to lincoln. samuel chase, a great friend of the committee on the conduct of the war, he is treasury. secretary most of the time, but he works with lincoln area when somebody leaked that he was running third party, lincoln fires him and he does not use the treasury at all after the summer. he puts in the side and is looking at shea, you know who is sick? roger b taney, supreme court justice. want the presidency, you ,o for it, but if i do win you could be chief justice of the supreme court, so what are you going to do? chase says nothing for about 90 days about, i want to be president of the united states. july, when robert tenney is about to get sick on his deathbed, he zips it. would rather be chief justice of the supreme court then living in the white house. if lincoln gets reelected, he will probably like me enough to make me chief justice, which he did. fremont, he was a candidate in 1856. lincoln put him on the backwaters of the military. he did not have any outstanding qualifications other

lincoln. so, it's most interesting stuff and we look forward to it, catherine? >> laptop >> thank you. it is so nice to be back here at the lincoln forum. it's such a warm audience, and i'm very glad that i was assigned this hot subject of looking at the first lady, mary lincoln and her time of trial. but i did want to say, especially, it's wonderful for me to be here because i was really propelled along the road to do my biography of mrs. lincoln, by being here listening to speakers, having people make comments and someone leaving -- leaning over to me after a lecture and saying, isn't it terrible the way they shoved mary lincoln out of the room just as her husband died, and that was something that caught me on the road and of course it's harold and the chief's introduction to the world of lincoln that i have to thank and jim mcpherson a sponsor of my early work. i want to try to get to some of these issues of lincoln after the death of lincoln . >> on april 21, 1865, one week after his assas

never more so than when he visited lincoln as lincoln visited mcclellan in you know october 1862. that picture of lincoln standing with the general? that general is john mckiernan and he was going behind grants back to get his own independent command. the president also sent envoys to spy on grant to find out not only about grant's confidence, but allegations he was an out -- an alcoholic who was out of control. it was grant who was the smart one here, that when some of these people came -- charles dana was going to investigate the paymaster system -- everyone knew why he was there. he was there to investigate grant, and john rollins suggested the best thing would be to throw dana into the mississippi. grant thought that would be somewhat less of a tactful response. he embraced dana, brought him into his tent, explained his plans, and may gain of the spy into dana the ally. that was smart from a guy who was supposed to be such a political novice. and of course, lincoln's interference exacerbated a growing rift that surfaced multiple times during the vicksburg campaign. so, you hav

abraham lincoln could be unsupportive and you just don't have to ask mary todd lincoln for evidence of that. we all know that george mcclellan said unflattering things about abraham lincoln. but abraham lincoln said unflattering things about george mcclellan, which we celebrate as examples of presidential wit. about how the army of the potomac for example was no more than george mcclellan's bodyguard. generally speaking, pun intended, if you are trashing your subordinates in front of other people, you inspire a lack of respect for them as well. but we succeed george mcclellan's comments as out rages. -- outrageous. but lincoln's comments about mcclellan as funny. that says more about us than what it is about what's going on. what have they done -- would have the horses done that make them so tired to avoid the battle. he just wants to say something funny. sometimes, that funniness, that sarcasm doesn't exactly build a good relationship. the president could be unsupportive. grant had experienced lots of instances which link and had been less than supportive. that lincoln never came to t

i don't know. >> one is abram lincoln and the lincoln -- abram abraham lincoln and the others georgelellan. brooks: they are facing each other? is not like cemetery hill? only onesuys are the to pick did in the capital building. if you could caption for context or contextualize it, what would you want a design engineer -- other than welcome to new jersey where we layer the irony on things. brooks: ok, really simple. under the lincoln statue, i won the election and under the mcclellan statute, but i won new jersey. -- the mcclellan statute, but i won new jersey. on that note, because we all is legal in new jersey, thank you very much. [applause] where there is an article 3 injury for establishment clause purposes. >> we are going to move to the second panel. i'm not trying to be rude. i can see your resume. you are a rock star. but i think to be a good federal judge you have to have some life experience. and tell me, williams and connolly is a great law firm. a lot of great lawyers there. tell me why you are more qualified to be on the fourth circuit than some of the williams and conn

