&#8220;The View&#8221; host Sunny Hostin claimed during a Monday broadcast that President Donald Trump was &#8220;militarizing&#8221; the U.S. Army National Guard when he deployed troops to quell the violent protests in Los Angeles, arguing that by doing so, he would ultimately set the stage for a &#8220;civil war.&#8221;
Hostin discussed the ongoing protests in Los Angeles — as well as the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to protect federal agents as the protests got more and more violent — with her fellow cohosts on the ABC midday talk show, and they complained that Trump&#8217;s plan to deport criminal illegal aliens was the real problem.
&#8220;The Defense Department has the U.S. Marines on high alert right now,&#8221; cohost Whoopi Goldberg began in mocking tones. &#8220;Now, you know, is it warranted or does this sort of escalate the situation? I mean, whatever happened to state&#8217;s rights?&#8221;
&#8220;I thought that what&#8217;s you do, &#8217;cause you tell the state that this is what you&#8217;re thinking, you know, you don&#8217;t just send people in, you don&#8217;t just send troops in,&#8221; Goldberg claimed. &#8220;But what do I know, I&#8217;ve never run a state? But I don&#8217;t really — when you come in and everyone is — when you go into the doughnut shop to look for people and you&#8217;re dressed in tactical gear, you&#8217;re creating an issue. You&#8217;re creating a problem.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Sunny Hostin decries Trump &#8220;militarizing&#8221; the National Guard and claims he&#8217;s going to have them start a &#8220;Civil War.&#8221; 
Ignoring the riots and violence, she claims the Guard is there &#8220;for the purpose of policing Americans&#8217; protest activity, our freedom of speech, our freedom of… <a href="https://t.co/3vEWwMIKSf">pic.twitter.com/3vEWwMIKSf</a>
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1932104165712339004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hostin jumped in then, claiming that Trump was &#8220;militarizing&#8221; the National Guard — despite its existence as a state-based military force since 1636 and being attached to the United States Army officially in 1933 — by sending troops to keep the peace after protesters attacked ICE agents and their vehicles.
&#8220;I think what really matters from sort of a long view here is the fact that he is militarizing and deploying the Guard for the purpose of policing Americans&#8217; protest activity, our freedom of speech, our freedom of assembly,&#8221; Hostin insisted, suggesting that the National Guard had been brought in to silence the protesters rather than to keep them from damaging more property and hurting people.
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Hostin went on to argue that &#8220;an army turned inside&#8221; to police the citizens within the country would ultimately result in &#8220;chaos and fascism.&#8221;
&#8220;And civil war,&#8221; she agreed as Goldberg prompted her. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s the way we need to look at it because deploying the National Guard is supposed to be a last resort.&#8221;
Hostin then claimed that Trump had promised to deploy the National Guard anywhere in the country that protests occurred. What Trump has actually said, on a number of occasions, was that the federal government would step in and shut down violent riots if and when it became apparent that local authorities — in this case, Mayor Karen Bass (D-LA) and Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) — were either unable or unwilling to do so.

51st Annual Daytime Emmys Awards – Arrivals

‘The View’ Host Claims Trump Is ‘Militarizing’ National Guard, And ‘Civil War’ Is Coming

Civil War

Donald Trump

Media

National Guard

Politics

Sunny Hostin

The View

Whoopi Goldberg

On December 13, 1862, during the U.S. Civil War, the Union Army suffered its most calamitous and tragic defeat to date at the hands of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on the frozen fields south of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
After taking over for the paradoxically arrogant yet timid Maj. Gen. George McClellan following the blood-letting at Antietam in September, the new Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was tasked by President Lincoln to vigorously pursue and destroy CSA Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army now encamped in the Shenandoah Valley in that state. Despite harboring doubts about his own abilities as an army commander, the affable and dapper Burnside concocted a plan to dash due south and lay a pontoon bridge over the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. His aim was to get ahead of Lee’s army farther to the west and race for Richmond, the Southern Confederacy’s capital.
<div id="attachment_843789" style="width: 597px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843789" class="size-large wp-image-843789" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)" width="587" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg 587w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-300x294.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-768x754.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px" />UNITED STATES &#8211; CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)</div>
But Burnside&#8217;s plan that relied on speed and surprise almost immediately went awry. The pontoon bridges needed to affect the river crossing were delayed by ten days. By the time they arrived and construction began, Lee had marched his army to Fredericksburg. The Rebels took up a nearly impregnable position south of the town on a rise called Marye’s Heights that presented the defenders with a commanding view of the city and open ground before them.
<div id="attachment_843801" style="width: 837px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843801" class="size-large wp-image-843801" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg" alt="13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="827" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg 827w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-768x535.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 827px) 100vw, 827px" />13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
Despite his plan being foiled — his anxious engineers found themselves laying the pontoon bridges under fire from Rebel snipers who occupied the town along the river bank — the unimaginative Burnside pressed forward anyway. Following a bombardment that all but destroyed the little town, Yankee troops marched over the bridges and fought their way through the streets, whereupon many shamelessly looted the abandoned homes and shops until officers could corral them back into their ranks. The Yankees then formed up for the doomed assault against Lee’s lines.
What the Union troops faced was the suicidal prospect of crossing a half-mile of open, sloping ground to assault a solid line of veteran Rebel troops massed behind the protection of both a sunken road and high stone wall backed by artillery lined hub-to-hub along the crest of the hill before them. While watching the lines of Union blue forming up to make their attack, Lee’s First Corps commander on the Marye’s Heights sector of the line, Gen. James Longstreet, asked his young artillerist, Col. E.P. Alexander, if he thought the position was defensible. Alexander assured him: “General, a chicken can’t live in that field when we open up on it!”
<div id="attachment_843811" style="width: 765px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843811" class="size-large wp-image-843811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg" alt="A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye's Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="755" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg 755w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-300x229.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-768x586.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px" />A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye&#8217;s Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
And so began a series of ill-advised charges up the slopes of Marye’s Heights by a Union Army that proved itself to be as brave as any army in any field; but they were doomed nonetheless. The Confederate lines were so concentrated that for every man at the wall shooting down into the slowly approaching Union lines, two stood behind them with loaded and rammed rifles at the ready to hand the marksman one weapon after another, giving the stone wall’s rate of fire the effect of a machine gun — with the same grisly efficiency. As Alexander predicted, whirring, bouncing projectiles fired from his overheating guns tore into the compact blue formations, killing and maiming groups of men with each round. Thousands of Union troops totaling six divisions were fed into the Rebel meat grinder, one brigade at a time.
Watching the slaughter from his vantage point above the fighting, Gen. Lee, his stirred warrior blood struggling for equilibrium with his humanitarian nature, offered somberly: “It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.”
<div id="attachment_843805" style="width: 468px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843805" class="size-large wp-image-843805" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg" alt="7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 - 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lee was offered the command of the Union Army but although personally opposed to both slavery and secession, his loyalty to Virginia led to his taking command of the Confederate forces. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="458" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg 458w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-239x300.jpg 239w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-768x965.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032.jpg 815w" sizes="(max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px" />7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 &#8211; 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
After fourteen assaults some 13,300 Union dead and wounded lay strewn in a veritable carpet of blue before the smoke-obscured Confederate lines (to the South&#8217;s 4,500, many of whom listed as &#8220;missing&#8221; had just slipped away to nearby homesteads for Christmas). Although he contemplated continuing the forlorn attack, Burnside was convinced by his corps commanders that any new assaults would be just as fruitless and bloody so he called the battle off. (Burnside actually wanted to lead a final charge himself, so distraught was he over the carnage he’d unnecessarily inflicted on an army he sincerely loved).
The Union attack against 2nd Corps Commander &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson&#8217;s more exposed lines east of Marye&#8217;s Heights situated in lower swampland on Lee&#8217;s right did actually make some progress, but this attack too was repulsed.
For two days in the bitter December cold, the shivering Union survivors trapped in the no-man&#8217;s land between the heights and the town, hunkered down on the frozen ground. Many shielded themselves from Rebels taking shots at them from behind the stone wall by piling up the bodies of their fallen comrades to act as macabre breastworks. Soldiers would always remember the sound of .566 rounds thudding into the stiff cadavers. At night the eerie lights of a rare Southern aurora borealis flashed overhead in the starry sky, which the Confederates took as a sign that God Himself was celebrating their astounding one-sided victory.
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The surviving Union troops eventually withdrew from the corpse-laden field and made it back through the town and across the Rappahannock to safety.
Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine recounted the retreat under the shroud of night. &#8220;We had to pick our way over a field strewn with incongruous ruin; men born and broken and cut to pieces in every indescribable way, cannon dismounted, gun carriages smashed or overturned, ammunition chests flung wildly about, horses dead and half-dead still held in harness, accoutrements of every sort scattered as by whirlwinds. It was not good for the nerves, that ghastly march, in the lowering night!&#8221;
After one more botched offensive in late January, during which his plans were foiled by a torrential rainstorm rather than Rebel bullets (forever remembered to history as the &#8220;Mud March&#8221;) Gen. Burnside resigned as army commander. He was replaced by Gen. Joe Hooker — Lincoln’s fifth new commanding general in two years.
When the Confederates re-occupied the shattered and ransacked Virginia town, Lee asked Jackson how they could put an end to this terrible war and all its needless desolation. “Kill them,” Jackson said coldly while surveying the ruins. “Kill them all!”
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a fund manager and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three books</a>. His articles have appeared on the pages of Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, The Blaze, Breitbart, Zerohedge and other outlets.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Mud March

