Worst Case Scenario?

Given this, I think it's safe to say Lee will win any engagement he gets into, probably directly before the Anglo-French intervention begins.
The only reason I think this conclusion is tricky (assuming as I am the destruction of Pope's army - not a hard thing to assume, given how close he came historically!) is that we need to properly consider what strength would be available to McClellan in an alternate Maryland campaign.

The first point is troops in the Washington Defences who were not historically released, such as the 3rd Corps (which was pretty strong and was not available to McClellan during the historical Maryland Campaign); this would make up a fairly sizeable chunk of the deficit as it was about the same strength as 1st Corps was at Antietam.

The second point is that there were troops which were part of those corps at Antietam which were at Second Bull Run but had not yet joined Pope by the time of the battle you outline (because they came from the Peninsula) - the obvious example is the Pennsylvania Reserves, which made up about a third of 1st Corps at Antietam (and that after suffering badly at Second Bull Run).

The third (and final) point is that there were also troops who were new recruits as of Antietam and who had not yet joined Pope. For example at Antietam 12th Corps contained ca. 21 regiments and of those five (124th PA, 125th PA, 128th PA, 13th NJ, 107th NY) were so new they hadn't been attached to 12th Corps until September.

Of course, the military value of that last chunk is perhaps dubious...


It'd certainly be an interesting analysis to work out just how much strength would be available.
 
Operating under the assumptions that:
All forces at the Battle of the Rapidan (Battle of Culpeper?) are completely lost
and
McClellan gets 3rd Corps released to him, plus Morell and Humphreys

Then we could make the following assessment of the campaign strength McClellan takes into the campaign:

It's just what he brought back from the Peninsula, plus the completely fresh regiments.

(That was going to be more detailed right up until I realized the shortcut.)

A reasonable estimate of Humphreys is about 7,000 PFD, almost all of it new regiments. (He's seven new regiments and one slightly used one.)

To simplify things I'll assume those are the only new regiments actually going into the field and everything else is kept back at Washington, or the new regiments match in strength experienced ones kept back at Washington. I'm not bothering to keep track of what's happened to the regiments which had historically collected at Fort Monroe and which were sent to reinforce Pope later in the campaign (basically Burnside's force but it's complicated) so be aware that Burnside's force is floating around somewhere.

There's also ca. 15,000 troops embraced in the Army of Virginia on the June 30 consolidated return which are neither in the "50,000 troops Pope got beaten with" nor in the Army of the Potomac, but I'll assume they also form part of the Washington defences or are at Harpers Ferry in some way.

With that in mind, McClellan's strength on August 10th was:

Army troops not embraced in a corps ~8,800
2nd Corps 15,300 PFD
3rd Corps 16,500 PFD
4th Corps 14,400 PFD (but this includes Peck who was left behind on the Peninsula, and who had 7,600 PFD)
5th Corps 19,500 PFD
6th Corps 14,800 PFD

This comes in total to 81,700 from the Peninsula and 7,000 from Humphreys.

What this means is that the Union actually did (just) have the capability to generate a force equivalent in size to the historical Maryland Campaign force even if Pope's entire field army (before Peninsular reinforcements) was lost with all hands. The actual Washington defences would be pretty threadbare if this was done, it'd basically be Burnside's men plus new regiments and they'd struggle to do more than garrison the forts, but it could be done.


European intervention still means the Union's buggered, though.
 
The only reason I think this conclusion is tricky (assuming as I am the destruction of Pope's army - not a hard thing to assume, given how close he came historically!) is that we need to properly consider what strength would be available to McClellan in an alternate Maryland campaign.

The first point is troops in the Washington Defences who were not historically released, such as the 3rd Corps (which was pretty strong and was not available to McClellan during the historical Maryland Campaign); this would make up a fairly sizeable chunk of the deficit as it was about the same strength as 1st Corps was at Antietam.

