one is, by december 1862, robert e lee is robert e lee. he's not just the son-in-law of george washington, robert e lee had gone to any confederate court said i don't want to go through with this, i shouldn't have to go through with this, i seriously doubt whether any bridging effect confederate court would have stopped him. if he wanted to derail the whole process, who would stand up impact of general we? the other interesting thing is that lee persists moving forward with the emancipation. not only emancipate slaves but a slave family he did in his own name which he was not obliged by the custis estate for emancipating. we can have 1863, robert e lee is slave less. what's more, he's battering jefferson davis. he sank the confederacy must emancipate us slaves because otherwise we're never going to have any time standing in the eyes of the rest of the world but spring of 1865, he's advocating emancipation of slaves. the confederate army. on both terms, it's easy to say while he was doing this out of pragmatic reasons, not because he felt m

but now, let me turn to robert e. lee. mary chestnut first met robert e. lee just before the war at white salt or springs in west virginia. his wife was plagued by rheumatoid arthritis, they came to silver springs to benefit from her bathing in the hot springs there. one of the few things that could give her relief from the march of disease. mary chestnut -- of course one of the famous diary keepers of the confederacy, remembered that a man riding a beautiful horse joined us, wearing a hat with, somehow, a military look to it. and she said, he sat his horse gracefully and he looks so distinguished at all points that i very much regretted not catching the main. mary chestnut was intrigued by this man. who was he? where did he come from? it was explained to her that he was robert edward lee. chestnut marveled. everything about him, she said, we so fine looking that the word, which came unbidden to her mind was perfection. she said there was no fault to be found. and yet, mary chestnut was not entirely enchanted with robert e. lee, or at least not early nearl

lee. robert e. lee is not with us. robert e. lee will be tried as a traderer -- traitor. wynne lee is imposing the emancipation of in the confederate army the charleston mercury and the other firebreathing of all firebreathing newspapers charleston mercury says we knew that properties lee was never with us. we knew that he was always a federalist at heart and we can't trust robert e. lee. this is an 1865 in the charleston mercury. they had a particular profile and many people were not entirely sure about robert e. lee. they love the fact that he won battles that they scratched their heads about him politically speaking. >> robert e. lee himself often as you know embodied many contradictions. throughout the book you cite where he will say one thing and then turn around and do something as seemingly contradicts a it so i does havea question i think there are some questions in the q&a as well as our audience members. he resigns from the army and is appointed the head of virginia army and eventually in charge of the army in northern virginia and experiences fabulous successes

one is by december of 1862, robert e. lee is robert e. lee. estimate not just the son in law of george washington bart custice. if robert e. lee went into any virginia confederate court and said, you know, i don't really want to go through with this, i shouldn't have to go through with this, i seriously doubt whether any virginia confederate court would have stopped him. if he wanted to derail a process, who is going to stand in the path of general lee? the other interesting thing is that lee persists in moving forward with this emancipation and not only emancipates the custice slaves but the one slave family he was given in his own name which he was not obliged to emancipate, by the beginning of 1863, robert e. lee is slaveless and badgering jefferson davis, saying the confederacy must emancipate its slaves or they won't have standing in the rest of the world. by 1865, advocating the emancipation and recruitment of slaves for the confederate army. on both terms it's easy to say, well he was doing this out of pragmatic reasons, not that he was

then i said lincoln, grant, robert e lee. i saw a lot of nodding their i said look, you may not know who these guys are, you may not know any details of their life for when i said their name, and image brought into your head and attached to it whether historically right or wrong, some characteristics. that's the influence i'm talking about that permeates to the levels of the uninitiated. they're going to have an opinion in their minds i about important figures of the war and i want to emphasize everything i am talking about pertains to those campaigns, those times that transcended themselves and become almost symbols of things. the battle of trudeau's elbow probably would make it but gettysburg, sherman's march, appomattox, i think they all fall into those categories. i think in many of those cases, influencers help fill in memory blanks on the veterans who try that. i've made some changes in the morning and i have arrows here and arrows there. look, there's another force that helped shape them. there is a process that happen