‘It Is Well That War Is So Terrible’: The Battle Of Fredericksburg

'It Is Well That War Is So Terrible': The Battle Of Fredericksburg

Abraham Lincoln

American General

American History

Confederacy

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Military

Virginia

On November 24, 1864, Union Lieutenant Samuel Nichols, 37th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, prepared for the nation’s first Thanksgiving Day, as the fourth Thursday of November had been officially declared a day of celebration by President Lincoln.
The morning, Nichols wrote, “dawned beautifully upon civilians and soldiers. Starting wildly from our slumbers at the unearthly sound of &#8216;Reveille&#8217;…we found ourselves with an appetite adequate for the occasion and fully equal to that usually demanded on that auspicious and chicken-stuffed day.”
Still encamped at Winchester, Virginia, where two months before his regiment helped lead the Union Army to victory and seize the town, Lt. Nichols appreciated that he and his comrades were enjoying relatively peaceful duty. However, soldiers are a wary lot, especially combat veterans. They understand that the tranquility of a clear, crisp November morning can be very quickly shattered by the unpredictable nature of war.
Most in the regiment, Nichols remembered, had opted to pass on breakfast so they could save their appetites for the much-anticipated Thanksgiving feast. But Nichols, being a veteran and used to having meals interrupted by the sudden call to action, wasn’t waiting until the official dinner time, which was 2:00 p.m. “At one o’clock, therefore, I dined in company with three of my companions. We all ate a sufficiency and had a good time.”
No sooner had he finished his meal than the Yankee lieutenant’s cautious instincts were vindicated. The regiment received an order to be “in readiness to move at a moment’s notice.” In about ten minutes, he recalled, “we were moving at quick step.” They reached the destination at 6:00 p.m. only to receive yet another order to countermarch back to Winchester, where the column didn’t return to their bivouac area until 9:00 p.m. For many in the regiment, Thanksgiving came and went with no meal or fanfare and at great disappointment.
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Such is army life, as any veteran will tell you. Besides the grind, the long periods of stifling boredom that are only occasionally broken up by the terrors of front line combat, perhaps the deepest sacrifice of national service beyond risking life and limb, is separation from loved ones for long tours of duty. The separation is especially felt during holidays like Thanksgiving. Even those troops not under fire know they are missing precious times with dear family and friends — times they can never truly reclaim.
But Nichols’ unit was lucky, even if most of them lacked the foresight of their hungry lieutenant. Some in the regiment missed out on a hardy meal, but they did not have the experience of their descendants in the U.S. Army hunkered down 80 years later in the wet and cold and endless shelling and artillery tree bursts of the Hürtgen Forest. For the members of the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, Thanksgiving Day, 1944 would be remembered as a preventable tragedy, courtesy of the high command’s misplaced attempt to bring a semblance of home to the men in the foxholes.
The regiment was on the very front lines, acting as the tip of the U.S. spear, one that had snagged itself into the stubborn ribs of the Hürtgen Forest’s determined German defenders dug in among the expansive woodland’s dense foliage and frozen ravines. When 1st Lt. Boesch, crouched down in his hole, picked up the phone from HQ he was astonished to hear a cheery rear echeloner’s voice on the line: “Happy Thanksgiving! We’ve got a hot turkey dinner here for every man in the outfit.” The staff officer informed the lieutenant that the food was on its way to his company.
Boesch couldn’t believe it. “Are you guys nuts?” he said with incredulity. “It’s almost dark and my carrying parties have already made the trip up the hill with rations and water. I can’t send them up there again. Besides, they can’t feed a hot meal in the positions they’re in now. Good God, they’re right on top of the Jerries!” 

