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I hate when people smack their lips as they talk...other than that, brilliant!

Lee had Gettysburg on June 26. He had Early march North, AWAY from the Union army. This mistake led to Lee being unable to fight the approaching Union Corps separately as they entered Pennsylvania. Later he kept his troops in a long arc, giving Meade time to get to the high ground. Lee had no qualms about sending Jackson on a flanking march at Chancellorsville but forbade Longstreet to execute the same maneuver. Lee also made the mistake of starting a battle with out Stuart on the field. Longstreet had only 15 to 20,000 men at his disposal. Not really sure why people think he should have beaten Meade's 80,000 on his own. Lee fought a battle he did not have to, and fought it in a hurry. Meade knew ho to fight on a hill, and Lee obliged him.

You should wear war worn clothes as Grant did to make it look more real. I do enjoy your channel as I’m always studying Civil War.

My great great great uncle Sergeant Thomas McCracken of the 16th North Carolina Infantry Penders Brigade of Hills Light Division fought at Gaines Mill

Grew up in the county (Fairfield) next to the county (Perry) Sheridan grew up in. The Sheridan house in Somerset is open for tours on Saturdays.

This would be more authentic if the narrator wasn't speaking with a southern accent - Grant was from Illinois. He sounds like an Alabami

Excellent presentation on General Irvin McDowell.

Is there a full original draft of the Lieber Code with Abraham Lincoln's full preamble(declaration/speech justifying it) attached? Doing some historical research, but can't find any government documentation of it, as if this piece was deliberately erased from history.

-No purposeful yet still a delay on July 2. Riding in the middle of his marching columns a poor decision. -July 3 yes he resisted lees plan. The attack was not obstructed though & was done as planned.

Team Longstreet ❤

Lee was the best general the Confederates had, he was not perfect or a god.

I have been researching antebellum Westpoint curriculum. I came across your video and you have confirmed my suspicion. Which is the blaring emphasis on engineering that was taught. This research began after noticing the engineering backgrounds mentioned in several officers' memoirs although I was looking for infantry tactics/strategy when I began. Very interesting. Thanks! I'll be watching more.

Grant had a southern accent? He was a Westerner.

I think the big thing historians ignore about the primary sources is they had reasons to lie or play politics. Many of the staff officers and generals were in their 30s or younger during the war. They had 30+ years after the war to live and try to make an income. In that time period a man's reputation was a huge factor in that and so many had very large incentive to flat out lie. I find it funny how with some generals, especially certain union generals, historians always discount or take their primary account with grains of salt but those same historians seem to think all the southern generals are telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth all the time. Col. Long specifically contradicts himself in his personal accounts of gettysburg a few times yet historians use his account more than any to criticize Longstreet. Specifically Long says Lee was bewildered when meeting with Ewell at around 10am why he didn't hear artillery and the attack starting on the right. But that's simply a clear lie. There is no reasonable way that Lee should have expected that or thought that. It's clear Long lied to further the "Longstreet delayed the attack" narrative. This brings up how many other people lied to further that narrative. It's interesting to me that Longstreet received letters from Taylor and Long saying they didn't know of a sunrise attack order but both men later criticized Longstreet along that narrative. Again these were young men who's family well-being relied on their untarnished reputation. Of course they'd lie to protect their reputation. Especially when you boil down to who really was at fault at gettysburg you find it was Lee's staff that was in the wrong many times and leading the failures. Lee himself in his resignation letter to Davis specifically mentions he over estimated the ability of his personal staff to convey his orders and bring him information. So Taylor, Johnston, Long, and the rest of Lee's staff were likely where most of the blame lay so they are the most active in blaming Longstreet later on after initially giving accounts that didn't blame him. Jubal Early and Penelton found and created a scapegoat that these desperate men then latched onto and laid into. As a side note historians do the same with northern general accounts. Meade is painted as truthful and Sickles as a liar. The reality is Meade was political too and likely lied some too. Historians often need to sell books and what sells books is romanticized stereotypic characters. Black and white situations. The liar and the good guy narratives. The victim and the persecutors. In reality almost everyone in society lays in the gray area between these stereotypic black and white realms of narratives. They both act in good intentions and bad. They both win and lose. Real people are complex and not simple.

My daughter lives about a mile from Grant's Farm in St. Louis and I've been to Jefferson Barracks. I often wonder when I'm on streets around that place and Jefferson Barracks, did they really walk here??? RIGHT HERE? Maybe :)

Surprised to hear that correspondents traveling with the AOP's Cavalry Corps armed themselves. Always thought they were considered to be non-combatants.

Thank you

I'm so impressed with the accurate Southern pronunciation of Lafayette!

The ridiculous "Lost Cause" tiresome lie about a tragic doomed prideful disaster. Plenty of blame for all persons unnamed.A well defended position should be hailed. Is that time, and place?

Effing Rebs

Lee to Longstreet - I trust you more than anyone… but Im not going to listen to a word you say

I'm a sheridan

Logan was much more popular with the troops than Sherman. A reporter wrote "When Uncle Billy rides by, he receives a smattering of polite applause; but when Black Jack makes an appearance, the men cheer and throw their hats in the air." Logan performed magnificently at Atlanta, and his subsequent demotion is to Sherman's everlasting discredit.

* Chamberlain*

Where was col . Chamberland ?

Fields portrays Grant flawlessly. Thanks and Bravo!!!!

Curt Fields portrays Grant so well! I'd swear it was the great Ulysses himself!! Bravo.

Burnside got revenge on Longstreet for Fredericksburg, at Fort Sanders ! 💥 🇺🇸 💥

Great PIctures..Cheers

Thank you for sharing this on YT. I hope your book sales go well.

