General grant, effectively ening the civil war. Well be live this afternoon for the next three hours as the commemoration continues today with reenactments of the gun stackings that took place on this day in 1865, when more than 22,000 general lees infantry troops turned over their weapons and battle flags. Also, later in our program, youll hear remarks from historian david bliegt who talks about the legacy of appomattox here at the park. Bru, first, we joined by the two men who played a starring role in thursdays ceremony, the surrender ceremony that you just saw here. We want to invite you to be part of the conversation. Glld what were you thinking as general lee rode away . Sadness. I felt for the confederate soldier. I knew they were suffering with the surrender after they had fought so hard for four long years. I felt the most climatic, the silence, no guns, no shouts, no battle songs. The silence was a sound that we had not heard for four years. And it occurred to me. General, yo
participate, but we have kind of kept that in our pocket, so to speak, as an overarching theme. gary gallagher, when we went to seduce him, so to speak, to come to this conference and give the wrap-up talk, he immediately seized on the topic of the importance of studying military history. and we have looked forward to this day for quite a long while, not only what s gone before, but this ultimate triumph that we think that gary is going to deliver to us today. you all, i m sure, as serious scholars and buffs know exactly who he is. he s been advancing, by the way, to virginia from a long way off. he started in california, and he went to school in colorado and went to school in texas, and he taught in pennsylvania. but in 1998 he wound up at uva. and there he is the john nau professor of history of the american civil war. he is the author of or editor of 30 published volumes and he s active not only in the publishing field, but active in the preservation field. and when people
it s a very great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to introduce to you gary gallagher. i want to say to you that the topic of his talk there about the importance of studying military history goes back to the beginning of our foundation for this conference. about three years ago jim mcpherson was in lexington and i chatted with him about how we should develop this whole thing. he proposed the idea of studying or advancing the theme, overarching theme of the principles of effective command. we seized on that. he later declined to participate, but we have kind of kept that in our pocket, so to speak, as an overarching theme. gary gallagher, when we went to seduce him, so to speak, to come to this conference and give the wrap-up talk, he immediately seized on the topic of the importance of studying military history. and we have looked forward to this day for quite a long while, not only what s gone before, but this ultimate triumph that we think that gary is going to del