now an associate professor of history at virginia commonwealth university where she teaches courses on the american civil war and american military history and environmental history credit her research interests -- history. her research interests involve the evolution of american forces from the 1600s and 19 century, with focus on the interactions of soldiers with their natural environments and their mental and physical health. her first book, "common soldiers in the environment" won the wily silver prize for best first book on the civil war, and she is conducting an early study on jubal early. welcome kathryn shively meier. [applause] kathryn: thank you for having me. i'm delighted to be here. i think you will see some connections between my talk on jubal early and the earlier talk we heard on richard taylor. the confederate general jubal early was one of the influential losers in american history. [laughter] kathryn: known for a petulant personality, early loss at the shenandoah valley in 1864, contributing to overall confederate defeat. yet, scarcely missing a beat after the confederate surrenders in spring 1865, he seized control of the historical narrative to substantially redeem his reputation and position himself as chief authority on robert e lee's army of northern virginia, when robert e. lee died in 1870. incredibly, as early as 1866, he earned accolades from many southern and northern newspapers for his proficiency as a general and as a military historian. by 1869, the former confederate general hill proclaimed jubal early "near to the hearts of this other people than any other -- nearer to the hearts ot eh people thanrn any other man." the story of how jubal early orchestrated his comeback from failure in the shenandoah provides us with new insights as to why confederates lost the war, but won the battle for historical interpretation. several of the most entrenched x confederate arguments about the civil war often termed, the lost cause, arose directly from jubal early's pleading in the four years that he roamed in exile from 1865-1869. every time a breathless student of the civil war utters the phrase "the confederacy was defeated solely because of inferior manpower and materiel," early's ghost threads another plume into his grave. when one and critically -- lee, or the fateful confederate ladies of the shenandoah valley, more feathers. i propose that if we want to understand early's lost cause arguments and why they dominated historical interpretations of the civil war for nearly 150 years, we must consider how he established his authority. in my talk this morning i will begin by briefly describing jubal early's wartime reputation, his defeat in the shenandoah, and the public outcry. then the bulk of my talk will examine how he rehabilitated his public respectability and advanced his historical authority. to do so he employed the following strategies. first, he capitalized on his personal ties to his revered mentor, robert e. lee. second, he got primary sources and numbers to produce ironclad arguments, which he reinforced with peer review. third, he conveyed convincing military expertise. and forth, he promoted his motive as selfless and pure. [laughter] kathryn: it should become apparent that his -- he intertwined at the story of his personal defeat with confederate defeat, a process that reveals much about the construction and reception of collective memory. lost cause arguments grew out of deeply personal apologia. in the immediate aftermath of much about the construction and the civil war, contemporaries, including northerners, accepted the arguments that convinced them or contorted with their own expeditions. indeed, early persuaded some northerners of his thesis, even if they denounced his proslavery position. we will begin with a brief review of early's rise and fall as one of robert e lee's lieutenants. he boasted a promising resume for a confederate general, as a former west pointer with experience in the mexican market -- mexican-american war. before the civil war, he practiced law and he served as a wake in the house of delegates. as an elected member of the secession convention, he hoped to avoid war by voting to remain in the union, but then became a stalwart confederate. his civil war military career, in the army of northern virginia, from 1861-1864, proved strong with a few missteps as he slowly, too slowly for his taste, advanced from regiment to corps command. lee liked early, this towing on -- bestowing on him the nickname "my bad old man." he interested him with difficult assignments, second only to stonewall jackson. but public opinion, which lauded jackson in life and death, was not so favorable toward jubal early. newspaper accounts portrayed him with reasonable accuracy as cantankerous and a partial to drink. nor was it a secret that early maintained a mistress with him the father for children. in other words, early was rather bad when measured against victorian social norms. in june 1864, robert e. lee once again demonstrated considerable -- at early by promoting him to lieutenant general and dispatching him on independent command with the army of the valley, the old second court -- second corps. early was to drive union soldiers from the valley and relieve pressure from the