Lee out West after Chancellorsville?

[Kent Nielsen]

Hi I wanted to throw out this possibility. I recognize that he DIDN'T want to go. But General R. E. Lee WAS a soldier who obeyed orders. What if he had been ordered to take command in the west after Chancellorsville? To have control of both the Army Of Tennessee and the Confederate troops in the Mississippi River valley In place of Johnston? What difference would that have been?

[larry_cockerham]

Lee would have probably attempted to strangle Davis over a general lack of supply. War over.

[OpnDownfall]

I am among those who feel that Lee would have been ineffective fighting any where except Va. I have long argued that Lee was fighting 'the' war, for Va. not the confederacy.
His heart was just not in the War, outside Va.

[ole]

Gettysburg would still be a sleepy, crossroads community. The Campaign for Vicksburg would have taken longer. Lee would have thrown in the towel at Atlanta rather than Appomattox.

ole

[whitworth]

Any historian ever calculate how many Virginia Confederate generals served in the western theatre or outside Virginia?

[Kent Nielsen]

Originally Posted by whitworth

Any historian ever calculate how many Virginia Confederate generals served in the western theatre or outside Virginia?

To be honest, I can only think of three off the top of my head: Joe Johnston, Edward "Old Allegheny" Johnson and John Floyd.

[Borderruffian]

Hardee was also from the Old Dominion.

[cw1865]

Unionman, but Thomas should be a footnote on this one.

[whitworth]

If Lee had been transferred west, I think he would have found a way to resign because of health reasons.

[whitworth]

Lee resigned his U.S. Army commission to share the fate of Virginia, in victory or defeat.
With his health problems, the health problems of his wife, I think Lee would have found a way to resign before heading west for a command.