P R O M O S M 🤤

From what I’ve read, I believe Lee should’ve heeded Longstreet’s advice to move to better ground. I have not listened to the presentation yet so I may be sitting here corrected, which is fine but this is everything that I’ve read up until now without this lecture in my mind yet. I think Lee had several factors going against him. His goal was to draw out the union Army, and to do his best to destroy the army of the Potomac to force Washington DC into negotiations for an agreement of having two separate countries! The main obstacle I think was Lee did not know what was in front of him. Prior to the battle all he is intelligence came from an actor acting as a spy, who gave them and pinpointed the position of the union Army Corp by Corp. JEB Stuart and his ridiculous dislike of two of his cavalry subordinates were left behind in Virginia when they should’ve been marching with Lee while Stuart was under orders, creating a ruckus so as to force the union hand. The problem is 3 to 4 days away would be his usual. Of time, but he was away for eight days and had not reported the whereabouts of the union army! That alone was enough to tell General Lee that he should consider different ground! He allowed the union army to dictate on what ground they would fight! I believe Longstreet was of cerebral commanders who had asked to reposition and deploy to find better ground. General mead would’ve followed the army of northern Virginia anywhere and being as cautious as he was and new to command, he would’ve made a mistake, most likely. He would’ve fought on the wrong ground, which this became the essence of the battle in my opinion. The north had the high ground and the south did not! The southern army could not afford to lose the people on day three. Pikkit charge was lost from the very beginning, and it never happened! I don’t know why Robert E Lee did not listen to his subordinate commanders specifically Longstreet regarding day, two trying to attack an army in trenched in the heights and then day three setting 15,000+ people on a March well over a mile to brave union artillery while Porter Alexander did not have enough artillery to sustain his garage as it was too far behind the lines. Alexander been able to sustain his bombardment, it may have been a different outcome at least a little more challenging anyway!! I’m going to listen to the lecture now so this is my opinion before the lecture and I’m looking forward to hearing it! Thank you very much for posting this ! I’m a Yankee, but for some reason I can’t help but pull for the South in this conflict that had BEWARE written all over it after day one!

I don’t think Sam Hood should’ve attacked Little Round Top. I think the second and third days were Lee’s mistake. I think they should’ve re-deployed.

That 19th Indiana position is one of THE WORST deployments on the whole field. Anyone who flanks you will do so from an elevated position.... and they were the end of the brigade.... the high ground forms a bowl that they sat on the bottom of. The banks of Willoughby's run tributaries acted as a trench for north Carolina troops.

When you claim one is a hero without fail named Lee thrn all the fails of Lee had to be done by a scapegoat.

Some of the tokens are over struck on coins and also on other tokens. These were not mint products. One button company would make brass buttons and in their spare time, make tokens. There were some independent engravers in the mid-west who made a lot of the tokens for that area. Not sure what equipment they used in regard to the steam press question. May have used water powered equipment.

Great presentation as it reinforced my knowledge from recently re-reading Davis' book on New Market. Also have Knight's book and did visit the battlefield some years ago. So, the next obvious step is to read Sarah's book and plan another trip to the Valley. Thanks for posting.

Jeez you even look exactly like him! Very cool

Superlative!

Another question... What type of equipment was used to strike civil war tokens? Steam power presses haven't been around very long during the civil war period, and the US government only had access to this newly developed equipment... So did private merchants use the old screw press to strike the tokens of the civil war??

I've been looking for a video on civil war tokens for a while since I started collecting these.. One of the most interesting ones I have is a (for public accommodation token) struck over an 1863 Indian head penny... Why would they do this if federal coins were a shortage during this period?

Sadly, Henry Abbott would follow his brother Ned to the grave nearly 2 years later, being killed in the Wilderness in May, 1864. Admittedly, this is the first time I looked at Cedar Mountain in any detail, despite being a lifelong student of the Civil War. So, another book for my TBR pile. Thanks for posting.

Looking forward to reading your book.

Thanks for all your difficult work and effort, it’s important information, to historical records, and the educational way we look at this historical Episode, in our national life. I could say more but presently my health is,not allowing, more than this appreciation, thanks so much.

Brilliant, sir!

I’m glad Henry Halleck has ben relegated to a purely trivial footnote of US History

Among my favorites. Excellent content and visuals, and an interestingly specific topic.

Was this an actual conversation with General Grant ?

Brilliant! Very, very well done mate. Though the south lost the war militarily, they won the peace, at least for the next hundred and twenty-five years. That the Lost Cause groupies were allowed to essentially write the history of the war is pathetic at the very least and a shame to the nation at large. The loss at Gettysburg was due to Lee's slack leadership, not Longstreet's supposed inadequacies. But suggesting that Lee was not the flawless genius his numerous, shrill Myrmidons have for all these decades insisted/demanded is just kicking a hornet's nest. Cheers!

When the war began, the Union did the only thing conventional military thinking dictated for that time, which was engage the enemy in battle. And this they did for the first two years of the war, always searching for those decisive victories that did not come. The South won battle after battle as its generals proved superior and their troops more capable, even when outnumbered. The Union turned the tide when they finally realized how to defeat the South - cut it off and choke it. A blockade had been proposed at the outset of the war, but that was ignored. The Union generals were eager to fight it out, and that didn't end well. Only when the North realized that blockading weapons and supplies coming from Europe (intended for the South) and controlling the rivers and waterways (particularly the Mississippi River) it finally turned the tide of the war. From that point, the Confederate military power got weaker and weaker as it was unable to replace lost men and equipment. The North, with its enormous manufacturing capacity, continued to get stronger, raising larger and larger forces and equipping them. When all this took effect, it was just a matter of Grant following Lee until Lee could no longer keep fighting. By the time Lee rode into Appomattox Courthouse to meet with Grant, his force was half-starved, living off the land, poorly-equipped, and severely depleted of its full strength.