petersburg richmond front. the 1864 shenandoah valley campaign began well for early. he defeated union general david hunter on june 10, 1864 at lynchburg, before proceeding down the shenandoah valley, going north, to clear it of federals. early continued to fulfill the instructions by crossing the potomac into maryland, where early defeated a small federal force on july 9. he then threatened the u.s. capitol on july 11, before withdrawing back to the valley. during his u.s. invasion, he gained notoriety for issuing a ransom order on towns in maryland and pennsylvania. haigerstown, frederick offered cash. but as many of you know, chambersburg for pennsylvania attentive to call his bluff and calvary under john mccausland burned a large portion of the city on july 30, 1864. when union major general philip sheridan, the planted hunter, early's fortunes changed. in 1864, sheridan whipped early at various battles, blamed on early's calvary. so sound, the defeats that he was completely unprepared for the confederate cutter blow at cedar creek -- counter blow at cedar creek. in a testament to impress plan planning, early routed approximately two thirds of the federal forces before his men paused to plunder camps. they succumbed to sheridan's what could have been early's greatest triumph fizzled to defeat. in an address to troops published widely in the newspapers early berated his men , for the failure. "soldiers of the army of the valley, i have the mortification of announcing to you that by your mistake a serious disaster occurred." early deflected all blame at the time, it feels his fall from grace after cedar creek. troops bristled at the ridicule. "i cannot commit that the commanding general is responsible for the plundering infestedn in battle," -- insisted a cavalry man. "if he doesn't know how to stop it, he is unfit for his position." meanwhile, desperate at petersburg, lee stripped early of most of his men, leaving a diminished army to face a final defeat at waynesboro on march 2, 1865. early's woes that fall and winter had been compounded by sheridan's actions targeting the valley crops, livestock and slaves under general grant's orders, which we heard about several times so far this morning. the destruction of civilian property sparked fury in some shenandoah residents, such as said "oh, fife, who how the mighty have fallen." general early used to be a very great man. and yet, we still spoke -- lee still spoke highly of early, "an officer of great intelligence, good judgment, and undoubted bravery." on march 30, 1865 lee tactfully duty with these words -- "i have reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that you cannot command the support of the people and full confidence of the soldiers, which is so essential to success." missed the surrender at appomattox. instead, he lay ill with chills and fever in his hometown of rocky mountain virginia -- rocky mount, virginia before embarking to escape the collapse of the confederacy via texas, the caribbean and finally mexico, which he reached in december 1865. mexico thisg favorable -- not favorable after several months, he resumed his travels back to the caribbean and finally to canada where he remained from july 1866 to the spring of 1869. when he finally returned to virginia. while in exile, he composed two memoirs, a number of newspaper articles, and a large volume of personal correspondence aimed at redeeming his personal reputation and constructing his authority. it is this -- it is to this point that we now turn our attention -- during the few months that early resided in mexico, he produced his first memoir, which we will call "the keep that in mind. there are two of them. this was a recollection of the final year of the war with a focus on the 1864 valley campaign. he then published it from canada in 1866. it was the first memoir produced by an important general on either side. it was also the start of early's highly influential literary career. in canada, between 1867-1868, early produced a second complete memoir of the civil war, the narrative of the war between the states, which we will call "the narrative." the memoir made up the last portion of "the narrative." early ultimately chose to have the narrative published posthumously, a book and to his literary career, though he had written them essentially in the same time. his niece, ruth early, published the narrative in 1912, 18 years after her uncle passed away. true to the original, save the omission of a handful of provocative footnotes that had appeared in the memoir. these two texts were special among early's ample postwar writings. they restored his reputation, established his authority, and dominated his legacy. we are going to talk about how he accomplished these feats, but first, we have to realize that early was writing in a time in which historical standards varied dramatically. early's approach to history likened that of a small, but distinguished group of contemporary historians that the -- that emphasized primary sources impartiality, a truth , sound, not made. indeed, early's has convincing claims with expertise the hold of the many ways the modern scholarly standards. for those that have ever read anything written by early, the first thing you notice about his memoirs is that