In American History with 23,000 casualties between two size and ended in the unions strategic victory. This 40 minute talk was part of a symposium on great defenses of the civil war hosted by the emerging civil war blog. Our next speaker is one of the great emerging voices and the entire field. Ien i first met kevin pollack thought, this is one of those guys that is going to be a rock star. I hear when i travel across the country, we have to get more young people involved. If we need a poster child for getting young folks and involved with the civil war, kevin pollak is it. He is getting married in just a couple weeks. As you know, that will be a major life shift for him. Kevin is the license battlefield guide at the Antietam Battlefield. He is coauthor of an upcoming book or the emerging civil war. About the maryland campaign. Us aboutng to talk to what he considers to be a great defense, robert e. Lee at 8 p. M. It is my pleasure to introduce kevin pollak. [applause] kevin good morning. Thank you to chris for that very humbling introduction and thank you all for being here at my bachelor party. [laughter] i think we might set a Virginia State record for the Largest Party and Virginia State history. It is about to get crazy talking about robert e. Lee at the battle of antietam. Even last year at the symposium when an email was sent out there was aopics, caveat left in the email that allowed us to quote think outside the box. The topic im proposing, robert e. Lee at antietam, i thought that was going to be a very straightforward presentation about a great defense of the civil war. Looking into it, there is a bit more to robert e. Lees defensed and what we have thought. As human beings, we are always products of the past. As history buffs, people who love to study the american civil war, we are always reading and looking again to what historians before us had said. What im going to ask you to do now is for the next 45 minutes, forget everything you have ever heard about battle of antietam. Not everything because i have to go from square one. [laughter] kevin but close to everything. We will look into exactly why robert e. Lee make one of the most controversial decisions of his entire military career and what is his plan . What is his idea, what is he thinking and his mind . I do not pretend to be a mind reader but if you look at lee before antietam and after, you might take her out some interesting things. We are going to start out story where dr. Jordan left off last night on the evening of september 14. Perhaps one of the worst days of robert e. Lees life of to that point. His army, as far as he knows, as been pushed from two mountain passes in the north where you see the picture on the screen. As far as he knows, nothings happened at crimson at cramptons gap. Robert e. Lee will write at about 8 00 p. M. At september 14 the day hasly, gone against us. So he told them to get out of maryland. The rest of the army is going out of virginia. This campaign that robert e. Lee has weighed so much on is over. Lee is getting back into virginia. Lets look at the situation as we did. From the matears and goes back west across the summit river into virginia, this is going to open up lafayette from a clause to a very bad situation. Caught between the union army of the potomac with nowhere to go behind him. What lee will decide on the morning of september 15 of september really, he is going to make a stand behind antietam creek on the high ground overlooking the creek at a place called sharpsburg. Lee is only Standing Bear temporarily to save lafayette maclause, draw the union army away from maclause and towards lee. When lee arrives on the east bank of the morning of september 15, he is greeted with something he does not ask that but something that he does not expect but something he likes. It is a great of you today. Anyone want to go up to the pride house, you can edit you can get it o. Wouldve had a great view of the ground on the other side. Today you can see the new york monument is under, the cornfield, dunker church, things like that. Lee did not have anything like that to see to look at. Was is that ridge. The high ground running on either side, north to south, on the town of sharpsburg. Robert e. Lee is getting these same exact view as George Mcclellan is going to have at the battlefield couple days later. Thanks to rob thoreson thanks to rob harrison for pointing that out to me. Not lee sees and likes is necessarily high ground, but the ground is incredibly tricky. Lee knows he will be able to hide his troops on the other side of that ridge, conceal his trips, use interior lines as was discussed last night from one point of the battlefield to the other. Sees isr thing that lee the landmark for which the battle is named, the antietam creek. Come to the battlefield and they say, that is not look like a creek, it looks like a river. So it varies. Antietam was18 62, only crossed the ball in several places and it was about three to feet deep. It was a substantial barrier that robert e. Lee could put between his army and his adversary. The other thing that lee sees is that he crosses over antietam creek and