Which Confederate general opposed secession but did not believe the Union should be held together by force and surrendered in 1865?

• A. Robert E. Lee
• B. Jefferson Davis
• C. Ulysses S. Grant
• D. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is recognizing a high-ranking Confederate who personally opposed secession and believed the United States could stay together without forcing it, yet still chose to defend his home state once secession happened, and then surrendered in 1865. Robert E. Lee fits this balance. He was raised and trained as a U.S. Army officer and deeply respected the Union, and he believed secession was not the right path. He was even offered command of the Union Army by Lincoln, but chose instead to support Virginia when it left the Union. Lee hoped for a peaceable restoration of the Union and a political settlement, rather than a war fought to hold the country together by force. He ultimately surrendered the Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the war in the East.

Jefferson Davis was the Confederacy’s president and ardently supported secession. Stonewall Jackson fought for the Confederacy and died in 1863, staunchly aligned with the Confederacy from the start. Ulysses S. Grant was a leading Union general who fought against the Confederacy and accepted its surrender in 1865, not a Confederate commander.