There have been some good ones mentioned already, so I'll skip over those to bring up a fewer lesser known ones who's leadership and/or strategy should be more highly celebrated.


Nathanael Greene probably played as big of a part in the eventual defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown as anybody. When he split his forces in the Carolinas he forced Cornwallis to do the same, resulting in Patriot victories at Cowpens and Kings Mountain. Then his strategic retreat forced Cornwallis to chase him, and most importantly in order to keep up forced Cornwallis to shed much of his equipment and provisions, thus weakening his forces. When Greene faced Cornwallis in full scale battle he rarely outright defeated him, but even in defeat he forced Cornwallis to expend more resources than he was able to replace. This eventually forced Cornwallis out of the Carolinas and into Virginia where he was eventually defeated.


Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller is an American military leader that outside of the Marine Corps and a small segment of history buffs doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves. He fought in the "Banana Wars" in Haiti and Nicaragua, WWII and Korea and served as an exemplary leader of men in almost every case. He didn't achieve a general's rank until after his masterful actions during the withdrawal from Chosin Reservoir, but Puller was without a doubt one of the best battlefield leaders in US history.