Mr. White is the coauthor of a season of slaughter the battle of Spotsylvania Court house, may 821, 1864. This talk was part of a symposium hosted by the emerging civil war blog. Our first speaker today is a man for whom i hold the utmost respect. Three years ago this again, in fact, we sat on the back porch of a little building next to the stone lodge action shrine and we were thinking, you know, what can we do to help people become more invested in these stories of the civil war . That is were the emerging civil war blog first came to be. Since then, over the past three to a, we have expanded publishing series that we will talk about this afternoon. Of course, the symposium and a number of speaking engagements, as well. We are continuing our outreach to help people become invested in these very important and engaging stories. Historian ander former licensed battlefield guide at gettysburg here he is one of those men who you could drop him on any battlefield, take off the blindfold, and he will tell you what regiment was there, how many people were there, who the colonel was, and size was that i have learned a tremendous amount from him. I have written all of my books with him. I am pleased to introduce our first speaker today, mr. Kris white. [applause] thanks, everybody. Thanks for that introduction. And just a side note to his story of us creating emerging civil war, my wife said to me this last week, not too bad for three idiots sitting on the back porch smoking cigars. [laughter] so that is what we came up with. Today i am going to do a little continuation on some things we talked about last night at the roundtable discussion. That will be the changing face not only of the American Civil War, but of American Military strategy and the way america is going to change their fighting ways really up until the eisenhower administration. The war in 1864 is going to have a deep, deep impact on the way the military is going to fight the 1870sns in through 1890s against the natives, and then as we get into world war i and the Second World War. The Second World War has many parallels with the fighting that sherman and grant are going to start employing in 1864. We are going to talk a little bit about that. I will also give you a little bit of a background to set the stage for the weekend, the rest of the weekends events, talking about where we are in the war of 1864 comes everybody is on the same page. We will speak about a variety of topics, including civilian station with our keynote speaker and then a Confederate Navy talk. Then we have them politics and Valley Campaign coming up, as well. I want to make sure everyone is on the same page. As i start off today, i will use a quote use my military historians the world over, and i will continue that stereotype. Great germana military thinker. His thoughts had not come over to the united dates yet, mainly because we really have not taken and transcribed from germany to english what he is saying. He came up during the napoleonic , and a lot that you see in the American Civil War will influence those officers who went to the United States military academy at west point, Virginia Military institute, norwich my all my monitor, to learn how to go out and wage war. So that is good man to step back to. He is going to say that war is a continuation of politics by other means. Has a624, this quote great deal of impact. As we look in 1854, the political stage that will be set by Abraham Lincoln is an important one. 1864 is an election year. If Abraham Lincoln does not bring home a number of victories , or at least completely turned the tide of this war for the unions favor, his party is not going to be in power. If he is not in power, the confederates, on the flipside, will be able to super peace man like George Mcclellan will take the presidency, its into the we willcy, and what have is then a divided nation. It will be predicated on what lincoln does early in 1864, and that will be appointing ulysses s. Grant as commander of all union forces come all 20 plus , departments,army and divisions to enter the field. Lincoln will give them a mandate. He is going to try to apply pressure all across the board, by applying the pressure that 1851eld scott called in the anaconda plan, we can completely and i leave the south. The idea with grant and lincoln is going to be to try to apply pressure at various points. Now grant and robert e lee have been intertwined since 1864. Grant has been known as a butcher to some people are he has been known as a dry since his army days. But Ulysses S Grant is a fantastic general, not a typical one that will smash his head up against a wall. He is a soldier that will follow orders, and he is going to do it very well. When granted appointed in march of 1864 to Lieutenant General c, first one since george washington, he has this mandate which essentially is, i want you to destroy thery Confederate Army, because if you destroy the Confederate Army, the will be nothing standing between us and richmond, nothing between us and atlanta and all the other cities in the south. When grant took over, he wanted to use what was called a strategy of exhaustion. He wanted to wear out the confederates. Not so much on the battlefield, but he wanted to go through the south, and he wanted to cut swath two words important centers, allowing his army to live off the land, much like he tried to do during the vicksburg campaign, a fantastic campaign. He is a maneuvering general. But grant, when he wants to employ this, has some precedent he said. He at least 21,000 men on the meridian expedition under william sherman. Sherman is going to cut a wide swath from vicksburg down into alabama i am sorry, mississippi, and he is going to cause about 50 