Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20161009

Talks already. We all have our favorite great attacks of the war. We could not fit them all in. We repent the panel talk about other great attacks of the war. We have some of the best and brightest joining us tonight. First again, mr. James ogden. [indiscernible] [applause] sitting next to him is. Ur colleague he has worked at Gettysburg National park where he is done the song and dance on the battlefield. [applause] sitting next to dan is chris kolakowski. The other polish prince of the civil war. Chris is the director of the macarthur memorial. If you have a chance to visit norfolk and go to the memorial it is a firstclass operation on , the scale of a president ial library. Here is the man, Douglas Macarthur to shape the world after world war ii. Story is thatand this museum. He is written books on kerry bill. Though. Chris kolakowski. [applause] to his left is the editor of the American Civil War blog. Author or coauthor of emerging civil war series. Dan also has a huge man crush. On george custer. [laughter] [applause] next to dan, stuart henderson. Stuart is a ranger here at the National Military park. He has worked his way up to bigger and better things. He is now one of the leading experts on United States colored troops. He told the story of the 23rd u. S. Ct at president obamas inauguration parade. He is passionate about sharing spotsylvanias most unknown but important stories. And gentlemen, stuart henderson. [applause] lifemate, author and coauthor of 11 books on the civil war. He has worked on the andsylvania courthouse works that have appeared all the major civil war magazines. He has spoken in excess of 250 roundtables. He has been involved as a reenactor. Warrant for a short term he served at gettysburg. Ladies and gentlemen, chris mackowski. [applause] emerging civil wars chief historian billerica way down with mr. White. I am going to start with mr. White. I will ask our panelists to speak and then open things up so you in the audience can also ask questions. What is the greatest attack . However you look at stuff, i was never able to [laughter] what six out to me as another aspect of the fredericksburg campaign. Sunday we are doing fredericksburg. First fredericksburg has a great story. The december 11 River Crossing under fire that takes place in late afternoon. Got some microphone problems. Thats probably one of the greatest acts. You have engineers trying to build bridges. You have confederates they are trying to hold back the unit union invaders coming across the rappahannock river. And then, under fire, the union infantrymen have to rewrite how they are going to fight the American Civil War. And what they are going to have to do is jump in the boats paddle their way across and , fight not know in fields but street by street. Something you will see in the and orld war [indiscernible] mr. Henderson . Unfortunately, all great attacks do not end in victory. The attack i want to talk about is the battle of the crater in the petersburg battlefield and what i have reenacted about three times in the last five years. It was under the command of know of in the fredericksburg area very well, general ambrose burnside. He was commanding the union 9th corps. He has a plan of attack after the crater. There were a lot of miners in the regimen, and they wanted to build a mine under the earth. The crater will be destroyed the explosion however, burnside , doesnt get his original plan of attack. The Fourth Division of the night corps is made up of troopsted states colored and the 23rd is one of the regiments in that attack. They are planning to leave the lead the attack and according to some of the officers and maybe even general burnside himself, they think they will go ahead and succeed in this attack in the battle of petersburg will be over. Maybe so will the war. Meader, general gordon has other plans. They will change the plan of attack. He wants the white divisions to lead the attack. That would become a loss for the union army. And general grant was say thats one of the saddest days and his army. [indiscernible] we have not talked about that just yet. April 2, 1865, james wilson s divisions assault selma, alabama. Wilson spent the early part of the war as an engineer. Second general of the army of tennessee. He comes east with Ulysses S Grant and command of the calvary division. Cuts his teeth in the wilderness. Does not perform very well, but he is eventually transferred to the west to take command of shermans calvary. He leads shermans cavalry. In the Tennessee Campaign of 1864. He spent the winter of 1865 between waterloo and bradley springs in alabama on the alabama river. His plans for the Spring Campaign are the weather starts to turn. It is yet undefined. It is interesting to look back on the planning for what becomes wilsons raid. Between him, George Thomas and ulysses grant. Wilson finally leads his calvary into alabama to disrupt the remaining Industrial Centers of the town. South. What stands out about selma is the two leading Cavalry Divisions assault and dismounted against a fortified city. It was held by Nathan Bedford forrest. You do not see that very often, dismounted calvary attacking heavily fortified positions. The assault is successful. Wilson captures selma on the second of april, 1865. [indiscernible] i will have the three of you say that one. Tells about a great attack. 152 years ago today, in the same state, mobile bay, august 5, 1864. 