Lee accepts command of the Union Army !!!

General Lee

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This would lead to an interesting turn of events. This would shatter our whole understanding of the war. With Lee's genius and advantage in numbers would the war have ended quicker ? Would the Army of Northern Virginia have the same famous reputation ? Who would have lead it after Johnston was wounded ?

So many questions, let's hear your theory.
 

jgoodguy

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Lots of variables. Do we mean the Lee that won over Mcclellan or the one that lost in West VA.

Assuming the winning Lee and not the losing one, a quick Union victory with no 13th Amendment. No Lincoln pennies or monument.
 

General Lee

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Lots of variables. Do we mean the Lee that won over Mcclellan or the one that lost in West VA.

Assuming the winning Lee and not the losing one, a quick Union victory with no 13th Amendment. No Lincoln pennies or monument.
Yes, say Lee accepted and Mclellan wasn't in command. However the Army of Northern Virginia's leader is interesting because when Joe Johnston fell wounded he was replaced by Lee but say Lee took to the other side then who ? Any thoughts, personally I think Jackson would be a good choice.
 

jgoodguy

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Yes, say Lee accepted and Mclellan wasn't in command. However the Army of Northern Virginia's leader is interesting because when Joe Johnston fell wounded he was replaced by Lee but say Lee took to the other side then who ? Any thoughts, personally I think Jackson would be a good choice.
The complexity of this what-if is rather like the butterfly effect. Once we change one thing, a big thing, in this case, the future is rerolled so to speak to the point that Joe Johnson may not be the commander. or get shot. We may not even recognize the new future in any way.

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. ... A very small change in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome.
 

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jgoodguy

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Oh, ok well let's say the learned Lee just to shake things up, even though it was 1861.
The problem is if Lee goes Union what changes with the CSA. Joe Johnson is a classmate of Lee's, a Virginian too, and could have stayed loyal.
 

General Lee

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The problem is if Lee goes Union what changes with the CSA. Joe Johnson is a classmate of Lee's, a Virginian too, and could have stayed loyal.
Lee had great leadership and victories but my point was Lee replaced Johnston and it was Lee that built up the reputation of the Army. So without him what in your opinion would have happened is what I meant.
 
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5fish

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Lee had great leadership and victories
I do not know about that for Lee would have had to train and organize the new union army. We all can complain about McClellan as a field general but he did organized and get the union army ready to fight. I want to point out Lee took command of a confederate army that was experience and battle harden army not one from scratch.

I like to point out his first command in the field at Cheat Mountain did not go that well with inexperience officers and troops...
 

jgoodguy

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I do not know about that for Lee would have had to train and organize the new union army. We all can complain about McClellan as a field general but he did organized and get the union army ready to fight. I want to point out Lee took command of a confederate army that was experience and battle harden army not one from scratch.

I like to point out his first command in the field at Cheat Mountain did not go that well with inexperience officers and troops...
Good points
 

General Lee

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I do not know about that for Lee would have had to train and organize the new union army. We all can complain about McClellan as a field general but he did organized and get the union army ready to fight. I want to point out Lee took command of a confederate army that was experience and battle harden army not one from scratch.

I like to point out his first command in the field at Cheat Mountain did not go that well with inexperience officers and troops...
Both good points
 

diane

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Well, if Lee had done with the AoP what he did with the ANV - very short war! The ANV is still considered one of the finest small armies in history. However...he was a Virginian to beat all Virginians - a Lee. The importance of his family name has to be considered. How many Virginians would have remained loyal to the Union if he had done so?

One of the commanders who could have led the ANV (or whatever he might have named it) was Custis Lee. He had the experience and he seemed to have inherited his father's military talent. There's a what-if!
 
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