What if?

What if The Confederate army won at Gettysburg with minimal losses and secured military aid from Britain and France... what could have happened?

Well technically Lee did win at Gettysburg, just not decisively. He captured the town and the roads and had pinned the Union army on top of Cemetery Ridge. He just could not dislodge the Union army no more than the Union army could dislodge the Confederates. It became a futile stalemate, and even though Lee had control of the field, he did not have the men nor the supplies to continue, and the Confederacy was in trouble elsewhere, so he made a voluntary retreat.

Well I doubt that the CSA would be able to get France on their side, but if say Britain had issues getting cotton from India and Egypt, they might be willing to put more pressure on the Americans. If the army of Northern Virginia was largely intact then they could have pressed onward and began a siege of Washington DC. If this is to happen we cannot presume that Sherman would march to the sea, Vicksburg certainly would have fallen, but if word reached that the capitol was being attacked the Western armies may have rushed to their aid instead of inflicting more losses on the Confederates.

Seriously though I doubt that a decisive victory in Gettysburg saves the Confederates, simply because of Vicksburg, now if Vicksburg had repulsed the Americans and Lee lost at Gettysburg then the Confederates could have won. Actually it could have served the Confederate cause better had they lost at Gettysburg since there would be less loss of life, since unlike the Union Generals, Lee wouldn't be willing to fight a defensive battle over a shoe factory.

A think a more interesting scenario is what happens if Lincoln and the Republicans lose the election of 1864....