I read somewhere that early in the war, Jefferson Davis was issuing general's rank and command of troops to people in return for favors, rather than giving such rank and command to experienced tacticians. The South should have won the war in a few months. They could easily have taken DC and captured Lincoln at Bull Run, had they had proper folks in command on the ground.
I’m not the historian that some are but I’ve read and seems accurate that Lee was a great defensive mind more so than offensive mind. Maybe he didn’t get big picture guerrilla tactics? If that were the case it would make sense. I read somewhere that he later regretted not turning lose Generals such as Forrester earlier in the war.
From my understanding of Grant he was a mediocre General in the field but realized that the North had the numbers and industrialization so was good with loosing more men in order to grind the South down over time.