18 ships one of the largest , fleets the United States assembled at the time goes forward against the squadron headed by one of the most powerful confederate ironclads in the world or the confederate navy. Commanded by the one officer to command multiple federal ironclads in battle, franklin buchanan. A very aggressive officer. Farragut is commanding the union fleet. Runs underneath for morgan, loses in ironclad due to a mine. The formation looks like it is five minutes from destruction. The ships get thrown into confusion trying to figure out where the mines are. Using the parlance of the time, farragut issues the article damn themmand, torpedoes. [indiscernible] it is one of the alltime great lines in American Military history. You do not have to know anything about the civil war at sea to know damn the torpedoes. People do not realize what it means. The attack was on the moment of failure. It was five minutes from complete destruction. Farragut was the one man who could service cool judgment turn it around. He gets into the bay and defeats the squadron and one was at the time a fairly unique operation, it is happened before in a quite in the situation, a joint army navy expedition takes the fort with the next two weeks, sealing off the last confederate port east of the mississippi. Gideon welles, if youre attending my lecture you will see this quote, talks about it being one of the greatest achievements in the history of the United States navy. Which, when you think about it, that includes john paul jones, perry at lake erie, his cousin perry at tokyo bay. That is a large statement. I have not just saying that to be the token navy guy but it is with a great attacks of the civil war. Just a dramatic story. Also obviously from its impact. Dan, a great attack . Being a gettysburg guy, we often get the question of, how do i get to the field . How do we get the tickets charge tickets charge picketts charge . It is a great attack that has been studied and reexamined. Perhaps one of the most popular places to study. What i often tell visitors is one of the forgotten flanks of gettysburg. One of the great attacks not all of them have to succeed. It was the confederate assault on the Morning Hours of july 3, 1863. We are always quick to get to the end. When we talk about the confederate assault on july 3, most folks say, i know picketts charge. That was not general lees original intention. As lee wrote, the name the plan remained unchanged. It was the same plane as july 2, 1863. The main confederate assault diversionary assault on the union armys right flank. Throughout the evening into the early Morning Hours of july 3, this effort to renew this plan is going to be put into play. When that attack goes into effect on the Morning Hours of july 3, able be the longest it will be the longest sustained fighting at gettysburg. Confederate units and union units on the hill will fight for six and a half hours. There will be more soldiers engaged in the attack on the hill then will participate in picketts charge on the afternoon of july 3. There will be more casualties because of the fighting during a then they six and half hours will be as a result of picketts charge. A great attack, an attack that did not succeed unfortunately, unfortunately for lee, but a great moment in civil war military history. I will use the army of the cumberlands assault on november 25, 1863 at missionary ridge, ordered by ulysses s. Grant as a demonstration against the rifle pits at the base of missionary ridge. But the men in cumberland had previous been told that had to be held in readiness. The signal for the advance was the sounding of guns in rapid succession. Before grant limited intention movement was filtered down the chain of command, the regimental brigade and Division Commanders s six guns sound in rapid succession and they believed the attack to have it told the whole themselves in readiness for was Going Forward. Let me circle back to something stewart said about not all great attacks have to be successful. Broaden the lens a little bit. How do you define what a great attack is . I would define a great attack as an attack that involves a lot of troops and these are large military or political moments. In the case of the battle of the crater you have both. You do have a large attack and even though it is unsuccessful, you have so many soldiers involved and you have the United States colored troops involved, they were inexperienced at the time. Only two of the regiments had fought in smaller skirmishes. You had the 23rd and the 30th. They thought of may 19 at the battle spotsylvania courthouse. Uscjority of u. S. T were inexperienced. Their more hours boosted by their officers stating that they were being trained so that they could end the war. At the very last minute, the attack takes place on july 30, but on july 29 general george meade goes to general burnside and tells him that you cant use your colored troops. It was basically a political reason for doing that. Lincoln was not assured of being elected president. If they used the colored troops that were inexperienced, and if they failed and they got slaughtered, that would look very bad on the administration. Grant andade goes to he will make that point and grant is going to accept it. However, what would have happened if the u. S. Colored troops succeeded because they had been trained to our the explosion of the crater and some of the soldiers were going to go to the right and youre going to take care of the confederate interference on that side while the others are going to take Cemetery Hill which would lead directly into petersburg. The siege could have been over. They would have had the white troops to back them up. But that is not going to take place because they do not want to have soldiers slaughtered. But in the end, they get slaughtered anyway because the attack is going to take too long to get informed and the First Division is going to be under fourorst general of the generals. He is a drunk and he is incompetent. During the whole attack he is going to spend his time in a barn getting drunk. How else would you define a great attack . I do not think has anything to do with size or scale. We can look at the number of attacks. We have 55,000 confederate soldiers. The most that lee will put into a battle. Throughout the day, there is a great defense with porter, that fantastic point where john bell hood. You can follow the track of the texas brigade across the field. Coming up in finding a spot on the better field. Battlefield. Once they break that, the first tier breaks and comes back up. It takes all day. Then you have the quick attack. Something that took place behind is a spotsylvania. 