i don't know. >> one is abram lincoln and the lincoln -- abram abraham lincoln and the others georgelellan. brooks: they are facing each other? is not like cemetery hill? only onesuys are the to pick did in the capital building. if you could caption for context or contextualize it, what would you want a design engineer -- other than welcome to new jersey where we layer the irony on things. brooks: ok, really simple. under the lincoln statue, i won the election and under the mcclellan statute, but i won new jersey. -- the mcclellan statute, but i won new jersey. on that note, because we all is legal in new jersey, thank you very much. [applause]

lincoln does hang back. from an open embrace of emancipation it doesn't mean the emancipation proclamation formalizes the policy that was in place. the emancipation proclamation is a big shift in union wartime policy toward slavery. here's an open embrace of military emancipation as a means of winning the war. lincoln in the interim between this august 1861 theory and september 1862 when he announces the emancipation proclamation he's criticized up- and-down by leading radical republicans, abolitionists and frederick douglass for not doing enough to emancipate and make war on slavery as a means of defeating the confederacy. one thing about this emancipation policy is that it hinges on this communication between butler while various generals and federal officials and it's happening on the front lines. if you are not privy to this communication a few are not on the front lines watching this happen it's easy to miss how emancipation early in the war is part of the union were effort. lincoln does some things fro

he knew he was not giving lincoln what lincoln needed. the fact that grant shows up, halleck can step into the role where he seems to be more suited and is actually able to remove the weight of command. if anyone wants to read anything about henry halleck, read the biography that came out a few years ago. it is a really interesting discussion of how this particular individual who seemed to be so gifted ultimately becomes general in chief and seems to underwhelmed . he actually goes into the halleck personal correspondence and into various aspects of his life that makes one realize that he had a tremendous amount of confidence in himself. it is a really interesting study. because of all that, it is 1864 and 65 and halleck is indispensable in keeping washington command running while grant is doing what he does in the field. so it is completely changed by that point. no jealousy anymore. for >> [ inapplause ] >> corey maze. i want

they have great lincoln ties. but in any event, i give you vernon burton, who will tell you about the importance of the 14th amendment. [applause] >> i appreciate you lowering expectations. it's always a hard act to follow paul, and to try to get my timer on, and of course i can't. ok. well, i taught the american south for 34 years of university of illinois, and then i wrote the book, "the age of lincoln." then i moved home to south carolina, where i had grown up. the land of lincoln. then i discovered people in south carolina no longer cared for lincoln. that, even though i argued he was the greatest president, the greatest theologian of the 19th century, insignificant that he was a southerner. the cultural wars had wreaked havoc on our history, our historical memory, democracy, and our country. with various corners in the prize fight of cultural combat, we need to recognize how general interpretation of historical events might differ. stephen colbert, when he did "the colbert report," said that rewriting history

what were lincoln's terms? >> union, abolition, amnesty, partial comfort -- compensation to those who had emancipated slaves. >> he is not going to break his steadfast ideas at all. there is no way that he and jefferson davis are going to come to an agreement. he is saying that emancipation is set in stone. >> why does lincoln allow these emissaries to negotiate kind of in the back door? why does he do that? >> i think i briefly touched on it before, but i think it highlights that the south is not willing to give into terms, so it is like we need to continue the war until we get unconditional sender -- unconditional surrender. otherwise, they will want us to go back on the emancipation proclamation. that is an important element in keeping the british out on the southern side because the british abolished slavery in 1833 and after we we released the proclamation, it really caused the war to take on a more moral element. >> that brings up a really good point about that moral element. has, we already said that the