it's in robert e. lee's report. so there's the value of it as perceived by robert e. lee, while george meade, when meade found out that sickles was out of position, wrote -- or is attributed to have said, the ground that sickles was on was neutral ground, the enemy could not occupy it for the same reason that his own troops could not. there is the title of tonight's presentation, huh? you see where i'm going with this? neutral ground. george meade assessed it as neutral ground. rob e. lee looking at it for artillery, you have sickles agreeing with robert e. lee, you have george meade assessing it as neutral ground. there's the question of, is it logical to consider it as a valuable position and did either general lee or sickles overstatement that. and we'll come back to that. now, i'm not going to do the battle here in powerpoint, it's very hard to do civil war battles with powerpoint presentations, i think that's why so few people actually do it. so we'll skip ahead. you guys know what happens. longstreet attacks the union left flank with great vigor, little round to

you have robert e. lee looking at it, you have sickles agreeing with robert e. lee, you have george meade assessing it, and neutral ground. so there is the question of, is it logical to consider it? and then deny that general robert e. lee or sickles overestimate that. i'm not going to do the battle here on power point, it is very hard to do civil war battles with power point presentations, i think that is why so few people actually do it. we are going to skip ahead, you guys know what happens. the attack the union -- eventually sickles's troops are driven out of the peach orchard. as far as the meade and sickles controversy goes, arguably one of the best things that could have happened to sickles was this. [laughs] because the confederate a turtle shell, it comes in and smashes into sickles's right leg. he is carried off the battlefield where he is amputated that night, and sickles is then removed from the battlefield. so he missed the rest of the gettysburg campaign. but he goes back to washington to recuperate. on july 5th, while recuperating in washington, w

that robert e. lee taken down. the city council voted the following year, 2017, that it should be taken down. but while the whole question of what was going to happen to that statuesque up in legal wrangling in 2017, new nazi white supremacists and neo-confederate groups seized on the very threat that the robert e. lee statue might come down as their pretext for holding their unite the right rally in charlottesville. the statue of the center of that didn't actually come down until july of this year. since then, just a couple of weeks ago, the client and neo-nazi and neo-confederate groups that organize that deadly charlottesville riots, the protests that statue in -- having to take it down. those groups were found liable to pay more than $25 million dollars in -- to people who were hurt by the whites prime misses wires in charlottesville. but look at what's happening in charlottesville right now. late last night, in a meeting that actually stretched into the early hours of this morning, the charlott

robert e. lee wanted that position for artillery. imagine that, robert e. lee being outguessed by dumb old dan sickles. i have a friend who says even a blind squirrel can get a nut sometimes. so there's that possibility, too. but all joking aside, it's very clear that robert e. lee's reports that he valued this position for artillery, very much, you know, kind of the chancellorsville fear that sickles had in the first place. so, you know, a couple prominent historians have kind of said lee didn't do that, sickles made that up. no, that's not true. and i'm not going to name historians, because i don't do that, i'm a nice guy. but some prominent historians have written that sickles manufactured the confederate's interest in the peach orchard. that's not true. that's not accurate. it's in lee's report. so the value of it is perceived by robert e. lee, and when meade found out that sickles was out of position, is attributed to have said the ground that sickles was on was neutral ground, the enemy could not occupy it for the same reason that his own troops could

correct both robert e lee and dan sickles. overestimated it and lee actually used the peach orchard emmetsburg road to spearhead a bigger disaster on july 3rd called pickett's charge. but did sickles knowingly act out of intentional disobedience? i'll leave that to you to decide. which comes back to this guy? because i --. i've had this guy come up to me at the end of the presentation and say well that was fine, but i still don't like dan siggles. and again, i will say i was not trying to get you to like dance sickles, but what i do, hope you come away with is a better appreciation of the story of you know, kind of what i talked about the three phases the his role in the battle his role in the historiography and his role in the preservation and he's i've said at the outset if you love gettysburg as much as we do, i think it's important to understand all of the phases of dance sickles his career love him or not hate him or not. love to hate him or hate to love them. so all right with that. i think we're almost out of time. i'm

