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, contribute 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 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 materials," 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 the civil war, contemporaries, including northerners, accepted the arguments that convinced them or contorted with their own expeditions. -- explanations. 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 war. -- mexican-american war. before civil war, he practiced law and he served as a wake in -- a wig big that week in the virginia 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, primarily 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 core command. lee liked early, this towing on -- bestowing on nickname "my battled 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. newspapers portrayed him with reasonable accuracy as cantankerous and a partial to drink. nor was it a secret that early maintained a mistress with whom he fathered four children. in other words, early was rather bad when measured against victorian social norms. in june 1864, robert e. lee once again demonstrated considerable confidence in early by promoting him to lieutenant general and dispatching him on independent commands with the army of the valley, the old second court stonewall jackson. early was the 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 continue to fill 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. middleton yegor's town, , and frederick offered cash. but as many of you know, chambersburg pennsylvania , called 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. he thought themselves sound, that he was completely unprepared for the confederate cutter blow at cedar creek -- counter blow at cedar creek. in a testament to impress plan and, early routed approximately two thirds of the federal forces before his men paused to plunder camps. they succumbed to sheridan's famous counterattack. what could have been early's greatest triumph fizzled to defeat. in an address to troops published widely in the newspaper, 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 his fall from grace. theps bristled against ridicule. "i cannot commit that the commanding general is irresponsible for the struggling of his men in battle," insisted a rebel how freeman -- cal varyman. "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 of the valley to face a final defeat at waynesboro on march 2, 1865. early's woes that winter had been compounded by sheridan's actions targeting the valley crops, livestock and slaves under general grant's orders, which we heard about this morning. the destruction of civilian property sparked fury in some shenandoah residents, such as sarah and fife who said "oh, how the mighty have fallen." general early used to be a very great man. and yet, lee still spoke highly of early, calling him 'an officer of great intelligence, good judgment, and undoubted bravery." on march 30, 1865 lee tactfully removed early from his duties, 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 a -- so essential to success." thus early missed the surrender at appomattox. instead he lay him with the chills and fever in his hometown of 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. then finally mexico does -- and then finding mexico this favorable, 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 at this point we now turn our attention -- during the few months that he resided in mexico, he produced his first memoir, which we will call "the memoir." 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 will 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 groups of contemporary historians that the sized primary sources, p review, and what they called impartiality, a truth sound, not -- peer-reviewed. 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 is just the facts, "the conspicuous difference leads us to his first strategy. he enlisted lee's mentor ship while lee still lived. he offered advice on softening the tone and let details for authenticity. -- and provided details to lend the veracity and 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 the sized in his memoirs -- emphasized in his memoirs lee's private feelings. for example, of the 1864 overland campaign he wrote, "i happened to know that generally -- general lee always have the greatest anxiety to strike a grant." the two generals also shared a pet thesis in this period, which conferred with the early 's 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, march by unsurpassedrked by 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's defeat, not imagine -- 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 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 with the generals over casualties, captured artillery, the tone went into something savage went sheridan called early "worse than a coward." early rebutted, "he was no gentleman. and as a military commander, a pretender." as gary gallagher has pointed out, the earliest numbers warmer accurate -- -- early's numbers were more accurate than sheridan's. a fact that makes early appear more credible. early used the same strategy in his memoirs. the first was accompanied by an appendix, titled, "statistics." in this document, early employed 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 humiliation, but early also lambasted generals like nathaniel p banks, i like 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 memoir while on the lam, this achievement is notable. his first memoir made use of his 's diary, the lieutenant, chief topographical engineer captain jedediah hodgkins's notes, and a bevy of annual reports published by the u.s. government printing office. how he managed to get all this stuff, to carry it with them on horseback as he rode out of the confederacy and made it to mexico, i do not know, but he did have all these things. once he 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. jubel then use 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, leaving the u.s. general and chief lewis with because grant misidentified general kelly as having routed the troopers, to give one example. and in early's narrative, he similarly 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 falsehood of the report." early did not confine his use of primary sourced zingers to his unabashedlyalso corrected those who were friendly to. 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 findings but net rent "many officers of high character persistently declared that the troops at cedar creek were ordered a halt by general early." the writer was not present, cook admitted. in a letter, early challenged cook on the facts, demanding he reveal 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 also at conveying his military expertise. this is the third strategy we were set to discuss and for those his attention is waning, the second to last point in the lecture. as previously mentioned, early's qualifications as west point graduate, experience soldier and left trusted subordinate him qualify to lead troops. in addition, he 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 his talent is evidence in numerous passages in but the though hish -- talent is evidence in numerous passages the discussion of , fredericksburg when he was a commander under stonewall jackson, it will serve as our example. ed his account to fredericksburg with the reminder of the physical presence of his physical presence, in the fredericksburg locale. he consumed three full pages with descriptions of