lincoln had very high hopes. but unfortunately "old brains" hallock, although a great student of war, great understanding of the prosecution of war, of warfare and theory. it's one thing to be a planner and theorist, another thing to be an operator, to put the plans into effect. and quite frankly, his performance, while study, has been uninspiring. what lincoln is looking for is an operator, someone who can take the reins of the union war effort from him and prosecute the war to successful termination. so by 1863, lincoln is beginning to think, who is next, who is after hallock, who might be out there for me to think about? one name begins coming up again and again. in anyways, 1863 can be considered the year of ulysses s. grant. his name has been coming up from lincoln again and again. not just from victories at donaldson in february 1862, shiloh, corinth, ayuca. even the first defeated overland campaign attempt to take vicksburg, grant manages to save the army, bring it back, and almost immediately is ready to

abraham lincoln was devastated. you see the pictures of him just before the assassination at the age of 56, he looks about 80 or 85.. president johnson, by 1969, he had courageously been president after having a massive heart attack in 1955, so he had health chance challenges that people didn't even know about. but he was extremely troubled, very suspicious, very angry at his enemies, and lived a very unhappy retirement during the next four years. jack villante, his close friend and former aid and a close friend of mine, said at times he thought lbj was committing -- slow motion suicide, because the doctors had told johnson no smoking, no drinking no overeating and he did all those things, and i think hastened his death. there's a scene where he was called on by alexander hanging who was working for richard ninetyor six and lady bird brins in l his heart pills and lbj afr she leaves those the heart pills into a bush, and says i'm dying and i want to get it over with. that's how much he was spent by being a war presi

abraham lincoln naming ulysses s. grant as general in chief of the union army, and how grant's command style differed from his predecessors. this is part of a symposium hosted by the "emerging civil war" blog. >> it is my distinct honor and privilege this afternoon to introduce our next speaker. pinpoint a of us can book or author or historians that not only got us interested in the study of our past and particularly the american civil war, but also has fed a lifelong passion for the study of american history and american military history. although i have only known our next speaker for several years as a a friend and colleague, i feel that every time i am in his presence, there is an opportunity to learn, and he has made me a better military historian. i continue to grow and learn from him. it is a distinct honor to introduce chris kolakowski. [applause] was born andski raised in fredericksburg, and received his b.a. in history and mask medications from memory and henry college, and his masters in public history from

and lincoln wins reelection. so the union public is the hind for the most part the direction that things are going. the vote is kind of close. lincoln wins with 55% of the vote. but it is enough of the northern public that supports the way things are going to keep going in that direction. and for the confederacy, what that means is, there had been a lot of hope that just holding out and dragging the war on and inflicting casualties, just making it cost more, would wear on the northern public. but, it wasn't enough. so the confederacy realizes after november of 1864, there is no political or diplomatic solution to this. the only way the confederacy is going to get its independence is on the battlefield. that becomes pretty clear to them. my number 10. and this might surprise some of you, appomattox. before you say, "wait, bert, that is the end of the war." of course, it is. but it is important to see the ending of the war as part of the war and not something separate. we tend to see the surrenders as something sep

got right with lincoln. informed by historical knowledge, ike pointed his countrymen to better days ahead. thank you. [applause] if anyone has a question or comment, i would be happy to respond. i overwhelmed you. [laughter] i see someone coming. >> hi, 1959, the 100th anniversary of john brown's raid, there is a lot of pressure to not commemorate, certainly not celebrate or even mention the anniversary, and eisenhower seems to have caved into that. could you give some background on that? >> that is a great question and a logical question. i can say this. i knew the vacuum cleaner to look at everything in the eisenhower library that they had relating to slavery and the civil war, and they had nothing. if i had looked at his diaries at that time, maybe there would have been something about it there. but i think it sort of fits into the hands off, do not touch a hot stove, because as you said, the brown raid is kind of a flashpoint for people to disagree. i do not have a better answer, but it is a good questio

