A what if question for civil war buffs,?

Question

In April 1861President Lincoln offered Robert E. Lee the field command of all US army forces , how do you think the war would have been different had he accepted?

I'm going to leave this open for a while to get as many answers as possible, but here's my take. Had Lee accepted the position the war would have ended in months rather than years. Lee was one of the best military commanders West Point has ever produced, given the resources of the north and generals like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan,and Hooker under his command plus the fact that he was well respected in the south would have brought the war to a close much quicker, I might even go as far to speculate that Lee could have became the 17th president of the U.S., then again, you never know.......

Answer 1

Lee was audacious. He was not cautious like the early Union commanders. Lee would have immediately pressed the attack and engaged in a war of maneuver to secure the capital of Virginia. It is likely that he still would have implemented the Anaconda Plan since his superior would still have been his old mentor. But I suspect that he would have conducted a Sherman-like march much sooner than Sherman did, very similar to his invasions of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Lee would have made much better use of his cavalry and its unlikely that the Union forces, superior in number, would have behaved anywhere near as tentatively as they really did.

My opinion is, that the war would have been won by the Union within months. The problem was that Lincoln could not find a general aggressive enough to carry out his intentions and take advantage of northern resources. If he had been blessed with Lee, aggressiveness would have been matched with resources and that would have been all she wrote.

Answer 2

Lee would have won the war. Sherman and Grant made it a war of conquest but that is after the Confederacy was able to grow into 13 states. If Lee took the command the state of Virginia would have had to remain in the Union. That would have cost the Rebels a lot of valuable officers and men although some would have went North and some would have went South. I do know that Lee made the choice based on his love and duty to his home state. Many men of that time based their decision based on their statehood.

Anyways, Lee was a very aggressive commander, he believed in the attack, he would have went after the Confederates and whipped em.

Answer 3

I consider myself a civil war buff, and I would say general lee was the best general in his time. I would say that if lee took command of the union army the war may have changed dramatically. The union army would not have lost the battles that the south had won. The problem was that the northern commanders didnt have the tactical knowlege of the enemy when lee himself was from the south. If lee was given command the war would have ended sooner than 1865 and the confederacy would have sued for peace a lot sooner.

Answer 4

that is an offbeat decision for a Civil warfare buff. Harry Turtledove has written an total sequence of books in preserving with what ought to have surpassed off had a accomplice dispatch rider no longer lost Lee's orders on the conflict of Antietem. as a outcome, in the sequence, the Confederacy wins the Civil warfare and could grow to be a separate u . s . a .. by some ability or yet another he manages to keep issues exciting over the subsequent 9 volumes. The communique is trite at situations, the writing is slightly hackneyed each and every once in a lengthy time period, notwithstanding this is nevertheless a relaxing examine for individuals that relish "What if?" sorts of books. again, a diverse type of decision.

Answer 5

The Union might've won the war sooner if Lee had been in command.

The problem the Union had was inadequate leadership. Lincoln had to go through guys like McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade before he got Grant, and he caught hell for it because Grant drank (Lincoln's answer to that was that all his generals should be sent a case of whiskey). The Confederacy had only one commander the entire time - Lee.

Answer 6

Lincoln had some of the worst Generals any president in any way has had... If Lee would not have followed his honor and stayed with the Union Armies... the war would have ended in 2 year or less and the casualties would have been less than half.

Answer 7

This certainly would have put Lee in a dilemna, given that Virginia would have wanted to secede, and Lee's loyalty lay with his state, Virginia, first.
A man whose loyalties are divided does not make as sound or as quick decisions. It is likely as someone else pointed out, that General Lee would have been also slowed down by his being forced to direct troops against his own home state and many of his fellow West Point officers.

Answer 8

Lincoln would not have had to put up with so many inadequate generals such a McClellan if Lee had been available. Sadly Lee could not go against his beloved home state of VA. Lincoln had to wait until he found Grant to feel confident in the leadership of the GAR.

Answer 9

1) Virginia would have remained in the Union, that was Lee's condition.

2) The war would have been over sooner, because without the tactical genius of a Confederate general, the South would have been annihalated by superior numbers, manufacturing and tactical ability.

Answer 10

As great a General as was Bobby Lee...he was slow to action...much like Georgie McClellan. I think Lincoln would have fired Lee too... eventually.

What would have been interesting is to see if Lee accepted retirement...or if he would have jumped ship.

This is a good question.