she is responsible for re-creating the beds and mountes that make vernon believable as a home. nancy is widely recognized as the leading american expert of textiles of the 18th and 19th centuries. she began her career as an archaeologist, deeply interested in understanding the ways people how theythe past, lived with and express themselves through their material possessions. over the past 30 years. , natalie has taken that approach above ground by studying furnishing textiles in order to re-create them. she began as an archaeological draftsmen. while at williamsburg, natalie refurbished nearly every expedition building, including the most recent restoration of the peyton randolph house. natalie has worked for more than 80 museums and public sites. she is the go to textile expert for what i consider the three most important houses in america -- mount vernon, monticello, and the white house. natalie is an extraordinary mentor to curators around the country. she selflessly provides insights from her years of study. ifore i leave this podium, would like to introduce you to her latest project from mount vernon, the blue bedchamber. over the past year, natalie re-created george and martha washington's long-lost blue bed from scratch in consultation with amanda isaac. surviving invoice and beds of the period, natalie carefully assembled the parts wet makes the bed that believe the washingtons would recognize. in the past week, natalie confided to me that one of her career goals is to see all of the man should bedchamber is restored. so far, she has re-created for beds for us, but there are three left to go. in the coming years, we hope to make natalie's vision a reality. i hope you keep this lecture and natalie's work in mind as we seek support for these projects. without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, natalie larson. [applause] natalie: i think we will have to put adam on the family payroll. [laughter] gosh. i aspire to live to maybe up to half of that. first, i want to thank adam for helping me though that -- the past couple of weeks pulling the slides that mount vernon has in the archives. i also want to thank amanda isaac, who let me read her account book report here on file. also to susan scholer, who has a deep and abiding interest in everything textile. the steady of furnishing textiles is important because it provides a wi -- a window we make to make our living spaces not just attractive, but more comfortable. not everyone had these choices to make. during the colonial period, most people lived on pallets or low post beds and sat on relatively few people even had a ofmpse at the grandeur anything like this bad on the left in england -- anything like this bed in england, much less slept on anything like it. easy chairs were few and sofas even rarer. although george washington owned several dozen chairs, some carved and some windsor, we know of only one easy chair at mount vernon and one so far, acquired ,ears later -- and one sofa acquired years later. in examining george washington's furnishings, we are looking at an elite class of americans and comparing his beds with others of his status. documents rely on research, surviving textiles and furniture, period graphics, and architectural and archaeological remains to piece together a possible narrative which would serve to interpret historic house museums and the families who live there -- families who live there. mount vernon is fortunate to have a large cache of documents to examine and supports ongoing research, which has been helpful in the recent reinterpretation of rims here at the mansion. for the purposes of this conference, i would like to expand on the research of curators at mount vernon and compare three of washington's to those in other collections in similar colonial homes. i will be looking just at the three known beds we are sure washington used, although we know he's left everywhere. -- we know he slept everywhere. [laughter] natalie: first, where and how did washington acquire his beds? most likely he conferred with his contemporaries on where they were able to purchase locally through cabinetmakers and upholsterers, as well as agents in london. of pollsters were more than suppliers, they were arbiters of taste and fashion. according to robert campbell, a london tradesman, the upholder is the chief agent in this case, the man upon whose judgment i rely in the choice of goods. a bed and all its pieces were considered the highest commission the upholsterer could receive, largely because of the high cost of fabric and trim and feather beds, less so the wooden bedstead. another person wrote, "to unite elegance and utility and blend useful with agreeable has ever been considered difficult but honorable." campbell goes on to list the many species of tradesman involved in the upholstered a trade, including cabinetmakers, goebbels -- carvers, drapers, smits, and seamstresses. he notes a tradesman who was a good hand is paid 12 to 15 shillings a week and the women, if good for anything, get a shilling a day. shope french upholsterer's , you can just make out the women selling at a long table on the left. apparently, women who could cut and make balances -- valances were paid slightly more than those he made straight hanging curtains. a half storiesnd when the house was built in 1734 and used by his brother lawrence until his death in 1752, washington acquired mount vernon in 1754 and begins expanding it by 1758. although he inherits a bed and curtains from his mother mary and probably purchases other smaller beds after that, his first significant purchase occurs a couple of years before