The second point is that there were troops which were part of those corps at Antietam which were at Second Bull Run but had not yet joined Pope by the time of the battle you outline (because they came from the Peninsula) - the obvious example is the Pennsylvania Reserves, which made up about a third of 1st Corps at Antietam (and that after suffering badly at Second Bull Run).

The third (and final) point is that there were also troops who were new recruits as of Antietam and who had not yet joined Pope. For example at Antietam 12th Corps contained ca. 21 regiments and of those five (124th PA, 125th PA, 128th PA, 13th NJ, 107th NY) were so new they hadn't been attached to 12th Corps until September.

Of course, the military value of that last chunk is perhaps dubious...


It'd certainly be an interesting analysis to work out just how much strength would be available.

I'd really doubt Lincoln would release 3rd Corps, given how overly concerned him and the War Department always were about the defenses of Washington. ATL, it'd look really exposed to Lee if they detached it.
 
I'd really doubt Lincoln would release 3rd Corps, given how overly concerned him and the War Department always were about the defenses of Washington. ATL, it'd look really exposed to Lee if they detached it.
But in the historical progression of the Maryland Campaign McClellan didn't march out of Washington until pretty much Lee's entire army was at Frederick. There isn't a route for the AoNV to get there.
I certainly agree Halleck might imagine a phantom army on the Rappahanock like he did historically, but there could still be a pretty substantial garrison.


AoV plus defences of Washington, June 30: ~70,000, of which ~5,000 were en route to the Army of the Potomac. (This does not include the Middle Department.)

Deduct off the 50,000 casualties suffered by Pope: 15,000 PFD.

Reinforcements with Burnside: ~13,500 PFD.

Subsequent new recruits:

This is the hardest one to estimate, but Humphreys implies ca. 800 PFD per brand new regiment. Sticking with just the inf regiments for now and counting only new arrivals, not those shuffled about:

The Middle Department acquired eleven new regiments (as in, regiments that joined from their state) in August and September.
The Mil Dist of Washington gained eight in August for Defences North of the Potomac, seven in Unassigned Infantry, and seventeen in Whipple's division.
In September, Whipple's division gained one, Casey's provisional brigade gained one, the Defences North of the Potomac gained one and the Unassigned Infantry gained five (though that last group all arrived right at the end of the month so can be ignored). This doesn't count all the temporary militia showing up.

These categories mostly do not overlap with Humphreys Division (though two regiments do)

This means that over the course of August and September the influx of reinforcement regiments exclusive of Humphreys is 11+8+7+17+1+1+1-2, for 44. That amounts to about 35,000 PFD.


So the garrison force for Washington could be ca. 65,000 PFD (though in practice it might be closer to 50,000 when accounting for other sources of wastage). The fact that a Maryland-Campaign force can still be generated and leave over 50,000 PFD garrisoning Washington after 50,000 casualties really goes to show just how enormous the amount of force held back to protect Washington was historically.
 
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Due to straggling, Lee was ultimately whittled down to somewhere between 40,000 to 50,000 by the time of IOTL Antietam
Note that the federal numbers are also before strangling.
And include everyone with the army. About 1/6 of every man was doing none combat jobs. And you got the officers. And artillerymen.
(McClellan really did himself a disservice but not counting the same way as his enemy)

The CSA numbers only count men in the ranks with a musket.

If you change the US numbers to "effectives" like the CSA numbers and then you get a fight that is more even historically. And in this altversion, Lee might end up with more muskets firing than the federals...
 
Note that the federal numbers are also before strangling.
And include everyone with the army. About 1/6 of every man was doing none combat jobs. And you got the officers. And artillerymen.
(McClellan really did himself a disservice but not counting the same way as his enemy)
Hah, he was kind of damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don't. When he tried converting to effective troops Lincoln just complained, say, "I've sent you 140,000 men (aggregate present and absent), why are you saying you've only got 60,000 (effectives)?"

