book on the gettysburg campaign. he's also co-author with wayne motts, the book picketts charge at gettysburg. and it was the first guide to the legendary attacks here at gettysburg. he is also cohost 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 trust app, here at gettysburg. he is a speaker for civil war round tables and has appeared on npr and other outlets. 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] >> thank you, tammy, for the introduction. i was going to tell you to not go too far because i did not have the remote clicker. but i do now. where the crowd. this is really humbling, to see people literally standing in back. i've got these bright studio lights shining in my face. but i still recognize a lot

gettysburg podcast, which is free on all platforms. he has written numerous articles for publications. he was one of the primary content designers for and appeared in the american battlefield trust mobile app here at gettysburg. he is a speaker for civil war roundtables. he has a parallel and npr travel channels monumental mysteries. pc on tv breitbart and civil war talk radio and he was featured in july 2013 issue of civil war monitor magazine. i would now like to present to you james hasler who was going to be presenting his program neutral ground sickles mead and the gettysburg peach. orchard. all right. thank you tammy for the introduction. i was going to tell you to not go too far because i did not have the remote clicker, but i think i do now, so we're in good shape. wow, what a crowd. this is this is really humbling to see people literally standing in back. i've got kind of these bright studio lights shining in my face, but i i still recognize a lot of familiar faces back there and boy, i hope this is good. otherwise, i'm in a l

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. and in 1902, 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 two old buddies kind of propping each other up a little bit. longstreet said that by moving forwa

here at gettysburg and also currently a co-host of the popular the battle of gettysburg podcast which is free on all platforms. he's written numerous articles for publications. he's appeared on npr, travel channel, pcn tv, breitbart, and talk travel radio. i would now like to present to you james hesler who's going to be presenting his program, neutral ground. >> thank you, tammy, for the introduction. i was going to tell you do not go too far because i do not have the remote clicker, but i think i do now so we're in great shape. what a ground. this is humbling to see people literally standing in back. i've got kind of these bright studio lights shining in my face, but i still recognize a lot of familiar faces back there. and boy, i hope this is good otherwise i'm in a little bit of trouble. as tammy said i'm going to do neutral ground, and that's kind of the theme here tonight. it's both a military assessment as well as a little tweak at historians to make sure when we're evaluating the so-called controversy associated with this we, too, are sticking to neutral ground. so a little bi

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

i want to start by saying i love the movie gettysburg. it's what got me into studying the battle as an adult. it came out in 1993. i saw in in a theater in pittsburgh. i drove here three nights later and i've had -- ever since. i don't know about you, but i did it backwards. i saw the movie before i read the novel it was based on, killer angels. which had won the pulitzer prize for fiction back in 1975. key words folks being for fiction. it's based on the foundation of gettysburg history certainly. but there is a lot of fiction or even in especially with conversations. it really -- the novelist did it so well that you often can't separate the facts from the fiction. it really affects the way we look at the stories. there were so many great stories. the one that always stood out for me was lewis and armistead winfield scott hancock and what a story that was. two stories. almost brothers. served together in the u.s. army. torn apart by the civil war. how they teary eyed filler farewell out in l.a. in 1861. then two years later, meet here an

with john hancock as with his brother winfield, they're in gettysburg. both armistead and hancock up family members at the battle. hancock is an impressive a young man growing up in -- pa, he gets an appointment with the west point. his father doesn't think it's a good idea. he is young, 16, is the youngest age you can get in. he is also small. he we think of big, strapping, wind field, john hancock. to know how tall he was when he -- five feet, five inches tall. one of his classmates wrote that they considered hancock a pet. winfield scott hancock was his pet. they had a growth spurt, he was six feet by the time he leaves. he was small a fair amount of the time. he gets picked on. boys being boys, he gets bullied. one time it gets so bad that one of his larger classmates has to step in and fight one of the police. that classmate is alexander hayes, who went up commanded a division under hancock -- hayes beats up the bully. defense hancocks honor. hancock never forgets, it years later in the flowering language of the 19th century he writes, when i was a

