what a perfect introduction. thank you. that s great. john and i are delighted to be back here at the lincoln forum. those of you who know us even a little bit will not be surprise today hear last night we had an opportunity to get together and consume some wine. and in the midst of that conversation, fueled by wine we were talking about how we were th terribly jealous of ron chernow whose biography of hamilton inspired a very lucrative musical on broadway. so we thought how appropriate it would be to have joseph e. johnston the musical. [laughter] or william t. sherman the musical or the one that really inspired us was henry wager halek the musical. as you see on the screen here and you ll be delighted to hear, this is not going to be a musical presentation today. instead, alas, it is a tragedy in three acts. act one. on april 17, 1865, which is a full week after lee surrendered to grant at appomattox as we just heard a few moments ago, joseph e. johnston and william t.
he is also the winner of the that particular book won the samuel elliott morrison award. e is the author of lincoln and his admirals which won the lincoln prize in 2009. in recognition of his extraordinary contribution, the naval historicle foundation in 2014 awarded him the congressman duredudly w. knox history award for lifetime achievement. professor john mars lak is william s. giles distinguished professor emeritus of mississippi state university came out of retirement in 2008 and accepted the task of serving as executive director of the uelills sis s grant presidential library and managing editors. he is the tautsdzer of a dozen books. incheweding sherman. and sherman s other war. his honors include an excellence in writing award from the u.s. army historicle oundation. as testament to the high regard in which he is held, several of his students contributed to an editted volume titled, of times and race. ees says inspired. i was honored to have the opportunity to contr