. >> whatever his flaws as a leader, as a president was robert e. lee right when he said no man could have done better? >> guest: i think he was. i don't think, consider the alternatives. robert tombs, howell cobb, those were the two main competitors of davis back in 1861 when he was chosen partisan. >> host: they would have been far worse? >> guest: i think it would have been far most. >> host: the south would have lost the war by 1863. >> guest: probably so so i think davis was probably the best choice in 1961 and i don't think anybody could have done better. >> host: how should we remember that cost today? you have already mentioned how you think of him but how should the american people remember jefferson davis? how should we remember this war and how should we remember the confederacy? >> guest: well i think we should remember the war as the great testing of american nationality and american freed freedom. and the country survived that test by remaining one nation and by abolishing slavery. so that means we remember the confederacy as a challenge t

when freeman finishes speaking, a 25-year-old salesman from san francisco named robert e. lee, not for smith's the red flag and the blue ribbon essentially opening up to the public on the farmhouse. i find that coming together, generations after the war ended here e. and yet wonderful. in the years after the dedication of course it's become a place of pilgrimage yet in examining the civil war literature best as it is the recent scholarship concerning the appomattox condo for the historical site suggest how problematic our remembering candy. i will give you one tiny example. the man that owned the house where the grant met face target times after the war. he made a pretty good living during the war speculating that he was casting about the news sources and he settled upon the publication of a surrender to picture. he wrote asking if he would grant him a couple of sittings and he declined because he truly wanted the war behind him. in the memoir unlike so many other participants, but he carried on with his plan borrowing money commissioned and printed and imaged. his room in the

-- robert e. lee and the entire confederate high command say we refuse to exchange black prisoners of war because we refuse to recognize black people as legitimately soldiers. in fact, what the confederate army does for a short while is to enslave black prisoners of war, which is again a violation of every known rule of war at the time and is a throwback to the roman empire. and in fact, if you add to this jubal early's incursions twice into pennsylvania where he spends his time hunting down blacks to bring them back to the south, the confederate army starts to look like some weird modern version of the roman empire going to hunt slaves in gaul or among the germanic tribes. or even more weirdly, it looks like a precursor of the nazis, who spend their time hunting jews in ukraine and russia, rather than fighting the russian army, the confederates are hunting blacks in pennsylvania and maryland instead of fighting the united dates army. so, i think the question of war crimes and the question of henry wi

and robert e lee who became davis' principle military partner. his best general and also his closest confidant among military commanders was a practitioner of saying the best way to defend the confederacy was to seize opportunities to take offensive against enemy armies and knock them on their heels. >> host: let's turn to the snake pit of davis' inner circle. let's talk about the men that commanded the armies and what thorns were in his side. joe johnston, beau regard and talk about the disobedience. is it a case of having a hard time managing the generals? >> guest: that is correct. he had a hard time managing the egos of the general. some had a high opinion of themselves and a low opinion of davis and they came into conflict very early after the first confederate victory in the war. beauregard was concerned about taking credit for that. he issued a report taking full credit and blamed davis for not turning him loose to do more damage to the yankees. that began the process of deteriation of the generals. he sent him to the theater in february o

while washington city celebrates the surrender of robert e. lee'srate army, booth and his co-conspirators plot a carefully coordinated triple murder. >> mr. powell. >> the secretary of state is going nowhere soon. took to his bed and is slow to recover. and there's a -- butler. >> you will check into the court tomorrow morning. vice president johnson's suite is on the first floor. >> no. >> no? >> no. i do not wish -- i cannot. >> it is too late, george. we have, all of us, conspired together. >> yeah. one man, not to murder. >> this is an act of war, and you are stuck to it. it is a tar pit from which you cannot pull away. and when tomorrow night is through and our deed is done, we will all of us be known. i've seen to it. and we will be hailed as heroes. ♪ >> we'll meet back here tomorrow night 9:00. powell and harrell will pay a visit to the secretary of state, he'll go to see the vice president and i'll go for a performan performance. and there i will kill a tyrant. >> this is the true story of the killing of abraham lincoln. the first assassina

