpet of bombs, which broke the German line from 25 July 1944. On 1 August he took over the 12th Army Group, which grew to 43 divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest American force until then under one field commander. John Rickard faults him for halting at Argentan, which let many Germans escape the Falaise pocket. When the Germans struck the thinly held Ardennes by surprise on 16 December, Eisenhower gave his northern armies to Montgomery, though Bradley pressed Patton's turn north against the southern flank of the Bulge. By ARMY magazine's account his armies then encircled the Ruhr and met the Soviets on the Elbe. It was the war correspondent Ernie Pyle who, in Sicily, made him famous as the soldier's general, a name that stuck.38
Why it ranks here: The Normandy breakout and command of the largest American army group earn 4 for battlefield record and consequence, with the surprise in the Ardennes keeping record below 5, and the quiet soldier's general is less famous than Patton or Eisenhower, so recognition and legacy are 3. He ties Philip Sheridan on 36, level on recognition and consequence, and goes second as the younger.
How we chose and ranked these American commanders
We counted a commander as anyone who led an American army or fleet in person, from the Continental Army to the Gulf War, and judged each one on generalship alone. That is why Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are candidates here: they were American commanders, even though they fought against the United States for a cause built on slavery, while our guide to America's greatest military heroes leaves them out by its own rule and ranks courage under fire, such as Audie Murphy's. Presidents count only for the battles they commanded themselves. The Civil War and the Pacific have their own guides, the commanders of the American Civil War and the commanders of the Pacific War, the battles are in the greatest battles in American history, and the best of every nation in the greatest military commanders. › Audie Murphy
We considered 25 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria. Recognition counts three times, because this page answers the question of who the greatest American commanders were; battlefield record, consequence and legacy count twice, and certainty once:
- Recognition (×3). 5 if the commander is known far beyond military history and appears on most published lists of the greatest American generals, 1 if only specialists know the name.
- Battlefield record (×2). 5 if he won several decisive victories in person, some against the odds, with no defeat to match, 1 if he is known for no victory of his own or for a disaster.
- Consequence (×2). 5 if his victories changed states, wars or borders for centuries, 1 if they changed nothing lasting.
- Legacy (×2). 5 if he is studied, imitated and remembered today (national memory, monuments, ships, film and television), 1 if he is forgotten.
- Certainty (×1). 5 if his campaigns are documented by independent sources on both sides, 1 if they rest on chronicles written long after or on legend.
The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better known commander, then to the one whose victories changed more, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them. It explains, for example, why Robert E. Lee, perhaps the most debated general in American history, is only twelfth: Second Manassas and Chancellorsville are textbook victories, but his invasions of the North ended in a draw at Antietam and in defeat at Gettysburg, he lost the war, and his victories changed less than those of the men who beat him.
| Rank | Name | Recognition ×3 | Battlefield record ×2 | Consequence ×2 | Legacy ×2 | Certainty ×1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Washington | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 46 |
| 2 | Ulysses S. Grant | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 46 |
| 3 | George S. Patton | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 46 |
| 4 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 44 |
| 5 | Douglas MacArthur | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 42 |
| 6 | Chester Nimitz | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 40 |
| 7 | William T. Sherman | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 39 |
| 8 | John Paul Jones | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 38 |
| 9 | Winfield Scott | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 38 |
| 10 | David Farragut | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 38 |
| 11 | Andrew Jackson | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 37 |
| 12 | Robert E. Lee | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 37 |
| 13 | Raymond Spruance | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 37 |
| 14 | Philip Sheridan | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| 15 | Omar Bradley | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
Close calls
Four commanders came close and did not make the fifteen:
Norman Schwarzkopf, 1934 to 2012. He commanded the coalition that drove Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991: a feint toward a frontal invasion of Kuwait while his forces raced as much as 530 miles round the Iraqi defenses, and a ground war that lasted 100 hours. It was one campaign, prepared by an air offensive with “smart” weapons, so battlefield record and consequence are 3, and he misses the fifteen by one point.39
Matthew Ridgway, 1895 to 1993. He led the 82nd Airborne Division into Normandy on D-Day and, as commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, launched the counteroffensive against the Chinese that Arlington National Cemetery credits with saving the United Nations war effort. Michael Peck named him among the five greatest US Army generals, as the Modern War Institute at West Point notes, but few other lists do, so recognition is 2; he ties Schwarzkopf on 35 and loses on recognition. Read his story.40
John J. Pershing, 1860 to 1948. He commanded the American Expeditionary Force in 1917 and 1918, won separate camps and American instructors for his men, and beat the Germans in the Saint-Mihiel salient in September 1918; the Meuse-Argonne offensive that followed was, in the Park Service’s words, a slow, bloody advance until the armistice. His was one of several armies that won the war, so consequence is 3 and he scores 34. Read his story.41
Stonewall Jackson, 1824 to 1863. Eligible on the same terms as Lee, he won his nickname at First Manassas, beat three separate Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862 and on 2 May 1863 led the flank march that won Chancellorsville; that evening his own men shot him by mistake, and he died on 10 May. His victories did not decide the war, so consequence is 2; he ties Pershing on 34 and goes below him on consequence. Read his story.42
Why are Audie Murphy, William Halsey and George Marshall not on the list?
