but if looking for the most visceral answer of why that happened, we only have to look at robert e lee. lee met troops and said, i thought my men were in vince simple invincibles an unusual word in invincible the confederates robert e lee win many battles, but their losses are extreme. they are far from easy or invincible. there's only one spot the confederates have ever felt protected and so insulated and so that they can bandy a word like invincible around. and it's behind a stone wall at fredericksburg. so in the robert e lee just confessed that that one part of one battle shapes his experience and his perception of his army and their abilities. now for the union army, those that don't desert those that don't despair are no longer under the illusion this war is going to be easy or short and they have to steel themselves for that one officer after this battle of fredericksburg to his wife and told her, i don't know what the politicians proposed to do now and i don't care. i'm telling you this, i want to give those rebels one thorogood thrashing before anyone even talks of peace. and

robert e. lee, a life, reconstruction, a concise history, redeeming the great emancipator, lincoln, an intimate portrait, gettysburg, the last invasion and fateful lightning, a new history of the civil war and reconstruction, to name just a few of those titles. a columnist from the weekly standard has written that allen guelzo is one of the most accomplished civil war historians and one of the country's foremost lincoln scholars. is the first two time winner of the lincoln prize, in 2004 abraham lincoln, redeemer president, and in 2005 for lincoln's emancipation proclamation, the end of slavery in america. guelzo's president both graceful and erudite, indeed poetic. he is uncomfortable with military topics as he has with political, social and economic aspects of the war and its aftermath. please give a warm welcome to allen guelzo as he speaks to us about the unhappy fate of fitz john porter. [applause] >> first of all, let me say how eagerly i have anticipated being with you all at this art of com

i'm not sure what would have accomplished for porter to have invoked robert e lee speaking on his own on his behalf. but nevertheless, porter at least made the effort, and lee gave a response. but a response. the porter was able to, to any useful degree. yes. provide us with any details. the finding of the 1878 reopening of the court martial. did the court have any particular findings? the the 18 778 re reopening of had come after years and years and years of common tarry dispute disagree ment in public and private over the fitz john porter affair. and when a new court. a new inquiry is opened in 1878, under under president term under president. a good deal of the angst and the anxiety had leaked away over years and there was a more dispassion and an attempt to understand happened with porter. a second bull run. nevertheless the inquiry does not go enough to actually recommend and and put into place kind of reinstitution of that is going have to happen by an act of congress and that gets slowed down congress for another eight years as once the political partizanship comes out of hidin

history as the stolid and plodding union general who defeated the dashing confederate general robert e. lee >> there's an historic wrong, let's make it right. >> reporter: senator brown sponsored making general grant, held by only two other hi wn a commander of american forces in world war i. >> i think it is always good to revisit history and to shine a bright light on those who have done well. >> reporter: brown could be accused of bias since he is the senator from ohio which was grant's home state. but ask retired general david petraeus. >> grant truly was the man who saved the union. his actions more than any other individual in uniform that ultimately ensured that the north won that war and that the union was preserved. >> reporter: as america's deadliest war ground on with no end in sight, president lincoln turned in desperation to grant, who took command and chased lee all the way to the courthouse at appomattox and accepted his surrender. >> he is arguably the greatest battlefield general in american military history. no other u.s. army general did what he did, which was to demonstr

the academy produced some of america's most famous leaders including robert e. lee. youlysses s.nt. george patton and buzz aldrin. the list of notable graduates are just as impressive as the architectural on campus. it was the first institution in the nation to adopt the gothic style of architecture. four buildings forming anne a fortress, among them the ex question set cadet chapel which resembles a medieval fortress. immigrants were told they would get citizenship if it was completed in five years. they completed it in 19 months. one of the graduating class from 1802 to 1976. tradition remains a big part of the academy. as soldiers wear the same style gray uniforms as those in 1802 as a badge of honor while living out the motto, duty, honor and country. the holiday season would not be complete without the annual west point holiday concert that takes place at the academy's eisenhower hall. named for a class of 1915 graduates, general and later president, dwight d. eisenhower. it's one of the largest theaters in america designed to hold the entire corps of cadets. here is the wes

that includes a portrait of general robert e. lee and his confederate uniform and a stone bust of lee. they're also removing a bronze plaque, confederate figures, and an image of a hooded figure with the words "ku klux klan." the defense department ordered the removal after the congressional panel identified 13 items representing the confederacy. >>> "the washington post" says witnesses to a plane crash rescued a pilotm k d. he crashed shortly after takeoff. three people including an off-duty officer used kayaks to skim across the ice-covered creek to reach the downed plane. the 71-year-old pilot was the only person on the plane. he got out of the cockpit and stood on the wing of the sinking plane as the kayakers approached. >> eventually i got him onto the ice. he was on the kayak. he was out of the water and safe, and then at that point, i knew he was going to be fine. >> another boat arrived and took the pilot to the hospital. he had non-life-threatening injuries. >>> and reuters says arizona governor elect katie hobbs asked the c

