Ironically, this is part of why the Confederacy failed so hard, but have most of the well known generals. The generals were absolutely trash at strategy. They were totally focused on winning glorious battles, and they sacrificed a significant number of troops getting them. Then, in the long term, they didn't have the ability to keep fighting like that. Their names are remembered for being these supposedly amazing generals (some of this is post-hoc to worship the Confederacy as a symbol for racism) while the union generals were out there winning the war with superior strategy. They were much more likely to retreat when it wasn't strategically advantageous, because they weren't stupid.