DBWI General Lee joins the confederacy

[West]

In OTL general Lee was given the difficult choice of choosing his country or his state.

He chose his country, and was one of the great union generals, but was also regarded as a traitor in his home state of Virginia. A reputation that led his remains being buried in New York until after the civil rights era when his remains were finally allowed to return home.

But what if he had chosen his home state what if he had joined the confederacy how would that have changed his reputation and the war.

 

[CommieScum]

Lee doesn't change the great material and manpower disparity. Richmond is still too close to the frontier and will fall like it did, but perhaps Lee can stall further advance along the coast. If McClellan repeats his dabacles on the Mississippi, I could see the confederates holding out longer. And if they manage to hold out until the 1864 elections, there is a very real chance that Lincoln may have trouble. Then the best case for confederates is negotiation with the Democrats.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

The CSA folds earlier.

Lee was an attacking general- infamously, far too much of an attacking general, with a fundamentally Napoleonic obsession with surrounding enemies and defeating them in decisive battles. That ended badly for him in the first years of the war before the US military was sufficiently built up- I mean, he's 'one of the great union generals' if you're salving the egos of the south by telling them that they had Lee and George Thomas on the winning side, but there's a reason Lincoln asked for his resignation in 1863.

With the CSA's manpower and material shortage? He'd be attacking with men he couldn't afford to lose. Defence in depth was the best strategy they had.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

It's also worth noting that his remains got returned home in the civil rights era because once the great violent backlash of the fifties started the South was preoccupied with proving that it was more patriotic than the 'godless, cosmopolitan' North- so you bring back Lee because he'd proved that you could be a vicious slave-holder and serve your country faithfully. There's a reason his grave had been maintained by the Kuklos, not the local African-American community.

 

[West]

It's also worth noting that his remains got returned home in the civil rights era because once the great violent backlash of the fifties started the South was preoccupied with proving that it was more patriotic than the 'godless, cosmopolitan' North- so you bring back Lee because he'd proved that you could be a vicious slave-holder and serve your country faithfully. There's a reason his grave had been maintained by the Kuklos, not the local African-American community.

I always found that ironic since lee openly hated the klan when he was alive.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Not enough to condemn them, or stop his students joining them, or to disagree with them about things like the right to beat people bloody for trying to escape to freedom and rubbing the wounds with salt.




OOC: Look, if you want to go 'what if Lee fought for the Union?', then fine. It can be done without pretending that Lee wasn't a cruel slave owner. He didn't refuse to take a stand against the Klan in OTL because he fundamentally agreed with their world view, even if not their methods. If he had fought for the Union, it would be because, like his cousin, he decided to be loyal to his oath as a commissioned officer. It would not be because he had changed his views on slavery.

 

[West]

Not enough to condemn them, or stop his students joining them, or to disagree with them about things like the right to beat people bloody for trying to escape to freedom and rubbing the wounds with salt.




OOC: Look, if you want to go 'what if Lee fought for the Union?', then fine. It can be done without pretending that Lee wasn't a cruel slave owner. He didn't refuse to take a stand against the Klan in OTL because he fundamentally agreed with their world view, even if not their methods. If he had fought for the Union, it would be because, like his cousin, he decided to be loyal to his oath as a commissioned officer. It would not be because he had changed his views on slavery.

True it did seem a lot of his issues with the klan were based more on his classcim then disagreement about their actions. It's still ironic to me though

 

[Amadeus]

That ended badly for him in the first years of the war before the US military was sufficiently built up- I mean, he's 'one of the great union generals' if you're salving the egos of the south by telling them that they had Lee and George Thomas on the winning side, but there's a reason Lincoln asked for his resignation in 1863.

I think Grant, who saw the war through its closing stages, was the superior general and a fine replacement for Lee. I wonder what the effect of a longer war would have on the 13th Amendment.