Ranger Matt Atkinson leads a battle walk covering Union General Winfield Scott Hancock's role at Gettysburg, especially on July 3. Ranger Atkinson and the NPS hold the rights to the notes and lecture.
It’s not the schools it’s the teachers innate ability to teach and inform in ways that capture the students interests. Schools are merely the venue for learning. Lastly, students must possess some level of desire or need to learn the subject matter.
It's absolutely the system. The whole curriculum is dictated to educators, in some districts even scripted. Students learn to hate learning at a very young age. Trying to swim upstream against the politicians, the think tanks, and the administrators is exhausting and potentially career ending. Take it from someone who walked the plank for speaking out about things.
They are definitely not interested in teaching US history. Even if they were.... you probably wouldn't want them to because Lincoln is going to become black sooner or later you watch lol
Was at Gettysburg exactly 7 months ago, as one of my many pilgrimages to the place. Went to the Visitor Center on the off chance that Matt might be working. He was. And so when the attending Ranger (I think John Hoptak was actually up front at the time) called his office to see if he could come down to "meet a fan from California"...he stopped his work, came down, spent 45 minutes of one-on-one time with me, took pictures, and discussed one of our favorite and mutually agreed upon subjects--which--if you know him--is, of course... CLASSIC ROCK AND ROLL TRIVIA. lol. Matt...#YOU are truly the biggest rock star of them all. Thank you!.
I went to Gettysburg last summer and had the opportunity to experience two of his programs in person and talk with him for about 15 minutes afterwards. Great guy who really loves sharing his knowledge.
Hancock is my favorite Army of the Potomac General. He had SO MANY pivotal roles in battles. He finally had to retire during Grant's Richmond campaign because of ALL the wounds he had received throughout the war. He did so many things to deserve the Congressional Medal of Honor ! What he did at the Battle of Williamsburg, leading his men in the Battle for the Cornfield in Antietam, charging the heights at Fredericksburg, what he did at Gettysburg, also played key role in saving Grant's Army at the Battle of the Wilderness! On and ON! No General in the Army of the Potomac demonstrated any where NEAR his bravery, leadership and gallantry! All combined, General Hancock should be awarded the MOH !
Just completed my first tour of Gettysburg. Never been on one of Matts walking tours, but as i watch them on pod cast and youtube feel as though im in each explanation of each battle ! Thanks Matt.
Many Thanks to Ranger Atkinson & NPS for getting me through Gettysburg during the pandemic. I’ve watched them all, and it surely is the next best thing.
There is something really cool about Matt a pure Southerner with accent giving these tours. Matt truly beings the battles to life. I'm so glad the Union held and Matt is apart of the United States of America. I've made it a point to see all of his tours and lectures here on youtube.
Not only does Hancock make the final recommendation but Meade confirms it which should end any speculation about Gettysburg and Meade’s decision. Meade is my great hero. Meade, Hancock, Reynolds, Humphreys and others were all Pennsylvanians of significant rank serving at Gettysburg. As always thank you for a fine presentation
I have been to a couple of Matt's tours. He is just like this in real life! On a summer weekend expect his tours to draw a lot of people - 100 or more.
I met Matt a few weeks ago at the Visitor's Center and he helped me and some friends to get some information on the Monterey Pass battlefield and the other aspects of the retreat route which we were preparing to follow. He's one the NPS' finest, great guy!
IIRC, Gen. Simon Buckner, grandson of Grant's friend Simon Bolivar Buckner, was the last US general commanding an army killed in combat when a mortar shell caught him during the late phases of the Okinawa campaign. Also Hancock ordered the barn burned because the rebels were using it as a sharpshooters post and were killing his men. Edit: There were two US brigadier generals killed in Korea, but none of a higher rank since LGen. Buckner. I was informed that a US general was killed in Vietnam, but I can't recall the name.