moving up to that high ground that i will refer to as the sharpsburg height, he did not have the luxury of measuring it out. I do. The three main approaches that the union army can take, the average amount is approximately 185 feet. You want a comparison, gettysburg is only 160 feet. Lee likes very much the position that he has. He will gather up his army and decide to try to resurrect his campaign in maryland. This is where the critics come in. Just a couple of quotes up there for you from early historians of the american civil war, people who would have been alive during the time of the war, calling this one of lees oldest, controversy boldest, contreversial. The Potomac River is three miles behind his blin line. Most people come to the Antietam Battlefield and they expect to see one foot in the river and one out. Lee still has three miles to maneuver behind his lines and more importantly, there are several other ridges behind lees lines that if yes to fall back, he has a place to do so. One thing that these quotes do not take into consideration is what was going on in robert e. Lees mind. Why did he make the decision to stand and fight at sharpsburg . In his own words in 1868, i went into maryland to give battle. You do not have to read the tea leaves on this want to know what he is talking about. Win into maryland two to win a battle. He has not done that yet and he is still looking for that victory. As dr. Jordan mentioned, lee is that she isthing waging confederate independence on this campaign. Robert e. Lee is going to push this army. We have got the first part taken care of what is lees plan and why does he make the stand . , theill notice on this map Potomac River is hardly on the mat. He is not fighting with his back to the river. The body of water that lee is focused on is in front of him. Antietam creek is a barrier between himself and the union army. We havediscovered looked at why lee decides to stand and fight on september 16 and september 17. What is lees plan . In the past, it has been depicted as lee going to counter but as my good friend is eager to point out that George Mcclellan and robert e. Lee are any two general are fighting against each other, they do not meet each other at midfield like an nfl game to do a coin toss. So often we think that lee is simply defending. Bit more to that. Im going to jump off what dan was talking about earlier with confederate strategy and what chris talked about last night. Heres an 1850 portrait of robert e. Lee. He has been in the army for nearly three decades when this portrait was painted. Robert e lee was very much a student not only of military history but history in general. You can see the cold down here , the best thing for an army on the defenses is to know how to take the offense time. Per basically what that quote says is one book word that i will toss around, initiative. Robert e. Lee is always looking to hold onto the initiative. If he has the initiative, George Mcclellan and the union army is going to have to dance to his tune. It is very important for the confederacy. Lee wants to take the initiative. He knows from his studies that the only way to do that is to take the offensive. A defense of battle is going to do no more for robert e. Lee and the army of Northern Virginia then get a stalemate. A draw. Robert e. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia are not in the business of fighting for a stalemate. They are looking for one more battlefield victory to the achieved confederate independence. Back a few months from september 1862, the picture im sure all of you have seen. Aprilsiege guns at the and early may of 1862. The siegee talk about of yorktown, the focus is on the union army. The disconnect between George McclellanAbraham Lincoln about union strategy, perhaps the slowness of george makela George Mcclellan. This is with thousands of his infantry and the great story of prince John Mcgruder doing his theatrical to try to bluff the union army. What robertlook at e. Lee at this point he is an almost daily contact with confederate commander Joseph Johnston on the battlefield. A few days before johnson and the Confederate Army pullout of their works at yorktown, this is what Joseph Johnston writes to robert e. Lee. I will read almost the entire letter. This is april 30 of 1862. We are engaged in a species of warfare at which we can never win. It is claimed that general mcclellan will adhere to the system adopted by him last summer and depend for success upon artillery and engineering. We can compete with him and neither. We must therefore change our course. Take the offensive. Select all the troops we have an east and crossed the potomac with them. Our troops have always wished for the offensive and so does the country. Please submit this suggestion to the president. We can have no success while George Mcclellan is allowed, as he is by our defenses, to choose his mode of warfare. What mcclellan is doing as he is putting the Confederate Army in a nowin situation. He is using the superiority in artillery and engineering and naval power at yorktown to fix the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in