alternatehistory.com

The POD as follows is pretty simple: General Reynolds is not killed at Gettysburg, which leads to minimal butterflies in that battle. When Grant begins his 1864 campaigns (because the butterflies of one officer in that ranking not dying is hardly likely to affect the Chickamauga or Chattanooga Campaigns), he picks Reynolds, as opposed to Ben Butler, to head the Army of the James.

Thus Lee is faced with Reynolds moving on Petersburg immediately, as opposed to letting himself be trapped, while Grant is moving through to his own offensive. Lee is faced with two armies moving simultaneously to confront his army, which leaves him with a major dilemma, and given Lee's fetish for attacking when faced with such situations, he tries this against the Army of the Potomac on open ground, due to his RL contempt for Yankees and the AoP in Particular.

The result is an Eastern Theater Nashville and Lee surrenders somewhere around Danville by July unable to replace his army significantly and following the capture of Richmond. The Civil War proper is over by November with the last Confederate armies deciding when Lincoln wins it's best just to give up the ghost.

What would the cultural and political butterflies be in ITTL if Grant does in fact win this kind of victory? If a Lost Cause shows up, would it focus on Lee, who would ITTL really have buggered the Confederacy badly, or would the Western War become the major focus of the "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" types? For that matter, what would be the view of the generals in the ATL? Especially Lee and Grant?

Given that this POD would also end the war before the March to the Sea and the Valley Campaigns, how does that affect the postwar economic recovery?
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