both of the photographs were owned by abraham lincoln. mary lincoln to be specific. we don't know how they came to own a photograph of grant, mary lincoln was not a fan or admirer of the man she regarded as a butcher and felt was being rewarded to handsomely after her husband died and she was not. robert lincoln who was on grants staff in the last months of the war, brought the photograph back to the white house and showed it to abraham lincoln who supposedly said, and here we go with the mystification of lee, it's a good faith, a noble faith, i'm glad the war is over at last. and that is the picture that lincoln had on it came from robert. a very odd. i just want to spend a little time with the wonderful questions i've gotten that we can get to those but we won't be able to tell the postpresidential story. . let's start with you, what turned out to be lee's fatal flaw? if any? >> i suppose that what southerners would say as he commanded an army half the size of his foe and lee might have agreed with that, if he had a fatal flaw in terms of the way he commanded, he b

and lincoln said, i don't care what problem he has. you guys aren't winning. and his name was grant, general grant. [ cheers and applause ] and he went in, and he knocked the hell out of everyone. he really did. he had a serious problem, a serious drinking problem. but, man, was he good a general. and he's finally being recognized as a great general.

lincoln was not necessarily scared. he was not afraid that he was going to capture washington what lincoln did want to do was to capture jackson so he did hold the trips back instead of holding them to richmond he says the majority of them went west to capture jackson. we will not go into that campaign in detail, we will talk about it more in the next lecture. but for the sake of argument let's talk about the fact that what jackson does is he earns his legendary reputation as a aggressive and dynamic general in this campaign. jackson had earned his nickname at the battle of bull run. but he earns that reputation as being the confederacy's best a general here because of what he does in this campaign. what he does is he takes 17,000 troops, not a large army and he manages to tie down about 50,000 union troops. there are three separate union forces in the valley. one under fremont, one under shield and another army under nathaniel banks and jackson is able to basically outmaneuver the union army and to attack lightly defen

lincoln read all the time. they also had a self-deprecating sense of humor, i could wish we could see that in the president. >> roosevelt, abraham lincoln, roosevelt -- >> i would bring back teddy roosevelt because he could speak in that language of the twitter world, don't hit until you have to and then hit hard. he was a fighter, he also could occupy center stage. >> the arena literally. >> in the arena, but he also -- they said he wanted to be the baby at the baptism and the bride at the wedding and the corpse at the funeral. and he captured the center stage, but he would say, as i said, he would say a deal has to be good for both sides and he also was very clear about his language having to be believable by the people. he wouldn't say things that he could be undone by because he knew if you say something your word is your bind. >> give us the big picture here. are we in unprecedented times? has history ever seen anything like these two years and like the leadership style of president trump? >> we've certain

as lincoln said in the course of ultimate extinction. it was that argument more than any other in the crisis that led to the republican party come abraham lincoln for the presidency subsequent debates this emerges as the most accurate. it is praiseworthy but misleading. a woeful misreading. lincoln and douglas were correct about the crucial matter, the exclusion of property in man and came closer to what the framers had done that when william lloyd garrison and this is not just an academic fine point for understanding why lincoln and douglas were correct, political and constitutional history from the revolution to the civil war that is profoundly different into the matter of property and van and the constitutional status was the central question back in 2013, professor gates invited me to give lectures which is about as big an honor historian can get these days i still hope to write those. right around this time, civil war historians started focusing on the property issue and that was interesting. then i remembered a line of jameline ofj

anderson was a lincoln man. they don't look first and foremost. abraham lincoln.e who had the pole waiting. for almost every president they look to them because they face adversity with such grace. what keeps lincoln going during the worst days of his presidency. >> the fact that he knew he was in the right. the liberator of a hundred thousand african-americans. and when he was a running for running for reelection in 1864 ink and was suffering from one of his depressions. he actually wrote a little letter saying that he expected to be defeated by general mckellen. his aides told him the reason why he was unpopular with the voters was the emancipation proclamation. and they said you want to get reelected. a lot of these voters are saying this war has gone on too long. and you have changed the goal now you're saying the war for north and south. and lincoln to his great credit said i could do that but i can do that in good conscience because is not the way i want to be remembered in history. he explained to the voters. especially in the world. a leader who can persua