If you change the US numbers to "effectives" like the CSA numbers and then you get a fight that is more even historically. And in this altversion, Lee might end up with more muskets firing than the federals...
As far as I've ever been able to work out, historically McClellan had a slight numbers advantage (though a significant chunk of that numbers advantage was grass-green regiments). In this timeline, if as many troops are released to him as historically then the force ratio probably isn't enough different to change who wins - historically McClellan wasn't sure how many brigades Lee had in reserve and acted accordingly, so if Lee has a few thousand more troops and McClellan gets Humphreys earlier then it's basically a wash.

On the other hand, if Washington doesn't release as many troops as historically one might say all bets are off, but the crucial moment is probably where Lee's troops are at contact. The key battle of the Maryland Campaign is actually South Mountain, not Antietam (though Antietam is certainly the bloodiest).
 
But in the historical progression of the Maryland Campaign McClellan didn't march out of Washington until pretty much Lee's entire army was at Frederick. There isn't a route for the AoNV to get there.
I certainly agree Halleck might imagine a phantom army on the Rappahanock like he did historically, but there could still be a pretty substantial garrison.


AoV plus defences of Washington, June 30: ~70,000, of which ~5,000 were en route to the Army of the Potomac. (This does not include the Middle Department.)

Deduct off the 50,000 casualties suffered by Pope: 15,000 PFD.

Reinforcements with Burnside: ~13,500 PFD.

Subsequent new recruits:

This is the hardest one to estimate, but Humphreys implies ca. 800 PFD per brand new regiment. Sticking with just the inf regiments for now and counting only new arrivals, not those shuffled about:

The Middle Department acquired eleven new regiments (as in, regiments that joined from their state) in August and September.
The Mil Dist of Washington gained eight in August for Defences North of the Potomac, seven in Unassigned Infantry, and seventeen in Whipple's division.
In September, Whipple's division gained one, Casey's provisional brigade gained one, the Defences North of the Potomac gained one and the Unassigned Infantry gained five (though that last group all arrived right at the end of the month so can be ignored). This doesn't count all the temporary militia showing up.

These categories mostly do not overlap with Humphreys Division (though two regiments do)

This means that over the course of August and September the influx of reinforcement regiments exclusive of Humphreys is 11+8+7+17+1+1+1-2, for 44. That amounts to about 35,000 PFD.


So the garrison force for Washington could be ca. 65,000 PFD (though in practice it might be closer to 50,000 when accounting for other sources of wastage). The fact that a Maryland-Campaign force can still be generated and leave over 50,000 PFD garrisoning Washington after 50,000 casualties really goes to show just how enormous the amount of force held back to protect Washington was historically.

Given the reports they were getting about over 100,000 Confederates in Maryland....

Also, didn't recruiting not re-start until August or was it July?
 
For another, say Jackson in 1863 has the OTL Longstreet Wounding happen to him. His arm is amputated but he survives the infection, going on convalescence in North Carolina until September/October. He returns just in time to take back his Corps from Ewell for the Bristoe Campaign. Jackson's qualities as a (usually) fast, aggressive march could yield great dividends for the Confederates, in that the destruction of the Army of the Potomac or a large portion of it was possible. I'll give some context.