million in damage, according to William Tecumseh sherman or so he feels, grand, that if we go to to the south and make this war about taking over the homeland by destroying crops and railroads, we will wear out the confederates ability to supply their armies to we will drain morale on the homefront, drain morale on the war front. And then hopefully whenever it comes to the battlefield, that will have those armies depleted and the union, not only numbers, but strategy, will play out in the end. Link it has another idea. He wants to try to find a Decisive Point and matter away at thes army i am sorry, davidsons army. This is the idea that grant is given. So when grant gives lincoln an initial breakdown of what he wanted to do, and lincoln was not very interested exactly in a wanted to do, grant had strategy in early 1864 of trying to send 50,000 men down through southeastern virginia and then down into North Carolina to cut the underbelly of robert elys army. You cut the supply chain. But when lincoln gives the mandate for what we call a strategy of annihilation, that means to go out and destroy your enemy, grant take this wholeheartedly. He is going to decide when he comes in and meets with George Gordon meade, the often forgotten army of the potomac commander, he will meet with e and decide to stay here with the army of the potomac which had a major issue. Ofhington was only 30 miles its winter and kamman. Politicians, governors from northern states, would always make their way down into the camp. They did this in 1862 and 1863, during the valley forge winter. They did the same thing while meade is down here, and he is to run to washington in 1863 and 1864 to fight for his job as a different accusations after the battle of gettysburg. When grant comes here, he realizes that the biggest problem is not George Gordon meade. Meade impresses grant by essentially telling him that you can put me where ever you want, just make sure you bring the best person in here to command this army and put it in a place where i could do good for the union cause. This impresses great and keeps command, because he is a good soldier, but grant is coming from the western theater and wants to make sure that he maintains the tie between that eastern army and its commander from gettysburg. Since gettysburg, the eastern army had not done too much. They had to truck core out west. And they had a union thick during with a failed campaign at mine run which will be the solidifying factor that brings a grant in here to fight in the Eastern Theater of the war. Ofe november, early december 1863, meade was about to make a massive assault. His second Corps Commander refused to go forward. That wasdecision faithful more ways than one theater will spare the same second core, and less casualties against the forlorn hope assault , and it is also going to show the fact that meade really cannot get the job done. Grant them all he has done is won shiloh and pittsburgh. He went to chattanooga and saves that city from siege. He is now the winningest general, and grant will put the onus on him to bring home a victory. Confederates, on the flipside, are going to have their best commander take on grant, and that will be robert e lee, obviously. The confederate strategy in 1864 is, in a way, similar to what the Union Strategy will be. That is that they want to make ,his war as bloody as possible as untenable as possible comes with of the northern electorate, when they go to the polls in november, are going to have no stomach for this war. They want to essentially win by a draw. The union armies have to conquer the south. They have to go through the south and eradicate those men who have come to power in the confederate government. They have to get them out of power. On the confederate side, if lee, davis, joe johnson out west, can bring home victories, what they can do is essentially win by drop your the Democratic Peace party can take our for her then by 1855, the confederacy can be an independent nation in and of itself. That is what they think. The confederates, in 1864, have very high hopes, hayek citations. High expectations but it was written that the spirit of both officers and men points to one. Esolve, and that is success a texas officer serving in the same texas brigade wrote debts on the eve of the overland campaign, that if the people at home could only see the spirit of this army, i am confident confederate currency would appreciate the value and be worth as much as federal gold. High hopes that these people have in the south, still. Yes, they have had setbacks. Which was anooga, fantastic jumping off point for sherman here in 1854. Then were going to have the setback, obviously, at gettysburg could but we had victories at chancellorsville. The south is Still Holding its own. And lees army still together. They thwarted meade at mine run here in the ease. So lee and davis to keep the war going on. Lees army as an army that were pretty much familiar with as they go into 1854. If you go back to gettysburg, this is the command structure that meade took when he crossed the pennsylvania border. The man up on your top left would be james long street am of the first Corps Commander. That is the second in command of the army appeared the second Corps Commander is across from him to the third Corps Commander is in the bottom left corner. And then we have jeb stuart, the confederate calvary chief. Looking at this picture, it is a pretty good list of officers. Lee has a solid command structure. But in 1864 come along street will be taken out of the equation. When you go to the pennsylvania Spotsylvania Courthouse, one will be out sick. Following that, another will be relieved of demand. During the spotsylvania value, we will have the