i created gettysburg national military park. i guess that's okay, but somebody else would have done that that's revisionist history doesn't matter if somebody else would have done it the sickles bill did do it. not that he was the only guy during that era, but let's you let's give credit. work credits due and i know we're running short on time here, but just a couple more. throughout the period veterans are coming back. they're coming back to gettysburg and increasing numbers. they are developing. well, we know today is gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles there he is and this is probably about 1888 25th anniversary, but it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2nd opponent james longstreet. and you know, they spend many years together. they go to many events together time tonight does not allow me to tell all of their drinking stories and that but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically mutually support each other's gettysburg r

trends are coming back to gettysburg in increasing numbers. they're developing what we know today as gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles, there he is, this is probably about 1888, 25th anniversary, it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2 opponent, james longstreet. and, you know, they spend many years together, they go to many events together. time tonight doesn't allow me to tell all of their drinking stories but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically support each other's gettysburg records for the remainder of their lives. in '92, longstreet summarized it as, quote, i believe it is now conceded that the advance position at the peach orchard saved that battlefield to the union's cause, end quote. longstreet literally went to his grave believing sickles was right. or did he? well, you know, people are kind of skeptical about this, is this too old buddies kind of propping each other up a little bit. longstreet said that by moving forward, s

book on the gettysburg campaign. he's also co-author with wayne motts, the book pickets charge at gettysburg. key and the author of a guy to legendary tax on gettysburg. it's also cohost of the popular battle of gettysburg podcast, free on all platforms. he has written articles for publications, one of the primary content designers in the american battlefields drop, a speaker for civil war round tables, on monumental mysteries, civil war talk radio. he was featured in the july 2013 issue a civil war monitor. i'd now like to present to you, james hessler, who will be presenting his program, neutral ground, sickles, meade, and the gettysburg peach orchard. thank you. [applause] wow >> thank you, tammy, for the introduction. i was going to tell you to not go too far because i don't have -- so we are in good shape. when the crowd. this is really humbling to see people standing in back. i've got these great studio lights shining in my face. but i still recognize a lot of familiar faces here. i hope this is good. [laughs]

the trouble starts after the battle of gettysburg 1862. meade at that time performed well but didn't get support from a guy and i'm convinced sort of the fiction between meade and the officers of the third corporeally exists after the battle of fredericksburg. so you have that dynamic going on and after the battle there's a dispute between meade and hooker. let me put it this way. there's a dispute whether or not madee is favored withdrawal back across the river. and they start pulling all the generals. did you want to move forward, that sort of thing. sickles of course supports his buddy hooker. meade says he does not favor a withdrawal, and this gets in the newspapers. there's a little bit of this debate going on which i think is fascinating because, again, this whole idea of advance or retreat after a major battle is something that seems to dog the army of the potomac after almost every campaign. we always act like it's unique to gettysburg and it's not. kind of the seeds are getting planted for the future meade sickles controversy. whe

of gettysburg, not the campaign. we will talk about the entire campaign not the infantry. i love the infantry but this is the role of cavalry. i mention a number of books on the civil war, these are the map studies and i'm constantly criticized about this one. there is not a lot of cavalry. couldn't fit. came out with this one that specializes, what i'm going to do today, i only have 45 minutes. i will go fast, talk about the multiple roles the cavalry played during the campaign of gettysburg and you will appreciate these guys more than you currently do. these guys are constantly in the saddle. the guys are constantly in motion doing a variety of activities. let's jump into it. you know these two gentlemen. two major generals, the army of the potomac cavalry, jeb stuart, his counterpart have been in command of their army's cavalry for over a year, they are experienced. they know potentially how to run a cavalry. the organization is very different. you see on the union side it is much more sophisticated. you have divi

the battle of gettysburg. you don't think about the campaign as much. and we're going to talk about the entire campaign, not the infantry. i love the infantry, but this is the role of calgary. i have written as tammy mentioned a number of books on the civil war. these are some of the maps studies, and i'm constantly criticized about this one. i love this book. i love them all. they're all my children. there's not a lot of calvary. couldn't put them in. couldn't fit. so i came out with this one that just specializes on the calvary in the gettysburg campaign. what i'm going to do today, the major thing, i've only got about 40, 45 minutes so i'm going to go fast, is going to talk about the multiple roles that the calvary played during the campaign of gettysburg. and i think you're going to appreciate these guys much more than you currently do. these enjoys are constantly in the saddle at least infantry got to rest. these guys are constantly in motion in a variety of attacks. you know these two gent lmen, alfred p