what's ironic and chilling is judge robert e lee key probably saved mr. mcmillan's life. if he had allowed the jury verdict to stand, we would have never been able to get to his case. we were only working on death penalty cases. the heartbreaking thing is that for every mcmillan there is 10 serving life without parole. for every 10 there is 100 serving a lesser sentence. because he had a death sentence we picked up the case. >> there's the great irony that chances are you'll get more help if you have a death case. all of the people languishing under these long sentences, half of the 6000 people in prison have practically life without parole sentences. half of them. a visit,hem never get a postcard, or anything. the languishing, it is massive exile. when you think of it that it is 2.3 million people, we are the biggest incarcerate her in the world, one in every 100 adults. do i have this right? since we've made drugs a felony, i've heard that one in every three young black men aged 19-29 are in the prison system? prison, parole -- >> that's right. >> that's more than apart

petersburg was crucial to the supply lines of confederate general robert e lee's army. union forces under ulysses s. grant repeatedly attacked and attempted to outflank the entrenched rebels, finally gaining an advantage that led to a confederate retreat, and days later, lee's surrender. richard somers takes us into the minds of each commanding general. he argues that the siege was unique in military history and discusses how the conflict brought about the end of the war. this talk is about an hour. >> ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the director of the u.s. army educational center and the entire staff of the u.s. army heritage and educational center, and the u.s. army war college, welcome to the third lecture of our series. the u.s. army war college sponsors the series to provide an historical dimension to the exercise of generalship,

robert e lee and ulysses s. grant. it was waged by two of the finest armies of americans that have ever been raised, the resilient federal army of the potomac and the hard-hitting confederate army of northern virginia. those were the antagonists, which had grappled for the entire war, were reinforced with with the siege by several newer armies that had been created only in 1864. serving in those armies were senior subordinates who had figured prominently in earlier battle also in the eastern theater, such as gettysburg and antietam, which are so familiar to all of us here tonight. these officers include such prominent northern commanders as george g. meade, winfield scott hancock, and david and greg, and such senior southern soldiers as richard suwell and ap hill. with that prelude let us briefly summarize the siege before we, as we say, assess it. petersburg, virginia, situated on the right bank of the appomattox river 20 miles due south of richmond, was militarily important in its own right, as the tenth largest city

what's ironic and chilling is judge robert e lee key probably saved mr. mcmillan's life.he had allowed the jury verdict to stand, we would have never been able to get to his case. we were only working on death penalty cases. the heartbreaking thing is that for every mcmillan there is 10 serving life without parole. for every 10 there is 100 serving a lesser sentence. because he had a death sentence we picked up the case. >> there's the great irony that chances are you'll get more help if you have a death case. all of the people languishing under these long sentences, half of the 6000 people in prison have practically life without parole sentences. half of them. a visit,hem never get a postcard, or anything. the languishing, it is massive exile. when you think of it that it is 2.3 million people, we are the biggest incarcerate her in the world, one in every 100 adults. do i have this right? since we've made drugs a felony, i've heard that one in every three young black men aged 19-29 are in the prison system? prison, parole -- >> that's right. >> that's more than apartheid

robert e lee and ulysses s. grant. it was waged by two of the finest armies of americans that have ever been raised, the resilient federal army of the potomac and the hard-hitting confederate army of northern virginia. those were the antagonists, which had grappled for the entire war, were reinforced with several newer armies that have been created only in 1864. serving in those armies were senior subordinates who had figured prominently in earlier battles such as gettysburg and antietam, which are so familiar to all of us here tonight. these officers include such prominent northern commanders as george g meade, winfield scott hancock, and david and greg, and such senior southern soldiers as richard suwell and ap hill. with that let us summarize the siege before we assess it. petersburg, virginia, situated on the right bank of the appomattox river 20 miles due south of richmond, was militarily important in its own rite as the tenth largest city of the confederacy, as the head of navigation on the appomattox, as the sit