his 1759 marriage to martha custis. washington is able to purchase secondhand from london and have created and shipped to virginia a bedstead with mahogany carved and fluted foot pillars or posts , damascus or nature or curtains -- damasque furniture or curtains. receives six gothic style chairs, an elbow chair, an easy chair, and three window curtains in a matching yellow damasque. came nine pieces of crimson and yellow wallpaper and borders to furnish the bedchamber. many significant that like of his peers before the revolutionary war, washington opted to have his english goods shipped, despite the time and extra cost. there was a famous saying that english goods were the best. histionally, he mistrusted agent's taste and judgment. nevertheless, this buying pattern continued for several years as he preferred the quality of english goods to country furniture or locally made virginia furniture. on the left is an image of these the smithsonian -- is an image from the since -- is an image from the smithsonian institute of his bed. although the cornice rails, headboard, and back post and the photograph are now missing and the foot post has been cut down at the top, it appears to have had slots for bed slats as opposed to a sacking bottom and a plane headboard and square posts. this was typical of english beds in the. -- in the period as head cloths were often wrapped on the headboard. the important thing is the textile was more important than the headboard, which would become decorative later on. sacking bottoms seems to have been an matter of personal preference. wood slats placed closely together would give even more support and a linen sacking bottom was more expensive and needed to have its ropes tightened periodically. if you have ever slept on a rope bed, you know you roll to the center. sacking bottoms are pretty much the same thing. when the blue room was purchased just before his wedding, washington requested that this bed have a sacking bottom and a compass rod, newly reproduced on the second floor with lightweight cotton curtains. you see the sacking bottom and tight upholstered head cloths covering a plane had posed after the english fashion. on the right is an original sacking bottom on the kirwan bed in salem, massachusetts dating from 1810 to 1815 that is the conservator on the right vacuuming the linen and hemp rope, which until recently had not seen the light of day in over 100 years, having been on exhibit continuously at the essex institute since 1911. it was pretty dirty. [laughter] natalie: it took more than a few people to clean, too. looking at these surviving carved mahogany put post, it is obvious they have been shortened at the top and the corn is removed to fit the lower ceilings on the second and third floors. although we do not know the original height of the bed with its cornice, it must have been placed on the first floor of the mansion, as was often the case in the mid-18th century. when he ordered new blue copperplate for his bedstead, washington asked for a specific height, not to exceed a 7.5 foot pitch. hoping to set up a bed on the second floor to avoid this situation where he had a bed that was to talk with the second floor. recently, i had a chance to work on a very fine bed in a private collection that is remarkably like washington's yellow bed. it is also mid-18th-century english and retains its car corners, rails, and square back posts. a foot tallerarly than washington's bed, but the carving is very similar. owned by jerry dalton, who is here with us today, this bed was fitted with a compass rod and curtains that would have enclosed the foot posts, so that any carbon below the mattresses would not have been seen. valances they put the on the lower level of rails to cover the woodwork. these also extended to cover the entire foot post. not always the case, but happened more often than not. those posts terminate in molded casters. this is the best english or american bed i have worked on in america from the mid-18th-century. bed has extra carving on the foot portion of the posts. for this and other reasons, it was probably a three rod bed with six and not four curtains. a couple of detail shots of these two beds. and we call this jerry's bed. we have jerry's bed on the left in our garage. on the right, we can see the washington bed. close-up, you can see the spiral fluting, very similar, and the balusters. as for the fabric -- i should probably mention one other interesting detail. on the washington bed, there is diddling -- there is stippling on the background of the balusters to give extra definition. wasor the fabric, damask a very unique stories -- unique choice. on this card are many goods listed for sale as well as types of test files -- textiles. k, conference, and then checks. on the lower right is a memento kr token made from the dama on the bed we think washington had, which is said to be from her grandmother's room where she cap following the death of general washington. several great colonial homes had been hangings and associated furniture for their bed chambers damask.w to mask -- this silk and wool damask curtain and valance was used in newberry port, massachusetts on the outskirts of boston. a similar scrap in a private collection, now missing, mentions it was from a bed washington slept in on his travels north in 1979 -- on his travels north after winning the presidency. you can just make out the fringe with silk embellishments. recently i was talking to a colleague in england who has been working on the handle house bed. they needed to have this knotted wool fringe replicated and it took local volunteer women a knot