appomattox appomattox. we're taging your calls here on american history e tv. joe in new york, you're on the air. >> caller: yes, i have a neral question for general grant.ppeare at thed surrender ceremony in the n mclean house onow april 9th general lee appeared in an immaculate uniform as he appeared to be wearing right now, because he thought he would be arrested and charged with the crime ofco treason? thank you very much. >> that did come up after the war and i communicated with general grant pointing out that i had a parole. i made sure i had one. i had gone home and i did not o raise arms. politically there washast aed call to have me arrested and tried for treason. i wanted to settle the matter and i communicated with general grant and the matter died. had >> were you concerned at all that you in terms of the settlement, hadn't had a chance to speak to confederate president jefferson davis? >> i had communicated with him. i don't know if he received any of any communications.ion you can understand that general grant after me, the lines of communication were bad. president davis had gone on ahead by rail. messa i didn't really know where he ituati wason located. i sent him the messages letting him know the situation. and then i felt i did what i -- my i had a duty to my soldiers. and once that happened, it was my decision. mi >> let's go back to our callers. jay is in miami, florida. welcome. >> caller: hello. yes. i'm calling from miami. the >> yes, jaye. >> caller: my question dealt with the topic that general lee just talked about, which was ve surrendering before president rhaps he jefferson, jefferson davis did so. some peoplet say perhaps he should have waited for hi ste commander in chief to surrender, that perhaps he took that step tly, earlier than he should have.ever, is i know that his men were suffering greatly. however, looking back on it now, is he still convinced that it was the right decision in. y >> yes,it absolutely.deci it was thesi right decision.and i was a commander of the army ief. and i was also commander in chief. and there was no way to communicate with general davis. i made the decision and it was made the rightth decision. >> general grant, you made the decision to allow your rations, the union rations to be distributed to union troops but your own troops were fairly we starved from the chase as well. >> they were hungry because we had been on the run for several days in pursuit of the army of northern virginia. actually u gave general lee the provisions that i had kept him from getting. >> it muz my rations. gn >> it was his rations that i gave him. i was magnanimous of you to do so. >> i thought it was at the time. we also gave him some of our rations. his men were starving. mine were hungry but we had been in a head long rush to get to this place. no and for the first time in the k war i saw a phenomenon that nea there were no stragglers in my army. we all knew the end was near and every man was pushing to be at the front. no one wanted to be at the rear. >> a question for you from facebook. john landford wants to know what happened to the firearms that were turned in by southern soldiers on this date as a matter of fact, april 12 1865. >> they were destroyed. they were destroyed. >> and you also allowed the tant general's officer to keep their side arms.the impo why was that? >> the important issue in that question is not what i said but what i didn't say. because what has been lost over time, what has slid off the i h pages of the history books into the binding is that i've already spoken to making the document as economically verbal as possible. i had let the officers keep as their side arms and their horses. but the reason i did that is notg a bunc because -- as i was criticized, i was letting a bunch of reds loose with weapons. i knew they were men of honor and would stand by their pledge. what the significance of that is, is by letting them keep their side arms, i also let them keep their swords. so not a confederate officer had to surrender their sword to the ed insul victor. i eliminated insult to injury. they were able to keep their swords. so they man were able to take them home and hang them over the mantle. >> it is live american history t here with general u lee see k. grant and general robert e. lee taking your calls and comments for the next 20 minutes or so. mbt and a pacific 202-748-8901.sk both i'm going to ask you to step outer of character for a moment. curt fields, tell us your background and how you came to play general grant on this day. >> i'm a retire educator. i hold a ph.d. in education fromcer michigan state university. i was a principal for 25 years, taught for eight years, been a hostag memphis police officer professional drummer was a adjun hostage negotiator. i like to refer to it as a defunction professor. i'm an adjunct professor at the university of memphis.rician i teach sociology. >> an' thomas jessee? >> i'm an electrician, been superintendent for ana electrical contractor in tampa florida. and i've been a reenactor since i've been 18 years. not a living historian a living reactor. >> what's the difference there. we hear that term used by different people.reenac what's the difference? >> as a reenactor, you're showing a battle. you're showing an event, reenacting the event. a living historian is presenting as a person and they're telling that person -- they're being that person. is if you believed i was robert e. lee and you believed he was neral general-- grant we did living history like it was supposed to ap beon done. the reenactors are the gentlemen over here having to surrender not their weapons. they're not particular people.as they're recreating an event. es >>t: as far as the details behind the scenes there's not a lot of difference. >> we allow people to part the curtains of history and look down that long corridor of time and see things as they really t: were. >> i.d. either of you ever expect to be here? >> never. >> no. if you had told me this two ve years ago, i wouldn't have believed it. >> i think say is w on the line, miami, jay, you still there? jay from miami, florida. go ahead. i think -- just a remind are, jay and other callers, make sure you listen your television and listen over the phone so you can get the answer.s call you still i there? [ inaudible ] >> we'll get back to his call in a moment. let me ask you in the days after appomattoxappomattox, general lee, what did you do? >> i was her e at my headquarters. at first i decided i would follow my troops out to surrender their weapons. i would be with them. general gordon and general rters longstreet convinced me that would not be a wise move. day they would take care of it. i stayed here at my headquarters at my tent until the last surrender. the last day. i was taking care of ting on correspondence making sure the men got rations, finding paroles. i was waiting on colonel marshal -- >> he was your aid? >> he was a general and he was the one who usually wrote my orders. so colonel gen marshal from baltimore wrote general order number nine. >> how quickly did you notify washington of the surrender and i how long were you on the took battlefield or in appomattox rather after the -- a >> i took care after the surrender and general lee left me a myriad of nigh muminutia. it was later that day that my him. staff reminded me that i would telegraph and tell them of the sur