what's ironic and chilling is that judge robert e lee key probably saved mr. mcmillan's life. if he had allowed the jury verdict to stand, we would have never been able to get to his case. we were only working on death penalty cases. the heartbreaking thing is that for every walter mcmillan on death row, there is 10 serving life without parole. for every 10 there is 100 serving a lesser sentence. because he had a death sentence we pick up the case and ultimately one. >> there's the great irony that chances are you'll get more help if you have a death case. all of the people languishing under these long sentences, half of the 6000 people in prison in louisiana have practically life without parole sentences. half of them. most of them never get a visit a postcard, or anything. the languishing, it is massive exile of huge segments of our population. when you think of it that it is 2.3 million people, we are the biggest incarcerate herr in the world, one in every 100 adults. do i have this right? since we've made drugs a felony i've heard that one in every three young black men ag

robert e lee and ulysses s. grant. n grant.finest armies of americans that have ever been raised, the resilient federal army of the virgin potomac and the hard-hitting re the confederate army of northern or the virginia. those were te,:dte tjáj ák]odÑ which had grappled for the entire war, were reinforced with with the siege by several newer ated onl armies that had been created only in 1864.é serving in those armies were senior subordinates who ha-pa figured prominently in earlier battle also in the eastern theater, such as gettysburg and rlier antietam, which are so familiar to all of us here toi these officers include such familia prominent northern commanders as george g. meade, winfield scott lt6]q hancock, and david m. greg, and such such senior southern soldiers as8ml"s: and richard suwell and a.p. hill. ap with that prelude, let us briefly summarize the siege before we, as we say, assess it.ege befo petersburg, virginia, situated on t on the right bank of the appomattox river 20 miles due ichmon south of richmond, wasd,

robert e lee said he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky.as with many similar historical figures, his premature death fighting for a death he -- a cause he believed in has cemented him in the imaginations. some who knew him, like his owner, wrotess books about him. veterans when they met town in his honor where 30,000 people live. in 1866, a county in alabama was named for him. as was one in arkansas. in confederate cemetery georgia also bears his name. his popularity wanes in the 20th century. 1973 powell and elizabeth him.e published a study of the first major one in 70 years. today, patrick cleburne is just as famous for a proposal he made in 1864 as he is for his fighting prowess. a situation perhaps is reflected of changing attitudes of the conflict. that this proposal was made it chanceknown because of a discovery of the only surviving copy and was during the war ordered suppressed. he suggested arming slaves to fight for the confederacy in turn for their freedom. he posited that as between the last of independence in the last of slave

robert e lee said he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky. as with many similar historical figures, his premature death fighting for a cause he believed in has cemented him in the popular imagination. something new about him, like his former business partner, wrote books about him. veterans of his division named a town in his honor in texas, where now almost 30,000 people live. alabama wasunty in named for him, as was one in arkansas. the confederate cemetery in johnsbury georgia also bears his name. his popularity wanes in the 20th century. in 1973 powell and elizabeth perdue published a study of him. the first major study in a must 70 years. -- almost 70 years. today, patrick cleburne is just as famous for a proposal he made on 1864 as he is for his january fighting prowess. a situation perhaps is reflected -- reflective of changing attitudes of the conflict. that this proposal was made it all is known because of a chance discovery of the only surviving 1880 copy, as during the war it was ordered suppressed. in it, cleburne suggested arming

where as tragic landscape with men who had so much potential cut a place that also reinforces robert e lee's history that t is teaches us to hope. fought in cedar creek iin 1864 and survived would have never fathomed that just nineteen years after the battle, men who had one shot at other would come back as part of a united country. in unbreakable nation welded with blood and fire, tto remember, contemplate, and commemorate. when the members of the veterans association to the eir excursion shenandoah valley on the anniversary of the campaign, they visited all of the battlefields of that campaign, including this one. entertained by the owners of belle grove, the veterans their old battle lines, delivered remarks of commemoration, and walked side-by-side with confederate veterans. served in the army and veteran to call the shenandoah valley home. when the sheridan veterans association return two years to dedicate a me of if nt to the exploits vermont infantry, a spirit of true national healing prevailed. a spirit that does not require to forget the past, but not let the past greatest thing tha