enough not -- fringe. needless to say, hardly anyone does this anymore. [laughter] natalie: two of the best documented extant houses in america are near boston, the jeremiah lee mansion in marblehead and a house in portsmouth, new hampshire. they have very detailed references to their best bed chambers. the 1776 prorated inventory of the lee mansion lists from his chamber over the front parlor a full suite of yellow silk damask curtains with easy chair and window curtains. there is also a spectacular original wallpaper in several of the rooms in this house. the bedstead and curtains were re-created in the 1990's. at the house in new hampshire, the 1768 inventory lists yellow damask bed curtains, a fluted black walnut bedstead, one yellow damask covered easy chair, six yellow damask covered chairs, three window curtains, three bed carpets, looking glasses, dress glass, table, etc. used to callgs this the best documented bedchamber in new england. [laughter] natalie: quite possibly. this is original wallpaper scraps they have had re-created. i don't know if you can tell on the far right, but they had friends that were positioned carefully in the original room. they have conserved those and pasted those back onto the replica wallpaper, really spectacular. a third house torn down in the mid-19th century is the thomas and later john hancock house in beacon hill's. they likewise had a suite of yellow damask bed hangings from the early 1750's-17 60's period. this room also had four matching window curtains, yellow damask sofa, very unusual in the period to see a sofa in a bedchamber, an easy chair, 10 side shares, four yellow damask swaths. the only remaining fees that has been identified is this easy chair with large pieces of the original domestic -- original damask still on it. it is on view at the new england genealogical society in boston. this chair was likely saved because it was part of an exhibition of governors chairs from the new england estate any 82 and none of the other governors chairs survived. it is stated to 1760. as a side note, washington meets with hancock in boston shortly after he becomes president. initially snubbing the new president the day he arrives, he thinks better of it and meets within the next day, his legs wrapped in bandages, claiming the gout had kept him from their dinner meeting before. washington does not hold a grudge, meets with them for an hour. nameslater, john hancock his son george washington hancock. he did not hold a grudge either. yellow was a fashionable choice for clothing as well as furnishing textiles. martha washington wears a gown of yellow silk damask when she marries george in 1757. maybe she was influenced by the bed, we don't know. [laughter] natalie: remnants of her gown are on the right from the mount vernon convection. -- convention. well damask used as furniture sometimes had repeats of the six inches in length, this one only has a repeat of 15 inches. also in the collection are several dozen cross stitch cushions she embroidered throughout her marriage. the yellow worsted wool comes from england. she requested that the primary color be yellow. the secondary colors she was simply a second, a third, and a fourth, probably leaving it up to the agent to pick the rest for her. some of the cross stitch is highlighted with bits of silk on top of the wall stitches -- wool stitches. the general was often away at battle or under campus -- under canvas, as it was called, for months at a time. men slept huddled together, sometimes just under blankets. officers could afford to outfit themselves with campaign furniture, mimicking the comforts of home. ,ashington ordered a field bed bedstead, and curtains, mattresses, etc., in 1775 for his use, and tents for joining -- for dining, sleeping, and congregating. years ago, we had the yorktown greenwald -- yorktown green wool marquee tent in williamsburg for conservation. part of that process was to vacuum the textile. a lot of what we were collecting in the vacuum filter were whiskers. they apparently were using this as a shaving tent. we also found remnants of wine and blood. list for aequipment british lieutenant listed a travel caught instead of a -- a travel cot instead of a field bed but included a floor cloth, bedside carpet, multiple mattresses, pillows, chairs, stools, tables, coverlet, blankets, sheets, and a bag for his servant's betting. one english officer justified the many bundles of goods by saying "the more an officer makes himself comfortable, the better will be his duty, as well as secure his health and comfort of those belonging to him. the greater must be your baggage for the length of time you are obliged to march without maintaining a fresh supply." the philadelphia upholsterer used by washington took up tent and flat making and sold campaign furniture during the revolutionary years. in england, specialist tradesmen advertised they could make almost any furniture, part for travel, especially beds. i think you can see in the upper right, you can see the tent. there is a compass field bed. numerous trade cards, by the way, that feature just campaign furniture. it must have been a very big deal. bed is made field ech, which indicates english origin. the frame collapses to fit into a bed -- into a bag for travel. paraphrasing sheridan, he knows that every article must be made very portable, both for package and that such utensils should not be tarred -- should not retard rapid movement, either after or from the enemy. thomas chippendale wrote that furniture -- that is to say, curtains -- are made to take off and are hung with hinges for the convenience of hanging