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- You think anyone will
know mom's in there?
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00:00:04,897 --> 00:00:06,988
Abraham Lincoln, I'm
running for state assembly.
3
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It's not certain I will succeed.
4
00:00:08,843 --> 00:00:10,234
- You planin' on pourin' that?
5
00:00:10,252 --> 00:00:12,736
- I would like to dance
with you in the worst way.
6
00:00:12,755 --> 00:00:14,905
- I'm not like other
ladies, Mr. Lincoln.
7
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- I'm afraid this might
be my one and only term.
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- A nation guilty of practices
more shocking and bloody.
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- Gonna be a big
argument in this country.
10
00:00:24,266 --> 00:00:25,524
I intend to be ready for it.
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00:00:25,751 --> 00:00:29,653
Let us have faith that
right makes might.
12
00:00:31,106 --> 00:00:32,756
- Yes, Lincoln!
13
00:00:32,849 --> 00:00:35,259
- The government
will not assail you.
14
00:00:35,352 --> 00:00:36,869
How long can Sumter
to hold out for?
15
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- Wait for cooler heads.
- You must send more ships.
16
00:00:39,206 --> 00:00:40,447
I say we withdraw.
17
00:00:40,599 --> 00:00:41,356
- Fire!
18
00:00:45,046 --> 00:00:46,436
Ladies and gentlemen,
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00:00:46,530 --> 00:00:49,106
some of you may
have heard of him.
20
00:00:49,124 --> 00:00:50,532
His story
has been passed down
21
00:00:50,551 --> 00:00:52,200
from one generation to the next.
22
00:00:52,294 --> 00:00:55,445
- Four score and
seven years ago.
23
00:00:55,464 --> 00:00:58,540
- He felt that democracy
in its purest form
24
00:00:58,559 --> 00:01:00,784
is for all people.
25
00:01:00,803 --> 00:01:04,304
- All persons held as slaves
shall be thence forward
26
00:01:04,398 --> 00:01:06,065
and forever free.
27
00:01:06,216 --> 00:01:08,734
- But there's something
deeper than what he did.
28
00:01:09,737 --> 00:01:11,886
It's about who he was.
29
00:01:11,980 --> 00:01:14,222
- Lincoln grew up in the
poverty.
30
00:01:14,316 --> 00:01:15,407
- Haven't done anything
31
00:01:15,559 --> 00:01:16,817
to make anyone remember
that I ever lived.
32
00:01:16,969 --> 00:01:18,077
- He's living proof
33
00:01:18,228 --> 00:01:21,080
that Americans can rise
from obscurity to power.
34
00:01:21,231 --> 00:01:24,491
- With that wit and that
charm and that intellect.
35
00:01:24,585 --> 00:01:26,901
- It's better to stay
silent and be thought a fool
36
00:01:26,995 --> 00:01:28,812
than to speak up and
remove all doubt.
37
00:01:28,905 --> 00:01:31,090
- He has this deep
sense of empathy.
38
00:01:31,241 --> 00:01:33,241
He takes the
Declaration of Independence.
39
00:01:33,335 --> 00:01:35,168
- All men are created equal.
40
00:01:35,262 --> 00:01:38,746
And turns it into
a nation's moral compass.
41
00:01:41,602 --> 00:01:43,585
- As the country
is breaking apart
42
00:01:43,679 --> 00:01:44,603
there's a turning point
43
00:01:44,830 --> 00:01:46,513
where he's gonna
have to take a stand.
44
00:01:46,665 --> 00:01:48,014
Charge!
45
00:01:48,109 --> 00:01:49,257
- Blood will be on your hands!
46
00:01:49,351 --> 00:01:51,276
- Blood is already on my hands!
47
00:01:51,503 --> 00:01:53,779
- He had to learn how to
be a Commander in Chief.
48
00:01:54,006 --> 00:01:55,597
- I can't have a
war on two fronts.
49
00:01:55,691 --> 00:01:59,176
- He was willing to admit
he was wrong and to change.
50
00:01:59,194 --> 00:02:00,452
- We can attack immediately.
51
00:02:00,604 --> 00:02:02,696
He was the right
person at the right time.
52
00:02:02,848 --> 00:02:04,957
- If we let this stand
for one minute longer,
53
00:02:06,518 --> 00:02:09,110
We might as well say
goodbye to the whole thing.
54
00:02:09,204 --> 00:02:13,298
Union, democracy, all of it.
55
00:02:28,315 --> 00:02:28,981
Whoa!
56
00:02:30,317 --> 00:02:32,133
- Pa, I'm stopping the rebels!
57
00:02:32,227 --> 00:02:34,153
- Well that's good, tadpole,
58
00:02:34,380 --> 00:02:36,471
we can't let 'em get
Washington, can we?
59
00:02:36,490 --> 00:02:37,322
- Pow!
60
00:02:45,649 --> 00:02:48,575
- You mustn't look like a
bumpkin for the cabinet.
61
00:02:48,727 --> 00:02:51,244
I've seen two soldiers
camped in the east room.
62
00:02:51,338 --> 00:02:53,172
Oh, they're so young.
63
00:02:53,323 --> 00:02:55,156
- Don't mistake me, I'm
grateful they're here,
64
00:02:55,250 --> 00:02:56,967
with the rebels at our
very doorstep.
65
00:02:58,495 --> 00:03:00,679
Is there any word
on reinforcements?
66
00:03:00,830 --> 00:03:03,015
- They're due to arrive
in Baltimore any moment.
67
00:03:05,244 --> 00:03:05,976
Mary, I'll be late.
68
00:03:08,856 --> 00:03:09,646
- There.
69
00:03:12,434 --> 00:03:14,359
- The cabinet's waiting,
this just came in.
70
00:03:56,979 --> 00:04:00,739
- Got nowhere to run.
- Ain't lookin' good for you.
71
00:04:21,262 --> 00:04:22,261
- After Fort Sumpter,
72
00:04:22,412 --> 00:04:25,264
Washington DC is
basically defenseless.
73
00:04:25,491 --> 00:04:27,674
There aren't a lot of
troops in Washington DC,
74
00:04:27,768 --> 00:04:30,327
and for the volunteers
that Lincoln has called up,
75
00:04:30,345 --> 00:04:31,436
they must get to Washington.
76
00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,665
As the 6th Massachusets is
marching through Baltimore,
77
00:04:35,684 --> 00:04:37,901
a mob arrives and
there's a massive riot.
78
00:04:39,187 --> 00:04:42,172
- Baltimore was a very
pro Southern city.
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00:04:42,190 --> 00:04:44,766
It's the largest city in
the slaveholding south
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00:04:44,785 --> 00:04:46,601
and proud of that.
81
00:04:46,695 --> 00:04:48,178
- Soldiers opened fire.
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People are killed,
soldiers are killed.
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00:04:51,350 --> 00:04:53,941
It's a shocking moment.
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00:04:53,961 --> 00:04:56,870
Here at the moment
of national peril
85
00:04:56,964 --> 00:05:01,133
when the president calls out
troops to suppress a rebellion
86
00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,095
rioters in the streets
attempt to prevent them.
87
00:05:08,142 --> 00:05:10,200
- You talk about coming in
the office with full plate.
88
00:05:10,218 --> 00:05:11,868
Lincoln's immediately tasked
89
00:05:11,961 --> 00:05:15,388
with trying to preserve
a union together
90
00:05:15,482 --> 00:05:16,940
that is already falling apart.
91
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,044
- By the time Lincoln
comes into office,
92
00:05:21,137 --> 00:05:22,446
seven states have seceded.
93
00:05:25,384 --> 00:05:26,992
The United States
doesn't even have
94
00:05:27,143 --> 00:05:29,052
a sizeable military force.
95
00:05:29,145 --> 00:05:32,055
There's only about
15,000 total troops
96
00:05:32,148 --> 00:05:34,391
in the United States army.
97
00:05:34,484 --> 00:05:37,836
- So the day after the
firing on Fort Sumpter,
98
00:05:37,987 --> 00:05:40,747
Lincoln will call
for 75,000 troops.
99
00:05:40,841 --> 00:05:43,300
- And with that four other
Southern states will secede.
100
00:05:45,012 --> 00:05:47,253
Problem for Washington DC is
just to the south is Virginia.
101
00:05:47,348 --> 00:05:48,830
They've just seceded.
102
00:05:48,849 --> 00:05:50,498
It's surrounded by
Maryland, a border state,
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00:05:50,517 --> 00:05:52,017
that has secessionist tendencies
104
00:05:52,168 --> 00:05:54,836
and we don't quite know what
direction they're gonna go yet.
105
00:05:54,930 --> 00:05:56,913
- So Lincoln had to wonder,
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00:05:56,932 --> 00:06:01,008
is the Capitol in Washington
now an isolated island?
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00:06:01,103 --> 00:06:03,937
A federal jurisdiction in a sea
108
00:06:04,031 --> 00:06:05,772
of insurrection and rebellion.
109
00:06:08,260 --> 00:06:11,870
- You severely underestimate
rebel sympathies.
110
00:06:12,097 --> 00:06:15,615
Southerners are resigning
from my Navy every day.
111
00:06:15,709 --> 00:06:18,101
- The army is losing too many
of its best officers too.
112
00:06:18,194 --> 00:06:21,380
- We lost Virginia
we lost Robert Lee.
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00:06:21,607 --> 00:06:22,956
We need a commander.
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00:06:23,050 --> 00:06:25,775
- First we need soldiers
for him to command.
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00:06:25,869 --> 00:06:27,886
- And how do you propose
to pay for all these men?
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00:06:28,113 --> 00:06:30,180
- You're the one holding
the purse strings.
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00:06:33,042 --> 00:06:35,310
- I cannot imagine the
pressure that he was under.
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00:06:36,304 --> 00:06:37,396
Nobody's sure that this country
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00:06:37,623 --> 00:06:40,565
is actually even gonna
last through his term.
120
00:06:41,977 --> 00:06:44,552
He was in a
very weak position.
121
00:06:44,571 --> 00:06:47,981
The Republican party
is only six years old.
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00:06:48,075 --> 00:06:50,057
It has never had a president.
123
00:06:50,077 --> 00:06:51,968
- He lands in the White House
124
00:06:52,061 --> 00:06:54,487
and he has to
construct a cabinet
125
00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,565
that includes people who were
previously his political foes
126
00:06:57,584 --> 00:06:59,584
and who are absolutely confident
127
00:06:59,811 --> 00:07:02,479
that they should be
president instead of him.
128
00:07:02,497 --> 00:07:04,572
Salmon Chase
still was upset
129
00:07:04,666 --> 00:07:07,592
about losing the
Republican nomination.
130
00:07:07,819 --> 00:07:11,430
Edward Bates of Missouri,
basically the same thing.
131
00:07:11,581 --> 00:07:13,765
William Henry Seward
is a very famous
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00:07:13,992 --> 00:07:17,160
Republican Senator from New
York and a former governor.
133
00:07:17,253 --> 00:07:20,013
- He's the favorite child
of the Republican party.
134
00:07:20,107 --> 00:07:23,024
Seward is kind of angling
to try and be the,
135
00:07:24,019 --> 00:07:25,235
the puppeteer, if you will.
136
00:07:26,613 --> 00:07:28,029
- The first thing we should do
137
00:07:29,024 --> 00:07:30,449
is blockade the southern ports.
138
00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,102
- Don't let supplies
in or come out.
139
00:07:35,197 --> 00:07:37,956
- A blockade will be seen
as an act of war by Europe.
140
00:07:38,107 --> 00:07:40,459
- We are at war.
141
00:07:40,686 --> 00:07:42,610
What's stopping us, we
have a Navy and ships.
142
00:07:42,629 --> 00:07:43,795
- Ships?
143
00:07:44,022 --> 00:07:47,023
Right now I don't have
any at my disposal.
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00:07:47,042 --> 00:07:49,042
Oh, and please tell
me, Mr. Seward,
145
00:07:49,194 --> 00:07:52,471
what can we do with ships if I
don't have crews to man them?
146
00:08:04,392 --> 00:08:09,321
- Gentlemen, a secessionist mob
147
00:08:09,548 --> 00:08:12,908
has attacked the 6th
Massachusetts in Baltimore.
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00:08:14,811 --> 00:08:15,577
Some dead.
149
00:08:20,667 --> 00:08:22,959
And we don't know when troops
will make it to Washington.
150
00:08:25,321 --> 00:08:29,508
- So what do you
propose, Mr. President?
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00:08:31,086 --> 00:08:35,088
You find every rebel sympathizer
we can and you hold 'em,
152
00:08:35,182 --> 00:08:36,422
without charge if you have to.
153
00:08:36,517 --> 00:08:39,075
- Sir, that would be illegal.
154
00:08:39,168 --> 00:08:41,928
- We don't know who's
loyal, Mr. Bates.
155
00:08:42,022 --> 00:08:43,605
We have to keep control.
156
00:08:44,933 --> 00:08:47,100
This is no time to be timid.
157
00:08:47,252 --> 00:08:49,778
And where are the troops from
Rhode Island and New York?
158
00:08:51,423 --> 00:08:53,323
Now I reckon we should
have a full blockade.
159
00:08:55,035 --> 00:08:56,517
- What about Congress?
160
00:08:56,537 --> 00:08:59,687
- I'll call a special session
of Congress in due course.
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00:08:59,781 --> 00:09:00,997
But we have to act now.
162
00:09:03,877 --> 00:09:05,126
Is there another choice?
163
00:09:07,530 --> 00:09:10,715
A third of our country
is in rebellion
164
00:09:10,867 --> 00:09:13,051
because they don't like
the laws we all agreed on.
165
00:09:14,388 --> 00:09:16,888
If we let this stand
for one minute longer
166
00:09:17,115 --> 00:09:19,182
we might as well say
goodbye to the whole thing.
167
00:09:20,635 --> 00:09:22,978
Union, democracy,
168
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:25,230
all of it.
169
00:09:27,459 --> 00:09:30,310
- Lincoln is not
allowing the south
170
00:09:30,404 --> 00:09:34,964
to just go its merry old
way without challenging it,
171
00:09:35,058 --> 00:09:38,151
because the democracy
that America had created,
172
00:09:38,245 --> 00:09:39,869
was unique in the world.
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00:09:40,914 --> 00:09:42,229
- It's important to remember,
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00:09:42,324 --> 00:09:44,808
Lincoln's just one
generation removed
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00:09:44,826 --> 00:09:47,310
from Washington and
Adams and Jefferson.
176
00:09:47,403 --> 00:09:49,829
He feels his generation
has the responsibility
177
00:09:49,923 --> 00:09:52,315
to keep that experiment going.
178
00:09:52,334 --> 00:09:55,151
- Lincoln believed
deeply in the sanctity
179
00:09:55,244 --> 00:09:56,836
and the spirit of
what this country was
180
00:09:56,930 --> 00:09:58,221
and what it represented.
181
00:09:59,825 --> 00:10:03,602
And so the idea that states
would secede was infuriating
182
00:10:03,829 --> 00:10:05,753
because he was like,
well, we can't just
183
00:10:05,772 --> 00:10:08,665
let them hold out the
threat of secession
184
00:10:08,758 --> 00:10:10,609
anytime they don't
get what they want,
185
00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:12,685
'cause they'll just
do this forever.
186
00:10:12,838 --> 00:10:15,447
- So the war was a war
to preserve the union,
187
00:10:15,674 --> 00:10:16,856
first and foremost.
188
00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:19,600
They're going off to protect
this great experiment
189
00:10:19,694 --> 00:10:22,037
that was incredibly fragile.
190
00:10:24,273 --> 00:10:27,200
- So Lincoln assumed a
new presidential power,
191
00:10:27,294 --> 00:10:29,702
which he called the war power.
192
00:10:29,796 --> 00:10:32,538
- Lincoln declares the
suspension of habeas corpus
193
00:10:32,633 --> 00:10:34,949
in Maryland, in Pennsylvania.
194
00:10:34,968 --> 00:10:38,378
The military can now
arrest people at will
195
00:10:38,530 --> 00:10:41,865
and imprison them without the
necessity of a court hearing.
196
00:10:41,958 --> 00:10:44,200
- And he also
declares a blockade
197
00:10:44,219 --> 00:10:47,461
to prevent the south from
exporting things like cotton
198
00:10:47,555 --> 00:10:51,465
and importing all of the things
they need such as weaponry.
199
00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:53,726
The north has the advantage
in terms of population,
200
00:10:53,820 --> 00:10:56,562
in terms of industrial capacity.
201
00:10:56,715 --> 00:11:00,233
- But the south had an
almost invisible army
202
00:11:00,327 --> 00:11:03,403
and that was the army of slaves.
203
00:11:03,497 --> 00:11:05,905
These were the people who did
the drudge work of the army.
204
00:11:05,999 --> 00:11:09,726
These were the people who
performed all the camp duties.
205
00:11:09,744 --> 00:11:12,420
This would benefit the
Confederate army a great deal.
206
00:11:14,900 --> 00:11:18,492
- Now, wherever there was a
substantial Union army presence
207
00:11:18,586 --> 00:11:20,737
enslaved people were
pretty much doing
208
00:11:20,830 --> 00:11:23,014
what they had done even
before the Civil War,
209
00:11:23,166 --> 00:11:25,016
which was to seek freedom.
210
00:11:25,168 --> 00:11:27,519
And it creates a
logistical problem.
211
00:11:27,746 --> 00:11:29,771
What is the status
of these people?
212
00:11:31,583 --> 00:11:34,767
- In Virginia, enslaved
African-Americans
213
00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,845
began taking boats in
the dead of the night
214
00:11:37,864 --> 00:11:41,758
to the federal
installation at Fort Monroe
215
00:11:41,851 --> 00:11:43,609
commanded by General
Benjamin Butler,
216
00:11:43,762 --> 00:11:45,286
a New England politician.
217
00:11:49,376 --> 00:11:50,208
- These are the Negroes.
218
00:11:51,786 --> 00:11:53,378
They came across
Union lines, general.