Those were the orders, the staff officer said. And didn’t the men want a nice taste of home? Boesch shook his head in frustration before screaming into the handset, “I want to see them get three hot meals a day and a dry bed every night and a babe to sleep with, but let’s save the turkey until they can pull back where they can enjoy it!”
Despite expressing fears to the battalion commander that the kind gesture might get men killed when the Germans saw them bunching up for their meal, the orders stood. Hot turkey meals were delivered to the men right on the front lines. Those delivering the meals had only the lowering darkness as cover, otherwise they were in clear line of sight of the Germans.
As Boesch warned, German artillery and mortar shells soon rained down on the hapless GIs bunched around the turkey canisters to get their fill, killing many and wounding more.
In 1978, a retired Major William Freeman who was with the 121st caught an interview with Gen. Jim Gavin, in which the young general confesses that the high command didn’t know what the GIs were dealing with in the Hürtgen Forest. He informed the general of what happened next, thanks to the misplaced gesture from the top brass.
&#8220;Jerry turned all hell loose! Branded in my mind is position after position with men torn to shreds around busted up turkey canisters—as many as ten in one place.&#8221;
In the same letter Freeman tries to unburden himself.
&#8220;Hindsight says I could have stalled off the dinner and I doubt that the higher echelons would have known about it—but I didn’t. Granted that greater control could have been used all down the line… but dangle hot turkey to men in a cold, wet forest, that have had nothing but K rations, and it’s not that easy to keep them from bunching…
&#8220;For many, many years after the war I would go to one of my relations for Thanksgiving dinner, and before I could touch a bite I would get up and go to the back yard and cry like a baby, I passed up a helluva lot of turkey dinners.&#8221;
Two different American regiments, two different wars, two different enemies, two different Thanksgivings. The same sacrifice for country and each other. As the Holiday Season begins in earnest, let’s take a moment to reflect on those who walk the line so that we can enjoy one another without fear of enemies with malicious intent. 
Happy Thanksgiving to all who will be serving in dangerous, faraway places. We are thankful for you.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a fund manager and author of three books. His articles have appeared on the pages of Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, The Blaze, Breitbart, Zerohedge and other outlets. His best-selling novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Brad-Schaeffer/dp/1642939420">The Extraordinary</a>, tackles the subject of living with a veteran father with PTSD as told by his autistic teen son.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Soldiers of the 87th US Division line up for food, on their drive towards Laroche

Two Thanksgivings On Two Different War Fronts: Same Sacrifice

Soldiers

Thanksgiving

U.S. Army

World War II

“Star Trek” actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">LeVar Burton</a> was shocked to discover that one of his ancestors was a white <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy">Confederate</a> soldier.
The 66-year-old TV star was told the surprising fact about his lineage during an episode of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pbs">PBS</a> series “Finding Your Roots.” The former &#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; star told show host Henry Louis Gates Jr. that he didn’t know much about his family tree as he was estranged from his father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, since he was 11. Burton also mentioned that his mother, Erma Gene Christian, wasn’t forthcoming about the family’s background, <a href="https://people.com/finding-your-roots-recap-levar-burton-journey-made-him-feel-closer-to-father-he-hadnt-seen-8430586">according</a> to People.
“You grow up with just blanks, right? No information, no clue and no real way to overcome that blind spot,&#8221; Burton said of his family history, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-17/levar-burton-descendant-confederate-soldier-white-america-finding-your-roots">Los Angeles Times</a>. &#8220;This information is stuff that we need in order to feel whole.&#8221;
Gates told Burton that the team used a combination of a genealogist and DNA experts to come up with their findings about the actor’s past.
The “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alum had no idea one of his ancestors was a white man. Gates <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/levar-burton-discovers-hes-descended-024715272.html">told</a> Burton that his great-grandmother on his mother&#8217;s side, Mary Sills, was not related to the man she listed as her father on a Social Security application in 1940.
Her biological father was, in fact, a man named James Henry Dixon, a white farmer who was married with several children. &#8220;So Granny was half-white,&#8221; Burton said in surprise, per <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/levar-burton-white-confederate-ancestor-finding-your-roots-rcna133422">Today</a>.
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What’s more, Dixon, who was living in North Carolina, joined the Confederate Army after he turned 17, serving in the junior reserves.
“Are you kidding me? Oh my God, oh my God. I did not see this coming,” Burton said upon hearing the news. While Gates said it was likely that Sills never went into battle, the fact remained that he was aligned with the pro-slavery side of the Civil War. He later had a child with a woman born into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/slavery">slavery</a>.
“I often wonder about white men of the period and how they justify to themselves their relations with black women, especially those in an unbalanced power dynamic. There has to be a powerful disconnect created emotionally and mentally,” Burton replied.
&#8220;The two major commercial DNA tests almost never have tested an African American who was 100% sub-Saharan African,&#8221; Gates told Burton. &#8220;We all have white ancestors.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s some conflict roiling inside of me right now,&#8221; Burton continued, per Today. &#8220;But oddly enough, I feel a pathway opening up. &#8230;Knowing what I know about the history of this nation, I&#8217;ve wanted, especially in this current time frame, I believe that as Americans we need to have this conversation about who we are and how we got here.&#8221;

LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton Reacts To Discovery That His Ancestor Was A Confederate Soldier

Celebrities

Entertainment

U.S.

