27. Pipe Creek consolidation*

This next series of essays explore alternative scenarios as Lee moves to find the Union force and attack it.

I write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode. I try to place myself in the mind of the senior commanders and make decisions as the scenario unfolds. As to timelines, I try to stay true to what is factual.

No matter where my cogitating leads, Lee almost always seems to lose; mainly because he cannot sustain a prolonged battle scenario so deep in the north. The only way he seems to be able to overcome that deficit is if he captures Westminster. This is the scenario that NEWT GINGRICH uses in his ALT Hx novel.