Dr. Guelzo is an amazing lecturer. A great teacher is never boring and avoids rote lectures that are carbon copies of previous ones. Even when he lectures on the same topic in other places he throws in new material as if he knows many people will watch his lectures online and run across the same lecture but a a different location. He uses the words of our fathers with a passion for their characters and their own written words. He tries to get in their heads based on what material he can find and cross references that with contemporaries writing about the events going on at the same time ro get a deeper feel for what's behind their words and the things they had to think about and consider that came from contemporary sources. He's a great asset to the country in understanding our only civil war and its importance in preventing worse...servile wars and constant fracturing.
Dr. Guelzo is one of my favorites. How is it possible to know so much about the Civil War, battles, people, everything. He amazes me! As an amateur historian-retired nurse I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from this brilliant man, from lectures and books.
Man, tough to have been a general in the Civil War. Most information I have read Hooker noted that he had good qualities, and some bad ones. Alcohol was not one of them--at least not on a regular basis. I like some of this lecture, but typical of today's historians laying it heavy on the war's commanders. Dr. Guelzo, however, is a talented man.
When Grant told his father that he was getting paid to lead and train the regiment for war service, his father told him to try not to lose the job now that he was receiving a paycheck.Grant did good, he didn’t get fired.
Burnside ordered the Mud March. Mules sank , guns , soldiers, it was dangerous!! He was incompetent. This professor is a great speaker and very knowledgeable. This time of history was appointed by God, together with the key men. Amazing!!❤️🎼🎶🎶🎶🎶🎵🎵🎵🎵
In 1747, a road was laid out from York, Pennsylvania that eventually led to the establishment of the Town of Gettysburg. Three things about Pickett's Charge that never get mentioned. (A) Lee wanted to end the war one way or another. A successful July 3rd would have defeated the Union and forced them to retreat towards Washington. A Rebel defeat would mean that he would have to retreat having exhausted their artillery supply. (B) Lee had the largest number of cannon ever assembled in the Western Hemisphere (and largest ever since). How could he, the other Rebel generals or any little boy not want to see/hear/feel all those cannons fire together?! They could be heard in Harrisburg! After they fired all those cannonbols, Lee had to order the mass infantry charge. (C) Winfield Scott Hancock was in-charge of defending the Union center. He had his artillery and troops hold their fire to after the Rebel bombardment and the infantry charge was too far along to halt. Lee, Longstreet and Pickett were tricked into thinking they had softened the Union center. Hancock then opened up with fire on both their flanks and center. The Federal troops also had a stone wall like the South had at Fredericksburg. Hancock masterfully baited Lee. I don't know if Meade had anything to do with that. The next day was July 4th (7/4) and Lee prepared a defense for a Union attack that never came. A torrential rain started in the afternoon that continued for days while Lee directed his well-organized retreat. On that same day, Vicksburg surrendered to Grant after a 47-day siege. "4 score and 7 years ago, our fathers". See GOD=7_4 Theory at 7seals.blogspot.com .
John Ericsson, the Swedish engineer, designed Monitor, who intercepted Merrimac. Wow! That was music to my ears, being a Swede. I did know that, but it was good hearing him mention it.
Another mistake. The southern papers were denigrating JEB Stuart for losing at Brandy Station, not once, but twice. So, Stuart left Lee on purpose in order to redeem his damaged reputation. In fact, he captured some unarmed civilians in Rockville, Maryland just in an effort to get into the newspapers. Lee figured that out.
Burnside was a good Corp commander who did well following orders that were direct. He did well if he didn't have to make the big decisions. Thus he was a lousy Army commander.
In regards to Burnside at Antietam people should really look at the actual ground that he had to cover under fire. It was the nearly ideal bridge crossing for the defense.
Not trying to take any thing away from Lee or any one else but HOW to you ever use the word 'genius' to describe these men? Telling ~10K of men to get up and run across an open field into lead makes you a genius? -- Does anyone know who Albert Einstein or Issac Newton were?