it's based on a foundation of gettysburg history. there's a lot of fiction woven in, especially with the conversations. the novelist did it so well that you often can't separate the fact from the fiction. it really affects the way we look at these stories. there were so many great stories. the one that always stood out for me, though, was lewis armistead and winfield scott hancock. two brothers, have a teary eyed farewell in l.a. in 1861, and then two years later meet here in the most famous attack of the war, picket's charge, where armistead'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. that's why there is one now. i thought, okay, i'll go back. you folks may have gone through the same kind of things, as you're digging through the movie. i thought, okay, i'll read about lewis armistead. there has to be a lot written about the confederate general. 158 years and one book. it's 64 pages, done i

it's done by wayne mauts, the ceo of the gettysburg foundation. so, you know it's well researched and well done. but that's it. a few years ago a book with a few more armistead anecdotes. there's a lot written about hancock. he runs for president in 1880. laultsz of books from the late 19th century until a few years ago. but most of them barely mention armi stead. some don't mention him at all. what's going on here? as i started to do the research, i talked to some of my other friends, who are serious students of the battle and i said what do you know about armistead and hancock? almost to a person what they knew was based on one scene of the movie where armistead is having an emotional conversation and talking about the farewell in california in 1861. he quotes himself. this is one of the grade scenes in the movie. there we go. you want to get your powerpoint down at the beginning. he says, win, 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 these guys were. armistead is a hard n

they don't clash until the third day at gettysburg. the question is did they know they were fighting each other. the answer is, probably. and the third day of a battle, the same place, army intelligence would have been pretty good with prisoners and battle flags. but the point is, they weren't talking about fighting each other. they weren't longing for one another. oh, winnie boy, oh, woe. i have to watch when i say this. folks, i'm not even sure that lo is armistead's nickname. there is very scant evidence to that. it's not a central part of the story so i deal with it in the appendix of the book, you can read it and make your decision. the appendix is titled "lo and behold." so lo and behold, armistead leads his men. you want to see what that marker looked like a century ago? i had never seen that. that's an interesting photo they dug up. that of course is the -- is it accurately placed? who knows? whatever your theory is, you can find an eyewitness account to support that theory. there are accounts that say armistead was hit as soon

from why was gettysburg informed? two 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 wi

but the letters that preceded the gettysburg campaign are truly remarkable. they give us a glimpse of his home life. he was dirt poor. didn't own any slaves. subscripted into the army. that story line is crucial to understand why gettysburg had the impact that it did on him. another soldier is charles bowen. the book is very difficult to find. it's published by a company that is no longer in existence in terms of a publisher. he's a man from new york. he was a farmer -- or excuse me, a farm laborer and he wrote about the war in a way that -- it's not what he thought people wanted to read, to see. it was a war in which he pulled back the curtains and his descriptions of the opening attacks against petersburg, they make you shutter after you read them. his stuff is great as well. as we all know, we are blessed in this field with primary sources that are just truly extraordinary. they give us glimpses into the interior worlds of these men and so, yeah, it's an exciting project. and i'm sort of retired for a year. i'm on sabbatical next year. and i should put it

i see this all the time at the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield, the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers -- remember the union regiments that fought there. and there are some peculiar union monuments. there is a monument to the 42nd new york, close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in it tp, and you are thinking, wait, they've got the long war? no, this was the tammany regiment, raised by tammany hall. and the symbol of tammany hall's chief tammany. so you have a monument there and people say, 42nd new york. when that was put up, the dedication -- preached of justice and righteousness of the union cause. and the people who directed that monument where the veterans of the regiment. and they were there, saying, yes, that's right. we were in the right. it was a moral cause. it was marvelous and wonderful. and we embrace it. it is a memorial to our troops. okay, that generation dies off. and then the grandchildren of those soldiers. they come to gettysburg and look at that monu

it was a close run thing there that afternoon he gettysburg.hrase wellington used about waterloo but it's also true of gettysburg. it came very, very close to success. it was not a rash decision. it was not an unprintable -- unprincipled and decision. it almost worked and i have to say this bluntly i at least for 1:00 a.m. 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 likely have gone to pieces. lee could have had a full and open field and there would have been the demand for peace negotiations. alexander stevens the vice president of the confederacy was on the signal boat in the chesapeake bay waiting to come to washington and what would he have presented to abraham lincoln? and we would have had a divided country of balkanized north america because if north and south divided in 1863 do you think it would have stopped them? there would have been a northwest confederacy and the civic confederacy and

