i see this all the time at the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield, the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers, they remember the union regiments and units that fought there. and there are some peculiar union monuments. there is a monument to the 42nd new york, very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tp, and you are thinking, wait, have they got the wrong war? and the answer is no. this is the new tammany regiment raised by hall and of course the symbol of tammany's chief and you've got a monument there and people say, okay, 42nd new york. when that was put up the dedications come out for that. and they preach the justice and righteousness of the union cause. and the people who directed that monument where the event runs of the regiment. and they said, yes, that's right, we were in the right and it was a moral cause and it was marvelous and wonderful and it's a memorial to our troop. all right, that generation dies off. followed by another. then their grandchildren of t

was the pennsylvania college not gettysburg college and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. i have a 22-year-old officer. >> is one of functional arm frequencies literally leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania 1863 and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along cashtown north of gettysburg pennsylvania to face lee's keep looking out, looking to the west seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut marching to you. they will be escorted by a battalion of the confederate calvary as they advanced to the pennsylvania countryside. in one of those weird twist of fate weird luck has a weird way of popping up in life and who's in the calvary show? none other than a large white. with two men representing loudoun county. one allowed and borne one but adopted to loudoun county. opposite sides of the battlefield. on luckily for luther slater i say what can be good and what can be bad. now you're turning it around your giving me a hard time for an. >

it was a close run thing at gettysburg. it's also true about gettysburg. he came very very close to success. it was not a rash decision and it was not an unprincipled and thoughtless decision. it almost worked and i have say this bluntly i for one and grateful that it did not because the consequence of that if we had been successful at gettysburg oh my goodness the army of the potomac having been beaten on so many fields so many times could very likely have gone to pieces. lee had a full and open field in front of him. there would have been a demand for peace negotiations. alexander stevens the vice president of the confederacy was on the boat in the chesapeake day waiting to come to washington and what would he have said the abraham lincoln if he had and we would have had a balkanized north america. if the north and the south divided do you think it would have stopped there? no. there would have been a civic confederacy and we would have had in north america almost a repeat of always on the balkans in the 1990s and then, and then what would have been avai

i see this all the time in the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1,000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there. there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief and a tepee. wait a minute. did they get the wrong war? the answer is no. this was the regiment of taminy hall. you have a monument there. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause. the people who erected that monument were the veterans of the regiment. it was a moral cause. we embraced it. it's a memorial to our truth. that generation dies off. followed by another generation. grandchildren of those soldiers. they look at that monument and they say, that's a monument to the 42nd new york. my grandfather fought in the 42nd new york. they don't have quite the fizz about things that the original soldiers d

we don't have time to get into gettysburg. let's focus specifically on that third day when the battle was truly lost. it arrived and i'm sure a lot of people in this audience have been to gettys burg. you really see the exact expanse it was expected to cover. it'll really pretty breathtaking when up there. long street says this is crazy. 15,000 men could not take this position. he does it any way. can you talk about what was he thinking in that battle. what was his strategic decisions. what figured into that moment in the war. >> a lot of people ask this question. they are at the angle looking out towards seminary ridge and the virginia monument. they say what could he have been thinking. you're going to send soldiers across that open area and they will get slaughtered. what was the result. the result was defeat. people think what could lee have possible been thinking. maybe there was something that was in thiz thinking. people suggested lee was suffering health problems and that effects his clarity, those decision making proc

flight 93 and "gettysburg rebels",

in the historiography and his role in the preservation and he's i've said at the outset if you love gettysburg as much as we do, i think it's important to understand all of the phases of dance sickles his career love him or not hate him or not. love to hate him or hate to love them. so all right with that. i think we're almost out of time. i'm seeing the q in the back of the room. thank you and thanks. at he spent history for more of this date in history post. >> hi, buddy. i am john tracy, a newer member of emerging civil war no small part of the recruitment efforts of the present i am introducing here is dan welch, a very long time seasonal ranger at military park where i have the absolute pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he's also co-author of last road north, the book on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of immediately coming up book on ohio and introduce paintballs who's here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope so here is dan welch, a man with too many class and not enough free time. [laughter] [applause] >> good evening, everyone. one of the t

i'm here to talk about dan welch, a very long time ranger at gettysburg national military park, where i had the pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he is also the co-author of the ecw on the gettysburg campaign, coming out immediately on ohio and -- and an anniversary series that has just come out. and so, with not too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch who is here to talk about, the man we love to hate, john hope. so here is dan welch, the man with too many labs are not enough free time. [applause]. what good evening everyone. one thing i've not shared with you is my love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd. -- i've heard from some of their former managers in crew. and one of the things that i've heard is that as was lynyrd skynyrd getting popular and their fame was rising, a lot of their acts that they would open for talks, they would say, don't let them open with free bird, we can't top that. and so now i know exactly the situation that they were in, trying to follow gary gallagher. but i want to thank my colleagues and all the members

i'm here to talk about dan welch who is a very long time seasonal ranger at gettysburg military park where i had the pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. also the co-author of "last road north" on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of an immediately coming out book on ohio and antietam and also the co-editor of a new series coming out. and so with no too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch who is here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope. here is dan welch, the man with too many laughs and not enough free time. [ applause ] >> well, good evening, everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd. [ applause ] i've been very fortunate over the last several years to meet some of the plane crash survivors. i've visited all the graves of those that perished in october 1977. i've heard some wonderful stories from some of their former managers and crew. and one of the stories i heard was, as lynyrd skynyrd was getting very popular as the '70s were wearing on and their

for two hours lincoln waited to give the poignant closing words and today of course we recognize the gettysburg address is perhaps the greatest moment of president speech in history. and people didn't necessarily see the speech that way at the time he was not the speech or speaker in front of fact that lincoln's greatness will not recognize at the time in general. you have to remember that when lincoln became president, he had on certain public office for ten years. country style address and his mannerisms and his self-education, all that meant that lincoln was looked upon with some degree of on intention from the eastern leaks in the country perhaps not much was expected from the presidency. however today there is little dispute and i would look at this as a debate not a science and there are no laws, no findings, no discoveries and instead of people making an argument that it may or may not be persuasive to you and i think that's important to know when you think about the presidential greatness because five different ways of measuring presidential greatness and what we will see is in these po

he's also co-author of last road north, the book on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of immediately coming up book on ohio and introduce paintballs who's here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope so here is dan welch, a man with too many class and not enough free time. [laughter] [applause] >> good evening, everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the sovereign rock bands leonard skynyrd. [applause] -fortunate to meet some of the plane crash survivors who visited all the graves of those who perished october 1977, i've heard wonderful stories from some of their former managers and group is one of the stories i heard as he was getting popular, 70s wearing on their fame was rising, a lot of acts they would open talk to their manager and say don't let them close with freeburg, who can't top that. this would be from plans like peter and the rolling stones and now i know exactly the situation they were in trying to follow gary gallagher but in all honesty, i want to begin tonight by thinking my colleagues and all the members for thei