. >> among these, general robert e. leef the confederate military and after the work of the naming commission that looked not only at the serviced a eacademy but military. here is a partial list of what they're working on. first, remove a portrait of robert e. lee from jefferson hall and remove a bust of lee and a bronze engraving or piece of art at the entrance of the science hall that shows a hooded figure that says the ku klux klan and names of streets, buildings and locations will be removed. the superintendent of the united states military academy more commonly known as west point says this will be a multi phased approach so there is a process and this will take time and a committee working on selecting different names and some are class gifts. they will work to find something appropriate that honors what that close was going for. this is a process that goes back more than two years or nearly two years at this point to former president donald trump who opposed the effort to bring in the naming commission and stop comme

a portrait of confederate military general robert e lee in jefferson hall, a bust of robert e lee and and that in fact shows a hooded member of the ku klux klan that made news when that came out and renaming the bases and the faci facilities ant streets as well. and this is part of a pros that's looked at base names across the military and recommended that ft. bragg be changed to ft. liberty and there were other names as well. the west point said it will begin this process calling it quote a multi-phase approach so we could expect it to take time but it is all part of the process to stop the military from commemorating or mem oralizing the confederate. >> thank you. and still to come, smash-and-grab break-ins are hitting retailers hard. but these are only a fraction of the bigger problem. so you can buy, sell or r even trade your car from anywhere it's getting asas soon as next day delivery or picking y your new ride up at t one of our sleek car vending machines. and it's the comfort of a seven day return policy to make sure it fits your life. because at carvana, we take joy in making

one of the items is a portrait of robert e. lee. d what do we know about what they'll be replaced with? >> reporter: quite a few items referencing robert e. lee that will be replace t. first the portrait in uniform, also a bust that will be removed. there's also a bronze display at the main entrance to the science hall that shows an image of a hooded figure and it says ku klux klan below it. those two will be removed. there are buildings, streets, locations, that will also be renamed. this is all part of a process the superintendent of the u.s. military academy, more commonly known as west point, says this will be a multi-phased approach. it will take time as they work through this and there's a committee named the memorialization history committee that will look for recommendations for what to replace the names with. that part hasn't been decided yet. but the school did note, the academy did note, i should say, that some of these that have to be renamed are class gifts, so they want to do this with a measure of respect in coordinati

there's a port rate of robert e. lee from him, again, building names as well as street names. all of that will be part of this process to remove anything that commemorates or memorializes the confederacy at west point. it's not just west point. we're seeing the military change the names of bases. fort bragg will become fort liberty. benning will become moore. they're working there you this to make sure it doesn't commemorate the confederacy in some way because of the bipartisan support of the naming commission. this will take time, but we're getting there, and we're seeing that process play out. pamela? >> oren, thank you so much. >>> severe winter weather is not only keeping travelers stuck in transit, but many gifts as well. when you should actually expect your packages to arrive, up next. inspire? no mask? no hose? just sleep. learn more, and view important safetyty informatin at inspiresleep.com lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.mto

west point has produced some of america's most famous e leaders, including robert e. leeand eisenhower george patten and buzz aldrin.f the list is as impressive ass the architecture, academyl firsont institution to adoptirst the gothic style of architecture. core buildings forming an imposing granite fortress. symbolic of strength and tenacity needed to lead u.s.a army into the future, among them the cadet chapel. irish and italian immigrants were told they would get citizenship if the chapel of complete in 5 years, they completed it in 14 months, the 1.ompl 92 windows are dedico one of the graduating classes. tradition remains a big partrema of the academy, as soldiers wear the same style gray uniforms as those in 1802, as a badge of honor, and living out the motto, duty, honor and country. holiday season would not beth complete without the annual west point holiday concert. that takes place at theat academy's s eisenhowera hall, named for general, later president eisenhower, the hall is one of the largest theaters in america. so let's get right to it here is the west po

