Suppose that the Confederates win at Gettysburg and take Philadelphia (Just assume the Union sues for peace after a panic attack). After the peace, what happens to Robert E. Lee ? Would he be seen as a second Washington ? Would he become President ?
Suppose that the Confederates win at Gettysburg and take Philadelphia (Just assume the Union sues for peace after a panic attack). After the peace, what happens to Robert E. Lee ? Would he be seen as a second Washington ? Would he become President ?
If Lee had achieved that, and it led to Confederate independence, he would probably be seen as the Confederate Washington and been elected President. The problem is that Lee had very little chance of winning at Gettysburg and no chance of taking Philadelphia. Confederate logistics meant they had no chance of sieging cities and that after a major battle outside of Confederate territory, they typically lacked the ammunition to continue fighting and had to withdraw back to Confederate territory. As to Gettysburg, Lee's apologists tended to put the failure on everyone but Lee, but most of the mistakes were made by Robert E Lee.
I think Lost Cause propagandists did this as well as Historians influenced by them. specifically targeted people they did not like i.e. Longstreet.
The Confederates could have won Gettysburg by either re deploying to the south or doing better the second day.
They could not besiege a city, but they could walk into an undefended/lightly defended city, which this scenario suggests.