lincoln. if you are want the primer and managing difficult people, read abraham lincoln's collected works. he has the patience and a skillet that that most of us to manage people could only dream of ever possessing. is focus onlicity, what is next rather than his deliberation of what is past reminds me of my college football coach. all he did was think about the next play. there was no time to think about what just happened. grant was very much like that. always forward-looking. moment,t least in the regretting or criticizing or spending a lot of time looking backwards. always forward. for me one of the reasons the memoirs succeed so well is that they reveal him in his essence, which was to take complicated things and reduce them to workable problems. we have professions in this country who spend almost all their energy trying to convince us what they do was way more complicated than we could ever imagine it to be and therefore we need a higher those people who can minnesota's -- hire those pe

lincoln went to the theater 100 times during the war.self back in the war of the roses in shakespeare's time. fdr had a cocktail party every night during world war ii because he wanted to make a point. those are different kind of intelligence -- knowing yourself and knowing your energy does not get depleted. david: do we know we have a great leader -- take abraham lincoln for example, you took a poll in 1863 or 1854, i'm not sure he would have scored so well doris:. if the people around him would , they all thought they are better than him in short order, but they thought they were in the presence of somebody pretty special, but the country as a whole did not know time andeal period of it settled and after the war was won and he died. people started writing memoirs and diary started coming out and you realized he was next for an error leader. david: integrity. we always say we want integrity, but how much integrity do we want in a president or leader? sometimes they have to make decisions on the margin, they have to cut corners to get to

lincoln penned a favorable reply. your christian and benevolent undertaking is to obviously proper and praiseworthy to admit any difference of opinion. i sincerely hope your plan will be successful in that execution and that it is just and generous in conception. lincoln reiterated his support for the commission's goals in 1863 writing to alexander reed who was the organization's superintendent. at times, lincoln was respectfully declining an invitation. he said, whatever shelby sincerely and in god's name devised for the soldier can scarcely fail to be blessed. whatever child tend to turn thoughts from unreasonable and uncharitable passions to a great national trouble such as ours and to fix them upon the vast and long enduring concert -- consequences and especially to strengthen the alliance on a supreme being for the final triumph of the right cannot be but well for us all. so, quite an endorsement from the commander-in-chief. other significant figures also responded favorably to the aims of the christian commissio

lincoln stood for greatness. lincoln stood for equality.assination is something the country has never quite recovered from and probably never will. but this week's bombing attempts while scary and awful, they have not caused harm to anyone. and thus they must be reported on, they must be commented on with context and responsibility. do not abuse history to serve your current political agenda. joining me right now, a man who knows a lot about history himself. presidential historian, doug wead. >> thank you, trish, i'm loving your show. it's hot. i am enjoying it. trish: thank you. i want to be accurate. i was bothered by what i heard from that commentator. i'm troubled by people's manipulation of current day events and comparing and contrasting them to horrible historical events whether it's comparing with what we are seeing now to the assassination of lincoln or whether it's comparing our president to adolph hit letter or the kkk in the 1920s. what's your thought on this? >> this is pretty ridiculous. i like john, i like his books. it was h

there are a lot more lincoln place and movies in the 20th century then washington because lincoln was an incredibly compelling human character in washington is almost too good to be true. so what we are doing at the constitutional center is using live theater and digital experiences to try to tap the hamilton magic by telling stories. we have a great show freedom rising, a live actor tells the story of america and presidents but we have found often the stories of lesser-known founding figures are compelling and how we connect, i want you to listen to to all those we call up to debate the constitutional issue and it is elevating, thrilling and educational for all of us. we just finished four weeks on figures of reconstruction, frederick douglass, charles bingham, callie house, the african-american seamstress who advocated for rights, telling the stories in the podcast in this exhibit about the civil war is a great way to connect. it is crucial and if we can do that, i think will you -- we will be in great shape. >> he has a very sexy story. >> i guess we can tell it, it is only c-span.

