The Battle of Gettysburg and America’s Founding Principles

On November 25, 2024, Dennis Busch, Stan Everitt, and Roger Mangan joined the show. Provided detailed analysis of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, examining leadership failures, Pickett’s Charge, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Examined the Declaration of Independence as a theological document, breaking it into four parts and analyzing the five core principles Shared his family’s Sicilian immigration story and reflected on the blessings of.

The Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point of the Civil War

Start listening at 2:17 – Hour 1

Dennis Busch, Air Force veteran and military historian, provides a detailed account of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg fought July 1-3, 1863. Busch emphasizes that Gettysburg was likely the most important battle in American history alongside Yorktown, as its outcome would determine whether America remained one powerful nation or split into two dysfunctional ones.

The historian traces Lee’s fateful decision to invade the North after the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, carrying a letter he intended to personally deliver to Lincoln ending the war. Busch explains how the death of Stonewall Jackson weeks earlier left Lee without his most trusted tactician, leading to critical command failures by replacement corps commanders like General Ewell, who failed to press the attack and seize the high ground on day one.

Busch recounts Pickett’s Charge on day three, when 12,000 Confederate soldiers crossed nearly a mile of open ground under withering fire. The assault’s failure marked what historians call “the high water mark of the Confederacy.” When the tattered remnants retreated, Lee approached Pickett saying “General, see to your division,” prompting the devastating reply: “General Lee, I have no division.”

“The important thing about history is to learn from it, and you can’t if it is embellished or distorted in any way.”

Dennis Busch, Military Historian and Author

Busch concludes by reading Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in its entirety, noting that Lincoln initially believed his “short remarks” were a failure until the speech was widely publicized days later. The historian recommends books by Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, and Michael Shaara, as well as the 1993 film Gettysburg and 1989’s Glory.

The Declaration of Independence: Principles That Changed Civilization

Start listening at 59:36 – Hour 2

Stan Everitt, founder of the Legacy Project, has taught thousands of people about America’s founding documents over the past 15 years. Everitt approaches the Declaration differently than typical American history, focusing not on personalities or battles but on the principles themselves.

Everitt breaks the Declaration into four parts: the premise, the principles, the grievances, and the declaration itself. He identifies five core truths beginning with “all men are created equal,” noting that Jefferson’s original draft used “sacred and undeniable” rather than “self-evident.” Everitt emphasizes that the phrase “created equal” is fundamentally different from “born equal,” as creation implies accountability to God rather than to another human being.

The Legacy Project founder addresses criticism of the Founders by refusing to focus on their personal flaws. “We can all recognize we are hypocrites,” Everitt notes, “but to claim everybody else is a hypocrite and not recognize that you yourself are a hypocrite is hypocritical in and of itself.” He argues the ideas should be examined on their merits regardless of the men who articulated them.

“The Declaration itself is really primarily theological, as opposed to what people say is political or ideological. If you’re replacing a human structure of the king and the crown with the creator, then that’s a theological replacement.”

Stan Everitt, Founder of the Legacy Project

Everitt connects the Constitution back to the Declaration through the preamble’s phrase “secure the blessings of liberty,” arguing that “blessings” and “liberty” are inherently theological concepts pointing back to the Creator referenced in the Declaration.

The American Experience: A Thanksgiving Reflection

Start listening at 66:48 – Hour 2

Roger Mangan of State Farm Insurance shares his family’s immigration story during a special Thanksgiving segment. His great-grandfather came from Sicily around 1900 by steerage, sleeping on the ship’s deck for a two-and-a-half-week voyage across the Atlantic.

Mangan recounts how his grandfather, arriving as a single male, was turned back due to immigration quotas. Officials told him he could return when married with a child. He sailed back to Italy, chose his grandmother from among eight orphans at a convent, and returned to America around 1903 with his wife and Uncle Frank.

“I am so grateful for the tenacity that they had to make their way by steerage across the Atlantic Ocean, a two-and-a-half-week trip, sleeping outside on the deck of a ship.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm Insurance Agent