roads, rivers, topography, so you could not doubt he had been. as in any good military report, early detailed his orders from his commanding officer, jackson, on december 12, 1862, to move to hamilton crossing "which i did by marching nearly all night." upon arrival, he founded the -- he found the enemy of steered by a equity and heavy -- obscured by a thick wood. it is difficult to not be impressed with the fatigue and anxiety of his position, when all of a sudden at noon on december 13, he met with conflicting orders to action. just 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 the serious and proceeded blind into ground was entirely unacquainted with. sure enough, the enemy had "turned the lanes right, causing chaos." at the fun on the in troops he , was forced to make independent decisions while responding to contradictory communications. when he finally had the opportunity to ride 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 federals ended as the assault 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. his memory of the 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. he also demonstrated an aptitude for discrediting others' experiencing while reinforcing his reliability as narrator. he wrote, "some officers fail 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. for a general to assist in the truth of the great mass of report made to him. early was of course that kind of talented commanding general. our final points on the agenda is also early's cleverest accomplishment. he managed to cast himself in a sympathetic light, presenting his redemption project as self less, rather than self-serving. stunningather considering lee refer to this memoir at -- his the necessary. he said i was never blessed with manners and i was often misjudged to the haughty and disdainful in my temperament. those who knew me best, like me best. [laughter] correcten thought to unflattering physical description which emphasized his arthritic stoop. man ofribed himself as a 150 pounds with hair as straight as an indian with smooth to moderate eyebrows. i don't know about you, but that really helps to correct my image of early. he also sought compassion for his physical defect. his hunch was the result of , and mexico and it was 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. repeatedly test repeated -- repeatedly in correspondence with his brother, sam, early country,nxiety for his embarrassment for his need to borrow money, and agony from his rheumatism. by mid 1867, his letters to sam 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. .- for the melrose -- morose perhaps it might be better to be killed off by the climate 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. in october, he felt "as if i were taken from you the means of educating your children, and doing a great injustice to them." although sam saw the true depth of early's sorrow, the general's was noall -- martyrdom private affair. visitors to canada spread news of his agony. after seeing early wobble about, elizabeth harris lamented 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 of newspaper editors also presented early's case for martyrdom to the masses. early's friend, charles burton, framed his exile in religious boldly religious terms. "general early has made a sacrifice of self for the crucifixion of his love." ideology was boldly religious. he remains in exile while some of those who reviled him for his opposition to secession have been duly pardoned. so early was more difficult to cram into the pious mold of lee or jackson. his truly miserable exile was the closest he came to righteous in the public's eye. shrewdly, early set 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? in praising winchester as a sacred spot, second only to that of his birthplace and his mother's grave, early demonstrated the depth of his commitment to the valley. "i have 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 self-sacrifice, "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." -- cause for which men have ever fall. faught."ve ever but he assured, there is some comfort in knowing that the struggle, which develops so much virtue among soldiers and 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. he decried "i have often seen delicate ladies assaulted and rendered desolate by the acts of our most atrocious enemy. there was a meat appeal to every manlye appeal to every sentiment for retribution. 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. to the ladies' memorial association of winchester, he wrote "when many of my countrymen judged me harshly, the ladies of winchester, who knew the tremendous odds against faught,thought -- attached no blame to me." moreover, he 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's ability to tap into the work of the memorial association reinforced his ultra stick stick -- altruistic claims 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 hundreds, maybe 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 largess lent credence to his accounts. a historian explained, had -- by 19 century the best , believed personal narrative were by authors who could not profit from their work. this was why convicts confessionals written on the eve of execution appeared so -- appealed so enormously 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 memoir was remarkably positive, attesting to the quick success of early's reduction project. -- redemption project. a "new york times" special correspondent explained, that reading the account changed his negative perception of early, which he believes most northerners had previously shared. "i had always thought of the rebel in a rather ludicrous and contemptuous life. however, no longer, the me moir is well-written. southern newspapers heaped and 18on early in 1866 seven. whig wanted to nominate early as governor of virginia. for his verses in the valley, old jubel had to suffer. now that he has prepared a history of his last campaign, it will display -- it will dispel the cloud that hung over his --itary certainly from that ancient commonwealth that he loved more than life." it is off him of blame for valley defeat, syndicated hit the line personality -- his personality. hee lee died in 1870, demonstrated less restraint in his public battles over confederate history. this did not earn him universal acclaim. described the prevailing view of early the historian as one of fear. picked up they tend to write about the great conflict without the fear of early before his eyes. moderaterote in a more benefit.greatly to his a man who has graduated from west point and served in wasmiddle and mexican wars equipped as an expert to write applauded."een but what would have particularly charmed him was they said he inote the history of the war passion."lored by he was also declared as " singularly free of a controversial spirit, his dominant purpose always being to get a straightforward account of events and occasionally to war was not accomplished. and finally they concurred "early's tone is calm and judicial, he fought against tremendous odds of men and conclusion, jubel successhieved stunning in rehabilitating his public image and establishing himself as a major force only as to be reckoned on the history of the confederate army in northern virginia. he summarized it as quote, "early's religion, his mission was to vindicate the truth of history. early may have lost the shenandoah valley but he won the resulting historical narrative by meticulous effort. thank you. 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