. >> 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

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

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'll go back to gettysburg. why when they think about lee's army, we think about them as a band of brothers. a band of brothers who -- when he came to the temptation of taking war against pennsylvania civilians, they resisted it. why do we select that fact over the other fakes, that the ormy in northern virginia was an army of slave catchers. we now a few from central p.a. were sent back to the slave markets in virginia. why we which we go to gettysburg and wee see on the evening of july 2nd, those men that shot at each other, they came not as enemies but as american brothers. why does that fact prevail over the spangler meadow and after it made a absolutely suicidal frontal attack, having to leave the wounded in the middle of the field, the men crying out throughout the afternoon for relief and help and when their comrades went out there to try to carry them off the field. what did the confederates do? well understandably so, they gunned down, shot down those men who were just trying to provide medical relief.

he's currently employed as a ranger/historian at gettysburg military park. >> this is the adjustment period, right. you find out what the mike is like. i appreciate y'all having me again. it's good to be back. i got 13 pages of single space notes and i got 45 minutes. they had an introducer of the introducer. that's when you big time when you have to introduce an introducer. you're going to get the 90 mile an hour tour of those. i need to tell you about the honda. i need to give you an update on my honda. the only thing you people seem to get out of my lecture was the story about my electric chair being down and me riding from gettysburg with no back support. i got a new story for you. all right. let's do over earl van dorn. i was supposed to do this last year or the year before and just couldn't help it. let's see if i can get to work here. when chris came to me and said i need an idea, i forget the whole thing how the conversation went down. i got guy that's got sex and violence. especially after lunch, when you get this slot. thank you very much for moving me up. earl van dorn. le

he's currently employed as a ranger slash historian at gettysburg national military park. and he will be presenting to you about the fallen leader earl van dorn. >> [applause] >> this is the adjustment period, right? where you find out what the mic is like. or like hank williams said, one time, in 1952, my good friend down in georgia, hank williams stepped up to the microphone and he blew in it. and he says, well, boys, this works. let's see if i do. >> [laughs] >>. i appreciate you all having me again. it's good to be that. i have an impossible task, i will go ahead and tell you, i've got 13 pages of single spaced notes on earl van dorn and i've got 45 minutes. and i've got a man standing in the back. this is such a big seminar, you notice they had the introducer of the introducer. that's when you are big-time, when you've got to introduce the introducer. >> [laughs] >> i ain't got time to do 13 pages of single spaced. so you'll excuse me. you are going to get the 90 mile an hour tour right there. and i need to tell you about the honda. i need to give you an update on my

the great emancipator, gettysburg and latest robert e lee from confederate general of the civil war.rgia republican congressman doug collins reflects on the events leading up to the first impeachment of former president donald trump. the clock on the counter, a look at democrat session donald trump interviewed by colorado republican congressman. watch book tv sundays on c-span2 and find a schedule under program guide or watch online anytime booktv.org. ♪♪ >> hello and welcome to the 36th annual near south planning for printers. help me giving a special thank you to our sponsors.l [applause] before we begin, we ask that you silence your cell phones turn off camera flashes if you are taking photos. at the end of the presentation, we will take questions and there is a my care because c-spans

, the battlefield and vicksburg military park he is currently employed as a ranger/historian at gettysburg national park and today matt will present about earl. [applause] >> this is the adjustment. were you find out what the mic is like. or like hank williams said in 1952 a good friend in georgia hank williams stepped up to the microphone and he blew in it. and he said well boys this works, let's see if i do. i appreciate you having me again, it is good to be back in davidson ridge and i have an impossible task i have 13 pages of singlespaced notes on earl van dorn and i have 45 minutes and i have a man standing in the back, this is such a big seminar they had a introducer of an introducer. that's when you're big time when you're an introducer of the introducer. i got time to do 13 pages of singlespaced, please excuse me if we have to do double for time i would love to spend time on p ridge with van dorn but i don't have it so you're going to get the 90-mile an hour tour of those, i need to tell you about the honda give you an update on my honda the only thing when i spoke last time the o

i'm here to talk about dan welch, who is a very long-time seasonal ranger at gettysburg national parkich is where i had the pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he's the coauthor of last road north, co-author of an immediately coming out book on ohio and also the co-editor of the emerging civil war tenth anniversary series that have just recently come out. so with not too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch who is here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope, so here's dan welch, the man with too many laughs and not enough free time. [ applause ] >> well, good evening, everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd. [ applause ] i've been very fortunate over the last several years to meet some of the plane crash survivors. i've visited all the graves of those that perished in october 1977. i've heard some wonderful stories from some of their former managers and crew. and one of the stories i heard was, as lynyrd skynyrd was getting very popular as the '70s were w

