Anaxagoras
Banned
IOTL, General Richard Ewell's health, mentally and physically, collapsed during the Overland Campaign. His place at the head of Lee's Second Corps was taken by General Jubal Early, with General John Gordon being promoted to command Early's division. Ewell was reassigned to command the Richmond defenses, and Early and Gordon went on to perform quite well during the subsequent campaign season.
What if Lee had realized ahead of time that Ewell was simply not up to the challenge of corps command (as indeed he was not) and had reassigned him earlier, before the campaign had opened? For the sake of argument, let's say that Lee makes this decision on April 25, about a week-and-a-half before the campaign began.
At that late date, I don't think sufficient butterflies would be created to change the overall course of Grant's strategy, so the Battle of the Wilderness would probably open in more or less the same way as it did IOTL. How different would its outcome have been in Early had been in command of the Second Corps and Gordon had been in command of Early's division?
What if Lee had realized ahead of time that Ewell was simply not up to the challenge of corps command (as indeed he was not) and had reassigned him earlier, before the campaign had opened? For the sake of argument, let's say that Lee makes this decision on April 25, about a week-and-a-half before the campaign began.
At that late date, I don't think sufficient butterflies would be created to change the overall course of Grant's strategy, so the Battle of the Wilderness would probably open in more or less the same way as it did IOTL. How different would its outcome have been in Early had been in command of the Second Corps and Gordon had been in command of Early's division?