What if: Lee wins the Battle of Fort Stedman

According to the Wikipedia article on this action, Lee planned to attack this portion of Grant's lines in order to force Grant to significantly shorten his trench lines. Lee then planned to thus send off almost all of his army to assist Joe Johnston in North Carolina against Sherman. Had Lee won this battle and been able to put his plan into action, what could be some of the possible outcomes? Thanks guys.
 
Theoretically should Gordon somehow win the Battle of Fort Stedman Grant would be forced to weaken his left, protecting the South Side Railroad from further Union attacks. Important Union supply bases were behind Fort Stedman; a breakthrough here would disrupt Grant’s logistics.

From there Lee intended to retreat to Danville, where a junction with J.Johnston’s retreating troops. Achieving the junction would swell Lee’s numbers up to no more than 80,000. However, with Grant, Schofield and Sherman so close together, the Union Army would have numbered 280,000.

In addition it is a bit questionable that Lee would make it to Danville without serious losses or desertions. The Army of Northern Virginia was in a terrible state, lacking in shoes, blankets and food. The starving horses had dwindled to half the required amount to carry all of Lee’s artillery guns and supply wagons.

In reality Grant had already been warning his subordinates of a possibility that Lee would attack, and Parke (IX Corps) was already aware of the flaws of Fort Stedman’s position. When news of the offensive arrived, the Army of the Potomac rapidly rushed its reserves towards the endangered sector. After the initial attack going better than expected, Gordon’s strategem to seize the second line could not be executed. The IX Corps brigade placed in reserve behind Fort Stedman worked to contain the breakthrough and heavy enfilade fire was experienced by Gordon’s troops. The V and VI Corps troops would not be needed to support the IX Corps. There was no genuine opportunity for General Lee and Gordon to achieve their hopes in that battle.
 
I agree most likely he'd end up with 50k men on the high side. By this point the war is ending and Lee is aware of this.
Also, Johnston had roughly 20,000 men himself, in his shattered army. Not mention the morale of his army had to have been in worse shape considering everything it has been through during the past year.
 
By this point the war is ending and Lee is aware of this.

So what are they fighting for then? It's not for independence since the war is lost and Lee knows it. I mean the war was lost the moment Britain was like "nope" but since the South had this magical thinking fighting on made sense to them. The most logical thing is fighting for Northern concessions that are acceptable to Lincoln that allow the South to be reintegrated and the union restored. That sounds nice on paper but I can't think of anything specific. Keep the slaves? That door is long closed. Pardons? The South could get that easier without fighting. Treating confederate veterans as regular veterans? I seriously doubt making heros and giving pensions to traitors is a good idea even if the union troops were OK with that. Keep the vote to the landed white man? That might actually be acceptable since that's kind of what Lincoln himself wanted, but I seriously doubt the South at this point is fighting for that since it is a culture dependent on slavery. It's not that different than Star Trek Klingon culture being dependent on the Warrior caste, it is just that central to everything they do. Fighting to keep Sherman from torching civilian property might make sense, but then they should just send everyone to smash Sherman and leave the gentler Grant to reoccupy Virginia.
 
So what are they fighting for then?

Because it really hurts to give up. Obviously, not all Confederate soldiers felt that way - tens of thousans deserted over the winter of 1864-1865. But for some soldiers, defeat is intolerable. Accepting defeat means writing off everything that one has given, suffered, lost. The longer and deeper the commitment to the cause, the harder it is to give it up.

When the surrender was announced at Appomatox, many of the Confederates broke down and cried. Others cried out in disbelief.
 
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