All right. It is my pleasure to introduce for our final afternoon talk. Barton myers. Hes an Society Professor of history at washington and Lee University. Where he teaches courses on civil war, war and society. His main refers is warfare, soldiers and atrocities. He has earned his ph. D. At the university of georgia where he studied under john insko. There he published his masters thesis entitled executing daniel bright, race loyalty and gorilla violence in a coastal care loo nacommunity this received the 2009 jules and Francis Landry award for the best book in southern studies, just recently Cambridge University published the dissertation, rebels against the confederacy. As you can tell, barton is an expert on gorilla warfare he has a recent volume thats come out, edited with Brian Mcknight and daniel suter land. Entitled gorilla hunters, irregular conflicts during the civil war. 2017 youre not going to speak on gorilla warfare after all this he does more than that and i have asked him to speak about robert e. Lee on the front lines of battle. So let us welcome barton myers. I want to thank dr. Carmichael for having me here today today to speak about one of our greatest commanders and most controversial figures. Robert e. Lee of virginia. For the last five years ive been a professor at be washington and Lee University where robert e. Lee is buried in the lee chapel museum. So hes become a Cottage Industry over the last few years for folks and ive dealt with a lot of issues with lee and the historical memory over the last few years. Before i started my career in the academy, i was a National Parks ranger and lived on the battlefield. So i spent a lot of time thinking about robert e. Lee. I want to talk about lee, one slice of his military career. The moments when robert e. Lee was in greatest personal danger on the battlefield. General robert e. Lee had been the commander of the Northern Army of virginia6, 1865, he gra staph of a worn confederate battle flag to rally the fleeing remnants of his army. At the battle of Sailors Creek lee was for the final time personally placing himself in line of battle to lead his soldiers. Reaching the crossing of the river road overlooking Sailors Creek, the disasters which had overtaken our army was in full view and the scene beggars description remember a Battle Tested veteran whose troops provide the rear guard for the entire Confederate Army at precisely the moment of greatest desperation struggled to set the harrowing scene. Hurrying teamsters with their teams and dangling traces, no wagons. Retreating retreating infantry without guns, many without hats. A harmless mob of the massive columns of the enemy moving orderly on. Maholm explained lees deportment. The general straightened himself in the saddle and looking more the soldier than ever exclaimed as if talking to himself, my god, has the army dissolved. Then mahone replied, no, general, here are troops ready to do their duty. In a mellowed voice, lee said, yes, general, there are some true men left. Will you please keep those people back . As i was placing my division in position to keep those people back, the retiring herd just referred to and crowded around general lee while he sat on his horse with a confederate battle flag in his hand. I rode up and requested him to give me the flag, which he did. This final scene became one of the most enduring memories for many soldiers from the entire appomattox campaign. It was one of the final moments where lee, the battlefield commander, connected with his soldiers. On three battlefields during the final year of the american civil war, general robert e. Lee intentionally placed himself in harms way, attempting to rally his men from near catastrophe, positioning himself in line of battle with the intent of personally leading his grave clad soldiers. At each battle wilderness, spotsylvania, three times, and Sailors Creek in the final days of the war, the men in his army stuck to lee. Each of these lee on the rear or front line of battle moments where the commanding general personally rallied and fight on the field leaves behind evidence something of his character, his generalship and his overall thinking about the art of command on a 19th century battlefield. The historical moments of lees personal Battlefield Leadership during the final year of the war specifically in may 1864 and april 1865 provide an opportunity to evaluate him through his physical actions at the tactical level as opposed to an interpretation of his Strategic Thinking at the level of Campaign Planning where historians have spilled much ink investigating his thoughts on generalship during the american civil war. Those moments where lee put himself at greatest personal risk also are the moments where he discerned that his army was an exceptional danger. Robert edward lee was no stranger to the perils of the combat post. His service during the u. S. War with mexico, particularly his h heroining in april 1847 which provided u. S. General Winfield Scott with critical intelligence on the enemys flank position was vital to the planning of a crushing flank attack, executed by scotts army. To be sure, lee was in danger on the battlefield while in command of the Army Northern virginia consistently throughout his time as commanding general. At fredericksburg in december of 1862 he and Lieutenant GeneralJames Longstreet were standing on telegraph hill, known as lees hill on lee drive today, near a 30pounder parrot rifle. A heavy siege Field Artillery piece rarely used by Confederate Army in the field, when it