Well maybe you are right - maybe you aren’t.
If we don’t use our hindsight then we would have to admit that Grant could have lost his track in the Wilderness (as nobody is safe in war and love) - this could have even led to a major disaster for the Union.
As well if we do not use our hindsight then it wasn’t all that clear that the confederate political leadership would act that unreasonably and intransigent as they did at the Hampton Roads Conference - and after a decisive defeat of Grant the talks would have been somewhat different I assume.
And if we regard the relatively short reconstruction period and it’s outcoming then we may assume that the liberation of the enslaved was of course popular (and rightly it was), but it is also at least conceivable that the northern populace was not willed to pay almost any price for it.
@wausabob demonstrated just how insignificant the South had become regarding the great expansion of the US - the readmittance of the South was maybe not a matter of life and death to the US.
I also do hardly understand that idea of Lee or Davis acting criminally if not surrendering early - especially not if
@Rhea Cole is right with his concept of plumbing morale and mass desertions in the southern army. If it was that easy to leave the forces (as it seemingly had been - with exceptions) then one could to a certain degree (there weren’t any mass executions) decide if he was willed to continue the fight or not.
And if you point with your finger at all the destruction in the backwash of the retreating western Confederates and the advancing troops of Sherman and all that hunger because of the blockade....well maybe it is not necessary to continue with that point.
So my thesis is:
- that a Virginia-centric perspective isn’t maybe that foolish
- that Lee acted (at least until the beginning of the siege) neither criminally nor irresponsible
But I am of course not suggesting:
- that Davis and the political leadership of the Confederates acted reasonable - they obviously were incredibly stubborn and prone to magical thinking in the end.