General Grant

America’s Top 11 Generals: #3 Ulysses S. Grant

America's Top 11 Generals: #3 Ulysses S. Grant

Readers Pass

Ulysses S. Grant

West Point

WAR AND CONFLICT BOOKERA:  CIVIL WAR/LEADERS

America’s Top 11 Generals: #4 William T. Sherman

America's Top 11 Generals: #4 William T. Sherman

William T. Sherman

Over the years, the United States has produced many remarkable generals and admirals, but only a few have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let’s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America’s finest 11 commanders.
This series is about military prowess and those who excelled on the battlefield. The inclusion of any Confederates in this list should not be misconstrued as in any way supporting the cause of the self-described Slave-Holding Confederacy itself for which such men fought. The preservation of the monstrous injustice of slavery in North America and the stated goal of the seceding states had to be destroyed. But this does not diminish the achievements of certain Southern generals on the field of battle, which is solely what this series seeks to examine.
<h2>Thomas J. &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson, 1824 &#8211; 1863 (Civil War)</h2>
Once again, I risk incurring the wrath of all good Union men and women when I include a Confederate on my list. But how can I not? Like Lee, the West Pointer and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) artillery instructor Thomas Jackson initially opposed secession, but when his home state of Virginia seceded, he opted to serve the Confederacy. His reputation and nickname “Stonewall” was forged on the river of gore at First Bull Run. During the height of the fighting, when the rebel lines began to waver, Jackson’s men held firm. Rebel Gen. Bernard E. Bee exhorted his own men by calling out, “There stands Jackson, like a stone wall!” And thus the legendary sobriquet was born.
<div id="attachment_649355" style="width: 373px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649355" class="size-large wp-image-649355" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3070274-363x576.jpg" alt="circa 1850: Thomas Jonathan Jackson (1824 - 1863), better known as Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Original Artist: By Desmaisons. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="363" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3070274-363x576.jpg 363w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3070274-189x300.jpg 189w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3070274.jpg 646w" sizes="(max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px" />circa 1850: Thomas Jonathan Jackson (1824 &#8211; 1863), better known as Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Original Artist: By Desmaisons. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</div>
Although his sterling conduct in the first battle of the war earned him praise from a grateful South, it was Jackson’s brilliant Shenandoah Valley Campaign in the spring of 1862 that demonstrated just how formidable a military man the Bible-thumping, lemon-eating, eccentric Stonewall could be. The valley was a lifeline for the South, a vital corridor of provisions as well as a natural Union invasion route. As such, he was tasked with keeping the area out of Northern control. Husbanding his strength, the stern disciplinarian marched his men up and down the valley at such a grueling pace over such vast distances they were called “Jackson’s Foot Cavalry.” 
To his enemies’ chagrin, his small army would suddenly appear miles away from where his baffled Union adversaries would expect and inflict one punishing defeat after another, only to disappear and pop up again somewhere else. His fetish for secrecy was such that he would keep his officers in the dark as to his plans until the last minute, and often camp his men at roadway intersections to confuse any Yankee spies as to his destination. Throughout the course of some 48 days of the Valley Campaign, Jackson’s contingent rarely numbered 15,000 men, marched over 700 miles, and engaged and defeated three separate Union armies numbering a combined 80,000 enemy troops coming at him from several directions. Bewildered Union commanders believed that Jackson had to have more men, that it couldn’t be the same army striking them here, then there, then over there at all hours of the day and night in over a dozen battles. 
<div id="attachment_649377" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649377" class="size-large wp-image-649377" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-90018461-864x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1862: The First Battle of Winchester, fought on May 25, 1862, in and around Frederick County, Virginia, and Winchester, Virginia, was a major victory in Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. &quot;Stonewall&quot; Jackson's Campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-90018461-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-90018461-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-90018461-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-90018461.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />UNITED STATES &#8211; CIRCA 1862: The First Battle of Winchester, fought on May 25, 1862, in and around Frederick County, Virginia, and Winchester, Virginia, was a major victory in Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson&#8217;s Campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)</div>
His exploits made him arguably the most famous general in the world; the very name Jackson became synonymous with an extremely dangerous phantasm who could be in several places at once and who struck fear in the Union ranks, as well as Washington D.C. Northern mothers would even threaten naughty children with “Jackson will get you if you misbehave.”
Not only did Stonewall demonstrate he understood how to get the most from his men and inflict the most damage with bodies of troops small enough to stay nimble and unpredictable, his campaign had the very real impact of preventing tens of thousands of Union reinforcements from leaving the valley to aid the Union general McClellan currently marching ever closer to Richmond. In June 1862, the wily Jackson then slipped away with his victorious army to join the new rebel commander Robert E. Lee in helping to repel the Yankee invaders from the gates of the capital during the Seven Days battle. His valley army would become Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. The partnership he formed with his commanding officer and the reliable and steady First Corps commander Gen. James Longstreet (who himself just missed making the list) became one of the most storied, and successful, in military history.
<div id="attachment_649357" style="width: 805px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649357" class="wp-image-649357 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-91243862-795x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1862: Bull Run battlefield with the disposition of Union and Confederate forces. Union Gen. Pope's command faced that of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, unaware that Longstreet's command had arrived to reinforce Jackson's position. On the second day of fighting, an assault by Pope's forces was repulsed by Jackson's troops, while Longstreet attacked Pope's unprotected left flank. Pope was defeated, but was able to retreat across Bull Run with the bulk of his force intact. Hand Drawn Map (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)" width="795" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-91243862-795x576.jpg 795w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-91243862-300x217.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-91243862-768x557.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-91243862.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px" />UNITED STATES &#8211; CIRCA 1862: Bull Run battlefield with the disposition of Union and Confederate forces. Union Gen. Pope&#8217;s command faced that of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, unaware that Longstreet&#8217;s command had arrived to reinforce Jackson&#8217;s position. (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)</div>
