Could Robert E Lee have lost on purpose?

[krvaldovinos]

I'm not saying I think Lee did this, but what if all along he didn't want the south to secede, and when Virginia seceded he used "I'm going with my state" to side with the union and then he put up a good fight but eventually surrendered because that's what he felt should happen? Just prove me wrong in this thread please.

 

[kansas]

Lee did not do the fighting. His men did. They were pretty well worn down by quitting time. The rest were dead, recovering from wounds, or had gone home . Government was gone. Money was gone. Trade was gone. Arsenals and armories gone. Gunpowder mills gone. Paper mills gone. Cotton mills gone. Half the farms gone. Most of the armies gone. In short the rebellion was over.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I'm sure that he didn't. That would have taken someone with far less integrity and professionalism than Lee had, by all accounts I've seen. I may disagree with his priority of loyalties, but I don't doubt his sincerity.

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm not saying Lee was an alien from outer space, but what if all along he didn't really want either the USA or Virginia to win? But just prove me wrong.

Edited to add: but hearty congratulations on "could have lost" instead of typing "could of lost"

 

[JerseyBart]

No.

 

[Horace Porter]

He didn't fight to lose, but eventually he figured out that to continue to fight would result in losing more. More interesting is to speculate when he thought it was over.

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

I'm not saying I think Lee did this, but what if all along he didn't want the south to secede, and when Virginia seceded he used "I'm going with my state" to side with the union and then he put up a good fight but eventually surrendered because that's what he felt should happen? Just prove me wrong in this thread please.

It is easy to speculate on such possibilities, but often impossible to "disprove" them. However, spectacular claims require spectacular evidence. The burden does not lie upon others to "prove you wrong," but upon you to give others cause to take your suggestion seriously.

 

[bdtex]

More interesting is to speculate when he thought it was over.

Indeed. Surely at least when Hood was defeated at Franklin/Nashville and the ANV was still bottled up in Petersburg,if not sooner.

 

[Horace Porter]

Just prove me wrong in this thread please.

One's failure to prove you wrong means nothing if you are unable to prove you're right.

 

[jackt62]

The short answer to your question "Could Lee have lost on purpose" is no. There is enough substantive evidence that Lee was not a secessionist and was loyal to the United States until his state of Virginia seceded. But once that happened, Lee's loyalty to his state, which had a long aristocratic pedigree, took center stage, and he wholeheartedly supported Virginia and its decision to join the Confederacy. From a military point of view, Lee was known as an audacious and bold commander who was responsible for the Confederacy's long string of victories in the east. The fact that for almost three years he successfully parried almost all of the Army of the Potomac's attempts to defeat him is more than enough confirmation to refute the proposition that he lost on purpose.

I must add, however, that the question makes for an interesting debating point.

 

[MRB1863]

I think Lee had more integrity than to "throw the game".

 

[krvaldovinos]

One's failure to prove you wrong means nothing if you are unable to prove you're right.

I am unable to prove myself right and don't really believe it. I just thought it'd be interesting to hear people tell me why.

 

[Patrick H]

He didn't fight to lose, but eventually he figured out that to continue to fight would result in losing more. More interesting is to speculate when he thought it was over.

I think, thus far, this answer comes closest to the theme of your thread. When did he know for sure it was over? Beyond that, All of your respondents have given excellent answers. I agree that Lee simply had too much integrity to "throw the fight".

 

[Dave G]

If he intended to lose on purpose, the ideal time would have been from just after Fair Oaks/Seven Pines until McClellan's feeble attempts to take Richmond. Instead he put up a great fight over the Seven Days battles and then kept it up for the next three years and sacrificed thousands of Confederate lives. There had to have been an easier way to throw the fight.

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

If he intended to lose on purpose, the ideal time would have been from just after Fair Oaks/Seven Pines.......

Purely in the spirit of Devil's advocate.... who but McClellan would have ignored Lee's repeatedly futile attacks with such appalling losses and allowed himself to lose? Hmmm??? Maybe Lee just couldn't get McClellan to do what he should have done

 

[jackt62]

I am unable to prove myself right and don't really believe it. I just thought it'd be interesting to hear people tell me why.

Good for you!

 

[W. Richardson]

I'm not saying I think Lee did this, but what if all along he didn't want the south to secede, and when Virginia seceded he used "I'm going with my state" to side with the union and then he put up a good fight but eventually surrendered because that's what he felt should happen? Just prove me wrong in this thread please.

Lee was not attempting to lose on purpose. He had way too much integrity to do that, however I will add this to your speculation.....................Lee knew the South could not match the North in manpower but yet he threw his forces at them whenever possible.....(Malvern Hill, Pickett's Charge...ect..ect.)...in costly attacks.....Even his victories were costly to the manpower of the South,...........That was his tactics, offensive/defensive, and not due to him trying to lose.

Respectfully,
William

 

[Jamieva]

That time when you click on the What if section and you got a blinding headache and wondered what you had been drinking that day and remembered you had not.

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

If Lee intended to lose on purpose, he did a really lousy job of it!

 

[jackt62]

Another thought. As the war dragged on, Lee actually grew more virulent in his opposition to Northern policies. His ancestral homes in northern Virginia, and particularly Arlington, were taken over by Union forces and the "hard" war policies of Generals Pope, Sheridan, Hunter and others was anathema to Lee's sense of honor and chivalry. These and other Northern policies did much to steel Lee's resolve to fight the Yankees. So if anything, Lee's determination to win became stronger as the war went on.