appomattox appomattox, general lee, what did you do? >> i was her e at my headquarters. at first i decided i would follow my troops out to surrender their weapons. i would be with them. general gordon and general rters longstreet convinced me that would not be a wise move. day they would take care of it. i stayed here at my headquarters at my tent until the last surrender. the last day. i was taking care of ting on correspondence making sure the men got rations, finding paroles. i was waiting on colonel marshal -- >> he was your aid? >> he was a general and he was the one who usually wrote my orders. so colonel gen marshal from baltimore wrote general order number nine. >> how quickly did you notify washington of the surrender and i how long were you on the took battlefield or in appomattoxrather after the -- a >> i took care after the surrender and general lee left me a myriad of nigh muminutia. it was later that day that my him. staff reminded me that i would telegraph and tell them of the surrender are. and i said yes, indeed. and i telegraphed them. the next morning on april 10th horse i o wanted to speak with general lee again and i rode my horse e saw out to meet him. he did not know i was coming. when he saw me, he got quickly mounted and rode out to meet me and we had about a 30-minute conversation. and in, m to that conversation i asked him to order all confederate armies to lay their weapons out sp down. and he demurred and said i real hi cannot do that without speaking to the president. he did not know, nor did i, that ple that at the moment we were speaking president davis w u your fleeing to georgia. i told him there's not a southerner under arms who will respec not obey yout r order. and what i disagreed with him, i respect him for it. he said this is a pol

appomattox. this was known as the battle of one appomattox station. the only battle in the civil war fought between federal cavalry units and confederate artillery units. no infantrymen involved. the federal cavalry can overrun artillery positions quickly. so they are all retreating to the appomattoxouse village. the next morning, lee sends more troops to be able to take the trains. he believes that his infantrymen and the troops that he has can overtake a cavalry unit in the area and get back the supply trains. about 7:30 in the morning, another battle begins in the area when lee discovers that the general and his army have arrived overnight with plenty of federal reinforcements. they have effectively cut off lee's approach to the supply trains. the battle only last until about 10:30 in the morning, when general lee sends a message to general grant, telling him he is ready to surrender his army. you will notice here the bridge. the bridge is highbridge, going from farmville to appomattox. it crossed the appomattox river. this photograph was taken in august of 1865, when they were doing final repairs to the bridge after the war. we are going into the gallery. i will show you some of the items we have. some of them were specific to appomattox. our collection is very broad very deep