219
00:11:55,031 --> 00:11:57,106
- These runaways are mine.
220
00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,509
My bosses that is, I'm
here to bring 'em back.
221
00:12:00,779 --> 00:12:01,945
- That true?
222
00:12:01,963 --> 00:12:02,971
Y'all runaways?
223
00:12:05,726 --> 00:12:08,393
- You have to hand
them over, its the law.
224
00:12:10,455 --> 00:12:12,397
- I'm aware of the law.
225
00:12:12,624 --> 00:12:15,900
- Sir, if me and these
boys is gonna dig holes,
226
00:12:16,903 --> 00:12:18,069
we'd rather dig 'em for Yankees.
227
00:12:22,576 --> 00:12:26,035
- Your employer hire these men
out to dig entrenchments?
228
00:12:27,138 --> 00:12:29,322
Were they secession?
229
00:12:29,474 --> 00:12:30,415
- He's got every right.
230
00:12:31,476 --> 00:12:32,417
There his property.
231
00:12:38,833 --> 00:12:40,984
- Consider them confiscated.
232
00:12:41,077 --> 00:12:44,153
If they're gonna contribute
to the war effort,
233
00:12:44,247 --> 00:12:45,722
it'll be on the
side of the Union.
234
00:12:47,342 --> 00:12:49,659
- You're gonna hear about this.
235
00:12:49,677 --> 00:12:51,436
Sir, what
do I do with them?
236
00:12:54,274 --> 00:12:55,064
- Put 'em to work.
237
00:12:57,426 --> 00:13:00,195
- Well, come on.
- Come on, boys, come on!
238
00:13:06,435 --> 00:13:08,011
- According to the
fugitive slave law,
239
00:13:08,029 --> 00:13:09,345
which is still on the books,
240
00:13:09,364 --> 00:13:12,031
we're supposed to
return these people.
241
00:13:12,183 --> 00:13:16,920
Butler said, I declare
you contraband of war.
242
00:13:18,298 --> 00:13:20,632
You're here in camp,
you may stay in camp.
243
00:13:20,783 --> 00:13:25,619
And Lincoln did nothing to
countermand the decision,
244
00:13:25,639 --> 00:13:28,289
which led to the
self emancipation
245
00:13:28,308 --> 00:13:30,975
of tens of thousands
of African-Americans.
246
00:13:32,646 --> 00:13:36,630
- Right to the start, enslaved
people view the union army,
247
00:13:36,724 --> 00:13:39,542
Lincoln, as their liberators
248
00:13:39,561 --> 00:13:41,727
before they viewed
themselves in that role.
249
00:13:41,822 --> 00:13:44,322
'Cause Lincoln is very nervous
at the start of the war
250
00:13:44,549 --> 00:13:47,492
to keep the border slave
states within the union.
251
00:13:47,719 --> 00:13:50,903
Maryland, Delaware,
Missouri, and Kentucky.
252
00:13:50,997 --> 00:13:53,906
He said, we can't afford
to lose the states.
253
00:13:54,059 --> 00:13:57,151
- He kind of stakes
the future of the Union
254
00:13:57,170 --> 00:14:00,063
on his ability to keep
those slave states.
255
00:14:00,081 --> 00:14:02,507
Because as long as those
border states are still there,
256
00:14:03,510 --> 00:14:05,677
this is not a war about slavery.
257
00:14:05,828 --> 00:14:07,011
Because there are
still slave states
258
00:14:07,163 --> 00:14:08,404
who are part of the union.
259
00:14:08,497 --> 00:14:10,423
But the people
who clearly see this
260
00:14:10,517 --> 00:14:12,016
as a war about slavery
261
00:14:12,243 --> 00:14:15,761
are abolitionists,
are African-Americans.
262
00:14:15,914 --> 00:14:19,173
- Frederick Douglass was a
few years ahead of everybody,
263
00:14:19,192 --> 00:14:21,025
including Lincoln.
264
00:14:21,177 --> 00:14:24,011
He had moved the family
to Rochester, New York
265
00:14:24,105 --> 00:14:26,272
to publish the North
Star newspaper,
266
00:14:26,366 --> 00:14:29,258
which became the leading
abolitionist voice.
267
00:14:29,352 --> 00:14:31,852
Douglass believed
that the Civil War
268
00:14:31,946 --> 00:14:33,997
was about ending slavery,
269
00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,459
ridding the country of
this horrific institution.
270
00:14:41,530 --> 00:14:42,672
- More eggs, please, mama.
271
00:14:46,277 --> 00:14:48,803
- Now that's it, I can't go
to the office this morning.
272
00:14:50,390 --> 00:14:51,890
- But the issue's coming
out tomorrow, love?
273
00:14:52,041 --> 00:14:52,965
- Yes, but before it does,
274
00:14:53,118 --> 00:14:54,809
I have to write a
response to that.
275
00:14:56,804 --> 00:14:57,729
- Lincoln's speech to Congress?
276
00:14:57,956 --> 00:14:58,563
- Mm-hmm.
277
00:15:01,050 --> 00:15:02,975
- He calls the war
a people's contest.
278
00:15:03,128 --> 00:15:04,903
- Keep reading, son.
279
00:15:05,130 --> 00:15:06,905
He doesn't mention
our people once.
280
00:15:08,466 --> 00:15:11,225
Lincoln's for the Union,
I'm for the Union too.
281
00:15:11,244 --> 00:15:13,302
But this war is about slavery
282
00:15:13,396 --> 00:15:14,987
and he's trying to
pretend it isn't.
283
00:15:15,081 --> 00:15:17,564
- But you supported him.
284
00:15:17,584 --> 00:15:19,900
- The man needs to be pushed.
285
00:15:19,994 --> 00:15:21,661
The whole country does.
286
00:15:21,755 --> 00:15:23,737
The only way he wins this war
287
00:15:23,831 --> 00:15:27,175
is by using the strength of our
people against those rebels.
288
00:15:28,836 --> 00:15:30,887
And I got three warriors
right here to help him do it.
289
00:15:36,603 --> 00:15:38,161
- Up in the north,
290
00:15:38,179 --> 00:15:41,755
in order to not lose support,
particularly from Democrats,
291
00:15:41,849 --> 00:15:43,274
it's important to frame the war
292
00:15:43,501 --> 00:15:47,170
as being essentially only
about saving the Union.
293
00:15:47,263 --> 00:15:49,263
- The most important
thing to recognize
294
00:15:49,282 --> 00:15:51,857
is it's not just the
north against the south.
295
00:15:52,010 --> 00:15:55,269
It's the north itself that is
divided by different factions.
296
00:15:55,363 --> 00:15:56,345
There are peace Democrats
297
00:15:56,439 --> 00:15:58,272
who want to stop
the war immediately.
298
00:15:58,366 --> 00:16:00,107
Those are the Copperheads.
299
00:16:00,126 --> 00:16:02,185
On the other hand, you
have war Democrats.
300
00:16:02,278 --> 00:16:04,187
The war Democrats
are willing to fight,
301
00:16:04,205 --> 00:16:07,873
but only to restore the
union, not for emancipation.
302
00:16:07,968 --> 00:16:10,710
- There are radical
Republicans, someone like Seward
303
00:16:10,862 --> 00:16:13,787
who believed in
emancipation from the get-go
304
00:16:13,807 --> 00:16:15,789
thought that the war
should be about that.
305
00:16:15,809 --> 00:16:18,034
And then you have more
moderate Republicans
306
00:16:18,127 --> 00:16:21,053
who simply want to
preserve the Union.
307
00:16:21,147 --> 00:16:22,480
- And so all of those
different interests
308
00:16:22,631 --> 00:16:27,710
are trying to push Lincoln
in their particular thing.
309
00:16:28,304 --> 00:16:31,397
But let's not forget, he's
a very shrewd politician.
310
00:16:31,491 --> 00:16:34,900
- And so even though Lincoln
thought slavery was wrong,
311
00:16:35,053 --> 00:16:37,887
he wasn't even thinking
about the idea that
312
00:16:37,980 --> 00:16:40,223
freeing black people
would be necessary
313
00:16:40,316 --> 00:16:42,125
in the project of
preserving the Union.
314
00:16:44,820 --> 00:16:46,653
- The loss of Fort
Sumter was in April.
315
00:16:46,673 --> 00:16:48,840
Now we find ourselves in June.
316
00:16:49,067 --> 00:16:51,584
There is a growing public
belief in the north
317
00:16:51,736 --> 00:16:54,737
that we need to do
something, we need to act.
318
00:16:54,756 --> 00:16:57,907
- And so by June, the
largest field army
319
00:16:57,925 --> 00:17:01,019
the United States has ever
seen with about 35,000 men
320
00:17:01,246 --> 00:17:03,337
under the command
of Irvin McDowell
321
00:17:03,431 --> 00:17:05,431
is stationed in Washington.
322
00:17:05,525 --> 00:17:09,252
- So Lincoln meets with McDowell
and general Winfield Scott,
323
00:17:09,270 --> 00:17:11,587
the Commanding General
of the Union army.
324
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,423
He had been a hero
in the Mexican War,
325
00:17:14,442 --> 00:17:17,035
but Scott was over
70 and he was ill.
326
00:17:18,763 --> 00:17:21,539
- Now, Lincoln's not
trained in military science.
327
00:17:21,690 --> 00:17:24,691
He will check out books from
the Library of Congress,
328
00:17:24,786 --> 00:17:26,210
but he's really
trying to figure out
329
00:17:26,437 --> 00:17:28,880
what it means to be
Commander in Chief.
330
00:17:29,107 --> 00:17:31,865
- He had to learn how to
be a Commander in Chief,
331
00:17:31,885 --> 00:17:34,110
just like he had to
learn to be a president.
332
00:17:34,203 --> 00:17:36,054
And he had to
develop experience,
333
00:17:36,281 --> 00:17:38,205
'cause the president has
to make some decisions
334
00:17:38,299 --> 00:17:40,224
to fight the war,
335
00:17:40,451 --> 00:17:42,351
as opposed to the general
fighting the battle.
336
00:17:50,311 --> 00:17:52,403
- Richmond is the
key, Mr. President.
337
00:17:54,908 --> 00:17:56,908
Isn't that right, General Scott?
338
00:17:59,137 --> 00:17:59,869
- Indeed.
339
00:18:02,064 --> 00:18:03,539
They've claimed it
as their capitol.
340
00:18:05,251 --> 00:18:11,005
We take it, they're so called
Confederacy, will fall.
341
00:18:12,258 --> 00:18:13,382
- I see the merit.
342
00:18:15,336 --> 00:18:16,511
Can you move now?
343
00:18:17,931 --> 00:18:20,080
- Let's not be too eager, sir.
344
00:18:20,174 --> 00:18:21,390
- But I am eager.
345
00:18:22,918 --> 00:18:25,937
Our enlistment period
is almost over.
346
00:18:26,164 --> 00:18:28,272
We have got to end this
thing before it begins.
347
00:18:28,499 --> 00:18:30,833
- The troops who are young
and barely in uniform.
348
00:18:30,852 --> 00:18:32,527
We need time to train them.
349
00:18:34,005 --> 00:18:35,947
- Well, if we are green
then so are the rebels.
350
00:18:43,181 --> 00:18:44,914
We'll move on Richmond.
351
00:18:48,686 --> 00:18:49,293
Immediately.
352
00:18:57,620 --> 00:19:00,972
- To everything,
there's a season,
353
00:19:02,367 --> 00:19:05,977
a time to love and
a time to hate.
354
00:19:07,463 --> 00:19:10,648
A time of war and a time
355
00:19:13,544 --> 00:19:14,443
of peace.
356
00:19:17,565 --> 00:19:21,659
- In July, 1861, only a few
months after Fort Sumter,
357
00:19:21,886 --> 00:19:26,813
Union forces under
McDowell marched south
358
00:19:26,833 --> 00:19:30,984
into Northern Virginia for the
first encounter of the war,
359
00:19:31,078 --> 00:19:33,487
very close to Washington.
360
00:19:33,506 --> 00:19:36,415
It happens around
the town of Manassas.
361
00:19:36,567 --> 00:19:39,177
The battle is alternatively
called Bull Run
362
00:19:39,404 --> 00:19:41,345
because that was a creek
on the battlefield.
363
00:19:43,257 --> 00:19:44,498
- Lincoln's expectation
364
00:19:44,517 --> 00:19:46,258
going into the first
battle of Bull Run is that
365
00:19:46,352 --> 00:19:49,412
the war will be settled
in this one battle.
366
00:19:49,505 --> 00:19:50,596
The south will win
its independence
367
00:19:50,748 --> 00:19:52,765
or the north will put
down the rebellion.
368
00:19:52,859 --> 00:19:55,318
Both armies are green,
not a lot of experience.
369
00:19:57,088 --> 00:19:58,679
When Abraham Lincoln calls
for 75,000 volunteers
370
00:19:58,773 --> 00:20:00,013
to put down the rebellion,
371
00:20:00,033 --> 00:20:02,349
they are limited to a
three month enlistment.
372
00:20:02,443 --> 00:20:05,761
The militia act of 1795, by
which he calls them forward,
373
00:20:05,854 --> 00:20:07,763
says it's only three months.
374
00:20:07,782 --> 00:20:10,524
- That's the way
we've always done it.
375
00:20:10,543 --> 00:20:12,526
You know, the crisis comes along
376
00:20:12,545 --> 00:20:14,045
and we call in all the farmers
377
00:20:14,196 --> 00:20:16,029
to get your musket
over the fireplace.
378
00:20:16,049 --> 00:20:18,441
And when the war's over,
379
00:20:18,459 --> 00:20:20,218
we send 'em home to
be farmers again.
380
00:20:21,370 --> 00:20:22,611
Lincoln recognizes
381
00:20:22,705 --> 00:20:24,555
that his men are
not well-trained,
382
00:20:24,707 --> 00:20:26,891
but politically it would
have been an abject sin
383
00:20:27,042 --> 00:20:28,893
to send all those
soldiers back home
384
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,620
if they hadn't been
used in the first place.
385
00:20:31,639 --> 00:20:33,380
- The reality is
the overwhelming
386
00:20:33,474 --> 00:20:34,715
sentiment on both sides
387
00:20:34,734 --> 00:20:37,293
was let's get an army out
there and get it done.
388
00:20:37,386 --> 00:20:38,569
And so Lincoln and other leaders
389
00:20:38,721 --> 00:20:41,630
were pressuring the Union
army under Irvin McDowell
390
00:20:41,724 --> 00:20:43,407
to get up there and let's fight.
391
00:20:45,060 --> 00:20:47,411
- Even though it seems
so foreign to us,
392
00:20:47,638 --> 00:20:49,247
there was a great
deal of excitement.
393
00:20:49,474 --> 00:20:52,250
There was a great deal
of war enthusiasm.
394
00:20:52,477 --> 00:20:54,810
Keep in mind, the
technology of the time.
395
00:20:54,903 --> 00:20:57,496
We had no way to
see a battlefield.
396
00:20:57,648 --> 00:21:00,816
People had seen
paintings and sketches.
397
00:21:00,835 --> 00:21:03,928
And the notion was that
these men are in formations
398
00:21:04,079 --> 00:21:07,656
and firing at each other, but
it must be relatively safe.
399
00:21:07,675 --> 00:21:11,327
- There are people who
literally showing up there
400
00:21:11,345 --> 00:21:13,512
with picnic baskets
on their wagons
401
00:21:13,606 --> 00:21:16,941
to look at the armies
fight down on the hill.
402
00:21:17,092 --> 00:21:18,442
- Congressmen and senators
403
00:21:18,669 --> 00:21:21,094
and the social
elite of Washington
404
00:21:21,114 --> 00:21:23,597
had come out to view the battle.
405
00:21:23,691 --> 00:21:27,510
This is a major spectacle,
this is major entertainment.
406
00:21:27,528 --> 00:21:29,120
And
people really thought
407
00:21:29,271 --> 00:21:32,623
this would be their only
chance to see one battle.
408
00:21:33,776 --> 00:21:36,035
The Union army cross creek.
409
00:21:38,689 --> 00:21:39,872
They wage an attack
410
00:21:39,966 --> 00:21:43,259
against this very formidable
force of Confederates.
411
00:21:47,532 --> 00:21:50,123
Even during
these difficult times,
412
00:21:50,217 --> 00:21:52,977
these trying times of war,
413
00:21:53,128 --> 00:21:57,815
we must remain strong and
keep our faith in Him.
414
00:22:02,229 --> 00:22:04,488
- Sir, news from the field.
415
00:22:13,908 --> 00:22:15,891
What does it say?
416
00:22:15,910 --> 00:22:19,170
Lincoln is waiting
to hear how it's going.
417
00:22:19,397 --> 00:22:20,821
Seems like good news.
418
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,507
- And it starts as a union
advantage early in the morning.
419
00:22:25,570 --> 00:22:28,012
After church, Lincoln
spends the rest of the day
420
00:22:28,163 --> 00:22:29,847
in the telegraph office.
421
00:22:30,074 --> 00:22:32,350
This will be his
source of information.
422
00:22:33,578 --> 00:22:35,853
- The arrival of the telegraph,
423
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,357
what Lincoln used to
call lightning messages,
424
00:22:39,584 --> 00:22:43,527
changed the nature
of information.
425
00:22:43,679 --> 00:22:46,179
Suddenly what was
known in one place
426
00:22:46,199 --> 00:22:49,367
could be known in other
places almost instantaneously.
427
00:22:50,703 --> 00:22:52,094
- Before you'd get up,
428
00:22:52,187 --> 00:22:54,930
a dispatch would come in
every few weeks or something.
429
00:22:54,949 --> 00:22:58,209
And so you really had to
give almost complete autonomy
430
00:22:58,436 --> 00:23:00,269
to military leaders
in the field.
431
00:23:00,362 --> 00:23:02,880
Now he's connected by a wire.
432
00:23:04,942 --> 00:23:07,292
- The day began very
well for the Union.