5,000 shock troopers making a new formation to pierce through the confederate mind. To break through like a bazooka. Then you have George Gordon meade in fredericksburg. 8000 Union Soldiers attacking prospect hill. Forlorn hope taking on the confederates but they find a weak point. A 600 yard cap in the line. Lee, jackson and hill are too lazy to fill that gap. Then there is the big swamp there. No one is going to go through their. But if the shooting at you, lets go through the swamp. That opens up an opportunity that is lost to the union forces under franklin, reynolds and burnside on that end of the field. We do not remember fredericksburg for that. It could be the great attack but they all try to achieve that same thing, that victory, that how you achieve that victory. Lee lee is able to do it but it costs him greatly. Chris will talk about this tomorrow when he does it with the entire second army corps. It might bring you on the precipice of victory and it might bring you victory but it comes at a high cost. I would agree in regards to the fact that one of the greatest attacks does not equal scale or size of the assault. Tomorrow, we are going to hear from Matt Atkinson about the july 2 assault of the union armys left flank went by long street. One of the greatest attacks in gettysburg is by two brigades , one of north carolinians and one of louisiana against louisianans that are going to be attacking this unimaginable piece of terrain, Cemetery Hill. There are over 60 pieces of federal artillery. It is defended by the remnants of the first core, the 11th core reinforced as each passing , moment is going by. Brigades of jubal earlys divisions are told they will support the assault. We are going to support you in this assault against Cemetery Hill. I think one of the hallmarks of this particular moment, one what makes a great attack during the American Civil War is that long odds story and the human factor of war. The odds may be long but can the human factor of four influence the outcome of the assault . For the north carolinians and louisianans, the georgians will not come forward it was a useless sacrifice of life to send the georgians to the support of the carolinians. Rhodess division will not go forward. Despite that, as darkness is setting, one of the rear evening attacks, north carolinians will break the union line on Cemetery Hill and they will be within 40 yards of the baltimore pike, a key road into the rear of the union army, the road for communications, supply, for evacuation of the wounded. It was against the odds that initially that attack succeeded , but without reinforcements they were forced to get that back ground. I want to agree with stewart in his earlier two answers. The basic thing is impact. It doesnt necessarily have to be successful but has to have some influence politically, morally. In some fashion. It shaped events Going Forward. I think we can come up with a bunch of attacks then that meet those criteria but they have to have some impact on the subsequent events, militarily, politically, economically, socially. You look like you wanted to add something and then open up the floor for questions. Jim stole most of what i was going to say. [laughter] i was thinking of some comparison cases as a heard the others talk. If you look at the great attacks and American Military history, the normandy invasion, the inchon invasion, even the battle of kursk it meets the criteria because it was an important turning point. The same of the normandy invasion in terms of size, but the stakes of the normandy invasion were huge. Same with the landing at inchon. It turns the course of korean history and probably the course of cold war history. When you talk about great attacks, it is not a compelling story or interesting story. It comes back to the scope and impact as jim and stewart said. That is an important distinction. Stories, butt thats a different distinction that impact. Yet the thing about it. What is happening on the battlefield versus the impact. Lets open things up. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] any thoughts about that . It opens things up in tennessee. I will jump in on that. I will correct myself. Wilson was in command of the military division of the cavalry. From a fort donaldson perspective i agree with you. , it changed the entire strategic complexity of the entire confederate strategy in the western theater. It kicks in the western door and they are forced to abandon most of kentucky as well as tennessee and it gives the federals a river traffic ways. The tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and they are now able to , transport men down the river through tennessee into mississippi. They are also allowed to run the gunboats into alabama, strike at the confederate infrastructure, strike at the railroad bridges along those rivers. It has an incredible strategic impact. He has to reconsolidate his forces in the wake of that. Yet understand the dominoes involved. Another question . [inaudible] thank you. Thank you very much. For those of you who are not familiar, it is a poster wrote about a year and a half ago. January of 2015. I looked at the question of who wins in these battles . I look at the tactical level of moment,. Wins at the for example in the Maryland Campaign South Mountain is an , operational union victory. They forced inside the gaps at South Mountain. It does not end the campaign. The strategic fruits of the campaign