up. sheridan calls these throw over style curtains, made to hang in a single piece, much like a tablecloth over a table. sheraton calls these throw over style curtains. on the left is a set from colonial williamsburg. what you are seeing is part of the side of the bed. it goes around the foot, where it is flat. you can see in mimic the shape of the sheraton image on the right. you can also see the hinges for collapsing and the sacking bottom. sheraton has drawn these two angledas options, an hexagonal top in the rear and a curved compass castor in the front, writing that feel beds are either hexagonal or elliptical shaped and hinged so as to fold together. in another drawing of a hexagonal tester on the right, which i think is french -- but over here on the left is one of the earliest surviving can't beds in england from 1690. this style was called a slope field bed and was common on the continent. although the washington tester , they havemissing been replicated based on period practice. two similar feel beds are known, one at colonial williamsburg and the other at the smithsonian institution. both of these retained their linen sacking bottoms but are missing their testers. fragile, theare so tester sweeps rarely survive. curtains for field beds varied greatly. cadwalladerphian requested his fashionable red and white copperplate for a field bed, was probably matched the most expensive bed in his house, which was considerable, and featured plumes at the top of the posts. which i think is the only time i have ever seen that in america. chippendale supplied his clients with field bed hangings of superfine crimson maureen, yellow, calico, gauze, but most were blue or green check. in 1762, james boswell of london writes that he had a handsome tent made with green check curtains, with gave a snug yet genteel look to my room and had a military air, which amused my fancy and made me quite happy. when we were reproducing the curtains for the washington field bed, we went with the green and white check, also going along with the notion that part of his tent was green wool. early 19th century, campaign beds were generally iron or brass, like napoleon's field bed, replicated here. the bedstead is original but the hangings are new. we keep hoping that they will find more of these field beds in the addicts of english stately homes -- in the attics of english stately homes. every once in a while something pops up. i keep thinking, why don't they go up there and study everything at once? [laughter] natalie: in the early 19th century, campaign beds were generally iron or brass, like napoleon's field bed. not all field beds were small. at the turn-of-the-century, some cabinetmakers were making tall post beds for use in india, presumably because you could good -- because you could put gauze over them so they would be cooler to sleep in. some movable bed's were only seven or eight feet tall, less than half the size of state beds. the blue arrow indicates the top of the travel bed, which is the size of the blue bedstead upstairs at mount vernon. bed, whichliam ii's retains its now tattered crimson silk damask hangings. there were upper 30 field bed listed for service and staff traveling with the king at hampton court, but this is the last one left. of the three remaining mattresses, one is white kid skin, which would have been very practical for travel. but not all generals were encamped with their troops. general knox traveled from new ofk to new jersey the winter 1778-1779. his wife and young child come with him, where they rented the home of a dutch miller. this house is interpreted today. x brought furniture, including a tall post bed. we know it was more than a field bed because curtains were sent without valances and the family had the right to new york for the service to send along the valances to complete the set. lucy was sick with a second pregnancy and sadly loses that child, who was buried at bedminster. in the summer of 1779, lucy leaves bedminster and stays with martha washington at mount vernon for a time. they must have comforted each other, both having lost many infants as young mothers and with their husbands so far away. president george washington returns to mount vernon after his second term ends and begins to make improvements to his house. the last bed they purchased is one they had made in philadelphia, probably while they were still living there. it is very simple with four mahogany posts and a wider and longer size than commonly used in the period. it was fitted with curtains, a popular, reverse twill weave cotton fabric. a small strip was found within the walls of the mansion in a rats nest. we have that here on the right. it was analyzed for reproduction many years ago. a lot of museums are doing extensive research and their walls and floor boards now. historic charleston just found a in a rats nest, including parts of clothing and needles and all kinds of what not. it is kind of giving new life to architectural archaeology. [laughter] today this fabric is no longer woven in america although it was commonly used for more than 150 years in many different varieties. one weaver in england is the last one making this, but only limited quantities. it was fashionable because it was washable and held it shape better than plain weave fabric. there are multiple ways to leave with reversed well. damask, silk, wool, or die can survive a good washing and did not fade. this meant removing the 20 to 30 phases -- pieces to outfit the dense dead and to clean, dry, iron, repair, and rehang them. any fringes had to be removed and stitched back on. while heavier curtains were put