Jackson’s star continued to rise when in August 1862 he embarked on yet another series of forced marches up through central and into northern Virginia which landed his troops squarely in the rear of another Union army under the command of the bombastic Gen. John Pope. Once again, his Union adversaries found themselves racing this way and that across the sweltering countryside trying to locate the elusive Stonewall and his 28,000-man contingent. After raiding the federal depot at Manassas junction, he fell back to the old Bull Run battlefield and repelled a series of attacks by Pope while waiting for Longstreet’s corps en route to join him. Once reunited, the full power of the Army of Northern Virginia would face the Yankees at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. A Union rout ensued and for the second time since June, a defeated enemy streamed back to the safety of Washington D.C.
When in September 1862 Lee took the victorious if weary and malnourished Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, Jackson did his part. Taking almost two-thirds of Lee’s army on a long three-pronged march, one leg of which covered a grueling sixty miles back through now West Virginia, his men surrounded and captured Harper’s Ferry. He bagged 11,000 Union prisoners and scores of artillery pieces and other supplies. Never one for appearance, when the dejected Union garrison at Harper’s Ferry got a glimpse of the grey ghost who captured them, one Yankee was heard to say: “Boys, he may not look like much, but if we had him we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Then he re-joined Lee and Longstreet in time to fight at the Battle of Antietam. His line held firm through a series of powerful Union attacks, showing his capacity for defensive warfare when needed. After the battle was over, while eating a peach and surveying the scene of carnage that was the bloodiest day in American history, the pious warrior declared “God has been good to us this day.” 
Stonewall’s fierce reputation hit its zenith at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. With the Army of Northern Virginia caught between a Union pincer movement, outnumbered and outflanked, and missing Longstreet with several divisions on a forage mission, Jackson proposed to Lee that he take his entire corps, almost 30,000 men, on an arduous 12-mile march through the thick Wilderness and around the Union Army to hit them in their exposed flank. This left Lee with just a small force to face the brunt of the Union Army numbering some 100,000 men. It was a very dangerous plan for if discovered the Yankees could destroy the army in pieces. But Lee, trusting his subordinate’s judgment, gave him the nod. 
<div id="attachment_649371" style="width: 704px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649371" class="size-large wp-image-649371" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-96752925-694x576.jpg" alt="Illustration by William Ludwell Sheppard, captioned 'Lee and Jackson in Council on the Night of May 1,' first published in the four-volume series Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887�1888). It depicts Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville working through plans for the next day's fighting. Chancellorsville, Virginia, USA. 1 May 1863. (photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images)." width="694" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-96752925-694x576.jpg 694w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-96752925-300x249.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-96752925-768x638.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-96752925.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 694px) 100vw, 694px" />Illustration by William Ludwell Sheppard, captioned &#8216;Lee and Jackson in Council on the Night of May 1,&#8217; first published in the four-volume series Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887 &#8211; 1888). It depicts Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. &#8216;Stonewall&#8217; Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville working through plans for the next day&#8217;s fighting. Chancellorsville, Virginia, USA. 1 May 1863. (photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images).</div>
Late in the afternoon Jackson’s Confederates poured out of the woods and smashed into the Yankees’ exposed right flank, sending the shocked and terrified Union XI Corps racing to the rear. It was an outstanding success. But as darkness fell, Jackson carelessly rode out between the lines with a small entourage to investigate a night attack. When he tried to recross back into his own lines, jittery rebel pickets, believing his group to be Union cavalry, opened fire, severely wounding him in the left arm that would soon be amputated. When hearing the news, Lee lamented, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.” Although he appeared to be recovering after the operation, Stonewall Jackson took a turn for the worse and died of pneumonia a few days later.
<div id="attachment_649373" style="width: 980px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649373" class="size-large wp-image-649373" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Death-of-Stonewall-Jackson-970x576.jpeg" alt="The death of Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. Currier &amp; Ives., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" width="970" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Death-of-Stonewall-Jackson-970x576.jpeg 970w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Death-of-Stonewall-Jackson-300x178.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Death-of-Stonewall-Jackson-768x456.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Death-of-Stonewall-Jackson.jpeg 1387w" sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" />The death of Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. Currier &amp; Ives., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</div>
There is much speculation in Civil War round tables about what would have happened at Gettysburg two months later had Jackson and not the timid Richard Ewell still been in command of the Second Corps. Some argue Stonewall would not have hesitated to take the commanding hills south of the town on the first day of the fight, denying the Union Army a defensible position and forcing it to retreat. Who knows? But what we can say is this: few generals had such an uncanny feel for battlefields and tactical situations — without the aid of GPS, aerial reconnaissance, or even accurate maps — as did Stonewall Jackson. Unlike Lee, there are no bloody missteps in Jackson’s record, no Malvern Hill, Antietam, or Gettysburg. Which is why I place him higher than his commander. His reputation is well-deserved.
One final thought. His more quirky eccentricities aside, Jackson had a dark, if fascinating, cold-bloodedness to him that belied his Christian values, and could intimidate those who served with him, yet might also be a clue to why he so excelled in waging war. When in December of 1862 he and Gen. Lee surveyed the destruction to Fredericksburg that the marauding Union troops left in their wake upon abandoning the city, Lee asked his deputy commander how they could put an end to this terrible war. “Kill them,” Jackson said. “Kill them all.”
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America’s Top 11 Generals
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #11 Curtis E. LeMay</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-10-matthew-ridgway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #10 Matthew Ridgway</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-9-nathanael-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #9 Nathanael Greene</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-8-george-patton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #8 George Patton</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-7-robert-e-lee">RELATED: #7 Robert E. Lee</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-6-admiral-chester-nimitz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #6 Admiral Chester Nimitz</a>
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Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, columnist, and author of two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&amp;hvadid=83219665089301&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=97755&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=18892_13467888&amp;keywords=brad+schaeffer&amp;qid=1698162015&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad’s articles on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stonewall_Jackson_in_the_National_Portrait_Gallery_IMG_4519

