it was a burst of anger directed at jefferson davis. so, he did, davis was even more of a, i forget, russian cuckoo cloud world. than anybody else in the confederacy at that point. lee would be respectful, well, mr. davies, things aren't looking exactly as we hoped they would and i think could be prudent if you considered starting to evacuate some of the less important things of the confederacy. it would've been not get your rear end in gear and get ready to get out of town on short notice kind of warning. i'm sorry, i didn't get your second. i just couldn't hear it. >> i'll try it again. >> it's not me making that stuff cut off, i got a little button here. >> alan nolin and lee considered, he believed that lee made it abundantly clear before abandoning richmond that the cause was lost. nolan argues that any loss of life really, as you look at the beginning of spring in 65, a loss of life that is on lee. well you say he did the honorable thing in surrendering at appomattox, how would you respond to someone like nolan who said lee's own w

it was a burst of anger directed at jefferson davis south davis was even more of what was back? russian cuckoo crowd world? [laughter] and anybody else in the confederacy at that time. lee would be respectful, things aren't exactly looking as we hoped they would and i think it would be prudent if you considered starting to evacuate less important things of the confederacy, it would have been not get your rear end in here and get ready to get out of town on short notice kind of warning. i'm sorry, i didn't get -- i couldn't hear it. >> [inaudible question] >> it is not me making it cut off. >> he believed that lee made it clear before they abandon richmond and petersburg of the cause was lost so his argument was that any loss of life as you look at the beginning of the spring 65 as a loss of life so while you say he did the honorable thing and surrendered, how would you respond to someone like no one who said his own words, he said it was up and continue to fight even what you said, it doesn't make sense there's another offensive gambit according to noland and even your own words

so beauregard automatically wired jefferson davis with this news.jefferson davis then was able to send joseph johnson from the valley to reinforce beauregard. rose was not in the city when the battle of manassas of bull run was fought. she was actually in new york city. she had gone to take her daughter lelah to board a steamer. she decided to send lelah, her middle surviving daughter out west to join florence. and she kept it with her only her youngest child, little rose. when rose returned to the city , she saw this as a confederate victory. in a victory the women had helped to achieve it. she said the southern women of washington are the cause of the defeat of the grand army. they are entitled to the laurels one by the brave defenders of our soil and institution. they have told beauregard when to strike. so that really reveals how proud rose was of what she had done. she continued to send messages to beauregard. she sent to nine messages in all one was a map of the defenses around d.c. rose also was outspoken and her hatred of lincoln and the uni

jefferson davis did come to visit her.ccording to rose, in her book, she said that davis told her, but for you, there would have been no battle of bull run. whether he actually said it or not, who knows. he certainly did give her credit. he did appreciate her service. in fact, he had judah benjamin send $2500 from the secret service fund for rose, as an acknowledgment of the valuable patriotic service rendered to you by our cause. no. by you, to our cause. there we go. he was grateful for that. he also wrote to marina and told her, the madame looks much changed and has an air of one whose nerves were shaken by mental torture. rose spent about a year in richmond. there is very little information on what she did while she was here. mary chestnut gives the indication that there was a lot of gossip about rose. the way she had acquired information in d. c. through affairs and sexual favors was really looked down upon. women in richmond, it does not appear, to have greeted her with open arms. most of the time when she was in ric

the hatred of jefferson davis amounts to a religion. with him it covers all things. you have to stop and think about that. if he wasn't so focused on trying to get back at jeff davis, maybe he could've turned more attention towards fighting the war. he is constantly nitpicking about things. and vice versa. a lot of the efforts goes into worrying about his reputation. as doug mentioned earlier. as we start the spring of 1865 here in the carolinas the union army is going to move north from savannah into north carolina and then into north carolina. this last phase of the war, i really think is johnston's best. i really do. he is given command of this department. the department of carolinas, florida, and georgia. the carolinas, georgia, and florida. huge territory! a lot of it overrun. railroads broken up. supply lines are disrupted. he has over 100,000 troops. not all in one place, they are scattered through these different states. within a few weeks what he is able to do is reform the army of tennessee, which had been defeated at nashville. back in december, and i mean,

