mary chestnut first met robert e. lee just before the war at white seltzer springs in west virginia. his wife was plagued by rheumatoid arthritis, they came to you like silver springs to benefit from her baiting in the hot springs there. one of the few things that could give her a relief from the march of that disease. mary chestnut -- of course one of the famous diary papers of the confederacy, remembered that a man riding a beautiful horse joined us, wearing a hat with, somehow, a military look to it. and she said, she sat his horse gracefully and he looks so distinguished at all points that i very much regretted not catching the main. mary chestnut was intrigued by this man. who was he? we or did he come from? it was explained to her that he was robert edward lee. chestnut marveled. everything about him, she said, we so fine looking that the word had come unbidden. her mind was, not perfection. she said there was no fault to be found even if you hunted for one. and yet, mary chestnut was not entirely enchanted with

always like mary chestnut discovered. always the question mark. that, if anything, is the symbol of robert e. lee. sgla i have several questions from the audience who are wondering if we talk about his pre-war experience and getting into the civil war. let's take a pause in that moment where lee decides to resign his army and i'll say when i started reading this book, i didn't realize russia under which that happened he comes from the officer. he's been hungering for promotion for years. he talks about who he talks to. what his thinking was? >> lee himself never lays out in a complete and comprehensive fashion. lee looked back on this. did he have to resign from the army? he believe he did. if he turned down that offer of command of the federal forces, turning that down was tantment to refusing an order. they resign their commissions but don't do anything else. they stay neutral during the war. for a variety of reasons. they would back off and remain neutral. that's the first step lee takes. he takes that step after consulting with his cousin. lee

mary chestnut was not entirely enchanted with robert e. lee, or at least not as much as some others were. she wrote in her diary, i like smith lee better. what she meant was robert e. lee's older brother, sydney smith lee, officer in u.s. navy and why? well, because robert was a mystery. i know smith lee well, chestnut wrote in her diary, but can anyone say they know his brother? i doubt it. he looks so cold and quiet and grand. now that, surprisingly, was the judgment that many people who met robert e. lee came to. both during and before the american civil war. and chestnut came nearer to the mark when she talked about lee and perfection, than she might have realized. because perfection was one of robert e. lee's abiding goals in life. not because he was sort of super naturally blessed with ability that perfection was within his easy reach, but because he demanded so much of it from himself and from others. there was, in other words, a great deal more to this man than people caught on the surface. and not all of it could be easily reckone

mary chestnut first met robert edward lee just before the war. at the white sol fur springs in western virginia where lee brought his wife who was plagued by rheumatoid arthritis they came to the white sulfur springs to benefit from her baight in hot springs one of the few thing that could give her relief from steady march of that terrible disease. mary chestnut -- , of course, one of the most famous diary keepers of the confederacy remembered that a man riding beautiful horse joined us wearing hat with somehow a military look to it. as he said, he sat his horse gracefully and he was so distinguished that all points that i very much regretted not catching the name. mary chestnut was intrigued by this man who was he? where did he come from? well, it was explained to her he was robert edward lee. chestnut -- everything about him she said so fine looking that the word which came to her mind was perfection. she said there was no fault to be found even if you hunted for one. and yet -- mary chestnut was not entirely enchanted with robert e. lee or at

all slaves like mary chestnut discover, always? . that if anything is the symbol of robert e lee. >> let's get into one of the good?'s, i have several good questions from the audience . there wondering if we can talk about the, he talked about his prewar experience and getting into the civil war but let's take a pause in that moment how that could have gone differently. when he decides to resign his army commission and when reading this book i didn't understand the question under which that happened where he comes fromthe office . some sumner. he doesn't accept the command of the confederate army but in reality there are a lot of steps. so one question is do we have any insight for lee in his own words and himself about his thought process during this time and did he consult with anyone about his monumental decisions to leave the u.s. army because as you say he had been hunting for a promotion for years. the army was an absolute snail's pace at that time. in what have been what he was excited for and yet he gives it up so can you tal

the next day on april 11, 1861, this man you see here, james chestnut, mary chestnut's husband, who actually used to be senator from south carolina who had resigned, was a colonel in the confederate army, he, along with captain stephen d. lee and chisel, are going to go out to fort sumter, they row out there, meet with anderson, and tell him his options. anderson says he is going to be starved out in four days and he will leave then. chestnut is going to take that message back to beauregard, and they discuss it, and around midnight they are going to go back one more time. and they say basically that they would need to leave immediately. anderson does not agree to this, and so chestnut tells anderson, we will fire on you in exactly one hour. and the time was 3:30 in the morning. his wife is back in charleston. she writes in her diary that at that time, i do not pretend to go to sleep. how can i? if anderson does not accept terms at 4:00, the orders are he shall be fired upon. i count four st. michael's bells chime out, and i begin to hope. at half past 4:00, the heavy coming of cannon. i spri

meanwhile, the disinfection that he provoked and even encouraged as a mary chestnut put it in her diary ate into the very vitals of our distracted country. so here are the real combatants in the atlantic campaign and through much of the war in the west, i would call this the dual of goatees. there amity, strategical, political and even personal began well before the atlanta campaign in 1964, being and actually in the first summer of the war in 1861. in a dispute about rank. now, we might think this is a silly little argument and in fact, it was from the 21st century perspective but in the 19th century rank effected honor and honor was at the center, at the core of many officers who were uniforms of both blue and gray. early on, the confederate congress passed a law, authorizing the president to name five full generals and the confederate army. only five. and he was to rank them according to law in order of their seniority in the old army. of those five, the only one of them who had been a general in the old army was joseph e. johnston. he was a brigadier general by -- but that was a sta