Jackson's fame came from his abilities in terms of maneuver, from quick marches to decisive turning movements, with him showing his skills most impressively in the cases of Second Manassas and Chancellorsville. Given the Bristoe Campaign is also alternatively called the "Marching Campaign", you can see how this would play in Jackson's strengths in of itself but the particulars of it in particular show this, in that there are multiple similarities to Second Manassas. While Meade is indeed a better General than John Pope was, failures in intelligence gathering and inter-Army communications are constantly plaguing him; case in point is an entire 24 hour stretch where the Federals have absolutely no idea where Lee is at. That's a particularly dangerous situation for the Army of the Potomac, which is entirely dependent on the Orange and Alexandria railway as its only means of escape and resupply. Further, Meade's efforts to stay near Culpepper leaves large formations of his Army with a major river, the Rappahannock, to their rear and across which they'd have to cross if they needed to make an escape. All of these factors actually would actually come together to seriously threaten Meade during the OTL campaign and ATL would give Lee, through Jackson, a major opportunity:
As the Rebel army began its movement around Meade's right flank, the commander of the Army of the Potomac finally grew tired of waiting for word of Lee's infantry. Absent any news from Gregg to show Lee was attempting a wider flanking movement, Meade concluded his enemy had probably massed around Culpeper. Although this had been true the evening of October 11, it was no longer true by October 12. But Meade operated on the only solid intelligence he had, which was Pleasonton's report of Rebel infantry at Brandy Station on the afternoon of October 11. Of course the cavalryman had caught a glimpse of the infantry supporting Fitz Lee and not Lee's main body, but there was no way for Meade to know that.

Meade determined to find out if Lee really was at Culpeper Courthouse and willing to fight. At 10:00 a.m., he ordered the VI, V and II Corps, along with Buford's cavalry division, to cross the Rappahannock and advance on Culpeper. Major General John Sedgwick, commanding the VI Corps, would be in charge of the movement. If he found Lee, he was to report the fact to army headquarters and pitch into the Rebels. Meade would then hurry the rest of the army south to support Sedgwick, who would direct reinforcements into line as they came up.

About noon, Buford's skirmishers struck the small force left by Lee near Culpepper. With a total of 680 men, supported by five pieces of artillery, the Confederates made a stand. Vastly outnumbered by Buford's 2,000 troopers, and the three infantry corps behind them, Rebel cavalrymen engaged in every imaginable subterfuge to fool the enemy into believing there were more Southerners on hand than there really were. To their surprise and vast relief these antics seemed to work and the Yankee advance ground to a halt at dusk just outside Culpeper Courthouse.

But the Federal commanders were not fooled. By sunset, Buford and Sedgwick informed Meade that Lee's infantry was nowhere near Culpeper Courthouse. This, of course, did nothing to tell Meade where Ewell and A.P. Hill had gone. As night fell, the Union army went into camp on both sides of the Rappahannock – Buford, the II, V and VI Corps, south of the river, the I and III Corps along with Kilpatrick and Gregg's cavalry north of it. Come morning, Meade would have to decide what to do next in the face of the perplexing disappearance of the Army of Northern Virginia.

While Meade was shoving half his army back into Culpeper County, Lee's troops had been moving steadily north. Gregg's cavalry division was the trip wire strung out along the upper Rappahannock to provide Meade early warning of the very movement the Rebels were making. The first inkling Gregg had of the presence of enemy troops came around 9:00 a.m. when the leading Confederate cavalry regiment clashed with Federal pickets near Jeffersonton.

After a lull of several hours, a brigade of Confederate cavalry struck at Jeffersonton around 3 p.m., but was repulsed. Ewell's infantry and artillery came up in time to take part in a second attack that drove two regiments of Yankee cavalry out of the town and back to Sulphur Springs, where a bridge spanned the Rappahannock. In a daring assault, Stuart's horsemen forded the river and captured the bridge, driving away one of Gregg's brigades and allowing part of Ewell's infantry to reach the north shore before nightfall.

The Rebels were now over the Rappahannock and well on their way into Meade's rear. Incredibly the commander of the Army of the Potomac remained ignorant of that fact until 9:00 p.m. — 11 hours after the fighting at Jeffersonton had begun and four hours after the Confederates had taken Sulphur Springs. The reason for this dangerous oversight was the suddenness of the Rebel assault that afternoon. A courier sent to warn Gregg that Rebel infantry was approaching the Rappahannock had been wounded and taken prisoner before he could carry out his mission. Therefore it was not until the Confederates were storming Sulphur Springs that General Gregg received word that Ewell's corps was on the scene. By the time Gregg's message conveying this fact reached Meade it was already late at night. Suddenly alert to the danger threatening his command, Meade immediately sent word for Sedgwick to pull his wing of the army back across the Rappahannock as rapidly as possible. French's III Corps was swung westward to face a possible attack from Sulphur Springs, while Newton's I Corps was ordered from Kelly's Ford to Warrenton Junction on the O&A.