the tone is remarkably restrained, by his standards. for those unfamiliar with his writings, here is the unrestrained early in a private letter. "i think i could scalp a yankee woman and child without winking my eyes." in contrast, his memoirs read , for the most part, as just the facts "the conspicuous , difference leads us to his first ready." he enlisted lee's mentor ship while lee still lived. early's manuscripts offered advice on softening the , tone and let details for authenticity. lee attempted to produce his own history of the army of northern virginia, but he never finished it, nor did he publish his own memoirs. thus, lee's unique involvement with early's work conferred on these texts an unusual air of authority. i think i need hardly say that in addition to being commander of the army of northern virginia, lee was tremendously celebrated in his time. to underscore the two men's deep connection, early frequently at , lee'szed in his memoirs private aspirations and feelings. for example, of the 1864 overland campaign he wrote, "i happened to know that generally -- that general only always had leegreatest -- that general always had the greatest anxiety to strike a grant." the two generals often shared a pet thesis in this period, which conferred with the early redemption project. lee hoped he could get "the world to understand the odds against which the confederacy fought." or as he put it in his april 10, 1865 farewell address to the troops appomattox, "after 4 years of service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the army of northern virginia has been forced to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources." similarly, early hoped to explain away his defeat in the shenandoah by emphasizing inferior numbers. in the memoir, early said that the long odds he faced in the valley against sheridan were those faced by the confederacy during the whole war. conveniently, this thesis enabled early to mitigate his formerly rough critique of his soldiers. in the memoir, he admitted, "i read a sharp lecture to my troops, but i have never attributed the result to a want of courage on their part." taking another cue from the farewell address, early looked to repair his fractured relationship with his command. importantly, this explanation for early', not to mention larger confederate defeat, had substantial basis in fact, that could be corroborated by primary sources and numbers. and so, we moved to early's second strategy -- employing primary evidence and the numbers usually displayed in tables, those are really convincing, to prove that early had not been out generaled, but simply outnumbered in the valley. early first signaled that he would take this approach in his prominent 1866 newspaper dual with philip sheridan. back and forth went the two generals over casualties, captured artillery, the tone went into something savage went sheridan called early "worse than a coward." and early rebutted that sheridan was no gentleman, and is a military commander, a mere pretender. w. gallaghergary has planned out that early's numbers were more accurate than sheridan's. early used the same strategy and his memoirs. for example, the first memoir was accompanied by an appendix, titled "statistics." in this document, early employed in the 1860 u.s. census and quoted figures from secretary of war edwin stanton to demonstrate beyond a doubt that confederate s had been grossly outnumbered by federals for the war, including the 1864 shenandoah campaign. throughout both memoirs, early also frequently called to attention reports by union generals that overemphasized the strength of rebel armies. mcallen was famous for this, so naturally, he became one of early's frequent targets for human creation, but early also lambasted generals like , and i like banks this quote "it is well-known , that banks always thought things with largely magnifying glasses when stonewall jackson was about." similarly, early used primary sources to show that his command of the historical narrative of the valley campaign surpassed his contemporaries. considering that he wrote his memoirs while on the lam, this achievement is notable. his first memoir made use of his lieutenant chief , topographical engineer captain jedediah hodgkins's notes, and a bevy of annual reports published by the u.s. government printing office. now how early managed to get all of this stuff to carry this on horseback rode out of the as he rode out of the confederacy and made it to mexico, i do not know, but he did have all these things. once early settled in canada, he began soliciting reports, diaries, and other communications from numerous officers he had served with, particularly his general mcdaniel, his papers are here in the special collections, and his brother, captain samuel early. he then used the same network of peers to read his draft and provide feedback on the veracity of his details. early excelled at using primary documents to undermine his opponent's authority and underscore his own. for example, he quibbled with grant's report on operations in the shenandoah, leading the u.s. general and chief lewis with cts -- with his facts because grant misidentified , general kelly as having routed the troopers, to give one example. and in early's narrative, he