Lee Replacing Lee in '63?

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Robert E. Lee offered to resign in August 1863 following the Gettysburg campaign. Jeff Davis declined, still confident in Lee and lacking any comparable alternative.

What if that hadn't been the case? Most likely explanation being Lee's heart problems rather than Davis being displeased.

Who takes over the ANV? Longstreet seems the only real contender, despite his controversial behavior at Gettysburg. He seems to have still had Lee's confidence.

Would Longstreet have made a fuss over sending his old corps West to Bragg? I would think so. I don't know that Longstreet would make the aggressive maneuvering of the Bristoe Campaign.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

The only option other than Longstreet would have been Joe Johnston. I doubt Davis would have done that, but in truth Longstreet was allied with some of Davis's enemies so he might have.

 

[Jamieva]

Longstreet would have insisted on Joe Johnston. Just read the letter that Longstreet sent to Johnston after Antietam, openly opining for Johnston's return to the ANV. That letter still just boggles my mind that old Pete wrote it.

 

[Robin Lesjovitch]

Longstreet would have insisted on Joe Johnston. Just read the letter that Longstreet sent to Johnston after Antietam, openly opining for Johnston's return to the ANV. That letter still just boggles my mind that old Pete wrote it.

Johnston had a good tactical sense demonstrated at 1st Bull Run, and Longstreet was just as good. Longstreet did not care to serve under Lee, as Lee did not fight the battles Longstreet wanted to fight. In short, Longstreet was backwards in his thoughts. The fights he and Johnston wanted were fantasies. They both wanted to gain tactical superiority before engaging the enemy.
Put Longstreet in a fight and he fights well. But the forward looking, progressive general portrayed in the fiction Killer Angels did not exist.
Johnston and Longstreet were a good match. They both fantasied about catching the Federals exposed and whooping them.