away in the hot months, this one could be used year-round. it was used for window and that curtains and slipcovers. it shows up in the inventories of nearly all the first president, including the white house, where dolly madison was said to have hung them in the unfinished rooms to dry. thomas jefferson so admired the curtains that he drew a plan for them to be replicated at monticello. they were used on beds at andrew jackson's house, at the hermitage in nashville, and on a bed in rivers dell, maryland, where rosalie calvert had then made with right fringe -- with white fringe and green and red embellishment. this watercolor illustrates the fashion for white dinwiddie chambers. straightovers all the dinwiddie, highlighting the pattern wallpaper and carpets. for thisyre chairs chamber at the museum of fine arts boston are part of a set of five and probably matched with bed and window curtains. it is a very rare occurrence to have a set of slipcovers survive with their chairs, much less five of them. , abristol, rhode island chamber with white painted epitomizesnd dimity the enduring character of the best white bedchamber. this chamber remained largely unchanged for decades and was photographed in the 1860's, still fashionably correct. beach and straight rate -- the chintz drapery was the basis for the knox bedchamber in maine on the right. knox settled in maine and hired a former soldier named benjamin and have him make a bedstead and white painted cornice. he ordered dimity and have the curtains made locally. thus, the two generals, knots in washington, are ordering dimity beds at the same time. 1799 and thiss in bedchamber becomes a bit of a tourist attraction. martha moves the old yellow bed to the third floor and presumably uses that until she dies in 1802, three years after her husband. to her is bequeathed grandson, george washington parke custis, who has a set up at arlington house. it is there that the painter john chapman visits and sees this iconic bedstead in 1835. he goes to mount vernon to finish painting the chamber, thereby giving us a vision of must havebedstead looked like with some of the other surviving washington furniture. several rows blankets are also in the mount vernon collection and have been used to make new copies for the bedchamber's today. were simple white blankets of a good quality with embroidered corners, like compass roses. often these were given to young girls to embroider. the traditionally long stitches do not hold up well to washing and snagging. there was enough for us to do a color id and pattern -- a id and pattern. they must have been colorful in their day. with as many as a dozen or more beds in the mansion, there was a need for multiple sets of bed and pillow linen of all sorts and qualities. although some sheets were purchased ready-made, on a large plantation like mount vernon, quantities of linen were purchased to be hemmed as needed and represented a huge expense. young girls were put to having age, oftenat a young using marking stitches to label sets. these were carefully tracked. with few houses having more than two to three sets, they were a valuable commodity. i once did an inventory comparison at colonial williamsburg of the peyton randolph house. the dining room had four gilt mirrors, two marble sideboards, multiple mahogany chairs, horsehair seats, etc., china. the value of the dining room assemblage came to 70 pounds. when i looked at the linens and unused linens in the closet, it came to a value of 90 pounds. a stack of linen was worth more than all the marble, gilt, etc. that you see today if you visit the peyton randolph house. like the princess and the pea, elite houses had more than one mattress. the most expensive were two to three inches thick and were filled with curled horse and take care -- pig hair. in royal circles, they were fine linen or silk, like these on the right. on top of the one or two hair mattresses were placed equally fine mattresses of con flock or wool roving, also quilted to keep the fillings from shifting. the vast majority of people had just one straw bed or mattress that had to be refreshed from time to time and the strawberry distributed. trawather bed -- and the s redistributed. a feather bed was a luxurious item, sometimes costing more than the bed frame itself. the feathers had to be washed and dried to decrease -- degrease them before they were used, because if you don't do that, they become rancid and smell. washington purchased several pounds -- several hundred pounds of feathers. the protein in the feathers and hair mattresses attracted unwanted pests, making for a tough night's slumber. in america, other stuffings such andars -- march grass cornhusk's were used for filling. on the right, you see the square and of a bolster in maine with a ,heck tape edging the ticking and it is filled with corn husks. this is hard today, almost like a rock, but you can feel the cornhusk's inside. i have read one account from a woman in northern maine, who comments that you have to use if inner husks of the corn you are going to fill mattresses and bolsters. i don't know why, but that is what they thought. americast mattress in still on its bed dates to 1827. the mattresses made of blue ticking with check tape edges and a completely handstitched muslin slipcase around it. the mattress is filled with horse hair and tufted with red leather florettes. we know this because you can peek. there are a couple holes in the slipcover. partsttresses made in two , a larger center square and a second, narrow oblong with notches at the posts for the foot of the bed. not only -- not shown is a large feather