the third phase obviously is the battle of gettysburg. we're going to talk quickly about five different actions here. want you to think what are those five. don't tell me but see if you could figure out what those five were. most people are only going to come up with four. and the retreat. okay. and the retreat is fascinating. how does lee get those wagons back to virginia and how does the union army try to prevent the wagons from getting to virginia. so those are the things that we're going to talk about today. okay. here we go. now hopefully, could you all see the map? way back there. okay. i'm going to try to use my pointer, too. the army as you know we're talking about after chancellorsville, they're on either side of the rappahannock river and the beginning of june 1863. and pleasanton has been tasked by booker to determine where lee is moving. okay. and what is happening. now, their worried about stewart, jeb stewart is right here around brandy station. there is going to be a recognition to find out where the heck is stewart because

it's 64 pages ended sunday when mobs who is the ceo of gettysburg foundation. and you know it's well-resourced and well done but a few years ago they did a book on the armistead but there's not a lot of looks. there's a lot on hancock. he runs for president in 1980 -- 1880. most of them barely mentioned armistice and some don't mention him at all. what's going on here? i talked to some of my friends some of you are sitting in the audience and i said what you know about armistead and hancock and what they knew was from the movie having an emotional conversation talking about -- and this is one of the great themes of the movie. there we go. you want to get your powerpoint downgraded the beginning. so help me if i ever raise my hand against you may god strike me dead. may god strike me dead. that's how close he is coming. he couldn't bring himself to think about fighting hancock even though they agreed to fight each other in the civil war but that's the movie version or there's only one person who is there to write about it and that's hancock. she does "armistead

gettysburg. but for right now, in 1861, it's literally the biggest thing he's happened since manassas. so it does make a big difference, it makes an impact on the lives of people here in loud loudoun. there is a funeral procession, a band plays, and in jackson another parade takes his body home to his wife and children. his death also leaves his family in a tight spot. erasmus was the youngest of the sons of the family, didn't have a lot of resources. so there isn't even a headstone on his grave for about 50 years after he dies. but that doesn't mean that he was forgotten. because in fact, virginia miller kept carrying him in her memory. and she wasn't the only one either. there are some interesting little pieces as we go forward in the war that make one think that his memory stayed alive. for example, in 1864, there was a william henry luce who was imprisoned on johnson island. and he wrote to a friend of his, someone he knew, talking about his old friends. so william henry luce at that time was

gettysburg. which in 1863 isn't exactly the best place to go if you're trying to avoid the civil war. >> lucky. >> so lucky. >> lucky luther. >> lucky, really. so he's a guy that really can't avoid the sense of duty, the sense of patriotism. and so as the confederate army, the army in northern virginia, is crossing the mason-dixon line, entering pennsylvania, he's going to offer his services to the governor of pennsylvania and he is going to receive a commission in the 26th pennsylvania emergency militia, specifically in company "a" of the 26th. and one of the reasons why this is so cool is company "a" is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college, and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. here you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> he has one functional arm. he's literally going into battle with his arm into a sling almost a year afte

is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college and the lujan theological seminary in gettysburg. so you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> yeah, he's literally going into battle with his arm in a sling almost a year after his wounding. leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. and -- >> what could go wrong? >> what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania are going to march out on the morning of june 26th, 1863, and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along the cashtown pike west of gettysburg, pennsylvania, to face lee's battle hardened veterans of the army of northern virginia. so i can't even imagine what is going through this guy's mind that morning as you look out, looking to the west, you're seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut and marching towards you. what slater had -- did not know is these were men of the corp, hardened veterans and

was the pennsylvania college not gettysburg college and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. i have a 22-year-old officer. >> is one of functional arm frequencies literally leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania 1863 and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along cashtown north of gettysburg pennsylvania to face lee's keep looking out, looking to the west seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut marching to you. they will be escorted by a battalion of the confederate calvary as they advanced to the pennsylvania countryside. in one of those weird twist of fate weird luck has a weird way of popping up in life and who's in the calvary show? none other than a large white. with two men representing loudoun county. one allowed and borne one but adopted to loudoun county. opposite sides of the battlefield. on luckily for luther slater i say what can be good and what can be bad. now you're turning it around your giving me a hard time for an. >