i may write a book one day robert e lee is not wrong. and everybody may they that o they know what it means. everything he had to do he had a reason for doing it. may not have worked. may not have been successful. may not have been the best choice but he had a reason. he didn't just do it because he felt like it. he did it because it made sense. we lead a lot of folks and sometimes just a simple explanation for it as i thought that that would work. i teach, why did sherman attack there? because if you punch your way through you can end the campaign quicker. and by the way with grant, his boss and friend, bogged down in virginia. he punches through, he looks successful when the other guy isn't. isn't that fun? when you can rub it if their face, i got this done. are what are you still doing up there? god knows probably sending some cavalry down to hicksford -- whatever group the place that was. but you know what i mean. now, i will say. this i heard joan baez on tv, on the radio rather. and she says when so much cavalry came. poor george s

that robert e. lee statue they finally took down this summer in july, it's 1,100 pounds of bronze. they did finally take it down from that square in town, five years after local high school students asked them to please take it down. four years after the council said they would. four years after neo-nazis and neoconfederates converged on the city to protest that decision. they finally took it down but what are you going to do with it. apparently, half a dozen groups approached the city saying they wanted the statue. they had something they wanted to do with it. last night, early this morning, in a unanimous vote, the charlottesville city council decided what to do with it. they decided that 1,100-pound robert e. lee statue will be given to a local african american heritage center that has a very, very specific plan for it. they're going to melt it. they're going to melt it down. ultimately, they say it will become a new public artwork about what charlottesville is like today. it will be about some new idea in charlottesville. but that new idea, what exactly they're going to put it

they also found a ribbon with the likeness of robert e. lee. and a pamphlet titled, "the immigrant's friend." >>> when we come back, the surprise do-over proposal. after nearly 25 years of marriage, the husband who wanted to get it right. okay, we're not gonna ask for discounts on floor models, demos or displays. shopping malls can be a big trigger for young homeowners turning into their parents. you ever think about the storage operation a place like this must rely on? -no. they just sell candles, and they're making overhead? you know what kind of fish those are? -no. -eh, don't be coy. [ laughs ] [ sniffs, clears throat ] koi fish. it can be overwhelming. think a second. have we seen this shirt before? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. but you know what? i'm still gonna get it. ♪ ♪ just two pills for all day pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. and also try alevex topical pain relief. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high

they also found a ribbon with the likeness of robert e. lee. and a pamphlet titleded, "the immigrant's friend." >>> when we come back, the surprise do-over proposal, after nearly 25 years of marriage. the husband who wanted to get it right. we're not gonna ask for discounts on floor models, demos or displays. shopping malls can be a big trigger for young homeowners turning into their parents. you ever think about the storage operation a place like this must rely on? -no. they just sell candles, and they're making overhead? you know what kind of fish those are? -no. -eh, don't be coy. [ laughs ] [ sniffs, clears throat ] koi fish. it can be overwhelming. think a second. have we seen this shirt before? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. but you know what? i'm still gonna get it. ♪ ♪ just two pills for all day pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. and also try alevex topical pain relief. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high pro

i have a lot of thoughts of robert e. lee. i may write a book one day saying robert ely was not wrong. and then to have a reason for doing it. that may not have worked. that may not have been successful maybe not the best choice. that he had a reason but he didn't just do because he felt like at that because it made sense and i think that is something we read a lot sometimes it is just a simple explanation that i thought that word work i teach at kennesaw why did sherman attack there? because if you punch your way through you can and the campaign quicker and by the way with grant and his boss and friends bogged down in virginia he punches his way through it looks like he is successful when the other guy is not. isn't that fine when you can rather than their face and say i got this done? what you still doing up there? i heard on tv the other day rather the radio and joan said when so much calvary came, porch joe stoneman can't catch a break. [laughter] so much calvary. no. that is not the original says. somebody asked me at the

a time capsule once buried underneath the statue of robert e. lee that had been recovered. today it was opened giving historians a first look at the message from more than 130 years ago. cnn's randi kaye has the details. >> reporter: it wasn't easy, but conserve tors in richmond, virginia, drilled their way into this time capsule that's more than 100 years old. >> we are going to cut one side of the box where we can see i probably won't hit anything to lee lease some of this pressure. >> reporter: it was discovered monday beneath the base of the robert e. lee statue months after this historic moment. the 134-yard line capsule is made of copper. according to the newspaper from 188 #, is supposed to contain 60 items. this x-ray taken after its discovery offered the first images. items inside were said to include a battle flag, compass, 12 copper coins, confederate buttons, even a picture of former president lincoln lying in his coffin. only one photo of the casket still exists and the conditions inside the capsule aren't exactly ideal. >> water just squeezed out of it. maybe