America’s Top 11 Generals: #5 Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

America's Top 11 Generals: #5 Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson

Thomas Stonewall Jackson

Veterans Day

Over the years, the United States has produced many remarkable generals and admirals, but only a few have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let’s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America’s finest 11 commanders.
This series is about military prowess and those who excelled on the battlefield. The inclusion of any Confederates in this list should not be misconstrued as in any way supporting the cause of the self-described Slave-Holding Confederacy itself for which such men fought. The preservation of the monstrous injustice of slavery in North America and the stated goal of the seceding states had to be destroyed. But this does not diminish the achievements of certain Southern generals on the field of battle, which is solely what this series seeks to examine.
<h2>Robert E. Lee, 1807 &#8211; 1870 (Civil War)</h2>
An officer who served with Lee once said of him: “His name might be audacity. He will take more desperate chances and take them quicker than any other general in this country, North or South.” This was an apt description of the man the Northerners came to know as “The Gray Fox.” Yes, Lee was fighting against the U.S. and not for it. However, he was still very much the product of the American military tradition, and it would be remiss to not include him for brilliance as a battlefield commander, even if his choice of political causes was disastrous. The fact is, Lee, as the historian Shelby Foote noted: “Is a great general on both the offense and the defense.” And few commanders have managed to fight so long and effectively while being so out-manned, out-gunned, out-fed, and out-supplied as Lee.
<div id="attachment_648329" style="width: 364px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648329" class="size-large wp-image-648329" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-354x576.jpg" alt="American Confederate Army general Robert E Lee (1807 - 1870), Richmond, Virginia, 16th April 1865. (Photo by Mathew Brady/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="354" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-354x576.jpg 354w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-185x300.jpg 185w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008.jpg 630w" sizes="(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px" />American Confederate Army general Robert E Lee (1807 &#8211; 1870), Richmond, Virginia, 16th April 1865. (Photo by Mathew Brady/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
At the outset of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was America’s most prominent soldier. Son of the Revolutionary War hero “Light Horse Harry” Lee, he was from one of the first families of Virginia. Having turned down Lincoln’s offer to command the Union Army, Lee would end up taking over the premiere Confederate Army being pressed back against the capital of Richmond in June 1862 after Gen. Joe Johnston was wounded. Within two months Lee counterattacked Union general George McClellan’s advancing Yankees at the brutal Battle of the Seven Days on the outskirts of the city and sent him sailing back to Washington D.C., saving the rebel capital.
Then, while one Union army was effectively off the chessboard in transit, Lee pivoted north to face another threat. In a masterful campaign, he marched his army up northern Virginia to intercept, out-maneuver, and defeat a second Union army under Gen. John Pope at 2nd Bull Run (August 1862). In the three months he’d been in command, Lee had rescued the Southern capital, defeated two different armies while inflicting some 30,000 Union casualties, and cleared the entire state of Virginia of enemy troops. It was a remarkable turn of fortune that put the North on notice that a clever and dangerous foe was now in command of the South’s principal army.
<div id="attachment_648331" style="width: 892px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648331" class="size-large wp-image-648331" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-882x576.jpg" alt="An illustration of Thomas Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull Run, during the US civil war, circa 1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="882" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-882x576.jpg 882w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-300x196.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-768x502.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 882px) 100vw, 882px" />An illustration of Thomas Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull Run, during the US civil war, circa 1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
Although his vaunted Army of Northern Virginia was exhausted, ill-fed, and clothed from a poor supply chain and constant marching and fighting, Lee nevertheless gambled on an invasion of Maryland. Believing a Confederate victory on Union soil would convince Great Britain and France to form an alliance, his hopes were dashed when McClellan and his 87,000-man Army Of The Potomac, back from the peninsula and now infused with the remnants of Pope’s army, stopped him along the banks of the Antietam Creek in September 1862. In the bloodiest single day in U.S. history, Lee showed tactical brilliance in the field by holding off repeated attacks by a determined Union army twice his size, fighting McClellan to a stalemate. Nevertheless, Lee retired back into Virginia to recoup his losses and await the North’s next move.
In December 1862 a new Union commander, Gen. Ambrose Burnside, attempted to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg and march on Richmond. Lee was waiting and delivered the most one-sided victory of his command, laying waste to 12,000 Union troops with little loss of his own.
Burnside, like Pope and McClellan before him, was relieved of command and a new, confident Gen. Joe Hooker was next up as head of the Army Of The Potomac. This time Hooker surprised the Confederates with a well-conceived pincer attack, crossing the Rappahannock at several points to fall on both Lee’s flanks at Fredericksburg on the Confederate right and the Wilderness, a dense woods, on the left. Hooker confidently predicted that in the face of this squeezing attack, Lee would be compelled to either retreat or be destroyed in a pitch battle against overwhelming odds. Instead, the unperturbed rebel commander responded to Hooker’s boldness in kind and out-flanked the flanker. At the Battle of Chancellorsville (considered a military masterpiece) Lee divided his inferior army and took an enormous chance by sending half of it under his indomitable corps commander Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to hit Hooker seven miles to the west on his exposed flank amidst the impenetrable Wilderness. The attack was a complete surprise and rolled up the Union Army’s shattered flank. Hooker, like the preceding generals who’d attempted to outfox the fox, retreated.
<div id="attachment_648337" style="width: 831px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648337" class="size-large wp-image-648337" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-821x576.jpg" alt="1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="821" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-821x576.jpg 821w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-768x539.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-2048x1437.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px" />1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
Though bloody (Lee suffered 25% casualties) his stunning victory at Chancellorsville prompted Lee to head north again. This time, however, he faced an Army Of The Potomac now being led by the competent and cool George Meade. In July 1863, during a three-day struggle around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lee was dealt his worst loss of the war, losing some 27,000 out of the 75,000 men he brought north. He retreated back into Virginia, never to go on “the aggressive” as he called it again.
<div id="attachment_648559" style="width: 782px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648559" class="size-large wp-image-648559" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-772x576.jpg" alt="Confederate prisoners at Seminary ridge during the battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania circa July,1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="772" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-772x576.jpg 772w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-768x573.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px" />Confederate prisoners at Seminary ridge during the battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania circa July,1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
By the summer of 1864, with no hope of foreign intervention, and lacking the strength for any more offensive actions in the face of an overwhelming Union superiority in manpower and industry, Lee would grapple with U.S. Grant, his final and most formidable foe. The two gifted commanders fought a series of brutal engagements across the Virginia countryside from The Wilderness and Spotsylvania (May 1864) to Cold Harbor (June 1864) and finally settling in for a siege at Petersburg that would last nine months. Although weakened, Lee saw that his situation was not so hopeless as it appeared. He’d effectively halted Grant’s thrust towards Richmond and now the two armies were at loggerheads southeast of the capital at Petersburg. And Lee had managed to inflict over 50,000 casualties on his Northern enemy.
Understanding that wars are political as well as military, General Lee realized that with the 1864 elections approaching, the high casualties the war weary North was suffering at his hands might be enough to vote out Lincoln and prompt a more pro-South Democrat administration which might welcome the rebellious states back into the Union, or even let the South go its own way. But due to the actions of another Union commander further up our list, this political upheaval did not come to pass. When Lincoln handily won re-election in November 1864, the South was doomed. A tired but resplendently-uniformed Robert E. Lee surrendered what remained of the surrounded Army of Northern Virginia to the mud-splattered Grant in April 1865.
<div id="attachment_648339" style="width: 798px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648339" class="size-large wp-image-648339" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-788x576.jpg" alt="Vintage illustration at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia depicts Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War." width="788" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-788x576.jpg 788w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-300x219.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-768x561.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-1536x1123.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907.jpg 2025w" sizes="(max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px" />Vintage illustration at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia depicts Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War. Keith Lance. Getty Images.</div>
Lee went on to head Washington College (later renamed Washington And Lee) and died in 1870 of a chronic heart ailment.
Robert E. Lee has been called a “marble man” for his stoicism and almost impenetrable personality; following the Civil War, he was idolized in the South to the point of being a demigod. But, Lee was just a man, like any other, and as such showed flaws…some of which could be quite detrimental to his cause. Most damning was his tendency to be profligate with his men’s lives. Indeed, the historian James McPherson calculated that Lee suffered the highest casualties as a percent of those under his command than any other army commander of the war, North or South. Lee’s confidence in the almost superhuman capacity of his troops to overcome all odds prompted him to send them into suicidal charges against well-prepared Union positions at Malvern Hill (June 1862) and again at Gettysburg a year later. It was, in fact, a very dangerous business fighting for “Marse Robert”.
Still, his men adored him. One man in the ranks declared, “I would charge hell itself for that old man!” So commanding a martial figure did Lee cut that once when the Confederates were marching through a Pennsylvania town, a brave loyal Union woman was brazenly waving the American flag before them. Then Lee rode up to her and looked down from his white horse Traveller. She dropped the flag, clasped her hands together and said of Lee: “Oh how I wish he were ours!”
Although Lee fought for an unjust cause in the preservation of slavery — one that had to be destroyed — there is no doubt that his campaigns will be studied in military academies as long as such institutions exist.
* * *
America’s Top 11 Generals
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #11 Curtis E. LeMay</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-10-matthew-ridgway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #10 Matthew Ridgway</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-9-nathanael-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #9 Nathanael Greene</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-8-george-patton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #8 George Patton</a>
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Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, columnist, and author of two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&amp;hvadid=83219665089301&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=97755&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=18892_13467888&amp;keywords=brad+schaeffer&amp;qid=1698162015&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad’s articles on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Vintage Civil War photo of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