based on a foundation of gettysburg history, certainly. and it really has -- you know, the novelist did it so well that you often can't separate the fact from the fiction. it really effects the way we look at these stories. there were so many great stories. the one that always stood out to me was armistead and hancock. two friends, almost brothers, served together in the u.s. army, torn apart by the civil war. a teary-eyed farewell in 1861 and meet here, where armi stead's men attack hancock's men and both fall wounded. i wanted to learn more about that and there wasn't much out there. i wanted to read a book on armistead and hancock and there wasn't one. why there's one now. i thought okay, i'll go back. you folks may have gone through the same sort of things as you're digging through the movie. i thought there has to be a lot written about the confederate general who achieved the deepest penetration. 158 years and one book. 64 pages and -- no, it's done by william mauts, now the ceo of the gettysburg foundation. and another one with a fe

from why was gettysburg informed? more years of war, more casualties after gettysburg and before gettysburg, or property destroyed and civilians turned homeless, what the heck gettysburg accomplish other than turning back a movement by lee? my was it. let's look at it as leave unit because we are heading to phase two of my copyrighted history of lee. this was his first crisis. as he saw it, he had every advantage in the campaign, he believed the time of the battle's soldiers were fit incompetent, he controlled the top of the campaign and battle forcing the enemy to react to him. he had several clear opportunities to smash the union army that he could not produce a decisive victory at the time made it very clear to him he could not do it at any time. how did we react? 1863, he resigned. jefferson davis refused to accept it but what stood out to me in his letter was when he said i cannot even accomplish what i myself and desire. we mentally regrouped and crafted himself a new mission in place of the great victory with t

it is wonderful to be here with everybody on the anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. we will be telling eric's story here in just a little bit, some food for thought as we get started, i would like all of you to think about, what is friendship? what is the value of friendship? who is your best friend and why are they your best friend? >> interestingly enough, these are some of the key names that are as we were trying to explore the larger than life historical figure in the form of major dick winters. i think an analogy here in gettysburg on july 2nd is that we should think of dick winters as the josh or what chamberlain of world war ii. we can think of this for a number of reasons, their personalities, their backgrounds, education, upbringing, these were two young men who were born of pacifist families, they had this hard work, diligent attitude instilled in them as young man. they believed they could move through life and promote themselves through life through the power of higher education. neither of them had formal military education, and yet despite all of that,

i see this all the time at the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield, the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers, they remember the union regiments and units that fought there. and there are some peculiar union monuments. there is a monument to the 42nd new york, very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tp, and you are thinking, wait, have they got the wrong war? and the answer is no. this is the new tammany regiment raised by hall and of course the symbol of tammany's chief and you've got a monument there and people say, okay, 42nd new york. when that was put up the dedications come out for that. and they preach the justice and righteousness of the union cause. and the people who directed that monument where the event runs of the regiment. and they said, yes, that's right, we were in the right and it was a moral cause and it was marvelous and wonderful and it's a memorial to our troop. all right, that generation dies off. followed by another. then their grandchildren of t

i see this all the time on the battle of gettysburg.t battlefield the majority of the more than 1,000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there. and there are some, there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd of new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge -- [laughter] that that shows an indian chief and a tepee. you're thinking, wait a minute, they've got the wrong war? the answer is no, this was the tamany regiment raised by tammy hall and, of course, the symbol is chief tamany. people look at it and they say 42nd of new york. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies preached the justice and righteousness of the unionon cause and of people who weree there saying, yes, that's right. we were in the right, it was a moral cause, it was marvelous and wonderful, and we embraced it.ca it's a memorial to our troops. all right. that generation dies off. another generation, they come to gettysburg, they look at that monument and they say that's a monument to the 42 t

it was a close run thing at gettysburg. it's also true about gettysburg. came very very close to success. it was not a rash decision and it was not an unprincipled and thoughtless decision. it almost worked and i have say this bluntly i for one and grateful that it did not because the consequence of that if we had been successful at gettysburg oh my goodness the army of the potomac having been beaten on so many fields so many times could very likely have gone to pieces. lee had a full and open field in front of him. there would have been a demand for peace negotiations. alexander stevens the vice president of the confederacy was on the boat in the chesapeake day waiting to come to washington and what would he have said the abraham lincoln if he had and we would have had a balkanized north america. if the north and the south divided do you think it would have stopped there? no. there would have been a civic confederacy and we would have had in north america almost a repeat of always on the balkans in the 1990s and then, and then what would have been availab