e. the parents of a california teenager killed in a store dressing room by an officer's stray bullet speak out. what the grieving mother says happened to her daughter. >>> good morning. good to be with you. i'm tom hanson. anne-marie green is off. >>> this morning, health experts are questioning the cdc's recommendation to shorten the isolation period for people infected with covid. it comes as the u.s. hit a seven-day average of more than 240,000 new daily cases. some fear hospitals could become overelme pies as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads. all of this as college football's holiday bowl was canceled just hours before kickoff when ucla pulled out due to covid issues. courtney kealy is tracking the latest developments from new york. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, tom. now omicron and delta are spiking cases across the country, packing a one-two punch, while school administrations are trying to decide how to get classes open after the return after the hol

there is a book about robert e. lee were that is prominent. trader. trader. that doesn't get us very far. when you say that you already shut a lot of doors, because what else does somebody want to read when you throw that line out right away? that someone is a trader? would you think some people said about thomas, if he stays with the union and he stays with virginia, and you feel like you should've gone with the confederacy, and he doesn't -- he is a trader. we will be busy all the time if we start throwing that word out, and so forth. but, look at francis thomas, his wife will say. he met her as an instructor, superintendent, so they had that connection but she says there never was a past between general thomas, i think it is interesting when your wife tells -- caused by your title. i do think they had genuine affection for each other. they really do. i don't think that was a question. they were just formally affectionate, i guess. they were careful about the straws, if they were having a malted together. i'm just saying, one has to be careful. no pressure

lee statue. >> the statue of general robert e. lee. which over looked a park that held the deadly unite the right rally. hoisted away. the end of a long and bloody battle for one city. grappling with how to tell our nations story. >> a part of me i'm glad he's gone. but then a part of me i'm like, the issue is bigger than the statue. because you can remove all the statues in the world. if the system still stays the same. it does stand against black folks. >> i'm glad he's gone off the horse. i'm glad he's not sitting on the high horse anymore. because we weren't at the table when they created this stuff. but, even if if you have people that believe in those systems, that led us to being where we were. august of 12. >>> good evening. if all news is ultimately about the difference and the distance between then and now, then this was the biggest news night.

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e lee. lee will see is that immediately and begin to capitalize on all that it will provide him. the second manassas campaign continues to unfold, row and the army of virginia plummets brother, many men feel they are needlessly sacrificed after the defeat of cedar mountain, they are not be supported. ... >> by the middle of the month of august hope is beginning to learn that these objectives are set upon pressing his army and he began to make that series of decisions that are going to be to what will happen at the end of the month. but by the second to the last week of august, john pope starts make mistakes but he said pretty well in this campaigns of our other areas held at cedar mountain and he is holding some of the strategies and some of the campaign objectives that houston gave him but by august 25th of 26, he has gone completely off the rails and the stress of this command and the stress of the objectives, all that subject that we talked about is weighing on him heavily. john pope is u

pete is going to attack me about robert e. lee eyewall bet. >> two quick questions. the first question is imagine the casualties were extraordinarily high. you are talking three to four days but take the two bloodiest days so i'd like for you to given all the hesitancy of the innotech ice also a quick question do you think world war i dominate to think in terms of how we imagined attacks on the western front when in fact the first days did not in fact characterize what followed that soldiers left on both sides so could you help us understand did not win a army is doing its flanking maneuvers to the south but were there raids and did wore for her -- warfare change on the front? >> first of all you are comparing the first petersburg offensive with the largest battle of the north american continent in the guest most battles would pale by comparison to that. i don't think 16,000 thousand casualties isn't significant to my point is who -- if you asked people in this room to list the 10 most important battles in the major battles and none would mention june 15 of 1818. my

