Virtual Museum After Hours – Lee and the Myth of the Lost Cause

Learn how former Confederate officers and postwar historians deified General Robert E. Lee and vilified his subordinate, General James Longstreet, while creating a Civil War memento that reconciled the defeat of white Southerners and made Lee a hero to generations of Americans. Dr. William Piston discusses the birth of the myth of the Lost Cause, a presentation of the antebellum South as a lost Eden and its soldiers as incomparable warriors defeated only by superior numbers.

Purchase a copy of Piston's book, Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant: James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History, in our museum's online store at
https://store.kshs.org/SelectSKU.aspx?skuid1007386

Donations are welcome.
https://store.kshs.org/MakeDonation.aspx?skuid1003773

Please take the opportunity to connect and share this video with your friends and family if you find it useful.