Robert E. Lee and the Three Bloodiest Days | Unknown Civil War (S1, E9) | Full Episode

Lee should have listed to his tactician General Longstreet and flacked the Union.

this war was a meanless lost of life when all the north had to do is like they train their army and studying Harriet Tubman success train many with that mind frame they could have crippled the south entire structure we know helping those that made it north put some heavy pressure on the south itself now just imagine if lincoln would have implace a policy for the training of 100 souls to do that or double the 300 or more that Harriet conducted to freedom removing of the even half of them slaves would have brought the south down

Why did they say Lee was a heri??? He was a traitor!

Here’s what as always bugged me as a historian. The narrative is always Lee had an off day at Gettysburg and made mistake after mistake. However, when you break it all down other than not concentrating sooner or delaying the second day of battle to consolidate his forces, he actually had a very solid battle plan and made the right calls. Take the second and third day for example, if you take his battle plans and combine them into one attack he essentially is doing what the US army does today, fix the flanks and exploit whatever penetration may come of it.

Yes Picketts charge fails but, Lee wins the first day decisively, the second day he wins most of the day and likely does carry the day if Longstreet attacks even and hour or two earlier. Yes the third day is a miserable failure but the plan he devised never materializes. Ewell and Longstreet don’t renew the action on the flanks, Porter Alexander doesn’t silence the Union artillery and Stuart doesn’t break the Union cavalry.

This has always been my great what if: what if Longstreet goes in at 11 or noon like Lee anticipated on July 2nd. While Sickles is still creeping forward and doesn’t have the opportunity to assemble a passable defensive position like he does in the actual battle , what if Longstreet actually gains the round tops before Warren brings up Vincent’s brigade, and what if Ewell is just a little aggressive and attacks on the right? Does Meade attempt to retain his position despite the fact he will have by the time he’s gotta make a decision have lost the 1st 3rd and 11th corps as combat ineffective? And better yet does Lee in that scenario emboldened by the flanks being very heavily pinned down with a lot of daylight left conduct Picketts charge a day sooner with AP Hills entire corps relatively fresh, and riding the wave of victory from the day before

lincoln was roght concerning meade's plunder lee should have never made it back to virginia and if he did he should have been in worse shape some no how to win battles but slack on totaled victory now grant and sherman was not playing with lee just like in a street brawl you may may have beaten me yesterday but this day will be different i will have totaled victory especially coming on my soil

this is what one get by putting man above god that who really caused their defeat they fought to hold gods people in bondage and look at the price they paid for it

Comparing Lee to Washington is wild

And now that the yankees have destroyed their states they are running to the south. How ironic

lee, a hero, as last stated? think not. His directives to ewell & stuart failed. his decision to go ahead with frontal attack was WRONG. no hero here

People say Lee and company risked too much in their attempts to "one-shot" Union armies and win dramatic victories. Yet, given the economic, naval, technological, and manpower advantages of the North, I am unconvinced of the wisdom of a more cautious strategy by the Confederates. A long war seems to play to the Union's strengths.

A story of traitors and minions of Satan nothing more.

One thing that really bothers me is calling the confederate soldiers and their leaders "rebels".

Remember boys the union had 4 times rhe soldiers....let that sink in

JEB fugged up

Lee was complacent and thought he couldn't lose. He should've retreated much sooner than he did.

Lee was brain dead thank God as a general he screwed up one he resign his commission and could not see the writing on the wall he should have known slavery had to stop..

After losing at Gettysburg and learning that Vicksburg had fallen almost simultaneously why did Lee continue to fight? At that point a man as intelligent as he would know the outcome was inevitable and all he did was delay it ,costing 10's of thousands more lives and and the total destruction of the land he claimed to love.

