i created gettysburg national military park. i guess that's okay, but somebody else would have done that that's revisionist history doesn't matter if somebody else would have done it the sickles bill did do it. not that he was the only guy during that era, but let's you let's give credit. work credits due and i know we're running short on time here, but just a couple more. throughout the period veterans are coming back. they're coming back to gettysburg and increasing numbers. they are developing. well, we know today is gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles there he is and this is probably about 1888 25th anniversary, but it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2nd opponent james longstreet. and you know, they spend many years together. they go to many events together time tonight does not allow me to tell all of their drinking stories and that but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically mutually support each other's gettysburg r

the trouble starts after the battle of gettysburg 1862. meade at that time performed well but didn't get support from a guy and i'm convinced sort of the fiction between meade and the officers of the third corporeally exists after the battle of fredericksburg. so you have that dynamic going on and after the battle there's a dispute between meade and hooker. let me put it this way. there's a dispute whether or not madee is favored withdrawal back across the river. and they start pulling all the generals. did you want to move forward, that sort of thing. sickles of course supports his buddy hooker. meade says he does not favor a withdrawal, and this gets in the newspapers. there's a little bit of this debate going on which i think is fascinating because, again, this whole idea of advance or retreat after a major battle is something that seems to dog the army of the potomac after almost every campaign. we always act like it's unique to gettysburg and it's not. kind of the seeds are getting planted for the future meade sickles controversy. whe

book on the gettysburg campaign. he's also co-author with wayne motts, the book pickets charge at gettysburg. key and the author of a guy to legendary tax on gettysburg. it's also cohost of the popular battle of gettysburg podcast, free on all platforms. he has written articles for publications, one of the primary content designers in the american battlefields drop, a speaker for civil war round tables, on monumental mysteries, civil war talk radio. he was featured in the july 2013 issue a civil war monitor. i'd now like to present to you, james hessler, who will be presenting his program, neutral ground, sickles, meade, and the gettysburg peach orchard. thank you. [applause] wow >> thank you, tammy, for the introduction. i was going to tell you to not go too far because i don't have -- so we are in good shape. when the crowd. this is really humbling to see people standing in back. i've got these great studio lights shining in my face. but i still recognize a lot of familiar faces here. i hope this is good. [laughs]

trends are coming back to gettysburg in increasing numbers. they're developing what we know today as gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles, there he is, this is probably about 1888, 25th anniversary, it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2 opponent, james longstreet. and, you know, they spend many years together, they go to many events together. time tonight doesn't allow me to tell all of their drinking stories but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically support each other's gettysburg records for the remainder of their lives. in '92, longstreet summarized it as, quote, i believe it is now conceded that the advance position at the peach orchard saved that battlefield to the union's cause, end quote. longstreet literally went to his grave believing sickles was right. or did he? well, you know, people are kind of skeptical about this, is this too old buddies kind of propping each other up a little bit. longstreet said that by moving forward, s

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

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

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

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

however, that he returned to the city on july 12th from a frustrated effort to cover the battle of gettysburg. and years later he told his bioer if that he had witnessed -- biographer that he had witnessed and sketched some of the violent events. if any of the 11 harper's engravings of the riot were basedded on nast's work, it was the full-page illustration featured in the august 1st issue. nast knew the asylum neighborhood well having lived on west 44th street until 1862. with an additional week for publication and production for publication, the dramatic and detail thed illustration captured the scale of the asylum's grounds fronting fifth avenue and was more evocative of the events than the pictures in leslie's and the illustrated news. its delineation of the rioters and victims and the narrative it conveyed, however, was less reliable. in accordance with the story-telling strategies of news engravers, the picture both compressed and extendedded the narrative of the event into one image. but aside from the very few women shown among rioters and and spectators in the foreground, the engravi

however, that he returned to the city on july 12th from a frustrated effort to cover the battle of gettysburg. years later, he told his biographer that he had witnessed and sketched some of the violent events. in any of the 11 harpers engravings are based on the work of thomas nast, it is the full page illustration of the burning asylum, featured in the august 1st issue. nasty view the asylum well, having lived on west 84th street until 1862. the dramatic and detailed illustrations captured the scale of the asylum and was more evocative of the events then in leslie's and the illustrated news. it depicts a narrative that is less reliable, however, in accordance with the storytelling strategies of news engraver's, the picture both compressed and extend the narrative of the events. but aside from the very few women shown among riders. and spectators in the foreground, the engraving presumably based on that sketch also portrayed scattered attacks on african american children fleeing the burning building. there were 233 young wards, escaped by a side entrance, where they were threatened by a crowd

it is foremost in people's mind it's easier to memorize 270 towards gettysburg address and it's in the wake of world war i for a lot of interesting reasons it sort of begins to fade. and then the original america first movement of the isolationist and the one run up to world war ii by adopting the farewell address i think fundamentally creates a misimpression it's an isolationist document and its read from an american nazi rally in madison square garden will get to that later. >> will get the foreign policy soon. lindsey can you take us back to the 18th century and some of this language. john gives us a great way it speaks the 21st century. how would this have been read in september 1796? as you said there's an election just around the corner. >> yes i think as john alluded to at the very beginning, this was an intensely partisan will meet think about the challenges we are facing today in terms of misinformation and disinformation. party structures, nativism, fears about foreign interference all the things except they have not done it before. as joe talked about their students of histo

so, it is in people's minds even those easier to memorize the gettysburg address. and world war i for a, lot of interesting reasons it sort of began to say, the original american movement and the run up to world war ii by adopting the farewell address. i think fundamentally, it created a missed impression that it's an isolated document and in the madison square garden, we will get to that but -- >> lindsey, can you take us back to the 18th century and some of this language. john, giving us a great way to speak to 24 century. but how this is been red in 96. like you, said there's an election just around the corner. >> yeah, i think as john alluded to at the very beginning this isn't intensely partisan when you think of the challenges that we face today in terms of misinformation and disinformation. when you think of all the things, they hadn't done it before. let's not forget the constitution. so, this government already constitutes a second chance of getting it right. so, one misstep would lead to the nation's -- washington share that fear during the debate that jo