i'm a fan of jefferson davis. she is the a hollow shelf a person that believes and actual sli correct in believing that theatrics get her attention and attention makes her money and money makes her powerful within her party. so she is a stunt queen. that's what she does. but this is, as you said, part of the hostage taking of republican party and mccarthy. you had one group of extremist who's held up the vote and one who supported mccarthy in his efforts. he has to reward them and play to them and this is why we're going to have a congress that barely functions. you have people that don't believe in this democracy and they don't by the actions and positions they have taken. can you not have a functioning democracy that works under those people. >> you know, congressman, you know, it's -- i'm looking here at the full list of the republican oversight committee that will be jim jordan's thiefdom. the list is some of the most extreme people in the united states house of representatives. andy bigs is on this list. he i

he had already told jefferson davis time to leave. so but he points. right. how come everybody's the right point? yes. very nice. very nice talk. you know, not a military strategist. and this is a fascinating but, you know, looking at warren, essentially enveloping left flank of the of the confederate i would have thought sheridan warren be high fiving each other at the end of this thing don't understand why he was court martialed he didn't like him it was personal then it was absolutely personal and he didn't warren from day one i mean i don't think liked the fact that warren was high in west point. you know, it's that kind of well, you know, sheridan is mr. nice guy. no, no, i realize. but i'm watching this saying this was, you know, well executed you know, the classic you know absolute right as i said, you know, you think he'd be high fiving the guy after the battle? no way to go. and, you know, for all his reputation as a as a like an overly aggressive tough guy, you're look, we're sheridan is at the end of this battle his way back there he didn't make mu

the one they didn't like with jefferson davis. s said to have been more cold blooded than a reptile. davis was a monstrous human being. it's hard to say anything good about the guy. lincoln once said if davis wants to run away and flee the country, i won't stop him. davis dresses in disguise as a woman and gets caught. that was a embarrassing comeuppance for him. he though, eventually, would be pardoned as well. andrew johnson around 1868, he pardons about everyone. then they come back. >> was vmi called vmi back in the day? >> sure was. one of the greatest generals in american history, stonewall jackson, was one of the -- the cadets of vmi fought bravely, impressively, at more than one battle. they were taken out of class i guess you can call it a practicum or a lab, to fight. stonewall jackson races there for the battle of manassas, in the north you call it bull run. arguably one of the greatest generals, shot and killed by one of his own men--lee and others also bemoan the loss of the great stonewall. during the latter part of t

yeah, august 10th, 1865, to his jefferson davis old hoss. i heard you was in trouble. can i render you any assistance? if so, let me know. and it's signed yours till i get you the devil. and then at the bottom is the envelope that it came in had private to his excellency ex-president davis, wherever the devil he and has hands off at the bottom. so this is so davis was captured in may of 1865. he then sent to fortress monroe, where he spent the next two years under house arrest. and so again, this is someone, you know in baltimore that that wrote him a letter in. and in august of that year. and then the last thing i have is the end. so this is a photograph that was found in a in a pension. so the soldier on the left is john bates. the soldier on the right, they look like they're like 14 or 15 years old. if james rooney, jr, they were both in the fourth massachusetts cavalry and then they both transferred to the u.s. navy within a week of each other. so i think someone went to their unit and wanted to know if anyone had any sea experience. and so they both transferred to

but, the confederates also valued fredericksburg, jefferson davis particularly so in the fall of 1862. because, it had so many natural and economic resources that were yet untapped by the confederates. this area had not experienced war or the hard hand of war since the beginning of this conflict. crops have been brought in that fall, and, at the harvest season everything was a bumper around fredericksburg. according to jefferson davis the idea of giving up that area and falling back closer to richmond without a fight would be to deprive the confederacy of much rally worries ourselves. and so, he wanted the valley and fredericksburg defended. the valley also formed a wonderful natural defendable frontier for the confederates. a lot is ear than defending the potomac river in northern virginia. it was a belt that ran across the state of virginia. any union army driving south had to cross the river, and that would slow them down and bottleneck them. it gave the confederates an opportunity in which they could mast their forces and crowd the union army up against that river. so they could n

