"The Near Capture of Ulysses Grant by Confederate ..." Topic

…General Jackson

"Perhaps the two most intriguing words in history are "What if?" This is true whether the word "history" is used in the context of the past, itself, or in the context of the study of the past. In the latter context, "What if?" leads to interesting, enjoyable, thought-provoking, and sometimes intense discussions. When people who are interested in history concoct alternative histories based on some event happening differently (i.e., a what-if), the discussions that follow are one of the things that contribute to people's interest in history. In the former context of the word "history," a real-life what-if strategically placed into the past (if such a thing were possible) could, as George Bailey learned, produce a substantially different present than the one in which we now live, and this is a significant reason for those interesting, enjoyable, thought-provoking, and sometimes intense discussions when "What if?" is inserted into the study of the past.

Wars, because of their capricious nature, are arguably one of the most fertile fields in history for what-ifs, and the Civil War is no exception. A change in one event can produce a significant change in the course or even the outcome of a war. What if Robert E. Lee had given his services to the Union military effort? What if the Army of Northern Virginia had been victorious at the Battle of Gettysburg? (This was the subject of the annual Dick Crews Debate at the January 2019 Roundtable meeting.) What if Atlanta had not fallen prior to the presidential election of 1864, with the result that Abraham Lincoln's fears about that election came to pass, and war-weary Northerners elected George McClellan president? In one of the most frequently discussed what-ifs about the Civil War, what if Stonewall Jackson had not been taken away from the Confederacy shortly after the Battle of Chancellorsville? This last what-if involves the elimination of a major loss from the Confederacy's war effort. Subtractions such as the one caused by Stonewall's death are always a possibility in an enterprise like war. As Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest declared, "War means fighting, and fighting means killing." When there is killing going on, sometimes that killing befalls someone whose removal is so significant that that person becomes the subject of a future what-if…"

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Armand

He would have been exchanged.

The General Jackson in question was probably Red Jackson, a Rebel cavalry commander.

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Armand