exploded and fragments flew all about them. But none was hurt. At chancellorsville, where lee commanded only a fraction of the overall army on may 2nd, 1863, as Thomas JonathanStonewall Jackson took roughly 30,000 soldiers of the second corps on steamed flank attack march, he again was in mortal danger. Lee was conspicuous along the front lines of General Lafayette mcclaws division as it performed diversionary maneuvers. At two different points lee was under long range Union Artillery fire. During one moment a tenpound shell cut the tree square off just about a yard above the heads of lee and the clause. A short time later a confederate soldier described how a shell burst immediately in front of old traveler and stood up as straight as id ever seen a man. Lee urged them to go back under the hill for safety. Only to see him a little while later calmly watching from the front lines a few hundred yards away. Even his celebrated ride into the chancellor family farmyard on the morning of may 3rd, 1863, when the house was on fire and as the Confederate Army desperately pressed it two corps back together pressed lee on the front lines at a dangerous moment for the entire army. Colonel Edward Porter alexander, who commanded the artillery barrage which preceded pickets charge at gettysburg encountered another incident where lee prepared to place himself directly in harms way while preparing for a possible defense. General lee rode up entirely unattended. He must have intentionally separated himself, staff and couriers, or some of them would have surely been with him or followed him in a few minutes, and i have no doubt whatever the object of his visit alexander remembered, general lee expected meade to follow the fugitives of picket dlr picketts division. He had the combative instinct as strongly developed as any man living. No soldier could have looked on and listened to the fight he had just been making without a mighty stirring of every fiber in his frame, a yearning to have some share in it, alexander believed. And the general had come out determined. If there was any more that he would be in the thick of it. Ive sometimes felt sorry there wasnt. Id like so to have seen him in it. Certainly the physical presence of robert e. Lee on the field or in camp could be striking. Countless soldiers and civilians comment on his soldierly bearing and his magisterial appearance. Even for the carefully comported an encounter with lee could be awe inspiring. Lieutenant colonel, former military observer and member of the elite guards, spent three months in the confederacy and watched the army of Northern Virginias campaign in the summer, pennsylvania summer of 1863, commented on lees singular build. General lee is almost without exception the handsomest man of his age i ever saw. Hes 56 years old, tall, broad shouldered, very well made, very well set up. A thorough soldier appearance. And his manners are most courteous and full of dignity. Hes a perfect gentleman in every respect. I imagine no man has so few enemies or is universally esteemed. According to the british officer lee never wore a side arm during the period free mantle camped with the army in Northern Virginia, though he was photographed in richmond during the latter half of the war carrying an impressive custom made parisian import officer sword gifted to him from a maryland admirer in 1863, he seems to have rarely worn a weapon during the course of campaigning. His weapon was his mind and his physical charisma. He was the campaign strategist. It was his duty to di vievise t battle plan and seek to its execution by watching, directing units to their most appropriate destination. And most especially dealing with subordinates who are executing pieces of that plan. His Situational Awareness and observation skills were finely attuned and noted by colonel fremantle. General lee was also selfaware realizing his personal presence at the proper moment could inspire his men to impressive battlefield performance. With the attrition rate in the officer corps of his army reaching Dangerous Levels by summer of 1864, his personal attendance would be critical. By then several had been severely or critically injured. Lee himself when general joseph e. Johnston was grievously injured in the shoulder and chest at seven pines may 31, 1862. Earlier that april 1862, the confederacys highest ranking commander in the western theater and lees own former Commanding Officer fell medicortly wounded shiloh. On the evening of may 2, 1863, the difficult terrain of the wilderness of spotsylvania county, virginia, the commander of the second corps, Stonewall Jackson fell mortally wounded when he was accidentally opened fire on him and his staff while he was engaging in a dangerous nighttime reconnaissance at the battle of chancellorsville. And on may 6, 1864, after initiating a successful flank attack at the battle of wi wilderns, James Longstreet would be wounded in a confusing incident nearly choking to death on his own blood. Not dissimilar from the same friendly fire incident that mortally wounded Stonewall Jackson in those same wounds that same wilderness nearly a year before. The armys of the confederacy has sustained grievous losses due to the personal leadership of their commanders on the battlefield. And lees own moments of personal bravery and leadership between the Overland Campaign and Sailors Creek replace him in some of the greatest physical danger of his life. To lead in a desperate battle meant to risk ones life on a 19th century battlefield, everyone for the commander of the