are not met. And so the strategic victory is usually the one that ultimately is the objective of the campaign. Chickamauga might be a tactical defeat for the United States but they went strategically because what is the objective of the campaign . Chattanooga. There are times where you have battles that in isolation, one side wins but how do you define that victory . That is a whole other presentation for a whole other time. What you are hitting on his correct. How do you define great attacks . Is it something that is great tactically . Like some of the things dan was talking about. Is it something that has an Operational Impact or a strategic impact . I think that is what jim and stuart and myself were advocating. To make a truly great attack you have to have that significance and you have to have the impact. It has to be in some way impactful far beyond the battlefield. Either from a political standpoint as stewart said, at a strategic standpoint as jim said or a turning point. , when you talk about great attack, it can be size, but ultimately it is the strategic level. Is it something that has an impact on the course of the war . I think im assuming thats what you are getting at. That is the argument the three of us are making. Just a reminder, make sure youre speaking directly into the mic. Getting close to your mouth. Next question. Can you identify a Game Changing attack that did not happen . For example antietam day two. Attack that did not happen was meade and his rising star. He had 30,000 Union Soldiers. He was going to make a great attack across the open field. It could turn the tide of the war one way of the other. You would think. But warren, when it comes down to hhour does not pull the trigger. With john saidy which starting to boulevard sedgwick was ready to go forward. Warren is not Going Forward. The third Corp Commander said where is your napoleon guns now . Warren and meade are going to discuss what was going on. These fortifications robert e. Lee put up. This littleknown campaign lesson 15 to 20 miles from where we are sitting had a huge impact on George Gordon meade. He will look at warren that night because he does not attack and this guy grant is doing so well saving chattanooga. He will look at warren and say you have ruined me, thinking he will lose the command of the army of the potomac. And it very well couldve ruined him. And starting to show something that will happen with war and down the road that is a different story about not following orders when they are given. This attack does not go forward. It has a huge impact. It will be one of those impacts leading attacks that brings grant into the east because George Gordon meade was nothing not the guy to get it done. Grant has proven in front of everybody he can win and he does it time and again. On the 15th of may, 1862, the last river defenses on the james seven miles below the capital of richmond, the Union Flotilla attacked and they tried to do what has been done at port royal and what farragut had done in new orleans, which we will talk about tomorrow. They tried to do would have been done at fort polaski and take , the city by the fleet from the river. They fail. They failed because of a change in the river, a whole bunch of hardbitten virginia gunners that had just blown up the css virginia and the gun crews joined the gun emplacement and they wanted revenge. Quite frankly the federal guns , could never elevate far enough to adequately bombard the confederate fort. The flag officer writes the George Mcclellan and request an Infantry Brigade to march on the east side of the james river and take the bluff. They can cut the chain, they can get up the richmond. One Infantry Brigade. Mcclellan this not send it. Those obstructions remain unbroken until 1865. What is this matter . First of all richmond could fallen by may, 1862. The other thing is look at the impact that has on the james river. Mcclellan had been trying to decide whether to base his advance of the james river or the york river. He chooses to base his advance on the york, which puts his real line behind. Its a whole presentation for all other time. It is the decision of the seven days. It ultimately gives lee is opening to dislodge. You talk about attacks that would have had a tremendous impact from a strategic and political standpoint. Breaking drurys bluff and that he doesnt even have to take the city. You throw a few cells of the virginia capitol building, think of the impact that has in the spring of 1862. To me that is one of the great attacks that is not undertaken in the war. Here in the back . [indiscernible] could you repeat that . [indiscernible] what was it like for the common soldiers . I will start that off. I referenced at a tactical level the assault of the louisianans and north carolinians. When the order came down, and adjutant in a louisiana unit wrote in his diary, when i received the orders i felt it that my doom was sealed. Despite that feeling and they would have helped to carry out the orders of the regiment and leave them forward. When we go back to the long odds and the human factor of four, at various levels a goes back to the levels that they were receiving and what lay ahead for them. Thene of the members of 23rd could have been executed, except for his ex master was there. He is given back to his ex master instead of being killed. The exmaster will again make him a slave. This man says he was upset of being a slave but glad to be alive. You will be sent to North Carolina where he escapes again to the union line in wilmington. This man will live a long life, but if his master was not there, he couldve been killed at the battle. In North Carolina in march 1865, johnson attacks a wing of tecumseh shermans army moving to the state. Below the confederate launching point of the very young man that was a North Carolina junior reserve that was thrown