It was midnight before all the Union troops south of the Rappahannock were on the road and dawn before the last of them crossed the river, allowing the engineers to take up the pontoons and set fire to the railroad bridge at Rappahannock Station. Meade had ordered a full retreat all the way to Centerville at 1:00 a.m. and kept his men on the move throughout the night and into the next day.

Meade's completely in the dark as to Lee's movements, only finding out 11 hours after initial fighting that contact has been made and four hours after the Confederates have taken Sulphur Springs, meaning they are now moving into his rear. This is critical because, as previously stated, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad is the Army of the Potomac's only means of escape and resupply, as the ravages of the war have left the Virginia countryside largely barren. Jackson's abilities for hard, quick marches combined with his previous experience in the area will give him the edge to get into the Federal rear and cut the railway.

Meade won't know what's happening until it's too late and even once he does he simply lacks the strength to counter-attack until he gets Sedgwick's wing of the army across the Rappahannock. By the time that's done, Lee will have long since added Hill's Corps to Jackson's, placing the entirety of the Army of Northern Virginia to Meade's rear and likely with enough time to have fieldworks in play. The Army of the Potomac can't go cross country, so they're going to have to directly assault the Confederates in the hopes of breaking through their lines. Given Meade has only 80,000 to the 55,000 under Lee, who are also going to be dug in most likely, that simply isn't going to happen. In essence, Lee has the ability to completely destroy the entirety of Meade's command.
 
Also, didn't recruiting not re-start until August or was it July?
It was definitely going on in July - there are references to it in the ORs.

Given the reports they were getting about over 100,000 Confederates in Maryland....
100,000 Confederates in Maryland is not far off true, if you count the actual number of men in the moving army (because that includes the logistics people, who in a Union army would be soldiers but in a Confederate army are composed in significant part of "nonwhite labour").
 
It was definitely going on in July - there are references to it in the ORs.


100,000 Confederates in Maryland is not far off true, if you count the actual number of men in the moving army (because that includes the logistics people, who in a Union army would be soldiers but in a Confederate army are composed in significant part of "nonwhite labour").

Indeed, that's kinda my point; due to their misunderstandings the Federals were essentially chasing phantom armies. You've definitely seen this before, but for the sake of posting it:

csArmySize2.jpg
 
Indeed, that's kinda my point; due to their misunderstandings the Federals were essentially chasing phantom armies. You've definitely seen this before, but for the sake of posting it:

csArmySize2.jpg
Indeed.

The really baffling bit is that Halleck seems to have believed there was a whole other significant army on the Rappahanock and continued to believe this into October, when the total strength on that line was two regiments (essentially pickets).



I've been looking at the rules for On To Richmond and I suspect they might point the way to another possible worst-case-scenario, which can be summed up effectively as "Lincoln considers Washington entirely secure with a total of 40,000 troops in Washington DC and the Valley between them".
In this situation, essentially Lincoln decides that it doesn't matter if Confederate forces get as far as Harpers Ferry if they can't cross the Potomac, and so he releases everything that's not that minimal 40,000 PFD garrison straight away. As far as I can tell that means McClellan gets about 30,000 PFD over his total historical reinforcements, immediately; even if he can't use 1st Corps to outflank the Warwick line and the timeline otherwise progresses completely as historical, in late June his position is completely secure.

