"A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House" Book Talk
2014 ж. 8 Жел.
29 226 Рет қаралды
Chris Mackowski, co-author of "A Season of Slaughter" visited the Museum on November 21, 2014. He gave an enlightening talk on the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
I believe this to be one of the finest oral commentaries of any civil war battle I have heard. It is expressed with such authority of confederate and federal positions and tactics enhanced by his soulful recollection of the soldiers conditions individually and collectively. I was transfixed the entire time and felt in my mind as I was there, with the soldiers and reliving those terrible days in May 1864 in Spotsylvania. Many cheers and kudos to you Mr. Mackowski I hope to someday meet with you and perhaps here one of your lectures!
What a rivetting storyteller this guy is ! Well done Chris Mackowski. He must be a historian as well as an author, because he is highly knowledgeable.
Graham Taylor We agree! Chris is the editor-in-chief for the Emerging Civil War Blog. You can see his bio here- emergingcivilwar.com/author-biographies/chris-mackowski/
The American Civil War Museum Thanks for that. If possible, would you please tell Chris that I commend him for such a thoroughly entertaining presentation. He held my attention through the entire duration of it.
*****
My great-great grandfather was wounded in this battle. He was a member of the 122nd New York Volunteers.
Great speaker. Naturals like this are the best way to communicate history.
Wow!!! What a lecture!!!!
Thank you for such a great explanation of this battle. My 2xs great grandfather was severely wounded here on May 8th. You really help paint a visual picture of what was happening then. Much appreciated.
Very engaging delivery. Fascinating. Blessings from NZ ✌️
I need this information for my Battle Report for Advanced Leader Course in the Army, thank you for the thorough story / lecture!
Great lecture. Thank you.
Very detailed and riveting account of the Wilderness Campaign. For not one time did I feel any information was portrayed inaccurate. Thank You for posting.
Masterful presentation. Bravo!
Great job of interjecting a sense of realism to this historic campaign. Thank you!
Fantastic and engaging lecture. Thanks! Just wish he had maps.
Shoulda used a microphone. Can barely hear with volume turned up 100%. Other than that, this is one of the best presentations I've watched.
Great story, thanks. Clever use of aisle between the audience as Grant's Brock Rd. attack route :-)
The problem with Grant's army was his corps commanders. Meade was in charge of an army, Reynolds was dead, Couch had resigned, Hancock was still in bad shape from a terrible wound at Gettysburg, Sedgwick was killed here. Grant needed more soldiers than Lee to do the same job; he had to hold every foot of ground he took and guard communication and supply lines in his rear. Lee did not. Further, the size of the respective armies are almost always misrepresented. Newspapers tended to compare the number of Confederate bayonets on the spot and ready to fight with the total of all Union soldiers including staff, couriers, carpenters, blacksmiths, signal corps, medical personnel, drivers, etc. Grant wasn't fighting a battle of attrition; he was fighting a battle of annihilation. This was an election year and Lincoln didn't have the luxury of dragging this out because he thought he could very well lose. Finally, Sheridan was a sonofabitch but he was a first-rate field commander. Ask Jubal Early.
Good points. However, Jubal Early beat Sheridan in the Valley and should have destroyed him. Because he delayed he allowed Sheridan's force to regroup and rally.
General Sheridan the better commander because he was able to rally his practically routed army and turn the Battle of Cedar Creek into a great victory for the Union. In contrast, General Early was not able to prevent his troops from looting the Union Camps and he was not able to rally them back to the battle line.
Carolvs, the problem is more of a lack of training, than it is a lack of competent commanders. Napoleonic tactics, teach that orders flow from the top. those at the bottom don't know what to do, if they are not directed by someone in charge. the confederates were starting to crumble in their defense, until Lee showed up to restore order, and give commands. you see it over and over thru out the civil war. when the commander goes down, the troops just kind of lose momentum and stumble around. and FADouglas, Jubal Early was correct in not stopping his men from looting that day. the south was in bad shape by that time in the war. allowing his troops to get clothes, blankets and food stores from the north's camps. was a treat the south could not match, with their failing supply chain. just something to think about
Well done. Am glad to hear someone finally say that Sheridan was overrated.
Dude, literally the most over ratted general in all of American history. Can you imagine going up against Lee in his home territory totally blind? Well grant could, because Sheridan was a dribbling moron with no military sense.
@@davidprice7162 well said! Sheridan was guilty of more war crimes against both the South and the Native tribes than any other General in US history
Great video.
Superb!!!
Terrific. I felt like I was there.😁😁
Agree maps and regiments enrolled. My GG grandpa was there.
The large portrait in the center is not General James Henry Lane. That is J. E. B. Stuart.
My GG Grandfather Carlos H Rich fought with the 4th Vermont throughout the Overland Campaign. Unbelievable what he endured.
love this guy brilliant
MAN!! I would love tp get a guided tour of that battlefield from this guy. I have walked over it, stood at the "Bloody Angle", and I just can'r make any sense out of it. I just can't visualize what it looked like. There is a road ( or lane ) running off from there, and my eye wants to see the line of men along there, but I can't make a "Mule Shoe" out of it, or a "Kink" in the line.