one spot and pummel it. The Confederate Army can neither attack mcclellans works, they cant stay there much longer because they will be pummeled. Mcclellan has put them in a nowin situation as johnston says. Robert e. Lees reaction to this letter is written the next day. He says the feasibility of the proposition has been the subject of consideration with the president for some time. So far as advancing a column to the potomac with all the troops that can be made available. He concurs of the benefits and is very desirous of being able to carry it into effect. One month later Joseph Johnston is wounded at the battle of seven pines at fair oaks in 1862 and robert e. Lee is the one who takes command of the army of Northern Virginia. Look what he does three weeks after he takes command. As you all know, doug crenshaw, who is somewhere in the crowd, has just written a book. He strikes. He attacks. Look at where he does it. Lee knows his army for the most part, throughout the war the confederacy will be outnumbered. Lee knows one thing. He has to keep the initiative but also in order for him to win decisive battles he has to take his cues from napoleon. Napoleon was often outnumbered as well. Put more of your troops at the point of the spear then the enemy can put. Where does he choose to attack . George mcclellan in the union army are divided. Split. By the chickahominy river. Lee masses his troops north of the river where mcclellan has less men and that is where he strikes. Massing his troops, more troops at the tip of the spear then what the union army can do. Lee will constantly look to get around that enemys right flank, turn it and drive it out of position or maybe worse, or even better in thes mind try and destroy it. This quote on the right comes after the action. Under ordinary circumstances the federal army should have been destroyed. Lee, a student of napoleon, is looking for that victory until the end of the war. He is always grasping at straws looking for that napoleonic victory. This using of a body of water to divide his enemy is something he will do several times during the war. The seven days comes from before our topic right now, the battle of antietam but later on today you will hear about another time when robert ealy will use a body of water to divide his enemy and put it in a bad situation and as you will hear, at the battle of north anna in 1864 he does exactly that. He is looking to strike a blow against a divided union army. As you can see on the screen, divided into three sections by the north anna river. Which brings us back to antietam. This is the situation. The map you see on the left, on the morning of september 17 of 1862. Ive highlighted what i want you to look at of course. That big red circle. George mcclellan and the union army of the potomac are divided by a body of water. Not only that, there is a lot of green space between Joseph Hooker and his troops on the west side of the antietam creek and the antietam creek itself. Lee follows this movement of union troops to the west side of the creek on the afternoon of september 16. He knows how long it will take for union troops to get reinforcement over there. It is telling look at what James Longstreet writes in 1896. What you can see up there on the screen. Joseph hooker believes his movement so far from support and extremely venturesome and he was right. If jackson could have been put into the fight, pokers command could have been hookers command could have been crushed. Perhaps this is James Longstreet recognizing a good what if. As we always like to discuss and debate 34 years after the fact. It is clear there were some intentions in the confederate high command that they were thinking about this. As you will see in just a moment. Ive done a very poor job of making maps. I know ed alexander from last year. I just want to show you some of the movements of the Confederate Army on the morning of september 17. Here are the positions roughly of the Confederate Army. There are no union troops on this map. From 6 00 in the morning on september the 17th and very quick, we will do a blowbyblow battle narration. Early in the morning Joseph Hookers troops are going to launch the attack in millers cornfield. By 7 30 a. M. In the morning Stonewall Jackson and Joseph Hooker have battled each other to mutual annihilation. Inside of that 24 acres of corn, corn, and lee is going to have to start shifting troops to the northern end of his line by 8 00 in the morning. It has been mostly thought of as this is a plan by lee to simply parry and thrust with George Mcclellan. Lee is going to throw in a counterattack to maintain his line. Look what happens at about 8 30 in the morning. There is the situation. Watch for the center of power of the Confederate Army shifts. Andersons brigade goes north. Two divisions of the Confederate Army will shift to the woods. Again, that may be seen as lee simply matching where mcclellan is mashing most of his troops. 6 00 in the morning, here is the disposition of lees army on the Antietam Battlefield. Roughly half is north of sharpsburg. About 9 is in the center. A quarter each on the southern and of the battlefield and a quarter left in reserve. Here is the situation at 10 00 a. M. Nine out of every 10 infantrymen in Robert E Lees army is north of sharpsburg. 