summarily dressed down the joint committee on the conduct of the war, as it "gave a most preposterous account of atrocities committed upon the union dead and wounded after the battle of first manassas." relying on his personal knowledge and authentic official reports, early convinced the reader that even "federal surgeons left with a wounded could bear testimony to the report's falsehood." now, early did not confine his use of primary sourced fingersz zingers primary sourced to his enemies. he also corrected those family toward him. in a revealing exchange with the man we heard about this morning, captain cook, early quibbled over a footnote from cook's book published in 1870, an account usually regarded as fiction. early is still going to correct your fiction. "the offending footnote read," "many officers of high character persistently declared that the troops at cedar creek were ordered to halt by general early. the writer was not present, cook admitted. in a letter, early challenged cook on the facts, demanding he reveal his sources. in response, cook admitted that he had based the sentence on rumor, "i only remember that in the winter of 1864 when i was with the army at petersburg, the report was prevalent and repeated on many occasions." i also like early sent him a copy of the memoir so he would not make mistakes in the future. in addition to this compelling primary source work, early also excelled at conveying his military expertise. this is the third strategy we were set to discuss and for those whose attention is waning the second to last point in the , lecture. as previously mentioned, early's pointer,tions as west framed early as qualified to lead troops. but in addition, early proved extraordinarily good at conveying eyewitness accounts of the military events he had witnessed, a skill perhaps honed by years of writing military reports. though early's talent is evident in numerous passages in both memoirs, the narrative description of the battle of fredericksburg, when he was a commander under stonewall jackson, it will serve as our example. early opened his account to fredericksburg with the reminder presence of the fredericksburg locale. pagessumed three, full with descriptions of roads, rivers, topography, so you could not doubt that he had been there. as in any good military report, he detailed his orders from his commanding officer, jackson, on december 12, 1862, to move to hamilton's crossing, "which i did by marching on my." upon arrival, he founded the w -- of scared by a sick wood and a heavy fog. it is difficult to not be impressed with the fatigue and exciting of -- anxiety of his position, when all of a sudden at noon on december 13, he met with conflicting orders to action. moments after a staff officer told him to hold his troops, he was met with the news that archer's brigade "had been penetrated and would be captured unless there was instant relief." early discarded jackson's orders to meet this serious emergency, and proceeded blind into ground that he was totally unacquainted with. sure enough, the enemy had "turned the lanes right, causing chaos." he was forced to make independent decisions while responding to contradictory and coming communications. one early finally had the opportunity to rise himself to the front, he had to rescue some of his own men, who had strayed into enemy artillery range, before sending for reinforcements. this successful repulse of the federal standard as the brutal assaults began. early's capacity to capture such exquisite detail set his memoirs apart from most other accounts. in addition, both early's memoirs, this is so important, where written exceptionally close to the event that they conveyed. early's memory of events was sharper than many, and perhaps, most of his contemporaries, who wrote their memoirs in the 1870's, 1880's and 1890's, a point early emphasized when arguing with them. early also demonstrated an aptitude for discrediting others' experiences, while reinforcing his own reliability as narrator. , "somee in his narrative officers failed to preserve that clearness of judgment and calmness of the nerves which is so necessary to see things as they really are during an engagement." this, he claimed, is what led to "so many conflicting reports on the same matter." "it requires very great experience and a very discriminating judgment to enable a commanding general to sift the truth out of the great math of exaggerated reports made to him." of counted,at kind commanding general. that goes without saying. our final points on the agenda accomplishments. he managed to cast himself in a sympathetic light, presenting his project as selfless, rather than self-serving. this is rather stunning, considering that even leave referred to early's memoirs as a project for his own vindication. to start, and early's narrative, ofcounted public indictments his personality with humility, "i was never blessed with popular or captivating manners, and the consequence was that i was often misjudged, and thought and myhis tasteful temperament, yet, those who knew me best liked me best." [laughter] pete even thought to correct -- he even thought to correct unflattering physical descriptions, which emphasized his arthritic stoop. keep a trading man of 170 points, hair