lee. this is just over 50 minutes. >> ok. let's go ahead and get started. good -- i should say cold morning, everyone. let's go ahead and get started. good -- i should say cold morning, everyone. i'm the co-ceo of the civil war museum. on behalf of my co-ceo kristi coleman and the museum in thely braer of virginia, i want to welcome you here to 1865. that is to welcome to the 2015 symposium on the person of the year for 1865. charlie mcdowell former richmond columnist wrote that february is the cruelest month. and we've been lucky with this event since we moved it to february in 2006. luck ran out this year however because it's a little chilly outside, and we're supposed to have bad weather later this afternoon. so we're keeping track of the weather, but you should stay warm and cozy inside, and stay in because it will be fun today. some of you have been with us for all five years of this rather unusual, and we hope educational and entertaining series of symposia. we thank you for your ard

lee. this is just over 50 minutes. >>> okay. let's go ahead and get started. good -- i should say cold morning, everyone. i'm the co-ceo of the civil war museum. on behalf of my co-ceo kristi coleman and the museum in thely braer of virginia, i want to welcome you here to 1865. that is to welcome to the 2015 symposium on the person of the year for 1865. charlie mcdowell former richmond columnist wrote that february is the cruelest month. and we've been lucky with this event since we moved it to february in 2006. luck ran out this year however because it's a little chilly outside, and we're supposed to have bad weather later this afternoon. so we're keeping track of the weather, but you should stay warm and cozy inside, and stay in because it will be fun today. some of you have been with us for all five years of this rather unusual, and we hope educational and entertaining series of symposia. we thank you for your arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude. and for remainin

lee's life. one might imagine since i reiterated all the things that had taken place in his life and his idol being george washington, the things that he was contemplating. the newspaper reporter traflveled with the staff quite regularly so this was not an unusual situation. grant's uniform, if we can call it that, was quite bedraggled. it was muddy from the 20-plus mile ride. he had no spurs. of course, he didn't need them because he was an expert horsesman. he had no cord on his hat. he wore no sword. he had the uniform blouse of a private only modified with five buttons. he indicated through what the secretary wore the day before that general lee would surrender on this day. what do we know about grant? we know initially that general lee extended his hand, two officers shook hands. grant is at this point is 42 years of age. general lee is 58. he's born on the 27th of april on the front tier of ohio called point pleasant. he would move with the family when they moved to georgetown where he spen

this is where the most significant event with the military took place in april of 1865 lee -- with lee's surrender. now we are going to discuss the battles on april 8 and april 9 that effectively ended lee's retreat. we are standing on the historic stage road, a critical part of generally -- general's lee's retreat. many people or wondering why he was heading toward appomattox courthouse. the idea he was he would head south down the railroad to link forces with general johnson in north carolina. general grant was different from former generals of the union army. lee had to continue further west hoping to continue around grant's army. the next place general lee could gather supplies was at appomattox station. supplies have been brought over from lynchburg to feed general lee's army. everything they needed, rations, in the equipment. that is where they are headed after leaving cumberland chart on the night of april 7. his advance is led by general walker. they go into camp about two miles from here on the afternoon of april 8. general custer's calvary advances and captures the supplies and

lee. some of them general lee knows very well such as seth williams who was lee's adjutant. another interesting aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course was the son of president abraham lincoln and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in the ceremony was a, or at least maybe not a participant but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mcclain, the youngest daughter of wilmer mcclain. it was sitting on the horsehair couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse, and it is now on display in the park visitor's center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said t

lee. i confess that on the surface i seem like an unlikely person to write a biography about robert e. lee. i grew up in the suburbs of washington dc. i i spent most of my adult life working in the city. and around those parts when you tell people that you are planning to write a civil war biography they assume they going to write about a union general not a confederate general. they certainly don't expect you will write about that confederate general. for a long time i avoided explain myself. i do what you do expect someone from washington to do when confronted with a tough question, ducted. [laughter] no more. tonight i want to buy myself what 1st drew what 1st drew me to robert e. lee was probably what you least expect, simple geography simply put, we grew up along the same river the potomac. now, that sound surprising for two reasons. we we think the potomac river especially out here in kentucky you probably imagine a polluted stream of political corruption. sometimes that's true. he c

