Magnificent day. This 14th of july, the day in which we french celebrate the beginning of our revolution. I am here meeting with my dear friend, your thomas jefferson, in hopes that he shall arrive sometime soon, so let us hope we can all have a conversation together. Where is mr. Jefferson . Mon cher, lafayette. Mon cher, jefferson. What a pleasure it is to see you again over so many years. More than 30 years, absolutely. And with great reverence to bastille day. Just as we celebrate the fourth of july, in france it is the 14th of july. We shall celebrate together, my friend. General, we have not forgotten your assistance in our nation either, and the American Revolution would have never been successful without the aid of france. It is a grand alliance between our two nations, my friends general rochambeau, others coming to the assistance of our newfound friend and ally, the United States. And mr. Marquis, we are not alone. We have the world with us today, welcoming us all back to mon
An introduction. The name is general lafayette, although i believe that most of your americans know me far better by my name of the old iner of the revolution here america, and that of course is the marquis de lafayette. What a pleasure and honor to see all of you here on this simply magnificent day. July, the day in which we french celebrate the beginning of our revolution. My deare meeting with friend, your thomas jefferson, in hopes that he shall arrive sometime soon, so let us hope we can all have a conversation together. Where is mr. Jefferson . Mon cher, lafayette. Cher, jefferson. What a pleasure it is to see you again over so many years. Years, than 30 absolutely. And with great reverence to bastille day. Just as we celebrate the fourth of july, in france it is the 14th of july. We shall celebrate together, my friend. General, we have not forgotten your assistance in our nation either, and the American Revolution would have never been successful without the aid of france. It is
Thank you very much. I love the enthusiasm of the postal lunch crowd. Its very exciting. Well, i am and honored and humbled to be here. To have invited to been invited to speak amongst this really incredible assembly of speakers and all of you attending and to share some the history and highlights of the society of the cincinnati collections. I have to say that throughout the past two days, ive each night back to my hotel room and because in a conversation with someone or listening to someones presentation, someone said something very smart, very insightful. And i went back and thought, i need to sort of see this differently. Im thinking about this, about our collections differently and its relationship to these other topics. So you all been sort of inspiration already. So thank you for that. So society of cincinnatis collections documenting revolutionary war and its legacy are of the broad scope of my talk today. We did begin acquiring in 1783, which is the the society was founded. So
Epicenter of the confederate effort. This is the headquarters, this is where robert e lee was. This is the building in which he made crucial decisions during the course of those three days of that battle that literally determined the outcome of the battle. This property when we bought it looks nothing like it does right now. It was a Hotel Complex with a brewpub restaurant attached to it. Envision a 40 or 50 room, 1950s style motel with a restaurant saloon attached to it , all surrounding this building that i am standing in that was lees headquarters. Lees headquarters was hidden in plain sight. What we did to restore this site was, first we had to get rid of the 20th century. That was to tear down and move out all of the debris that encompassed the hotel, or motel to be more precise. The restaurant brewpub. Then we had to restore the topography. We had to tear out Something Like 15 different structures, including the swimming poor and gift shops,f those types of things. This thing was
For three days in july, 1863, the union and confederate armies faced off in gettysburg, pennsylvania. One of the most decisive battles of the civil war. Next on american artifacts, we visit confederate general robert e. Lees gettysburg headquarters. The Civil War Trust, a nonprofit organization, purchased the house and surrounding land in 2015. We talk with Jim Lighthizer and Garry Adelman of the trust about the propertys history and restoration. This house is significant to the battle of gettysburg, one of the most, if not the most important battle of the whole civil war because it was the epicenter of the confederate effort. This is the headquarters. This is where robert e. Lee was. This is the building in which he made crucial decisions during the course of those three days of that battle that literally determined the outcome of the battle. This property, when we bought it, looks nothing like it does right now. It was a Hotel Complex with a brew pub restaurant attached to it. So it