Each fails a different test. Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War II with 28 medals by Arlington National Cemetery’s count, fought as an infantry officer and commanded no army, so his courage is ranked in our guide to America’s greatest military heroes instead. George Marshall, the Army chief of staff who grew the army from fewer than 200,000 men to more than eight million and shaped its strategy, commanded no battle in person, so he scores 1 for battlefield record and 37 in all.43
William Halsey, who was on the earlier version of this page, commanded in the South Pacific in 1942 and 1943 and led the Third Fleet from 1944, but at Leyte Gulf he took his whole force north after Ozawa’s carriers, a decoy sent to lure him away from the landings. That holds his battlefield record to 3, and at 32 points he falls below the close calls; read his story.44
Who was the greatest American general of World War II?
On our scores George S. Patton, third overall on 46 points, ahead of Dwight D. Eisenhower on 44 and Douglas MacArthur on 42. The public names the same three: in Gallup’s poll of November 2000, 17 percent of Americans called Patton the greatest American general of all time, 14 percent Eisenhower and 12 percent MacArthur, against 8 percent for George Washington. The answer depends on age, though: Americans born before the war put Eisenhower first, with 35 percent.45
Where to go next
Each commander above has a full biography, and you can walk the battles they fought in the greatest battles in American history, meet the Civil War and Pacific commanders in the commanders of the American Civil War and the commanders of the Pacific War, or measure them against the world’s best in the greatest military commanders.
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- World History Encyclopedia, “George Washington”; HISTORY, “Inch’on Landing”. ↩
- Miller Center, “George Washington”. ↩
- Miller Center, “George Washington”; American Battlefield Trust, “Trenton”. ↩
- Miller Center, “George Washington”; American Battlefield Trust, “Yorktown”; National Park Service, “Chronology of the Siege of Yorktown”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Ulysses S. Grant”; Miller Center, “Ulysses S. Grant”. ↩
- Miller Center, “Ulysses S. Grant”; American Battlefield Trust, “Fort Donelson”; American Battlefield Trust, “Ulysses S. Grant”; American Battlefield Trust, “10 Facts”; National Park Service, “The Battles for Chattanooga”; American Battlefield Trust, “Cold Harbor”; HistoryNet, “The Butcher’s Bill”; American Battlefield Trust, “Appomattox Court House”. ↩
- HistoryNet, “The Butcher’s Bill”. ↩
- Gallup News Service, “Greatest American Military General of All Time? Public Says Patton, Eisenhower and MacArthur”. ↩
- The National WWII Museum, “General George S. Patton”. ↩
- The National WWII Museum, “General George S. Patton”; HistoryNet, “The Untold Story of Patton at Bastogne”; American Heritage, “Ike’s Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr.”; The National WWII Museum, “A Costly Failure”. ↩
- Gallup News Service, “Greatest American Military General of All Time? Public Says Patton, Eisenhower and MacArthur”. ↩
- Eisenhower Presidential Library, “The Eisenhowers”. ↩
- National Park Service, “Eisenhower in 1943”; National Park Service, “Supreme Allied Commander”; U.S. National Archives, “D-day, 1944”; English Heritage, “Bernard Law Montgomery”; American Heritage, “Ike’s Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr.”; HistoryNet, “The Untold Story of Patton at Bastogne”; Eisenhower Presidential Library, “The Eisenhowers”. ↩
- MacArthur Memorial, “General Douglas MacArthur”. ↩
- PBS, “MacArthur”; MacArthur Memorial, “General Douglas MacArthur”. ↩
- HISTORY, “Inch’on Landing”; PBS, “MacArthur”; U.S. National Archives, “You’re Fired!”; MacArthur Memorial, “General Douglas MacArthur”. ↩
- National Museum of the Pacific War, “Admiral Nimitz”; Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, “Nimitz, Chester (1885-1966)”; Handbook of Texas, “Nimitz, Chester William”. ↩
