the only two who knew were armistead and bingham. armistead died. bingham wrote about this twice in his life, both in private letters to hancock. it was a secret organization, but hancock was a fellow mason. he never mentioned it. i was just interested there was no evidence that it was. it's an inference and a great story. but on top of that, if you read bingham's full account, he is going to help a wounded confederate officer. he knows someone has been wounded. he thinks he's coming to help longstreet, who is not a mason. he encounters armistead. they introduce each other. armistead identified hancock as an old and valued friend. then he gives bingham a quote, which bingham writes six years later. i have done him and done you all an injury which i so regret or repent, where forget the exact words, the longest day i live. causing controversy to this day. a lot of people think that armistead was recanting. everything i have ever read about lewis armistead before and after, i can't imagine he was recanting. whatever you think of him, he was a confeder

armistead has a top decision. he's a native southerner and he comes from a long line of slaveholders in he grew up with 19 that his father owned. he owned one may be to himself briefly. his whole life and his family's history is tied up in this history in the "star spangled banner." the army has become his family. these are his brothers in arms. as we know he does make the tough decision and fights for the confederacy. we have this reasoning in a letter that appears in the sun's military service records in the national archives but armistead is writing a letter trying to get his son in the cadet ship. armistead had beautiful handwriting but here are the key phrases. i've been a soldier on my life but i was an officer in the army of the u.s. which service i love to fight grant country and ford with my own people and because they were right in the press. for my own country and with my own people. that's what lummis -- louis armistead joined the confederacy which leads us to famous farewell get-together in california

or armistead's officers? >> [inaudible] doing the noble work of the body of the confederate soldiers. being charged like 3:25 a body. and they use an example of charity. -- >> this particular -- was with armistead, he was the star. -- and armistead's family, for a long time, couldn't figure out where he was. . you can't get into the cemeteries, walk into it now. you can check it out. but again, you have to navigate your way through the tangle of stories, and try to figure out which -- i admit, in the book, you can't do it any other way. there are so many conflicting accounts. like, we are armistead fought. these guys were all eyewitnesses. they all say different places. how are we supposed to know where? so i guess the markers are as close as we can. thank you very much, really appreciate it. [applause] land.

like, we are armistead fought. these guys were all eyewitnesses. they all say different places. how are we supposed to know where? so i guess the markers are as close as we can. thank you very much, really appreciate it. [applause] land. >> i'm here to introduce sarah. all of us here at emerging civil war, we wear many hats. and we wanted to do a series on the blog, to introduce you to some of the faces around. that way, when you come to a symposium and you want to ring our neck or something or tell us what you didn't like on the blog, you know who you are talking to. you know the background. sara does so much with emerging civil war, her fingers are in every aspect of it. but i didn't even realize how much she does until i read her contributions, my ecw story. but if you look up my ecw story, you will find it. but she has a daily schedule, every day of the week. where she is working on some aspect of the civil war. it's just incredible. so if you like what we are doing, if you like this, make sure you give sarah kay bierle a pat on the back, if you have any complaints, make sur