How you think the American Civil War would of end if Robert E. Lee never surrendered?

Answer 1

Lee had no choice. His troops would have been ground into raw meat eventually. The Deep South was already lost and all that was left was Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, and it rapidly fell apart in early 1865. Lack of food and supplies and increasing desertion rates took their toll and Lee's troops were no match for Grant's.

A large portion of Lee's troops had already been captured by the time what was left was surrounded at Appamattox. Had Lee fought on, the outcome would have been the same, just bloodier. Richmond was already expecting to be taken by force. Lee's surrender put an end to that possibility.

Answer 2

The same way as long as Lincoln was President.

Answer 3

Then the South would still have lost. Lee knew he could no longer win, that's why he surrendered.

Answer 4

Lee would only have kept Fighting if he knew he could win he did the Right thing

Answer 5

With more dead people. Actually, they're all dead, aren't they?

Answer 6

I think the war could have been prevented or compromised to end early by both sides agreeing to phase slavery out gradually. The writing was on the wall by how the industrial revolution was accelerating labor saving technology. The first steam tractor was introduced around 1845 for example.
Even after Lee surrendered there were still pockets of resistance but the impetus was gone when the confederate gov collapsed. The super vast majority of confederate soldiers never owned a slave. The south considered slave labor worth fighting for because it was essential for the south's "cotton heavy" economy.

Answer 7

More bloodshed, same result.

Answer 8

Lee was surrounded by vastly superior forces. Had he not surrendered the Union would have literally wiped him out, and the end result would have been the same with a lot fewer men going home to rebuild the nation.

Answer 9

Even worse for the south.

That’s probably why he surrendered.

Answer 10

The war was basically over by the time Lee officially surrendered as the South had virtually exhausted its resources. My guess, however, is that the graciousness of Lee's surrender and the graciousness of its reception prevented a good deal of resistance and insurgency during the first years of Reconstruction.