😂 lee was not American😂

Are any General great? The only great general would be one that was never in a fight, if not the flaws will come out

The greatest? This completely ignored his lackluster beginning of the Civil War. And why do they always ignore his being a very enthusiastic slave owner, and how he used his invasion of the Union to capture blacks and send them into the Confederacy for enslavement? And at the end of it Lee destroyed his army without gain. Not exactly the greatest general.

Lee surrendered his army to Gen. Grant. It was the third army he bagged.

Lee was not the greatest general, he was one of the greatest traitors in the USA, In the end he lost to Grant. All he did was try to destroy the greatest Country in the World, The United States of America. He is not a Military hero. Is this documentary confederate propaganda ?

lee was a fighter great general but no hero traitor to the country that gave him everything regrets who knows

Lee killed more of his soldiers than Union did

Well sir, context is Bobby was best at Antietam by a second rate general then really beat badly at Gettysburg by a general in charge for less than a week then Lee lost half his army at the Wilderness. If you want a great general it would be Grant. Always found a way to win.

Bobby lee was no George Washington. It took General Grant less than a year to decimate and defeat Lee’s army.

Washington had the French troops, thousands - Lee did not. At Yorktown Washington had 2/3 French troops - put that in your hat and smoke it patriots ! As Wellington said of Napo "he went potty once too often.".

Lee had an aura about him.
How many people have for daughters and none of them get married, especially in the mid 19th century.
I think it's not that he terrified a guy who liked one of the girls, which I'm sure he did, it was more of who could live up to the stature of their father.

Well you just don't march into Pennsylvania and expect to not get a rude welcome.

Lee was only as great as his generals under his command. If stonewall had lived, he would have been in command if the army ewell had, and would have never delayed the attack on culps hill. That alone could have changed the outcome.

"A true American hero". That makes me sick. He fought for a vicious cause, encompassing just about every evil known to humankind, and on top of all that, he was an atrocious general.

Excuse me,"great American general", he surrendered the title American when he took up arms against the country!!!

Lee was ill at Gettysburg. Probably a minor case of diarrhea, but also hints of a heart condition at Gettysburg.

"Greatest since ... Washington". Yeah, that's pretty "arguable". The question is more whether he was a good general rather than whether he was the greatest.

overrated...lee

Not even remotely the worst walmart I have been in🔥🔥🔥

DAD JOKES are my preferred[air quotes] TOUCHLESS TORTURE, tool,in my PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE,arsenal
[Q] when does a JOKE,become a DAD JOKE?
[A] When it becomes,APPARENT

There is a boat load of misinformation in this video.

Vastly overrated as a general.

Lee was a good general who overcame many obstacles except Gettysburg. I still think Stonewall Jackson was a great general, better than General Robert E. Lee!

Grant was the best

Who the hell are these commenters ? Fools ?

Since George Washington ? I dont hate George but he wasn’t worthy of tying Lee’s shoelace when it comes to Generalship

The Civil War was only about slavery towards the end.
In the first years it was about States rights and unfair taxes.
I live in the South and the Confederate a Army were Democrats and the Union Army were Republicans.

Good documentary, well done. Then at the end it went downhill with the reverence for Lee. I just can't call him an American hero...

Lee was not as great as history tries to make. He was college educated for free something in the 1800's was no small feat. He received all the benefits from the nation and when it was time to repay his nation at its greatest hour, he turned his back on the nation. Lee was short sited. Never seeing the big picture. Only wanting for things to stay the way they were as a man of great importance and prestige, being born of upper class. How dare the northerners want change. He got more than what he deserved.

Grant was a fighter, Lee a good strategic thinker. Problem is- Lee is fighting for the wrong reason. He thought God was on his side, - he thought wrong!

Interesting documentary, but do't EVER call Lee an "American hero"! He was not.

Lee ceased to be great when he defended slavery 😢

Lee was a better tactician then Washington. However, Washington figured out how to win with far longer odds. Washington kept his army in fighting condition for the whole of the 8 years of the American Revolution At the end of 4 years Lee's army was struggling.