The Old World with Will Tanner

In the autumn of 1863, after Gettysburg, the war in northern Virginia became a series of maneuvers between a depleted Union army and Robert E. Lee's weakened Army of Northern Virginia. Lee also had to detach James Longstreet to help Braxton Bragg in the West, leaving the Army of Northern Virginia badly outnumbered. Further, what opportunities there were were marred by bad luck at the battle of Mine Run and AP Hill's poor judgment at Bristow Station. The appointment of Ulysses S. Grant changed the war substantially, as Grant decided to grind Lee's army down in a war of attrition. What followed was the campaign in the Wilderness, featuring battles at Spotsylvania and North Anna, including Bloody Angle, with Grant sustaining enormous casualties. The campaign culminated at Cold Harbor, where Grant was defeated. What followed was the Siege of Petersburg, which ground on into 1865 after Union failure in the Battle of the Crater. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ Get Our Robert E Lee Coffee Mug here: https://wbsapparel.shop/product/general-lee-coffee-mug/ CHAPTERS: 0:00 Post-Gettysburg Attrition 1:33 Longstreet's Detachment 2:19 Bristow Station Blunder 5:14 Mine Run Fortifications 9:49 Grant Takes Command 13:21 The Wilderness Opens 16:16 Longstreet Wounded 17:45 Grant Refuses Retreat 18:40 The Mule Shoe Trap 21:09 Bloody Angle Breakthrough 25:11 North Anna Trap 27:28 Cold Harbor Slaughter 30:45 Grant Marches South 33:17 Petersburg Siege Begins 34:56 The Crater Explosion Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/4r0KLYG Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Connelly, Thomas L., The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4ywRf4j Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds Dabney, Virginius, Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/46gVW69 Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46lDf14 Fleming, Thomas, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War, https://amzn.to/4yzbiix Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, https://amzn.to/4xkLNAu Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sanborn, Margaret, Robert E. Lee: A Portrait, https://amzn.to/3SA6EkN Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46qVL8c

This episode traces the incredible, glorious partnership between Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War. It begins with their contrasting backgrounds and temperaments, explaining why they together formed an especially effective command team for the Army of Northern Virginia. The story then moves to the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862, noting how Jackson's rapid movements and attacks fulfilled Lee's wishes perfectly, and built Lee's confidence in Jackson to the point that the two men could work closely together. The episode next covers Second Manassas, showing how faith in Jackson allowed Lee to divide his army in an attempt to crush Pope. He sent Jackson on a long flank march behind John Pope's forces, leading to the capture and destruction of Union supplies at Manassas Junction. Jackson then held a strong defensive position while Lee and Longstreet struck Pope's exposed flank, forcing a Union retreat and giving the Confederates a major victory. After that, the focus shifts to Lee's decision to invade Maryland, and how a lost order led to tragedy at Antietam, setting up the next year's great victory at Chancellorsville, and the World WarI-like butchery at Fredericksburg Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ CHAPTERS: 0:00 Lee and Jackson United: The Great Partnership Begins 5:57 Seven Days Setback 9:21 Lee Regroups and Attacks Northward as Pope Threatens Virginia 15:42 Lee's Great Gamble, Jackson's Flank March 24:28 Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet at Second Manassas 33:41 Why Lee Invaded Maryland, and Why It Went Wrong 45:48 Antietam: America's Bloody Day Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/4r0KLYG Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Connelly, Thomas L., The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4ywRf4j Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds Dabney, Virginius, Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/46gVW69 Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46lDf14 Fleming, Thomas, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War, https://amzn.to/4yzbiix Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, https://amzn.to/4xkLNAu Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sanborn, Margaret, Robert E. Lee: A Portrait, https://amzn.to/3SA6EkN Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46qVL8c

