Grant and Lee didn't always fight on opposing sides, though. They fought together against Mexico, but they fought against each other in the Civil War. Grant fought for the Union army (the North) and Lee fought for the Confederate (Southern) army. They were also similar because Grant commanded the entire Union army, and Lee commanded the entire Confederate army.
Lee and Grant both went to school at West Point. Lee was fifteen years older than Grant, so they weren't classmates. Lee was a great student at West Point. He took his work seriously and never got a demerit. Grant was completely different. He did the minimum amount of work and got a lot of demerits.
Grant and Lee had completely different military careers. After the war with Mexico, Lee became the superintendent at West Point. Grant, however, resigned from the army. At the beginning of the Civil War, Lee was already an important officer, while Grant was a leader of a minor regiment.
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were more different than alike. While both great generals started their military careers the same way, the rest of their careers were very different. Both fought for what they believed in, but on different sides of the war. Lee was a great military general continuing a family tradition while Grant simply excelled at something he was forced to do.