robert e. lee said he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky.gures his premature death fighting for a cause he believed in helped cement his image in popular hajj nation.q8cwo some who knew him like charles nash and irving buck wrote books about him. veterans of the division in texas would name a town in his 'd honor where now almost 30,000 people lived. a county in alabama was named for him as was with one in arkansas in 1833. the confederate cemetery in georgia bears his name. his level of popularity waned in the middle of the 20th century. in 1973 howard and elizabeth perdue published the first major published study of him in almost today, patrick cleburne is just 0pcç as famous for a proposal he made on the second of january, 1864 as he is for his fighting zçñ prowess.2jc-e a situation that's perhaps reflective of changing attitudes to the conflict. this proposal was made at all is only known because of a chance 1880s discovery of the only surviving copy as during the war it was ordered suppressed. in it, cleburne suggested arming slaves to

at the top of the class you know, you are mcclellan, robert e. lee. they are very methodical thinkers. they know all of the theories and apply them and so forth. those at the bottom tend to be more free spirit, they tend to be more outside the box, a little bit more unorthodox because that's the kind of career that they were pursuing and that certainly was true of custer. another insight we get is his bravery because when they caught him, they called him and he would admit it and the cadet said that his bravery in the battle didn't surprise anyone that has seen him walking up with calm deliberation to the head of the section to face the instructors with a confession that he knew nothing. so he would just walk up and take it. he could have done better at the academy if you follow the rules. he had gone to the academy in michigan and performed very well when he was younger. he was actually a school teacher before he went to west point. according to his brother he was reading books all the time. not that you could tell from the library records but noneth

for almost two years.x=g although he did go to richmond and succeeded in taking photographs of robert e. leesoon as he returned from the war to the house where mrs. reel was living. and within a few days of president lincoln's death. i've thought a lot about why lee posed for these famous photographs. he -- you can imagine how weary he must have felt in every single way posz and his son wrote later there's nothing he likes so little as having his photographs made. but lincoln died the day that lee returned to richmond. and i suspect that he had some sense of responsibility to prebt e present this calm visage of this dangerous time in his nation's history. this is what i'm sure you're all familiar with these photographs. this had some residents in the south for years afterwads. stim as many as 10,000 civil war photographs were atributed to brady or his studio. how can that be? heres where things get a bit complicated. brady began his career early in the era opening a portrait studio or lower broadway in 1844 just below city hall court. and across fulton street across from st. paul's chapel. e

landscape where men with potential had their lives cut short, it is also a place that reinforces robert e lee's axio thatm it is history that teaches us to hope. who fought it cedar creek in october, 1864, and survived could have never fathomed that just 19 years after the battle men who had once shot at each other would come back as part of a united country. an unbreakable nation welded together with blood and fire to remember, contemplate, and commemorate. when the members of the sheridan's veterans association made their excursion to the shenandoah valley in september, 18 83, the 19th anniversary of 64 shenandoah campaign, they visited all of the battlefield of that campaign, including this one. owners ofd by the belle grove, the veterans visited their old battlelines, delivered remarks of commemoration and walked side-by-side with confederate veterans. veterans who served in early's army and called the shenandoah valley home. veteranssheridan's association returned two years later, this time to dedicate a monument to the exploits of the eighth for mont infantry, a spirit of true national fe

what is ironic, that judge, robert e. lee he probably saved mr. mcmillan's life. if he had allowed the jury verdict of life to stand we would probably never have got into his case because at that time we were only working on death penalty cases and a heartbreaking thing about the macmillan story is for every walter mcmillan on death row there are probably ten serving life without parole and for every ten doing life without parole there are 100 serving a lesser sentence. we picked up the case. >> the great irony if you have a death case chances are you will get more help sell all the people languishing in prison, long sentences in louisiana, the chance of 6,000 people in prison have practical life without parole sentences and most of them never get postcards or anything. just languishing in exile, massive exile of huge segments of the population. when you think of it, 2.3 million people, the biggest incarcerated in the world's. one in every hundred adults. do i have this right? since we made drugs, i heard one in every three young black men ages 19 to 29 are in the

