[arrogantsob]

If Lee had accepted Lincoln’s appointment to lead the Union’s armies the War probably would not have lasted a year.

[Tallguy]

“If Lee had accepted Lincoln’s appointment to lead the Union’s armies the War probably would not have lasted a year.”

There wasn’t much chance of that. Lee made it clear that whichever way Virginia went, he would go. That and it took the Federals a couple of years before they had an Army capable of offensive action and a Navy capable of maintaining a strategic blockade. Lee, for all his tactical brilliance, could have done little to remedy those shortcomings. But then the war would have been fought primarily in the Carolinas, I suppose.

[fella]

"If Lee had accepted Lincoln’s appointment to lead the Union’s armies the War probably would not have lasted a year."

And the slaves would not have been freed.