WI: Robert E. Lee is killed during the Battle of Antietam?

So what if some union solder got a lucky shot at Lee and killed him during the Battle of Antietam? How does the Confederacy react? Who replaces him? Does the Civil War still end in a Union victory? How does this effect Lincoln? Is he still assassinated at the end of the war? How long will the war last without Lee?
 
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The only time Lee was ever in danger at Antietam was during his unsuccessful attempt to rally the routed men of D. R. Jones’ Division during the IX Corps’ assault in the closing act of the Battle of Antietam.

His immediate replacement is a bit of an issue, James Longstreet and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson held the ranks of Brigadier General in the Confederate army – effective, 17th June 1861 and Major General – effective 7th October of the same year. However, Longstreet had served as a Major in the United States’ Army while Jackson held rank in Virgina State forces before the American Civil War began, giving Longstreet seniority over Jackson.

Unlike Lee, Longstreet would most likely withdraw the Army of Northern Virginia out of Sharpsburg as soon as he can on 18th September. This would prevent the Confederates to claim that Antietam was not a defeat and the Army of Northern Virginia would certainly be demoralized about the loss of its commander. Still though, the Army of Northern Virginia had already become moulded into an offensive weapon by three months of aggressive actions with Lee and would still become more professional as they drilled and trained more.

Longstreet was certainly a more cautious and deliberate commander than Lee, I doubt he would throw many frontal assaults against the Army of the Potomac unless the situation demanded it or an opportunity could be exploited. In addition Longstreet certainly had a far better appreciation of staff than Lee did.

However, Longstreet’s record as an independent commander is fairly uninspiring: I can’t fault him much for not taking Suffolk, VA but his performance at the Knoxville Campaign was pretty mediocre to say the least. His strategic ideas did not seem to be very realistic, a good example would be his suggestion to invade Kentucky in 1864 to harm the prospect of Lincoln’s re-election.

To make matters worse for the Confederates, Longstreet’s replacement would probably be the acidic D.H. Hill, who, in hindsight, would show he had no talent for Corps command at Chickamauga. Were Longstreet to form a Third Corps, McLaws, one of his favourite subordinates, would likely be chosen. Given McLaws’ seemingly deficiency in aggression and initiative, I have very high doubts he would prove to be a good Corps commander.

For all of Lee’s faults, I genuinely can’t say that he did not prolong the ACW. Longstreet would be working with a far worse team than Lee did at the end of the Maryland Campaign and will have to learn the job quickly if he wants to last as long as Lee did.
 
Ironically Longstreet could have also been a killed their as well as his staff and him manned a battery of artillery for a time.
 
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