lee.he time the armies arrived at appomattox, he might have been only slightly less famous than his opponent. certainly, he had become a central to his nation's aspirations as lee was to the confederacy. charles francis adams jr., a grandson of presidents conceded grant's awkward ways but saw the man within. he's a remarkable man. he handles those around him so quietly and well. he has a faculty of disposing of work. and managing men. president lincoln recognized grant's skills, but especially admired his persistentsy sissistencey of purpose. he has the grit of a bulldog. another officer put it in even more colorful terms. he habitually wears an expression as if he is determined to drive his head through a brick wall and was about to do it. general grant attached himself to the army of the potomac in 1864 and promptly set about taking the initiative from robert e. lee. with a determination that matched lee's and with an army larger than the army of northern virginia, grant thundered throug

lee. he dispatches orval babcock to ride ahead and meet lee. they find the resting under an apple tree by the appomattox river. the forces are on the hills behind this apple tree and see this federal officer talking with general lee under it. lee dispatches lieutenant colonel marshall to find a place to meet and then eventually lee, babcock, and done right back to the village. the next time the confederate soldiers see generally, they learn they have surrendered. they mistakingly assume the federal officer talking to him under the tree was general grant, so they went over and started to cut the tree down for souvenirs. before long, federal troops came over and asked them why they were cutting down the tree. the confederate soldier said this is the tree were general lee surrendered to general grant will stop the federal soldiers that i want to get part of that apple tree to and went to work doing souvenirs out of the apple tree. by that night, all the routes had been dug up in there was not

some of them general lee knows very well like seth williams who is lee's adjutant. another interesting aspect is there was a young captain named robert lincoln. another interesting participant there was a witness to this ceremony. this ragdoll of lula mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. some of them took the doll off the mantle and began tossing around. the doll was taken home as a war souvenir. in the 1990's, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse and it is now on display. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was in generally in agreement with the terms and ordered rations to send to be feed -- sent to lee's army. general lee, goes out into the yard, calls for his worse, traveler, and writes back to the confederate army bearing the news of his surrender full top the gentleman had owned the house, was originally from alexandria and had married a wealthy widow from manassas and that's where he lived a

lee met ulysses s. grant in the village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia effectively ending the civil war. we'll be live from the appomattox courthouse historic park in virginia on april 9th and 12th as historians including ed airs reflect on the last battles and explore the aftermath and legacy of appomattox. and we'll bring you re-enactments of the key moments of 150 years ago and we'll open our phone lines to take your calls foragers david blight and elizabeth varron. the surrender of appomattox thursday and sunday live here on c-span3 c-span3. >>> here are some of the our featured programs for this weekend on c-span. on c-span 2 book tv on 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, grover nor quist said americans are tired of the irs and our tax system and sunday night at 8:00 p.m., author susan butler on president franklin roosevelt and joseph stalin, allies during world war ii and their part aniship -- partnership beyond the war. and on c-span3 on lectures and history,

lee. he dispatches lieutenant colonel babcock to ride ahead to meet lee. they find lee resting under an apple tree by the appomattox river. the confederate forces under general gordon and e.p. alexander's artillery are behind this apple tree and see lee talking under it. lee dispatches his orderly to find a place to meet. lee, babcock and dunn ride into the village. the next time they see lee they learn they've surrendered. they went over and started to cut the tree down for souvenirs. before long, federal troops came over and asked confederate soldiers why they were cutting down the tree and they said this was the tree where general lee surrendered to general grant. they wanted part of it too. they went to work getting souvenirs. by that night all the root also been dug up and there was nothing by a hole in the ground. and many visitors will come through bringing pieces of the apple tree that their ansister brought home with them. some of them which have been donated to the park are on di

lee did not have good maps. he relied on men and his army somebody, let's say from dinwiddie general lee would say where does this road lead? for the union army the same thing. they didn't have a lot of good maps of this area. the free slaves as they went along, the contraband, as they fell along side the union army could tell you go on that land that will lead you to jetersvill e, etc. that is another reason i enjoy researching this area. the first book i wrote, which just went out of print. i was still in college. it is called 36 hours before appomattox. it covers sailor's creek, highbridge, farmville and cumberland church. >> we have a few left. chris: the new version just came out yesterday.