For those interested, in On To Richmond this can only happen if the Confederate force in the Valley is 7,500 PFD or below and the force along the Rappahanock is 9,000 PFD or below; in those circumstances it has a 1/12 chance per week, or 1/6 chance per week if there's just 3,500 PFD or less in the Valley. Interestingly this situation is almost exactly the situation in late April before Ewell combined with Jackson, so even by OTR rules it's possible...
 
Indeed.

The really baffling bit is that Halleck seems to have believed there was a whole other significant army on the Rappahanock and continued to believe this into October, when the total strength on that line was two regiments (essentially pickets).

IIRC, wasn't a fourth of McClellan's force raw recruits IOTL? Here, if my numbers are right, it's over one third. No matter how good their leadership and logistics are, against Lee's veterans they're just not going to be as an effective force as that which the Army of the Potomac was in September of 1862 historically.
 
IIRC, wasn't a fourth of McClellan's force raw recruits IOTL? Here, if my numbers are right, it's over one third. No matter how good their leadership and logistics are, against Lee's veterans they're just not going to be as an effective force as that which the Army of the Potomac was in September of 1862 historically.

Not necessarily...



McClellan's strength on August 10th was:

Army troops not embraced in a corps ~8,800
2nd Corps 15,300 PFD
3rd Corps 16,500 PFD
4th Corps 14,400 PFD (but this includes Peck who was left behind on the Peninsula, and who had 7,600 PFD)
5th Corps 19,500 PFD
6th Corps 14,800 PFD

This comes in total to 81,700 from the Peninsula and 7,000 from Humphreys.
AoV plus defences of Washington, June 30: ~70,000, of which ~5,000 were en route to the Army of the Potomac. (This does not include the Middle Department.)

Deduct off the 50,000 casualties suffered by Pope: 15,000 PFD.

Reinforcements with Burnside: ~13,500 PFD.

Subsequent new recruits:

This is the hardest one to estimate, but Humphreys implies ca. 800 PFD per brand new regiment. Sticking with just the inf regiments for now and counting only new arrivals, not those shuffled about:

The Middle Department acquired eleven new regiments (as in, regiments that joined from their state) in August and September.
The Mil Dist of Washington gained eight in August for Defences North of the Potomac, seven in Unassigned Infantry, and seventeen in Whipple's division.
In September, Whipple's division gained one, Casey's provisional brigade gained one, the Defences North of the Potomac gained one and the Unassigned Infantry gained five (though that last group all arrived right at the end of the month so can be ignored). This doesn't count all the temporary militia showing up.

These categories mostly do not overlap with Humphreys Division (though two regiments do)

This means that over the course of August and September the influx of reinforcement regiments exclusive of Humphreys is 11+8+7+17+1+1+1-2, for 44. That amounts to about 35,000 PFD.

This means that the number of troops who were not new recruits is 28,500 + 81,700 = 110,200
And the number of troops who were new recruits is 35,000 + 7,000 = 42,000

If McClellan just has his entire peninsular force plus Humphreys, his army is actually less new recruits than historically, while the Washington Defences are about 55% new recruits.
 
Hmm, here's an idea that's sort of fun for how much it reverses an ascendant position for the Union.

Something happens that causes a British declaration of war on the Union on about December 14, 1864.

This results in total strategic catastrophe for the Union with a slightly dizzying speed. Sherman's army is now unable to resupply when it hits the coast and has to get all the way back to Thomas to get to safety; Grant's army is mostly south of the James and has also just had a sudden cut-off of supply.

I think that means the only remaining serious Union field army is Thomas's one, and while others can be formed it will take time. Counting Butler, Meade and Sherman the Union has just had 40% of its entire service manpower rendered out of supply at once (it's lost supply to about 255,000 Aggregate Present) and the triage required to form new field armies out of the remaining 60% is going to be pretty brutal and punishing.
 
Hmm, here's an idea that's sort of fun for how much it reverses an ascendant position for the Union.

Something happens that causes a British declaration of war on the Union on about December 14, 1864.

