From the muddy islands of the South to the trenches of Cold Harbor, the salvation of St. Louis to the incredible challenge of building Fort Carroll, Robert E. Lee’s engineering genius made itself known wherever he was stationed. This is the tale of how the renowned general and great Virginian gentleman built his leadership skills, learned to deal with great contemporaries and difficult leaders, and taught himself how to master nature. It is the tale of his triumphs at Fort Pulaski, the Rip Raps, St, Louis, and Fort Carroll, along with the story of how the man who tamed the Mississippi inaugurated trench warfare. This is the story of Robert E Lee’s amazing engineering career.
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0:00 The King of Spades: Robert E Lee the Engineer Emerges
3:18 Building the Army Engineer
7:29 Fort Pulaski Begins
14:56 Hampton Roads Lessons
28:16 St. Louis on the Brink
44:59 New York Harbor Drudgery
52:23 Lee Goes From Engineer to Grand Strategist
54:20 Fort Carroll and the Temptation of a Filibuster
1:02:05 Engineering the Confederacy: Defending the Coast
1:05:51 How General Lee Used Spades and Siege Lines to Save the South, and Almost Win the War
Sources Referenced in this Episode:
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Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl
Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3
Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds
Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46lDf14
Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I
Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx
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Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI
Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi
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Fort Wool, Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pocord14, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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