I'm sorry but this guy although very knowledgeable, sounds too much like Rev. John Hagee to me . I tried 3 times to finish his talk but couldn't finish . His books are very good though .
wow, this guy lays it out; What I find interesting, is how divided and ~stupid the northern congress sound; Was there ever a period in time where the states did not have a large section of ~leaders that sound like a bunch of radical, ~stupid people? -- ~Never heard a peep on how some wanted to treat the south after the war. Lincoln, is greater than I ever knew as our President. Washington has got to be #1, and now, I'll go with Lincoln as #2, and Roosevelt as a close 3rd as our greatest presidents. All three of these men were maybe the greatest America can ever produce. Thank God, we had them at the times we needed them for our great nation to survive and prosper, along with the entire world after WW2 and the leadership Roosevelt gave to the world. -- One thing that is different from todays' appearance of ~stupidity that our congress displays, as contrasted to back then, is that the white-boys ~running the country back in these days, CAN NOT blame the minorities, women, young single mothers, or illegal aliens for their problems as our ~leaders do so well and often today. Americans' problems begin and end with Americans :) -- Goodnight John-Boy
Stonewall Jackson was not accidentlly shot. He specifically told those troops to kill anyone riding a horse down that road.....and they simply followed orders. No accident.
If you want specifics, the pickets were informed that Jackson and his staff were riding out beyond the lines and not to shoot when they came back. However the original company was relieved by the 18th NC who were not informed of this very important fact, thus the friendly fire. Per Shelby Foote, The Civil War: Fredricksburg to Meridian (vol. 2.)
He's a very mixed bag, but overall I'd call him mediocre to poor. He did well off the Carolinas and Knoxville. He did fair to poor to Antietam and Petersburg. He was terrible at Fredricksburg. An A, B, C-, D and F averages out to something below C I guess.
I disagree with this fellow, not necessarily for anything I've heard him say here - I've watched only the first few minutes - but with his scathing indictment of Gen. George Meade at Gettysburg. Still, this doesn't make me right and him wrong. We simply looked at the same facts and came away with different conclusions, that's all.
What scathing indictment? He was quoting Lincoln in that part, not giving his own thought. Guelzo even acknowledged that Union troops were battered in their own right and presented this as a generous potential explanation for why Meade did not pursue.
Yeah, that's the problem. The audience needs to be entertained. It's like trying to whip life into a dying horse. This speaker thinks, probably rightly, that his audience is so uneducated ( brain dead ) that they need to be entertained. The better speakers are more about transferring information, rather than entertaining the audience. The decrepit state of modern education has produced masses of people unfamiliar to listen to a lecture. Information makes them nervous or fidgety, and they'd rather be pecking their cell phones.
@@mu99ins Wtf are you on about? Guelzo is a distinguished scholar and lecturer who has more knowledge in his pinky than you have in your whole body. If you want monotone then read a book. Weirdo.
As is so frequent George Gordon Meade is minimized in this presentation. He was the only Union general to combat Lee with very similar numbers. Grant, McClellan, Hooker and Burnside had easily double Lee’s forces. When notified that he was to command in the middle of the night he wrote his wife he thought he was being arrested for some reason. He was disliked by political army factions and 30th in rank standing so eliciting extreme jealousies. In every civil war battle unique and heroic moments animate the situations so why is Gettysburg so considered a battle that fought itself. Meade made many decisions how to support his troops. As well as vocalizing the insight as to Lee’s third day. Assault. And it should not be forgotten that after an interview Grant who could do as he wished kept him in army command. In only five days in command he beats Lee with loss of many of the officers that he could trust. His losses as Lee’s were extraordinary. And he, not sure of Lee’s capability after Picket’s charge was preparing his battered troops for a counter attack which took till too late in the afternoon. He is quoted as saying Lee was the finest of counter punchers so preparation had to be careful. From the time Meade banned newsmen as they gave away too much information and they decided to only report negative of him he has been underestimated. What I would most like to know is how Meade was chosen, I know his good friend Reynolds refused and have one small nasty quote from Lincoln referencing being a Pennsylvanian and thus likely to fight harder but this was obviously an incredibly important choice and I can’t find more. In Meade’s second volume he goes into detail on his pursuit of. Lee. It still took Grant with endless resources close to a year to finish Lee It is not Rosenkranz but Rosecrans by the way. I am always amazed at how much Lincoln went through to do what he did and how he learned and developed under such profound pressures very much unsupported, I am sorry he was in no position to understand Meade’s contributions.
Uh, he literally is. What are you smoking? Guelzo is one of the best orators out there. What part *actually* triggered you, because it sure wasn't the oration, little noob.