according to jefferson davis. the idea of giving that area and falling back closer. richmond without a fight would be to deprive the confederacy of much valuable resources. so he wanted the rappahannock valley and fredericksburg defended the rappahannock also formed a wonderful natural, defensible frontier for. the confederates a lot easier defending the potomac river and northern virginia. it was a belt that ran across state of virginia. any union army driving south had to cross the rappahannock river and that would slow them down and bottlenecks them and give the confederates an opportunity in which they could massed their forces and crowd the union army up against that river so that they could not maneuver, bring their much larger forces to bear. the rappahannock was also strategic in the sense that 20 miles below fredericksburg the river got so wide and the tide so high, it would be impossible for the union army to bridge. in 1862, going upstream, you only have to go 12 miles above fredericksburg. before the rappahannock met the rapids and river and the difficult

the one they didn't like was jefferson davis, who was said to be more cold than a reptile. davis was a monstrous human being. it's hard to say anything good about the guy. and lincoln even wrote, if davis should run away and flee the country. i won't stop him. you know, let him go. davis, dressed in disguise as a woman and gets caught. so that was of an embarrassing comeuppance for him. but then he again would be eventually pardoned as well. so have president andrew johnson. most everybody around 1868, and then they come back. so was vmi called vmi. back in the day. sure was. in fact, none other than one of the greatest generals in american history, stonewall jackson, was one of the professors there. and the cadets from vmi actually fought bravely, impressively in more than one battle. so they were taken out of class. i guess you could call a practicum or a lab and fought stonewall jackson races there for the battle of manassas in the north you call it bull run and was arguably one of the greatest generals who shot and killed one of his own man a century. and lee and others

smith for a day, and then leave the rest of his career reading smith obviously didn't impress jefferson davis. [laughter] this myth command the army through the rest of the battle a seven pines the second day of the battle. and johnston is going to recuperate in regimented and asked downtown and his wounds are pretty severe so is out of commission for quite a long time. in the meantime, lee will eventually take over the army and establishes success in his hard-hitting reputation. and the seven days battles, they will drive the union army away from richmond take the army back into northern virginia and they invade maryland and solidify his reputation in virginia command and so when johnston is finally able to take the field again as recovered, what do we do with him rated and things are falling apart for the confederacy elsewhere so johnston is going to be sent to the last. and in the fall of 1862, is when be sent to the western theater and commanded best department, tremendous amount of territory and a big says from the appellations of the mississippi river and is responsible for the army of

when i sgrew up, and i suspect before i went to national law school, i didn't know who jefferson davis was. but all i knew is the street i grew up on, and therefore 1936 until 1956 mary. so, in a where i have to go i saw street, it was named after the, mediating increased some older boys and girls in the ghettos of. and so he got to work. so when you on the fact that it was president of the confederacy was the name of. it was just a street that i thought tso they're working on it and where they do i certainly appreciate. >> is pretty minimal story in your career. one last question for you, we seen a change in your lifetime, the influence of that change in last year. all social justice issues. violence and could you tell us, do you have parting words of advice for young people today. >> i think young people need to realize your people to be that were young people who are instrumental in the beginning of the bus boycott, claudette coleman. martin luther king which was his late 20s. the was 50 years older. i was a few years younger. and mrs. parks was in her 30s . so you have known people

jefferson davis was elected and lincoln was in springfield, illinois, with basically no communication with washington. the more interesting question is what's the second worst transition not that your question is not interesting and this is an issue that we debated with some famous historian like ken burns and ted widmer and eric rauchway. and there's a debate was it hoover to roosevelt or was it trump to biden ken. burns was on the podcast twice, and the first time he said oh, you know, dave, you're focused on some of the minutia of transitions but think back, we've had 233 years of uninterrupted handover of power presidents may not have wanted to leave, but they've always left no troops have been alerted, no shots have been fired. nobody's been. that's the miracle of. america. so i had him on after january 6th and i read him that statement and i said troops have been alerted shots have been fired, people have died. and he said, this is worse than hoover. roosevelt. yeah, it seems. now, the good part is that the biden team actually was the most effectively organized, the largest team

now, lee is going to write to jefferson davis september 4 asked his army is beginning to cross. i am more fully persuaded into the benefits that will result from an expectation into maryland will be lost unless you should do your appropriation . should the results justified the proposal to for pennsylvania , unless it should be advisable on political or other grants. this is just proforma stuff. davis this motion, he's already moving. he's just showing reference to dennis as his sparse on the star. theblack people who didn't show endeavors . you are the e president, following your ideas that we have. we've already discussed ythese ideas. if the ntopportunity arose out of thehouse dennis is not say no . he knows davis will approve it. status if you like it is idea and he is the official. so lee has two choices, he can go east of the blue ridge or the case for west of the bl ridge down the shen valley . he chooses to go east to blue ridge even though jackson wanted him to go west of the lee's reason east option more of the frederick maryland was vederick he is much closer to washi

