jefferson davis doesn't do that because jefferson davis knew better right. and we can we can go to a fight between these two gentlemen. two, two, really encapsulate that in brief. so when the confederacy is formed, they need to appoint general officers. they need to appoint them. and joseph johnston at the time is the quartermaster general of the united states army. and he think great, i'm gog to be the highest ranking officer in the confederacy because i'm the highest ranking guy who resigned tir commission in the unid states army. not so, says jefferson davis in fact, johnston falls behind samuel cooper, albert sydney johnon and robert e lee. so he's not even the first johnston. he's he's his fourth and the second johnston and i mean, he was upset. i'll say that in march 1861, confederate congress had authorized the appointment of five officers to the great a brigadier general and the law stipulate to that quote the relative rank of each grade should be determined by the former commissions in the u.s. army. a perfect joe johnston has the highest rank, but

even as early as july of 62, varina davis, the wife of, jefferson davis, confessed in a letter to her husband, quote, she still was pessimistic. the south. she felt intimidate by the north's greater resources and habits, discipline and perseverance. and she declared, if the south should fail, it should be god's decree. in the late fall of 1864, of course, varina just lost one of her youngest children to a tragically fallen out of the window of the confederate house to his death. just that summer, varina pictured here with her newest baby, winni confided to her friend mary chesnut. i confess, i do not success in every passing breeze. but i am so tired hoping. fearing. being disappointed, she continued to stress to mary her sincere efforts not to be disconsolate. even though thieves break through and steal. she admitted she had a blind kind of prognostic. so victory us. but somehow i am not cheered. and even into 1865, she's writing to a general friend of hers named general preston, saying that like women who have the poorer classes, who now blamed their men for going to war and getting

and we start at the top jefferson davis didn't like johnston, who was a gallant commander on the division level, and john hood, and davis decided to replace them outside of atlanta against the objection of beauregard and braxton bragg, hood's biggest proponent. how braxton bragg, who may have been the worst confederate general ever -- of course, lincoln went through those disasters with his appointments as well. how bragg was still around befuddled the mind, but he was still around, and davis made the appointment. undergraduate of washington and lee university law school so, robert e. lee is near and dear to me. i don't know how much he had to do with the appointment, but he was aware of what was going on. and we don't know whether he made any attempts to stop it. hood had served gallantly under him on a number of battles over the years and other confederate mentors. hood had been, you know, the tough battles up east. all the big engagements. and, as we note in gettysburg, he had a shattered left arm, which became useless, but for whatever reason, davis made the appointment of hood. hood

jefferson davis didn't like johnson. hood was a john hood was a gallant commander on the division level and davis decided to replace him outside of atlanta against the objection of beauregard and braxton. bragg was hood's biggest proponent. now, how the hell braxton bragg, who may have the worst confederate general ever, and of lincoln, went through those disasters with his appointments as well. hell, bragg was still around. befuddles the mind, but he was still around. and davis made a point. but i'm a graduate of the washington, washington and lee university law school, so robert e lee is near and dear to me. i don't know how he had to do with the appointment, but he was aware of what was going on and we don't know whether he made any attempts to stop it, who had served gallantly under him on a number of battles over the years and. other confederate commanders who had had been, you know, in the tough up east, all the big engagements and as we know at gettysburg, he had a shattered left arm which became useless. but for

jefferson davis. he didn't like johnston. hood was a john bell hood was a gallant commander on the division rival and davis decided to replace him outside of atlanta. against the objection of beauregard and braxton bragg was hood's biggest proponent and braxton bragg may have been the worst confederate general ever and of worse lincoln went through those disasters with his appointments as well. he was still around and befuddled the mind and he was still around and davis made the ointment. robert e lee is near and dear to me. i don't know how much he had to do with the appointment but he was aware of what was going on. we don't know whether he made any attempts to stop it. he has served valiantly under him, hood did on a number of battles over the years and other confederate commanders. hood had been in the tough battles up. all the big engagements. and as we know at gettysburg he had a shattered left arm which became useless. for whatever reason davis made the appointment of hood. hood had been schmoozing davis avenue for his

washington, versus the slave traders trying to describe our country, this includes jefferson davis. they do not deserve that. their only claim to historical significance is slavery and civil war. george washington is different. it doesn't mean we should put him on a metaphorical pedestal. >> it is his full legacy. slavery also changed quite a bit from the 18th century. as is until the 19th. that has to be a subject. it is hard to pinpoint us as the start of the nation. especially the declaration of independence. we are on our second constitution. it is as good as any july 4th. >> in an official sense, there are people in the congress, especially john adams, that thought july 2nd was a magical day. that is the day that they pass the resolution bill. it shows how powerful the declaration was. this document, could have been real plain. it could have served a purpose that was just a sentence or two. it could have been real plain, served a basic purpose of -- , >> one sentence? >> yeah. it could have just been that resolution reprinted.

. >> there's a road i think i must have been renewed jefferson davis highway in northern virginia that is been renamed. is it glenn youngkin highway? i don't know. >> no. but this process is one that think has been very challenging for people. it's why when i first came in i sit folks i want is to redo our history standards in virginia. because our history standards should be the best in the nation. and they know the folks may be from maryland or from massachusetts or from pennsylvania and think that those states had a major role in forming our country. but it really started in virginia. that's a joke. [laughing] the reality of course is that we have to teach all of our history, the good and the bad, and we can teach both, age appropriately. we can have a robust curriculum that introduces to all of our children this very complex history that yes, acknowledges the horrific history of slavery, and yet the great moments of civil rights movement so much of it happened in virginia. so we able to get new history standards passed just recently in the spring. i think they will be the best hist