each had a page on the page, every transgression was listed in the nurses plant page for robert e. leeostly blank pages for others as well and lee was not the only one in those circumstances and there was no such book at the naval academy and a lot of those, no specific it demerits system. and if you transcribe them somebody would have them marched just as one of the punishments at west point was to spend x amount and a number of hours marching back and forth and that was a punishment occasionally applied and i don't think they had the same system whereby you can look in the book and counter demerits so it is hard to know. >> actually, there are two sorts of things, one is bad behavior, your shoes are not find information on your legs because you're absent without leave these are transgression title by nonjudicial punishment as is: it can result in all sorts of things, retraction of liberty, confinement in the yard, we don't have a campus monthly of a yard, navy yard. so this kind of things and the other one is of a course honor and anything that touches upon your honor, that is not ha

the book, you write about the removal last year of that massive confederate statue of general robert e lee that as that statue was coming down, governor northam was still standing. and you write, quote, "one outcome was as astonishing as the other." margaret: we've had this cancel culture in america, and ny politicians have come under fire. and most, if not all of them have left office. the governor did not. and why he was different? one, he has real tenacity, a real self-determination. he says, i'm not a quitter. so that was part of it. he also had some unusual luck because two of the people who would have succeeded him ran into troubles of their own. and then there's something in his personality. i think that he's a pretty approachable person. i think there was goodwill that was left for him, particularly among older black virginians who stood by him. rita davis, who is his chief counsel,d, i couldn't have lived in virginia all these years if i wasn't willing to forgive. geoff: it's interesting because on that point, i covered the northam story extensively at the time, and i remember tal

and then robert e lee is at top of that list. this for the first cav. and so he's he's being recommended to be promoted from he's a lieutenant colonel in the second cavalry to a colonel in the first cavalry, which actually takes place. and then as a colonel in the first cavalry, he then resigns his commission the next the next month. so this is not the famous letter that most historians quote where he's saying, i'm not going to i can't, you know, raise my sword against my state, etc. . this is a very short resignation and letter. the secretary of war, literally a one liner is from is from arlington and then sign. you're obedient now your obedient servant really, cone first you ask, have. so i'd mentioned that the confided records, the national archives were captured and so they created an office within the war department. so there's within the records division, they called it the rebel archives. so there's a telegram. from the officers, the officer, the grant put in charge of richmond. so this is about the 2nd of april, 1865, and there's a telegram from

. >> since the city voted to remove the robert e. lee statue, there have been protests.m an assistant professor of history at a college in jackson, mississippi. the images that we are seeing on our computers and our own phones and television, you can't divorce this from the need to return to some sort of innocent pass. >> what like the old south? >> yes. >> what is the old south? >> after the civil war, the old south myth is this mythologized place of big plantations, houses with currently and and modulus and hoopskirts, and southern gentlemen and happy slaves. everyone is well taken care of. some people are owned by other people, but everyone is well fed, well clothes, loved and appreciated. and that is not -- this is why something like this would appeal to white northerners, because that's not the environment that they lived in. >> it's really a story about the merits of white supremacy. you know, i saw another history, and it said it was really white supremacy that helped the north and the south reunify after the war. isn't that true? >> i fully believe that when we'r

. >> carley: robert e. lee coming down.ys from now, we talk to a panel about the past year and everything they have gone through and when you think about everything that small business owners have gone through, two years ago the pandemic and when things opened, it was inflation and labor short an and inner city areas, it was crime issue as well. take a listen to what the wonderful small business owners had to say to us about how they are faring right now. >> i no longer stay open much longer after dark. and it is a concern. >> president biden should look up for small businesses, we are going through the most and inflation is touching us hard. >> ashley: carley, like you said, the pandemic hit and the people able to stay afloat were barely able to hang on and boom, inflation hit. i feel really bad for small businesses around the nation, they are the backbone of the economy. it shows how the economy is doing. i would hate to be a small business owner right now. >> carley: the guy at the end owns four restaurants, he said, if

. >> raymond: erasing our history, west point starts the new year by removing robert e. lee'sform from the library. planning to change basically anything named after him. the focus is now turning to the u.s. capitol. the "washington post" just published findings from a years' long investigation into congress's not -- not how much money they waste but about congress's relationship with slavery, examining more than 400 statues and paintings, and wouldn't you know, they found issues with many of them particularly when it came to the founders. many of the works depict multiple enslavers like the painting of the signing of the decoration of independence in the capitol rotunda. joining us now horace cooper, author of "put you all back in chains." they have identified 139 art works and 13 confederates. what do you make of this year long investigation into this? >> this is pitiful. this is sad. i worked on capitol hill for more than a decade. not only was i never in any way troubled, dismayed, or bothered but instead, i found fascinating the history of america. none of the other emplo