This results in total strategic catastrophe for the Union with a slightly dizzying speed. Sherman's army is now unable to resupply when it hits the coast and has to get all the way back to Thomas to get to safety; Grant's army is mostly south of the James and has also just had a sudden cut-off of supply.

I think that means the only remaining serious Union field army is Thomas's one, and while others can be formed it will take time. Counting Butler, Meade and Sherman the Union has just had 40% of its entire service manpower rendered out of supply at once (it's lost supply to about 255,000 Aggregate Present) and the triage required to form new field armies out of the remaining 60% is going to be pretty brutal and punishing.

Well that could set up for an 'interesting' conflict for all three powers. The south is approaching exhaustion point but now has the blockade lifted so they can import much needed weapons and the disruption of northern armies means they have a breather on the ground. Also assuming quick and overwhelming action by the RN the union now has a number of pockets in southern coastal regions that the south has to guard against but are trapped and running out of supplies.

The north has its forces probably near its peak in efficiency and size and depending on the political situation can probably raise new units and has a much better position in terms of supplies of rifles and other equipment. However their going to have to guard both their northern and coastal fronts and will see international trade drastically affected and financing the war has just got a lot harder. Plus the numbers of British and Canadian volunteers who had joined the army might well no longer be that willing to fight or be trusted. Also they could still have problems with some supplies, especially saltpetre/gunpowder especially since with the markedly larger forces their consumption will be higher.

Britain has a markedly higher threat to Canada once the union readjusts and also may face a problem with northern raiders attacking merchant shipping. Also given that Bismarck is already starting his maneuvering, with Denmark having been defeated and Scheswig-Holstein occupied things may get unstable in Europe pretty quickly. Also it would have to be a significant trigger at this stage I suspect for a long war with the north.

Depending on the motivations of all three powers and how they interact this could be long and bloody before peace is restored and who comes out on top where uncertain.
 
Depending on the motivations of all three powers and how they interact this could be long and bloody before peace is restored and who comes out on top where uncertain.
It is fun, isn't it?

It'd be an interesting map exercise to just start by deleting Meade, Butler and Sherman off the board and then saying "Okay, what forces are where?"
 
That'd be pretty bad for the CSA, right enough! Though I think you'd have to convince Halleck first.


I'm not so sure about this one. It's a bit reductive to think that Grant was necessary for the Vicksburg or Overland campaign to succeed; in both cases Grant had a pretty hefty numerical advantage, and Halleck could certainly advance a large army towards an outnumbered enemy (albeit rather slowly).
It's quite easy to argue it would make things worse for the Union, but is it really the Union worst case?
Halleck would have taken Vicksburg. Remember, it took Grant forever to take it
 
In essence, Lee has the ability to completely destroy the entirety of Meade's command.

What's going to happen next?

On the political level, it's important to note that the 55,000 casualties suffered by Grant were enough to so shake Northern morale that Lincoln until the end of August thought he was going to lose re-election; Lee here in the ATL has done that better by increasing the losses by a third and completely destroying the chief Federal army. While Lincoln is blessed that this great defeat is not with his re-election at hand, it still comes during Congressional and State-level races that even IOTL saw, for example, a Copperhead endorsed by McClellan come within a hair of winning the Governor's office in Pennsylvania. This defeat also comes when memories of the New York City Draft Riot, Detroit Race Riot and outright battles with Draft resistors in Ohio are still fresh; we're also mere months away from disturbances in Lincoln's home state of Illinois. The Peace Democrats are going to be incredibly strengthened by this, with major repercussions going into 1864.

At the strategic level, however, things are even worse. Outside of the troops in the immediate environs of Washington, there is no real Federal force to oppose Lee in the Mid-Atlantic. There are also no real prospects for any such force being constructed soon, as the Lincoln Administration had stripped what surplus forces existed in the aftermath of Chickamauga in order to rescue the now besieged Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga; Grant had detached 20,000 under Sherman, while Hooker had been sent with 15,000 from the Army of the Potomac. Pulling out any other forces thus opens up serious dangers in other theaters, which greatly constrains the options for the Union cause. In short, Lincoln will have to decide whether he wants to save D.C. or, most likely, see another great military disaster around Chattanooga.