433
00:23:07,387 --> 00:23:10,613
They routed Confederate
forces and pushed them back
434
00:23:10,706 --> 00:23:12,631
and not until the late afternoon
435
00:23:12,783 --> 00:23:16,227
did the Confederate
forces counter attack.
436
00:23:16,454 --> 00:23:18,804
- General McDowell has
a pretty good plan.
437
00:23:18,956 --> 00:23:21,790
The problem was he
had a very green army.
438
00:23:21,809 --> 00:23:23,401
And so on the battlefield,
439
00:23:23,628 --> 00:23:26,404
they had a difficult
time maneuvering.
440
00:23:26,631 --> 00:23:29,481
The south had many
of the same problems,
441
00:23:29,634 --> 00:23:32,985
but then the south was fortunate
because during the battle,
442
00:23:33,137 --> 00:23:35,821
the railroad allowed the south
to move reinforcements up,
443
00:23:35,915 --> 00:23:38,249
which reached the battlefield
at a critical moment.
444
00:23:40,235 --> 00:23:43,087
- Federal troops hear the
terrifying rebel yell.
445
00:23:44,331 --> 00:23:45,756
This high pitched yelping.
446
00:23:47,318 --> 00:23:50,502
Union troops described
it as otherworldly.
447
00:23:50,596 --> 00:23:52,763
It had enormous results,
let's put it that way.
448
00:23:54,175 --> 00:23:56,492
- The Confederates
start pushing back
449
00:23:56,510 --> 00:24:00,679
and the federals cross back
across the creek in a mad dash.
450
00:24:00,831 --> 00:24:02,606
They have been
completely routed.
451
00:24:05,761 --> 00:24:06,610
- Citizens of Washington
452
00:24:06,837 --> 00:24:08,595
who had gone down
in their carriages
453
00:24:08,689 --> 00:24:10,114
and set up picnic baskets
454
00:24:10,265 --> 00:24:12,524
on the bluffs overlooking
the battlefield,
455
00:24:12,677 --> 00:24:15,010
they were having a high
old time for lunch.
456
00:24:15,103 --> 00:24:16,512
And then when the battle turned,
457
00:24:16,605 --> 00:24:20,624
their picnic baskets were
upended, they fled in disarray.
458
00:24:20,851 --> 00:24:22,960
And the union troops
had to march back
459
00:24:23,111 --> 00:24:28,190
in this searing, July
heat, humiliated.
460
00:24:28,859 --> 00:24:31,952
- For Lincoln now the defeat
is not something that happens
461
00:24:31,971 --> 00:24:34,138
hundreds of miles away
that you read about,
462
00:24:34,365 --> 00:24:37,141
you see wounded soldiers,
defeated soldiers,
463
00:24:37,368 --> 00:24:39,310
soldiers who've thrown
away their arms,
464
00:24:39,537 --> 00:24:41,962
come streaming right
back into the Capitol.
465
00:24:41,981 --> 00:24:46,208
So the idea of a
disaster became tangible.
466
00:24:46,227 --> 00:24:48,110
You could see it,
you could smell it.
467
00:24:56,737 --> 00:24:57,953
- What does McDowell say?
468
00:25:02,576 --> 00:25:03,959
- That the day is lost.
469
00:25:18,409 --> 00:25:21,243
- It was probably his
first military error.
470
00:25:21,262 --> 00:25:24,355
And on that day,
Lincoln realized
471
00:25:24,582 --> 00:25:27,082
that this was not going
to be a brief war.
472
00:25:27,101 --> 00:25:28,192
It was gonna be a long war.
473
00:25:29,695 --> 00:25:33,680
- The uncertainty in
Washington is palpable.
474
00:25:33,699 --> 00:25:35,774
It's not clear that
the remaining defenses
475
00:25:35,868 --> 00:25:37,426
around Washington
476
00:25:37,444 --> 00:25:40,996
can handle a Confederate army
breaching the Capitol city.
477
00:25:42,691 --> 00:25:46,026
What if they do manage to
capture the White House?
478
00:25:48,363 --> 00:25:50,105
- McDowell's to blame.
479
00:25:50,124 --> 00:25:52,216
- I'm responsible,
I gave the orders.
480
00:25:52,443 --> 00:25:54,943
- What kind of soldier
runs from the field?
481
00:25:54,962 --> 00:25:56,053
- One who's barely trained.
482
00:26:00,375 --> 00:26:04,787
- Mr. President, I must
offer my resignation.
483
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,139
I should have insisted-
- No.
484
00:26:07,233 --> 00:26:07,898
This is my fault.
485
00:26:09,551 --> 00:26:11,643
You warned me and
I didn't listen.
486
00:26:11,796 --> 00:26:13,404
Now, how soon can we
reinforce the city?
487
00:26:13,555 --> 00:26:15,388
The rebels are bound to
move quickly now that-
488
00:26:16,892 --> 00:26:17,866
- I thought you
might need coffee.
489
00:26:23,991 --> 00:26:25,307
There are rumors circulating
490
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,084
of an attack here in Washington.
491
00:26:28,254 --> 00:26:29,253
Is that possible?
492
00:26:31,424 --> 00:26:35,500
- My dear, you must take
the children north at once.
493
00:26:35,653 --> 00:26:37,386
Washington is not safe for you.
494
00:26:39,599 --> 00:26:40,723
- Will you come with me?
495
00:26:43,844 --> 00:26:44,935
- You know I can't leave.
496
00:26:48,107 --> 00:26:50,182
- Then I won't either.
497
00:26:58,784 --> 00:27:01,285
- In the summer of 1861,
498
00:27:01,436 --> 00:27:03,787
after the Union loses
the Battle of Bull Run,
499
00:27:03,939 --> 00:27:06,290
the volunteers are
really depressed,
500
00:27:06,517 --> 00:27:08,125
their morale is low
501
00:27:08,276 --> 00:27:10,944
because they've lost the
first encounter of the war,
502
00:27:10,963 --> 00:27:13,021
which they were not
only expected to win,
503
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,633
but to end the rebellion
in a single day.
504
00:27:15,860 --> 00:27:17,635
- The Confederates
could have followed up
505
00:27:17,862 --> 00:27:20,471
and might have made their
way into Washington DC.
506
00:27:20,698 --> 00:27:21,880
They don't.
507
00:27:22,032 --> 00:27:25,142
- The problem is the
victorious Confederate army
508
00:27:25,369 --> 00:27:28,479
is just as shot up as
the defeated Union army.
509
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:31,315
- The only way you grow
510
00:27:31,542 --> 00:27:35,377
is by being able to acknowledge
the mistakes you've made.
511
00:27:35,470 --> 00:27:36,820
So Lincoln gets out
of the White House
512
00:27:36,972 --> 00:27:39,139
and he goes and
sees the soldiers.
513
00:27:39,158 --> 00:27:40,716
- He's trying to teach himself
514
00:27:40,734 --> 00:27:41,975
what he's gonna need to know
515
00:27:41,994 --> 00:27:45,070
as Commander in Chief of
the United States Army,
516
00:27:45,222 --> 00:27:46,830
quickly, on the fly.
517
00:27:48,167 --> 00:27:49,224
And after the
Battle of Bull Run,
518
00:27:49,317 --> 00:27:51,335
he talks to William
Tecumseh Sherman.
519
00:27:56,083 --> 00:27:58,917
- My men fought well enough.
520
00:27:59,069 --> 00:28:02,162
But we did not expect the
strength of the counter attack.
521
00:28:02,256 --> 00:28:04,573
There was a lot of bragging
before the fighting started,
522
00:28:04,666 --> 00:28:07,409
but what we need
now are cool-headed
523
00:28:07,502 --> 00:28:09,411
serious minded, hard
fighting soldiers.
524
00:28:09,504 --> 00:28:12,481
And we need them for
more than 90 days.
525
00:28:14,193 --> 00:28:16,527
Most of these boys, their
enlistment are up already.
526
00:28:18,013 --> 00:28:19,196
So if you don't mind, sir,
527
00:28:20,533 --> 00:28:22,866
I prefer you don't do
too much hoorahing.
528
00:28:24,203 --> 00:28:25,160
- Yes.
529
00:28:26,354 --> 00:28:28,664
- Boys, we've got
a special visitor.
530
00:28:29,542 --> 00:28:30,207
At ease.
531
00:28:32,211 --> 00:28:34,286
- Hi, hello, how are you, sir?
532
00:28:34,380 --> 00:28:35,787
Good to see you.
533
00:28:35,881 --> 00:28:37,381
Thank you, thank you.
534
00:28:43,538 --> 00:28:46,473
No, no, no, no, no,
don't cheer, boys.
535
00:28:47,876 --> 00:28:49,968
I like it myself, but
a Colonel Sherman here,
536
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:51,562
he tells me that
it's not military.
537
00:28:53,065 --> 00:28:56,066
So I'll just say this.
538
00:28:57,795 --> 00:28:59,862
We fought a tough battle
and we came in second,
539
00:29:00,906 --> 00:29:01,989
but brighter days are coming.
540
00:29:04,468 --> 00:29:09,079
If you need anything, please
just feel free to speak up.
541
00:29:09,749 --> 00:29:10,372
- Mr. President.
542
00:29:12,585 --> 00:29:14,752
Mr. President, can I
really ask you anything?
543
00:29:14,903 --> 00:29:15,586
- Yes, go ahead.
544
00:29:17,147 --> 00:29:19,815
- Well, my 90 days are
up and I gotta get home.
545
00:29:19,908 --> 00:29:22,242
I spoke to the Colonel
sir, but he said-
546
00:29:22,336 --> 00:29:23,260
- What did the colonel say?
547
00:29:24,505 --> 00:29:25,763
- Well, he said, he'd shoot me.
548
00:29:27,825 --> 00:29:28,515
- Shoot you?
549
00:29:29,769 --> 00:29:31,751
Well, if Colonel Sherman
threatened to shoot,
550
00:29:31,845 --> 00:29:33,678
I'd trust his word, cause I
believe he might just do it.
551
00:29:37,276 --> 00:29:40,110
No, if your 90 days are up
of course you're free to go.
552
00:29:40,262 --> 00:29:42,613
But just know this,
this isn't over.
553
00:29:43,949 --> 00:29:46,116
Your country still needs
you, and I need you.
554
00:29:50,438 --> 00:29:51,863
I hope you boys all re-enlist.
555
00:29:51,957 --> 00:29:52,873
Yeah!
556
00:29:54,184 --> 00:29:56,701
- 'Cause I need every
single one of you,
557
00:29:56,796 --> 00:29:58,537
every single one of you.
558
00:30:09,642 --> 00:30:14,386
- The soldiers felt a bond
with this man, Lincoln.
559
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,297
When he came on reviews,
he's not distant from them,
560
00:30:17,316 --> 00:30:20,392
he's not some
monarch on a throne.
561
00:30:20,544 --> 00:30:22,377
Now, he is common,
Abraham Lincoln,
562
00:30:22,470 --> 00:30:25,280
and he comes from places
that they have come from.
563
00:30:26,325 --> 00:30:27,991
This surprised soldiers.
564
00:30:29,144 --> 00:30:30,828
And they loved him for it.
565
00:30:34,482 --> 00:30:36,408
- At the beginning of the war,
566
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,895
you have the professional
United States Army.
567
00:30:39,913 --> 00:30:43,231
Many of the men had
all gone to West Point.
568
00:30:43,250 --> 00:30:46,751
But the army that Lincoln
creates is a volunteer army.
569
00:30:46,846 --> 00:30:51,590
Individual companies tended to
come from towns or counties.
570
00:30:51,684 --> 00:30:55,853
- There was such an
incredible war spirit
571
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,763
that really people
of all grades of life
572
00:30:58,916 --> 00:31:01,341
were volunteering
for the military.
573
00:31:01,435 --> 00:31:05,253
Lawyers, teachers, politicians.
574
00:31:05,272 --> 00:31:08,681
- Even Lincoln's
friend, Edward Baker,
575
00:31:08,775 --> 00:31:11,851
who's a sitting
Senator, volunteers.
576
00:31:11,945 --> 00:31:14,279
And Baker like a lot of people,
577
00:31:14,373 --> 00:31:16,874
wanted to uphold the principles
of what America meant.
578
00:31:18,544 --> 00:31:21,603
- And after the debacle
at First Bull Run,
579
00:31:21,622 --> 00:31:25,440
Lincoln will call
for 500,000 troops.
580
00:31:25,459 --> 00:31:29,386
So we've gone from a pre-war
time army of 15,000 men
581
00:31:29,537 --> 00:31:32,705
to a call for 500,000 men.
582
00:31:32,725 --> 00:31:35,058
- When Lincoln first
goes to visit the troops
583
00:31:35,285 --> 00:31:36,727
through talking to
them he realizes
584
00:31:36,954 --> 00:31:39,121
they're going to need
better leadership.
585
00:31:39,139 --> 00:31:45,143
- So in 1861, George B.
McClellan is a 34 year old,
586
00:31:45,295 --> 00:31:48,630
very successful
railroad manager.
587
00:31:48,723 --> 00:31:50,649
He had gone to West Point.
588
00:31:50,743 --> 00:31:54,469
He had a distinguished career
in the Mexican American War.
589
00:31:54,562 --> 00:31:57,414
- Lincoln wanted an
aggressive general
590
00:31:57,641 --> 00:32:00,709
and George B. McClellan
is phenomenal on paper.
591
00:32:06,316 --> 00:32:08,166
- The last time we met,
592
00:32:08,260 --> 00:32:10,986
you were stomping for our
late friend, Stephen Douglas.
593
00:32:11,079 --> 00:32:12,930
- I am a Democrat, after all.
594
00:32:14,658 --> 00:32:16,224
- What had reached
my ears was a,
595
00:32:17,678 --> 00:32:20,437
a certain railroad
executive chose to
596
00:32:22,424 --> 00:32:25,000
reroute a train full of citizens
597
00:32:25,018 --> 00:32:26,902
bent on casting
their votes for me.
598
00:32:31,784 --> 00:32:33,742
That's all in the past,
General McClellan.
599
00:32:36,771 --> 00:32:38,956
What I need now is someone
600
00:32:39,107 --> 00:32:41,625
to grab the army of the
Potomac by the shoulders
601
00:32:41,852 --> 00:32:42,960
and give it a shake.
602
00:32:45,947 --> 00:32:48,090
- Mr. President,
if you'll let me,
603
00:32:50,694 --> 00:32:54,596
I'm going to take those boys
and make them into soldiers.
604
00:32:56,475 --> 00:32:58,809
They will have the best
uniforms, the best rifles,
605
00:32:59,036 --> 00:33:01,478
the best artillery, and
when they have the best
606
00:33:03,315 --> 00:33:05,724
they will become
the most magnificent
607
00:33:05,818 --> 00:33:08,893
and the largest army
the world has ever seen.
608
00:33:09,046 --> 00:33:10,228
And then I'm going to march
609
00:33:10,380 --> 00:33:12,656
this magnificent
army into Virginia
610
00:33:12,807 --> 00:33:14,640
and those so-called
rebels will know
611
00:33:14,735 --> 00:33:16,159
what power has struck them.
612
00:33:22,835 --> 00:33:25,727
- Lincoln is no soldier.
613
00:33:25,746 --> 00:33:29,155
He was elected captain
in the Blackhawk War,
614
00:33:29,249 --> 00:33:31,657
but he hasn't seen real action.
615
00:33:31,752 --> 00:33:33,493
And he's very cognizant of that
616
00:33:33,512 --> 00:33:36,179
as he's suddenly the
president during a Civil War.
617
00:33:37,850 --> 00:33:40,575
- By late October, Winfield
Scott decides to retire.
618
00:33:40,594 --> 00:33:43,094
And so Lincoln will
tap McClellan as the
619
00:33:43,188 --> 00:33:45,430
general and chief.
620
00:33:45,582 --> 00:33:46,765
Lincoln says to him,
621
00:33:46,859 --> 00:33:49,675
you are in charge of all
the United States forces,
622
00:33:49,770 --> 00:33:51,086
including those out west.
623
00:33:51,179 --> 00:33:53,755
You need to come up with
the strategic plan for that,
624
00:33:53,848 --> 00:33:55,257
but you are also in charge
625
00:33:55,275 --> 00:33:57,868
of the principal
field army in the east
626
00:33:58,095 --> 00:34:01,112
and McClellan and his
ever confident way says,
627
00:34:01,206 --> 00:34:02,539
I can do it all.
628
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,048
- By the fall, the war
is all around Washington.
629
00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:14,459
There was a huge
infusion of soldiers
630
00:34:14,553 --> 00:34:16,887
camping in its public spaces,
631
00:34:17,114 --> 00:34:19,890
ringing the city to protect
it from Confederate attack.
632
00:34:21,285 --> 00:34:23,468
And the war comes home
to the White House
633
00:34:23,620 --> 00:34:25,878
in a deeply personal way.
634
00:34:25,972 --> 00:34:28,290
- Six months into the war
635
00:34:28,383 --> 00:34:30,792
at the Battle of Ball's Bluff,
636
00:34:30,811 --> 00:34:33,795
Lincoln's good friend,
Edward Baker dies,
637
00:34:33,814 --> 00:34:36,481
which is crushing
to Abraham Lincoln.
638
00:34:36,575 --> 00:34:42,153
- Lincoln's second son was
named Edward Baker Lincoln.
639
00:34:42,247 --> 00:34:43,580
They were that close.
640
00:34:45,142 --> 00:34:46,641
- Lincoln and Baker
had known each other
641
00:34:46,660 --> 00:34:49,068
since those days in the
back room in Speed's store,
642
00:34:49,162 --> 00:34:50,420
a quarter of a century earlier.
643
00:34:52,499 --> 00:34:55,317
It was said by a reporter that
his chest heaved with emotion
644
00:34:55,410 --> 00:34:57,168
when he got the
telegram in the office
645
00:34:57,321 --> 00:34:59,763
and that he just stumbled
out onto the street
646
00:34:59,914 --> 00:35:02,824
with tears streaming
down his face.