. >> a better book on gettysburg, what the world desperately needs. [laughter] but of course like everyone, you feel like you're doing this from a different angle and i think that william. and three confederates and - and the idea is that obviously highly biographical and a pickup on july 1st and rather it starts at the end of the campaign. and when we think about the operations we included stories of the rank and file you see the lives almost at that very moment, the point of contact. and rather of course the things that the men carried with him, and the long personal stories that they had and carried throughout the campaign rated so the idea is that these individuals will provide through which we can see broader issues at work and so many of these are cultural and social things and not deeply interested in and i think that throughout the campaign studies in a way that i will be doing the things that will does predict not going to do any evaluations, all of which i think are extraordinarily important and i think that this book will do people may be n

i'll go back to gettysburg. why is it when we think about the summer of 1863 in pennsylvania, we think of them as a band of brothers. when it came to the temptation of taking against pennsylvania civilians, they resisted. why do we perfect over other facts? the army in northern virginia wasn't army, we know a few hundred if not more african-americans, they were sent back to the slave market in virginia. why when we got to gettysburg and look more, the man who shot at each other, they came to that spring and died not as enemies but american brothers. why does that prevail over matter? july 3 after they made a suicidal frontal attack having to leave their wounded in the middle of the field crying out through the the afternoon and when finally comrades went out to try to carry them off the field, what are the confederate duplex understandably so, they gunned down, shot down the men just trying to provide medical relief. why is it when we are at charge from you want to talk about his military career stressing he was

i see this all the time in the battle of gettysburg. that battlefield the majority of the more than 1,000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there. there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief and a tepee. wait a minute. did they get the wrong war? the answer is no. this was the regiment of taminy hall. you have a monument there. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause. the people who erected that monument were the veterans of the regiment. it was a moral cause. we embraced it. it's a memorial to our truth. that generation dies off. followed by another generation. grandchildren of those soldiers. they look at that monument and they say, that's a monument to the 42nd new york. my grandfather fought in the 42nd new york. they don't have quite the fizz about things that the original soldiers did.

i see this all the time on the battle of gettysburg.on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there there are some acutely or union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge and the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tv at your thinking wait a minute, did they get the wrong war and the answer is no. this was the tammany regiment raised by tammany hall and of course the symbol of tammany hall is chief tammany so you've got a monument anthere and people look at it and they say 42nd new york. the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause and the people who directed that monuments were the veterans of the regiments and they were there saying yes, we were in the right. it was a moral cause. it was marvelous and wonderful and we embrace it. it's a monument to our troops . followed by the grandchildren of those soldiers. they come to gettysb

flight 93 and "gettysburg rebels", who came home for the awards. it's our newest release, behind the legend of two friends at the turning point of the civil war. and this will be the foundation for his presentation today i will let you know this book is the hot off the press. it's not officially released until july 15th. so you can get it here first now. >> he's also served on the board of trustees with the history center. and previously on the board of directors of the national memorial. and recently retired two days ago, from a 43-year career in communications and media. i'd like to present tom mcmillan. >> thank you to the heritage center. this is a great place it's my favorite civil war bookstore in the country. it's good to be with this group of pretty distinguished speakers. >> but to start, you can probably guess where this book is going a little bit. i want to start by saying i love the movie "gettisbur." it's what got me into studying the battle assen adult. i drove here and have had the illness ever since. the movie before i read the nove

it's wonderful to be here with everybody on the anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. over telling eric story here and a little bit. some food for thought as we get started, i would like all of you to think about what is friendship? who is your best friend and why are they your best friend? interestingly enough these are some of the key themes that emerged as were trying to explore the larger than life historical figure in the winners. i think an analogy here in gettysburg on july 2 is we should think of dick winters as a joshua chamberlain of world war ii. they can look at personalities, backgrounds, education, upbringing. these were two young men who were born of pacifist families. they had hard work and diligent attitude instilled in them as young men. they believed they could move through life promote themselves through life of higher education. neither of them had formal military education. and yet despite all of that they come to be some of the best-known officers and the iconic clashes of their generation. why is this so? popular culture has something to do with

we don't have time to get into gettysburg. let's focus specifically on that third day when the battle was truly lost. it arrived and i'm sure a lot of people in this audience have been to gettys burg. you really see the exact expanse it was expected to cover. it'll really pretty breathtaking when up there. long street says this is crazy. 15,000 men could not take this position. he does it any way. can you talk about what was he thinking in that battle. what was his strategic decisions. what figured into that moment in the war. >> a lot of people ask this question. they are at the angle looking out towards seminary ridge and the virginia monument. they say what could he have been thinking. you're going to send soldiers across that open area and they will get slaughtered. what was the result. the result was defeat. people think what could lee have possible been thinking. maybe there was something that was in thiz thinking. people suggested lee was suffering health problems and that effects his clarity, those decision making proc

