Robert E. Lee dies of heart attack, late 1863

I read where General Lee suffered from heart problems, and was actually confined for a couple weeks in something like late September or early October, 1863.

If he were to have died, who would hve replaced him?

I wonder if his heart problem was one reason he offered his resignation after Gettysburg; he may have known it was too taxing for him right then.

I'm wondering if Longstreet might have been able to really make it tough on the North - but then again, I'm wondering if Davis would put Longstreet in charge. Or, maybe he would, but then would remove him for alwyas worrying about defense. (Then again, lee did pretty well on the defensive himself, so maybe things wouldn't have been a whole lot different?)
 
I have to wonder how well the Confederate cause would have held together. Lee, I suspect, was perhaps the key linchpin. Remove him by a death due to natural causes and I think the repercussions are major. You'll have fire-and-brimstone preachers, especially in parts of TN and NC, stating that this event was clearly God's will and in turn made it clear that the rebellion was folly. Morale in the Army of Northern Virginia will take a nosedive, perhaps irreparably. I doubt any other general could have inspired the confidence or loyalty that Lee enjoyed. Couple that death with the fall of Vicksburg and the progression of Union troops eastward across MS and AL, and the CSA will begin to disintegrate rather quickly. I could see an end to the war by late 1863 or early 1864, in which event (a) Reconstruction would not be as draconian as it was in OTL; (2) Lincoln romps home to a second term, and (3) John Wilkes Booth probably remains a second-line actor little remembered outside of histories of the US theater.
 
I'm wondering if Longstreet might have been able to really make it tough on the North - but then again, I'm wondering if Davis would put Longstreet in charge. Or, maybe he would, but then would remove him for alwyas worrying about defense.

While Longstreet was a good corps commander, in independent command in OTL he failed to beat Burnside.
 

Shackel

Banned
It was a combination of Lee, Lincoln, and Grant who stopped the Civil War from becoming the Second War for Independence, in which America would look like the bad guy.

I'd say a terrible guerrilla war.
 
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