Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
John Reeves has taught history and written about financial matters. He’s written a new US Civil War book on the indictment of Robert E. Lee after the war. I interviewed him about it.
1:38 – John Reeves taught history for 15 years. He also wrote on finance for some time.
3:15 – Robert E. Lee tried to bring North and South together after the war. But Northerners wanted to punish him for treason and bring charges against him.
5:36 – Lee applied for amnesty against the charges and studied ways to defend himself.
9:14 – Lee kept his letters privates because he didn’t want to seem to be playing politics.
12:38 – Lee and his fellow defendants weren’t jailed during the trial because of Grant’s insistence that he had made a deal for the Southern leaders to be free until the war was officially over. The war officially ended in August 1866. Jefferson Davis didn’t have this protection though.
16:35 – The defendants were indicted in Virginia because they were accused of making treasonous war in Virginia.
19:37 – Lee defended himself on the merits of the case. He also had to go to DC to testify before a Congressional committee about treason. He was advised by a lawyer, Senator Johnson from Maryland.
23:52 – Lee was called as a witness for the Davis trial.
27:32 – John’s first step was to find the indictment itself. They seemed to have been lost but John discovered they were in the state library of Virginia in Richmond.
33:32 – John found many documents at the Library of Congress including Lee’s papers. But people don’t have permission to look in one box of Lee’s papers. Andrew Johnson’s papers are there too.
38:37 – Lee was accused of treating his slaves brutally.
44:34 – The defense of Lee became entwined with the Lost Cause movement. Robert E. Lee was even in a stained glass window in the National Cathedral.
49:40 – The failure of the indictments provides an idea as to why Reconstruction failed.
56:19 – John is on twitter at reevesjw. His website is john-reeves.com.
Links
For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar
Guests: John Reeves
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, robert e. lee, civil war, confederates, union, lost cause, arlington, gettysburg, lincoln, andrew johnson, jefferson davis