Here’s Emory Thomas talking about his two books on Robert E. Lee, the life of Lee, and what it was like to write a biography of Lee in the shadow of Douglas Southall Freeman. This was a lecture Professor Thomas gave at the Library of a Virginia as part of the Museum of the Confederacy’s lecture series.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?157329-1/biographies-robert-e-lee
Student of the American Civil War 
When I was a very young math professor at the University of Georgia, it was my great pleasure to meet and become friends with Emory Thomas.