there still is a lost cause hold on this whole subject, because now people will speak about james longstreet and say, if lee had only listened to longstreet. if he had only done that. if he had disengaged and taken a defensive position and let the yankees hurl their legions against lee's army, things would have been different. they would have won a great battle in pennsylvania and marched on to washington, d.c. when i hear that hallucination, i want to interrupt folks and say, do you know what you're saying? and we do this far too often i think as civil war students. we depoliticize these what-ifs of the civil war. what you're saying is you want confederate victory. you want one of those nations and ultimately you want one of those nations committed to slavery. so just stop the what-ifs. especially richard yule. that drives me nuts. >> the legacy. >> all right. so we sort of covered it early in gordon. and so let's do the last question. what is the legacy of the lost cause? what is the legacy of the lost cause? >> this is a complex question. we could spend a couple hours just grappling with

leah pointed william nelson pendleton, james longstreet and john gordon. they went to the tavern to have their meeting, but they said it was a bare, cheerless place, so they repaired to the mclean house where givens had set up his headquarters. there was no furniture left in the room because the tables had been taken as souvenirs after the meeting on april 9. so givens used his camp table and had it inscribed after the commissioners' meeting. this is our display on the apple tree. what is the apple tree? well, it's one of those myths about appomattox, about lee's surrender. why is it a myth? because the event that supposedly took place there wasn't what it seemed. lee and grant had been corresponding for several days, since april 7, about the possibility of lee surrendering his army. and on the morning of april 9, when lee is finally ready to surrender his army, he sends a message to general grant. but general grant is moving his headquarters, he's on about a 20-mile ride, so lee's message catches up with him maybe about 11:00 that morning. he has to dispa

during the night, general lee has a council of war with general john gordon, james longstreet and fritz lee, asking, should they surrender or should they try to break out? and it's determined they will try to break out on the morning of april 9th. general gordon brings his troops through the village on the morning of april 9th. he files off to the right and left into these fields. he's going to attack that ridge. there is a federal cavalry brigade under colonel charles smith, about 1,200 men holding that ridge up there. general gordon has about 5,000 men. he's supported by fritz lee on the right with about 4,000 cavalry. and artillery under armstead long. the attack begins a little after 7:30 that morning, and they successfully drive the federals off that ridge doing a left wheel. but hard-marching infantry from army of the james, the 24th corps and division of troops from the united states colored troops from the 25th corps had covered over 30 miles on april 8. and they come up and closed the road back down and begin to push gordon's men back into the appomattox river valley. federal t

during the night, general lee has a council of war with general john gordon, james longstreet and fritz lee, asking, should they surrender or should they try to break out? and it's determined they will try to break out on the morning of april 9th. general gordon brings his troops through the village on the morning of april 9th. he files off to the right and left into these fields. he's going to attack that ridge. there is a federal cavalry brigade under colonel charles smith, about 1,200 men holding that ridge up there. general gordon has about 5,000 men. he's supported by fritz lee on the right with about 4,000 cavalry. and artillery under armstead long. the attack begins a little after 7:30 that morning, and they successfully drive the federals off that ridge doing a left wheel. but hard-marching infantry from army of the james, the 24th corps and division of troops from the united states colored troops from the 25th corps had covered over 30 miles on april 8. and they come up and closed the road back down and begin to push gordon's men back into the appomattox river valley. federal t

leah pointed william nelson pendleton, james longstreet and john gordon. they went to the tavern to have their meeting, but they said it was a bare, cheerless place, so they repaired to the mclean house where givens had set up his headquarters. there was no furniture left in the room because the tables had been taken as souvenirs after the meeting on april 9. so givens used his camp table and had it inscribed after the commissioners' meeting. this is our display on the apple tree. what is the apple tree? well, it's one of those myths about appomattox, about lee's surrender. why is it a myth? because the event that supposedly took place there wasn't what it seemed. lee and grant had been corresponding for several days, since april 7, about the possibility of lee surrendering his army. and on the morning of april 9, when lee is finally ready to surrender his army, he sends a message to general grant. but general grant is moving his headquarters, he's on about a 20-mile ride, so lee's message catches up with him maybe about 11:00 that morning. he has to dispa