accept the situation, but for the confederates, the post-war period, lee shows, lee was not a symbol of submission, he was a symbol of measured defiance. so i'll say how southern soldiers observed the surrender and then the civilians. his righteousness bleed with the religious convictions of confederate soldiers. many clung to the idea that god, however he might now chast ize his chosen people would some day deliver them. such a conviction was the most comfortable answer to a pervasive question had all of the suffering been in vain. in his april 9 diary entry, william wyatt asked has god forsake ebb us -- forsake ebb us saying i can't believe us. i believe he will yet grant unto us prosperity and honor. that night he noted that his men song the hymn god moves in mysterious ways. and theology was flexible enough to accommodate defeat for the confederates. many believed god will approve victory in his own appointed way and time. and a second theme in the confederate soldiers was the resources claim was an argument about the size of the yankee army. in confederate eyes the yankee number

he was not going to make lee bank for it. -- lee bank -- lee beg for it. he assumed that many of the men were small farmers and they needed the horses. he stated that he would not change the terms as written but would give instructions to allow the confederate soldiers take horses home to work their farms. grant understood that this meeting was about the future of the country. lee responded, this will have the best possible effect on my army. lee found the terms agreeable. the task of putting the final draft into ink fell to lieutenant colonel parker. a native american of the seneca people. who was said to have the best penmanship on general grants staff. parker sat down to write, but he lacked ink. charles marshall alleviated the problem by producing and ink stand for parker. parker wrote beautifully in the final copy, which is on loan to the national park here and appomattox, is on display in our visitor center. marshall was tasked with writing the acceptance letter of the terms. marshall lacked paper. grant's staff quickly produce paper for colonel mars

anyone that lee designated. lee's father, light horse harry lee had been with washington at yorktown and witnessed what he deemed to be the shameful behavior of lord corn wallaceñr by sending a subordinate to formally surrender the british army. lee would not shame the family's name by transferring the responsibility to a subordinate. as the small party left the apple tree site and reached the appomattox river, lee's horse traveler stopped to drink. continued into the village behind us. and encountered wilmer mclean who was outside of his house, perhaps looking to have a guard posted at his home. mclean first showed him a building most likely in the front corner of his yard. the rain tavern as it was known but the buildings was unfurnished. then mclean offered his own home, which stands behind us. behind me and in front of you. it was a fine brick home. marshall returned to lee to guide him to the location. the group arrived at the house at about 1:00 p.m. they left lieutenant dunn at the gate. he was posted the

while lee was there one of his aides, walter taylor, instead of being available to lee, had gone off to richmond to get married that night. and so what happened was apparently in richmond, where the supplies were to be sent from they got a message from lee's headquarters saying, you know, we're preparing to withdraw our troops from the city. you know, send the supplies down the line.

lee. armies arrived at appomattox, he might have been only slightly less famous than his opponent. certainly, he had become a central to his nation's aspirations as lee was to the confederacy. charles francis adams jr., a grandson of presidents conceded grant's awkward ways but saw the man within. he's a remarkable man. he handles those around him so quietly and well. he has a faculty of disposing of work. and managing men. president lincoln recognized grant's skills, but especially admired his persistentsy sissistencey of purpose. he has the grit of a bulldog. another officer put it in even more colorful terms. he habitually wears an expression as if he is determined to drive his head through a brick wall and was about to do it. general grant attached himself to the army of the potomac in 1864 and promptly set about taking the initiative from robert e. lee. with a determination that matched lee's and with an army larger than the army of northern virginia, grant thundered through virginia