do you think this would have been found if the robert e. lee statue had been removed? >> i don't think it would have been. this box wasn't a time capsule where people were expected to come and retrieve it after 100 years. this was more of a cornerstone box for the dedication of the monument. so without disassembling the statue, you would not find this box. >> i should also note, there's so much talk about it being found, but it's also notable what is not found inside of it. a number of historians have said, any members of the black community which was pretty prevalent and thriving at the time. can you speak to that as well? >> first, i will say we will not done a complete inventory yet. so when we have that, we will get that out to everyone. so we really don't know everything that's in there. but i do think it reflects on what the society at the time felt was important, and i think this is a good learning opportunity for us when we do something similar, to show what virginia is like in the future. >> a great point. so now what happens? once you do that full inventory,

and that defeat and his pulling back, surrendered the initiative to robert e. lee. lee seized the initiative immediately and he'll begin to capitalize on all it will provide him. as the second campaign unfolds, morale plummets further. many feel they're being needlessly sacrifice said after the defeat of ceder mountain. they're not being supported. subcysting off the land has gotten way out of hand. because pope's army is hungry. when pope takes command, he fire as very intelligent fellow by the name of herman howt, who kept the supplies running. he comes begging back to howt asking him to please, please come back. by the middle of the month of august, pope is beginning to learn that lee's objectives are set upon crushing his army and begins to make a series of decisions that will lead to what will happen at the end of the month. by the second to last week of august, john pope starts making a lot of mistakes. he's done pretty well so far. he's holding some of the strategy, campaign ucjectives he's been given. by august 25th and 26th, pope has gone comletely off the

the 36-pound copper box was found in the pedestal that recently held up a statue of robert e. lee. suzanne malveaux joins me now. what did they find in the box? >> what they found about this was the process. they had historical and archaeological experts from virginia who went through opening this box with us in realtime. unlike a museum where you have a pin and a note in a sterile environment but opening it up and you had these experts. it was about a 2 1/2 hour process or so. these experts with gloves going through meticulously with their special instruments holding up what they had discovered. what they had anticipated and hoped for was there is one final photo of -- a lasting photo in the whole world of abraham lincoln's casket. they did not find that. they had hoped that maybe it would have been in the time capsule. here's what they did find. they found instead -- this was a printed image from an 1865 edition of "harper's weekly" showing a figure weeping over the grave of lincoln. they also showed and demonstrated, the governor was livestreaming this and tweeting this as well

and that defeat and his pulling back from that battlefield, surrendered to robert e. lee. lee will seize that initiative immediately and he will begin to capitalize on all that it will provide him. as the second manassas campaign continues to unfold, morale in the army of virginia plummets further. many men in the ranks feel that they're being needlessly sacrificed after the defeat of cedar mountain. they're not being supported. general order number five, subsistent off the man, has gotten way out of hand. damaging the morale. because popes army is hungry. when pope cape -- he fires a very intelligent fellow by the name of herman how, who kept the supplies running. and by the time popes army is almost starving to death, he comes crawling and begging back. asking him to please, please come back. now, by the middle of the month of august, pope is beginning to learn that lease objectives are set up crushing his army. it begins to make a series of decisions that are going to lead to what will happen at the end of the month. but by the second to last week of august, pope starts

pete's going to attack me about robert e. lee, i'll bet. >> so, two quick questions. the first is you think about the opening assaults and imagine the casualties were extraordinarily high but in fact, they're really not at all. you're talking three to four days. and of course required of me to mention gettysburg but three days of gettysburg or two days. take your two bloodiest days at chancellor. again, is this all the hesitancy of the union attacks? i'd say they're fairly light. a second quick question. you think about world war i and som, which dominates our thinking in how we think of tactics on the western front. when in fact they did not characterize what followed. that soldiers adapted on each side. can you help us understand, did, in the siege of petersburg, not when the union army is doing flanking to the south, but were the raids at warfare changed on the front? >> two long questions. first of all, you're comparing the first petersburg offensive with the largest battle of the north american continent and i guess most would fail in comparison to that. i don't

e. the growing number of colleges returning to remote learning as covid soars again. as others try to stay open, some staff members push back. >>> chasing the cure they're raising awareness and helping other young women battling cancer as they did, calling their effort "we fight like girls." >>> and history unearthed. the time capsule discovered after 134 years at the site of a confederate monument what historians found inside the box. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt >>> good evening i'm kristen welker in for lester with just four days until the new year, a troubling trend tonight. the united states is racing toward the all-time high for new covid cases, approaching a mark set nearly a year ago. at the same time, the cdc now says the omicron variant accounts for fewer cases than previously reported, meaning there were more delta cases at the start of the surge it comes amid rising concerns over the spike in childhood cases of covid an nbc news analysis finding t

