[jmacusa]

He wasn't. Any military man worth his salt wouldn't and in Lees position wouldn't have gone to war. Even though Lee won battles he should have seen the hand writing on the wall after Gettysburg and certainly the very next day, July 4, 1863 when Vicksburg fell. Having invaded your enemy's territory he has soundly defeated you in an epic three day battle, which includes a near suicidal infantry charge into the face of enemy fire forever known in military jargon as a suicidal tactic , your enemy has now seized what had been your capitol city(Vicksburg) which is an important river port city, has geographically split your own home territory in two and given your enemy control of one of the worlds largest rivers which had been your main avenue of movement and supply. Any one with brain and any moral decency would see that there should have been no point in continuing to fight but Lee led the carnage for another two years.

[DiogenesLamp]

I find it amazing that you have the arrogance to call Lee a bad general because his odds of winning were poor and he therefore should have rejected the fight.

I guess the concept of doing the right thing even though your odds of success are bad is an alien concept to you?

Lee fought for his state and the coalition of which it was a part without regard for his disagreement with their decision to leave. In those days, your "state" was very much like your country, and you might just as well criticize the Poles for fighting against the Nazi war machine. Their odds were poor too, and the effort was ultimately futile.

[rockrr]

I still hold Lee in the great warrior category even though I thoroughly reject his motivations. You will find some thimble-brains that say that people regarded their respective state like we regard our nation today but that’s a cop-out. In truth you can point to the aftermath of the War of 1812 as the beginning of the point where people held our nation in highest regard.

Of course the nitwits who make such invalid comparisons are also inclined to conflate motivations of one period onto another in idiotic analogies.

[rockrr]

BTW: Did you notice the buzzing of a gnat?