Bill Lawrence I am not Chris but I am a guide with a company called Fredericksburg Tours. We specialize in the area battlefields here which includes Spotsylvania Court House. I’d love to give you a tour and help make sense of this battlefield. Look us up on TripAdvisor. www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60824-d14001558-Reviews-Fredericksburg_Tours-Fredericksburg_Virginia.html
@@civilwar6165 Thank you so much. I will certainly do that next time I get back to that part of the world.
By listening to Stuart's tactics make you wonder what would have happened if Stuart's Cavalry didn't have to March around the entire Union Army to reunite with Lee at Gettysburg. He would for sure would have and made clear to take those important ridges long before the Union Army. Lee made a mistake but he fighting blind. Sheridan's Cavalry messed up Grant and Meade. Forrest was also a genius at Topography. He used it to equal out his chances. Brices Crossroads was just natural Military Genius on Tactical battle Leadership.
I have studied the US Civil War in detail for about 30 years. In my considered opinion Phil Sheridan was a great General. He transferred into Cavalry Commander to go with his friend US Grant to the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan was a child of Irish parents. He was a fierce fighter, brave but had a temper. An Irish temper great in a fight but not always nice to guys like General Warren. Sheridan and Sherman followed Grant's orders of total war to destroy Southern morale and resources for CS Armies. They didn't play nice but they won in time with more soldiers, better guns, superior cannon fire, better food, horses and resources. They ground down the South following Lincoln's advice to Grant that he needed a General that could do the math. The South was outnumbered in every way. The CS soldiers and their Generals fought bravely, and won many battles but so did the British when they lost the American Revolutionary War.
Oh please, he left the largest and most important army in the entire union totally blind during the most important campaign of the entire war, all so he could run off and get some (useless) praise for killing JEB. Didn’t you hear the story about the dribbling idiot letting his troops block the infantry’s only path by letting them sleep in the only road towards the enemy? He was THE most over rated general in US history. The north won in spite of him, not because of him.
Seriously, everything you mentioned is all show. He was Irish, and brave? Big deal, he was a disaster as a general, and got tens of thousand killed at cold barber because grant had no idea who he was facing. Your 30 years seems to have been wasted.
@@davidprice7162 Meade and Sheridan were arguing. So Sheridan took it to Grant. Grant replied to Meade why don't you just let him go and do it. This allowed Sheridan to charge at Richmond with his whole cavalry corps, Jeb Stuart and his Troopers fought bravely but they were outnumbered at Yellow Tavern. Jeb Stuart received a mortal wound was moved to Richmond where he died. Lt. General Wade Hampton then took over the command.
@@davidprice7162 Grant won. He made mistakes by he won. He won in the West and won in the East. Even when Grant was beat he would not quit: Shiloh first Day, Chickamauga, Wilderness, Cold Harbor... We won even though he lost Battles as did General George Washington...
After Jackson was wounded and died Ewell doomed the Confederacy and Lee couldn't replace him as Lee held to seniority and Ewell's success under Jackson without recognizing Ewell's timidity for offensive actions.
Grant understood what Longstreet already knew in Gettysburg. Force the enemy to attack, and keep your own troops behind the stone wall.
I’m not sure why he wasn’t able to give casualty figures. There are plenty of sources and the figures are pretty consistent. Around 18,000 union and between 9,000 and 12,000 Confederate.
Volume too low
Wilderness Broques road (begins advance on May 7) Todds Tavern
Mead advances with no Calvary into Spotsylvania
CSA Calvary use ridges to impede Meads advance
May 8 Jeb Stuart deploys infantry himself as the federals advance
Lee Bottlenecks the Union
The defense on the last ridge set the tone for the next few weeks
So much canvas, frames, and monuments dedicated to the memories of Confederate traitors.
speaker should have been mic'd
I like monuments on battlefields because they give you the battle lines and give you a sense of scale and range of what happened. I think without monuments on the battlefields you can walk right over important ground and not have a clue of what happened there. If you are brilliant and know every aspect of the battle, then you might enjoy a battlefield with no markers. Not me.
I have been to Bloody Angle several times, living jus5 miles away. You don't need a marker.b stand silently and listen. You can hear the sound of many souls. Breathe the air; sense the smell. sit on the grass and feel the blood still soaked into the sod. The most moving place, most sacred battleground I've ever experienced.
31:42 doesn’t make sense. Stonewall brigade was harden veterans by this time of the war. Why would they not know to keep the powder dry.
Never before in all of human history was there one side with more able, competent, and brlliant officers leading such brave, and devoted men willing to accept such hardship, and deprivation of any military force in order to defend their homes, hearths and firesides.
??? Please explain. It was the South that was the aggressor, so I'm not clear on which side you are referring too.
With reference to the lady's question about Longstreet's performance at Gettysburg, I believe he lost his motivation solely due to Lee's inept planning of the battle. Lee was resigned to his rigid way of attack and Longstreet dragging his feet because of it. Both failed in there respective rolls.
Great lecture but . . . . no maps. We are talking about war, campaign, battle and no single map. Disappointing :-(
My gggrandpa was part of McGowan’s brigade at the bloody angle.
You must be from Ninety Six, Edgefield, or Lauren's area?
I don't particularly like Sheridan but I think you are being a little unfair to him here.
The Army of the Potomac wasn't that big.
Enjoyed; Please Park Rangers bring canteen not plastic cup; as our America is degraded and we now are paying for all plastic corporate waste in our tax dollars nobody wants it; and the Parks are full of it..
too much drama. too much drama toomuchdrama. drama. too. much.