What if Gen. George McClellan had destroyed the ANV at Antietam in 1862?

Since this was just brought up again, I'll ask this question.

What would have been the consequences had the Army of the Potomac under Gen. McClellan destroyed the Army of Northern Virginia, leading to an Appomattox-like surrender by Robert E. Lee shortly afterwards? How soon would Richmond have fallen after this? How much would the war have been shortened?

I presume that after such a victory, McClellan would be a very celebrated war hero in the Union. A President McClellan might be quite possible, maybe not in 1864, but '68 could be a possibility.
 
It is highly unlikely that McClellan would have been able to totally destroy the Army of Northern Virginia and a portion of it would certainly have escaped but the Confederacy would have been seriously weaken, possible even terminally so, with such a sever blow to the Confederacy's Premier army.

Troops would be hastilly brought up from the Carolina's and Georgia to plug the gap and a new Army would have to be form. Davis would send a plea to the west for more troops and likely would recieve more men from the Trans-Mississippi.

A chance for the fall of Richmond is certainly increased but the Confederacy will continue to fight on until its Western Armies and it new Eastern Army are defeated totally as Jeff Davis will never accept that the War is over until all possibilities to win it are gone.
 
Granted, it might not have spelled the immediate death-knell of the CSA (if only because they wouldn't have suffered so many casualties yet), but you agree too that at the very least, it would weaken the South considerably, right?

Even if Lee himself managed to escape, losing such a substantial portion of the army would be a tremendous blow on Southern morale, I'd imagine.

Having checked a bit, a Confederate disaster at Antietam would definately butterfly away Fredricksburg, maybe Chancellorsville too. That's got to have a substantial effect on the Confederate war effort.
 
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