into the old army of tennessee to make an assault on a union division. The army of tennessee had been decimated the previous winter in their namesake state at franklin and nashville. He makes the comment about how close the flags are amongst the various units were divisions once were. There are now brigades. Where there are brigades, theyre not regiments, regiments are now companies. It really hits home the decimation of the war. I wonder what your thoughts might be on the attack on the ironclads [indiscernible] i cant remember but i feel like given that only two people survived, everybody else give their lives in the ram was taken out of the picture, it seems like ahead of the strategic impact. For one guy to do that [indiscernible] i would look to like to point out they gave me the microphone to address this. [laughter] if it had not been august 5, tonight, i probably wouldve nominated cushing and the sinking of the albemarle. Which is the night of 28 october, 1864. Just go read battles and leaders of the civil war volume four. Read his account. It is coolness under fire, personal courage personified. The army tomorrow albermarle was a threat to the sounds. If it had been open it wouldve been a firstclass haven for runners for the confederacy. It had a huge impact. I absolutely agree with what you say. It was bravery, coolness under fire. One of the great attacks. [indiscernible] [laughter] defensive or not defensive, there are people behind the barriers [indiscernible] this is a lesson that tactics evolved. Defense attacked is involved tactics you old. Defensive tactics evolved. Next years topic is great defenses of the civil war. [laughter] get your tickets early. Our keynote speaker will be talking about the defense of South Mountain. Chris will be giving our tour of the may 18 battlefield at the courthouse. Get that out of the way. I think defenses are a sexy topic of the civil war. Lets look at second manassas. We have how many paintings of the rock curlers. You have Thomas Reed Ruth Cobb sitting down in the sunken road and losing his life defending fredericksburg. Thats a very sexy topic. Chanting fredericksburg, fredericksburg. It is so good we are doing a symposium after it. [indiscernible] well, he is the senior Union Officer left in the battlefield will get credit for that stand. [laughter] from the Chattanooga Campaign i will nominate another great defense. He was benefited by William Tecumseh sherman willingly marching into it, but William Joseph party and patrick labors disposition of troops on the north and the missionary ridge. That illustrates a lot of the developing defensive capabilities of the war to that point. The big piggyback about maries heights, in general robert e. Lee knew he did not have the piggyback about the battle of maries heights. Generally general lee knew he did not have any capability. He wanted to drop the union army in and use a defensive position. He does it very well. When you talk about great defenses, breeze heights is one. I always talk about before fredericksburg a lot of the soldiers of both the north and south thought they should stand facetoface and fight each other mantoman. When they saw that using that wall was very advantageous to them, they started using entrenchments after that. To bring it back to the topic at hand of the symposium and tie it into the question, defense is the superior form of warfare. It requires less energy, it is simpler, and it requires less of everything that an attack does. Actually having studied baton and counterattack plans, theyll have enough supplies or gasoline or energy to go on the defensive, its better to stay on the defense. Then you have the technological advantages the defense has in the civil war, particularly by earthworks, rifle, must get, canon musket, cannon and things of that nature. Thats what makes these attacks of compelling. You look at the stuff we talked about tonight, the stuff we are going to talk about tomorrow and you look at all these supposed advantages to the defender but the attacks get pushed through to success. Why . What is the difference . It requires more energy, more firepower, more coordination, more of everything than the defense. Why do they win even with the cards being in the defense . Even with the defense being the superior form of warfare . When you think about what we are talking about tomorrow i would put that in the next mix. There is some truly great stances in the civil war. Im looking forward to hearing about it and talking about it. With a recognition of the great issue you brought up, the glory Great Questions about power of defense, that makes these great attacks we are talking about tomorrow, i think that make it more compelling an even greater stories in many respects. I commend that thought. I commend that cause they thought to you has we look at what we are going to be talking about tomorrow. [indiscernible] most of us have probably been to a Civil War Battlefield and notice how geography to dates dictates the attacks. [indiscernible] why did these men follow orders when they look at the terrain and didnt want to do that . What are your thoughts on the answers to that question . Why follow orders . Ok, i think one thing, and we have a lot of letters and diaries from the men that fought in the four battles around here, they will fight for each other because a lot of those men in those regiments were raised in the same towns and counties so they knew each other. Cowardice was not really well thought of background. If you became a coward you could never go home again. Plus you had to think about those men. If you dont do your job, maybe your brother, maybe your best friend gets killed. When you think about that, these men will do their duty. I have studied various aspects of American Military history from 1775 to the present. I will take a broader take on this. It goes partly to