davis could see for himself, he had become as mary chestnut put it in her diary. johnston is the core around where all restless, half-hearted people concentrate. davis decided that johnston was a liability he could no longer afford. so on july 17, 1864, he sent a telegram to johnston dismissing him from command and ordering him to turn his army over to john bell hood. so how do we assess joe johnston in this pivotal campaign? he himself argued both at the time and later in a very self-serving memoir that his defensive moves were in carefully, calculated gambit by beating his head against these defensive lines, so extend his own lines of communication, sherman would grow weaker as he moved south. johnston would grow stronger as he fell back onto his base until the moment came, but the moment never came. some observers have argued that johnston was one of the few who recognized that warfare was changing until it merged into philanders and belgium in 1914 and 1918. this was an argument made in his post-war memoir. yet contemporary evidence suggested this was at least

mary chestnut writes, there stands for sumter and there stands peace or war. there was this constant fear that war would break out in charleston harbor. basically what's happening is nobody's sure of what's going to happen with the situation once president lincoln becomes president. d that happens on march 4th, 1961. abraham lincoln is inaugurated president of the united states. how was he going to handle the situation differently than buchanan? now, there are numerous political attempts to avert war. there's a peace convention in washington, d.c. there are numerous compromises to try to push off war, and peace delegation from the confederate states to send to washington, but all of these are rejected and lincoln is going to reject acknowledging the confederate states of america. believing a secession was illegal and they had no actual authority, so all of the communications between the united states government and south carolina and the confederates is going to be through francis pickens. who they viewed as legitimate. but lincoln believed that the united sta

lee and the contradictions and, always like mary chestnut, discovered, it was a? in that if anything was the symbol of robert e. lee. >> and begs the question of how several questions from the audience and if we can talk about this, his experience and then let's take a point in a moment where this could have gone differently where robert e. lee decides to find his army connections. where he comes from summarizing it. [inaudible]. any dozen accepted with the iconfederate army so one questn is, this insight poorly in his own words about his thought process during that time and it did you talk to anybody about his monumental vision because promotions for years in the army in absolute - at the time and that could have been putting been striving for and yes he goes up so he talked about what hhis thinking was. >> he never lays this out in a complete and comprehensive fashion, the process by which he takes all of the steps and i think that represents the fact that lee himself did not know what he was taking as his next step. and most were feeling their way through that

as part of the problem, robert e lee and the complexities, contradictions, always like mary chestnut discovered. always the? , that is the symbol of robert e lee. >> let's get into one of the questions, i have several questions from the audience were wondering if we can talk about prewar experience and getting into the civil war, let's take a pause where things could have gone differently where he decides to resign his army commission and when i scheduled this book, i didn't realize where that happened where he comes from, summarizing commission, he accepts the confederate army but in reality, there are steps in between so one question, we have insight from his own words and himself about thought process during that time that he consult with anyone about his monumental decisions to leave the u.s. army? as you say, promotion four years, the motion of the army's snails pace at that time. it would have been what is been striving for and yet he gives it up. could we talk about how he came to that what his thinking was? >> lee himself never lays out in a complete comprehensive session. th

he is unusual and mary chestnut constantly makes fun of beauregard being a creel all the time and she disliked him. then there is the question of money. beauregard died well-off. not like the wealthy rubber baron but well off $150,000 in the bank and a built-up association with the louisiana lottery a very corrupt institution. most people agree that beauregard was not directly involved with the corruption but that meant he was either a willing accomplice or he doesn't know. he's either a liar or a fool when it comes to the robbery. really what it is money. you think about standing eight hours pulling names out of the bowl, but hey he got paid well. all these things detract from beauregard. a variety of people in north and south but what do i think of beauregard? i do believe once again he is one of the worst best independent commanders for the confederacy. he is a superb engineer had sound military theory a charismatic battle leader a competent strategist but this war didn't as many great strategists other than grant and sherman. that said he has his weaknesses for complicated tactica

in '64, '65 it's entirely mixed, so in terms of morale, everybody knows about mary chestnut civil war, one of the great stories is the guy to deserts, goes home, they track him down, go back, wife goes with him to the trainstation, the train pulls away she's screaming desert again, jake, desert again. that would not have happened in 1862. >> one of the many sad stories in that is a man who goes home because his wife has died and he's trying to take care of the children and then once he's gotten them situated he comes back, stays too long, comes back and is treated as a deserter and shot. >> let me quickly add, here again how a north carolina soldier, after gettysburg decided he needed to go home, take care of matters with his family on the farm with every intention of coming back, clearly a virginia soldier who left the ranks for the very same reasons, goes home, takes care of buzz but that virginia soldier can get back to the army in less than a week, that's in the eyes of military authorities you're awol. you're a north carolina soldier, you done the same thing for very same reasons

people knew about mary chestnut. i have an entire bookcase of women's accounts in my library. now, they're overwhelmingly confederate. that's one thing we could do. we have a lot more. on women in the loyal states than we have now that confederates have gotten way more attention and especially of course labeled in confederate women have gotten more attention. i mean, but we're get but but the the war in the world the war in the west the war, i mean there's it's been expanded in so many ways. i have no idea. where it will go in the future, that's one of the interesting things about it. nobody sits down and says well in 1988. no one sat down and said that the next you know, there's gonna be a big memory wave now a lot of memories that nobody said that things it unfolds organically and people need to find new things to write about always, but i think there's a danger in this too. i think. to to use walt whitman. i used walt whitman my introduction the idea that the real war will never get in the books whitman was talking specifically about this the war that union soldiers knew, t