PBS American Experience documentary about Confed gen Robert E Lee tonight

[alp227]

Should be on most PBS stations from 10PM (9PM Central/Mountain) in most places and in high definition. 90 minutes long. Check your local listings. I'm curious to see how PBS will handle Lee compared to how the governments of some states (e.g. Texas, Virginia) would.

The program website is at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lee/

[JVS]

1. 8:00 Central here. It has started.

[alp227]

3. my station (KQED) is showing it at 10PM (or 9 Central)

At 9PM slot (which would be 8 central) KQED is showing a Victor Borge documentary.

[FARAFIELD]

2. You infer he would be handled differently by a Confederate State?

Really doesn't matter though, he is recognized as the Greatest American General ever. In fact it is hard to imagine a number two. And with warfare they way it is now, its impracticable that someone could displace him. Im 47 and am from California, and Im just saying. Although others possibly could be argued he is the only one that would be in every arguement of the greatest general. Add to that that his not being bitter at the end of the war went a long way toward helping the peace among fighting men on both sides. Its hard to imagine and more brilliant battle plan w/o modern trappigngs than Chancellorsville. Add to that Superintendant of West Point, and his house being taken for personal reasons by the Union Quartermaster (Yet becoming the centerpiece of the Countries most hallowed ground) and you have a story that is for everyone for all time, and impossible to make up. And personally? My runner-up would be George S. Patton.

[provis99]

6. greatest general? Lee lost. Badly. to a drunk.

General Lee was a clown.

[demosincebirth]

8. All of them should have been hung. 550,000 dead soldiers because

of their slavery issue.

[raccoon]

16. All? Even the draftees? Even the Confederate soldiers who owned

no slaves? You certainly are into some binary thinking.

[demosincebirth]

21. Of course not. How about Lee and all military leader who committed treason by

joining and fighting for the confederacy. Also, Davis and the rest of his cronies.

[derby378]

11. The worst season the Dallas Cowboys ever had, they racked up only one victory

Guess who it was against? The Washington Redskins, who would go on to win the Super Bowl that same season.

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Grant was a military genius

Having said that, though, I also think that Lee is overrated. Still, your assessment is silly. Yes, he seriously blew Gettysburg and was thoroughly out-generaled by the unheralded George Meade, and he made plenty of other mistakes, too, like Antietam, but some of his battles were masterful.

To dismiss Grant as "a drunk" is ignorance at best. His Vicksburg campaign was a bravura performance of movement, logistics, bluff and force, and the southern apologists who dismiss him as nothing more than a butcher who traded lives in a ham-fisted war of attrition need to study his battles early in the war. The man was nothing short of extraordinary, and a truly modern warrior who knew how to use communications, transportation and movement.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. You really need to read Alan T. Nolan's "Lee Considered" for a

corrective to the hagiography that has grown up around Lee.

Here's a good question for you to ponder: if Lee was the "Greatest American General ever" (your words), why did he not take Longstreet's advice and dis-engage at Gettysburg after the first day? Maybe the answer is that Lee had a problem taking sound advice when he had his "war on"?

[PurityOfEssence]

14. Maybe "recognized" as such, but hardly the best

Lee was not as good a General as either Grant or Sherman, nor was he a match for Nathan Bedford Forrest, but then again, I don't know of ANYONE who's ever been as good a tactical and operational general as Forrest. Forrest is the true military genius of the war, and is still considered the father of modern mechanized warfare, and he did it with no formal military training. Frankly, I'd say that Jackson and Longstreet are every bit as good as Lee, and arguably better.

Yes, Chancellorsville was spectacular. Fredricksburg was the proper response to a sloppy attack. His response in the Wilderness bears note, too.

Still, Grant never fucked up like the third day at Gettysburg. Never. Not even close. That was a truly bad idea, and the intelligence was there ahead of time. Longstreet couldn't even bring himself to order the attack. He let himself get caught in a terrible position at Sharpsburg, but mercifully, it was McClellan attacking.

Greene deserves note, as do Patton and Arnold, but the ongoing gushing of awe for the military prowess of Washington and Lee really doesn't stand to scrutiny.

[Bravo Zulu]

17. Nathan Bedford Forrest served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan!

Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. He served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilante organization which launched a reign of terrorism against blacks and Republicans during Reconstruction in the South.<1>

[SpiralHawk]

18. Tell that 'greatest' meme to the Confederate dead at Gettysburg

total stupid insanity...

[HereSince1628]

4. Thanks,

But, instead we'll be watching a different PBS special on the songs of Edith Piaf.

[charlie and algernon]

5. thanks, watching it now

pretty good so far. Some generals are brilliant when it comes to visualizing the battlefield to plan their moves.

[Bravo Zulu]

7. I missed the 9PM show,will watch at 1AM!

Channel Date & Time Episode
WQEDDT 13.1 Mon, Jan 3
9:00 PM Robert E. Lee New
The season premiere profiles Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), a fascinating figure.
WQEDDT 13.1 Tue, Jan 4
1:00 AM Robert E. Lee New
The season premiere profiles Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), a fascinating figure.

[Lifelong Protester]

9. Not here, they pre-empted it to show that Repub. Scott Walker

being sworn in as our next 'anti-union, anti-middle class' governor.

I hope it will be replayed.

[alp227]

12. in my state California the inaugural was shown live on cable only

and streaming online; those without cable/internet could only watch highlights on the five o'clock news. I searched the Wisconsin Public Television site and they'll show the documentary tomorrow evening.

[monmouth]

15. Personality wise Lee and McCain sound very much alike. Nasty tempers...n/t

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Lee was a historically interesting and conflicted character. The gray in his uniform is apt...

....as he cannot be measured in either black or white.

He was by all means a brilliant military mind. The South was out manned, out supplied and out funded, yet managed to engage the North in a bloody stalemate for five years almost exclusively due to Lee's acumen. Until Grant, the North had no equal to Lee's prowess.

By all accounts Lee had a chivalrous and noble manner on the battlefield, and is responsible for an excellent quote, "It is good that war is so horrible, lest we grow too fond of it." He had respect for the men under him, and the men under him had the greatest respect for him.

He had public reservations about both slavery and secession, and only chose to fight for the South due to loyalty to his home state. When the war was just breaking out, he was the prized free agent that the North desperately wanted on their side, and for good reason.

But....

....he did ultimately fight for the side that sought to protect slavery, which even with his misgivings about that horrible institution makes him at least partly complicit in the affair. He did not personally own slaves, but married into a family that did.

I would neither call him a hero or a villian. In the pantheon of historical figures he was neither Martin Luther King, nor was he Adolph Hitler. He was, however, a military genius. I would say like many historical figures Lee was a man of contradictions and conflict, both internal and external.

[leeroysphitz]

20. An American traitor. n/t