area a great deal of the blame for lee's escape was laid by lincoln and others at the feet of george meade. i do not believe that you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in lee's escape, he wrote. the image of the unclosed hand came. he was within your easy grasp and to have closed upon him with our other late successors had ended the war. but deciding instead to be grateful for what he had actually had at gettysburg, lincoln filed the letter away, scribbling on the envelope to general need, never sent or signed. but the failure to make gettysburg a complete victory that lincoln had been hoping for has always hung like a cloud over the unhappy george meade. there is an element of injustice. he had only been shoved into command of the army of the potomac three days before the battle and he was compelled by circumstances to pick up the army of the potomac where he found it using a staff that he had no time to replace and under the unappreciative days of other major generals in our army, he saw no reason to yield automatic deference. on those grounds there have had been seriou

the real result was already in the cards after gettysburg and it might've come quicker had george meadebeen quicker. he was not, but still. after that, the confederacy is really fighting a series of defensive campaigns which bit by bit drained the last of its strength away and maybe end if not outright inevitable about as predictable as we can make it. >> i have to admit that as soon as i got the book, i did not start at the beginning but i turned to the part about stewart's ride because i wanted to see how you have handled that. you quote the statement that no one could define what he did or didn't do because of stewart's activities and that prompts my questions, i would like your analysis of his comment. has someone been able to come up with something he did or did not do because of his absence, and i would like to follow up on. >> ari, the story of jeb stuart and his absence became important after the battle because the confederacy was looking for a scapegoat and blame and someone to whom they could point the finger. actually there were a number of nominees and soon was only one of t

. >> mead george alexander louis. the little prince's name was unleashed to the world.illiam was asked if this was to be his son's moniker. in contrast to his