and he's worked with me one of our other speakers, the third speaker today ron wilson, is the person who helped get this seminar together for the first time in 1999, the e 20 0. and then when ron retired patrick took over with working with longwood on this seminar. patrick has history degrees from shepherd college and from virginia tech. he's worked as a seasonal employee and probably, as many of you know patrick has written numerous books related to that campaign and other aspects of the war. several pamphlets. the 30 millionths about lee's surrender, cemetery at aplamatics. probably his most important work is we came to fight, a history of the fifth new york volunteer infantry. he helped finish the vortex of hell. that's a great book to have. both of those. patrick's book and the one he helped brian finish. he's very heavily involved in battlefield preservation, set up the fund with the preservation trust. his talk today is the battle fury and the last to die patrick schroeder. >> thavngs, david. i know you're already probably tired of seeing me. we made a high school trip i think i

. >> ron wilson. as part of general grant's provisions in his tirms that general lee accepted, was it a duplicate role that all the soldiers be kept. 15 of the roles were later printed in volume 15 of the southern historical society parchs.dunkerly were there any roles kept in greensboro or other surrenders. it did disburse and everyone is held together there and couldn't th physically get a wi.ey i don't think so. >> the army of the potomac and sherman's army they go through union the grand review and demobilevation is pretty organized. the union forces and the balance, is that as chaotic? you get the gist of my question. how organized are the demobilization of the various armies spread throughout the regions you described. compared to say the two, the starts grand review and the subsequent demobilization that starts almost immediately. >> i haven't researched that, but what i do know is that they o occu had a process where there were forces left to occupy the know majority of the troops thatht willm

and it kind of goes back to ron wilson's question to the last speaker about paroles or the lack thereofny modern wars, it's just that the records are being -- are-[çople huge movements of people going every which way. given that chaotic element it is hard to put a number on how many southerners actually migrated. today it is estimated, brazil has a large population similar to that of the u.s. so it is less than 1%, perhaps .5% of the entire population, a small minority. >> is this microphone on? my name is james, i am from >> is this microphone on now? very interesting talk. my name is james omen and i'm from williamsburg. diwnd anyer of the former slavesÑ=á come with theirbw) formerkx ñ owners to brazil? that's the first part. and i understand that -- becausehat br i got interested in this subject years ago. i understandm that brazil has nothing anywhere like the problem of racial relations that the united states has. can you comment on those two questions? thank you. >> sure.t the answer to the first questions, forme is g%áíçyes, in some cases former compan slaves didy accompany south

ron wilson talks about the terms of the surrender. this is about an hour. >> thank you. it's indeed a pleasure to be here. i think this is the 16th seminar. i think we owe a debt of gratitude to longwood university and to dr. coles and patrick schroder and you ought to give them all a round of applause. [ applause ] how many of you, and there are quite a few of you, have been to the mcclain house at appomattox courthouse? that makes things rather easy for me. it's time for lunch i believe. one thing that's probably not generally known is that the first offer of surrender didn't come from a letter from general grant. it came from a group of officers that have gathered april 7th and these officers concluded that because the circumstances facing the army that it might be best to suggest to general lee that he opened negotiations with general grant. they selected him as their spokesman. william nelson for episcopalian. he approached general lee that day. he would not hear that suggestion. he said there were too many brave and good men. general grant and most of the federal f

>> i was reminded by ron wilson's inventory of all of the stolen items from the maclean house that the bennett's underwent a similar pilferage. it was so bad that james bennett applied for restitution from the governor of north carolina, william holden. not just once but twice to recover his stone artifacts. that included the table that the surrender documents were written and signed on. james then at and william maclean would have a lot to talk about if they ever got together. >> a question about the supplemental -- the schofield supplement to the surrender terms. how were they received in washington and were they successfully carried out? >> what i think happened is when they reached washington about a week later, they saw it as an accomplished fact. the most controversial provision would have been letting 1 in 7 confederates keep their weapons. i think they felt that would not be too harmful. i would say that -- and i did not go into this because i did not have time -- there was a great deal of furor up north about the terms because secretary stanton had sent his reasons for his app

>> i was reminded by ron wilson's inventory of all of the stolen items from the maclean house that the bennett's underwent a similar pilferage. it was so bad that james bennett applied for restitution from the governor of north carolina, william holden. not just once but twice to recover his stone artifacts. that included the table that the surrender documents were written and signed on. james then at and william maclean would have a lot to talk about if they ever got together. >> a question about the supplemental -- the schofield supplement to the surrender terms. how were they received in washington and were they successfully carried out? >> what i think happened is when they reached washington about a week later, they saw it as an accomplished fact. the most controversial provision would have been letting 1 in 7 confederates keep their weapons. i think they felt that would not be too harmful. i would say that -- and i did not go into this because i did not have time -- there was a great deal of furor up north about the terms because secretary stanton had sent his reasons for his app

when i was at the courthouse my boss at the time ron wilson flovent me who promises to heckle me later asked me when i said i was going to petersburg are you crazy? that's the most unimportant story in all of the civil war. not the civil war in reverse. there is a war we're going to retire on the battery down in charleston and in south carolina and live happily ever after. there is a little more to it than ron knew. so the odds mef getting to charleston, south carolina, by the end of my career is probably slim to none, especially if those higher up in the park service have their way. i'll probably retire at petersburg whichen this is all overwith. the petersburg story needs a setup before we get to the fall of petersburg. on the 11th day of may in 1864, grabt has squared off against robert e. lee in northern virginia. and grant has just come here in virginia and made it his mission to destroy lee and the army of northern virginia. and on the 11th of may, he's going to send a message back to washington and i quote, i propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." and shor