- Handbook of Texas, “Nimitz, Chester William”; Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, “Nimitz, Chester (1885-1966)”; The National WWII Museum, “The Battle of Midway”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942”; National Museum of the Pacific War, “Admiral Nimitz”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “William T. Sherman”; Library of Congress, “William T. Sherman”; American Battlefield Trust, “Shiloh”; National Park Service, “William T. Sherman”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “William T. Sherman”; American Battlefield Trust, “Kennesaw Mountain”; American Battlefield Trust, “Atlanta”; New Georgia Encyclopedia, “Sherman’s March to the Sea”; American Battlefield Trust, “Sherman’s March to the Sea”; National Park Service, “William T. Sherman”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “John Paul Jones”. ↩
- HISTORY, “John Paul Jones leads American raid on Whitehaven, England”; World History Encyclopedia, “John Paul Jones”; The American Crisis, “‘I have not yet begun to fight!’”; American Battlefield Trust, “John Paul Jones”. ↩
- History, “Congressional Gold Medal Recipients”; U.S. Naval Academy, “Crypt of John Paul Jones”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Winfield Scott”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Winfield Scott”. ↩
- Handbook of Texas Online, “Mexican War”; American Battlefield Trust, “Winfield Scott's Mexican Invasion”; EBSCO Research Starters, “American Forces Capture Mexico City”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Winfield Scott”; National Park Service, “Winfield Scott”; American Battlefield Trust, “Winfield Scott”. ↩
- EBSCO Research Starters, “David G. Farragut”; American Battlefield Trust, “David G. Farragut”. ↩
- Library of Congress, “The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip Through Maps”; American Battlefield Trust, “David G. Farragut”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Damn the Torpedoes! The Battle of Mobile Bay”; Encyclopedia of Alabama, “Battle of Mobile Bay”; American Battlefield Trust, “Mobile Bay”. ↩
- Encyclopedia of Alabama, “Battle of Horseshoe Bend”; American Battlefield Trust, “Horseshoe Bend”; National Park Service, “History & Culture”. ↩
- National Park Service, “Chalmette National Historical Park”; American Battlefield Trust, “New Orleans”; Miller Center, “Andrew Jackson”; American Battlefield Trust, “Andrew Jackson”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Robert E. Lee”; National Park Service, “Confronting Slavery and Revealing the "Lost Cause"”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Second Manassas”; National Park Service, “The Battle of Chancellorsville”; American Battlefield Trust, “Antietam”; American Battlefield Trust, “Gettysburg”; American Battlefield Trust, “Robert E. Lee”; National Park Service, “The Surrender Meeting”; World History Encyclopedia, “Robert E. Lee”. ↩
- EBSCO Research Starters, “Raymond A. Spruance”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance, USN, (1886-1969)”; The National WWII Museum, “The Battle of Midway”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942”. ↩
- Naval History and Heritage Command, “Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance, USN, (1886-1969)”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Raymond A. Spruance”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of the Philippine Sea”; National Park Service, “Battle of the Philippine Sea”. ↩
- National Park Service, “Philip Sheridan”; National Park Service, “Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields”; Emerging Civil War, “Chickamauga”; Emerging Civil War, “Stones in the Road”. ↩
- National Park Service, “Philip Sheridan”; American Battlefield Trust, “Third Winchester”; American Battlefield Trust, “Philip Sheridan”; American Battlefield Trust, “Cedar Creek”; American Battlefield Trust, “Five Forks”. ↩
- History of War, “Omar Nelson Bradley, 1893-1981”; State Historical Society of Missouri, “Omar Bradley”; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Tunisia Campaign”; ARMY magazine, “General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, 1893-1981”. ↩
- Martin Blumenson, “Chapter XI”; History of War, “Operation Cobra, 25-31 July 1944”; ARMY magazine, “General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, 1893-1981”; Arlington National Cemetery, “Prominent Military Figures”; History of War, “Omar Nelson Bradley, 1893-1981”; National Park Service, “Battle of the Bulge”; State Historical Society of Missouri, “Omar Bradley”. ↩
