They would have just shifted the trans-alabama, and carolina departments, you basically had 80 to a hundred thousand troops there in garrison duty. Although they would have had to move the capital.
Lee was the dominant CSA general and the only one that Davis really liked or trusted. All the others Johnston, Beauregard were held in low esteem by Davis. With the loss of Lee and his Army, the wind would have been taken out of their efforts. Davis may have tried to hold out but no way it lasts beyond 1863.
Davis wasn't civil enough to make an adequate politician. Beauregard was perhaps one of the most underutilized and brilliant of his generals.
Agree totally Davis was a control freak, and try to control everthing from Richmond instead of delegating. His ego let one of the souths best general's sit idle for 2 years commanding the department of the carolina's.