647
00:35:02,843 --> 00:35:05,268
- The death of someone
so close to you,
648
00:35:05,420 --> 00:35:07,829
that responds to your call
649
00:35:07,922 --> 00:35:10,498
by offering their
life and their service
650
00:35:10,592 --> 00:35:13,017
has to leave an
indelible mark on you.
651
00:35:13,112 --> 00:35:15,112
And you wonder, does
Lincoln blame himself?
652
00:35:20,619 --> 00:35:23,695
The day before Edward
Baker would lose his life,
653
00:35:23,789 --> 00:35:25,914
He came to the White
House to see Lincoln,
654
00:35:27,351 --> 00:35:29,275
and it was a
beautiful autumn day
655
00:35:29,369 --> 00:35:31,086
and Willie was
playing in the leaves.
656
00:35:32,689 --> 00:35:34,022
-Thank you.
657
00:35:34,115 --> 00:35:36,708
And as Edward Baker
got up to leave,
658
00:35:36,860 --> 00:35:40,137
he put his arms around
him and kissed Willie.
659
00:35:41,214 --> 00:35:42,264
Willie loved him.
660
00:35:54,211 --> 00:35:57,061
- Willie spent a whole
day working on a poem.
661
00:35:57,156 --> 00:35:58,113
About Edward.
662
00:36:01,309 --> 00:36:01,825
- Is that so?
663
00:36:05,906 --> 00:36:07,497
I would dearly love to hear it.
664
00:36:09,226 --> 00:36:11,001
It might do us all
a world of good.
665
00:36:12,913 --> 00:36:14,004
Would you read it for us?
666
00:36:25,333 --> 00:36:27,851
- There was no
patriot like Baker.
667
00:36:29,188 --> 00:36:31,855
So noble and so true.
668
00:36:33,341 --> 00:36:36,526
He fell as a soldier
on the field,
669
00:36:38,346 --> 00:36:41,489
his face to the sky, blue.
670
00:36:49,933 --> 00:36:50,707
- Come here.
671
00:37:19,071 --> 00:37:22,530
- Well, it's been 20 minutes.
672
00:37:34,661 --> 00:37:36,086
- He works for you, doesn't he?
673
00:37:37,572 --> 00:37:39,381
- Sitting here all day
is of no concern to me.
674
00:37:40,817 --> 00:37:42,425
I'd hold McClellan's
horse to get a victory.
675
00:37:48,934 --> 00:37:51,993
- Apologies, I am quite busy.
676
00:37:52,012 --> 00:37:53,937
Rebuilding several new roads
677
00:37:54,088 --> 00:37:57,065
and we have over 50,000
men to equip and to train.
678
00:37:58,426 --> 00:37:59,109
It's endless.
679
00:38:00,928 --> 00:38:02,687
- How are the new
boys shaping up?
680
00:38:02,781 --> 00:38:03,780
- Splendidly.
681
00:38:04,766 --> 00:38:06,950
- Hmm, I'm glad to hear that.
682
00:38:07,177 --> 00:38:09,861
You know, General, I
only served a few months.
683
00:38:10,013 --> 00:38:11,179
Never saw any fighting,
684
00:38:11,197 --> 00:38:12,289
but I did have a good
many bloody struggles
685
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,875
with those mosquitoes
though, ha!
686
00:38:20,966 --> 00:38:24,042
- I'm sure you're not here
to talk about mosquitoes.
687
00:38:24,136 --> 00:38:25,860
What can I do for you?
688
00:38:25,953 --> 00:38:30,623
- Well, it's about
that army of yours.
689
00:38:30,717 --> 00:38:33,435
Came by to find out when you
were intending to use it again.
690
00:38:38,317 --> 00:38:39,649
- When it's ready.
691
00:38:41,153 --> 00:38:44,988
As you know, I'm planning
a major offensive,
692
00:38:45,139 --> 00:38:47,215
and these things
take time to prepare
693
00:38:47,308 --> 00:38:48,825
if you know how to
do them properly.
694
00:38:50,053 --> 00:38:50,660
And I do.
695
00:38:54,908 --> 00:38:56,624
Respectfully, Mr. President,
696
00:38:58,319 --> 00:39:00,628
why don't you leave military
matters to military men?
697
00:39:07,179 --> 00:39:08,136
- Very well, General.
698
00:39:16,671 --> 00:39:18,355
I have complete
confidence in you.
699
00:39:19,933 --> 00:39:21,691
Look forward to a
successful campaign.
700
00:39:29,701 --> 00:39:32,685
- At first, McClellan
does a stellar job.
701
00:39:32,704 --> 00:39:36,931
He was great when it
came to organization.
702
00:39:37,024 --> 00:39:40,025
He had the army of
the Potomac drilled,
703
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:41,711
their camps were clean,
704
00:39:41,863 --> 00:39:45,215
and McClellan's men are
very dedicated to him.
705
00:39:45,442 --> 00:39:47,942
There's lots of support
from the northern press
706
00:39:47,961 --> 00:39:51,203
and all of this adulation
goes to his head.
707
00:39:51,223 --> 00:39:53,798
- Lincoln turned to McClellan
708
00:39:53,892 --> 00:39:56,968
because Lincoln is a man who
can look at somebody and say,
709
00:39:57,062 --> 00:39:58,544
you know things I don't,
710
00:39:58,563 --> 00:40:00,713
and I'm willing to
lean on your expertise.
711
00:40:00,732 --> 00:40:04,383
But McClellan sees
Lincoln as this frontier,
712
00:40:04,403 --> 00:40:07,904
backwater, uneducated ruffian.
713
00:40:08,055 --> 00:40:09,572
- He would write
letters to his wife
714
00:40:09,724 --> 00:40:12,800
and describe how he was
selected to be the savior.
715
00:40:12,894 --> 00:40:14,652
And he would describe
President Lincoln
716
00:40:14,746 --> 00:40:17,472
as the baboon or the gorilla.
717
00:40:17,565 --> 00:40:19,474
And he would pretty
openly tell people
718
00:40:19,567 --> 00:40:21,734
that this guy
doesn't understand.
719
00:40:21,828 --> 00:40:24,212
He needs to get out of my
way and let me handle this.
720
00:40:26,908 --> 00:40:29,317
- The Confederates are
still about 30 miles away
721
00:40:29,335 --> 00:40:31,719
from Washington DC
in the Fall of 61.
722
00:40:33,490 --> 00:40:35,673
McClellan has decided that he's
gonna wait until the Spring
723
00:40:35,767 --> 00:40:36,599
to launch a campaign,
724
00:40:38,328 --> 00:40:39,769
but he doesn't bother
telling Lincoln this.
725
00:40:42,089 --> 00:40:43,940
At this point,
there is a committee
726
00:40:44,167 --> 00:40:46,592
called the Joint Committee
on the Conduct of War,
727
00:40:46,611 --> 00:40:49,446
and it is filled with
radical Republicans.
728
00:40:49,597 --> 00:40:51,839
Men who want to move fast,
729
00:40:51,858 --> 00:40:54,784
who are certainly
pushing for emancipation,
730
00:40:55,011 --> 00:40:57,195
and they're becoming
increasingly frustrated
731
00:40:57,347 --> 00:40:58,621
with McClellan as well.
732
00:40:58,773 --> 00:41:01,291
- Lincoln is again, navigating
those difficult waters.
733
00:41:01,442 --> 00:41:03,868
He knows he sent a very
green army to Manassas
734
00:41:04,020 --> 00:41:05,277
and they were defeated.
735
00:41:05,371 --> 00:41:07,780
McClellan's asking for more
time to train his army.
736
00:41:07,799 --> 00:41:10,950
And Lincoln says, okay,
I will protect you
737
00:41:11,044 --> 00:41:12,469
from the political pressures
738
00:41:12,696 --> 00:41:15,029
of people saying that you
should get into action.
739
00:41:15,122 --> 00:41:17,140
However, at the same
time he recognizes
740
00:41:17,367 --> 00:41:20,551
the political pressure
to act can't be ignored.
741
00:41:20,645 --> 00:41:23,538
- I mean, the strain is clear.
742
00:41:23,631 --> 00:41:26,483
He was feeling pressure
from many sides.
743
00:41:27,894 --> 00:41:29,377
At the same time,
744
00:41:29,470 --> 00:41:31,988
the Confederates were
actively pursuing
745
00:41:32,215 --> 00:41:34,491
formal recognition on
the international stage.
746
00:41:34,642 --> 00:41:37,051
And in 1861, they're
in the process
747
00:41:37,070 --> 00:41:42,056
of sending their emissaries
to England and to France.
748
00:41:42,075 --> 00:41:45,560
And they are on the
British ship, Trent,
749
00:41:45,653 --> 00:41:48,746
which is stopped by
a US naval vessel.
750
00:41:48,898 --> 00:41:51,657
They're taken off of
that ship and detained.
751
00:41:51,751 --> 00:41:52,992
- You have to keep in mind
752
00:41:53,011 --> 00:41:56,346
that the British
Navy was supreme.
753
00:41:56,497 --> 00:41:59,090
And part of the tradition
and maritime law says,
754
00:41:59,184 --> 00:42:01,259
if you board a ship illegally,
755
00:42:01,411 --> 00:42:05,004
you are invading the
country who owns the ship
756
00:42:05,098 --> 00:42:07,857
and the British demanded
they be released
757
00:42:08,084 --> 00:42:10,276
or else this is an
act of war, they said.
758
00:42:12,364 --> 00:42:15,281
- Lincoln is in a classic
dilemma situation.
759
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,184
Republican northerners
who had voted for him
760
00:42:19,279 --> 00:42:23,431
want trial for
treason for these men.
761
00:42:23,524 --> 00:42:27,377
But he also had to keep
England on the sideline.
762
00:42:28,863 --> 00:42:30,772
So he's ultimately gotta
release these diplomats
763
00:42:30,865 --> 00:42:32,549
and let them go
about their business.
764
00:42:34,627 --> 00:42:36,035
- However, President Lincoln
765
00:42:36,054 --> 00:42:39,538
had to build up public
support to do that.
766
00:42:39,558 --> 00:42:42,725
Because the public
perception is everything.
767
00:42:42,952 --> 00:42:46,378
For a president, your
ability to maintain morale
768
00:42:46,472 --> 00:42:48,472
becomes the essential thing.
769
00:42:48,567 --> 00:42:50,382
If you can't do that,
770
00:42:50,402 --> 00:42:53,052
whatever you're doing with
the army becomes irrelevant.
771
00:42:53,071 --> 00:42:55,296
- And so the courting
of newspapers really
772
00:42:55,315 --> 00:42:57,056
helped his cause.
773
00:42:57,150 --> 00:42:58,482
And I should make the point,
774
00:42:58,635 --> 00:43:02,470
newspapers were not just
independent journals of the day.
775
00:43:02,488 --> 00:43:05,248
They were part of the
political machine.
776
00:43:06,751 --> 00:43:09,493
John Wayne Forney was
a Washington editor,
777
00:43:09,588 --> 00:43:11,495
very influential politically,
778
00:43:11,648 --> 00:43:16,000
and Forney became a frequent
visitor to the White House.
779
00:43:16,094 --> 00:43:18,052
- John, we're in a tight spot.
780
00:43:19,839 --> 00:43:21,097
So was the Queen of England.
781
00:43:23,343 --> 00:43:24,750
Both of us are
clamoring for a fight
782
00:43:24,844 --> 00:43:26,269
that neither of us wants.
783
00:43:26,496 --> 00:43:27,845
- British wouldn't dare
go to war over this.
784
00:43:27,939 --> 00:43:28,771
- You might think so.
785
00:43:31,425 --> 00:43:33,425
You know it
reminds me, there was a,
786
00:43:33,445 --> 00:43:35,028
there was a bulldog back home.
787
00:43:36,114 --> 00:43:37,905
He used to growl all the time.
788
00:43:39,525 --> 00:43:41,525
My neighbors were convinced
that there was nothing to fear.
789
00:43:41,620 --> 00:43:42,535
And so was I.
790
00:43:44,013 --> 00:43:46,197
And this fellow got me to
think twice, he tells me,
791
00:43:46,291 --> 00:43:47,123
I know that bulldog won't bite
792
00:43:47,274 --> 00:43:49,350
and you know that bulldog bite,
793
00:43:49,369 --> 00:43:51,461
but does the bulldog
know it won't bite?
794
00:43:51,612 --> 00:43:52,378
- I'm listening.
795
00:43:56,450 --> 00:44:01,379
- Tomorrow I want you to
write an article about how,
796
00:44:01,881 --> 00:44:03,473
how it would be good
for the country to,
797
00:44:04,868 --> 00:44:06,809
to give those two
rebels over to England.
798
00:44:08,462 --> 00:44:10,438
- My readers would rather
see those two hanged.
799
00:44:12,133 --> 00:44:13,775
- I trust you to
change their minds.
800
00:44:15,044 --> 00:44:16,444
I can't have a
war on two fronts.
801
00:44:18,064 --> 00:44:20,156
I know, I know, it's,
it's a lot to ask.
802
00:44:21,493 --> 00:44:24,285
But as a friend, I'm asking you.
803
00:44:33,154 --> 00:44:34,395
By the
end of December,
804
00:44:34,414 --> 00:44:36,580
editorials written by
people like John Forney
805
00:44:36,675 --> 00:44:38,916
reflected the opinion that
the Confederate diplomats
806
00:44:39,010 --> 00:44:40,492
should be released
807
00:44:40,512 --> 00:44:42,586
and started to mollify
the public reaction,
808
00:44:42,739 --> 00:44:43,346
should that happen.
809
00:44:45,517 --> 00:44:46,590
- One of Lincoln's great talents
810
00:44:46,685 --> 00:44:49,076
is to keep focus in
the midst of crisis.
811
00:44:49,095 --> 00:44:51,762
This focus is what members
of his cabinet like Seward
812
00:44:51,915 --> 00:44:53,106
came to really respect.
813
00:44:55,193 --> 00:44:58,861
- In early 1861, 1862 Winter,
814
00:44:59,088 --> 00:45:01,605
very little is happening
in terms of fighting,
815
00:45:01,758 --> 00:45:03,015
particularly in Virginia,
816
00:45:03,034 --> 00:45:06,369
where McClellan is continually
training the troops.
817
00:45:06,596 --> 00:45:08,262
- All these soldiers
are gathering together.
818
00:45:08,355 --> 00:45:10,522
This costs money,
this takes time,
819
00:45:10,616 --> 00:45:13,100
there's no action taking place.
820
00:45:13,194 --> 00:45:15,211
- At this point,
Lincoln is feeling like
821
00:45:15,438 --> 00:45:18,047
the war isn't being
pressed hard enough.
822
00:45:18,274 --> 00:45:20,791
And so he's going to
take more direct control.
823
00:45:20,944 --> 00:45:24,462
- Lincoln has to manage the
war sittin' there day-to-day
824
00:45:24,556 --> 00:45:28,799
trying to plot where supply
is going and who's doing what,
825
00:45:28,893 --> 00:45:30,226
what maneuvers are being run.
826
00:45:30,377 --> 00:45:32,803
These days a modern president
would be frowned upon
827
00:45:32,897 --> 00:45:35,139
to be micromanaging like that.
828
00:45:35,233 --> 00:45:37,233
It's bad management practice,
829
00:45:38,236 --> 00:45:40,236
but he didn't have an option.
830
00:45:40,387 --> 00:45:41,070
Eventually
Lincoln gives
831
00:45:41,297 --> 00:45:43,631
one of his first general orders.
832
00:45:43,724 --> 00:45:45,466
- The famous General
Orders Number 1,
833
00:45:45,559 --> 00:45:48,244
which requires all
of his commanders to
834
00:45:48,471 --> 00:45:49,579
go on the offensive
835
00:45:49,730 --> 00:45:52,323
and to attack actually
by Washington's birthday,
836
00:45:52,417 --> 00:45:53,666
on February the 22nd.
837
00:45:55,253 --> 00:45:58,145
McClellan just ignores this,
makes no movement whatsoever.
838
00:45:58,164 --> 00:46:00,239
And the only one
actually to move
839
00:46:00,258 --> 00:46:02,049
is Ulysses S. Grant out west.
840
00:46:03,762 --> 00:46:06,504
- Ulysses S. Grant had
gone to West Point,
841
00:46:06,598 --> 00:46:09,490
not performed especially well.
842
00:46:09,583 --> 00:46:11,750
When the war begins
he is clerking
843
00:46:11,844 --> 00:46:14,829
in the small town
of Galena, Illinois.
844
00:46:14,847 --> 00:46:16,606
- When the Civil War
starts he volunteers
845
00:46:16,833 --> 00:46:18,165
to help train troops
846
00:46:18,184 --> 00:46:20,835
and pretty quickly he shows
that he's got competence,
847
00:46:20,928 --> 00:46:24,021
not just in training,
but in leading in battle.
848
00:46:24,115 --> 00:46:26,431
- Ulysses S. Grant will take
Fort Henry and Donaldson
849
00:46:26,451 --> 00:46:28,600
in the beginning of February.
850
00:46:28,694 --> 00:46:29,935
So there's the Western theater,
851
00:46:30,029 --> 00:46:31,512
which is largely the theater
852
00:46:31,605 --> 00:46:32,938
between the Appalachian
Mountains in the
853
00:46:32,957 --> 00:46:34,365
Mississippi River,
854
00:46:34,517 --> 00:46:36,684
where the Union is actually
starting to make progress.
855
00:46:36,777 --> 00:46:39,796
With this Grant becomes
a national hero.
856
00:46:40,023 --> 00:46:43,190
It's the first great
Union victory of the war.