during the operation time he struck up a relationship of friendship, jefferson davis along with braxton bragg's. disgraced and is now serving as a personal adviser to the military. davis greatly value loyalty and he seems to see the loyal. a source of intelligence on matters in the army of tennessee which of course under joe johnson was experiencing controversies of its own. treated very heavily on his reputation as a combat leader and a rising star of this confederacy. keep this in mind. 32 years old when he returned to the war that spring and that ring and this time he was in georgia. helping his prospects by gauging an extrajudicial policymaking with the president considering the possible replacement, she reached out robert e. lee for an opinion. an assessment. lee of course praised the protigi ability but he was doing so very carefully and not without ambiguity. he famously told davis that he is a bold fighter. not exactly i think a ringing endorsement. something i would not want on a letter of reference. davis eventually will remove johnson from command . for atlanta, too little to

joe hart said years ago that part of the brilliance was learning how to manage jefferson davis. i think part of grant's genius is how to manage the expectations and the needs of abraham lincoln. >> so i think we make somewhat of a mistake to limit the discussion to mcclellan and grant when we assess lincoln as commander and chief. not that i disagree with what you said. but since we are kind of running out of time already, i do want to throw in a bit about lincoln, the communicator, and lincoln, the policymaker. we are all dancing around the transformation of the war that takes place on january 1, 1863. but lincoln's greatest act as a commander and chief and boldest for all of the modern complaints that it was delayed and limited and inelegant and prosaic is the emancipation proclamation, issued not out of the bosom of philanthropy as the new york times put it but as commander in chief of the army and navy as a war victory. and i do not think lincoln wrote that only because he did not have the courage to issue an executive order, because he was always nervous about the legality

do you want to be on the side of abraham lincoln or jefferson davis?ent to decide to defend our election, to defend our democracy. >> the vast majority of you who have gotten vaccinated, i understand your anger at those who haven't gotten vaccinated. >> i mean, he is not much better than hillary. >> he's not. having come from the left, i urge people all the time to do this, believe them. this is not because they got out of the wrong side of the bed or because they didn't have breakfast, believe them. >> hillary, i agree with you, is representing the democrats. she is not doing this off the top of her head. she was speaking with christiane amanpour who laughed. she was in prison going against the regime, speaking up for people and for women, she was put into prison. here's hillary clinton in the 21st century, arguing, you think deprogramming, should there be conversion therapy? i thought we were maybe against that. where do you collect these people up, in a camp? you think that's outrageous. this happened within the memories of people still alive today

versus the traders who try to destroy our country in the 1860s, robert e lee, stonewall jackson, jefferson davis, they do not deserve anything named after them. there only claim to historical significance is slavery and civil war. george washington is different. we should confront his full legacy. slavery also changed quite a bit from the 18th-century into the 19th century. that is the subject of another podcast. the final point is, it is hard to pinpoint a single day as the start of our nation, especially since the declaration of independence does not create a government it we have the second constitution and the articles of confederation. it is as good as any, july 4th. >> the people in congress, especially john adams, thought july 2nd was the day. that was the day that they passed the resolution so it makes sense. it shows how powerful the declaration was. this document, it could have been real plain and served a basic purpose, it could have been a sentence or two. the fact that it had inspirational language that was carried over centuries, we are coming up on the 250th anniversary, it is rem

the capital, hood struck up a fortuitous relationship with the president of the confederacy, jefferson davis, along with braxton bragg, now somewhat disgraced, but now serving as the personal military advisor to the president. davis, who as you probably know, greatly valued loyalty, he seemed to have seen the young hood as a loyal ally and a source of intelligence information on matters in the army of tennessee, which of course, under joe johnson, who was expressing problems and controversies by that time. hood traded very heavily on his reputation as a brave and aggressive combat leader and one of the rising stars of the confederacy. these political and personal connections help to pave the way for the promotion of emerson opdycke lieutenant general in 1864. keep this in mind. hood was only 32 years old when he returned to the war that spring with that rank. this time he was in georgia. he helped his own prospects for retaining army command by engaging in some, let's say, extrajudicial politicking with the president while he was commanding under joe johnson and the army of tennessee. while

how do you guys i think she did today by the way what are you think is i've i've gone to the jefferson davis school of human that's right so next to her is tim talbot. tim is our book review editor, an emerging civil war by day he's the chief administrative officer for the central virginia battlefields trust. we'll hear a little bit from them tomorrow. lots going on in the chancellorsville area from a preservation action point of view right now on, a bunch of different fronts. we'll fill you in on some of that. but tim's one of the guys on the front lines who is really trying to help make sure that we're able to address that properly. so tim, thank you very much for being with us tonight. our former chief historian, my great polish brother, chris koehler koski. chris got his start here at fredericksburg, spotsylvania national military park long, long ago when the polish still had horses for cavalry, which i think was last week actually right there. that right now he's the director, the veterans museum for the state of wisconsin. so have more than cheese there. they have veterans, too. and he

jefferson, and then threw to lincoln, frederick douglass, theodore roosevelt, martin luther king, shirley chisholm, henrietta lacks, james baldwin, dwight eisenhower, among many others. but then two years ago i was fortunate enough to read jack davis the bald eagle. and then whole new world open to me. i missed the little upon which our country was founded, and without which there would be no united states of america, our natural resources, land, water, flora and fauna. and how we struggle to gain and profit from it. the stories in the lives that jack davis, patrick dean, rien fertel and dean king bring us are indispensable to an understanding of our society, our culture and our future. the story of our natural resources as recounted by these four authors bring a heartbeat and the context to our american history. in-depth, dramatic and deeply immersed in the delicate splendor of the natural world, these books we will discuss over the next hour exploring humanity's connection to nature, the history of conservation and the heroes who have paved the way. please enjoy our panel discussion.io i will introduce our four authors first and i will hold up their books. jack davis is the pulitzer prize-winning author of the gulf, the making o