discipline, partly to unit cohesion, partly to believe in your leaders, pro rata fighting for each other. I think that is a very big part as stewart must adequately points out. Many times he brought up missionary ridge, a great example of one of those moments where they get to the bottom of the ridge. I gave a talk on normandy a couple of weeks ago, and it seems to be a moment in certain american battles were american soldiers either cant go back, cant stay where they are, so the only option is to go forward. That is what got the 29th in the First Divisions off on the hot beach on june 6, 1944. The same spirit that gets those men up missionary ridge. It is the same spirit you can find that it gets the men of bunker hill, san juan hill. There is something im not even sure i could find the proper words to describe it, but there is something in the spirit of what motivates americans to fight that shows up in moments like that. It is probably a combination of what stewart talked about, but there is something even more, something that is a deeper reservoir that is tapped into from time to time that repels these people forward when the chips are down. Particularly for the civil war i will add they knew they were fighting for Something Special and unique. The only representative of the government on the face of the earth at that time with the United States. Whether the United States survived or did not survive, one nation or two, what form of republic. There were a lot of people in the world watching. There was a full other International Aspect to our civil war. People wanting to see the outcome of it. Whether or not we really can be govern ourselves. Government of the people, by the people, for the people. They knew there were huge stakes. You might say im an american exceptionalism and out of touch with the times and the like, but in the mid19th century this was ultimately they knew what the stakes were. [indiscernible] long street at second manassas. [indiscernible] long street at second manassas. It probably wouldve needed to be a relatively small army and 1862 in vicksburg. Chris, you want to take up . [laughter] here is the thing about the Mississippi River campaign. We never tried anything like it before. People forget that in 1862, the first time we talked about the tactics discussion of headquarters, gives the first time in American History of core headquarters. They are learning on the fly. Fair get his commanding the largest fleet ever assembled in the history of United States navy when he goes in portland. I dont give too much of the plot away for tomorrow. He wins the victory and we embark on a river Ride Campaign that looking back through the prism of the pacific war for your used to fighting pointtopoint along the waterway, it makes sense. It had never been tried before 1862. Its a longwinded way of saying i dont think they had any idea what the true impact was going to be. Ben butler only has about 18,000 guys. He has the garrison the city of almost 10 times that amount the population, 168000 and change. He doesnt have a whole lot despair. George mcclellan, who had been asked to provide troops, cut down the lot because of the peninsula campaign. I think its a combination of factors, but the big thing to be kept in mind is we look back on the civil war at these armies in the navys looking back at the perspective of two world wars. And you forget that there is a lot of things they are doing in the civil war for the first time. Largest army that largest army in the history of United States before first manassas that an officer has ever commanded is washington at your cap. Yorktown. 17,000 men. Thats the size of some of these corps in the civil war. And just like marching out the first manassas, mcdowell has more experience than any of the u. S. Officer in the history of uniteds army, just by marching out and commanding an army that big and moving it and supplying it. I think we need to remember that when we think about these guys. Was it a missed opportunity . You bet you. They would be great to have Infantry Division to go after vicksburg, although at the same time they ran into the same problem at vicksburg that they did outside of richmond. At the same time i give them a certain pass because im not sure they sought coming. Saw it coming. The average civil war officer is going off in 1861, even west point trained, they are not necessarily going to west point all the time. They are becoming officers and engineers. A lot of these guys are designing railroads. They are working on engineering projects. They have not commanded more than 120 men. Here comes sherman reading the manual hes driving a new car about how imovie brigade from how do i move a brigade from that line of battle. There is a lot of learning on the fly. I have to give the western armies a lot of credit for their combined operations with an 80 and with the army with the navy and the army that worked so many times well together. Chris will talk about new orleans tomorrow. Going to second manassas, thats a fantastic attack that takes place. James long street longstreet is credited with being slow, but he delivers a hammerlike low. Normally people say Stonewall Jackson was the man to do this, this was the perfect execution of a napoleonic tactic where you are holding one army in place and smashing it. If it wasnt for the tenacious fighting of the pennsylvania preserve reserve, second manassas couldve been more of a route than it actually was. Then you have john pope taking on lee is only been a command for a few months, but hes a veteran commander at this point compared to john pope. Question over here. We have talked about gettysburg and spotsylvania courthouse and some of the great attacks, what about some of the minor events that turned out to be great attacks in the war department. If anybody on the panel wants to speak on that. We had a comment about the