appomattox -- unlike bennett place or appomattox. it was not recorded. but they do agree that the confederate soldiers will surrender under the same terms as appomattox meaning turning over military equipment and receiving parole passes and getting everybody home. because this was done without the commanding general, there is going to have to be another meeting. forget that, just one interesting fact. -- before i get to that, just one interesting fact. general bruckner surrendered earlier in the war at tennessee so he has the honor of surrendering confederate armies twice during the civil war. while that happens in new orleans, general smith arrives in marshall, texas. and you learn -- and he learns what has happened and is not happy. i want to briefly read his address to his soldiers. a lot of you know about general order number nine, lee's farewell address to his soldiers. very elegant. this is general smith's address. "soldiers, i am left a commander without an army, a general without troops. you have made your choice. it is unwise and unpatriotic but it is final. i pray you may not live to regret it. the enemy will occupy your country. you have voluntari

appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia, effectively ending the civil war. next, we visit the museum of the confederacy in appomattox to see items related to the surrender. we also toured the museum, looking at the war's aftermath. >> welcome to the museum of the confederacy appomattox. i am the site director here. for museum has been open for almost three years now. we are an extension of the museum that was originally founded in 1890, opened in 1896 in richmond. we house a lot of the artifacts that were from the confederates. we will tell you about how we got some of those artifacts. here, we kind of focus on appomattox since we are in this location. one of the things people ask us about is why appomattox? why did lee come here to surrender? it was not his original intent of course. lead, on his retreat from petersburg, had been looking for supplies. his goal was to find supplies for his men and turn south to meet with general johnston in north carolina. as he is traveling from petersburg, greta had been able to effectively block all the railroad supplies lee has waiting for him. he gets into appomattox courthouse. that is the name of the village built on a stagecoach road between richmond and lynchburg. courthouse spelled as two words. appomattox as a county was

appomattox since we are in this location. one of the things people ask us about is why appomattox? why did lee come here to surrender? it was not his original intent of course. lee, on his retreat from petersburg, had been looking for supplies. his goal was to find supplies for his men and turn south to meet with general johnston in north carolina. as he is traveling from petersburg grant had been able to effectively block all the railroad supplies lee has waiting for him. he gets into appomattox courthouse. that is the name of the village , which was built on a stagecoach road between richmond and lynchburg. courthouse spelled as two words. appomattox was a county was -- a county formed in 1845. the county seats are always known with the county name and the two words, courthouse. but it did have a courthouse building in it. lee arrived here on the afternoon of april 8. he deployed some of his artillery here in front of him on this road on the way to appomattox station. this is where he has supply trains waiting for him. he sent some of the artillery to a position here and sent men out to unload the supply trains. while they are unloading these trains, they are surprised by general custer's cavalry, who comes in, captures the supply trains and some of the men. some of them escape and start heading back towards the courthouse village, where the main army is. when they are in this area where the artillery troops are the federal calorie -- calvary has caught up to them. this was

appomattox. we are at the appomattox court house national historical park we will talk to the man u may have seen just a few moments ago, david blight, the author of a number of books -- including race and union in the civil war. we are going to obviously give you a chance to join the conversation and offer your comments -- here's how to do that -- if you are in the eastern or central time zones, the numbers 202 -- 798 -- 8900. host: you have written about the end of appomattox as being the beginning of a new calendar of time for freed slaves. what does that mean to them? >> there were actually some african-american leaders in the wake of the civil war that even suggested 1865 is the beginning of a new calendar. they did not literally invent a new calendar, but it meant that life had begun a new. that a new history had begun. in some cases, actually, they viewed it in biblical terms. that somehow god in the old testament tradition had answered history and torn up jerusalem torn up peoples government. the people's society, destroyed it, it had to be made a new. emancipation was viewed as that kind of turning point. it meant that black folks now at least had an opportunity. they did not know where it was going but they had an opportunity to live in a new history. that is what i meant in the new book. to some people appomattox represented not just a marker in time, but the kind of beginning of a new historical time itself. host: this covers your recent article