does it surprise you to see people are that virulent in their support and defense of robert e. lee and the rest? >> they're not the ones who started it. defending it, i can understand that but they're not the ones that started it. had the people not wanted to teardown a beautiful monument, it wouldn't have happened. >> perhaps they should be moved to somewhere where they can be respected, not in a place of -- in a public display where it's doing nothing but sending a certain kind of message. >> i totally disagree with you. if it happened right here we commemorate it here. >> what do you think of jefferson davis? >> he's my personal hero. >> what about he was obviously someone who supported the expansion of slavery. should that diminish or tarnish his legacy at all? >> no, because he wasn't the only one. going to a school like jefferson davis they can destroy what they can, but they'll never destroy the legend of the man. >> how much credence do you give to the idea that these were men of their time? what does that mean? certainly they were men of their time but do we forget tha

crews found it last week, removing the pedestal that held a statue of robert e. lee. they believe members of the community donated items in 1887, most of the on bjects related t the confederacy. >>> the fda authorized pfizer's antiviral pill it's the first covid treatment in pill form to get the green light. >>> president biden extended the pause on student loan payments until april 1st. >>> no verdict in kim potter's trial. >>> jurors in the elizabeth holmes trial will also continue deliberating tomorrow. they have off tomorrow. >>> now you know the news of this wednesday, december 22, 2021 follow us on instagram and twitter at the news on cnbc. >>> 5:00 a.m. at cnbc global headquarters and here is your top five at 5:00 going for three in a row futures are muted at this hour with the dow looking to extend its two day winning streak into the long holiday weekend >>> shares of novavax are rising this morning following positive vaccine data >>> in washington,the supreme court announcing it will hear a challenge to president biden's covid jab mandate. >>> and almost d

lee was human. i've got a lot of thoughts about robert e. lee, which i will not share with you today. i may write a book one day called robert e. lee was not wrong, and everybody will think they know what that means. what it actually means is everything he ever did he had a reason for doing it. it may not have worked, may not have been successful, might have been not the best choice, but he had a reason -- but he didn't just do it because he felt like it. he did it because that makes sense. and sometimes it's just as simple an explanation for it and i thought that would work. because if you punch your way through you can end the campaign quicker, and by the way with grant, his boss and friend bogged down in virginia, he punches his way through, he looks like he's successful when the other guy isn't. isn't that kind of fun when you can kind of rub it in their face and say i've got this done, what are you still doing up there? god knows probably sending some cavalry down to whatever group and place that was. but you know what i mean. i will sa

e. it was possible. it was possible there could be other variants that come along. that's possible. but what do you plan for? you plan for what you think is available. that is, the most likely threat that's -- exists at the time and you respond to it. and i think that that's exactly what we've done and that's -- for example, omicron is spreading rapidly. but the death rates are much, much lower than they were. this -- this is not march of 2020. this is a very different time. that we're in now. >> the new comments from the president -- they come on a day like every other day this week that have seen major developments in the fight against the deadly virus. pfizer has now received fda approval for the first-ever antiviral pill paxlovid, which is expected to substantially reduce the rate of hospitalization and death among high-risk individuals. according to pfizer, these pills which are taken over a period of days, have an efficacy rate of about 88% if treatment begins within five days of s

it was buried beneath the robert e. lee statue in richrichmond. historians believe it was from 1887. >> reporter: historians are thrilled to discover relics of the past in richmond, virginia, at the base of where the infamous confederate statue of robert e. lee once stood. when teams cut through the granite pedestal -- >> the capstone slid off and there it is. >> reporter: -- they found a 36-pound box, what experts are calling a cornerstone box, mads copper. the bomb squad examined x-rays for active gunpowder. then virginia archeologists got inside, 144 years after it was sealed. inside, confederate money. bullets and buttons. a hand carved confederate flag. an old newspaper. a bible. coins. and letters. historian dale brumfield says it gives us a firsthand look at the mindset of the confederacy. >> it's not just what's inside the box that's important, it was also what's left out. there was nothing in that box that represented the african american community. >> reporter: conservationists had opened another box found in the statue's pedestal, that

