Was Lee's second invasion of the North to soon after the restructure of AoNV?

I don't blame him for protecting his army. After all, who would use his men better than he would? He was the only confederate commander who had demonstrated he could successfully lead an army. His men would be wasted anywhere else.
Agree. A good rule is to reinforce victory with resources and not to waste resources on defeat.
 
Lee had to fight with what he had available. Through hindsight there are many what if’s that can be asked, they are entertaining but do little to change the outcome.
But just for consideration, the opportunity for Union forces to raid the hen house while the rooster was absent would be a prime what if..
 
IMHO Victory Disease. Lee had won consistently against inferior Union generals or in the Case of Hooker's disorientation from a near miss at Chancellorsville good luck. Why not this time.




I agree. I myself, believe, that Lee was so confident in the men in the ranks of the ANV, that he believed they could overcome any deficiencies of their leaders. All that was needed, was for Lee to put the men in proper position and time and given proper impetus, no army, much less the AoP, could stand against them.
 
I have to disagree. It is often necessary to reorganize the army on the fly. Commanders get killed and wounded and have to be replaced and your opponent isn't going to take a time-out to allow you time to replace them and to reorganize.

It happened on both sides, and often during the same campaign.

Here's a look at the key men who were new to their jobs in the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg:
https://studycivilwar.wordpress.com...omac-at-the-start-of-the-gettysburg-campaign/

Gettysburg would lead to Meade reorganizing the Army of the Potomac. He was fortunate in that he had the luxury of doing this during a lull. Lee didn't have that luxury and was forced to do so by circumstances. After all, he couldn't send a message to Lincoln to say, "Time out. Don't send any troops south until I let you know my reorganization is complete and I've had a chance to test it." He reorganized the army to make it easier for his corps commanders to control their corps. This was a function of what's called span of control. Jackson wasn't there anymore, and he wasn't ever going to be there again, so Lee was stuck with replacing him with someone. This was smack dab in the middle of the campaign "season," meaning if he didn't take the initiative the Federals would.




Point taken, but, the reorganization of the ANV, was not just in commanders, but a shuffling of entire units from one command to another all along the line. Not only were the officers still in the process of acquainting themselves with each other, but the units Div's. corps, etc. I believe that was a reorganization of a different order than described in your post.
 
Point taken, but, the reorganization of the ANV, was not just in commanders, but a shuffling of entire units from one command to another all along the line. Not only were the officers still in the process of acquainting themselves with each other, but the units Div's. corps, etc. I believe that was a reorganization of a different order than described in your post.

The Army of the Potomac did that just prior to Gettysburg as well, moving units and brigades around.
 
The Army of the Potomac did that just prior to Gettysburg as well, moving units and brigades around.
Agree And did something the ANV did not do. That is to change the overall commander of the Army of the Potomac just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
 
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