so bring jefferson davis's birthday. the man who succeeded from our union.are not on par with dr. king in any way. it is mischief. >> you found out about that because the henry lewis gates advancing check >> not robbery lee. gates told me about tom or stepson. i think maybe he was being kind to me. >> well, you know, i don't know maybe use trying to get you a moment away from your keyboard. let's talk about when you're at your keyboard and writing this book. because talk about three big lies about race. one of them is that it's always been this way. the other one is not only white people have paid the price for desegregation. the other one is racism only hurts black people and people of color. and you talk about having to acknowledge all of these myths to end racism. why? >> this is what dr. king was trying to tell us when he was assassinated. he was not assassinating desegregation battle. he was assassinate in the poor peoples campaign. trying to get people tonight across the color line because what he understood was rights, as you know it, was a simple sci

he didn't call his political opponents jefferson davis and -- so a step in the right direction. >> justo be clear, though, last year was no the on a sunday service. it was mlk -- just because we want to be clear. this is unique. >> and a less partisan event is what i think you're saying. >> absolutely. last year that was more about -- i mean, we were leading into an election. i can say, you know, this is the other significance of this, during the election, top issue for african americans concerned about racism, concerned -- and the impact on people's lives. concerned about voting rights, actually topped economic concerns. so, for the president to come to this hallowed hall, hallowed civil rights and black culture, as you were just saying, that is a very meaningful to the black community. i hope again, as you said, for everyone to hear a president talk about unity, i think it's a reminder, he had a rough week. it's a reminder presidents do still have the opportunity to use the bully pulpit, to refocus -- to try to refocus on the bigger issues of the day. >> he does have a big decision to

is that lean knows how to handle jefferson davis and when lee once an officer transferred out of my army, this guy's not getting the job done. davis will let him do it now lee. lee has to do it right lee has to use some tact and some finesse, but he knows how to do that and he can get it done and so lee has the team that he wants there in virginia. well, he doesn't have stonewall jackson because he's dead. he would have liked to have had him. but otherwise lee gets to get the officers he wants there in virginia and he's got a good team. he's very good his men are good. his army's good. so it is totally unrealistic to expect grant to win within a matter of weeks. or to win very cheaply and easy and another another unrealistic aspect of expectations about what we're going to be seeing here. was that that somehow? not that picture. let's look at this one somehow. with an officer like grant people expect that he's going to call his shots. he's gonna be like babe ruth the famous time that he points to the center field stands and then hits the ball there. i think ruth probably got lucky. but y

that only white men were created equal and to pro-slavery southerners like john c calhoun and jefferson davis who argued that only states were created equal. for lincoln old men are created equal meant everyone men and women black and white all were entitled to the to the natural right of liberty if the -- is a man he once said my ancient faith tells me that all men are created equal. although lincoln had always hated slavery. he had never been much of a racial legalitarian. but as his commitment to the anti-slavery constitution intensified as the principle of fundamental human equality became the organizing theme of his politics his views on race shifted subtly in a more egalitarian direction. if the spirit of the constitution was anti-slavery, so was the text and here lincoln's confrontation with the pro-slavery constitution was direct and unambiguous. over the decades as northern activists writers and politicians steadily developed the anti-slavery interpretation of the constitution southerners had responded in kind with an increasingly radical pro-slavery interpretation. and again the lyn

so mom jackson, robert ailey, and jefferson davis.s of the confederacy who unveiled it 1924 and elaborate event is an orchestra played suwannee river, a popular minstrel song at the time, on the courthouse lawn. this tribute came almost 60 years after the end of the civil war. united daughters of the confederacy helped lead the effort to shift the narrative of the civil war by rewriting and sanitizing american history and literature after the civil war. in 2017, after the deadly protests over the robert e. lee statue in charlottesville, virginia, the county convict commissioners in manatee voted 4 to 3 to remove the confederate statue and put it in an equally prominent respectful location. but gravity had other plans. the monument toppled over as it was removed from its pedestal and it broke into pieces, which were then placed in storage. five years later, manatee county now has some new commissioners, all republicans, who have voiced support for an effort to not only put the pieces of that confederate memorial back together, but to r

