re: History Topic: Did R.E. Lee Betray His Countrymen?

One of his officers suggested this, Edward Porter Alexander. Lee said "You and I as Christian men have no right to consider only how this would affect us. We must consider its effect on the country as a whole...if I took your advice the men would be without rations and under no control of officers. They would be compelled to rob and steal in order to live. They would become bands of marauders... We would bring on a state of affairs it would take the country years to recover from."

Now that he was beaten he was looking at how best for his men and the country to get back to work and farming and being a nation.