some of them general lee knows very well like seth williams who was lee's adjutant at the u.s. military academy at west point. another interesting aspect is there was a young captain named robert lincoln. he was the son of president abraham lincoln. another interesting participant, a witness to this ceremony. this ragdoll of lula mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing around. captain thomas moore of general sheridan's staff took the doll home as a war souvenir. in the 1990's, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse and it is now on display. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was generous with the terms. when general lee says he has nothing to feed his men, grant orders rations to be sent to lee's army. general lee, goes out into the yard, calls for his horse traveler and writes back to the confederate army bearing the news of hi

lee is buried in the lee chapel on the campus of washington and lee university. where does this go after next month? the connection is pocahontas jamestown, pocahontas, robert e. lee, ira aldridge, both born in 1807. both men knew again exactly what they wanted to do. lee, being a soldier. aldridge, being an actor. next month, we will follow the african american heritage more and look at senator everett dirksen of illinois. he made the cover of "time" magazine a number of times. the portrait gallery has the collection of original cover art. we have a cover of everett dirksen on display. senator dirksen basically was the catalyst of moving the historic civil rights legislation through the senate and congress in january, just this time, january-february, the winter of 1964. that legislation would eventually be signed by president johnson on july 2, 1964. that is the historic civil rights act of 1964. it took another 100 years from the end of the civil war to really begin to see some of the social equity and civil rights for blacks that whites had enjoyed since the

that avenue to lee's army.hat lee does is he decides that he will cross to the north side of the appomattox river here. he will burn all the bridges behind him. there are two bridges right north of town. a small railroad bridge. . the highbridge, a section of that is -- by leaving that smaller wagon bridge under it, union forces will use that and crossover to the north side of the river. what is happening then strategically is that lee's next point of destination is over here at appomattox station. there are more foods and supplies located there. his next point is to march through the town of appomattox which appomattox station is currently the town of appomattox. that is where the next point of contact or supplies could be had. while heading in this direction on the north side of the appomattox river, two union corps army follow him. as that is 38 miles from here to here, with this line of march from here to here, it is only 30 miles. with lee making this move to the north river he has left a short road open t

lee. events were occurring so rapidly clashing one with the other that little or no note was made of the battle which came to public attention. so in the next few minutes you folks will be part of the intelligent part of our nation. just some points before we talk about the battles themselves are the engagements. there are three separate engagements referred to as the battles of sailor's creek. you will see that as you enter the museum it refers to it as battles. and i mentioned the spelling difference and the fact that there were two branches, big sailor's creek and little sailor's creek. most of the fighting being on little sailor's creek. a lot of times you will read in books if they mention sailor's creek dealing with the war it will say i have seen anywhere from lee losing half his army or a third of his army. as i will show later with the statistics it was actually less than a quarter of his army somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of his army is lost at sailor's creek mainly tak

they were under general lee's eldest son, rooney lee. roberts is under him. they leave the federals up on that ridge includeing this fella here. he takes a pistol ball in the groin. they leave behind sergeant charles mcintyre who is killed as is captain edward cooper of the 13th ohio. these were the men i was able to find photos of. he's 24 years old. john pogue moore.féc he's struck down during this advance. and then, when i look at it and think about it i say, my god, what this man went through, looking at his service record.:sr he enlisted in the rock bridge artillery in 1861. he gets transferred to the fourth virginia infantry. he's cantured at the battle of second monasis. he's exchanged he's wounded. he's woubded at spotsilvania courthouse. he has a finger shot off there. and then he is killed april 9th, 1865. rooney's lee men stay with the wheel with the infantry.g(y0 they uncover other federal calvary coming up. his men engage them. this confederate general general biel, formally of the ninth virginia academy is wounded in the fighting. he gets a bull