tick, which goes with the set. it is in our miss, lofts up like three feet -- it is enormous, lofts up like three feet. close inspection of the head of the mattress revealed small red specks, blood spots from where bedbugs had been feasting, so we know this was a well used mattress. bedbugs and flies were a constant menace. in virginia, a young presbyterian tutor complained while traveling that for company all the night, i had bugs in every part of my bed and in the next room, several noisy fellows playing at billiards. solvedlly, he writes, he the problem by sitting up and reading until he was thoroughly exhausted. one jane carlyle wrote that she had to fling water at the mattress and stomp on the bugs that tried to get away and that it took the better part of a day to get her through this awful task. covering mirrors, paintings, food, and beds with mosquito gauze would help to keep flies from destroying expensive finishes. accounts abound of mice running atop a quilt and snakes landing overhead. quotes,r, multiple counter vans, and that drugs were needed -- counterpane's, and bed drugs were needed to keep from freezing, and there were many at mount vernon. martha washington brings a several quilts with her from her first marriage and later makes more quilts that are in the collection today. there are also known to have been three quilting frames in the family. still, the winter weather could be cold enough to freeze the chamber pot or keep the laundry from drying. 1756,traveling in benjamin franklin wrote in his diary "when we lodged in our inn the first night after we left him, the woman being about to put damp sheets on the bed, we desired to have her air them out first. half an hour after, she told us the bed was ready and the sheets were well aired. i jumped out immediately, finding them cold is death and partly frozen. she had aired them indeed, out upon the hedge. i was forced to wrap myself in a great code and woolen trousers. everything else about the bed was shockingly dirty." as much money and effort was put into procuring elegant furnishings for bed chambers, it is worth rendering that the quest for comfort was not as important as an elegantly appointed room. in war and peace, a safe, warm bed was much appreciated. thank you. [applause] natalie: questions, i guess? >> you are not the first dimension bedbugs in these talks -- not the first dimension bedbugs. you mentioned how bad they are, but did they have techniques for trying to get rid of bed bugs? any kind of bleach or treatment for washing? or did they just have to take the better part and replaced the materials? the second question is, lice are a different matter. those travel on the person and are very hard to get rid of. wouldms to me these inns have a really big problem with that because people go from inn to inn with life they are carrying on. what was done about these bugs? natalie: it is kind of interesting -- in england, her royal majesty had her own bug destroyer. there were advertisements in fore guards -- cards different people, pollsters, profit carries, who said they had the magic potion for getting rid of bed bugs. there is a problem in america today with bedbugs coming on shipping containers and so on. they did advertise that camphor ash, anise oil, a whole range of things. they also took beds apart from time to time. they were also sent back to cabinetmakers for painting green. for some reason, they thought green paint would inhibit bedbugs. that could be because of arsenic , i don't really know what their theory was. there is a distinction between louses. blouses -- if you read diaries, these people were assessed with bugs. very hard to get rid of them. the other interesting fact about bedbugs is they can live for nine months without eating. even if you don't use your mattress very often, they can still be dormant and quite happy until they find the next person. it was a problem. >> you used two phrases i was hs andmiliar with, swat compass last or something like that? natalie: squab is a cushion. these were put in window seats. some brick buildings had quite deep seats, so they put these in the seats. means a cushion for a square, so it is confusing. compass means around, it's so on --ield bed where you have just a round shape the top of the bed. it uses less fabric than a tall post bed, you don't have valance s, so it is a little trickier. you see them later in 18th-century-early 19th-century on second floors of houses, because with shorter ceilings you contact them into smaller spaces. talk them -- you can tuck them into smaller spaces. >> thank you, natalie. [applause] >> tweet us at c-span history. a tweet from madman across the water asking about them to issue that still resounds today, about how many people were fathered by u.s. gis in vietnam. how were they treated 45 years after the u.s. departure? announcer: you could be featured during our next live program. join the conversation on facebook at facebook.com/c-spanhistory and on twitter@c-spanhistory. announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: for three days in july 1863, the union and confederate armies faced off in gettysburg, pennsylvania. one of the most decisive battles of the civil war. next on american artifacts, we visit confederate general robert e. lee's gettysburg headquarters. the civil war trust, a nonprofit organization, purchased the house and surrounding land in 2015. we talk with jim lighthizer and garry adelman of the trust about the property's history and restoration. >> this house is significant to the battle of gettysburg. one of the most, if not the most important battle of the civil