less than 5 months after union army won the battle of gettysburg there was a dedication ceremony forward everett was feature speaker, he spoke for two hours, no one recalled what he said, abraham lincoln spoke for a few moments. less than 300 words. 10 sentences. that is all-time it took for him to capture essence of the moment, and soul of the country. if we needed a reminder that leadership can be modest, and leaders can be humble. this is this speech, can we imagine a modern political leader showing off anywhere and not expecting to be the center of attention? and adoration and keynote speaker. not really modestez of where, when and how long lincoln spoke but modesty of what we wrote and said and believed. lincoln said, the world will little note or long remember what we say here. but it can never forget what they did here. deflecting praise. those are rare traits in modern day leaders, we're not likely to remember what any modern political leaders said 158 years after they said it lincoln described our nation as conceived in liberty and dedicated to the equality in mankind, yet e

i think about that gettysburg address and i was asked to give the gettysburg address many years ago and i tried to set out whatever i had to say in 271 words. i think i did a fair job, but i would give myself a passing grade at best but it was a complete shock to my audience when i stopped at 271 words and lincoln said that a speech doesn't need to be eternal to be immortal. in our lives as public servants, we are called on to speak very often and i'm reminded of the impact lincoln had to capture the moment, to give people hope and to craft phrases which endure to this day as some of the most masterful use of the english language. i hope tomorrow we can take a moment to recall our childhood education when we're taught the gettysburg address to recite what we can of it and to believe even in these dark times that we face they were even darker when they were delivered and this nation endured. mr. president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: thank you. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reed: mr. president. the presiding officer: the sena

of our veterans is a link in a proud chain that has stood for the defense of our country, from gettysburg to iwo jima. each understood the price of freedom and shouldered that burden on our behalf. our veterans represent the best of america. you are the spine of america. all of us owe you. on veterans day, and every day we honor that great that and recommit ourselves to giving our sacred obligation as a nation, we honor what you have done. we have many obligations. i would have gotten in trouble when i was a young senator for saying we only have one truly sacred obligation -- to properly prepare and equip those we send into harm's way and care for the and their families while they are deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires. for me, for joe, for the entire family, it is personal. when both -- beau was deployed to iraq, after spending six months in kosovo trying to set up a criminal justice system, eight got a call from him one day. he said, dead, what are you doing friday? he said, i would like you to pin my bars on. someone has got to fi

like gettysburg and antietam battlefields have a battlefield setting up the coast of north carolina. this naval battlefield is where two world wars came home to america. the shipwrecks are great sites and memorials to heroes and fragile reminds us of our past and so much more. one of the things i really like to point out about the shipwrecks is obviously the history is amazing and the gravity of how these vessels were lost hits us hard. we want to tell the stories and honor the history and honor our veterans but we also look at it as a transition from weapons of war and they become habitat for marine life. they like to think of it as as an historian everyone wants to focus on history but we all know that's not true. some people dive in general just to see the marine life in these shipwrecks and these u-boats and allied anti-submarine vessels and these merchant ships these gigantic merchant ships on the seafloor are these beautiful homes from all sorts of marine life. we know when we find shipwrecks the fishermen nowhere these start. they are the first ones to know. that's where the f

like gettysburg, we truly have a battle in north carolina. shipwrecks are gravesites, they're memorials to heroes, a fragile reminder of our past and so much more. one of the things i really like to point out about these shipwrecks is obviously the history is amazing. the gravity of how these vessels are lost hits us hard. we want to tell these stories, we want to honor the history heritage, honor our veterans. but we also look at it as they transition from weapons of war to oasis of life, and they become habitat for marine life. i would like to think as an arc arc -- archeologist of marine life, these giant merchant warships on the sea floor are beautiful homes for all sorts of marine life. we all know when we go to find shipwrecks, the fishermen always know where these wrecks are. they often know many years before we do because that's where the fish are. these vessels are very important for the coastal economies. the charter fishing and diving industries are relying on these shipwrecks, too, to help bring economic well-being to their commun

like gettysburg, we truly have a battlefield setting off the course of north carolina. those naval battlefields or where to world war's came home to america. the ship breaks are -- their grave sites, they are they are -- there so much more. one of the things i like to point out about these shipwrecks is that, obviously, the history is amazing. the gravity of how these vessels are lots his touch hard. we want to tell these stories, we want to honor our veterans. we also look at it as a transition from weapons to war to an oasis of life, they become habitats for marine life, i like to think as an archaeologist and historian, everybody wants to focus on history but we know that that is not true. some people love diving on shipwrecks just to see marine life. these marine marine, you boats, these submarine vessels, these merchant ships on the sea floor are beautiful homes for all sorts of marine life. we all know that when we go out to find shipwrecks, the fishermen obviously know where these ships are, they are often the first ones to know. many years before we do. this is