- Gerald D. Swick, “General H. Norman Schwarzkopf”. ↩
- Arlington National Cemetery, “Prominent Military Figures”; Modern War Institute at West Point, “Who Are the Greatest Army Generals?”. ↩
- National Park Service, “John Pershing and World War I”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson”. ↩
- Arlington National Cemetery, “Audie Murphy”; Arlington National Cemetery, “Prominent Military Figures”. ↩
- Arlington National Cemetery, “Prominent Military Figures”; The National WWII Museum, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf”. ↩
- Gallup News Service, “Greatest American Military General of All Time? Public Says Patton, Eisenhower and MacArthur”. ↩
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia (Harrison W. Mark), “George Washington”
- HISTORY (A&E Television Networks), “Inch’on Landing”
- Miller Center, University of Virginia (Lindsay M. Chervinsky), “George Washington: Life Before the Presidency”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Trenton”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Yorktown”
- National Park Service, Yorktown Battlefield, “Chronology of the Siege of Yorktown”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Ulysses S. Grant”
- Miller Center, University of Virginia (Joan Waugh), “Ulysses S. Grant: Life Before the Presidency”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Fort Donelson”
- American Battlefield Trust, “10 Facts: The Vicksburg Campaign”
- National Park Service, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, “The Battles for Chattanooga”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Cold Harbor”
- HistoryNet (Edward H. Bonekemper III), “The Butcher’s Bill: Was Grant or Lee Responsible for More Deaths in the Civil War?”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Appomattox Court House”
- Gallup News Service, “Greatest American Military General of All Time? Public Says Patton, Eisenhower and MacArthur”
- The National WWII Museum (Haley Guepet), “General George S. Patton”
- HistoryNet (David T. Zabecki), “The Untold Story of Patton at Bastogne”
- American Heritage, vol. 62, no. 2, Summer 2012 (John Eisenhower), “Ike’s Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr.”
- The National WWII Museum (Mark T. Calhoun), “A Costly Failure: Patton’s Raid to Liberate Hammelburg”
- Eisenhower Presidential Library, “The Eisenhowers: Dwight David Eisenhower Chronology”
- National Park Service, Eisenhower National Historic Site, “Eisenhower in 1943”
- National Park Service, Eisenhower National Historic Site, “Supreme Allied Commander: Eisenhower and the Planning for D-Day”
- U.S. National Archives, American Originals, “D-day, 1944”
- English Heritage, Blue Plaques, “Bernard Law Montgomery”
- MacArthur Memorial, “General Douglas MacArthur” (PDF)
- PBS, American Experience, “MacArthur”
- U.S. National Archives, Pieces of History blog, “You’re Fired!”
- National Museum of the Pacific War, “Admiral Nimitz”
- Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Dade Weldon Casad), “Nimitz, Chester (1885-1966)”
- Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association (Robert S. Weddle), “Nimitz, Chester William”
- The National WWII Museum, “The Battle of Midway”
- Naval History and Heritage Command, Online Library of Selected Images (HyperWar mirror), “Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942: Overview and Special Image Selection”
- American Battlefield Trust, “William T. Sherman”
- Library of Congress, The Civil War in America, “William T. Sherman”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Shiloh”
- National Park Service, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, “William T. Sherman”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Kennesaw Mountain”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Atlanta”
- New Georgia Encyclopedia (Anne J. Bailey), “Sherman’s March to the Sea”
- American Battlefield Trust (John F. Marszalek), “Sherman’s March to the Sea”
- American Battlefield Trust, “John Paul Jones”
- HISTORY (A&E Television Networks), “John Paul Jones leads American raid on Whitehaven, England”
- World History Encyclopedia (Harrison W. Mark), “John Paul Jones”
- The American Crisis, Foundation of American Ideals (Jack D. Warren, Jr.), 20 October 2023, “‘I have not yet begun to fight!’”