entire army. Of the several moments where lee placed himself in a Tactical Combat situation, either to lead men or to come a rallying point for their line of battle, perhaps the most well known is the lead to the rear incident at the battle of the wilderns, 1864 in widow kathrine tapps rented field deep in the second growth forrest that dominated the countryside. Just one day before in the same field lee and generals a. P. Hill and jeb stewart had all nearly been captured as the two confederate infantry corps of his army, then on the field, left a wide gap that Union Soldiers found. Only the reticence of the Union Soldiers on the edge of that field had prevented them from all walking up the 200 yards from that tree line and making all three confederate generals prisoners or dead. On the next day, on the morning of may 6th, 1864, the unit involved was the lead element of longstreets first corps arriving as reinforcements, the presence of the texas brigade commanded by john gregg is partially an explanation for accounts of this incident. Lees direct interaction with these grenadier guards of the Confederate Army was well preserved by texas authors, h historians and soldiers. The state of texas even placed one of its ubiquitous pink granite military markers at the field to commemorate this moment and their subsequent assault, a charge that stemmed the forward progress of Union GeneralWinfield Scotts Union Second Corps and led to vicious fighting in the woods around the brock road plank road intersection. The road network crucial for union army southward movement. Chronologically this is also the first moment where lee attempted to lead men personally into battle as commander of the army of Northern Virginia. And as such there remain many months to both reflect and record this moment before the death of the army in april of 1865. As the texans started, general lee rode up, they saw him and gave a cheer. The old man with a light of battle in his eyes and the joy of seeing them arrive rode up behind their line, following them in the charge, one confederate recounted. At once the men began to shout, lee, go back, lee to the rear, when he stood still, a major took his horse by the bridle and someone pointed out general longstreet to him, whom he had not yet seen. And he was in that way pulled off. The texans caught the worst of it. They lost nearly half their men in a little while. Longstreets corps had arrived on the battlefield led by charles Fields Division and gregs texans 800 strong on the left hand side of the road. Edward Porter Alexander recalled it was but a little after 6 00 when the terrific crashes of musketry which began to burst in the general roar of the morning told hancock and meade and grant that longstreet had arrived. Hancocks advance was everywhere checked. He sent for reinforcements. Another officer wrote in the actions of may 6th, general lee was among the thick flying balls on the front lines waving his hat and encouraging the men. There are several potential explanations for why the Wilderness Battlefield was one of the better documented and memorable moments. One reason was the Army Organization was still relevantly still intact at the beginning of the campaign. It was a larger army at that point than it would be at Sailors Creek. And soldiers had some time to lees battlefield account. Famous exploits early until the war on many battlefield and one had strong identity after the war. And finally, the topography at the site made it possible for many men to have seen him. The openness of that field and an area densely covered with trees drew men to the clearing in large numbers. What separates these 1864 and 1865 battlefield moments from his actions on july 3rd, 1863, gettysburg, is the proximity to the enemy. While he was clearly under union army counterbattery fire from across the field in pennsylvania and at chancellorsville and at fredericksburg, he is in far greater danger and closer proximity to forward moving infantry in these later engagements. The desperation that pervaded the moment at wilderness where ambrose hills third corps was nearly driven completely from the field was different. And that the positioning of the army had loosely arrayed along two key roads guarding approaches. The flight of this corps around dawn on may 6th drew the attention of lee to a near disaster. Less than a week after lees attempt to lead the texans he would once again insert himself among the troops set for the attack. At the battle of spotsylvania courthouse, the infantry assaults that led to lees actions came to the result of his placement along a protruding imminence of high ground, left a significant component of the entire army in a bulging line precariously positioned in relation with the remainder of the army of Northern Virginias defensive line. In essence the corps stuck out like a big thumb that could be smashed by a hammer blow. That is precisely what the union army attempted and nearly succeeded at doing. The removal of confederate artillery from lee, by lee was also critical to the poorly executed defense. On may 10, 1864, the second of the lead incidents occurred. As colonel emery uptons brilliant plan, 12 hand picked union army regimen stormed the west face by brigadier georges. As lee prepared to ride wito th sound, his Staff Officers including colonel Walter Taylor and colonel charles s. Vennable stopped him. Lee told the men you must see to it that the ground is recovered. Taylor mounted his horse, grabbed a battle flag, a highly unusual move for a staff officer, and along with ot