America’s Top 11 Generals: #7 Robert E. Lee

America's Top 11 Generals: #7 Robert E. Lee

American Civil War

Virginia Memorial Featuring General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg

Why The Destruction Of Statues Is A Proxy In The Overall War On American History

Charlottesville

Matt Walsh

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> reportedly deported more than 60 Haitian nationals back to the Caribbean island on Thursday, a day after the U.S. State Department warned American citizens to flee the country amid ongoing civil unrest and political turmoil.
The deportation flight marks the second to Haiti this month, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/latino/4180930-ice-sends-deportation-flight-to-haiti-after-warning-us-citizens-to-evacuate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hill</a>. Just before 8:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, a plane left Alexandria, Louisiana, and reportedly arrived in Port-au-Prince shortly after 11 a.m.
Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigrant advocacy group in the U.S., <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article278818774.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> called the move from the Biden administration a &#8220;travesty&#8221; to The Miami Herald, condemning its decision to evacuate U.S. nationals while deporting Haitian migrants simultaneously.
&#8220;This is a travesty for the United States to be sending any deportation flights to Haiti right now,&#8221; Jozef said. &#8220;It should be viewed as a human rights violation and a potential crime against humanity.&#8221;
Jozef reportedly heard from advocates that the flight and another U.S. government-chartered flight were en route on Thursday. The group&#8217;s co-founder urged Biden officials to turn the deportation flight transporting 66 people around, although the report remains unconfirmed.
&#8220;We can only assume [the second flight is] going to support the evacuation of people who are of U.S. interest,&#8221; Jozef said. &#8220;They are themselves sending people to what they believe is danger. I don&#8217;t care who is on the plane at this point, whether it&#8217;s people being deported from the border or elsewhere.&#8221;
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti issued a security alert on Wednesday for American citizens to depart the island.
&#8220;Given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges, U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private transport,&#8221; a news release <a href="https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-commercial-flight-options-from-haiti/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
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The statement added that Americans there should &#8220;use extreme caution in traveling around the country&#8221; and &#8220;avoid demonstrations and large gatherings of people.&#8221;
&#8220;If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area,&#8221; the embassy said.
Haiti has been experiencing ongoing civil unrest and political turmoil after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, according to reports.
Violence has surged in the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas after armed gangs seized <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/haiti-port-au-prince-parishioners-killed-gang-members-protest-rcna102001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">up to</a> 80% of control.
According to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/number-people-killed-injured-kidnapped-haiti-rose-14-102836418" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>, United Nations officials said on Thursday that 1,860 people were reported killed, injured, or kidnapped in Haiti from April to June. The jarring number reportedly marks a 14% increase compared with the first three months of 2023.
&#8220;The judicial system remained dysfunctional due to the persistence of longstanding challenges, notably corruption, political interference, and recurrent strikes by judicial actors,&#8221; the report stated.
A State Department spokesperson told the Miami Herald that the Department of Homeland Security has been monitoring the situation in Haiti.
&#8220;At this time, removals of Haitian nationals encountered at our southern border and repatriation of Haitian nationals encountered at sea continue,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;Since January, more than 63,000 Haitians have been vetted and approved for travel and more than 50,000 have arrived. We encourage anyone seeking to migrate to the U.S. to do so via legal, safe pathways. Those interdicted at sea are subject to immediate repatriation, and those encountered in the United States without a legal basis to remain are subject to removal.&#8221;

TOPSHOT-HAITI-CONFLICT-CRIME-UNREST

Biden Admin Deports Haitian Nationals After Warning Americans To Flee Caribbean Island: Reports

Biden Admin Deports Haitian Nationals After Warning Americans To Flee Haiti: Reports

