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Lee himself said "We must destroy this army of Grant's before it reaches the James River otherwise it will become a siege and then it is a mere question of time." . Grant's army was on the James well before the election and Lincoln's re-election guaranteed that the CSA would have to fight at least another four years to win. They had as much chance of doing that as I had of beating Mike Tyson in his prime in a boxing match. Lee's holding out only guaranteed that the war would lose thousands of more lives for no real purpose.