there's a lot more lincoln plays and movies in the 20th century than washington because lincoln is such a compelling human character and washington is almost too good to be true as henry adams said. we have this show of freedom rising with a great actor. it's this elevating, thrilling, educational experience for all of us. we just finished four weeks on figures of reconstruction. it's a great way to connect. telling stories is crucial. >> you can do governor mars who wrote the we the people. there's a very sexy story. >> he lost his leg. i think it was john adams who said i think i lost another image. >> he was searching for the original more perfect union. >> we've got the beginning of the musical right here. he was quite a character. >> let's talk about the many modern depictions of lbj and movies since we're on the movie them right now. how does this librarian foundation respond, if at all, especially if they stray from the research. >> three dramatic depictions in recent years. a film by rob reiner called " "lbj "lbj." they did a marvelous job. ava did this story of selma which incl

say.an amazing thing to ant, abrahamt service lincoln. abraham lincoln fought for his vision to unite the north and the south as a new birth of freedom. so all people would be treated equally, without regard for color or race. in his famous gettysburg address of 1863, at the dedication of the soldiers national cemetery to honor union soldiers who had abrahamthe civil war, lincoln, president lincoln, inspired our nation, inspired americans to fight on so these dead shall not have died in vain, and that this nation under god will have a new birth of freedom. and that government of the people, by the people, by you, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. nearly -- just slightly over 100 his 1964 speech at the republican national convention, another great american, another great american servant. subsequently president of the united states, ronald reagan. essence of whye the fight by americans against he ready -- tyranny and injustice will never end, must never end. freedom is quote never more than one generation away from extinctio

as lincoln appropriated him and he saw what was now the civil war had become whawhat's lincoln hadn't wantedt to become. he didn't want it to become a remorseless revolutionary struggle. the rest of his life after 1864 he would campaign every year and the republican party would decide which is the to send them to. there were pockets of the voters in the state he would be sent there and there's other sections of the country they thought they would work well and for some reason in indiana he was always sent to indiana, a swing state. others would campaign week after week. then sometimes he would wonder why because the republican party is changing and abandoning the cause of the emancipation civil rights in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments and to round that out a bit, it's quite an issue today like all great questions that matter this has a huge legacy. the libertarian right love was o appropriate douglas because he was a staunch proponent of self-reliance that every black theater in the century to speak of was a proponent of self-reliance that is not unusual. but in the wa a way that

one thing i want to say about lincoln. the word moderate often gets attached to him, and he was moderate compared to charles sumner and frederick douglass, they were frustrated with him. come was so moderate, how when he was elected, seven slave states said, we are out of their -- we are out of here? the way i talk to my students about it is the southerners read him right. when he said, i am placing slavery in the path of ultimate extension, it might not have been fast enough for those of us who think it should been extirpated immediately but they took him at his word in that regard. that tells you something about what he was about. andblackett: the irony, history is full of ironies. the irony is if the slaveholders had stayed put, they would not have lost their slaves. they go to war, and as a result, they lose their slaves. so that was a dumb policy. the point of: from view of self-interest, it was definitely dumb. prof. pinsker: let's open this up to the audience. representatives will take around microphones. raise your

they said to lincoln, you can't use him anymore. he's an alcoholic.n't care if he's an alcoholic. frankly, give me six or seven more. >> ah. got to go now to michael boesch lo -- beschloss. michael, you heard the treatment. e and playing in the background, homage to ken jones. your reaction to what the president said? brought up grant because of the geography. you're reaction to the yarn he spun last night? >> my feeling, wry dhy didn't ie that in my book? first, congratulations on the show. the age of gura, honored to be with you. >> i'll raise a doughnut to you, sir. >> thank you. we don't have any here in d.c. >> and those slavish to history. barack obama talked about it a lot and what he learned from it. i don't know where president trump got what he said last night. talk about the importance of this for presidents over the years. something you detail in your book. >> crucial. make as great leader. president truman said not every leader will be a great leader but every leader has to know history. if you're president, you don't have a user's manual