attack on the albermarle. On the other end of North Carolina in june of 1864 there was an extremely blind array, 120 Union Soldiers came at a greenville, tennessee and attacked a conscript camp full of junior reserves. What the attack does is it opens and shows everybody that western North Carolina is seriously exposed. Then you have all these families that are getting burned out. It leads to more desertion of North Carolina soldiers. In the big picture of things it really is a great attack. Are there other instances in the history of the time period where we have these minor events that are really great attacks. Go forward if you got something. A minor event that is a great attack, march 17, 1863. Maybe 2530 minutes of the road. A Cavalry Division is going to return the favor to his old west point friend, lee server the prices tickets a few weeks before. He receives permission across the rappahannock and attack lees confederates. Its a daylong battle on a small scale, larger scale at Brandy Station in a few months afterwards. The men go toe to toe and hold her own against lees confederates. This action, although he withdrawals in the field at the end of the day, this action provides a very critical, crucial morale boost for the union calvary. Its not just his men that participate in that fight, who come out of it and a confident manner. That confidence spreads throughout the rest of the union corp and source serves as a Vehicle Operations in 1863 at the battle of Brandy Station in june. Many of you probably know where im going with this. Outside of richmond, virginia, seven pines. A disjointed and poorly run attack by Joe Johnstons army of Northern Virginia. Still creates problems for the federals and reinforcements. Arrive a skirmish with confederates marching down the nine mile road. Under the watchful eye of their committee general. A soldier, they think its a 34th new york, they think they have narrowed it down to being the culprits, shoots joe johnston. The next day Gustavo Smith takes over. That last for one day, partly because the guy is gestapo smith and not the most competent individual in the world. There is also the fact he is from the state of new york. That is just not something jeff davis wants to stand, plus smith is continuous. Robert e. Lee takes command. That would be one of the best definitions of a small event that turned into a great failed attack in this case for the confederates, but had a tremendous strategic repercussion for the rest of the war. Let me jump on what he just said. I will take it back a little further and going to western virginia, go to Chief Mountain where he fails. He has army command for the first time. Now he is out trying to fight in these terrible mountains, trying to coordinate with volunteer troops. When the richmond papers find out how poorly he had done at their, Jefferson Davis has to pull him back and spent hit send him down to the southeast and eventually brings him back to richmond to figure out what to do with this guy. That is something i just wrote about. I will followup. The mine run campaign and go a little bit before that into october of 1863 in the frisco station campaign. A small attack that has farreaching implications. Members of ap hills core will attack a retreating union column. As the campaign develops George Gordon meade is pulling soldiers back, raising to the defense of centerville. Robert e proven the army of Northern Virginia is not defeated, they are not down and for the account following gettysburg. They are still a viable army and aggressive army. The attack launched by these north carolinians, although tactically defeated, is going to raise a lot of questions. General meade took command for three days before gettysburg. Joseph hooker is in command for most of the campaign. Meade is autocratic for the post battle victory. Is this guy really capable of defeating lee . Izzy able to do it is he able to do for the long haul . Couple that with mine run, these north carolinians defeated them and will have farreaching applications in the minds of men like lincoln and the northern homefront about this new commander of the army of the potomac thats only been a command for several months. [indiscernible] final take away thoughts . How would you rate wesley merritts charge at the confederate left at third winchester . With that rate is a great assault . Would that rate as a great assault . You are a cav guy. [laughter] as my grandfather used to say, no question. Absolutely, yes. It is a fantastic mounted charge at a time when mounted charges, you are starting to see them less and less. They are starting to become a thing of the past. It is great because it represents where the Union Cavalry once was. It is incredible successful. By that point in time in 1864, the Union Cavalry had begun a transition. They were moving away from the traditional roles of scouting, screening, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and so one. They were moving to more of a mounted strikeforce. Horses were a means of transportation and mobility to get met from point a to point b on a battlefield so they could fight. Winchester is something totally opposite of that. Large mounted charge by the Union Cavalry crashes and smashes into jubal earlys left flank. Its one of the deciding point of the battle. Its sort of to me yes, its a great assault but it is what cavalry once was and not what it was becoming. [indiscernible] can i put you on the spot . Im anticipating your final question. [laughter] i will start with our chief historian. Take it away. I think its a fantastic aspect. The defense is interesting, but i think like chris said there is so much to it. It is so complex. There are so many variables. There are officers coming up in the ranks like war and warren listening to their teachers at west point sanctity a three to one odd to take a fortification. Binder