In all contests, people who can play well with severe disadvantages will often claim victory with equally large advantages. Had Robert E. Lee led the Union's army in the Civil War, he would have easily claimed victory, as he was an incredible general and the Union had many advantages over the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee was an elite general who prolonged a war in which many expected his army to fall very quickly. He had many major victories, and one the first and most important was in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. Lee started the battle there by scaring the Union General, George McClellan. He did this by sending the same troops through a clearing visible to McClellan every day for weeks, so McClellan so the troops multiple …show more content…
He than attacked McClellan's army from both points, and even though he was losing considerably more men than McClellan, he convinced McClellan that McClellan was losing, which caused him to retreat and thus not capture Richmond. Soon afterward, Lee again proved his strength by defending Fredericksburg from a major attack, this time climbing a hill to make sure his army could attack from above. He continued to win many major battles, most importantly the battle of Chancellorsville, in which he and fellow General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson blindsided the Union's army from both sides, and decimated it. Lee was clearly a great General who took a war most people thought would take months and stayed competitive in it for five years! The reason most people thought the Union would win so easily was because they held many key advantages. The main advantage was their booming industry, as for the first time in history, machines were being used to make crucial items, like shoes and weapons. The Union produced tons of weapons and bullets, including the machine gun, that overpowered the Confederate