If the Federals fail to move to protect Washington, Lee will move to occupy Centreville and emplace batteries along the Potomac, closing it down to riverine traffic just as the Confederates did for nearly a year back in 1861-1862. Lee can then take the majority of his host, swing into Maryland and then occupy Baltimore, closing off the only rail connections into Washington. With the railways and the Potomac closed, the city will inevitably be forced to surrender at some point. In the meantime, with Lee in Baltimore, a secession convention can be organized for Maryland. Between the decisive defeat of Meade, D.C. under Siege and Maryland now in the Confederacy, it's such a disaster for Federal arms that French intervention becomes essentially assured.

Should the Lincoln Administration attempt to save the city, the most likely route for such would be to pull the 15,000 troops of Burnside's Department of the Ohio out of East Tennessee. Likewise, the 15,000 men that had been detached for Chattanooga from the Army of the Potomac under Hooker could be withdrawn, likely arriving in less than two weeks. 30,000 men isn't enough to take on Lee in the field, but it's sufficient to strongly picket the entry points into Maryland and reinforce Washington. Combined with Lee's hesitancy to campaign that far North with winter coming, it's probably enough to deter the Confederates. The problem is, however, that it opens up the Federals for certain disaster elsewhere, Chattanooga in particular.

Without Burnside at Knoxville, there's no need for the Knoxville Campaign, opening up the railway network for use in aiding Bragg's logistics. Perhaps equally important is that the 10,000 men under Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones in Southwestern Virginia can now perform a link up with Bragg's Army. Returns from November suggest this would mean 69,000 Confederates against 57,000 Federals, once you remove Hooker's 15,000 from the total. However, the Federals have a further disadvantage in that around 40,000 of their number is trapped within Chattanooga, on the brink of starvation in late October. These facts alone make clear that Grant is in serious danger here before you even consider specific operations.

Case in point is that Hooker's men were used to protect Bridgeport, Alabama and its connections to Chattanooga, meaning what would become the "Cracker Line" origins point is dangerously exposed. Further, without Hooker's men to guard Wauhatchie, Longstreet can take and directly cut the Cracker Line as its main point in Chattanooga. No matter which way you look at it, it's definitely likely the attempt to relieve the city is going to fail. Accord to Thomas, in his famous correspondence with Grant when the latter arrived on scene, the Army of the Cumberland had, at most, seven days worth of rations left. By the time the Cracker Line was opened IOTL, they had, at most, a day's worth. No matter how resolute George Thomas is, when the supplies run out it's only going to be a matter of a few days before the Army of Tennessee is able to bag the 40,000 men of the Army of the Cumberland. Thereafter, with only Sherman's 20,000 on scene and no hope of reinforcements, Bragg can either destroy the remainder of the Federals or, much more likely, retakes Tennessee and sets himself up in a position to move into Kentucky come Spring.

Between all of this, I think it's safe to say Northern willpower to carry the war is going to be dangerously depleted if not outright destroyed. Even ignoring that, the French under Napoleon III were still serious about intervention into the Fall of 1863 and these decisive Confederate victories make such a move a near certainty. On the whole, I think this is a war winning scenario for the Confederates.
 
From Stones River - Bloody Winter in Tennessee, by James Lee McDonough:

Stones River Part I.PNG

Stones River Part II.PNG

Stones River Part III.PNG


Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland, with 43,000 troops, captured or killed, certainly fits. Lincoln, in private correspondence with Rosecrans after the battle, speculated that defeat here-concurrent to that in Fredericksburg-might have broke Northern morale and possibly triggered foreign intervention.
 

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