by Jeffrey Schaffer

Created on: October 23, 2009

Having resigned his commission in the United States Army and leading the Army of Northern Virginia to be the most successful army in the Confederacy, it would seem at first that treason would be a reasonable charge to level against General Robert E. Lee. But had there been such an attempt, it would have undermined everything President Lincoln had tried to achieve by fighting the Civil War. Because Lee and other Confederate officers were treated with respect, it allowed for the two sections of the country to reunite and be one nation again.

One of the great underlying problems of the war was if the North managed to defeat the South militarily, how were the rebel states to be treated? The Confederacy was not a small section of the country but encompassed 11 states, 5 border states, plus Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) and parts of Arizona and New Mexico. How could the United States refer to itself as a free nation, when such a large portion of its population was united only by military might? Lincoln did realize this and is why he adopted a "hard war, soft peace" approach whereby he would pursue the war to the utmost, but show leniency when the conflict was over. The mutual respect and honorable terms shown by Generals Grant and Sherman to Lee and Johnston, demonstrated that despite the terrible conflict, America could be reborn.

Of course things could have gone much differently, with the assassination of President Lincoln and the rise of the Radical Republicans, there was an outcry for dealing punishment to the Confederacy, and the South was put under subsequent military occupation. Had they push harder and demanded that General Lee be tried for treason, it may very well have incited the remaining Confederate soldiers to take up arms again and begin and insurgency. When Lee surrendered, there were still nearly 100,000 Confederate troops in the field; with our recent involvement in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, we can imagine the violence and strife that would have been created if the United States Army had to fight a guerrilla war of that size and scope. Our country would have been torn apart, and may have never been healed.

By not attempting to prosecute General Lee, not only did the country save itself from years of further conflict, but recognized that the Confederates were fighting for things that were dear to the whole country, freedom, self-determination, and loyalty to one's state. While the following era of Reconstruction would be painful there was still enough good will so as to allow the country to become one again.

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