857
00:46:43,284 --> 00:46:44,358
- It's a little
bit ironic though,
858
00:46:44,451 --> 00:46:46,618
with the jubilation
of the capture
859
00:46:46,638 --> 00:46:48,712
of Forts Henry and Donaldson,
860
00:46:48,807 --> 00:46:51,532
because the Lincoln is
in major crisis mode
861
00:46:51,625 --> 00:46:53,551
because it's this
same time period
862
00:46:53,703 --> 00:46:55,895
that his little boy,
Willie catches typhoid.
863
00:47:04,730 --> 00:47:06,113
- I hear cannons.
864
00:47:16,334 --> 00:47:19,627
- It's a salute, Grant
took Fort Donaldson.
865
00:47:22,340 --> 00:47:24,173
He's a western man like your Pa.
866
00:47:26,177 --> 00:47:27,510
Seems like he can fight.
867
00:47:29,997 --> 00:47:31,013
Just like you.
868
00:47:36,837 --> 00:47:37,603
All right.
869
00:47:41,192 --> 00:47:43,150
Back to sleep now, okay?
870
00:47:53,596 --> 00:47:54,370
- How is he?
871
00:47:58,376 --> 00:48:00,042
- He's gonna be fine.
872
00:48:28,481 --> 00:48:32,133
- In February of 1862,
Willie had fallen ill.
873
00:48:32,151 --> 00:48:34,485
He probably contracted
typhoid fever
874
00:48:34,637 --> 00:48:37,304
from bad water pumped
into the White House.
875
00:48:37,323 --> 00:48:39,807
At first, they think
that he'll be fine,
876
00:48:39,825 --> 00:48:43,494
but on February
20th, 1862, he dies.
877
00:48:43,646 --> 00:48:46,738
When Willie died, Lincoln
put his head in his hands
878
00:48:46,758 --> 00:48:49,500
and simply began to
sob and then said,
879
00:48:49,652 --> 00:48:51,719
my boy is gone, my boy is gone.
880
00:48:53,414 --> 00:48:55,156
After the
death of Willie,
881
00:48:55,174 --> 00:48:57,582
Abraham Lincoln put a
silk ribbon on his hat
882
00:48:57,602 --> 00:49:00,895
so that he would always
remember the loss of his son.
883
00:49:05,001 --> 00:49:06,275
- When I lost a son,
884
00:49:07,946 --> 00:49:09,687
it was Mrs. Lincoln
who wrote me a letter
885
00:49:09,839 --> 00:49:11,405
full of comforting words.
886
00:49:12,784 --> 00:49:13,616
Look around, sir.
887
00:49:15,436 --> 00:49:18,454
In her time of grief,
ain't no friend
888
00:49:21,184 --> 00:49:23,751
no lady or Washington
society by her side.
889
00:49:28,207 --> 00:49:29,423
She a outsider.
890
00:49:33,471 --> 00:49:36,764
- I am very grateful
for you, Mrs. Keckly.
891
00:49:40,052 --> 00:49:40,810
- Thank you, sir.
892
00:50:04,393 --> 00:50:06,727
- Mary was of course distraught.
893
00:50:06,746 --> 00:50:09,171
Took to her bed and
never really recovered,
894
00:50:09,398 --> 00:50:11,173
I think, from the loss
of her beloved son.
895
00:50:13,085 --> 00:50:14,568
- They had a private funeral
896
00:50:14,661 --> 00:50:18,014
because Mrs. Lincoln couldn't
tolerate a public reception.
897
00:50:19,592 --> 00:50:21,592
Her grief was volcanic.
898
00:50:21,744 --> 00:50:23,310
She could not stop wailing.
899
00:50:24,597 --> 00:50:26,764
She locked herself in her room.
900
00:50:26,916 --> 00:50:31,360
We also know that Mr. Lincoln
was completely devastated.
901
00:50:33,589 --> 00:50:35,823
He had been, many thought,
his father's favorite.
902
00:50:37,368 --> 00:50:40,185
He'd been a boy with
great talent and promise,
903
00:50:40,279 --> 00:50:44,665
and therefore his passing
was a matter of deep sadness.
904
00:50:46,878 --> 00:50:50,195
- He wrote poetry,
he loved reading.
905
00:50:50,214 --> 00:50:52,364
He had those
qualities of empathy,
906
00:50:52,383 --> 00:50:55,342
sensitivity, intelligence,
that Lincoln had.
907
00:50:56,779 --> 00:50:58,888
So he was like a
miniature Lincoln,
908
00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:00,556
I think there's
something to that.
909
00:51:01,893 --> 00:51:04,226
- When you look at all
the people who died
910
00:51:04,378 --> 00:51:09,065
that were close to him, his
mother, then he lost his sister.
911
00:51:09,959 --> 00:51:12,068
His beloved son Eddie,
912
00:51:12,295 --> 00:51:15,479
his very, very close
friend, Edward Baker,
913
00:51:15,631 --> 00:51:20,367
the death of Willie then
compounds the misery.
914
00:51:21,987 --> 00:51:26,082
But the fact is, is that
Lincoln had a country to run.
915
00:51:29,069 --> 00:51:31,328
- Now, as of March,
916
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:34,423
McClellan still hasn't
moved this massive army.
917
00:51:34,575 --> 00:51:36,926
So Lincoln is going to
issue another war order
918
00:51:37,077 --> 00:51:39,336
telling him to move.
919
00:51:39,488 --> 00:51:43,991
And by March 17th, McClellan
has finally ordered his army
920
00:51:44,009 --> 00:51:46,493
to the tip of the
Virginia peninsula.
921
00:51:46,512 --> 00:51:48,437
- McClellan's plan is one
922
00:51:48,589 --> 00:51:50,439
that Lincoln
initially objected to.
923
00:51:50,591 --> 00:51:52,424
An amphibious operation,
924
00:51:52,443 --> 00:51:54,759
moving down the
coast of Virginia,
925
00:51:54,854 --> 00:51:56,928
landing on the peninsula,
926
00:51:56,948 --> 00:51:59,073
and threatening
Richmond from the south.
927
00:52:00,359 --> 00:52:05,121
- This is about 120,000
men on 400 boats.
928
00:52:05,272 --> 00:52:08,198
- It was well-executed to move
this huge force down there,
929
00:52:08,351 --> 00:52:09,683
but they get to Fort Monroe
930
00:52:09,702 --> 00:52:13,778
and then they start moving
too slowly, like molasses.
931
00:52:13,798 --> 00:52:15,965
And they're
essentially bottled up.
932
00:52:18,118 --> 00:52:21,378
- Even though things hadn't
been going well in the east,
933
00:52:21,530 --> 00:52:23,530
Lincoln has heard about Grant
934
00:52:23,549 --> 00:52:27,977
with the two surrenders at
Forts Henry and Donaldson.
935
00:52:28,128 --> 00:52:30,537
And after that,
the western armies
936
00:52:30,631 --> 00:52:32,314
were continuing
to make progress.
937
00:52:34,877 --> 00:52:38,562
The Battle of Shiloh
ends up being an amazing,
938
00:52:38,714 --> 00:52:40,948
if incredibly bloody victory.
939
00:52:42,551 --> 00:52:45,477
- Actually the reaction
to Grant at Shiloh
940
00:52:45,496 --> 00:52:47,496
was largely negative.
941
00:52:47,648 --> 00:52:51,058
All of a sudden he
loses 13,000 troops.
942
00:52:51,076 --> 00:52:54,653
There are unfounded rumors
of Grant being drunk
943
00:52:54,672 --> 00:52:57,006
and people are calling
for his ouster.
944
00:52:57,157 --> 00:53:01,844
- But Lincoln says, I cannot
spare this man, he fights.
945
00:53:01,995 --> 00:53:04,847
- And that was the beginning
of Grant's ascendancy.
946
00:53:05,074 --> 00:53:07,758
And Lincoln's
recognition in Grant,
947
00:53:07,852 --> 00:53:10,928
someone who would not go
back, who would not wait,
948
00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:12,021
who would not delay.
949
00:53:13,507 --> 00:53:15,357
- Now, in previous months,
950
00:53:15,509 --> 00:53:18,101
Lincoln discovered that
his secretary of war,
951
00:53:18,196 --> 00:53:21,488
Simon Cameron is hopelessly
inadequate to the task.
952
00:53:23,108 --> 00:53:25,868
And so then he's place Lincoln
nominates Edwin Stanton.
953
00:53:26,929 --> 00:53:28,595
Stanton was a Democrat.
954
00:53:28,689 --> 00:53:30,206
Stanton would get along nicely
955
00:53:30,357 --> 00:53:33,100
with other Democrats
in the army,
956
00:53:33,118 --> 00:53:34,543
especially George McClellan.
957
00:53:39,608 --> 00:53:41,124
- McClellan's got
plenty of troops,
958
00:53:41,277 --> 00:53:44,202
but still he sits
outside Yorktown.
959
00:53:44,296 --> 00:53:45,387
He's got to attack.
960
00:53:46,873 --> 00:53:49,800
- I'm sure he's as skittish
as a long tailed cat
961
00:53:49,952 --> 00:53:51,060
in a room full of
rocking chairs,
962
00:53:51,211 --> 00:53:53,062
but he's the best we have.
963
00:53:53,213 --> 00:53:54,230
You said so yourself.
964
00:53:55,733 --> 00:53:56,732
- I've sung his praises,
965
00:53:58,794 --> 00:54:01,737
but he makes new enemies
each day he doesn't fight.
966
00:54:04,391 --> 00:54:05,366
- What's your advice?
967
00:54:06,802 --> 00:54:09,078
- Fire him, at once.
968
00:54:11,474 --> 00:54:13,140
- If McClellan can just capture-
969
00:54:13,158 --> 00:54:15,584
- He won't capture
anything at this rate.
970
00:54:17,830 --> 00:54:20,214
- Well, he's got his
orders, he'll move.
971
00:54:21,500 --> 00:54:22,258
He has to.
972
00:54:28,491 --> 00:54:29,581
- Right after George McClellan,
973
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:31,658
the army of Potomac
land on the peninsula,
974
00:54:31,677 --> 00:54:33,677
they will start to
work their way up.
975
00:54:33,829 --> 00:54:35,587
About the same time
that they're advancing,
976
00:54:35,606 --> 00:54:37,589
Abraham Lincoln arrives.
977
00:54:37,608 --> 00:54:39,275
- Lincoln will
meet with McClellan
978
00:54:39,426 --> 00:54:41,518
more than any
other Union general
979
00:54:41,670 --> 00:54:43,279
over the course of the war.
980
00:54:43,506 --> 00:54:47,449
Between July of '61
and April 1st, 1862,
981
00:54:47,676 --> 00:54:49,934
he met with him
at least 57 times.
982
00:54:50,029 --> 00:54:53,622
So very much a hands-on.
There's a lot of communication.
983
00:54:53,774 --> 00:54:55,940
But we see him
increasingly frustrated
984
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:58,035
that McClellan isn't
doing the things
985
00:54:58,187 --> 00:55:00,370
that he's asking him to do.
986
00:55:00,464 --> 00:55:02,965
- This time when Lincoln
arrives down at Fort Monroe
987
00:55:03,116 --> 00:55:06,284
McClellan's not there and it's
one more insult to Lincoln
988
00:55:06,378 --> 00:55:08,119
and his responsibilities.
989
00:55:08,139 --> 00:55:10,213
And so Lincoln's now
looking around going,
990
00:55:10,366 --> 00:55:11,473
okay, well, I can't
meet with McClellan,
991
00:55:11,625 --> 00:55:12,457
what else is going
on down there?
992
00:55:12,476 --> 00:55:13,642
Hey, isn't that Norfolk?
993
00:55:16,296 --> 00:55:17,554
What he's gonna realize is
994
00:55:17,648 --> 00:55:20,316
that Norfolk is still
occupied by the Confederates.
995
00:55:22,044 --> 00:55:24,895
Norfolk, which is
a major naval base,
996
00:55:25,047 --> 00:55:26,213
and currently it's also the home
997
00:55:26,306 --> 00:55:28,991
of the Confederate
Ironclad, the CSS Virginia.
998
00:55:30,386 --> 00:55:31,718
This is a threat
to the Union army,
999
00:55:31,737 --> 00:55:33,570
as well as to the blockade.
1000
00:55:33,722 --> 00:55:35,238
It's also a threat
to McClellan's effort
1001
00:55:35,391 --> 00:55:36,290
to get up the river.
1002
00:55:41,172 --> 00:55:43,321
- General Wool, would
I be wrong in saying
1003
00:55:43,341 --> 00:55:45,582
that since the rebels
have left Yorktown,
1004
00:55:45,734 --> 00:55:46,842
that Norfolk is vulnerable?
1005
00:55:48,179 --> 00:55:50,587
- No, sir, you
would not be wrong.
1006
00:55:50,739 --> 00:55:52,997
- Then why haven't we taken it?
1007
00:55:53,017 --> 00:55:54,499
- Well, there's the small matter
1008
00:55:54,518 --> 00:55:57,669
of the Virginia being
stationed there.
1009
00:55:57,688 --> 00:55:59,855
It's just destroyed
two of our best ships.
1010
00:56:05,345 --> 00:56:07,029
- What if we don't
attack it directly?
1011
00:56:08,699 --> 00:56:14,036
We'll take the Fort below
Norfolk, by water landing.
1012
00:56:15,706 --> 00:56:18,949
And bombard the rebel batteries
here at Sybil's Point.
1013
00:56:19,101 --> 00:56:22,119
And bring our boys ashore
somewhere near this area.
1014
00:56:22,271 --> 00:56:23,879
- You don't know
these waters, sir.
1015
00:56:28,869 --> 00:56:32,129
- It's feasible except for
the Virginia coming out
1016
00:56:32,281 --> 00:56:33,722
and destroying
our landing craft.
1017
00:56:34,950 --> 00:56:36,225
- We have a Navy too, don't we?
1018
00:56:38,229 --> 00:56:41,897
- Yeah, but we need solid
ground to land our troops.
1019
00:56:43,550 --> 00:56:44,358
- Let's find some.
1020
00:56:46,979 --> 00:56:49,238
- Right here, along the
south bank of the James.
1021
00:56:51,316 --> 00:56:52,199
- I'll go scout it myself.
1022
00:56:56,080 --> 00:56:59,748
- Mr. President, that
is enemy territory.
1023
00:57:04,922 --> 00:57:07,071
- This is the thing
about Lincoln.
1024
00:57:07,091 --> 00:57:09,574
All the experiences
that he had in his life,
1025
00:57:09,593 --> 00:57:12,261
they become part of who he is.
1026
00:57:12,488 --> 00:57:14,746
And he's got a
real physical sense
1027
00:57:14,765 --> 00:57:16,915
of how to operate on a river.
1028
00:57:16,934 --> 00:57:19,101
I mean, he has a
physical sense of knowing
1029
00:57:19,252 --> 00:57:21,770
the way rivers wind,
knowing geography.
1030
00:57:29,688 --> 00:57:30,779
Be careful.
1031
00:57:32,357 --> 00:57:35,767
- Commodore, I saw some canal
boats back at the Wharf.
1032
00:57:35,786 --> 00:57:37,769
What if we furnished
some of our boys on them
1033
00:57:37,788 --> 00:57:39,621
and land in the shallows here,
1034
00:57:39,773 --> 00:57:41,457
they can float in
only a foot of water.
1035
00:57:43,944 --> 00:57:45,018
- That could work.
1036
00:57:45,037 --> 00:57:47,588
The bigger boats need
some place deeper.
1037
00:57:51,284 --> 00:57:52,134
- What about there?
1038
00:57:53,137 --> 00:57:54,303
That looks like it
1039
00:57:54,454 --> 00:57:58,381
could be at least eight
feet come high tide.
1040
00:57:58,534 --> 00:58:01,702
- What you're saying,
if we get back now-
1041
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:02,978
- We can attack immediately.
1042
00:58:14,383 --> 00:58:15,282
- There's the Virginia.
1043
00:58:21,648 --> 00:58:23,406
- Lincoln when he
arrives down at Norfolk,
1044
00:58:23,559 --> 00:58:24,816
it's a massive overreach.
1045
00:58:24,835 --> 00:58:26,335
President of United States,
the Commander in Chief
1046
00:58:26,486 --> 00:58:28,337
should not be in
tactical operations.
1047
00:58:30,749 --> 00:58:31,673
- Was I too rash?
1048
00:58:33,511 --> 00:58:35,302
Perhaps we should've
waited to attack.
1049
00:58:37,573 --> 00:58:40,498
- He has basically undercut
his entire chain of command,
1050
00:58:40,518 --> 00:58:43,185
almost as if to say
even a non-professional,
1051
00:58:43,412 --> 00:58:44,911
all it takes is a little
bit of initiative.
1052
00:58:44,930 --> 00:58:46,596
All it takes is a
little bit of activity.
1053
00:58:46,749 --> 00:58:48,357
All it takes is a little
bit of a watchful eye
1054
00:58:48,508 --> 00:58:50,174
to see where those
opportunities exist
1055
00:58:50,194 --> 00:58:51,693
and we can start making progress
1056
00:58:51,845 --> 00:58:53,529
at a faster pace than
we currently are.
1057
00:58:56,700 --> 00:58:58,534
- Troops have been
on shore for hours.
1058
00:59:01,430 --> 00:59:02,704
- We should have news by now.
1059
00:59:05,617 --> 00:59:07,376
- A dispatch from Norfolk.
1060
00:59:09,288 --> 00:59:13,048
The rebels are evacuating and
they've scuttled the Virginia.
1061
00:59:15,627 --> 00:59:17,127
- Are you sure?
1062
00:59:17,279 --> 00:59:19,179
- The city is ours.
1063
00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:24,059
- Oh, easy, Stanton,
you'll crush him.
1064
00:59:25,954 --> 00:59:27,804
Well,
1065
00:59:27,898 --> 00:59:28,689
we've done it.
1066
00:59:29,975 --> 00:59:31,858
- No, sir, no no.
1067
00:59:33,404 --> 00:59:36,071
You have done it.