Way back about 1967 our all-time favorite History teacher, Mr Fox, organized a huge 5 bus trip to Gettysburg, it was epic. When we left the Cyclorama to walk down the Union Line positions as we passed this little building, the Ranger with us casually pointed at the wood siding and said, "Some of these holes are knot holes". The phrase reverberated down the line of high school kids until they were spelling k n o t and n o t back and forth and the teacher last in line was stopped in her tracks trying to figure out how the verbal exchange got started. "KNOT" "N O T" "NOT" "K N O T" U HAD TO BE THERE
I watch all Matt’s tours several times. Don’t worry about rowdy school groups it’s not your job to control ignorant teens that’s the teachers jobs. If they’re too ignorant to listen that’s their loss. I hate being a part of tours with kids.
Sensational. Haven't had opportunity to do a tour with Matt, but this September my wife and I had an offbeat and interesting chat with him about Buddhism while he was manning the visitor's desk at Gettysburg. I also enjoy watching his talks on the Emerging Civil War lecture series on C-Span. Stay tuned, he has a book about the Vicksburg campaign on the horizon.
Dear Matt and StuffWriter - I would give anything if I could come out to the GNP and see one 😅f you tours!!! I’ve been there when my kids were teens and I’m happy to report I produced not only people who are “deep in the weeds” history buffs, but one went in to earn a degree in history. Unfortunately, I am terminally I’ll with Multiple Sclerosis now and have been confined to bed for over two years now. Due to my condition, I’m unable to even ride in a vehicle or wheelchair so I’ve been confined also to my bedroom and my only adventures are via channels like yours on RU-vid. I love Gettysburg because it makes me feel closer to my over 150 ancestors who fought there - mostly for 50th Ga. & the 52nd Ga, Bennings Brigade and Semmes/McLaws. We also had a few fighting in the Florida regiment underLane, and with my late husband being from Illinois, the kids had relatives on both sides! We have several ancestors who died there - including one who was wounded on July 2 and lay dying on the 3rd beside the Rose farm barn. We always used to include stops at historic sites - and particularly battlefields. Few rise to the level of impact that Gettysburg does as far as a total experience. Part of this is the battlefield itself, which preserves things so much more closely to those terrible three days, but NPS staff and townspeople also seem to take more pride than any other battlefield area we’ve been and it seems as if what happened there is a part of the fabric of your community. But what I wanted to say most in answer to Matt’s admonishment by us not to just rely on the videos of his walks - if not for you’re channel combined with what regimental histories we’ve been able to locate, we would never have known what those fellas went through. It would be impossible in just one or two days most people have to see the battlefield and town. But for people like me - you have become party of my studies and window on the world I seek out on RU-vid daily to continue to challenge my mind and fulfill the only way I can a sense of adventure that doesn’t seem to recognize the limitations now dictated by my failing body. Please don’t stop your battlewalks and I hope you will add more because I’ve watched some probably 20 times, not only by Matt, but but all the other guides. I hope you will add more if you can about the 50th Georgia and those who fought under Semmes. Thank you for all your thoyghtful program😮by and tell the “Answering Gettysburg” people I also watch their podcasts!
Really do enjoy Matt's tours and his stories..... at the beginning he said if you only had one side, you wouldn't have a battle. I think most people know someone who will pick a fight with their own shadow or reflection..... I guess times don't change much...
Love most of his tours. He is better when he has the tour down and does not need notes. Loved his Peach Orchard, Devil's Den, and Little Round top tours. But he did point out that this was only his second time doing this particular tour.
According to accounts, Armistead did not get farther than Cushing's two cannons that were positioned at the stone wall. Armistead was wounded while he tried to rally his men around Cushing's two guns at the wall. The monument is incorrectly placed, like many monuments placed on the battlefield decades after the war.
I have really enjoyed watching all of Matts battlefield tours. That is with the exception of this one, no fault of Matts, RU-vid put adverts about three minutes apart completely ruining this video for me.
@@TheDozin1no. Just no. Please stop. Cannon and reenactor demonstrations are not uncommon during the summer and fall in Gettysburg. These are not ghosts or echoes of apparitions.
Matt you made one major mistake. Henry Hunt is the Army Chief at all artillery. The man in charge of the Artillery Reserve was Brig Gen. Robert O. Tyler. Hunt's authority superseded Hancock's by Meade's direct order.