robert e lee, a life, biography confederate general in the civil war. drunk in the conversation with your phone calls from facebook comments, text and tweets. sunday january 2 noon eastern on in-depth on book tv. ♪♪ weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual case. ) will find events people who explore our nation's pass on american history tv. sundays, big tv brings the latest in nonfiction books and authors. television for serious readers. learn, discover, explore. weekends on c-span2. ♪♪ >> good evening and welcome. i'm holly and tonight i'm honored to be the host of this veryn special book fast in your living room. on behalf of the mj cpa in atlanta and national gpc literary contortion,at welcome. we are in for a fascinating evening tonight with international best-selling author, walter isaacson. we're going to talk aboutaa his latest book, the code breaker. the future of the human race. this is anel unbelievably fascinating book, i promise you it's a book you are going to read and go look at the time because you can't put it down. if you haven't

for more than a century, this time capsule was buried in the statue of robert e. lee in richmond, virginia. it was covered friday morning months after this historic moment in september. [ cheers ] crews dismantling the statue's base found what appeared to be a copper box as described in the richmond"richmond dispatch" bac 1887. the list of articles in the copper box was said to include dozens of items, including a battle flag, compass, 12 copper coins, even a picture of former president lincoln lying in his coffin. but it turns out this capsule was made of lead, heavily corroded, and partly covered in mortar. the box itself is an artifact, so they had to take care to preserve that too. using tongue depressors and -- a tool that vibrancy and has a hard metal tip that is much more easily controlled. it's good for getting the mortar separated from the lead. >> reporter: finally, late this afternoon, the time capsule was unlocked. [ cheers and applause ] inside, three books, a cloth envelope, and single coin. >> i saw one book that's an almanac from 1875. there was an

e. >>> authorities in denver are investigating what sparked a violent crime spree that left four people and the suspect dead. they say it started in downtown denver and ended several miles away in lake wood. in addition to those killed, three others, including a police officer were injured. that officer underwent surgery. several buildings near where the suspect was fatally shot were locked down. >>> hollywood is remembering a acclaimed filmmaker jean mark vallee the canadian filmmaker was known for shooting with natural light and handheld cameras. he died suddenly at 58. this morning, tributes pouring in for jean marc vallee. >> sometimes i'm just holding onto this idea of perfection. >> vallee known for directing "big little lies," as well as the 2013 film, "dallas buyers club", passed away at the age of 58. a representative for the director saying the cause was a heart attack. vallee was found sunday at his cabin in quebec, canada. it's believed he died on christmas day. his death com

he lays out his views in his book, robert e. lee and me. subtitled, the southerner's reckoning with the myth of the lost cause. >> on this episode of book notes plus, available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> america up to its neck in debt? >> we believe one of the gratest characteristics of being american we are striving to provide equal opportunity for all citizens. >> c-span's video documentary competition 202t students across the country are giving us behind the scenes look as they work on their entry using the #studentcam. if you are a milled or high school student, join the conversation by entering c-span student am competition. create a five to six minute documentary using c-span video clips that answer the question, how does the federal government impact your life? >> be passionate about what you are discussing to express your view no matter how large or small you think the audience will receive it to be. and know that in the greatest country in the history of the earth your view does matter. >> it's all

if you think about it most of those in world history through napoleon and robert e. lee, and at some point he understood a basic strategic reality that becomes all-consuming and crucial that he didn't have to win the war the british had to win the war as long as he kept the continental army in power and as long as the colonies stayed united and he was right about that but there is a kind of resilience to him and the ordinary trips in the continental army was were ten or 15 percent that were african-americans. the other ones deserve the real credit it is seven.five year marathon and war that it's more barbaric than we imagined we think of it differently more americans died in the american revolution per capita than any man the civil war. so the countryside is really barbaric but the final battle the most important battle is that yorktown where washington gets the cornwallis surrender vet the french were indispensable why are they so interested in helping the americans what do they really just take the british more than they liked us? >> it was payback time for having