1068
00:59:43,822 --> 00:59:46,081
- After some preliminary
bombardment by the Navy,
1069
00:59:46,232 --> 00:59:49,826
they will land Union troops
over on the Confederate side.
1070
00:59:49,978 --> 00:59:51,494
When the Confederates
see the Union troops,
1071
00:59:51,647 --> 00:59:52,904
they're gonna leave Norfolk.
1072
00:59:52,998 --> 00:59:55,498
They'll destroy as much of
the equipment as they can,
1073
00:59:55,651 --> 00:59:59,428
including sinking the CSS
Virginia, their ironclad.
1074
00:59:59,579 --> 01:00:02,764
And effectively Abraham Lincoln
has taken the initiative.
1075
01:00:02,916 --> 01:00:05,675
He's literally leading
from the front.
1076
01:00:05,828 --> 01:00:08,252
- There was a certain
method to his madness.
1077
01:00:08,272 --> 01:00:09,271
He was impatient.
1078
01:00:11,257 --> 01:00:14,684
He was trying to send a
message to General McClellan,
1079
01:00:14,837 --> 01:00:15,611
get moving.
1080
01:00:17,448 --> 01:00:20,782
- So McClellan will
move very slowly.
1081
01:00:22,268 --> 01:00:24,286
He'll move forward
up the peninsula,
1082
01:00:24,437 --> 01:00:27,864
fighting small battles like
big Bethel and Williamsburg.
1083
01:00:28,016 --> 01:00:30,851
- But the entire movement
up the peninsula is
1084
01:00:30,944 --> 01:00:32,294
slower than it should have been,
1085
01:00:32,521 --> 01:00:34,855
less aggressive than
it should have been.
1086
01:00:34,948 --> 01:00:37,115
The uncertainty of
the battlefield,
1087
01:00:37,209 --> 01:00:39,784
the idea that you're rolling
the dice on the battlefield
1088
01:00:39,803 --> 01:00:43,788
every time was very
upsetting to him.
1089
01:00:43,807 --> 01:00:47,367
And so it would cause
him to hesitate.
1090
01:00:47,386 --> 01:00:50,553
- It isn't so much in my
view that he's indecisive,
1091
01:00:50,706 --> 01:00:55,484
he is choosing to do what one
might call light sparring.
1092
01:00:56,820 --> 01:00:58,654
He doesn't want to
have a high body count.
1093
01:00:58,805 --> 01:01:00,471
He just kind of
wants to sneak in,
1094
01:01:00,491 --> 01:01:02,140
slap somebody
around a little bit,
1095
01:01:02,159 --> 01:01:04,660
step on back and keep on moving.
1096
01:01:04,887 --> 01:01:08,071
You know, he's
sending advance scouts
1097
01:01:08,165 --> 01:01:11,149
to the plantations and
farms along the way to say,
1098
01:01:11,168 --> 01:01:12,242
Hey, I'm coming through,
1099
01:01:12,394 --> 01:01:14,577
but I'm not gonna
mess with your slaves
1100
01:01:14,730 --> 01:01:16,746
and I'm not gonna burn anything.
1101
01:01:16,899 --> 01:01:18,674
We're just gonna be
moving my army through.
1102
01:01:20,402 --> 01:01:22,660
Eventually the
Confederate forces retreat back
1103
01:01:22,754 --> 01:01:23,920
all the way till within earshot
1104
01:01:24,072 --> 01:01:25,013
of the churchbells of Richmond.
1105
01:01:27,017 --> 01:01:31,261
- And then at the end of May
at the Battle of Seven Pines,
1106
01:01:31,413 --> 01:01:32,579
Joseph E. Johnston,
1107
01:01:32,597 --> 01:01:34,338
who was in command of
the Confederate army,
1108
01:01:34,358 --> 01:01:35,857
is grievously wounded.
1109
01:01:37,528 --> 01:01:41,179
Jefferson Davis turns to
his formal military advisor,
1110
01:01:41,198 --> 01:01:43,757
Robert Edward Lee of Virginia,
1111
01:01:43,775 --> 01:01:46,660
and Lee is rushed out to
the field to take command.
1112
01:01:48,521 --> 01:01:49,779
- Robert E. Lee is
probably the most
1113
01:01:49,932 --> 01:01:52,708
iconic soldier in
American history.
1114
01:01:52,859 --> 01:01:56,436
He had had tremendous service
during the Mexican War.
1115
01:01:56,455 --> 01:01:59,105
And so on the eve of secession,
1116
01:01:59,124 --> 01:02:01,550
president Lincoln sought
to have Robert E. Lee
1117
01:02:01,777 --> 01:02:04,277
take command of the
United States forces.
1118
01:02:04,296 --> 01:02:08,056
Robert E. Lee makes
the decision instead
1119
01:02:09,209 --> 01:02:10,058
to go with Virginia.
1120
01:02:11,729 --> 01:02:14,062
- So Lee takes command
of what he christens
1121
01:02:14,289 --> 01:02:17,307
the Army of Northern
Virginia on June 1st.
1122
01:02:17,459 --> 01:02:18,883
And for the next three weeks,
1123
01:02:18,902 --> 01:02:21,236
it's going to be
incredibly rainy.
1124
01:02:21,387 --> 01:02:24,030
And McClellan's not
able to do much.
1125
01:02:25,650 --> 01:02:28,969
If you can imagine moving
an army of 120,000 men
1126
01:02:28,987 --> 01:02:31,747
with all of their mules
and horses and wagons.
1127
01:02:33,417 --> 01:02:36,084
But Lincoln believes that
this capital can be taken.
1128
01:02:37,087 --> 01:02:38,903
McClellan has more men
1129
01:02:38,922 --> 01:02:41,815
than has ever been
fielded in North America.
1130
01:02:41,908 --> 01:02:43,550
This could all be
ended right now.
1131
01:02:45,504 --> 01:02:48,579
- The weight of this
war fell on Lincoln
1132
01:02:48,673 --> 01:02:51,174
from almost the first day.
1133
01:02:51,268 --> 01:02:56,846
And that sense, that wearying,
nagging, never ending,
1134
01:02:56,940 --> 01:03:01,443
always draining sense of
responsibility, haunts him.
1135
01:03:12,197 --> 01:03:15,081
- Put your light out
soon, you're too weary.
1136
01:03:16,018 --> 01:03:17,083
- He asked for you.
1137
01:03:19,129 --> 01:03:20,754
- I'm with him when I can be.
1138
01:03:22,040 --> 01:03:23,131
I'm busy at the hospitals,
1139
01:03:23,283 --> 01:03:25,283
those boys so appreciate
when I read to them
1140
01:03:25,302 --> 01:03:26,426
and write their letters.
1141
01:03:27,863 --> 01:03:28,929
I need to be useful.
1142
01:03:30,365 --> 01:03:32,474
- Well, you can
sit with him now.
1143
01:03:45,638 --> 01:03:46,488
- Is it McClellan?
1144
01:03:49,642 --> 01:03:52,327
- As if Robert E. Lee didn't
have to march through mud too.
1145
01:03:54,480 --> 01:03:56,623
He could end this.
1146
01:03:58,151 --> 01:03:58,625
- Replace him.
1147
01:03:59,911 --> 01:04:01,002
Everyone says you should.
1148
01:04:02,564 --> 01:04:03,338
- With who?
1149
01:04:09,012 --> 01:04:10,011
Leave me with it.
1150
01:04:30,367 --> 01:04:32,942
- I think what kept Lincoln
up at night sometimes
1151
01:04:33,036 --> 01:04:36,371
was just knowing how many
soldiers had died that day.
1152
01:04:36,522 --> 01:04:38,356
And that he was the leader
1153
01:04:38,375 --> 01:04:42,452
that was in charge of this
decision to keep the war going.
1154
01:04:42,604 --> 01:04:43,861
And that these people had died,
1155
01:04:43,955 --> 01:04:47,716
their families were suffering
under the terrible loss.
1156
01:04:47,867 --> 01:04:49,626
- But Lincoln
understands the idea
1157
01:04:49,720 --> 01:04:52,462
that it was gonna cost a
lot of lives to win the war.
1158
01:04:52,614 --> 01:04:54,297
And I think President
Lincoln hit the point
1159
01:04:54,449 --> 01:04:58,284
where he had just lost patience
with General McClellan.
1160
01:04:58,303 --> 01:05:00,228
It just felt like he
wasn't aggressive enough,
1161
01:05:00,380 --> 01:05:01,062
he wouldn't fight.
1162
01:05:02,974 --> 01:05:06,568
- So despite all of the
men that McClellan has had,
1163
01:05:06,795 --> 01:05:08,737
he's able to make his
way outside of the
1164
01:05:08,964 --> 01:05:11,481
gates of Richmond,
but not into Richmond.
1165
01:05:11,633 --> 01:05:15,911
Meanwhile, Lee is
reorganizing his new army.
1166
01:05:16,062 --> 01:05:17,820
- And ultimately
at the end of June,
1167
01:05:17,973 --> 01:05:20,064
Robert E. Lee will launch
a series of battles
1168
01:05:20,083 --> 01:05:22,417
known as the Seven Days.
1169
01:05:22,568 --> 01:05:24,085
Throughout these
fights Robert E. Lee
1170
01:05:24,237 --> 01:05:26,162
will only win one
of those battles.
1171
01:05:26,314 --> 01:05:28,314
But what he does
is drive McClellan
1172
01:05:28,333 --> 01:05:29,925
back from the gates of Richmond
1173
01:05:30,076 --> 01:05:31,760
and pins him against
the James River.
1174
01:05:33,246 --> 01:05:36,172
McClellan will write
vicious telegraphs
1175
01:05:36,324 --> 01:05:40,009
to say that if I lose,
this is not my fault.
1176
01:05:40,103 --> 01:05:41,436
It's your fault.
1177
01:05:41,587 --> 01:05:42,938
You haven't given
me the men I need.
1178
01:05:43,165 --> 01:05:44,347
You haven't given me
the supplies I need.
1179
01:05:44,499 --> 01:05:46,441
And this is grating on Lincoln.
1180
01:05:47,686 --> 01:05:49,519
- So by July 1st,
1181
01:05:49,671 --> 01:05:52,948
this peninsula campaign has
essentially come to an end.
1182
01:05:54,434 --> 01:05:56,434
Lincoln will come
down to visit him
1183
01:05:56,453 --> 01:05:58,695
at a place called
Harrison's Landing.
1184
01:05:58,847 --> 01:06:02,015
It's there that McClellan
will hand him a letter.
1185
01:06:02,033 --> 01:06:05,034
- It talks about
civil military policy
1186
01:06:05,187 --> 01:06:07,128
for the fighting of this war.
1187
01:06:07,355 --> 01:06:09,447
What he says is that
it should be executed
1188
01:06:09,466 --> 01:06:12,525
with the highest
Christian principles.
1189
01:06:12,544 --> 01:06:15,470
That they should take
no Southern property,
1190
01:06:15,697 --> 01:06:18,789
that they should not
try and subdue the South
1191
01:06:18,809 --> 01:06:20,033
and that whatever we do,
1192
01:06:20,051 --> 01:06:22,477
let's not talk about
the issue of slavery.
1193
01:06:25,040 --> 01:06:26,873
And perhaps if he had
written it months earlier,
1194
01:06:26,891 --> 01:06:28,984
Lincoln may have
agreed with him,
1195
01:06:29,211 --> 01:06:31,135
but Lincoln doesn't
agree with him now.
1196
01:06:31,154 --> 01:06:33,989
The war has already
turned more resolute.
1197
01:06:34,216 --> 01:06:36,733
The war has already
turned more violent.
1198
01:06:36,885 --> 01:06:39,235
He's already now even
considering other ways
1199
01:06:39,387 --> 01:06:40,903
that they might be able
to put more pressure
1200
01:06:41,056 --> 01:06:43,498
on the Confederacy that
they might win the war.
1201
01:06:59,090 --> 01:07:00,682
- In the last weeks of June,
1202
01:07:00,909 --> 01:07:03,926
McClellan's army has
suffered a crushing defeat.
1203
01:07:04,021 --> 01:07:06,670
They were only like
four miles from Richmond
1204
01:07:06,690 --> 01:07:09,691
when Lee attacked them and
they were forced to retreat.
1205
01:07:09,918 --> 01:07:13,010
So the mood of the North was
really at its lowest point,
1206
01:07:13,104 --> 01:07:15,155
lower even than after Bull Run.
1207
01:07:17,108 --> 01:07:18,849
Enlistments were going down,
1208
01:07:18,869 --> 01:07:21,110
desertions were gonna happen.
1209
01:07:21,263 --> 01:07:24,039
And Lincoln felt that
something had to change.
1210
01:07:25,208 --> 01:07:28,434
- Now every summer from 1862 on,
1211
01:07:28,453 --> 01:07:30,712
Lincoln would find
some measure of escape
1212
01:07:30,939 --> 01:07:32,047
from the White House
1213
01:07:32,274 --> 01:07:35,467
in the high cooler grounds
of the Soldiers' Home.
1214
01:07:36,869 --> 01:07:39,721
This was a rambling
series of cottages
1215
01:07:39,948 --> 01:07:43,349
built by the Old Soldiers'
retirement complex in the 1850s,
1216
01:07:44,636 --> 01:07:48,855
but always, always
there was the war.
1217
01:07:50,550 --> 01:07:51,974
- There were so many times
1218
01:07:52,069 --> 01:07:54,552
when it looked like
the war would be lost.
1219
01:07:54,571 --> 01:07:57,313
After Bull Run it
certainly looked that way.
1220
01:07:57,407 --> 01:07:59,148
After the peninsula campaign,
1221
01:07:59,301 --> 01:08:01,892
it looked like the war
could easily be lost.
1222
01:08:01,986 --> 01:08:04,061
But he was the one who kept
the spirit of the army,
1223
01:08:04,155 --> 01:08:06,489
keeps the spirit of
the people going.
1224
01:08:06,583 --> 01:08:10,067
He absorbed those losses
and it just makes him think,
1225
01:08:10,161 --> 01:08:13,546
what can I do differently, how
can I change what's going on?
1226
01:08:16,835 --> 01:08:19,577
- The rebels still control the
Mississippi up near Vicksburg
1227
01:08:19,671 --> 01:08:23,723
and, well, we're back where
we started in Virginia.
1228
01:08:28,179 --> 01:08:29,729
- My Pa could've
made this chair.
1229
01:08:32,275 --> 01:08:34,234
He could make most
furniture with his hands.
1230
01:08:36,780 --> 01:08:37,445
- Abe.
1231
01:08:40,692 --> 01:08:42,117
We've got to make decisions.
1232
01:08:45,530 --> 01:08:47,196
We know McClellan's
not the answer,
1233
01:08:47,290 --> 01:08:48,606
but do you think General Hallock
1234
01:08:48,625 --> 01:08:50,291
can turn things around for us?
1235
01:08:50,518 --> 01:08:52,585
- This war has nothing
to do with generals.
1236
01:08:54,038 --> 01:08:55,588
They alone can't win it for us.
1237
01:08:59,194 --> 01:09:02,595
We have more men, more
supplies, more money.
1238
01:09:04,866 --> 01:09:07,308
Yet it seems we're always
tugging at the end of the rope.
1239
01:09:08,887 --> 01:09:10,478
- The rebels fight
on their own land.
1240
01:09:11,815 --> 01:09:13,773
- Well, that can make
a man fight harder.
1241
01:09:15,801 --> 01:09:17,277
They also have
something else too.
1242
01:09:18,488 --> 01:09:19,320
- Yes.
1243
01:09:22,159 --> 01:09:22,991
Slavery.
1244
01:09:25,570 --> 01:09:27,620
- If slavery's not
wrong, nothing is.
1245
01:09:30,167 --> 01:09:31,791
I must have everyone on board.
1246
01:09:34,004 --> 01:09:35,795
The military, public,
1247
01:09:38,566 --> 01:09:39,174
the cabinet.
1248
01:09:44,681 --> 01:09:46,239
- Over the summer,
1249
01:09:46,332 --> 01:09:49,017
Lincoln is talking
to people about
1250
01:09:49,168 --> 01:09:53,337
what will become the
Emancipation Proclamation.
1251
01:09:53,431 --> 01:09:55,097
He's talking to
his War Department,
1252
01:09:55,250 --> 01:09:57,767
he's talking to
State Department.
1253
01:09:57,861 --> 01:10:01,604
- Abolitionist, were clamoring
for Lincoln to do something.
1254
01:10:01,698 --> 01:10:04,774
They were saying, the
Confederacy has these black men
1255
01:10:04,926 --> 01:10:07,518
impressed into
military laborers.
1256
01:10:07,612 --> 01:10:09,095
Free these people, you know,
1257
01:10:09,188 --> 01:10:11,597
we can use them to
help us win the war.
1258
01:10:11,691 --> 01:10:13,933
Black men had been
saying it all along,
1259
01:10:14,026 --> 01:10:16,953
white men and women
started saying it as well.
1260
01:10:17,105 --> 01:10:19,530
Lincoln still believed
that the Constitution
1261
01:10:19,624 --> 01:10:22,792
made it impossible
for the government
1262
01:10:22,886 --> 01:10:25,111
to emancipate the slaves
1263
01:10:25,204 --> 01:10:27,129
because Constitution
protected property
1264
01:10:27,224 --> 01:10:28,890
and property was slaves.
1265
01:10:29,117 --> 01:10:33,119
- For political figures
who have a moral compass,
1266
01:10:33,212 --> 01:10:36,122
there is a constant
warring inside you
1267
01:10:36,215 --> 01:10:39,049
of when do I just
blurt out what I think
1268
01:10:39,143 --> 01:10:41,794
versus when do I bite my tongue
1269
01:10:41,887 --> 01:10:44,054
and see if I can
work something out.
1270
01:10:44,074 --> 01:10:46,699
Am I betraying the
ideals that I care about?
1271
01:10:48,636 --> 01:10:52,080
Or am I playing a long
game to advance them?