Biden Administration

Executive

Haiti

Haitian immigrants

World

A man recently made the discovery of a lifetime when he unearthed a massive cache of rare Civil War-era coins — the majority of them gold — on his Kentucky farm earlier this year. 
The incredible find, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/11/man-discovers-700-civil-war-coins-worth-millions-buried-at-kentucky-farm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed</a> the “Great Kentucky Hoard,” could be worth millions of dollars. The unidentified man who found the coins recorded himself as he sifted through the dirt, pointing out the different types of gold coins he had discovered. The location of the discovery has not been revealed. 
“This is the most insane thing ever,” the man said in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JDUdmp-L3Q&amp;t=19s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>. “These are all $1 gold coins, $20 gold coins, $10 gold coins and, look, I’m still diggin’ them out.”
The rare coins date between 1840 and 1863 and include eighteen 1863-P $20 Gold Liberty coins, which is the rarest year for that specific coin, <a href="https://www.govmint.com/great-kentucky-hoard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to GovMint, a coin dealer. These reportedly often fetch six figures. 
Additionally, “hundreds” of American gold dollars from 1850 to 1862 were discovered, as reported by the Numismatic Guaranty Company, a coin grading service. Roughly 95% of the hoard is made up of gold dollars, and some silver coins were also discovered. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A man from Kentucky unearthed a Civil War-era fortune of over 700 gold coins in his cornfield.
Now that’s a good day on the farm. <a href="https://t.co/Ayvkvxh4rH">pic.twitter.com/Ayvkvxh4rH</a>
&mdash; Gold Telegraph ⚡ (@GoldTelegraph_) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldTelegraph_/status/1678548367897493505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated, as the stunning number of over 700 gold dollars represents a virtual time capsule of Civil War-era coinage, including coins from the elusive Dahlonega Mint,” rare coin dealer Jeff Garrett <a href="https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/11795/kentucky-hoard-civil-war-coins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of the hoard.
The story behind the hoard is also interesting, as it’s often reported that wealthy Kentuckians buried much of their wealth to prevent it from being stolen from bootleggers and outlaws, the Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12287423/Kentucky-man-digs-700-rare-coins-worth-MILLIONS-know-youre-sitting-fortune.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. Georgia Southern University archeologist Ryan McNutt <a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/kentucky-man-finds-over-700-civil-war-era-coins-buried-in-his-cornfield" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Live Science, &#8220;given the time period and the location in Kentucky, which was neutral at the time, it is entirely possible this was buried in advance of Confederate John Hunt Morgan&#8217;s June to July 1863 raid.&#8221; 
Just a month after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in 1861, Kentucky Democratic Governor Beriah Magoffin officially <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/house-divided-civil-war-kentucky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> the state neutral, making Kentucky one of four slave states <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/time-line-of-the-civil-war/1861/#:~:text=Four%20Slave%20States%20Stay%20in,kept%20these%20states%20from%20seceding." target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to secede</a> from the Union, despite divided loyalties among the citizenry. Two years later, after numerous successful raids of the Bluegrass State, Morgan and his men set out from Sparta, Tennessee, and made their way into Kentucky. His attack would go into Indiana and end in Ohio, and it cost the Union hundreds of thousands of dollars in both military and civilian property damages, <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/morgans-great-raid-1863" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the American Battlefield Trust. 
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McNutt told Live Science that because the coins discovered in the hoard were federal currency, it would “be wise to conceal from a Confederate raiding party.&#8221; He also said during this time period, many Americans &#8220;became experienced with hiding goods and valuables.”
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Great Kentucky Hoard Unearthing!" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0JDUdmp-L3Q?start=19&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gold Coins

Man Discovers ‘Great Kentucky Hoard’ Of 700 Civil War-Era Coins

Archaeology

Gold

Kentucky

Money

Russia&#8217;s notorious Federal Security Service (FSB), which was previously the KGB, issued an arrest warrant for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of Russia’s feared Wagner paramilitary group, and urged his soldiers to stop him after he effectively declared on Friday that he was going overthrow Russia&#8217;s military.
The dramatic escalation of events comes after Prigozhin accused Russia&#8217;s Ministry of Defense of attacking and killing his troops that were in Ukraine fighting against Ukrainian forces.
&#8220;Prigozhin&#8217;s statements and actions are in fact calls for the start of an armed civil conflict on the territory of the Russian Federation and are a stab in the back of Russian servicemen fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces,&#8221; the FSB said in a statement. &#8220;We call on PMC fighters not to make irreparable mistakes, to stop any forceful actions against the Russian people, not to carry out Prigozhin&#8217;s criminal and treacherous orders, and to take measures to detain him.&#8221;
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev urged Wagner forces to prevent an all out &#8220;real civil war&#8221; from erupting in the country and to &#8220;come back to your senses.&#8221;
Prigozhin said in a video statement on Friday that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had lied to Russian President Vladimir Putin about what was going on with Ukraine in order to stoke Putin into invading the country.
&#8220;The war was needed so that a handful of scumbags could have a blast and get PR attention showing how strong the army is,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvLiQysKPhQ">said</a>. &#8220;The war was needed not in order to return the Russian citizens to our bosom and not in order to &#8216;demilitarize and denazify Ukraine&#8217;.&#8221;
Prigozhin <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/06/23/site-of-alleged-wagner-camp-attack-recently-visited-by-war-blogger/">shared</a> a message on his personal Telegram channel that accused Russia of launching an attack on his soldiers.
“A missile attack was carried out on a PMC Wagner base,&#8221; the message said. &#8220;There are many casualties. According to the information of the fighters who are witnesses, the attack was carried out from a rear direction – that is, it was carried out by soldiers of the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
Prigozhin said that he had 25,000 men and they were going to &#8220;figure out why chaos is happening in the country.&#8221;
“The evil that the military leadership of the country brings forward must be stopped. They have forgotten the word justice, and we will return it,” he <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-shoots-down-russian-cruise-missile-barrage-9d9da03a">said</a> in an audio recording. “Anyone attempting resistance will be considered a threat and immediately destroyed. This includes all the checkpoints on our path and any aircraft above our heads.”
Russia responded to the threats by immediately deploying heavily armed military in Moscow and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, which The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/23/world/russia-ukraine-news">reported</a> is near the front line in Ukraine where Prigozhin’s fighters were operating.
Russia accused Prigozhin of “organizing an armed rebellion” and the situation rapidly escalated to the point that authorities started shutting down websites like Google News to prevent information from spreading to the public.
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Russian State Media has announced that Security Forces in the Capital Region of Moscow have been placed into a State of High Alert with “Defensive Measures being Increased at Government and Military Sites across the City.” <a href="https://t.co/2VAVa8KVMe">pic.twitter.com/2VAVa8KVMe</a>
&mdash; OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) <a href="https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1672363986736537600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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BREAKING:
Military columns spotted on the streets of Moscow <a href="https://t.co/WGNzbpOsfN">pic.twitter.com/WGNzbpOsfN</a>
&mdash; Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) <a href="https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1672418685133234181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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CENTER OF MOSCOW NOW
Prigozhin has called on the Russian National Guard to join his side to fight against the Russian Army. <a href="https://t.co/lljOXj3NvH">pic.twitter.com/lljOXj3NvH</a>
&mdash; Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) <a href="https://twitter.com/officejjsmart/status/1672363660834897920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A Column of Russian National Guard Trucks reportedly spotted on the Highway just to the North of the City of Rostov-on-Don in Southwestern Russia; the Leader of the Wagner PMC Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that his Forces had Crossed the Border into the Rostov Region earlier… <a href="https://t.co/9ahIQSgZH9">pic.twitter.com/9ahIQSgZH9</a>
&mdash; OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) <a href="https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1672403216430948353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1672418919406243840

RUSSIA-POLITICS-MILITARY-EDUCATION-DEFENCE

Russia’s Notorious FSB Issues Arrest Warrant For Wagner Boss Prigozhin, Urges His Troops To Stop Him

Global Politics

Russia

Ukraine-Russia War

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