GDG- Lee invades

[keith mackenzie]

You got roundly taken to task? do you mind if I ask what the tone of those responses may have been? It was suggested to him was it not, and he refused it? doesn't that make it one of the what if's of the CW? I mean, what if he had taken Scott's offer of all the Federal Army's? Would one be taken to task for suggesting he should have?
  Anyway, the confederates burned the iron works in late june, does anyone know if any of those buildings are still around? Not the burned ones, but maybe the workers houses or something like that?
   
  K. 

Tom Ryan <pennmardel at mchsi.com> wrote:
  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


<but, I'm still having a little trouble with Lee's reasons for invading the
north in june of 63. Not all of them, of course , just one. Did he really
think that the feds would withdraw troops from Vicksburg? Or was that just
icing on the cake for Davis' benefit?>>

Keith,

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.

I once passed along the thought in this space that the best thing for the
Confederacy following Hooker's defeat at Chancellorsville would have been
for Lee to be sent to Mississippi to reorganize and rally the troops in
their confrontation with Grant -- leaving Longstreet behind to command the
ANV and keep an eye on the much deflated Union army. I got roundly taken to
task on that point by just about everyone who responded, so once burned I
will not return there.

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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