1272
01:10:53,083 --> 01:10:55,324
- There's a clear learning curve
1273
01:10:55,477 --> 01:10:58,160
as he learns the strategy
of what will be necessary
1274
01:10:58,255 --> 01:11:01,497
to win a war of this
magnitude and this complexity.
1275
01:11:01,649 --> 01:11:05,001
He exercised war powers
like few presidents
1276
01:11:05,153 --> 01:11:06,652
have ever in our history.
1277
01:11:06,671 --> 01:11:07,929
And they were pretty
upsetting to people,
1278
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:10,748
but he understood that he
wasn't just the president,
1279
01:11:10,842 --> 01:11:12,725
he was the Commander
in Chief as well.
1280
01:11:14,437 --> 01:11:16,437
- So that's when he begins
to think about the fact that
1281
01:11:16,589 --> 01:11:18,773
I don't have the
constitutional power
1282
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:21,851
to emancipate the slaves
in the Union as president,
1283
01:11:21,945 --> 01:11:24,112
but maybe as Commander in Chief,
1284
01:11:24,339 --> 01:11:26,022
I can emancipate the
slaves in the south
1285
01:11:26,116 --> 01:11:28,283
as a military necessity.
1286
01:11:28,510 --> 01:11:31,786
But Lincoln would have to
persuade the cabinet, the army,
1287
01:11:32,013 --> 01:11:34,180
and the people that the
Emancipation Proclamation
1288
01:11:34,273 --> 01:11:36,124
was the right thing to do.
1289
01:11:36,275 --> 01:11:38,609
- That on the first
day of January
1290
01:11:38,628 --> 01:11:43,039
in the year of our Lord, 1863,
1291
01:11:43,191 --> 01:11:46,283
all persons held as
slaves within any state
1292
01:11:46,303 --> 01:11:48,261
or designated part of the state,
1293
01:11:50,865 --> 01:11:54,475
shall be then thence
forward and forever free.
1294
01:11:58,706 --> 01:12:00,815
Now, I have made up
my mind about this,
1295
01:12:02,210 --> 01:12:03,609
but I want to hear
your opinions.
1296
01:12:06,381 --> 01:12:09,231
- Now is not the time
for something so rash.
1297
01:12:09,326 --> 01:12:11,717
- Where does your authority
come from to do this?
1298
01:12:11,811 --> 01:12:14,162
- I think it's exactly
the right time.
1299
01:12:14,389 --> 01:12:16,831
Doesn't the rebellion
give me authority?
1300
01:12:17,058 --> 01:12:19,834
I am no general, but I
am Commander in Chief.
1301
01:12:19,985 --> 01:12:21,985
Aren't I allowed to lick
the enemy anywhere I can?
1302
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:23,838
- Make this a war for abolition
1303
01:12:24,065 --> 01:12:25,989
and we'll drive
Kentucky to the rebels.
1304
01:12:26,009 --> 01:12:28,325
- I've left it alone
in the border states.
1305
01:12:28,419 --> 01:12:30,069
This is a military order.
1306
01:12:30,162 --> 01:12:32,905
- Shift the manpower
of slaves from them to us.
1307
01:12:32,924 --> 01:12:35,241
If that's true, I'm all for it.
1308
01:12:35,259 --> 01:12:39,169
- Well, good for you, Stanton,
but the people won't be.
1309
01:12:39,263 --> 01:12:41,672
- Black and white
can't live together.
1310
01:12:41,691 --> 01:12:46,361
But if we push colonization,
people might swallow that.
1311
01:12:47,772 --> 01:12:50,773
- Well, it's overdue
but wrong headed.
1312
01:12:50,867 --> 01:12:52,441
You say there's a way
out for the rebels,
1313
01:12:52,594 --> 01:12:55,036
but this is an ultimatum
they'll never submit to,
1314
01:12:56,206 --> 01:12:58,539
unless that's what you intended.
1315
01:13:00,377 --> 01:13:03,953
- Everyone will see you gave
them a chance to act sensibly.
1316
01:13:04,105 --> 01:13:05,621
- They have their chance.
1317
01:13:05,715 --> 01:13:08,674
- This, this is madness.
1318
01:13:10,278 --> 01:13:12,678
I demand to be put on
record in opposition.
1319
01:13:14,282 --> 01:13:17,350
If this gets out, we'll
lose every election.
1320
01:13:18,561 --> 01:13:20,620
Congress will be lost.
1321
01:13:20,638 --> 01:13:23,139
It'll lead to
insurrection in the north,
1322
01:13:23,233 --> 01:13:25,124
massacre in the streets,
1323
01:13:25,217 --> 01:13:28,051
and the rebels will
only fight harder.
1324
01:13:28,146 --> 01:13:29,720
Blood will be on your hands!
1325
01:13:29,739 --> 01:13:32,073
- Blood is already on our hands!
1326
01:13:33,743 --> 01:13:36,035
We have played every other card.
1327
01:13:37,730 --> 01:13:40,331
It is time to change our
tactics or lose the game.
1328
01:13:41,809 --> 01:13:42,834
Now, I need your support.
1329
01:13:45,755 --> 01:13:51,759
- I think this proclamation
is what the country needs.
1330
01:13:55,990 --> 01:13:59,600
But don't release it now,
when we're beaten down,
1331
01:13:59,752 --> 01:14:01,936
the public will see it
as an act of desperation.
1332
01:14:03,255 --> 01:14:05,064
Wait for a victory,
however small.
1333
01:14:06,943 --> 01:14:09,610
Then the public will see your
proclamation for what it is,
1334
01:14:10,672 --> 01:14:11,696
a noble act.
1335
01:14:15,785 --> 01:14:18,268
- Well, if it's noble,
1336
01:14:18,362 --> 01:14:20,288
I'd rather it be
noble now than later.
1337
01:14:23,851 --> 01:14:28,254
But the governor is right,
public sentiment's everything.
1338
01:14:32,969 --> 01:14:35,720
We'll wait, we'll wait
for a Union victory.
1339
01:14:47,633 --> 01:14:49,041
- Have you included
my last changes?
1340
01:14:49,060 --> 01:14:49,817
- Yes, sir.
1341
01:14:58,736 --> 01:15:01,812
I hear Lincoln's meeting
with the Negro leaders.
1342
01:15:01,831 --> 01:15:02,663
- I hear the same.
1343
01:15:06,244 --> 01:15:08,227
It's a great opportunity.
1344
01:15:08,320 --> 01:15:10,320
After all his foot draggin',
1345
01:15:10,340 --> 01:15:12,507
to have a Negro
delegation come see him.
1346
01:15:14,493 --> 01:15:15,676
It's never happened before.
1347
01:15:16,921 --> 01:15:17,845
- Why' don't you go?
1348
01:15:18,923 --> 01:15:19,972
- I wasn't invited.
1349
01:15:21,518 --> 01:15:24,519
- I guess old Abe might not
wanna hear what you have to say.
1350
01:15:26,338 --> 01:15:27,188
- That's true enough.
1351
01:15:29,433 --> 01:15:31,692
But I sure would like to
know what he has to say.
1352
01:15:39,093 --> 01:15:42,203
- What I want is a
way out for everybody.
1353
01:15:43,856 --> 01:15:47,691
To that end, I've had
Congress secure some land
1354
01:15:47,785 --> 01:15:48,543
in Central America.
1355
01:15:50,271 --> 01:15:53,939
You and I, are of
opposite races,
1356
01:15:53,958 --> 01:15:56,384
physically speaking, we
couldn't be more different.
1357
01:15:58,946 --> 01:16:02,557
I fear it might take a
hundred years for you
1358
01:16:03,634 --> 01:16:05,560
to find equality
in this country.
1359
01:16:07,789 --> 01:16:08,896
Agree to my proposal
1360
01:16:10,458 --> 01:16:11,899
and my people will stop
killing each other.
1361
01:16:13,218 --> 01:16:14,569
And your people will be free.
1362
01:16:16,239 --> 01:16:17,238
That's my proposition.
1363
01:16:18,390 --> 01:16:19,740
Take your time to consider it.
1364
01:16:20,726 --> 01:16:21,576
As long as you'd like.
1365
01:16:23,062 --> 01:16:25,413
- Well, Mr. President-
1366
01:16:28,976 --> 01:16:31,752
- We'd be happy to
consider it, sir.
1367
01:16:42,490 --> 01:16:45,674
- Lincoln's favorite
politician, Henry Clay,
1368
01:16:45,827 --> 01:16:49,161
was a very prominent
member and president
1369
01:16:49,180 --> 01:16:54,166
of the American Colonization
Society that was formed in 1817
1370
01:16:54,185 --> 01:16:57,519
for the purpose of sending
free black men and women
1371
01:16:57,672 --> 01:16:59,113
outside of the country.
1372
01:17:00,766 --> 01:17:03,117
- Lincoln thought
slavery was wrong.
1373
01:17:03,268 --> 01:17:06,028
But he's also someone
who believed in
1374
01:17:06,180 --> 01:17:08,697
what he imagined as nuance.
1375
01:17:08,850 --> 01:17:10,516
And Lincoln frames
this like, he's like,
1376
01:17:10,534 --> 01:17:12,960
even if I wanted
black people to stay,
1377
01:17:13,187 --> 01:17:15,796
there is no way that
the average white person
1378
01:17:16,023 --> 01:17:18,357
would ever allow
black people to exist
1379
01:17:18,450 --> 01:17:20,192
without the threat of violence
1380
01:17:20,211 --> 01:17:22,544
hanging over them at all times.
1381
01:17:22,639 --> 01:17:24,213
They we don't want to
live next door to you.
1382
01:17:24,365 --> 01:17:25,214
They don't want you to vote.
1383
01:17:25,308 --> 01:17:26,807
They don't want you
on their juries.
1384
01:17:26,959 --> 01:17:28,868
They don't want you to go
to school with their kids.
1385
01:17:28,886 --> 01:17:31,795
They don't want you
anywhere near them.
1386
01:17:31,814 --> 01:17:34,965
And Lincoln said the
way to make people
1387
01:17:35,059 --> 01:17:38,727
feel less physically threatened
and socially threatened
1388
01:17:38,880 --> 01:17:42,064
is to say, after we
get rid of slavery,
1389
01:17:42,216 --> 01:17:44,383
this is gonna again be
a white man's country
1390
01:17:44,402 --> 01:17:45,718
and black people are
gonna go somewhere else
1391
01:17:45,811 --> 01:17:48,162
so we won't have
to worry about it.
1392
01:17:48,389 --> 01:17:52,741
- Keep in mind, the
free north is 99% white.
1393
01:17:52,894 --> 01:17:55,244
And so there is a palpable fear
1394
01:17:55,396 --> 01:17:59,398
among white northerners
of slavery being ended.
1395
01:17:59,491 --> 01:18:01,250
- Especially those who felt
1396
01:18:01,344 --> 01:18:04,753
that they were going to have
to compete with black men
1397
01:18:04,906 --> 01:18:08,165
for the same jobs,
for the same housing.
1398
01:18:08,184 --> 01:18:12,077
Now there were black
men and women as well,
1399
01:18:12,096 --> 01:18:16,432
who believed that the two
races could not co-exist.
1400
01:18:16,584 --> 01:18:20,085
They're just thinking, I am
tired of dealing with this,
1401
01:18:20,104 --> 01:18:22,254
I want out of this country.
1402
01:18:22,273 --> 01:18:25,257
But the majority of
African-Americans
1403
01:18:25,350 --> 01:18:26,701
were not at all interested.
1404
01:18:28,446 --> 01:18:31,263
We sometimes think that by
the time of the Civil War,
1405
01:18:31,282 --> 01:18:33,207
the people who are enslaved
1406
01:18:33,358 --> 01:18:36,193
are people who were
captured in Africa
1407
01:18:36,287 --> 01:18:38,045
and brought to America.
1408
01:18:38,272 --> 01:18:41,273
These are Americans,
they're not citizens,
1409
01:18:41,292 --> 01:18:44,109
but they are native
born Americans.
1410
01:18:44,128 --> 01:18:47,722
And their ancestors had
been here in some instances
1411
01:18:47,873 --> 01:18:49,390
before the Mayflower.
1412
01:18:52,119 --> 01:18:55,879
- Then in August, 1862, Horace
Greeley's New York Tribune
1413
01:18:55,973 --> 01:19:00,568
publishes an editorial called
the Prayer of 20 millions.
1414
01:19:00,719 --> 01:19:03,220
It basically says,
why, Mr. Lincoln,
1415
01:19:03,239 --> 01:19:07,241
are you delaying on issuing
a proclamation of freedom?
1416
01:19:07,392 --> 01:19:08,984
So Lincoln did write,
1417
01:19:09,078 --> 01:19:10,819
I think the most famous
letter to the editor,
1418
01:19:10,972 --> 01:19:12,413
in American history.
1419
01:19:13,732 --> 01:19:15,916
He said, I want to remind you,
1420
01:19:16,068 --> 01:19:20,237
my paramount object in this
struggle is to save the Union.
1421
01:19:20,256 --> 01:19:23,073
If I could save the Union
by freeing all the slaves,
1422
01:19:23,092 --> 01:19:24,574
I would do it.
1423
01:19:24,594 --> 01:19:27,169
If I could save the union by
freeing none of the slaves,
1424
01:19:27,263 --> 01:19:28,745
I would do that.
1425
01:19:28,765 --> 01:19:31,248
If I could save the
union by freeing some
1426
01:19:31,267 --> 01:19:34,268
and leaving others
alone, I would do that.
1427
01:19:36,013 --> 01:19:39,498
Lincoln is by this time
determined to be a liberator,
1428
01:19:39,517 --> 01:19:42,001
but congressional
elections were coming up.
1429
01:19:42,094 --> 01:19:44,445
So first he has set the stage
1430
01:19:44,596 --> 01:19:46,839
among an exclusively
white electorate
1431
01:19:46,932 --> 01:19:49,675
for emancipation to be accepted.
1432
01:19:49,693 --> 01:19:52,011
But his cabinet had
said, you've gotta wait
1433
01:19:52,029 --> 01:19:55,438
for a Union battlefield
victory or people will think
1434
01:19:55,458 --> 01:19:57,699
that this is what
William Seward called,
1435
01:19:57,852 --> 01:20:00,127
a last shriek on the retreat.
1436
01:20:02,965 --> 01:20:05,374
- Meanwhile, Robert E. Lee
will take the initiative.
1437
01:20:05,526 --> 01:20:07,376
From the time he takes command,
1438
01:20:07,528 --> 01:20:08,952
he will drive Union soldiers
1439
01:20:08,971 --> 01:20:11,030
back from the gates of Richmond.
1440
01:20:11,123 --> 01:20:12,364
By the end of August he'll win
1441
01:20:12,457 --> 01:20:14,383
the Second battle of Bull Run.
1442
01:20:14,477 --> 01:20:17,144
And now Lee is looking at
the spires of Washington DC.
1443
01:20:18,889 --> 01:20:20,722
And then what he will write
back to Jefferson Davis is,
1444
01:20:20,875 --> 01:20:22,708
now seems to be the
most propitious time
1445
01:20:22,726 --> 01:20:23,818
since the beginning of this war
1446
01:20:24,045 --> 01:20:25,486
for this army to
enter into Maryland,
1447
01:20:25,637 --> 01:20:27,488
a change of policy
for the Confederacy
1448
01:20:27,639 --> 01:20:29,639
to now invade the north.
1449
01:20:29,659 --> 01:20:32,401
- We're a little over
a year into the war,
1450
01:20:32,553 --> 01:20:34,887
and you're starting to get into
1451
01:20:34,905 --> 01:20:36,497
the effects of public sentiment
1452
01:20:36,724 --> 01:20:39,834
and what people are
thinking and morale.
1453
01:20:39,985 --> 01:20:43,562
- So the idea is Lee
would put pressure
1454
01:20:43,655 --> 01:20:45,914
on President
Lincoln politically,
1455
01:20:46,008 --> 01:20:48,584
and it might lure the Union
army out into a battle
1456
01:20:48,736 --> 01:20:50,010
in which it could be destroyed.
1457
01:20:51,496 --> 01:20:52,662
So he was able to
maneuver his force
1458
01:20:52,682 --> 01:20:54,682
to force a battle at a
place called Antietam.
1459
01:20:57,094 --> 01:21:02,005
- The Battle of Antietam will
unfold on September 17th, 1862
1460
01:21:02,024 --> 01:21:06,694
on beautiful rolling
farmland of Western Maryland.
1461
01:21:08,030 --> 01:21:10,013
The morning fighting will happen
1462
01:21:10,032 --> 01:21:13,258
on the right flank of the Union.
1463
01:21:13,277 --> 01:21:15,110
The union army
will go to the north,
1464
01:21:15,262 --> 01:21:18,038
they will attack across famous
places like the cornfield.
1465
01:21:19,934 --> 01:21:20,933
The
fighting that occurred
1466
01:21:20,951 --> 01:21:23,526
in Miller's cornfield
was so severe
1467
01:21:23,546 --> 01:21:25,621
that the cornstalks were
cut all the way down
1468
01:21:25,715 --> 01:21:26,547
to their bottom.
1469
01:21:28,050 --> 01:21:30,384
- Then the battle shifts to
the middle of Lee's line,
1470
01:21:30,535 --> 01:21:31,793
a sunken road.
1471
01:21:31,888 --> 01:21:34,279
This is a farm lane that
connects the Hagerstown turnpike
1472
01:21:34,373 --> 01:21:36,390
and the Boonsboro turnpike.
1473
01:21:36,617 --> 01:21:38,058
And after wagons going
across it had eroded
1474
01:21:38,210 --> 01:21:39,894
to become a trench line.
1475
01:21:40,045 --> 01:21:41,470
Two under strength
Confederate brigades
1476
01:21:41,622 --> 01:21:43,472
will defend that sunken road
1477
01:21:43,624 --> 01:21:45,065
and two divisions
of the Union army
1478
01:21:45,217 --> 01:21:47,234
will attack that
sunken road repeatedly.