straight as an indian's, with smooth and moderate eyebrows. [laughter] ms. meier: i don't know about you, but that really helps to correct my image of early. he also sought compassion for his defect. his hunch was the result of and it was and in -- a result of actual pain, to which i have been very much subjected for the past 19 years. more important though than anything early could say about himself, early's concurrent suffering and self-exile procured for him a claim to morality in victorian culture that he otherwise lacked. historian francis clark has stressed the importance of self-sacrifice in a virtuous cause is evident of genteel manliness. through prolonged misery and poverty, early positioned himself as a martyr to the confederate cause. test repeated correspondence with his brother, empathy formparted his country, need to borrow money, and agony from his rheumatism. letters to sams became so pitiful, they are actually difficult to read. in may, early described himself as "so much crippled up that i move about with difficulty and and more bent than i have ever been." in july, his mood had taken a turn for the melrose. perhaps it might be better to be killed off by the climate so amended -- so there may be an end to my troubles in this world. in august, his unease of borrowing money had become his greatest mortification and grief. amendedin october, he felt "asi were taken from you the means of educating your children, and doing a great injustice to them." depthgh sam saw the true of early's sorrow, the general's martyr was no private affair. visitors to canada spread news of his agony. about,eeing early wobble one said how indignant it makes me when i think of the conduct of our enemies and their desire to humiliate our noble heroes by forcing them to leave their native land. support newspaper editors also present early's case for martyrdom to the masses. , charles burton, framed his exile in religious "general early has made a sacrifice of self for the crucifixion of his love." he remains in exile while some of those who reviled him for his opposition to secession have been duly pardoned. early was more difficult to cram into the pious mold of jackson. is truly miserable exile was the closest he came to righteous in the public's eye. he said his wanderings to contrast to where his heart truly resided, the shenandoah valley and his ruined country, both of which he labored valiantly to defend. symbolically, the three merged early -- the valley, the confederacy, and to a holy triad that became difficult to disentangle. if one loved the shenandoah and the confederacy, how could one be against jubal early? as aaising winchester sacred spot, second only to that of his birthplace and his mother 's grave, early demonstrated the depth of his commitment to the valley. many recollections connected to the valley of the shenandoah, and i trust that peace and prosperity may soon return to bless the inhabitants of that beautiful valley, as well as our desolated country." he likened his current dislocation to a poker meant of "it is sad to be in exile for my country, and still sadder to mourn the loss of the most in just come a sacred cause wichman ever fought." is somessured, there comfort in knowing that the struggle, which develops so much euro was among a part of our soldiers, and so many virtues and its women, has not been all in vain. speaking of women, the women of the shenandoah became an important focal point of early's attempt to present himself as a humble martyr. in his memoir, he claimed he had ordered chambersburg burned in retaliation of northern aggression against the valley ladies. "i have often seen delicate and renderedted desolate by the acts of our most atrocious enemy. he heaped epithets of heroic courage, believe in the ordeal and the valley fell with the most crushing effect upon them. in a newspaper, he credited shenandoah's ladies for standing by his reputation in defeat when others had forsaken him. the ladies' memorial association of winchester, he wrote "when many of my countrymen judged me harshly, the legs of winchester, when the tremendous odds against which i thought, attached no blame to me." praised their recent efforts to reenter the confederate dead whose bodies had been left to create national cemeteries. early praised "i know that many of those buried by the lady fell while fighting under my command. among them being a number of valued personal friends. this tribute to their memories affects me very deeply." early possibility to tap into the work of the memorial association reinforced his ultra stick claims of bolstering the fetters see --of bolstering the confederacy, rather than his own. they constructed a positive narrative in the face of perceive nor the neglect as an historian explained. to further solidify this bond with the sacred work of the ladies memorial association, and to underscore his generosity, early donated all proceeds of his published memoir to the memorial association. he also published at least 1000 copies of his book at his own expense, and then donated the proceeds to the ladies. considering early's crippling poverty in exile, during which he was entirely dependent on family, friends, and strangers for survival, his refusal to keep any profit for himself was