General Robert Edward Lee

[Vanyel]

How would the American Civil War have turned out, had Lee accepted President Lincoln's offer to command the Union Army? Lee turned the command down because Virgina seceded; but had he taken command of the Union Army, would it have shortened the war?

In my opinion, Lee was the best General during the Civil War. If the South had been on equal industrial footing with the North I think Lee could have won the war, or at least fought the North to a stalemate. Either way the Confederacy would have gained independence.

So if Lee had taken command of the Union Army, I think the Union would have won in less than half the time.

So, what do you guys think? Yes. No. Or it would have made no difference.

 

[Finn]

Well if the south had equal industrial footing, they probably wouldn't have seceded in the first place.

 

[ThankQ]

Well, while the Virginia Theater is the most famous of the war, it was not the only theater.

I imagine it would have been a lot shorter had Lee joined the North.

Now, to me, the more interesting question is what if Stonewall Jackson hadn't been killed in '63. He was a huge part of Lee's greatness. Without Jackson to properly execute Lee's audacious strategies, Lee really lost all ability to attack. Longstreet could successfully defend a Hostess factory from an army of pot heads, but he couldn't mount a decent attack against a labor of moles.

 

[JNG]

For him to have accepted that offer, he'd have to have been a fundamentally different guy. I can't say how effective that guy's generalship would have been, but I don't think the overall course of the war would have been too dramatically affected by any one man.

 

[ThankQ]

I don't think the overall course of the war would have been too dramatically affected by any one man.

There is not one event in all of history that wouldn't be dramatically altered by changing one man.

ETA: Off topic, but that reminded me of the Al Franken/Ann Coulter debate, where the moderator asked them both, "If you could be anyone in history, who would it be?"

Coulter replied snottily: I would be FDR so I could stop The New Deal.

Franken blinked, then replied: Well, (beat) I would be Hitler.

The audience erupted into applause.

 

[Capt_Piett]

Lord, I need to see if the Coulter/Franken debate is on Youtube...I'd imagine he wipes the floor with her stuck up skanky crackhead ass. Did she really say that? If she did, she's a bigger idiot than I thought. Since FDR was the one responsible for the new deal, she couldn't really "stop" it since it wouldn't have been started in the first place. Stopping something usually implies it has begun.

 

[Finn]

For him to have accepted that offer, he'd have to have been a fundamentally different guy. I can't say how effective that guy's generalship would have been, but I don't think the overall course of the war would have been too dramatically affected by any one man.

Or if Virginia didn't secede

 

[Caliburn24]

Lee was brillant and had he gone to the North it probably would have ended the war earlier. But it is impossible to say for certain of course. He would probably have been more cautious with a Union army, since in many of his battles he was outnumbered and had to resort to desperate tactics. The idea of a Lee v. Jackson battle or something similar is intriguing.

It should be noted however that the Civil War was not won or lost in the Virginia/Maryland theater. It was Sherman's(the finest general in the Civil War) western army that went through the breadbasket of the Confederacy like a knife through butter that finally ended the war. Not the gruesome slaughtfests in Virginia.

 

[Timby]

Longstreet could successfully defend a Hostess factory from an army of pot heads

This needs to be the plot of George Romero's next movie.