re: On this day in 1866, Ulysses S. Grant became the first 4-star general in U.S. Army history

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Winning meant different things to each side. The north wanted to maintain the union where the south was wanting to separate. That meant the north had to invade. The general consensus amongst the northern population was to not fight. Had Lee utilized trench warfare like many of his advisors were suggesting, they could have prolonged the war a few more years and made Lincoln pull out. The invasions on NY, and offensive strategy on open battle fields from Lee was terrible.

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You are looking at one theater of the war. There was way more going on than what was going on in Virginia when Lee became commander of the army of Northern Virginia in June of 1862.

The Union was blockading the Southern ports. The union had invaded the south and took over western and middle Tenn. and had staved off the South’s major counter attack at Shiloh.New Orleans had already fallen and the Union was well on their way to capturing the Miss River capturing Memphis in June if 62. The rivers opened the door for the union navy in the west.

Lee was not the commander in chief of all Confederate forces. He was in charge of his army. Had he set back and just defended in the East the union would have eventually taken the west, taken Atlanta and isolated his army in Virginia.

A defensive war for the south was only as good as its weakest link and when the union took New Orleans and stopped the south’s counter attacks in the west, the west was basically doomed. The south lacked the resources to stop the union in the east and drive them out of the west.