gettysburg. but for right now, in 1861, it's literally the biggest thing he's happened since manassas. so it does make a big difference, it makes an impact on the lives of people here in loud loudoun. there is a funeral procession, a band plays, and in jackson another parade takes his body home to his wife and children. his death also leaves his family in a tight spot. erasmus was the youngest of the sons of the family, didn't have a lot of resources. so there isn't even a headstone on his grave for about 50 years after he dies. but that doesn't mean that he was forgotten. because in fact, virginia miller kept carrying him in her memory. and she wasn't the only one either. there are some interesting little pieces as we go forward in the war that make one think that his memory stayed alive. for example, in 1864, there was a william henry luce who was imprisoned on johnson island. and he wrote to a friend of his, someone he knew, talking about his old friends. so william henry luce at that time was

gettysburg. which in 1863 isn't exactly the best place to go if you're trying to avoid the civil war. >> lucky. >> so lucky. >> lucky luther. >> lucky, really. so he's a guy that really can't avoid the sense of duty, the sense of patriotism. and so as the confederate army, the army in northern virginia, is crossing the mason-dixon line, entering pennsylvania, he's going to offer his services to the governor of pennsylvania and he is going to receive a commission in the 26th pennsylvania emergency militia, specifically in company "a" of the 26th. and one of the reasons why this is so cool is company "a" is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college, and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. here you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> he has one functional arm. he's literally going into battle with his arm into a sling almost a year afte

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. >

from why was gettysburg informed? two more years of war, more casualties after gettysburg and before gettysburg, or property destroyed and civilians turned homeless, what the heck gettysburg accomplish other than turning back a movement by lee? my was it. let's look at it as leave unit because we are heading to phase two of my copyrighted history of lee. this was his first crisis. as he saw it, he had every advantage in the campaign, he believed the time of the battle's soldiers were fit incompetent, he controlled the top of the campaign and battle forcing the enemy to react to him. he had several clear opportunities to smash the union army that he could not produce a decisive victory at the time made it very clear to him he could not do it at any time. how did we react? 1863, he resigned. jefferson davis refused to accept it but what stood out to me in his letter was when he said i cannot even accomplish what i myself and desire. we mentally regrouped and crafted himself a new mission in place of the great victory wi

is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college and the lujan theological seminary in gettysburg. so you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> yeah, he's literally going into battle with his arm in a sling almost a year after his wounding. leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. and -- >> what could go wrong? >> what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania are going to march out on the morning of june 26th, 1863, and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along the cashtown pike west of gettysburg, pennsylvania, to face lee's battle hardened veterans of the army of northern virginia. so i can't even imagine what is going through this guy's mind that morning as you look out, looking to the west, you're seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut and marching towards you. what slater had -- did not know is these were men of the corp, hardened veterans and

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

i see this all the time on 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. and there are some, there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd of new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge -- [laughter] that that shows an indian chief and a tepee. you're thinking, wait a minute, they've got the wrong war? the answer is no, this was the tamany regiment raised by tammy hall and, of course, the symbol is chief tamany. people look at it and they say 42nd of new york. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies preached the justice and righteousness of the unionon cause and of people who weree there saying, yes, that's right. we were in the right, it was a moral cause, it was marvelous and wonderful, and we embraced it.ca it's a memorial to our troops. all right. that generation dies off. another generation, they come to gettysburg, they look at that monument and they say that's a monument to 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

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

i see this all the time on the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there there are some acutely or union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge and the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tv at your thinking wait a minute, did they get the wrong war and the answer is no. this was the tammany regiment raised by tammany hall and of course the symbol of tammany hall is chief tammany so you've got a monument anthere and people look at it and they say 42nd new york. the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause and the people who directed that monuments were the veterans of the regiments and they were there saying yes, we were in the right. it was a moral cause. it was marvelous and wonderful and we embrace it. it's a monument to our troops . followed by the grandchildren of those soldiers. they come to gettys

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'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

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

bella gettysburg. shows the reservoir our ballot. >> he each understood the price freedom and showing that burger. i that. >> the best of america. you very of america, not just the back the spine. of this country. >> all. >> so i and day we honor great >> recommit ourselves to keep our sacred obligation as a nation. on what you've done. we have not our children to our those julian i got in trouble way back when i was younger. stand up for saying we only have one. >> truly say an allegation. one truly sacred obligation. probably every we said the harms way. and care for that of their families. they're both and whether return home. this is a lifetime sacred and never expire. jailed for an entire biden family. when both deployed after spending 6 months in kosovo. as an assistant u.s. attorney trying to trying set up a criminal justice. >> i got a call from one day. he said that when you do on friday. i said what you need when says i like it my arsenal. i said what in the heck have you done. he says someon

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

he was not mobile and gettysburg wood was festering. he was unable to mount a horse. his men were marching under heat. he it was over 95 degrees that day and they were traversing poor roads and they had such faulty maps that one of his division francis barlow's who you see wandered up in the wrong direction got completely lost and would be out of action. it's not until 5:30 in the morning, 10:30 they start, 5:30 in the afternoon did the division begin to approach the confederate position. at that point couriers arrived from grant and smith urging hancock to support smith's impending attack. hancock is surprised by the urgency of these orders. he's under no illusion at this point that he's expected to participate in the fight and it was almost impossible to find out where smith wanted him to go. there was poor staff work and there were no maps so wartime is a lapse for this. now smith will finally be successful. he identified a routine that provided some depp allayed between battery six and seven. that's where highway 36 goes under the road and his plan was to send a r