90 . Look at that. This is simply robert a lee getting involved in a heavyweight boxing match with George Mcclellan, that does not screen defensive. Scream defensive to me. If you put 90 of your army at one point, you are clearly trying to mass your troops for something big. I should note, when lees army is defeated, even a couple of days before when they are defeated at the battle of south mountain, he is holding the initiative in his hand. His defeat at south mountain, mcclellans unexpected Rapid Movement that catches his army divided, he loses the initiative and never gets a back in the maryland campaign. He is looking to take it back. Every single moment that he can, lee wants that initiative back in his sanskrit you have to make the union army dance to your 10 back in his han lee wants that initiative back in his hand. You want the union army to dance to your tune. The offensive potential of Robert E Lees antietam offensive, not defensive so to speak, and i will show myself for anyone throwing Rotten Tomatoes at me, this is so often portrayed as a defense this is often for shadowed. The offensive potential on the northern end of the battlefield, shifting 90 of his army to the northern side of sharpsburg, is displayed at about 9 30 in the morning. The union corps has arrived on the battlefield. 5000 and are under the command of John Sedgwick and moving east to west into the forest. In 15 minutes, his division is cleared from the west woods and loses 42 of its soldiers. An entire division of the union army nearly wrecked. This attack by lee, which is the only point on the Antietam Battlefield where the confederates will have more troops at the tip of the spear than the union army, it is going to force the union army, high command on the northern end of the battlefield, edwin sumner, back into the defensive. Now the initiative is not in George Mcclellans hands. It is resting in no mans land, waiting for someone to grab it. You see what jeb stuart writes in his after action report. Writing of the pursuit from the west woods, he is talking about getting more troops to follow up the success. The Confederate Army is looking to grab the initiative in no mans land, take it and turn the tide of the campaign in their favor. Throughout the late morning, early afternoon of the 17th, this is the situation on the northern end of the battlefield. The confederate battle line is starting to coalesce. Lee is gathering more troops on the northern end of his line. He is bringing them to the north, trying to do whatever he can to take this initiative back. You will see the union army is also massing troops on the northern end of the battlefield. Confederates are certainly trying to do something new, trying to take the initiative back. Here is what james long street had to say. In 1896, he said the enemys nonaggression suggested an opportunity, another word robert lee is those looking for, an opportunity for the confederates. I ordered an assault. Hood was in position with his brigades, and jackson was on his way. If our columns could be massed, pressing severely on the single point, it would give the enemy much trouble and might cut him in two and break up his battle arrangement at the lower bridge. At this point, George Mcclellan, Ambrose Burnside more specifically, have crossed the southern end of the battlefield. Lee is not only looking to do something on the northern end of the battlefield to break up the attack because he only has 8 of his forces on the southern end, but also looking to follow up the success from the mornings assault into the west woods. That is exactly what is going to happen. There are five characters on the screen for you. You recognized many of them. Jeb stuart, Stonewall Jackson, james long street. Division commander jonathan walker, responsible for fighting in the west woods, he is in the right. One of the brigades along to robin ransom. Around 3 00 in the afternoon, ransom and walker art sitting together in the west woods, using the terrain to conceal their numbers. Ransom received a note saying to attack and mask his troops. Walker looks at this and says this is not right. According to walker, what happened is that Stonewall Jackson had ordered walker to wait to attack until jeb stuart could turn the enemys right, get around right end of the enemy line, keep the union troops occupied their, and then we would send his forces straight at the union army on the northern end of the battlefield. Walker discusses this with long straight. Long street says he does not realize jackson was trying to do that. Jackson is surely trying to do something on the northern end of the battlefield in conjunction with jeb stuart. It is interesting to note the entire day of september 17, if we look at the holy trinity of the army of Northern Virginia, all three never go south of sharpsburg the entire day. All three of them are north. Lee will only go south of sharpsburg later on in the day. The idea is to get jeb stuart a decently sized force them as