gettysburg. join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets for allen guelzo, sunday, january 2nd at noon eastern on "in depth" on booktv. ♪ >> washington unfiltered. c-span many your pocket. down hold c-span now today. ♪ >> host: and now joining us on booktv is author phillip magness, co-author of this book, "cracks in the ivory tower." first of all, mr. magness, what doin you do for a living? >> guest: i am an economist at the american institute for economic research. >> host: have you been in academia before? >> guest: i have. i spentnt about ten years teachg college at george mason university, american university. >> host: and what was your experience like? >> it was an interesting environment to put it mildly. many good positive things came out of it both in terms of college i work with and the research that i did. i also got to see the inside behind the scenes of what happens in the way a university runs. >> and what did you find? >> my immediate take on

i'm here to talk about dan welch, a very long time, seasoned ranger at gettysburg military park where i have the absolute pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he is also co-author of last road north, the ecw book on the gettysburg campaign, coauthor of an immediately coming out book on ohio and antietam. and also the co-editor of the "emerging civil war" tenth anniversary series that has just recently come out, one on gettysburg, another on tele-houma and vicksburg. with not too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch, who will talk about the man we love to hate, john pope. so, here is dan welch, the man with not enough free time. >> [applause] >> good evening everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the southern rock band leonard skin heard. i've been very fortunate to me some of the plane crash survivors and meet those who perished in the raves of october 1977. one of the stories i've heard is that as lynyrd skynyrd was getting popular and their fame was rising, a lot of the acts that they would open four

i am here to talk about dan wells, who is a very long time seasonal ranger at gettysburg military park, where is a had the absolute pressure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he's also the co-author of the book on the gettysburg campaign, coauthor of the immediately coming out book, and the co-editor of the emerging civil war tent never surrey series, which has just recently come out, one on gettysburg, and one on tele-houma. with not much else to say, i want to introduce dan wells who is here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope. so here is dan welch, the man with too many laps, and not enough free time. [applause] >> good evening everyone. you know, one of the things that i have not shared with a lot of you as my absolute love of the southern rock band leonard skinner. i have been very fortunate over the last several years, have visited all the graves of those who perished in october 1977. i have heard some wonderful stories from one of their former managers and crew. one of the stories that i have heard is that leonard skinner was getting very popula

his book titles include the great emancipator and gettysburg.n in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets for allen guelzo, sunday, january 2nd at noon eastern on "in depth" on booktv. ♪ >> washington unfiltered. c-span many your pocket. down hold c-span now today. ♪ >> host: and now joining us on booktv is author phillip magness, co-author of this book, "cracks in the ivory tower." first of all, mr. magness, what doin you do for a living? >> guest: i am an economist at the american institute for economic research. >> host: have you been in academia before? >> guest: i have. i spentnt about ten years teachg college at george mason

i will go back to gettysburg. why is that that when we think of lease army during the summer of 1863, and pennsylvania, we think of them as a band of brothers. a band of brothers who, when it came to the temptation of taking war against pennsylvania civilians, they resisted it. why do we select that fact over the other fact? so the army in northern virginia was an army of slave catchers? we know a few hundred, if not more african americans from central pa were sent back to the slave markets in virginia. why is it that we look at -- the evening of july 2nd the man who shot at each other, they came to that spring not as enemies, but as american brothers. why is it that that fact prevails over the spangler meadow? on july 3rd, in indiana after it made an absolutely suicidal frontal attack, having to leave the wounded in the middle of that field, the men crying out through the afternoon for relief and health, and when finally their comrades went out there to try to carry them off the field, what did the confederates d

address for each of my grandchildren memorizes the gettysburg address will get $20. not not every one of them had the point i want made there it starts up fourscore and seven years ago our fathers, what did they do? on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition all men are created equal we are fighting a great war. this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated long endure. now this is an experiment that is an experiment. there's a lot of europeans it's a great theory of the enlightenment but it will never work. it will never work. and that is what we are up against. over up against is to try and show it's about slavery and many more ears than that. we had all kinds of things and yet basically it sort of worked. i mean sort of. you have to be hesitant. there is not one person who knows and all i can say institution is an important aspect of trying to get that experiment to continue and i know they're going to do this this is so great, we have to teach those younger generations history and what our institutions do and wh