This episode examines the rise, dominance, and disappearance of the WASPs, the old American families from the Northeast who dominated business, society, and politics for much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It distinguishes them from the Southern gentry, and defines them as an upper class formed by intermarriage, inherited wealth, and shared institutions rather than just a group of rich individuals. It then describes how the WASPs were economically and culturally powerful at their height. They funded railroads, industry, banking, museums, libraries, and opera houses, while shaping high society through prep schools, Ivy League colleges, clubs, debutante events, and church life. Their influence also extended into politics, largely through the Republican Party and through journals, donations, and private networks rather than direct office-holding. I argue that the class declined because of three main factors: an addiction to leisure, inflation, and taxation. Many families came to prefer yachting, travel, parties, and passive investing over active oversight of businesses and fortunes. It also explains that their preference for bonds left them vulnerable when inflation rose after the gold standard weakened, reducing both the real value of their income and the value of their capital. Further, income taxes and death taxes made it difficult to preserve wealth, and many families tried risky investing or leverage instead of adapting. A few families, such as the Mellons and the Golets, survived by holding better assets, using trusts, and remaining attentive to their wealth, but most of the New York 400 that was so dominant in the Gilded Age had faded near-entirely away within a century. This episode ends by drawing lessons from this history: the importance of duty, long-term thinking, solid assets, keeping fortunes consolidated, and staying involved in family and business affairs. The episode says the WASPs disappeared as a class because they stopped doing the work required to remain an upper class. Read my article on this here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/how-the-old-american-wasp-aristocracy Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://link.amazon/B0bZphqPQ The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, https://link.amazon/B0e5P2nOQ Leaving a Legacy: Inheritance, Charity, & Thousand-Year Families, https://link.amazon/B0b0BGNIR Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class, https://link.amazon/B08kDcLPA The Landed Gentry: Passions and Personalities Inside America's Propertied Class, https://link.amazon/B0hQrndQ6 Mellon: An American Life, https://link.amazon/B0eSSuT2R An American Aristocracy: The Livingstons, https://link.amazon/B04RHm2G7 Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses, https://link.amazon/B02JEw2t3 The Education of Henry Adams, https://link.amazon/B03AmIXkQ The Managerial Revolution, https://link.amazon/B0iR5SahH The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, https://link.amazon/B01ZmV6Hk 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War, https://link.amazon/B0eVAW0k8 American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900, https://link.amazon/B01dz8Ad1 Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, https://link.amazon/B07zwq4Q9

This is the story of how Robert E. Lee came to command the Army of Northern Virginia, and then used it to save Richmond while almost crushing McClellan in the Seven Days Battles. It is a story of early war debacles and embarrassments, prudent decision-making behind the scenes that led to Confederate successes, and then immense risk-taking and courage in the face of seemingly certain defeat. It is a tale of Stuart's dashing ride around McClellan, the near-total victory in the Seven Days Battles. The Seven Days Battles began on June 26 with Mechanicsville, where A.P. Hill attacked too early and was repulsed. Jackson's delayed arrival later forced Porter to withdraw to Gaines' Mill, where Lee concentrated his forces and won a major victory on June 27. McClellan then abandoned his siege and began retreating toward the James River. Lee pursued, but repeated delays and confusion prevented complete destruction of the Union army at Savage's Station, Glendale, and White Oak Swamp. On July 1 at Malvern Hill, Confederate attacks were shattered by strong Union artillery and naval gunfire. The Union army withdrew again on July 2, ending the Peninsula Campaign and leaving Richmond secure. The campaign cost heavy casualties on both sides, but Lee's army and reputation were transformed. He had driven McClellan away from Richmond, gained the confidence of his soldiers and the Confederate government, and established the Army of Northern Virginia as his command, one he could use to win the war. Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ Get our mug of Gen. Lee here: https://wbsapparel.shop/product/general-lee-coffee-mug/ Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/4r0KLYG Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Connelly, Thomas L., The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4ywRf4j Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds Dabney, Virginius, Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/46gVW69 Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46lDf14 Fleming, Thomas, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War, https://amzn.to/4yzbiix Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, https://amzn.to/4xkLNAu Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sanborn, Margaret, Robert E. Lee: A Portrait, https://amzn.to/3SA6EkN Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46qVL8c

This episode explains what Henry Adams called the "habit of command" in the Virginia gentry, showing how Virginia planter families developed a quiet assumption of leadership, public duty, and authority that helped define them from the colonial period through the 19th century. In it, I show how this attitude developed out of plantation life: on large estates, young Virginians learned to manage people, make decisions, and handle practical affairs, all of which was also shaped by a sense of noblesse oblige, service, and a sense of obligation rather than mere arrogance. Critical to this was how the Virginia gentry raised its sons. Fathers were central figures in a patriarchal household, but children were not raised under constant repression. Boys especially were given freedom, outdoor activity, and room to develop independence, while still being expected to respect parental authority. That freedom was linked to self-reliance, self-control, and financial independence. Sons were encouraged to emulate their fathers, avoid debt and dissipation, and use education, family schools, tutors, and later college or professional training to prepare for leadership. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-habit-of-command-how-the-virginia Read the article on which this video is based here, for the full set of lessons: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/building-the-habit-of-command-how Read my article on the Virginia cursus honorum here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/equality-and-the-only-political-question Read my article on what we can learn about building a new elite from them here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/how-to-build-a-durable-counter-elite Read my article on what they can teach us about developing personal excellence here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/embodying-aristocratic-excellence CHAPTERS 0:00 The Habit of Command: What it Was, and How It Was Built 7:37 More to the Habit of Command than the Plantation 10:05 Patriarchal Households and Free-Range Sons 15:22 Lessons in Self-Reliance 17:46 The Virginia Gentry's Love of Self-Government 24:29 Why the Gentry Abhorred Debt 28:14 How Education Helped Create Excellence 34:52 Strong But Limited Families and Government Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Smith, Daniel Blake, Inside the Great House: Planter Family Life in Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake Society, https://amzn.to/4yADh1h Adams, Henry, The Education of Henry Adams, https://amzn.to/4ingEZl Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat Of Empire: The Political Role Of Eighteenth Century Williamsburg, https://amzn.to/4dCPvhF Bridenbaugh, Carl, Myths and Realities: Societies of the Colonial South, https://amzn.to/4yBA0Pb Dowdey, Clifford, The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/3TxKFvn Holton, Woody, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xVyHLd Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson, Patrician and Plebeian in Virginia, https://amzn.to/4yAMvKH