democrats who were against lincoln and against the war. in new jersey that would be joel parker and in new york that would be horatio seymour. if there is a place worse than abraham lincoln declared, if there is a place worse than that, i am in it. not a few union soldiers shivering in their tents, dammed to the disloyalty of men back at home, at least the rebels argued, at least the rebels had the courage to stand up and fight. by the late summer of 1862, this guy is looking on in horror. at the progress of the civil war, a war that is actively tearing apart his country and he decided, he swallowed hard, summoned up the requisite courage he needed to go off and enlist. to volunteer to fight. when abraham lincoln issued yet another call, another plea for volunteers, citizen soldiers in 1862, this 22-year-old man, with a clean-shaven face, piercing eyes and a prominent nose, he faced what was in his mind and his honor bound culture a rather stark choice. either enlist, or in his words, show a white liver by backing out. so he mustered into

lincoln. because mrs. lincoln came to washington as a westerner in the tradition of jackson. although she was extremely well educated. she spoke french and studied astronomy and she could quote victor hugo from memory. and she was highly political. and when she first became first lady, she spoke to the spec -- to the secretary of state and her husband about the fact that she wanted to purchase imported clothing. and they told her no, with the onset of civil war, the import tariffs were too great and it would be more beneficial to the economy for her to purchase from -- made within the united states. she had a regular dressmaker. a very famous woman. a freed slave who became her confidante. mrs. lincoln was often in new york. purchasing other things like gloves and fans and other accessories. and she quite literally took her husband's advice a bit -- to quite an extreme to the point that she ran up it was the modern equivalent of close to $300,000 in debt. just largely on clothing. and she was

she appealed to the first lady, mary lincoln, and asked for some money for these encampments. mrs. lincoln wrote to the president saying, we are going to give $200 to help fund this contraband relief association. from then on, the president and first lady would continue to give money to these relief organizations. it was not just elizabeth, it was people within the african-american community as well who were helping gather food, provide shelter, money. these encampments were funded through usually church groups. not only was elizabeth working in the d.c. area, there was also another woman, harriet jacobs. she was also formerly enslaved and she found her refuge and freedom in new york, where she met a quaker woman named julia wilber. they came to alexandria and also worked with these contraband camps and provided money, food, shelter, clothing. they also helped establish education programs. many churches, like beulah, offered education, night schools, not only for children, but also for adults so they could become literate, they could read, write, sign their names to contracts becau

she appealed to the first lady, mary lincoln, asked for some money, and misses lincoln wrote to the president. she said we are going to give $200 to help fund this contraband relief association. from then on, the president and first lady would continue to get money for these relief organizations. it was not just a elizabeth, it was also it was also people within the african-american community who are helping gather food, provide shelter, money. these encampments were funded through usually church groups. not only was elizabeth working in the d.c. area, but another woman, harriet jacobs, was also formerly enslaved, and she found her for -- or freedom in new york where she met a quicker , woman named julia -- they teamed up, came to alexandria, worked with these contraband camps and provided money, education, night school for not only children, but also adults so they can become literate, read, write, and sign their names to contracts because because they were starting to look for and get jobs. in a lot of ways women in the contraband encampments were also working to make sure people were educa

