“George Thomas proves that Lee had a choice”
There was no other choice for Lee. There was no other option for him but to serve Virginia.
“Had Lee as ably served the Union as Thomas, the war would most likely have ended sooner, with far fewer Confederate deaths, especially those of his most beloved Virginians.”
There is no doubt that you can construct a list of hypotheticals to come to whatever conclusion you wish. But if your hypothetical includes Lee turning against Virginia, it’s among the most far-fetched of fantasies.
Military leaders come from around the world to study Lee. I doubt they’ve even heard of Thomas.
Lee was among the greatest of Americans.
It wouldn’t be Lee turning against Virginia - it would have been Lee turning against those lunatics who steered Virginia into the abyss.
The more I read, the less impressed I am with Lee as a military commander. Mostly, I think he was blessed with a handful of good subordinates (Jackson and Longstreet, especially) and with a series of bumbling idiots for opponents, until Grant came along.
Lee and Thomas were both Virginians, and close friends.
Lee was nine years older than Thomas.
When the time came, Lee chose his state while Thomas chose his nation.
Today Lee is idolized beyond his merit, while Thomas' sterling record is usually ignored.
But I think it insults Thomas to say he was merely the Union's equivalent of Confederate General Longstreet.
Thomas was better than Longstreet.
Both Thomas and Lee died in 1870.
RFEngineer: "But if your hypothetical includes Lee turning against Virginia, it’s among the most far-fetched of fantasies."
But the fact is that Lee, like Thomas, had a choice, and had he chosen differently results could well have been a shorter war with far fewer Virginians killed.
So, as I said: Lee chose poorly.