a lot of this xheism rates robe -- commemorates robert e. lee.ll be removed, too. this has been part of the commission's efforts. abby? >> oren lieberman, thank you so much. now on to this incredible story. >>> the twin boys were kidnap, even after one was found, there was still no sign the cason, two women are credited with helping police by making this amazing discovery. cnn's correspondent jean casarez is helping you. how did the two women get involved in the search. >> it's amazing. december 19th, that's when the babies were allegedly kidnapped, because their mother, she was a doordash delivery driver. she went in to get food for a minute, came out, the car was gone, the babies were gone. early morning hours of december 20th. kayer was found abandoned out on the side of the road at the dayton airport, but where kayson? according to the "indianapolis star" there was a woman 175 miles away, named cheyenne delmar. she started interacting with a woman, drove in cheyenne's car, thought nothing of it, but later on the in the day, she saw this kidna

actually sue so that we would not have a saturday voting day because of a confederate holiday be robert e. leend a message, we are not going back, we wero fended, strong, and going to make a difference in the election. >> we said we would ask you this question regarding the president, joe biden. listen, he's not polling very well but still he's getting a lot accomplished, his agenda. people are looking to this election saying joe biden is winning. so there may not be a choice for democrats come 2024. is there a connection there? do you agree with that sentiment? >> i do. i think at the end of the day, and black voters have been clear about this, oftentimes there's a paradigm that elections are about the candidates and political parties. in georgia, while those are factors this is an election about the people. we'll see just like with the polls being wrong, many said it it was not going to be a red wave, there was a blue wall rising up. you'll see the same thing. people are not stupid. we're tired of seeing folks taking for granted our vote and we're organizing ourselves to say what happened in

the removal includes a portrait of general robert e lee, who was a graduate and superintendent of west point. the southern poverty law center says over 230 confederate symbols have been removed or renamed in the u.s. since may 2020, when nationwide racial justice protests swept the country. in michigan, a federal judge sentenced a leader of the 2020 plot to kidnap governor gretchen whitmer to 16 years in prison. adam fox, who was convicted in august of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction is a member of the far-right anti-government boogaloo boys. other boogaloo members took part in the january 6 capitol insurrection. another leader in the whitmer kiapping plot, barry croft, is being sentenced today. and in labor news, university of california graduate student workers ratified a new contract last friday, putting an end to their historic six-week strike. the strike involved 48,000 student workers at all 10 uc campuses. the contract includes increases in salary, more childcare support, and new measures to protect against bullying and harassment. but so

the last one, robert e. lee, removed just last year. to tennis legend and richmond native arthur ashe. the city's mayor says that richmond used to be home to more confederate statues than anywhere in the country. now that chapter is closed. >> we've done something that a lot of communities have struggled with, and i think a ton of people are ready to turn the page, and now that we can turn the page and focus on lifting more people up, becoming more inclusive and creating a place that everyone belongs. >> so the removal of the monument follow as legal battle brought by hill's indirect descendants saying the monument shouldn't be anywhere since it was built on top of his burial site. in october, ordered to move remains to a local cemetery and the monument now headed to the city's black museum. confederate symbols taken down across the country sis george flloyd's death in 2020 sparked police brutality and racism. hundreds still stand around the country whether or not the states they stand in were former members of the confederacy. many put

the plaza was previously named after the confederate general robert e. lee.ietta lacks' cells, known as "hela" cells, led to groundbreaking treatments for hiv/aids, cancer, and other illnesses. this is ron lacks, the grandson of henrietta lacks. he is speaking at a news conference to unveil the statue's design. >> this historical moment, and long time coming. i want to thank the vice mayor and the foundation. [applause] because they were the first ones ever to reach out to the lacks family before starting this project. and this means a lot to my family. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, the ukrainian president zelenskyy addresses a rare session of congress as over 1000 faith leaders in the united states call for a christmas in ukraine. we will speak to three of them. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy addressed a rare joint session of congress where

have saturday voting because it was two days after a holiday, thanksgiving, and a day honoring robert e. leem, and we won. and, you know -- [ applause ] -- they claimed -- state officials claimed their hands were tied, and so we took them to court, untied their hands, and they showed us their hands because they then appealed the judge's ruling twice, we won twice, and that's the only reason we had saturday voting a couple of saturdays ago. perhaps if we had passed the john lewis voting rights bill, i wouldn't have had to sue just to get the working people of georgia the opportunity they needed to exercise their constitutional right [ applause ]. >> another issue that drove a lot of people to the polls was the issue of abortion, and a woman's right to have self-determination over our own bodies. this is one of the hardest states in the united states for a woman to exercise her rightings, and this is also a state that's got tyler perry, and lots of industry and folks coming from out of state to work here in the industry. your opponent, herschel walker was one of the few people that was running