but there was a discovery of the robert e. lee, and the u-166 about ten years ago in deep water, so the u-boats in world war ii were all over the gulf of mexico. but not so much in world war i. >> i am a proud descendant of a victim of one of those submarine attacks in world war ii. my uncle's ship was sunk off the coast of new jersey as it was coming into new york city in march of 1942. but i want to ask you a question about a bigger ship. i had students tell me that they've gone diving to see the wreck of the big german battleship that billy mitchell used to prove his ideas about air power. do you think something about that? have you explored that? or is that a goal? >> yeah, so the ospreyland and a number of other vessels, even some u.s. vessels, the "uss new jersey" and the "uss virginia," a couple of -- actually the 117. which was one of these vessels, was taken as a prize after the war. a lot of these vessels were used in military testing and bombing. brigadier general billy mitchell was the individual that proved to the u.s

robert e lee wanted to do that i cannot do it. albert sidney johnston would have liked to have done it. the only person who came close to it was george tomas at nashville, who over those two days just pummeled the confederate army, and had lee's corps not been there, i don't know if he would not have taken care of both corps. there are several biographies that have restored him to a stellar place in the pantheon of union generals. he did well. not just well. he did extraordinarily well at nashville. >> ok, thank you very much. we will open it now to the patient gentleman who has been waiting to ask a question. >> thank you so much for your scholarship and your willingness to accept questions. i question also refers to general tomas. it seems to me another major missed opportunity was at the atlantic campaign. i believe thomas really wanted to push on it jonesboro. he had the men trapped, could have destroyed him. as i recall, sherman said no. it seems like they could have prohibited a lot of the tennessee campaign from even happen

back to my office and i had this amazing incident where the judge who sentenced him to death, robert e leekey. [laughter] he said, you don't want nothing to have to do with this guy. he was trying to dissuade me from representing

this hemorrhaging from robert e. lee'srmy in virginia further he depleted his already thin ranks, and allowed general ulysses s. grant to deliver the knockout blow in the spring of 1865. from the vantage point of the 21st century sherman's way of war seems a dramatic departure from earlier methods, and has prompted some historians to characterize his george to the sea as the birth of modern total war. but hard war was not total war. while the march destroyed property and infrastructure and visited suffering and fear on the civilian population it lacked the wholesale destruction of human life that characterized world war ii. sherman's primary targets food stuffs and industrial government and military property, were carefully chosen to create the desired effect and never included mass killing of civilians, especially those law-abiding noncombatants who did not resist what sherman described as the national authority. indeed, sherman always claimed that his war on property was more humane than traditional methods of conflict b

robert e. lee said he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky. as with many historical figures his premature death fighting for a cause he believed in helped cement his image in popular hajj nation. some who knew him like charles nash and irving buck wrote books about him. veterans of the division in texas would name a town in his honor where now almost 30,000 people lived. a county in alabama was named for him as was with one in arkansas in ?<#j1833. the confederate cemetery in georgia bears his name. his level of popularity weananed in the middle of the 20th century. in 1973 howard and elizabeth perdue published the first major published study of him in almost 70 years. today, patrick cleburne is just as famous for a proposal he made on the second of january 1864 as he is for his fighting prowess. a situation that's perhaps reflective of changing attitudes to the conflict. this proposal was made at all is only known because of a chance 1880s discovery of the only surviving copy as during the war it was ordered suppressed. in it, cleburne sugges

this hemorrhaging from robert e. lee'sand fear on 6,4 the civilian population, it lacked the wholesale destructionz of human life that characterized world war ii. sherman's primary targets, food stuffs, and industrial government and military property, were carefully chosen to create the desired effect, and never included mass killing ó0h9t of civilians, especially those 5jc law-abiding noncombatants who did not resist what sherman described as the national 8ihaz authority. indeed, sherman always claimed that his war on property was more humane than traditional methods of conflict between armies. he even told one south carolina woman that he was ransacking her plantation so that her soldier husband would come home and general grant would not have to kill him in thyprynches at petersburg. he was fighting to bring rebels g ba3$/s o the union, not to annihilate them. at the end of the march, when the people of savannah surrendered virtually without a fight, they were completely subjugated, sherman wrote.pÑ he saw no need to wr

teeten civil war figures which includes the residences of jefferson davis, robert e. lee, clara barton and frederick douglass. this is about an hour. >> good evening. i'm from the presidential library. i'm really glad you guys are here. i have been looking forward to this because this book, houses of civil war