GDG- Re: Gettysburg Digest, Vol 26, Issue 2

[David W. Gaddy]

Message 1: Lee Invades (Tom Ryan)
After that fiasco in western Virginia, remember that Lee accepted 
departmental command in South Carolina-Georgia. (Freeman's summary at end 
of volume one of "R.E. Lee" notes the learning experience he gained.) I 
tend to share your sense of his attachment to his native state, but believe 
that he was heading for the "[modern] Route 29" corridor to NC and Uncle 
Joe in April 1865.

You also seem to dismiss Brown's thesis ("Retreat from Gettysburg") that 
essential re-supply of his army figured prominently in his 
Maryland-Pennsylvania "raid." Never having considered that factor, I was 
and am quite impressed with the argument.

Then, too, his health by '63 could well have been a factor in his 
"druthers"--that he'd rather stay close to home, on familiar ground, if 
given a choice...and was willing to gamble with Uncle Joe and lesser lights 
out West if he could get another crack at what he viewed as the principal 
foe, the AoP.

Dave Gaddy

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At 12:00 PM 7/19/2006 -0500, Tom wrote:

>         No way of knowing what was in Lee's mind, but it may not be too 
> much of a
>stretch to believe that he was molifying the Richmond hierarchy, some of
>whom had wanted Lee to detach troops to send in defense of Vicksburg.  My
>sense is that Lee was a Virginian first and a Confederate second, therefore
>his top priority always was the defense of his home state.  As a result,
>again in my opinion, this limited his strategic thinking in terms of what
>was the best way to win the war....
>
>         I think a good contrast is the willingness of U.S. Grant to go 
> anywhere in
>whatever capacity in order to defeat Rebel forces.  Lee was not nearly as
>flexible....

>         Nevertheless, it makes sense that Lee would want to bolster his 
> support for
>an invasion of the North, and his recommendation that troops not be detached
>from the ANV in support of the Rebel troops trying to save Vicksburg, by
>claiming that the Northern invasion would relieve pressure on the siege of
>Vicksburg.
>
>Tom Ryan

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