For centuries, the Virginia gentry has been drenched in myth, romance, and Cavalier legend. Here, we cut through the romanticism of Old Virginia to discuss the reality of America's only real landed aristocracy. We describe the origins and formation of the Virginia gentry, how tobacco culture and great estates turned it into a coherent landed gentry class, how it used religion in Colonial Virginia and the county court system to build and hold onto political power. Then we discuss the reality of the hospitality and leisure activities for which it was famous, from horse racing to dancing. We also discuss the intellectual training of the Virginia gentleman, the nature of plantation life, the concept of hegemonic liberty, and how high levels of debt to merchant factors helped push Virginia into the American Revolution. Overall, this episode delves deep into the culture, history, and lives of the famous gentlemen of Old Virginia. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-how-americas Popular mythology long romanticized colonial Virginia as a land of effortless feudal baronies populated by chivalric English Cavaliers. In reality, the "First Families of Virginia" were built by hard-headed English merchants, ship captains, and ambitious entrepreneurs who utilized the headright system and transatlantic trade to consolidate vast riverfront estates across the Tidewater. From the symmetrical Georgian lines of Stratford Hall and Westover to the all-pervading economic dominance of the tobacco leaf, these grand plantations functioned as physical fortresses of patriarchal authority, projecting an image of immovable order, rank, and permanence over the Chesapeake wilderness. In this episode, we explore how the daily governance of Old Virginia gave rise to the revolutionary generation. We trace the gentry's power through a tripod of institutional authority—the private plantation, the parish vestry, and the county court—where young grandees received a hands-on apprenticeship in the art of governing long before taking their seats in Colonial Williamsburg or Philadelphia. Combined with a culture of high-stakes equestrian gambling, courtly dancing, and classical scholarship, the planter class cultivated a fierce ideology of "hegemonic liberty." Discover how luxury spending, volatile markets, and a crushing web of transatlantic debt eventually pitted these Tidewater patriarchs against British merchants, propelling men like Washington, Jefferson, Mason, and Richard Henry Lee to lead the assault against the British Empire. Chapters 0:00 The Myth of Old Virginia and the Virginia Gentleman 4:42 The Origin and Formation of the Virginia Gentry 15:47 Tobacco Culture in Virginia 21:07 The Great Plantation Mansions of Virginia 33:50 The Virginia Plantations 39:58 Political Training in the Parish Vestry and County Court 47:53 Religion in Colonial Virginia 52:52 Leisure and Fun with the Virginia Gentry 59:09 Virginia Hospitality: Dance, Music, and Conviviality 1:02:42 Libraries and Learning 1:05:42 Hegemonic Liberty 1:08:01 The Merchant Factors and Credit Trap 1:15:22 The Gentlemen Who Led the American Revolution Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Billings, Warren M., Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4c9LrER Breen, T. H., Tobacco Culture, https://amzn.to/4wNrigt Bridenbaugh, Carl, Myths and Realities: Societies of the Colonial South, https://amzn.to/4wybkqi Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat of Empire:, https://amzn.to/45q3nr4 Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pLWjOM Bruce, Philip Alexander, Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pIGUPj Bruce, Philip Alexander, Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4wF4LlJ Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/44LGdLF Carson, Jane, Colonial Virginians at Play Evans, Emory G., A Topping People, https://amzn.to/4xaSQfj Fischer, David Hackett, Albion's Seed, https://amzn.to/4xaSKUZ Isaac, Rhys, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790, https://amzn.to/4ftuyr2 Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4pFM2Ut Rasmussen, William M. S., Old Virginia, https://amzn.to/4bne0yu Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/45nNe5o Wright, Louis B., The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4vXmOlU