>> in those days, lincoln center wasn't here yet.e "fancy free" with lenny as a collaboration. it is an extraordinary story. they were young guys on the cusp of greatness. there they are, making this thing. one of the treasured possessions i have are recordings of how leonard bernstein would make a recording. i picture it happening at a very down to the heels recording studio in times square. it'd be records. he'd send jerry a record of the latest music of "fancy free" with the piano score to choreograph on the road. jerry was on tour. then you'd hear this. you know, piano. jerry would take the microphone and talk and say, dear jerry, i hope you can understand this, i hope you can understand that. on one of these recordings, he'll give you a sense of this extraordinary legacy. he says, i hope you can understand this particular section. it is a lot of piano. it is all aaron copeland's fault. you hear somebody laughing in the background. >> it was copeland? >> playing "two pianos" in the background. >> you joined the new york city ball

his name, lincoln said don't take him, he has a drinking problem. said i don't care what problem he has. you guys aren't winning. his name was grant, gaeneral grant. he's finally being recognized as a great general. but lincoln had almost developed a phobia because he was having a hard time with a true great fighter and a great general, robert e. lee but grant figured it out. >> grant is finally being recognized as a good general. we're so lucky to have the perfect person to get to the bottom of this story. with us tonight, nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. his book is out. it's called "presidents of war." it's available wherever you buy books. michael, i know he didn't get that story out of one of your books because i read them all. what do you make of -- who is talking to him and what did you make of what he heard? >> i think the -- i'm glad at least he's talking about a historical figure. it's not quite the way it happened. and i think maybe grant was recognized a little bit in the past, not just these days. >> yes, i had heard h

i would forego all the other -- just to have abraham lincoln alone. but i would certainly want dolly madison to host it. going back to the trumans, what anita said, there was this great tory about harry truman who goes bounding with his driver/bodyguard mike westwood down from independence for a meeting and truman is in the front seat and spies this woman whose pigs have gotten loose and they are running all around. and truman demands that westwood stop it is car and he -- stops the car and he hops out and helps her with the pigs and the media got a handle on this and asked if it was true. he said it's true, but remember i was a farmer. >> and these story, one of the things we did a year ago was come up with the idea to take president ford's story standing up for diversity in his senior year at the university of michigan where his traveling roommate because of the color of his skin couldn't play on the football team, our historical group put this pbs thing together and students would fall asleep. we said let's turn it into a 40-minute play. half mill

has a masters in american history from the university of nebraska at lincoln. he stuttered under peter ms. lasky a renowned military historian. and he went to ohio state university to the military history department to study military history there. he graduated with his phd in 1997 and his doctoral dissertation was called, winding the enemy, the role of military intelligence in the campaigns of u.s. grant. his doctoral dissertation is on the subject that he will speak about today. it is also the subject of his book which was published in 2002, grant secret service, the intelligence were from belmont to appomattox. he has been at buena vista university for 28 years. teaching all forms of history including ms. -- military history and his wife is the dean and also april 1 -- also a professor of history there. i'm honored that bill has agreed to come out. he has traveled a long way to be with us today for a topic that you don't hear a lot about. and for which he has renowned note. without any further ado i would like to introduce my friend and her speaker, dr. will

. >> catherine clinton talks about what happened to lincoln's family after his assassination. she discusses mary todd they can struggles with death and difficulty in struggling with the death. she recounts what happens to the presidents to surviving sons and their descendents. this event was part of the annual lincoln form symposium in gettysburg, it's about 50 minutes . >> we have another remarkable speaker next and that's catherine clinton. she's well known in many of you see she's been here on several occasions before. she's currently the chair of american history at the university of texas san antonio. she's also the international research

and lincoln said, i don't care what problem he has, you guys aren't winning. his name was grant, general grant. he started to win. grant really did. he had a serious problem, a serious drinking problem but man was he a good general and he's finally being recognized as a great general. but lincoln had almost developed a phobia because he was having a hard time with a true great fighter and a great general, robert e. lee, but grant figured it out. >> grant is finally being recognized as a good general. we're so lucky to have the perfect person to get to the bottom of this story. with us tonight, nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. we have the very vest news for patriots and lovers of american history alike and that is that michael's new book is out. the result of years of work on his part. it is called "presidents of war." it is now available wherever you buy books. michael, i know he didn't get that story out of one of your books because i've read them all. what do you make of -- who is talking to him and what did you make of what we just heard?