Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree over your contention that Lee was a second rate general.
Lee fought the only war he could, given the logistical situation he was facing. In his boots, Grant would have done the same things. Similarly, if Lee was heading the Union armies, he would have fought the war the same way as Grant did (and, if Lee had accepted command of the Union armies, the civil war would have probably been over in a year or two).
It’s my opinion that the South should have surrendered after Lincoln was re-elected in 1864. The writing was on the wall at that point- the Union had given Lincoln a mandate to finish the war with the complete defeat of the CSA. The South should have realized that every day the war continued after that election was just a waste of lives and resources.