Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
As every school child knows, the battle of Chancellorsville was the beginning of the end for the Southern cause. Robert E. Lee violated the ancient military maxim of never dividing your forces in the face of the enemy and thus suffered the destruction of a large portion of his army. The resulting retreat to and siege of Richmond was just what Lee had unfortunately predicted - once the war settled into a siege of Richmond, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virignia was a foregone conclusion. Even though it took Hooker another year and significant casualties to finally force Lee's surrender (and he might have abandoned the siege after Stonewall Jackson's "Valley Scare" in early '63 but for Lincoln's steadfastness in ordering him to stay put), after the destruction of a major portion of Lee's army and forced retreat from Chancellorsville to Richmond the writing was clearly on the wall.
But what if Lee's great gamble had worked? Many of the "Lost Cause" theory point to Lee's gamble at Chancellorsville and say that if only it had worked, if only Jackson could have hit the Union's unprotected right flank, he could have turned Chancellorsville into a Confederate victory instead. Perhaps a Southern victory at Chancellorsville could have drawn off Union forces used by Grant for his brilliant campaign against Vickburg and prevented the loss of that Confederate stronghold. Perhaps a crushing Southern victory at Chancellorsville, following so closely upon the horrendous losses at Fredricksburg, would have been enough to finally erode the Union will to fight or resulted in the European recognition so relied upon by Davis and Lee.
Alas, Chancellorsville will remain one of the great "what-ifs" of history.
Very good, as pointed out in other 'what if' posts,
If Lee had lost and as a result the south lost. We, on this board, would be debating whether a southern victory at Chancellorsville would have saved the csa.
As we know, the answer is no, the south would still have lost.
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
On many of the what if thread, I have concluded that changing the victors of any single battle, would not necessarily have changed the outcome of the war.
On many of the what if thread, I have concluded that changing the victors of any single battle, would not necessarily have changed the outcome of the war.
I agree. Note that I do not think that changing the victor at Chancellorsville would have changed the outcome, merely perhaps changed the date of that outcome.
I was also, perhaps inartfully, taking a stab at those who do subscribe to the "magic bullet" theory of the war that one battle could have changed the outcome. "If only x had won at y then the South could have won."
A cute twisted on the "what if's" so lets carry this counter-factual out a little further. After his great victory at Chancellorsville, Lee would have had a choice to take the fight to the union in its own backyard or stay near Richmond waiting to give the union another bloody nose.
What would Lee have done? What would have you done?
Kinda looks like Lee took the fight to the Federal's back yard.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
A cute twisted on the "what if's" so lets carry this counter-factual out a little further. After his great victory at Chancellorsville, Lee would have had a choice to take the fight to the union in its own backyard or stay near Richmond waiting to give the union another bloody nose.
What would Lee have done? What would have you done?
Oh come on. Even with a victory (however unlikely) at Chancellorsville, how can you believe that Lee would invade the North again? Look at what happened at Antietem! I can't imagine he would want to make that mistake again.
before Lee's victory at Chancellorsville. It was a "victory" that did not save the Confederacy; save Vicksburg; or even save the western counties of western Virginia.
The Confederacy had already lost many of the "stars" or states in its battle flag, never to regain them.
Victory in 1863, was going to be far less than the Confederacy sought in 1861, at its best.
In less than two years, the shell game was over.
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What if Lee had won at Chancellorsville 
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