george meade and robert e. lee. this is a map showing the troop dispositions after the battle of gettysburg. it ended on july 3, 1863. dead bodies everywhere. nearly 10,000 dead in round numbers. both armies were absolutely exhausted. and there were just so many wounded soldiers left behind. every civilian in town did what they could to help the wounded and would later do with they could to help the dead and bury the dead. now, as you look at this illustration, it shows the movements of the army following the battle of gettysburg. the red line represents the confederate army's movements and the blue line the union. on july 3, 1863, robert e. lee immediately begins moving his army, before the evening is out he's already making plans to direct his soldiers to get out of gettysburg as quickly as they can and save their army and perhaps do battle with the army of the potomac once again. draw them into a better and more defensible position as he begins a retrograde movement into virginia. now, robert e. lee will take his

george meade's army will continue to pursue robert e. lee 's army into virginia and there will be a series of little known battles in virginia as lee retreats and meade pursues. some of the battles include the battle of manassas. the bristow campaign, the battles of auburn, the battles of bristol station, the battle of rappahannock station. there is a long series of battles that takes place saas meade pursues a retreating confederate army, while lee continues moving south to the rappahannock river to defend richmond. and all of this is taking place in these fall and early winter of 1863. now, after a series of disasters on both sides at bristow station and mine run, finally both armies go to their winter camp. so, robert e. lee will have missed his opportunity to win the war at gettysburg. he will have missed his opportunity to to destroy the union army, as he begins his retrograde movement back into virginie. a. but george meade will also miss the opportunity of a lifetime, not only to finish the job after gettysburg, but to rigorously p

his great rival was george mead. the republic had room for three heroes. grant was one, sheridan was going to be the other and who was going to be the third? he wanted it to be sheridan, if you could help it. meade, when sheridan is pushing ahead, meade ckeeps pushing supplies forward to help sheridan. everyday is a fight for delaying action. then you get to the real lack -- the real black thursday of the confederacy, dealers creek. if you haven't been there, you need to go. there were three separate battles. what has happened is long streets corps has pushed ahead. gordon's corps is the rearguard. in the middle you have the anderson boys picket, yule, the , naval brigade about the size actually, drawn from that richmond navy yard and defense batteries. and by the way, the less confederates on the field of five forks to surrender were actually the sailors. they fought to the bitter end. forks, it starts out with custer at his best and he sees a break in the line, as the wagon trains are holding things up. i am simplifying, there is much more detail in the

telegram, this a from george meade, and i look at the response from warren saying i follow the orders. and some pages later i come across the same telegram. and i thought, something is wrong. it is 45 minutes after the first one, but same telegram. why was it sent twice? the first one, a wire was down and it did not go through. warren had it sent again, but that's a lot different -- but the center altered one word and it alter the meeting of the hotel is in. and nobody ever noticed that before. little things like that can blow you away. i wanted to jump to my feet and yell, "wow!" for those archivists frighten easily. [laughter] >> one thing i uncovered was one of the reasons that lee can escape the show until a valley -- the shenandoah valley is that once he is in the valley south of the potomac, meade stops his infantry cold for 36 hours. they sit and do nothing, the reason is he has been a southern newspaper that says lee's is being reinforced by the army of tennessee. is hovering ine the shenandoah valley in preparation for invading the north again, and swinging around and came be

this from george meade, and i look at the response from warren toically saying, ok, i had change a few things, but i followed the orders. a few pages later, i come across the same telegram. and i thought, something is wrong. it is 45 minutes after the first one, but it is the same telegram. why was it sent twice? i look at it and found that the first one, a wire was down, and the telegram did not go through. warren had it sent again, but telegrapher altered one word , edit change the meeting of the whole telegram. and nobody ever noticed that before. little things like that can blow you away. i wanted to jump to my feet and yell, "wow." and the archivists, they frighten easily, so i did not. [laughter] >> one of the things i uncovered that i had no idea was one of was able tothat lee escape the shenandoah valley and get to the rappahannock is for 36 hours, once he is south of the potomac, meade stops his infantry cold for 36 hours. they sit and camp and do nothing, and the reason is he has read a southern newspaper that says lee is being reinforced by bragg's troops and the army of ten

george me. sheridan figured out the public has room for three heroes, grant , it will be sheridan if he can help it. meade, when it -- sheridan is pushing ahead, meade forwardshing supplies to help sheridan. everyday is a fight for delaying action. then you get to the real lack thursday of the confederacy, sailor's creek. if you haven't been there, you need to go. three separate battles. what has happened is long streets corps has pushed ahead. gordon's corps is the rearguard. in the middle you have the anderson voice, picket, yule, the naval brigade about the size of a battalion actually drawn from the navy yard and defense batteries. two surrender are the sailors. they fight to the bitter end. custer is at his best. he sees a break in the line as the light rains are holding things up. s.am simplifying thing the wagon trains are holding things up. they start chewing and fake charge and charge again. they don't get decisively engaged, but they don't let the confederates move forward. the confederate center is fixed at five force. another train that gordon is supposed to be protecting yet ordered off to th