Two points to note: 1) An absolutely enormous blemish against Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia was the fact that they literally kidnapped freed black Pennsylvanians during the Gettysburg campaign and hauled them back with them on their retreat into bondage. That abhorrent behavior is rarely brought up regarding the supposedly gentlemanly myth of the Southern officer corps. 2) Meade didn't arrive on the battlefield until the end of the first day, which left operational field command of the Union forces in the hands of a general by the name of Abner Doubleday. Decades later, this same Abner Doubleday would retroactively (and falsely) be declared by Major League Baseball to have been the inventor of baseball. So good old mythological Abner is to blame for cricket's downfall over here.

I'm so glad you also stressed the importance of Vicksburg. I think people can get so caught up in Gettysburg that they miss the fact that Vicksburg was the real dagger in the heart of the South. The war was won by the North on those couple days in July.

I think this gentleman drastically overstates the CSA's odds of winning the war without foreign intervention.

The reason to fight in Pennsylvania, in addition to getting fresh supplies and hoping to hasten an end to the war with a spectacular victory on Northern soil, was to get to Harrisburg, which was a major rail and troop training center, and cause a major disruption to the Union Army supply and troop transport. His scouts got as far as Camp Hill which was just across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg.

I love your coverage of history. I discovered you this week. The emancipation proclamation also decreed that all slaves in areas of the south under Union control was now Union property and they were set free. One of the consequences of this is that huge African American caravans would travel with Union troops. By the way Lincoln and Churchill are the two men I consider the greatest men of the last millennia

"Self-emancipation" - I love that word!

Loving these.

I personally disagree with the assessment that Pickett's charge wasn't doomed. They had to cross a mile+ of open terrain under fire in full view of the Union Army. It was a reverse situation of Fredericksburg, where Lee shattered a Union army that tried to do the same thing under similar circumstances. Lee needs to be called out for his victory disease here. Pickett's charge was 10x worse of a decision than Grant's greatest blunder at Cold Harbor.

A small quibble, the fences were rail fences, not picket fences.

Been to Gettysburg a couple times and watching reenactments with a thousand actors and realizing there were 100 times that many soldiers on those fields in 1863

Custer has been credited with an important contribution to the Union victory (of avoidance of defeat) at Gettysburg. It is said that he led two or three cavalry charges which were significant in the Union victory. Is this fair comment or exaggeration?

The influence of Thomas Parker is found in the Gettysburg address.

FIRST! Well done, gentlemen - well done!

You should have mentioned that the rioters also resented that wealthy men could pay a $300 commutation fee to avoid being drafted.

Hi Shane 👋

I find nothing romantic about the Civil War and especially the Confederacy. Many people over the years have tried to whitewash and romanticize the Confederacy and their cause. General Grant summed up the reality of the situation as good as anybody who was there: “I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”

I disagree with the (commonly held) idea that the battle of Gettysburg broke the myth of Lee’s invincibility. That’s a creation of history written years later. As late as the summer of 1864 both union and confederate officers refer to Lee as a man who has never been beaten in battle. It would seem that at least during the war, Gettysburg was seen (particularly in the south) as similar to Antietam (a tactical draw). It only become the turning point of the war in hindsight, but the confederates still thought they could win as late as fall/early winter of 1864

William Cuthbert Faulkner is a great writer and a complete shit (in a Martin Luther sort of what) in what it would cost in human lives.