appomattox? david: i don't know of any at appomattox, but yes, i am a big a small fan. maybe this is someone who knows that. baseball was played by civil war soldiers. regiments had teams. units had teams. they played a game that we would probably recognize, but it is not quite the same game. i don't know of a game played here. there likely could have been. union soldiers might have gone back to one of these fields and said let's have a game of rounders, which is sometimes what they called it. all you needed was something resembling a bat and a ball and something to call basis. baseball had caught on in its early form at the time of the civil war. it wasn't invented by abner doubleday, as he is sometimes given credit for, but a day like today, let's play two. host: we go to brian in fernandina beach, florida. are you on the air? caller: yes, i am. professor blight, i would like to get your impression or opinion on whether you think perhaps the union, beginning at appomattox, was too lenient on the confederacy, particularly its political leadership, and that impact on the success of reconstruction. david: that is a great question, sir, long examined by monday morning quarterbacks about the moral aspects of the civil war. by any legal measure thousands upon thousands of southerners had committed treason. if you resigned your commission in the u.s. military to take up guard -- take up arms against your government, that is treason. if you resign your seat in congress to join the political movement against your government, that is treason. that is one thing. at the end of the war, it was abraham lincoln's vision, and many other people were with them on this -- he did not want this war to end in enveloping guerrilla warfare that might have gone into the hills and mountains to the west of us for months. that would have been the worst possible kind of ending. that is a clean ending they are reenacting. another matter to ask, what about the political leadership?

appomattox campaign, a large amount of the confederate calvary got away from appomattox and made it to lynchburg. one of the city parks and lynchburg is this monument. one of the local calvary units mustered in in 1861 on the fairgrounds and arrived back 4 years later to dispense on the same spot. -- do disband on the same spot. almost 4 years to the day. it's a neat monument. once they learned about what happened at appomattox, they disband. there are other isolated units in the shenandoah valley in southwest virginia. they go to the nearest union commander and surrender or they will just disband and go home. some go back to appomattox to get parole passes. they want that piece of paper. there's no one particular route that they take. audience member: why did the majority of the indian tribes sign with the confederacy? mr. dunkerly: look at their history. they has been removed, the trail of tears. the u.s. government and u.s. military is their traditional enemy. they're anxious to ally themselves with the enemy of the u.s. hoping they can gain more independence. it just seems natural. of course, as things deteriorate they are quick to turn around at the end of the war. it is because of the treatment of the united states government. they've been removed from their homelands and resettled in oklahoma. they saw a chance to gain a measure of independence back. thank you. [applause] for those that have more ques

appomattox courthouse, early 1865, before war came, appomattox court house looked otica. not unlike hundreds of other communities across america. the tavern served travelers on serve the richmond to lynchburg stage road as it had for decades.ds francis meeks ran a common general store across the lawn from the tavern right behind you. he also served, he did, as the village's postmaster and pharmacist. one thing rendered appomattox different than many villages. t it was the county seat. it's an undeniable curiosity cu that when in 1845, the virginia 45, legislature created appomattox county and designated the county seat at this village then called clover hill. it's an undeniable curiosity that local leaders decided to the build the jail before they built the courthouse. once the courthouse opened in 1846, appomattox commenced a distinct rhythm that persisted for decades.cades. monthly court days brought life monthl to this community once a month as citizens gathered from acrossacro the county to conduct business run f to run for office, to sell or goods, to sell slaves. to witness court proceedings. it's likely and probable that the only world famous residents at that time probably made appearances at court days here prior to the warme.c several lawyers had offices in town. sheriff wilson went about his business in early 1865 like many american sheriffs did, except nemany that in 1865, he spent much more time r

appomattox. the confederate armies' surrender meant peace and the end of the war. i brought this, this was in my hometown newspaper savannah, last week about the surrender at appomattox. it says "the surrender and peace at appomattox." that has been part of how we understood this, that the war came to an end at appomattox. having surrendered, confederate soldiers expected -- accepted the verdict. the reunification of the nation would have been quickly achieved if a vengeful north had not stopped through the imposition of federal power to punish the white south by imposing on it tyrannical and alien state government run by northern carpetbaggers, southern scalawags and ignorant and incompetent former slaves. as the myth goes, the white south, through the heroic efforts of the ku klux klan and other paramilitary groups rose up, redeeming their state and saving white civilization. this so-called dunning school of interpretation was made popular by movies and books such as "birth of a nation" and it gave a sheen of respectability for jim crow. as historian james goodman observed, this is through decades of lynching segregation, disenfranchisement, debt. -- debt peonage,-presidents made -- heightened prejudiced. this a

