February 13th, 1861

[Little Powell]

On this day in 1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army.

Here's a good "what if" for you. What if Lee did assume command of the Union Army?

[estabu2]

Interesting "what if". But I think one thing that people do not realize is that Lee took over after the Confederate troops had been trained and been in a few fights. They might not have been in a big fight(maybe just skirmishes), but I think they understood what was going on. The real question is, if Lee would of had a green ANV would he have been as successful.

[dale]

Lee actually learned a lot about his troops during his first engagements at the Seven Days battles. Prior to that he was not a field commander. Here is a summary of what he learned in just one short campaign:

1. Don't make your plans too general. Commanders will interpret them in the wrong way if you let them. Leave ambiguity out of your orders. Don't trust staff to interpret your orders for you.
2. The soldiers will fight if lead by good leaders. Huger and Magruder were sacked from the ANV at the end of the Seven Days Battles.
3. Complicated battle plans rarely (if ever) work. Timed assaults from multiple directions don't work. Commanders hardly ever get into position on time.
4. Do not over estimate your opponent. Lee was amazed McClellan never counter attacked. Lee later became a master at reading the general he was facing.
5. Lee trusted himself to attack. He also was profligate with using infantry to force his will upon the enemy.

So, the short answer to your post about what if Lee had green troops is that Lee was a quick learner. The Seven Days campaign was not flawless in design or execution but the overall effect was that McClellan was demoralized to the point of incompetence. Lee was a natural leader and this goes a long way with green troops. Lee had confidence in himself and this influences how troops fight for you. He was not timid in pushing his generals or his troops.

If Lee had only one battle to fight to prove his worth in 1862 it may not have worked out as it did. His first planned battle was Gaines Mill, and it narrowly turned on the last charge of the infantry. Had Lee been repulsed at Gaines Mill and had McClellan resumed his offensive then the war would have been shortened by years. Lee was able to build momentum from Gaines Mill on, straight through till Antietam.

[Little Powell]

Lee didn't follow rule's number 1 and number 3 very well at Gettysburg.

Rule no. 1 - Lee's vague orders to Ewell on the first day.

Rule no. 3 - Pickett's charge, Ewells' assault on Culps Hill, and Stuarts attack on the rear.. All were supposed to be at the same time..

[BOSTON]

Little Powell wrote:

On this day in 1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army.

Here's a good "what if" for you. What if Lee did assume command of the Union Army?

Blasphemy!

[dale]

Little Powell,

What you say is true regarding Gettysburg. Lee had relied on Jackson for a full year to be Lee's hammer. Jackson would have read Lee's same order and there would be no doubt concerning the intent and the use of initiative. Wasn't this Ewell's first command of Jackson's Corps? I am sure that Lee did not trust Ewell as much after July 1.

The assault on the third day was Lee's use of massive amounts of infantry to force his will. The two other assaults that you mention (Culps Hill and the Calvary Fields) were mere sideshows to the 15,000 men frontally attacking the center of the line. They were to be diversions rather than full scale pincer movements. During the Seven Days campaign Lee learned not to attack by half measures--he risked an entire Corps at Chancellorsville and 25,000 in Longstreet's flank attack at Second Manassas.

At Gettysburg Lee risked all that he had on each day. On July 1 and July 2 the Union hung on by the thinnest of margains. Lee's failure on July 3 was not realizing how much the odds had been stacked against him by then. He gambled one too many times,

[Jim]

Little Powell wrote:

On this day in 1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army.

Here's a good "what if" for you. What if Lee did assume command of the Union Army?

The war would have been over in 1861. After Bull Run, the CS army was out of artillery ammo for several months before production got going. Lee would never have let the CS army alone that long. Even if he had also lost at 1BR, he would have advanced again within a few weeks and that would have been the end for the CSA. That's my $0.02 worth of speculative history anyway.

-Jim

[dale]

Very interesting post, Jim. I never knew that.

To play devil's advocate if the Feds lost Bull Run and Lee was in charge:

1. The Federal troops were a shambles after Bull Run, many had thrown their equipment away in the rout. It would have taken weeks (in Mac's case half a year) to just reequip the forces that had routed.

2. Panic had gripped the political establishment of Washington D.C. The defense of the capitol would have been the highest priority. Lincoln obsessed over any perceived threat to Washington. Lee would have been tasked with guarding the approaches to the capitol.

3. The other theatres of operations were in full flower. Resources had to be spent on the Navy, Missouri, Cairo Illinois and the Mississippi, Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee. Lee might have seen the wisdom of offensive operations to secure border states as being more profitable in the immediate term. This would give his army in Virginia more time to train and for a shake-up in the officer corps.

4.If Lee had accepted command of the Union army how determined would he be to wage war on his own state, his own neighbors and family? McClelland was accused of wanting to negotiate a peace with the South even while he was preparing the Union Army for a campaign in 1862. He wanted a slow deliberate seige to force the South into negotiation rather than a bloody field battle. If Lee had reequipped the AOP quickly and led it to a victory in the next few weeks might not he had done what the Howes did after their victory in New York in 1776? They could have ruthlessly destroyed Washington's army then but they held back in order to offer a peace initiative. No one thought that the war would last till 1862, Lee would have wanted to find a way to welcome his fellow Virginians back into a peaceful reconciliation. Lee never waged a brutal war against the civilians--he did not have the heart for that. In the end it was Sherman and the Navy blockade that won the war because they took the will away from the South by making it pay in a horrible way for waging war.

5.The politics of the war may have cut Lee's effectiveness as a field commander. Partisan politics were constant in the organization of the AOP. Officers were chosen based on political affiliations. How much trust would the Northern Republicans have in Lee? Lee said that he would have given away his slaves in order to advoid a conflict-but he would have acted only on a personal level. Would the abolitionists have been satisfied with Lee reaping the glory of the war?

[BOSTON]

Little Powell wrote:

On this day in 1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army.

Here's a good "what if" for you. What if Lee did assume command of the Union Army?

Little Powell

Found two Fort Masons, one built later in the CW at San Francisco, the other built around 1860 in Texas, but no mention of Lee being stationed there. Was there another Fort Mason? Curious, for if Lee was at a Union post when he resigned, did they simply let him leave to the Confederacy? Could he have been arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of the war?:(

Hoistingman4

[BOSTON]

Found the answer to my questions at www.forttours.com , Fort Mason, Texas was one of many forts turned over to the confederacy in Texas. Had Col. Lee gone to Washington DC, his fate might of been different. I have to wonder if the Union was making its' Southern bred officers take a new oath of loyality to the Union at that time?