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I read that during the battle of the Wilderness, Robert E Lee attempted to personally lead a charge against the Union army. However his soldiers loved him so much that they physically forced him to stop and refused to charge until he agreed not to endanger his life. Desperate times, desperate measures.

Wilderness :

At the Wilderness, Hill's Corps had collapsed and was streaming to the rear and Lee wanted to make sure that the counterattack by Longstreet's Corps would hold the Federals back long enough to rally Hill's men and stabilize the line otherwise, disaster may have fallen. If Longstreet couldn't stop Hancock's and later Burnside's attacks, Hill's Corps is routed, Longstreet's is falling back in the face of a massive assault, and Ewell is isolated against whatever forces can be brought to bear on him.

Spotsylvania :

Robert E. Lee did the same thing at Spotsylvania when the Salient collapsed. When troops were rushing into the breach, he nearly led a counterattack into that meat grinder to make sure that the line held long enough to establish the new entrenchments that were being rebuilt to the rear of the Harrison house. At Spotsylvania, the center of Lee's line was on the verge of collapse which would isolate the two wings and force a retreat to at least the North Anna or possibly even Richmond.

Question/POD :

So what if Robert E.Lee actually charged alongside his troops and died during the battle of the Wilderness or during Spotsylvania?
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