notable. early's largest -- lent credence to his accounts. a historian explained, had midnight, the best believed personal narrative whereby authors who could not profit from their work. convictswhy confessionals written on the eve of execution appeared so anonymously to readers. early appeared a man who had spread the truth, whatever the cost. an editor picked up on this narrative, characterizing early as a true patriot, who sought neither vindication, nor profit. in short, early's calculations paid off. he may have suffered in temporary poverty, but donating the revenue of this book to the ladies remade him a selfless public figure, irrespective of what the book contained. critical reception of the 1866 ,emoir was remarkably positive attesting to the quick success of early's reduction project. " specialrk times correspondent explained, that reading the account changed his negative perception of early, which he believed most northern if had previously shared. of him always thought and a reckless light, mediocre with the sort, however no longer. the memoirs excellently written." he preys on early in 1867. times" said early statue should rest much to those of lee and jackson at the state capital. the whigs on the to nominate early for governor of virginia. contributor to the old guard wrote of early's journey from humiliation to redemption. for verses in the valley, "old jubal had to suffer. the press and the people condemned him unmercifully, but now that general early has prepared the history of his last campaign with great care and mindedness, it will dispel the clouds which hang over his military reputation." moreover, the article: on the -- remarked on the significance of early's exile. he wandered sulkily and secretly from ancient commonwealth which he loved more than life. the piece touched all the major aspects of early as redemption project, absolving him of blame for valley defeat, vindicating his maligned personality, and heaping morals on his martyrdom. the fact that early do not publish a narrative, his second memoir in his lifetime, only further benefited his legacy. , earlye died demonstrated less and less restraint in his public battles over confederate history. this did not earn him universal acclaim. robert stiles, an influential confederate memoirist, describe the prevailing view of early the historian as one of fear. no man ever took up his pen to write a line about the great conflict without the fear of early before his eyes. narrative reserve the that have been written a more moderate tone of his exile was greatly to his benefit. the new york-based bookman summarized the narrative's accomplishments in 1913, the year after it was published. "let a man who has graduated from west point and served in the seminal and mexican wars was well equipped to write as next of the civil war would have been and early by all would have applauded the deference to his military expertise. what would have particularly charmed early was the reviewer's acknowledgment that the general could "write the story of that war and a calm spirit, undisputed by passion and uncolored by prejudice. " it stamps general early as a rare and notable soul. the southern atlantic quarterlies assessment of narrative said "singularly free of a controversial spirit." free from a controversial spirit, his dominant purpose always being to give a straightforward account of events and occasionally to explain why more was not accomplished. finally, the southwestern historically quarterly concurred that early's tone is calm and judicial. it is hardly necessary to show that he fought against tremendous odds of men and resources. that's the early central thesis of his and confederate defeat prevail. , early achieved stunning success and rehabilitating his public image and establishing himself as the major force with which to be reckoned a military history of the army of northern virginia. memoirist robert stiles perceptively summarized early stewardship of wartime memories as "early's religion." his mission was to vindicate the truth of history. early may have lost the shenandoah valley and his countrymen lost the war, but he won control of the resulting historical narrative by meticulous effort. thank you. [applause] >> you are watching american history to be, 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. on american history tv, a panel of historians takes audience questions on the shenandoah valley during the civil war. topics include the role of religion, supply problems faced by confederate troops and memoirs written by confederate leaders after the war. panel was part of a conference hosted by the university of virginia center for civil war history. it is just over half an hour. >> i will go ahead and get us started and then we will get in to audience questions, but i'm eager to return to the theme of religion, which has come up a great deal

Related Keywords

Mexico , United States , New York , Canada , Waynesboro , Virginia , West Point , Cedar Creek , Texas , Petersburg , Sankt Peterburg , Russia , Maryland , Pennsylvania , Chambersburg , Shenandoah , Richmond , America , Mexican , American , Philip Sheridan , Francis Clark , Richard Taylor , Robert E Lee , Edwin Stanton , Charles Burton , Kathryn Shively Meier , Robert Stiles ,