>> it's interesting because i was reminded by ron wilson's inventory of all the stolen item items from the mcclain house that the bennetts underwent a similar pillferpilferage, if you will. it was so bad james bennett applied forest institution from the governor of north carolina william w. holden not just once but twice to recover his stolen artifacts. that included the table the surrender documents were written and signed on. i would say that james bennett and will mer mcclain would have a lot to talk about if they ever got together. [ laughter ] >> yes. >> hi. i'm george deitch living in maryland. question about the supplemental scofield supplement to the surrender terms. number one, how were they received in washington and were they successfully carried out? >> well, you know it's interesting, i think what happened was when they reached washington washington, probably a week to 10 days later, they saw it as kind of an accomplished fact. the most controversial provision would have been letting 1 in 7 confederates keep their weapons. i think they felt that was probably not going to b

and he's worked with me one of our other speakers, the third speaker today ron wilson, is

an days of the past of the founders and the republic of lee's background and the founders from ron wilson. those were the days, as lee saw it, when americans had taken it for granted that virginia would lead the nation. those were the days as lee saw it before abolitionists had views african-americans with false hopes and freedom and equality. and indeed the word "restoration" which he uses in letters with grant would become his political key word in the post-war period. we see it crop up again and again. for example, six months after the sur rend he he wrote to his friend mori about what had been and what might yet again be. he wrote quote as long as virtue was dominant in the republic, so long was the happiness of the people secure may an ever merciful god save us from reconstruction and restore us to the past. this was a fundamentally nostalgic view of the peace, nostalgic for the long gone days. lee moved at appomattox to cast the surrender terms in the best possible light. he believed and those in his inner circle believed it was a negotiation in which he had extracted concessions fr

. >> ron wilson. as part of general grant's provisions in his tirms that general lee accepted, was it a duplicate role that all the soldiers be kept. 15 of the roles were later printed in volume 15 of the southern historical society parchs.dunkerly were there any roles kept in greensboro or other surrenders. it did disburse and everyone is held together there and couldn't th physically get a wi.ey i don't think so. >> the army of the potomac and sherman's army they go through union the grand review and demobilevation is pretty organized. the union forces and the balance, is that as chaotic? you get the gist of my question. how organized are the demobilization of the various armies spread throughout the regions you described. compared to say the two, the starts grand review and the subsequent demobilization that starts almost immediately. >> i haven't researched that, but what i do know is that they o occu had a process where there were forces left to occupy the know majority of the troops thatht willm

wilson's breast cancer battle. >> insider's louie a geari will have more on the actress and latest decision that she want all women to hear your buddy rone said he could install your ceiling fan. he couldn't. and that one time ron said another chili dog was a good idea. yeah, it wasn't. so when ron said you'd never afford a john deere tractor, you knew better. now ron does too. introducing the e series. legendary john deere quality. unexpected low price. see your john deere dealer for great deere season savings on the e series family of tractors. more on rita wilson's breast cancer battle and how early dehe text ultimately saved her life. >> insider's louie ageari joins us from los angeles with more. >> reporter: rita joins angelina jolie and most recently taylor swift's revelation about her mommas stars using their celebrity in the name of prevention and awareness. now it is tom hanks and the family rallying around rita as she becomes the the new voice of the fight against cancer. >> we both want to be married to each other and we both understand the meaning of the word commitment, be truthful and lava lot. >> reporter: but now tom and

ron does too. introducing the e series. legendary john deere quality. unexpected low price. see your john deere dealer for great deere season savings on the e series family of tractors. >>> actress rita wilsonring some personal news. she was recent the diagnosed with breast cancer and is already undergone a double mastectomy. the 58-year-old taking a leave from her role in the play fish in the dark to deal with her illness. wilson urging women to be diligent about getting mammograms and to trust their instincts if they think something doesn't feel right. she says she went to one doctor who said she was cancer free but when she got a second opinion that second doctor confirmed the cancer. fox 29's dr. mike says if something doesn't feel right get it check. >> the critical teaching point that we have learned from her is one you must be all over your breast health. you needed to breast self scams. you need to get checked by your doctor. you need yearly mammograms. if there is anything that comes back shaky you need to pursue it. >> wilson says she's staying positive and she's thankful for the support of her long-time husband fellow actor tom hanks. she says she is expected to make a full recov

wilson and ron sidalter,: i would like to present the award for 2015, the abraham lincoln institute annualook award john "abraham lincoln." a certificate and a check. >> they tell me i have a few m$q "urápv omething about the book, and i'll just say this. when i was an undergrad at penn state, i waslp taking courses with mark nealy who is a ñ pulitzer prize civil war historian. and i was auditing his civil war class as a first semester senior. thfls the fall of 2000 so this was during the presidential election of 2000, which was the first time i was old enough to vote in a presidential election. i went to him one day after class and i said, i would like to do an independent study with you in the spring. he said, sure, i'd be happy to, and he said, we have to find a good topic. i said i'd like to write about this. he said, no, that's not a good topic. come back next week and we'll talk about it. i went back ñ the next week andqán he gave me a list of topics. we were at penn state so sort of in the middle of nowhere. he@)jid, any of these topics would be things you could do from here in cent