death of jeb stuart. So by the time lee is making his way down towards richmond, his command staff is completely shaken, something we talked about last night at our roundtable discussion. Lee is not going to be working with that ateam he had when he stepped off. On the second day of battle in the wilderness, he loses his most trusted subordinate, james long street. Everything from that point were start will start going downhill for robert e lee, mainly because lee is a commander who wanted to fight a strategy that would keep his army on the defensive, only until he found it offensive opportunity. He sees that opportunity and take the battle to the enemy, much like he did on the seven days which carried over into second manassas and then up in antietam. And postchancellorsville, he is going to head up towards gettysburg. Takes hes a different kind of general it when he came up with the idea that he is going to have to fight lees army, he is going to do it on a wide front. He wilson forces into southeastern virginia, under been that were, not the greatest joys, but he needed him politically. Then he will sit two more calls of armies to western virginia. And inept person into the Shenandoah Valley, and thence then sherman and through joys georgia, and eventually Nathaniel Banks through the nathaniel river. He wants to apply pressure all at one spirit when grand interest the wilderness in 1864, he is acting not as the army of the potomac commander but as the man overseeing all these armies. He is acting essentially as Dwight Eisenhower did during the 1844. On of normandy in hes going to oversee all of the smaller pieces. Unlike pike, grant definitely wants to be the alpha male and have his hand in the pot. And a matter of a few hours in to battle in the wilderness, grant is already putting his impact on the army. Grant essentially writing behind , looking behind meade over his shoulders the whole time. It is a tough position for meade. George gordon meade is a fantastic character and fantastic Division Commander appeared we do not know how well of a Corps Commander he would be because we do not have enough to battlebut he had won the of gettysburg which was good enough for general grant. Unfortunately, meade will turn into a highranking staff officer. He will be grants george marshall, from going up into world war ii. So now grant is going to be a different kind of beast. As we look at the map, i want you to focus on the red and blue line heading down toward richmond. Grant realizes very quickly, as does lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the fastest way to get a Confederate Army to battle, or union army to battle, is to threaten their capital. Politicians do not like whenever armies come knocking on their door. Aimt grant intends to do is for the area of richmond. But he is going to tell meade goes, youver lee shall follow. From the wilderness, grant is stalemated. He will fight there, and i will show you a map in a moment of the wilderness. He is going to go to spotsylvania, lord appeared still make. Smell still make again. What grant is going to do is something that no other commander did that robert e lee bought. He is going to keep the initiative. It does not matter what happened , be it a draw or loss, grant is going to keep pushing south. That will keep applying pressure on Robert E Lees army. This strategy of annihilation that he is going to use is going to keep grinding down the Confederate Army. In the wilderness, he tries to attack, prematurely, grant does. Lee is able to encounter. He is able to utilize the woods about 12 miles or more we are to nullify grants covers of 123,000 or so versus lees 62,000 or so men. Now to the Spotsylvania Courthouse, we see our next days of war. Our next stop is right over here. The idea is that right here on the land is to start to utilize earth works. From chancellorsville to earthsrg, you will see works go on. Antietam, you do not see that. You saw manmade roads. Fortifications. But they do not actually did fortification. Starting at fredericks bird, the confederates would dig a line. Most of these are not the impressive. Once you crossed down to Spotsylvania Courthouse in the army starts moving down here, lee realizes he is going into open country. So now he is going to change that face of war by starting to utilize fortification. To paraphrase one union staff officer, he essentially says, in three days, the confederates can have a line. He will state that they arrived at one point and will set of a low line on the first acre the second day they will have a moderate line of work aired by the third day, they are impregnable. By the end at the campaign, he seemed to do all that three days work in less than 24 hours. These men are going to be digging, constantly digging every time they come down very the works will keep growing rigor and bigger. The works shown on this map are going to be very impressive. But theyre going to hell and compares to coal harbour which will take place less than a month later. Lee hasampaign evolves, to adjust his tactics, as did the union forces. Both sides have to dig in. Fortifications are not new to warfare. In the American Civil War, using tactics, hepoleonic stood shoulder to shoulder and fired muskets. I have heard a thousand times people say how stupid the American General was by standing out in those open fields. For Ambrose Burnside would get a time every time i were to read or expert. But as this happened, these works are going to grow up. As they grow, they learned that west point that if you do utilize fortifications, youre going to need three to one odds to together that defender. Lee, even know he will lose men, about 13,000 in the wilderness and another 13000 and Spotsylvania Co