and of course required of me to mention gettysburg but three days of gettysburg or two days. take your two bloodiest days at chancellor. again, is this all the hesitancy of the union attacks? i'd say they're fairly light. a second quick question. you think about world war i and som, which dominates our thinking in how we think of tactics on the western front. when in fact they did not characterize what followed. that soldiers adapted on each side. can you help us understand, did, in the siege of petersburg, not when the union army is doing flanking to the south, but were the raids at warfare changed on the front? >> two long questions. first of all, you're comparing the first petersburg offensive with the largest battle of the north american continent and i guess most would fail in comparison to that. i don't think 16,000 casualties is insignificant. and i think my point is if you asked people in this room to list the 10-most important battles or major battles, none would mention june 15th and 18th. my point is this was a much more sang wuinariy and consequential civil war ba

also the coauthor of the book on the gettysburg campaign, and also the coeditor of the emerging civil war 10th anniversary series, one on gettysburg, one on tolohoma and vicksburg so without too much else to say, introduce dan welsh to talk about the man we all love to hate, dan pope. here he is, the man with too many laughs and not enough free time. >> well, good evening everyone. one of the things i have not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd, very fortunate over the last several years to meet the plane crash survivors, visit all the graves of those who perished in 1977, heard the stories from the crew, one thing i heard as they were getting popular, a lot of the acts they would open for would talk to their tour manager and say don't let them close with free bird. we can't top that. and this would be from bands like peter frampton and the rolling stones and now i know exactly the situation they were in trying to follow gary gallagher. but in all honestly, i want to begin tonight by thanking my colleagues, sara, john, eric and all co

i do not see gettysburg getting any traction. it would take five screens or something like that? >> it could be a short thread. this gets me to something i think a lot of people are concerned about the current state of our democracy. about the polarization, the alternate universes of truth and the meaning of what democracy is supposed to be. i am wondering whether you think that a president's words can damage our democracy. has damaged our democracy? is there anything a president can say to actually repair it? >> i think we have seen pretty clearly that there are words you can use to damage our democracy. you had a president who comes to mind, our last president denigrating anyone under the sun who was not a white man, standing next to vladimir putin and repudiating nato. it makes a difference. hate crimes rose. the list goes on and on. you certainly can. i worry a lot about we do not just reclaim our status in the world as soon as joe biden takes office. these are things that take time to earn back. it is not just words. it is also things like leaving our commitments and treatie

. >> not a nation of the gettysburg address four score and seven years ago on this continent a new nation. the confederation of sovereign states much like the confederacy in 1871 a league of nations the constitution but it should last for every ten years it should be redone every generation needed to rethink it. every generation needed to be sovereign. that could have been the recipepe for anarchy and was not featured with it. madison himself was asked 1829 he was an old man by then he says if we are really lucky 100 years. that would have meant 19209. it's right to think the founders would be stunned we have the same document they drafted with amendments. they wash one, two, three major revisions. and i'm showing my own personal bias here. they would be absolutely stunned to believe we have the electoral college. and to take something out of the current conversation the way in which the senate functions now with the filibusterer and the way in which one senator can require a super majority they would be stunned by that. it's unconstitutional from their point of view were living with the

the coauthor of last road north, book on the gettysburg campaign, coauthor on a an immediately coming out book on antietam and coauthor of the anniversary series. so, with not too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welsh who is here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope. here is dan welsh the man with too many laughs and not enough free time. >> well good evening, everyone. you know, one of the things i haven't shared with a lot of you is the absolute love of the southern rock band, lynyrd skynyrd, been fortunate to meet some of the plane crash survivors, and heard wonderful stories from former managers and crew and one of the stories i heard was as lynyrd skynyrd was getting popular a lot of the acts they were opening for would talk to the manager and say don't let them close with free bird, we can't top that. and this would be bands like peter frampton and the rolling stones and now i know exactly the situation they were in trying to follow gary gallagher. but in all honestly, i want to begin thanking my colleagues, sara, john, eric and all the members at ecw for t