The Old World with Will Tanner

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

In the late 19th century, the British landed elite still seemed secure. A small group of aristocratic and gentry families owned the supermajority of the land, much of the best urban property, and many mineral rights, while also holding political office and shaping society through cultural dominance, business investments, and social prestige. Their wealth supported a life of leisure used to fulfill the duty to govern, not for private indulgence in indolence. That system began to break down with the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the agricultural depression of the 1870s as cheap grain from the United States, carried by rail and steamship, drove down British agricultural prices and rents. At the same time, the Third Reform Act expanded the electorate and weakened the old rural political structure. As incomes fell, many landowners were burdened by debt, mortgages, and family settlements. Some sold land, houses, art, and other assets; others tried to shift into business, finance, or colonial ventures. The People's Budget and the Parliament Act then increased taxes and reduced the power of the House of Lords, making the old order even less secure. World War I accelerated the decline. Many aristocrats served and died in unusually high numbers, and wartime requisitioning damaged or destroyed country houses. After the war, the class remained visible in local life, but it lost national political influence and much of its confidence. After describing the decline of the class, I articulate what lessons we should draw from its demise. 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! The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, https://link.amazon/B08at3udq Aspects of Aristocracy, https://link.amazon/B0hs1ny41 The Gentry, https://link.amazon/B004Qxd5v Aristocrats, https://link.amazon/B0bhdsxet The Iron Duke, https://link.amazon/B0bWhIY77 American Colossus, https://link.amazon/B01aFOKhP English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century, https://link.amazon/B0c6eSxVo European Landed Elites in the 19th Century, https://link.amazon/B0eQ9UGUY The Conservative Mind, https://link.amazon/B0bDdEBuS The Serpent and the Stag, https://link.amazon/B03VrFQ8J

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 retold story of the life of Captain John Smith, the military hero who saved Virginia, with a focus on how he represents the model American in many ways. I tell the tales of his upbringing, his Crusade against the Ottomans, his escape from slavery, his feuds with the Virginia Company, his mapping of the Chesapeake, and his grand adventures in the New World, altogether showing how he's a man who created a model for the New World based on the best of the old. Read my article on this here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/how-john-smith-defined-the-american Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/

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