Gen. Hunt has three articles on Gettysburg in "Battles & Leaders", one for each day. He makes it clear that Hancock had overall command of the II Corp area, including artillery, and had every right to order the guns to fire. He also makes it clear that he felt the decision was wrong, as his batteries were out of long range ammo when the rebel infantry approached, that this allowed his lines to be broken, and that the disorganization in his area prevented the possibility of a counterattack, had Meade wished to order one. So no, Hunt's authority didn't supercede Hancock's in that particular area.
NO ONE WILL TAKE OUR HISTORY FROM US OUR YOUNG NATION LEARNED THUR THE YEARS HOW TO GET IT RIGHT ,, THUR THE BLOOD ON THAT BATTLE FIELD MORE THAN ANY GOD BLESS ALL THAT GO THERE TO LEARN OUR HISTORY WE ARE THEM AND THEY US ....WE THE PEOPLE ....
@Unappreciated Treehouse He's talking about the scene in Gettysburg where the soldier runs up to Gen. Hancock (who is mounted on his horse) and tells him to please get down "we cannot afford to lose you." The soldier was played by Ken Burns. It's his cameo in the movie.
thank u I didn't carefully read your reply I was thinking it may have been meade's hq I was there a few years ago and missed his and lee's hq's somehow
The Brian House is a home owned by a free African American who lived in Gettysburg. There were numerous free African Americans who lived in Pennsylvania at the time of Lee's incursion in June and July of 1863 who wete kidnapped and sent into slavery in the South. Fact.
@@willoutlaw4971 Why do you try to distort history? You are only showing your own intelligence,which is a an imbecile at best!!! Go read some library books and something boy.
decimated550 the same person with that voice is in different tour videos. Can’t be an older person because there seems to be a lot of walking involved.
Great talk, great presentation, poor video and audio. Could not hear at the 1:30 mark due to wind noise. Video showed too much of the sky and not the ranger.
Problem with watching these videos is that, I'm currently reading "Gettysburg, the last invasion" and I keep reading all the Confederate quotes in Matt's style and accent
On the commentary about the statue of lee. Places like Gettysburg are the only place where a statue of General Lee actually belongs. It belongs there because it honors the memory of the battle and the history of it all. No one is trying to delete history. Just properly assign honor where it belongs. Benedict Arnold has a monument to his foot.. which he lost fighting for the United States.. not the rest of him that fought against it.
While Hunt and Hancock argued over the use of artillery, Hancock did compromise on a clever tactic Hunt employed: he ordered his batteries to gradually cease firing, giving the Confederates the false impression that they were knocking out batteries and it lured them out to attack. Hunt reportedly leaped for joy upon seeing massed infantry coming towards him-as massed infantry moving across open, flat ground is an artillery general's dream come true as they were impossible to miss.
Fact of the matter is the confederates were already set to charge the Union positions. This was the plan of their inept General Robert E. Lee. They may have thought the Union batteries were knocked but that is doubtful. Lee had binoculars and could readily see, from his posution in the woods of Seminary Ridge, that the Union batteries were not all knocked out by the inept confederate in charge of their artillery.
@@willoutlaw4971 I take it that you are referring to Gen. Pendleton and not Col. E. Porter Alexander. Pendleton had the artillery train that carried extra ammunition, and parked within a reasonable distance, that Pendleton expected batteries in his gun line, to replenish their quickly emptying limber chests from, had been ordered moved to a safer location, during the night of July 2nd, with out informing Col. Alexander. Pendleton was totally inept and unqualified for command, who should have stuck to the Ministry for which he was trained and his non-military vocation. Alexander was brilliant, but alas only a Col. (a bright and talented West Point Grad.) stuck between Gen. Longstreet, his immediate boss & corps commander and Gen. Lee, Alexander had the unenviable task of commanding the the massed 120 piece gun line and its preparatory bombardment of the union front on Cemetery Ridge. And, most unfortunately, Gen. Pendleton, Lee's appointed Chief of Artillery, Army of N.Va. contributed nothing to Alexander, except to order the redeployment of the Artillery Train, and the spare ammunition that Alexander depended upon to partially replenish his batteries, in support of the planned infantry assault on the Union center immediately following Alexander's order to cease fire. Therefore, by my long winded reply, do I correctly assume that Gen Pendleton, CSA, the ultimate embodiment of ineptitude for all humankind, is the person to whom you were referring as "the inept confederate in charge"?
