There were very few generals in that time that were better at fighting a defensive campaign than Lee. However wars are not won on defense, they are won on offense. Grant was an offensive genius, he knew he had to keep constant pressure on Lee and keep advancing no matter how bad the casualties were. Doing this wore Lee down, didn't allow him to resupply, regroup or rest. The only time Lee tried to go on the offensive and take the war to the North he got trounced at Gettysburg. Since all the battles for the Civil War were fought in the South, that put the burden totally on the population of the South. That is an unwinnable situation when the resources begin to run out which is exactly what happened.
Lee was good. Grant was better. If you want some insight into Grant take some time and read his memoirs which were published shortly before his death, He explains his thoughts and reasons for every battle and he fully takes the blame for the ones that didn't work such as the 3rd attack at Cold Harbor where 6000 men died. He said he regretted that decision every day of his life. Those are the marks of a leader, willing to make the decisions and being able to admit publicly if the decision was wrong. I wish Grant had been a better president but he was kind of set up to fail. As a general he expected every order to be carried out but politics don't work that way and like Trump he had a deep swamp to swim in and it beat him. Hopefully it doesn't beat Trump in the end.
On a side note did you notice the difference in the respect shown to Ike in that press conference as compared to a press conference today? The reporters were respectful, didn't argue, didn't show boat, didn't interrupt and basically behaved civilly. Just on observation of how far the press has fallen.