many as he possibly could, about five dozen men, and begin 5000 men, and begin staking his way along the Potomac River in trying to get around the army, force them back across antietam creek or cause havoc there to allow Stonewall Jackson to send his troops out of the west woods. Stuarts flanking column about 4 30 in the afternoon, it is only about 2600 cavalry, 1300 infantry and 21 guns. Lee is looking for anything, grasping at straws to try to gain the initiative back. Basically, stuarts flanking exhibition expedition is a failure. He puts nine guns on the northern end of the confederate line. What they run into is about 50 Union Artillery pieces. His guns are deployed for less than 15 minutes before they are driven away. He reports back, cannot do it. The union line is too strong on the northern end, too close to the Potomac River, and we dont have enough room to maneuver. They have so much artillery that an attack for us is going to be suicide. Lee puts that off, and the battle on the northern end of the battlefield comes to an end. The Confederate Army has lost nearly one out of every three soldiers it began the day with on the 17th. The union army loses about 25 of its men. Robert e lee does not decide to leave. On the night of september 17, he brings up as many stragglers as he can, perhaps hoping that he can gain something new the next day. That is exactly what robert e. Lee is going to try. Remember, he has thrown all of his chips into the center of the table. He is not going to give up this easily. On september 18, the jackson have a conference. Lee and jackson have a conference. Jackson says this is not going to work. Lee says lets get a second opinion, and Artillery Battalion commander, also named lee. He does not tell him where or why they are going to ride. They ride in silence. They get to a high ground on the northern end of the battlefield and crawl on their hands and knees to the top, and jackson asks stephen lee the question you see at the bottom of the screen. Colonel lee, i wish you to take 50 pieces of artillery and crush that force, which is the federal right. Can you do it . Stephen lee is taken aback by that . He says, where am i going to get the guns . I only have about 20. Jackson says, dont worry about that. Can you crush the federal right . Lee dodges the question, doesnt really want to answer, and continues to say i dont know where i am going to get the guns from. Jackson says, dont worry about that. Can you do this . Lee says, if i am reading you write, you are asking for my honest opinion. Jackson says, that is exactly what i am asking for. Lee takes a deep breath, looks at the Union Position on the northern end of the battlefield and turns to jackson and says, no it cannot be done. Jackson says, that is enough then. The two of them get back on their horses and ride back to headquarters. On the way, jackson gives stephen lee the task of going back to robert e lee person him person and telling him in person. You can imagine stephen lee doing this. He rides up to robert lee and says this is not going to work. As lee later recalled, the shape came over Robert E Lees a shade came over robert he lees face. That was when he decided to leave maryland. This is where the story of antietam ends. The armys dont do anything for a while until records for. Lees withdrawal from sharpsburg on the night of september 18 is not even really a withdrawal. It is a change of plans. It becomes known as the williamsport plan. September 18 his arm is going to cross, starting with the cavalry, swing north as quickly as possible, get a bridgehead into maryland where lee is going to follow behind with his infantry, swing north, across the Potomac River into maryland, and keep the campaign going. He is simply looking for room to maneuver when he falls back from this position around sharpsburg. What is his intention when he gets to hagerstown . Here is what he says one week after the battle of antietam to Jefferson Davis. When i withdrew from sharpsburg into virginia, it was my intention to cross the potomac and moving to hagerstown. The condition of the army prevented it. The best move in my opinion the army could make would be to advance upon hagerstown and endeavor to defeat the enemy at that point. Lee is still talking defeat. His williamsport plan will fail for several reasons. He has run the wheels off of his army. It is not acting. George mcclellan also has something to do with this. He does pursue the Confederate Army to the Potomac River. At the twoday battle of shepherdstown, mcclellan is able to put up enough force in lease rear that he has to turn the army around to make sure George Mcclellan is not going to try any tricks. At the same time, mcclellan will send portions of his army north to williamsport and basically kicked jeb stuart out of williamsport into virginia. Lee will decide on the morning the afternoon of september 20 that this is over. The campaign is done. It is time to give it up. We tried our best. What is lees reactions all of this . Reaction to all of this . October second, he writes a general order to the soldiers of the army of Northern Virginia. It recounts everything