How would the american civil war have turned out if General Lee had won at Gettysburg?
Would the siege of Washington have been next after a lengthy pursuit of yankees by the confederate army through the countryside?
I imagine that even with a victory; Lee would still suffer significant casualties and still make way back to confederate lines but victorious with spirits high and the Union again suffering another defeat and reminded that the Confedeacy can invade successfully.
>>1297728
Depending on how decisive the victory is, a Confederate army freely marching around as far north as Pennsylvania would undoubtedly have incited riots in the large cities of the North. A siege of Washington could have had a very real possibility of causing enough unrest within the Union to convince the federal government of pursuing conditional peace terms with the Confederacy.
It was a political war, the south only had to defeat morale
>>1297807
The idea that the war was simply one of attrition was what led the Union to huge defeats early on in the war. The Union generals held back, kept strict supply lines, and allowed the Army of Northern Virginia to attack them in the hopes of Lee wearing his army down. He, on the other hand, understood that the war was a political one, and the cards at hand weren't the number of soldiers they could field in the end, but how the world and especially the people of the Union and the Confederacy felt of the war. He struck the North extremely hard for the first years and caused riots in New York, and almost caused Lincoln to lose his re-election. It wasn't until Grant decided to move in and take Lee on directly that the favor of the war really shifted.
>>1297728
>confederates win at Gettysburg
But anon, the terrain makes that impossible. And if they'd cut and run for Washington, the bazillion forts and troops in DC plus the pursuing army of the Potomac would have rekted them even worse.
>>1297728
If it was decisive enough that European observers felt comfortable enough to acknowledge the Confederacy and its independence a siege of Washington may not be necessary.
Or so typical civil war alt history tends to see it.
>>1297728
The problem is with the premise. Lee could not have won at Gettysburg. I've done it in R.E. Lee Civil War general by seizing the high ground early, but I had prior knowledge of opposing forces.
There is no way Lee could have known an early assault would work, not without scouting reports from his absent cavalry. He would have to abandon all strategy and blindly rush in. Not something a general of his caliber did.
Considering his predilections he should have fought somewhere else.
I also think Lee was too nice in trying to win over PA. He should have pulled a Sherman and burned a breadbasket of the Union. That would have forced Lincoln's hand into an ill advised assault, and Lee was best at defense.
Question 2: How would things have turned out if Virginia had gone Union, and Lee with it?
>>1301019
the war would have ended laughably quickly I imagine
With Stonewall gone & Jeb Stuart screwing around in Carlisle Pa ole R E Lee didn't have much of a chance. It looked like the south might pull it off at first but bad decisions ended the northern campaign. The South never recovered from Gettysburg
>>1297728
You should check out Gingrich's trilogy on this scenario. If Lee had won and the losses weren't too high, they most likely would have tried a siege on Washington, but they'd never really be able to take it by force. The riots would ensue, but I doubt they'd do much more damage than they had done in the past. It probably would have been better to follow the victory with a march back towards Virginia, returning to their country in triumph instead of defeat. In all honesty, I'd give up on the idea of coercing Maryland to secede, sure they could have had the production of Baltimore, but it would be too hard to manage. In terms of European recognition, that would never happen regardless of the battle's outcome. England wouldn't dare get involved after the Emancipation Proclamation and France most likely wouldn't move unless England did. In terms of winning the battle itself, either Lee could've attempted flanking Meade by setting his army in Pipe Creek which I think was the original goal or, he could attempt to get Meade to attack him through some sort of method of deception. Either way, the loss of cavalry really crippled Lee in this instance.
>>1301019
No Lee, Johnston, Jackson, Stuart and many other officers as well as manpower and production would of most likely forced the other Southern States into pure gorilla warfare. Ultimately they would lose and probably faster.
If the Confederacy won, do you think they'd have been able to expand further South to expand into the proposed Golden Circle, or would the few ties left to colonial powers and linguo-cultural barriers in this region make the idea a pipe dream?