. >> erasing our history is west point starts the new year by removing robert e. lee'srm from the library, shipping lee's bus to storage and planning to change basically anything named after him. the focus is now turning to the us capital. "the washington post" just published findings from a years long investigation into congress's not so are not how much money they waste, but about congress's relationship with slavery. examining more than four hundred statues and paintings. and wouldn't you know, they found issues with many of them, particularly when it came to the founders. many of the works depict multiple enslavers, like the painting of the signing of the declaration of independence in the capitol rotunda. joining is now horace cooper project . >> twenty one chairman, author of put you all back in chains. horace, the wash poll has identified one hundred thirty nine artworks depicting one hundred and forty one enslavers and thirteen confederates. what do you make of this year's long investigation? into this? it's this pitiful. this is sad. you know, i worked on capit

. -- >> where was robert e. lee from, i forget. >> virginia. he was a virginian. west point grad. that remains a point that scholars discussed today. lee was a great soldier. a hero in the mexican american war. an absolute hero in the mexican american war. the battle of chepultepec, to take today what is mexico city. lee being a west point grad and, an officer, a gentleman, why did he joined the confederacy? lee considered himself a virginian, first and foremost. one thing we need to remember, take a time machine and go back to 1776, meet thomas to friesen and ask him about his country, he would say, virginia. that's one way of looking at a grant and much respect for lee so did lincoln. the one they didn't like with jefferson davis. who was said to have been more cold blooded than a reptile. davis was a monstrous human being. it's hard to say anything good about the guy. lincoln once said if davis wants to run away and flee the country, i won't stop him. davis dresses in disguise as a woman and gets caught. that was a embarrassing comeuppance for him. he though, eventually, would b

. -- >> where was robert e. lee from, i forget. >> virginia. he was a virginian. west point grad. emains a point that scholars discussed today. lee was a great soldier. a hero in the mexican american war. an absolute hero in the mexican american war. the battle of chepultepec, to take today what is mexico city. lee being a west point grad and, an officer, a gentleman, why did he joined the confederacy? lee considered himself a virginian, first and foremost. one thing we need to remember, take a time machine and go back to 1776, meet thomas to friesen and ask him about his country, he would say, virginia. that's one way of looking at a grant and much respect for lee so did lincoln. the one they didn't like with jefferson davis. who was said to have been more cold blooded than a reptile. davis was a monstrous human being. it's hard to say anything good about the guy. lincoln once said if davis wants to run away and flee the country, i won't stop him. davis dresses in disguise as a woman and gets caught. that was a embarrassing comeuppance for him. he though, eventually, would be pard

so where was robert e lee from? africa. he was from virginia. levers of virginia. west point grad, you know. and that remains a point that scholars discuss today. you know, lee was a great soldier a hero in the mexican-american econ war, an absolute hero in the mexican-american war. and the battle of chapultepec to take what is today mexican, mexico city. so the argument was, you know, lee being west point grad, you know, an officer, a gentleman, why did he join the confederacy? lee considered himself a virginian. first and foremost. you know, one thing we need to remember if if could take a time machine, let's say, and go back to 1776 and meet thomas jefferson, ask him about his country. he would say virginia. so that way of looking at it. yes. so and grant had much respect for, lee, and so did lincoln. the one they didn't like was jefferson davis, who was said to be more cold than a reptile. davis was a monstrous human being. it's hard to say anything good about the guy. and lincoln even wrote, if davis should run away and flee the country. i won't stop him. you k

were held on ninth day of april, that same year, of that same day, only 50 years earlier, that robert e lee had surreynoldered the confederate -- had surrendered the arm ken fod rat army -- the confederate army. the finish to this speech is not mine but i think it's so relevant as to where we are today. allowed me to conclude my speech today the same as it ga began with the elegant words spoken at get areasburg by -- at guessiesberg by -- gettysburg. we have yet again to perpetuate the memory and render our faint and feeble tribute of praise to the valor of those pennsylvania soldiers, especially at this time in our history. these are the heroes we should be naming buildings and post offices after. it's take an long time to get to this point -- taken a long time to get to this point. madam speaker, thank you for working together on this. thank you so much. but i do hope people listen to these words. these are the true heroes of america. these should be the examples that we all try to live by today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mmr. kelly: it's getting too far a