magruder put on a show for george mcclelland. he marched his men in a circle ndndin front of a gap in the forest that separated the two armies. he told him men to be as noisy as they possible could and shout out orders to nonexistence units. he had men in the back of the lines chop down trees, strip from branches, paint them black and set them up horizontally on hillsides so they looked like cannons. all this stuff worked. george and his spies were apparently fooled by these tricks being played on them by general magruder. davis and his advisers were pleased that magruder was holding mcclelland off but at some point, they knew they would probably have to faceis threat to richmond. they were discussing overall strategy, to do about this army that posed a threat to richmond and the confederacy. they discussed all sorts of options, whether they should hold at yorktown as long as possible or withdraw all forces here to the gates richmond or attack north into philadelphia or even new york city. all these things discussed that evening,

magruder put on a show for george mcclelland. he marched his men in a circle around and around in front of a gap in the forest that separated the two armies. he told those men as they were marching around to be as noisy as they possibly could. he told them to shout out orders to nonexistent units. he had men in the back of the lines chop down trees, strip from branches, paint them black and set them up horizontally on hillsides so they looked like cannons. all this stuff worked. george and his spies were apparently fooled by these tricks being played on them by general magruder. they didn't move for a month, due in large part to these tricks. davis and his advisers were pleased that magruder was holding mcclelland off but at also realistic and knew some point, they knew they would probably have to face this threat to richmond. they were discussing overall strategy, what to do about this enormous army that posed an imminent threat to richmond and really the confederacy itself. they discussed all sorts of options, whether they shou

but i did go to the office on monday and magruder said you have to talk to gordon libby. he said i can't talk to him. i said what's wrong? he threatened to kill me. i met with libby and learned from libby that confessed the whole thing to me, not only has he been involved in watergate but two of the men as part of his team were involved in an earlier operation at the -- on behalf of the white house to break into the psychiatrist's office. it's right at that moment i realize we have really big problems and i don't have a clue what to do with them. host: that was from last monday here in washington, d.c., former white house counsel john dean. your comment or reaction? guest: steve, john dean was a culpable actor in the watergate break-in and cover-up in my view. he is a benevolent actor ever since where history is concerned. imagine if sherman and grant after the civil war had ended kept going on the mike douglas show and on the internet and writing blogs and columns and a bunch of books all designed to portray themselves in a favorable light and constantly muddying the wat