- History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Congressional Gold Medal Recipients”
- U.S. Naval Academy, Chaplains Center, “Crypt of John Paul Jones”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Winfield Scott”
- EBSCO Research Starters (James W. Oberly), “Winfield Scott”
- Handbook of Texas Online (K. Jack Bauer), “Mexican War”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Winfield Scott's Mexican Invasion”
- EBSCO Research Starters, “American Forces Capture Mexico City”
- National Park Service, “Winfield Scott”
- EBSCO Research Starters (Joseph E. Suppiger), “David G. Farragut”
- American Battlefield Trust, “David G. Farragut”
- Library of Congress, Worlds Revealed blog, “The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip Through Maps”
- American Battlefield Trust (Craig Symonds), “Damn the Torpedoes! The Battle of Mobile Bay”
- Encyclopedia of Alabama (Jennifer M. Murray), “Battle of Mobile Bay”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Mobile Bay”
- Encyclopedia of Alabama (Ove Jensen), “Battle of Horseshoe Bend”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Horseshoe Bend”
- National Park Service, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, “History & Culture”
- National Park Service, Historical Handbook No. 29 (Chalmette), via NPS History, “Chalmette National Historical Park”
- American Battlefield Trust, “New Orleans”
- Miller Center, University of Virginia (Daniel Feller), “Andrew Jackson: Life Before the Presidency”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Andrew Jackson”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Robert E. Lee”
- National Park Service (James Oliver Horton), “Confronting Slavery and Revealing the "Lost Cause"”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Second Manassas”
- National Park Service, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, “The Battle of Chancellorsville”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Antietam”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Gettysburg”
- National Park Service, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, “The Surrender Meeting”
- World History Encyclopedia (Harrison W. Mark), “Robert E. Lee”
- EBSCO Research Starters (Spencer C. Tucker), “Raymond A. Spruance”
- Naval History and Heritage Command, Online Library of Selected Images (HyperWar mirror), “Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance, USN, (1886-1969)”
- EBSCO Research Starters (Jason T. Harris), “Battle of the Philippine Sea”
- National Park Service, American Memorial Park, “Battle of the Philippine Sea”
- National Park Service, “Philip Sheridan”
- National Park Service, Historical Handbook No. 25, via NPS History, “Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields: The Battle of Chickamauga (continued)”
- Emerging Civil War (Chris Mackowski), “Chickamauga: The Breakthrough”
- Emerging Civil War (Daniel Davis), “Stones in the Road: Phil Sheridan and the Shadow of Chickamauga”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Third Winchester”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Philip Sheridan”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Cedar Creek”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Five Forks: Battle facts and summary”
- History of War (John Rickard), “Omar Nelson Bradley, 1893-1981”
- State Historical Society of Missouri, Historic Missourians, “Omar Bradley”
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia, “Tunisia Campaign”
- ARMY magazine, May 1981, in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, “General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, 1893-1981” (PDF)
- Martin Blumenson, US Army in World War II: Breakout and Pursuit (HyperWar transcription), “Chapter XI: COBRA Preparations”
- History of War (John Rickard), “Operation Cobra, 25-31 July 1944”
- Arlington National Cemetery, “Prominent Military Figures”
- National Park Service, World War II Memorial, “Battle of the Bulge”
- Gerald D. Swick, Armchair General, “General H. Norman Schwarzkopf: In Memoriam”
- Modern War Institute at West Point, “Who Are the Greatest Army Generals?”
- National Park Service, “John Pershing and World War I”
- American Battlefield Trust, “Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson”
- Arlington National Cemetery, “Audie Murphy”
- The National WWII Museum, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf”