lee. historical record does not reveal the tales of those conversations. there's also a letter that benjamin and davis cabinet an perhaps davis's closest political advisor at this time wrote a letter after the war in which he said that winner of 65 and everything pressing upon us and things looking so terrible in every direction and we were struggling the find some way, some way to find out way forward. we know what's going through his mind. jefferson davis was not a stupid man. he wasn't thinking fanciful things at all. we do know in the end that he and lee agreed that lee would hold at petersburg until he couldn't hold any longer. lee would inform davis of his needing to evacuate petersburg and the plan was, i won't go through this that lee would go through north carolina and hopefully they can turn on sherman and turn back on grant. the commander in chief would be somewhere nearby because he would have left richmond the same time lee left petersburg or before. he expected to meet lee. t

lee. historical record does not reveal the tales of those conversations. there's also a letter that benjamin and davis cabinet an perhaps davis's closest political advisor at this time wrote a letter after the war in which he said that winner of 65 and everything pressing upon us and things looking so terrible in every direction and we were struggling the find some way, some way to find out way forward. we know what's going through his mind. jefferson davis was not a stupid man. he wasn't thinking fanciful things at all. we do know in the end that he and lee agreed that lee would hold at petersburg until he couldn't hold any longer. lee would inform davis of his needing to evacuate petersburg and the plan was, i won't go through this that lee would go through north carolina and hopefully they can turn on sherman and turn back on grant. the commander in chief would be somewhere nearby because he would have left richmond the same time lee left petersburg or before. he expected to meet lee. t

grant and robert e lee. general grant is portrayed by kurt field and general lee by thomas jesse. you want to invite you to be part of the conversation. here's how to do that -- call us at the numbers on your screen. send us a tweet at c-span history and you can also join us on facebook. this moment our viewers just saw on american history tv, gentlemen, what were you thinking as general lee wrote away? guest: sadness. i knew how much they were suffering with the surrender after they had fought so hard for four long years. i felt it was almost anti-climactic. one of the things i noted was the silence. there were no guns, no candidate in, no shouts, no battle sounds. the silence was a sound we had not heard for four years and it approached the eerie. host: general lee, as we watched that site just moments ago, you seemed to pause for a moment before mounting traveler. what was going through your mind? guest: at that particular moment, i was concerned for my horse. we were putting the bridle on and i removed the forelock from under the bridle but what was going on in my mind for mos

lee's nephew fitz lee, meet south of petersburg. and it will be there where pickett will bloody sheridan's nose, which could have been the worst thing he could've have done. because as i have studied the civil war there is no human being i would fear more rather than to serve with or against is 33-year-old phil sheridan in 1865. by pickett stopping him, he asked for support from the infantry. he did not like the answer that he got, but he gets the union fifth corps attached to him. pickett, realizing the infantry was coming to support the cavalry, withdraws to one of the most obscure little crossroads you will ever come across. five roads that intersect in rural dinwiddie county, known locally as five forks. you can go out here in prince edward's county and find five forks here. you can go to every county in virginia and find that intersection. but at the one in dinwiddie george pickett is going to set his men into trenches, running east-west, right through it. to his back, three miles north of there, is the southside railroad. he g

lee in northern virginia. and grant has just come here in virginia and made it his mission to destroy lee and the army of northern virginia. and on the 11th of may, he's going to send a message back to washington and i quote, i propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." and shortly after that they move right outside of richmond to the cole harbor area where the two great armies battle yet again. and after another stalemate there, grant is then going to set sights to the south of the jam river on the it is yif of petersburg. now petersburg, virginia in the mid 19th century, is truly a magnificent gem of a city. you're talking about a city that grew up on the fall line of the river. and so at its heart is industry. having harnessed that water power. the people of petersburg live a cosmopolitan lifestyle. they have running water coming into their downtown area. they have a gas works. the streets are lit by gas lighting. the houses have gas lights inside of them. to petersburg, a city of 18,000