james chestnut, the husband mary chestnut chestnut will write to jefferson davis that he needs to cometo chattanooga, try to resolve this worsening between bragg and, his senior subordinates, and davis. indeed, make the visit he spent october from the evening of october the ninth to the morning of october the 14th with the army of tennessee. spent much of that time at bragg's headquarters on missionary reviewed the army went to the top of lookout mountain and took the view the the union army cooped up in chattanooga was given a tour of the army of tennessee battleground victory at at chickamauga but when when davis left on october the 14th this command situation was really in no better than it than it had been before davis visit the that the as a result of that visit there are some plans laid with between davis and brag about courses of action and and bragg will implement those the loss lookout valley to the federals in late october and in the the federal seizure of brown's ferry and while hatching that peter cousins will speak about next year here and in early november bragg sent jame

and the mischief in places like alabama with the celebrating lease birthday and celebrating jefferson davis'sormer union, they are not on par with dr. king in any way. it's mischief. >> you found out about that of course because of the henry lewis gates ancestry check? >> not robert e. lee, gates told me about thomas jefferson. . >> that's what it was. >> i think maybe he was being kind -- robert lee. >> i don't know. maybe he was just trying to give you a moment away from your keyboard. let's talk about when you write your keyboard, writing this book. because you talk about three big lies about race. one of them is that it is always been this way, another is only white people have paid the price for desegregation, another is racism only hurts black people and people of color, and another is you talk about having to acknowledge all of these as myths to end racism. why? >> this is what dr. king was trying to tell us when he was a fascinated, he was not assassinated with the desegregation battle, he was deciding a poor peoples campaign, trying to get people to unite across the color line. becau

now, lee is going to write to jefferson davis on september the fourth as his army is beginning to cross the potomac river into. i am more fully of the benefits that will result from expedition in the maryland and i shall proceed make the movement at once. unless should signify you're just appropriationhould the results of the expedition justify it. i propose to enter pennsylvania unless you should deem it an advisable upon political or other grounds. this is just pro forma stuff. davis absolutely. this movement. he's already moving. he's just showing. dufresne to davis. this was smart on lee's part because davis didn't like people who didn't show him deference. he's showing davis deference. you are the president. i am following the strategic ideas that we had. we've already discussed this as if this opportunity arose. that's why he knows davis is not going to say no, i don't want you to go into maryland. that's not a good idea. he knows davis will approve it. he just wants davis to feel like it's his idea. and he, the approving official. so lee has two choices on how he's going go into

so you'll see names such as john simpson several thomas jefferson's age jefferson davis a private h25, but all so more traditional names like cubby or ehan tubby or hiyo. kanubi. you see these blended names right where there's a euro a european route of a name, but then combined with choctaw language name and then you also see surnames of prom families within the choctaw political arenas so the fulsom's laforce and mccurtains are important families that produce district or principal chiefs and the choctaw nation during the 19th century. so again something as simple as these names on these enlistment records can reveal a broader changes that we're taking place in choctaw society. the age data on soldiers from the first choctaw and chickasaw mounted rifles also provides some opportunity for comparison with similar data on american soldiers and i'll just summarize to say that choctaw soldiers the average age of enlistees was just a little bit older than the average age of enlistees in the union army and then based on what little data we have on confederate soldiers. that jim mcpherson ha

and when jefferson davis attacks johnson for to stop sherman's advance the gates of atlanta, it's hood's job to prevent that from occurring. so everybody understood as one tennessee soldier wrote in his diary, i think we learn something more than fortifying him. they know that he is going to fight, and that's exactly what he plans to do. opposing hood and one of the armies with the same with the same name almost it's the army of the tennessee after the river. that's one of the armies in the army group, the one i'm going to focus on today that is commanded by this gentleman 34 year old james byrd, jean mcpherson. all right. he's he's the a-plus student. i say in a in an overachieving b student army. and when i say that, i mean that of the three corps commanders and division commanders in that army, only one of them, one of the division commanders, has a west point education, but they're led by this guy who is the top of his class of 1853, numero uno. that's mcpherson. he's taken over from the army. this is grant's old army. old army. and now it's gone to mcpherson, who had commanded the 1