officers saying open field fighting is the way to be because men fight behind earthworks in a salon fit for fighting. You are fighting behind earthworks. Its a great transition very period. Were looking to go out, new tactics coming in. Dan talks about merritts attack. The five forks and the men holding the line so that more and warren can attack with cavalry but they are dismounted, just like john buford of the first day of gettysburg. I enjoyed reading about those, but there are some very heartwrenching accounts when you see what comes from those great attacks. These are not just numbers, they are men. To read some of the accounts. Mike knows lots about plans for gate lance brigade. Another almost has a breakdown after he watched his men, 910 of them go down including his own brother and it shatters him. They also created one of the greatest friendly fire incidents of the war with Stonewall Jackson. It will be a heartwrenching thing. [indiscernible] yeah, me ironically. s first First Talking about the unsuccessful attack by the usct. General George Gordon meade doesnt believe in colored troops, but benjamin button does. Just two months after the battle of the crater, you will have the battle of newmarket heights and the United States colored troops fighting their will defeat the texas brigade. When they do that, general Benjamin Butler will be forever devoted to the United States colored troops. In fact he will create the butler medal for the soldiers because of their bravery at the battle of newmarket heights. 16 of the u. S. Colored troops will be given medals of honor. Two of their white officers and 14 black soldiers. Butler proves the u. S. Colored troops can be very valuable fighters in the civil war. I think one of the things we have touched upon with the questions and discussion is that you need for a successful attack to be executed, you need good leadership. We trace that leadership to men who are extremely confident in themselves. Other men look to them to be led. And sometimes that confidence can be mistaken at times for arrogance and other adjectives, but i think the one thing the attacks need or must have is a good leader. If a good leader is Going Forward and the men see him, they say he is not afraid to go forward. Why should i be afraid he go forward . That type of mentality can work wonders on a battlefield. If i had already quoted, i would do it here. I will say this because i agree with dan. Hes all some of what i was kind to say is that leadership makes a difference in every single one of these actions. Napoleon said it in 1805. The idea that one person can make or break an action. I want to pull the lens back further and simply echo something many you have probably heard jim say again and again. It occurred to me as im sitting here and listening to us having this great conversation and see all the great people here, many of whom traveled a great distance to be here. If you accept as we do in the emerging civil war that is the defining event in the history of this country, what ultimately turns the outcome of the civil war . What defines the civil war . It is a fine on the battlefield. Defined on the battlefield. To understand the defining event of American History, one of the essential things you have to understand is the progress of the war on the battlefield. That is why stuff like this is conversation conversations like this matter. It helps you better refine and understand who these people were in the 1860s, what they did, and how would they did resonates with us to this very minute right now. I will read emphasize what chris touched on a little bit at the end of his wrapup. That is the human cost of these assaults. On the afternoon of july 1, 1863, the 26th North Carolina was the largest regiment in the army of Northern Virginia. In 20 minutes of their assault, 588 it became casualties. Each one of them had a family, loved ones, community, a support system. All of these lives extending off from these individual men, in their lives, their communities were forever changed. We cannot dismiss that too lightly. Often times we get wrapped up only talk about soandsos brigade, or colonel soandsos regiment was in the action or participated in the assault, or they suffered 53 casualties, or 60 casualties. Whatever the number is we forget who the men were that comprised those numbers, comprised those units. I would like to close my wrap up with a quote of the commander of the eighth virginia. It was part of picketts charge on july 30, 1863. In the postwar years he wrote that it hit he had been invited to return to the great battlefield. He would normally turn down those invitations, not wanting to go back to gettysburg. Did not want to go back to those fields between cemetery and seminary ridges. As he wrote, he said he would nearly kill me to see her all of my best friends felt. Soldiers lives, leadership, by and large to be successful you need to be active, proactive. Militarily is to maintain and exploit the initiative that usually means taking the offensive and very often it means you will have to launch an attack. And hopefully it will be well planned, well coordinated, synchronized, and successful. But the need to gain and maintain initiative has often led to many of these assaults not always successful. But given up the panel tonight. [applause] you are watching American History tv 48 hours of , programming on American History every weekend on cspan 3. Follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. This weekend, on american artifacts, we tour the battleship wisconsin, one of the largest built by the u. S. Navy, built in 1943, seeing service from world war ii through the gulf war. Heres a preview. Welcome to the battleship wisconsin. Some general statistics about the ship include the fact that she is large and fast. 187 feet two inches wide. Fully loaded means she comes in at 58,000 tons