there is a public lee and a private lee. public lee behaved as you would want the loser to behave coming out of appomattox. professor varon: and yet, he was a controversial figure in the north after the war. professor gallagher: oh, absolutely. professor varon: in the raw days after appomattox, a great deal was read by the northern public and to everyone of his gestures for stuff you relatively lays low. i alluded to this, something that is political, so he is still someone who is very much feared and mistrusted in the north, is important. professor gallagher: but he became quite popular. lee's death, which is only five years later, a lot of the northern papers gave quite flattering obituaries for him. frederick douglass called them "nauseating flatteries." [laughter] he could not believe that the great rebel chieftain was being treated this way so quickly. professor varon: in a sense, the copperhead view of lee -- become perhaps from the start are willing to portray lee as grant's equal, and they see the overwhelming number

some of them general lee knows very well, such as seth williams who was lee's agitant when lee was aommandant at united states military academy at west point. another interesting aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he of course, was the son of president abraham lincoln and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in this ceremony was -- at least, maybe not participant but a witness to this ceremony wast( this rag doll of lula m mclean youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it +xuty captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appatomattox court house and it is now on display in the park visitors center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was

. >> when supervisor farrell hired chris lee he hired chris lee as his committees campaign consultant i hired him right. >> as far as i know. >> he hired him as his campaign consultant his campaign consultant channels money from another committee that has - channels money and activities supporting supervisor farrell from another committee during the course of the campaign in the amount of $190,000 that's was the fcc has found done by the committee that chris lee is coordinating essentially he's the one doing it what supervisor farrell whether he's the one responsible if the long run for the activity of the campaign consultant he can't say he didn't know what he's doing by funneling campaign contributions to my campaign in the form of others activity i didn't personally know that it that's not the law is it. >> with with all due respect your exaggerating what we found was one e-mail to the committee with a contributor west that was public he sent a second e-mail to the committee with kind of the hall of a committee and eventually give the committee the contact information for a consult

for the next couple of weeks there are 19 whimsical characterize i suspect that the artist how long lee we have whimsical characterize at city hall as well (laughter) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> everyday i get it watch the hundreds of people take pictures whether they're part of wedding or visitor from across the world or local resident right here taking extensive fizz they appreciate this art. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> art is american people international language that more and more people appreciate because it brings us together and more and more we want to know what is on the minds of people whether they're in taiwan of other places of the world art can do that. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i always want to appreciate chairman johnson wong of the swinging skirts foundation because he is also been a very supportive of arts and sports and business that's why the artist women's group is here for the actor in the city. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i am a golf authenticity so if you know what happened then in the ladies professional government turnout that was

general grant happened to ask general lee, may i see your sort.ost graciously let him see the sword and grant took it as surrender. that is a true story of what we call the surrender. so the south did not surrender. host: thank you for sharing. elizabeth: there are many stories connected with the surrender that don't stand up to scrutiny, the less to say. the idea lee offered grant the sword and greg refused to take it is one of them. what you allude to there is the appearance of the two men -- grant, disheveled, muddy frockcoat, lee dressed very handsomely in a dress uniform. the people present in the courthouse read a lot into the appearance of those two men symbolic of those. he had more that she had molded them into a formal army and they were proud of grandpa's disheveled appearance. the confederates saw them -- they were proud of lee's appearance. every detail of the settings -- of the setting here was highly symbolic and americans read a great deal in to be tail. host: was that symbolism only after the fact? elizabeth: no, and this is somet

sent to feed lee's army. the men shake hands, general lee departs, goes out into the yard, calls for his horse traveler and rides back to the confederate army, bearing the news of his surrender --. --. the gentleman who owned the house had married a wealthy widow from manassas and that's where he lived at the time of the first major engagement. he decided to move south he could not conduct business in northern virginia. he got into sugar speculation. he was not a farmer as many people will put out. he got into sugar speculation. and this area was convenient, because he could access the south side railroad and make trips to the south to deal in that sugar. they owned the house here at the time of the surrender. then in 1867 they are not able to keep up with the payments on the house, and the house is sold, and the family moves back to northern virginia. after the house is sold, the ragland family owns it for a time. but in the early 1890s, a group of union veterans have a plan. they're going to start