appomattox. it talks about "the surrender and peace at appomattox." having surrendered confederate soldiers, the reunification of the nation would have been quickly achieved if a vengeful north had not stopped through the imposition of federal power to punish the white south of a tyrannical and alien state government run by northern carpetbaggers and incompetent former slaves. as the myth goes, there was the heroic efforts of the ku klux klan and they rose up redeeming -- rose up, redeeming their state and transforming white civilization. this was made popular by movies and books such as "worth of a nation and it gave a sheen of respectability for jim crow. as historian jg -- james goodman observed, this is through decades of lynching and disfranchisement and-heightened prejudiced -- disfranchisement and heightened prejudiced. this afternoon, our panel of experts will tackle the problem of reconstruction, it's myths its realities, its successes its failures, and how it came to shape and distort our understanding of the civil war. so gentlemen, thank you for being here and welcome. it's a jump right into it. what is cute -- what was reconstruction. -- one was reconstruction? -- what was reconstruction? tracy? dr. mckenzie the term -- dr. mckenzie: the term itself is more ambiguous than we typically use it, we are typically topping -- talking about what the federal government role was through the long-term consequences of the war. i like to tell my students that if they studied the american civil war and stop their studies at appomattox, than they are not really interested in the civil war at all. that is true, because most of the issues were not really solved in april of 1865. some things were clear, the union had been preserved slavery had been abolished, but what they really would mean for the life of the country and the kind of union being preserved and what it would mean for former slaves, what it would mean for the balance of power politically between the democratic and republican parties, what it would mean for regional power, all of these are questions that are still up in the air. when we think of the mindset of southerners in the summer of 1865, the first thing that comes to mind is uncertainty. it is powerful and pervades almost all ranks of society. so the period we refer to in reconstruction is where there is a national conversation as well as considerable conflict and violence trying to answer the question of -- trying to enter the long-term questions of the civil war. it is almost impossible to exagger

appomattox. that is a big part of how we understood this, that the war came to an end at appomattox. having surrendered confederate soldiers reification of the nation would have been quickly achieved if a vengeful north had not saw the reason to punish the white south by imposing on it tyrannical and alien state governments run by northern carpetbaggers and scalawags and ignorant and incompetent former slaves. as the myth goes, the white south through the heroic efforts of the ku klux klan rose up and threw off corrupt republican rule, deeming their states and saving white civilization. the so-called dunning school of interpretation was made popular by "birth of a nation." to give respect ability to jim crow. its successes and failures, how it in the reunion of the 19 century came to restore our understanding of the civil war. gentlemen, thank you for being here. and welcome. what it would mean for former slaves ration relations, for the balance of power politically between the democratic and republican party. the period we refer to in reconstruction is a period in which there's a na

appomattox, chosen to be here because of the people that come to this particular area. appomattox is one of the top draws for civil war historians or people interested in civil war history. we wanted to give them another experience where we could bring more of our collection out and bring the collection that specifically relates to appomattox. i have been with the museum for 15 years. four years as director. love the job totally. it has been fantastic. an excited about the future with the museum as it continues to grow and expand and improve our collection. we hope you will stop by and see us. please do. >> you can watch this or other programs at any time by visiting our website. >> the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator and house number plus contact information and twitter handles. also district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. order your copy today through the c-span online store at www.c-span.org. >> up next on american history tv, author michael mccarthy discusses the july 1915 capsizing of the ss eastland in the chicago river. over 800 factory workers died in the tragedy, including 22 entire families. mccarthy examines the faulty ballast system th

appomattox but what you're describing is a displacement of the civil war. there's a foundational narrative that says black history in this country starts at appomattox and moves forward, displaced by a narrative that's more inclined to look towards selma, less inclined to look towards the freedmen's bureau -- dr. scott: it's even worse than that. the anti-nationalism -- the anti-american nationalism in the academy runs so deep at this point that there are people who want to -- if they had their druthers, they had their druthers, there would be no such thing as national history. nothing called an american story, a united states story ok? some of these people would talk about diasporas of different sorts, right? and this is what comes into black studies. they want to bring haiti in. they will bring the haitian revolution in. mr. appelbaum: whenever you bring to it of historians together, they end up talking about what other historians are doing. i want to talk about the broader, popular understanding. there is clearly something gained from redefining a community's identity in a struggle for civil rights, in a protest movement, in a movement led by black leaders