they had done through cedar mountain, second manassas, and sharpsburg. This is what lee says about that quick, incredible turnaround that the army of Northern Virginia was able to start in the Eastern Theater of war. History records fewer examples of greater fortitude than this army has exhibited, and im commissioned by the president to thank you in the name of the Confederate States for the undying fame you have won. And the second to last sentence of this order is this, and you cannot talk hearing a sense of disappointment, that is offensive campaign into maryland had failed. This is what he said. Much as you have done, much more remains to be accomplished. Thank you all very much. I would be happy to answer any questions. [applause] anybody have any questions for kevin . We will head over in this direction. Please introduce yourself and tells where you are from, and be sure you have a question. Bob, youngstown, ohio. At what point did lee know there was a possibility a veto would get to the possibility ap hill would get to the battlefield and his mind shift the troops . Hill is the first one to arrive at around 2 30 in the afternoon. Lee knows something is on the way at that. You have to think that robert e lee is very disappointed, whether the disappointment lies at the feet of Stonewall Jackson or hill himself, that hill is not there sooner. For him to put 90 of his army north of sharpsburg and leave only 8 of his army within a mile and a half of his escape route, knowing full well that the union troops have troops across antietam creek, i think lee really helped hi hoped hill would be there sooner. What were his intentions for what he wanted hill to do when he arrived on the battlefield . We will never know. When hill arrives on the battlefield, he is sent to the southern end to plug the gaps there. Very good question. Other questions . Chesapeake, virginia. Bear with me, i kind of scribbled some things. Was lee kept informed and in the loop with Jefferson Davis on everything the confederacy was doing politically and in other military theaters that might have attributed to lees decision to go to maryland, which was labeled by some as hazardous . Did Jefferson Davis, did he give lee, part of the fun, leeway to do that . Or did lee have to jump through hoops and the War Department or things like that to get those initiatives approved . Let me answer the first question. Lee is aware of other Confederate Movement in other theaters of war. Things are starting to stir in mississippi. Lee is fully aware of those movements. He views his movement into maryland as part of that. I think that is another reason why he throws some much into this campaign. He thinks, at least at the time, this is the best chance the confederacy will have of winning the war getting independence. There is a second question about Jefferson Davis and did lee have any leeway so to speak . When lee writes the famous september 3 trains fill letter, that he continues to move forward with his invasion of maryland even without receiving permission from Jefferson Davis. It is not exactly the case. Lee and davis have been talking about this for quite some time. The confederacy has been talking about moving into maryland going back to the fall 1861. Even Stonewall Jackson when he is in command at harpers ferry, in the first days of the war, technically has troops on Maryland Heights in maryland. Robert e lee himself did not put much stock that marylanders were going to rise up by the thousands and join the confederacy. One goal was to bring maryland into the confederacy. He did have some leeway, pardon the pun, but Jefferson Davis was fully aware of what lee wanted to do. Ladies and gentlemen, kevin pawlak. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you are watching American History tv, 48 hours every weekend on American History v. Forow us on twitter information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. Everything was devastating for him at the end. He was really in some ways isolated and alone. Tonight on q a, author and professor at Amherst College and his biography gorbachev. He trusted the russian, the soviet people. He trusted them to follow him where they had never gone before. That is to democratize their country in a few short years. He trusted them to follow him as he moved to the country toward a market economy from a command economy. He trusted them to follow him and trust him as he made peace in the cold war against the ancient enemy, the. United states so, he trusted them too much it turned out. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Next on lectures in history, Sonoma State University professor laura watt teaches a class on the National Park system and the effort to preserve pristine wilderness. She offers that this approach often obscures the way humans interact with the land and talks about her research on the Point Reyes National seashore, which was designated as a natural park in the 1960s. Prof. Watt today we are going to be talking about landscapes and reservation and how preservation unexpectedly changes places we set aside as parks or protected areas. The intention is not only to