1479
01:22:06,905 --> 01:22:08,923
- Sir, we should fall back.
1480
01:22:10,484 --> 01:22:12,259
- No, sergeant, we're
gonna end this now.
1481
01:22:15,414 --> 01:22:16,764
On your feet, men!
1482
01:22:17,934 --> 01:22:19,416
Charge!
1483
01:22:42,441 --> 01:22:45,960
Come on, boys, go go go!
1484
01:22:48,539 --> 01:22:50,447
- After two and a half
hours of fighting,
1485
01:22:50,466 --> 01:22:53,358
that Confederate line
will finally break.
1486
01:22:53,377 --> 01:22:55,803
But McClellan will commit
no more forces to it.
1487
01:22:57,531 --> 01:22:59,807
- By the time all is
said and done here,
1488
01:23:00,034 --> 01:23:01,809
the road is simply
littered with bodies.
1489
01:23:02,886 --> 01:23:05,145
It is more or less a graveyard.
1490
01:23:06,724 --> 01:23:08,482
And that's why it's
called Bloody Lane.
1491
01:23:10,802 --> 01:23:11,819
- Antietam was horrible.
1492
01:23:13,472 --> 01:23:15,972
The thing about Antietam,
though, that becomes important
1493
01:23:15,992 --> 01:23:17,992
is that Lincoln needed a win.
1494
01:23:18,143 --> 01:23:18,993
He's not doing really well
1495
01:23:19,220 --> 01:23:21,161
in the Spring and
the Summer of '62.
1496
01:23:22,665 --> 01:23:26,316
Antietam gives him
permission to issue
1497
01:23:26,335 --> 01:23:29,394
the Emancipation
Proclamation to the south
1498
01:23:29,488 --> 01:23:31,839
and change the
course of the war.
1499
01:23:48,173 --> 01:23:50,691
- Antietam's the first battle
that will be photographed.
1500
01:23:53,863 --> 01:23:58,257
The scenes of the sunken road
are absolutely heartrending.
1501
01:23:58,275 --> 01:24:01,518
People can't believe the
carnage that has happened
1502
01:24:01,537 --> 01:24:02,536
from this one battle.
1503
01:24:03,947 --> 01:24:06,615
Once these images are produced,
1504
01:24:06,767 --> 01:24:09,001
the reality of
war sets in fully.
1505
01:24:17,111 --> 01:24:21,037
- McClellan had 12,000
fresh troops in reserve.
1506
01:24:21,057 --> 01:24:22,806
He could have used
them to destroy Lee.
1507
01:24:24,301 --> 01:24:26,393
Instead he let him escape
over the river to Virginia.
1508
01:24:27,396 --> 01:24:28,562
Papers want his head.
1509
01:24:30,291 --> 01:24:32,958
- Well, McClellan has never
been one to embrace opportunity,
1510
01:24:32,976 --> 01:24:35,402
but we chased him out of
Maryland, still a victory.
1511
01:24:36,964 --> 01:24:37,696
- It is.
1512
01:24:39,408 --> 01:24:41,075
- Now I can release
the proclamation.
1513
01:24:43,654 --> 01:24:46,822
John, I want the cabinet
here as soon as possible,
1514
01:24:46,974 --> 01:24:48,565
for final remarks on the draft
1515
01:24:48,584 --> 01:24:50,492
in time for the
afternoon additions.
1516
01:24:50,644 --> 01:24:51,376
- Yes, sir.
1517
01:24:58,076 --> 01:25:00,243
- What kind of villain you think
the papers will make of me?
1518
01:25:00,262 --> 01:25:01,261
- It won't be pretty.
1519
01:25:05,267 --> 01:25:07,601
- I expect abuse from
the Democrat papers,
1520
01:25:07,752 --> 01:25:11,421
but the friendly ones,
they'll see the wisdom.
1521
01:25:11,440 --> 01:25:13,756
- I'd worry about enlistment.
1522
01:25:13,776 --> 01:25:17,502
They'll say it's a war against
slavery, not for the Union.
1523
01:25:17,521 --> 01:25:19,113
- My word is going
out to the people.
1524
01:25:20,265 --> 01:25:21,281
I won't take it back.
1525
01:25:27,181 --> 01:25:28,956
- Lincoln's the master of this.
1526
01:25:29,107 --> 01:25:31,608
At taking battles and
being able to spin them
1527
01:25:31,702 --> 01:25:32,775
for his needs politically.
1528
01:25:32,795 --> 01:25:35,704
So that was enough for Lincoln
1529
01:25:35,856 --> 01:25:38,206
to be able to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation
1530
01:25:38,300 --> 01:25:41,284
from a position of strength,
as opposed to weakness.
1531
01:25:41,303 --> 01:25:44,304
- So Antietam was
on September 17th,
1532
01:25:44,456 --> 01:25:47,933
by September 22nd, Lincoln
was issuing the proclamation.
1533
01:25:50,053 --> 01:25:52,962
That preliminary proclamation
said you have 100 days
1534
01:25:52,982 --> 01:25:54,890
to either come
back into the Union
1535
01:25:55,042 --> 01:25:57,151
or I'm going to free
your enslaved laborers.
1536
01:26:00,214 --> 01:26:01,880
- Many in the world,
particularly in Britain,
1537
01:26:01,899 --> 01:26:04,549
saw it as just
another political move
1538
01:26:04,568 --> 01:26:06,326
to undermine the Confederacy
1539
01:26:06,478 --> 01:26:09,163
and he wasn't genuinely
committed to it.
1540
01:26:09,390 --> 01:26:11,223
But on the other hand,
for many in Britain,
1541
01:26:11,241 --> 01:26:13,575
that becomes the moment
when Lincoln emerges
1542
01:26:13,727 --> 01:26:15,127
as the Great Emancipator.
1543
01:26:16,730 --> 01:26:18,413
- You have countries
like France and Britain
1544
01:26:18,565 --> 01:26:21,991
who had abolished slavery in
the years and decades prior,
1545
01:26:22,011 --> 01:26:24,661
who were thinking about the idea
1546
01:26:24,680 --> 01:26:26,571
of supporting the Confederacy.
1547
01:26:26,590 --> 01:26:28,331
But they also believe
themselves to be
1548
01:26:28,350 --> 01:26:32,669
very strictly
abolitionist nations.
1549
01:26:32,688 --> 01:26:36,023
And so when Lincoln issues
this Emancipation Proclamation,
1550
01:26:36,174 --> 01:26:38,266
Britain and France
largely back off.
1551
01:26:38,419 --> 01:26:40,694
And they said, well, we're
not gonna support this nation
1552
01:26:40,921 --> 01:26:43,588
that is founded
and predicated upon
1553
01:26:43,682 --> 01:26:45,590
the institution
of human bondage,
1554
01:26:45,609 --> 01:26:50,037
which runs counter to
our very political ethos.
1555
01:26:53,116 --> 01:26:57,769
- Meanwhile, on October 1st,
Lincoln travels out to Antietam
1556
01:26:57,788 --> 01:27:01,030
and he has a conference
with McClellan.
1557
01:27:01,050 --> 01:27:02,290
McClellan has
asked him to go out
1558
01:27:02,443 --> 01:27:03,717
and look at the battlefield.
1559
01:27:03,868 --> 01:27:06,553
And Lincoln is really
disgusted that he's showing him
1560
01:27:06,780 --> 01:27:08,463
all of these wonderful
things that happened
1561
01:27:08,615 --> 01:27:09,631
on the battlefield,
1562
01:27:09,725 --> 01:27:12,726
and yet this hadn't
been a decisive victory.
1563
01:27:12,953 --> 01:27:15,545
- McClellan had so
many troops in reserve
1564
01:27:15,564 --> 01:27:19,233
that are never put into action
and Lee had so few troops
1565
01:27:19,460 --> 01:27:22,236
that had all fought
throughout the day,
1566
01:27:22,463 --> 01:27:25,239
that had McClellan
pushed a little harder
1567
01:27:25,390 --> 01:27:27,315
there is reason to believe
1568
01:27:27,468 --> 01:27:31,060
that he could have destroyed
Lee's army that day
1569
01:27:31,154 --> 01:27:32,246
and perhaps ended the war.
1570
01:27:41,257 --> 01:27:44,499
- I did the absolute best
with what you gave me.
1571
01:27:44,651 --> 01:27:45,884
- And I gave you all I could.
1572
01:27:48,246 --> 01:27:51,172
- Do you want me to go
over strategy with you?
1573
01:27:51,325 --> 01:27:52,933
- Don't trouble
yourself general.
1574
01:27:54,270 --> 01:27:55,418
I will need to know the
strength and location
1575
01:27:55,437 --> 01:27:57,420
of all of our troops,
1576
01:27:57,514 --> 01:28:00,107
and the condition if you know
it, of the Confederate forces.
1577
01:28:01,777 --> 01:28:02,442
- That's all?
1578
01:28:03,612 --> 01:28:06,071
- Yes, that's all.
1579
01:28:11,453 --> 01:28:13,512
- There are elections coming up.
1580
01:28:13,530 --> 01:28:16,606
McClellan is very popular,
not only among his troops,
1581
01:28:16,625 --> 01:28:18,350
but among Democrats in the north
1582
01:28:18,368 --> 01:28:20,961
so Lincoln doesn't
want to fire him yet.
1583
01:28:21,188 --> 01:28:24,706
But the day after the
midterm elections,
1584
01:28:24,858 --> 01:28:26,466
Lincoln will fire McClellan.
1585
01:28:29,713 --> 01:28:32,139
- So Lincoln had waited
until the Battle of Antietam
1586
01:28:32,290 --> 01:28:34,290
to announce that he
was going to issue
1587
01:28:34,310 --> 01:28:37,126
on the Emancipation
Proclamation in January.
1588
01:28:37,146 --> 01:28:38,887
And between
September and January
1589
01:28:39,039 --> 01:28:40,889
the blowback was so great
1590
01:28:41,041 --> 01:28:43,633
that many people thought
he might not sign it.
1591
01:28:43,727 --> 01:28:47,804
The Republicans lost lots of
seats in the midterm elections,
1592
01:28:47,898 --> 01:28:49,214
the conservative Democrats
1593
01:28:49,232 --> 01:28:51,825
who were against emancipation
doubled in number,
1594
01:28:51,976 --> 01:28:54,119
leaving the Republicans
with a thin majority.
1595
01:28:55,906 --> 01:28:57,739
What people in the north feared
1596
01:28:57,891 --> 01:28:59,649
is that now the
south would never
1597
01:28:59,668 --> 01:29:01,743
come to the bargaining table.
1598
01:29:01,837 --> 01:29:04,671
This would mean the war
would be prolonged forever.
1599
01:29:04,898 --> 01:29:07,916
- Lincoln's aware of
all of these things.
1600
01:29:08,068 --> 01:29:10,068
He's being political about it,
1601
01:29:10,087 --> 01:29:11,845
but he's also being
thoughtful about it.
1602
01:29:15,092 --> 01:29:18,000
- On New Year's Eve
people are gathered
1603
01:29:18,020 --> 01:29:20,187
in black communities
throughout the north.
1604
01:29:21,582 --> 01:29:24,191
People are just
waiting on tenterhooks.
1605
01:29:24,342 --> 01:29:27,009
- There was what
we call Watch Night
1606
01:29:27,029 --> 01:29:30,255
where Douglass was with a
group of abolitionist friends
1607
01:29:30,273 --> 01:29:33,533
waiting to see if Lincoln
would keep his word.
1608
01:29:46,215 --> 01:29:49,031
- Well, no telegram yet.
1609
01:29:49,051 --> 01:29:51,276
- He said he'd sign it today,
1610
01:29:51,294 --> 01:29:53,011
And I believe he's
a man of his word.
1611
01:29:55,224 --> 01:29:56,723
I can wait a few minutes longer.
1612
01:30:24,402 --> 01:30:28,088
- I don't hope folks will
think I doubted this.
1613
01:30:44,181 --> 01:30:45,939
My whole soul is in it.
1614
01:31:07,612 --> 01:31:08,687
- The morning that
Lincoln signed
1615
01:31:08,780 --> 01:31:10,205
the Emancipation Proclamation,
1616
01:31:10,357 --> 01:31:13,449
there'd been a big New Year's
reception at the White House
1617
01:31:13,469 --> 01:31:15,785
and he had shaken
hundreds of hands.
1618
01:31:15,879 --> 01:31:16,970
So when he went finally
1619
01:31:17,197 --> 01:31:19,121
to sign the Emancipation
Proclamation
1620
01:31:19,141 --> 01:31:21,549
his own hand was
numb and shaking.
1621
01:31:21,702 --> 01:31:23,384
He put the pen down, he said,
1622
01:31:23,479 --> 01:31:25,979
if ever my soul were in
an act, it is in this act.
1623
01:31:26,206 --> 01:31:28,039
But if I sign with
a shaking hand,
1624
01:31:28,132 --> 01:31:30,558
posterity will say he hesitated.
1625
01:31:30,652 --> 01:31:32,802
So he waited and waited
until he could sign
1626
01:31:32,821 --> 01:31:34,988
with an unusually
bold and clear hand.
1627
01:31:36,066 --> 01:31:37,657
- It cannot be overstated
1628
01:31:37,884 --> 01:31:40,660
how consequential
this document was.
1629
01:31:40,812 --> 01:31:42,721
With the stroke of a pen
1630
01:31:42,739 --> 01:31:46,241
Lincoln through the authority
he has in that moment,
1631
01:31:46,393 --> 01:31:48,226
frees millions of
enslaved people
1632
01:31:48,319 --> 01:31:49,669
in these Confederate states.
1633
01:32:00,999 --> 01:32:03,742
- It's coming over the wire now!
1634
01:32:29,436 --> 01:32:32,862
- It was a great
celebration that broke out.
1635
01:32:32,956 --> 01:32:36,032
Douglass was said to have a
great baritone singing voice
1636
01:32:36,051 --> 01:32:37,792
and I'm sure he was out there
1637
01:32:37,944 --> 01:32:40,128
singing at the top of his lungs
1638
01:32:40,222 --> 01:32:43,873
in celebration that this
document was finally signed,
1639
01:32:43,892 --> 01:32:47,376
which would change the
balance of the war.
1640
01:32:47,470 --> 01:32:51,956
- Emancipation creates a new
ethos for why people fight.
1641
01:32:52,050 --> 01:32:53,400
Yeah, to keep the
Union together.
1642
01:32:54,477 --> 01:32:57,404
But now it's a freedom fight
1643
01:32:57,555 --> 01:32:59,221
that goes back to the
founding of our nation,
1644
01:32:59,241 --> 01:33:01,408
was about freedom and justice.
1645
01:33:02,969 --> 01:33:06,062
- Later on, Lincoln
says that emancipation
1646
01:33:06,081 --> 01:33:09,565
was the central act
of his administration.
1647
01:33:09,585 --> 01:33:11,751
He doesn't say saving the Union.
1648
01:33:11,903 --> 01:33:13,420
He says, emancipation.
1649
01:33:14,664 --> 01:33:16,089
- Not too many weeks later,
1650
01:33:16,316 --> 01:33:18,650
Joshua Speed comes
to the White House
1651
01:33:18,743 --> 01:33:20,335
and he reminds his old friend
1652
01:33:20,487 --> 01:33:21,744
of that conversation
they had had
1653
01:33:21,763 --> 01:33:24,172
a quarter of a century before
1654
01:33:24,266 --> 01:33:26,324
when he said that he
would just as soon die,
1655
01:33:26,417 --> 01:33:28,009
but he had not yet done anything
1656
01:33:28,103 --> 01:33:31,253
to make any human being
remember that he had lived.
1657
01:33:31,348 --> 01:33:34,682
And then he said to Speed,
perhaps in this proclamation
1658
01:33:34,835 --> 01:33:36,776
my fondest wish
will be realized.
1659
01:33:39,506 --> 01:33:41,781
- I had the Emancipation
Proclamation,
1660
01:33:42,008 --> 01:33:44,192
one of the handfuls
of original documents
1661
01:33:44,344 --> 01:33:45,952
in the Oval Office.
1662
01:33:46,104 --> 01:33:48,288
When you stand there
and you read it,
1663
01:33:48,515 --> 01:33:50,773
it is very much a
military document.
1664
01:33:50,792 --> 01:33:53,034
It is full of caveats.
1665
01:33:53,128 --> 01:33:55,111
You're thinkin', oh, you
know, this is gonna be
1666
01:33:55,130 --> 01:33:57,464
a clarion call for
freedom and justice.
1667
01:33:57,615 --> 01:33:59,132
That's not what it is.
1668
01:33:59,359 --> 01:34:01,968
And yet Lincoln was
willing to stake
1669
01:34:02,120 --> 01:34:03,470
everything that he's done,
1670
01:34:03,621 --> 01:34:07,807
everything he's fought for,
to decide once and for all,
1671
01:34:07,959 --> 01:34:11,311
this will be a free house
and not a slave house.
1672
01:34:11,462 --> 01:34:13,813
- African-Americans
were ecstatic.
1673
01:34:14,040 --> 01:34:17,150
Even those who took
issue with the idea
1674
01:34:17,301 --> 01:34:21,062
that not everybody got their
freedom, they understood
1675
01:34:21,156 --> 01:34:23,548
that this was the beginning
of the end for slavery.
1676
01:34:23,641 --> 01:34:27,494
Douglass says, if
Virginia is free
1677
01:34:27,721 --> 01:34:30,722
Maryland can't be
enslaved for much longer.
1678
01:34:30,740 --> 01:34:32,999
You're going to have to
end slavery in Kentucky,
1679
01:34:33,151 --> 01:34:35,835
gonna have to end it in
Delaware and Missouri.
1680
01:34:36,062 --> 01:34:38,838
Also, the proclamation
gave authority
1681
01:34:39,065 --> 01:34:43,902
to bring black men
into the Army and Navy.
1682
01:34:43,920 --> 01:34:45,570
- This is because
Frederick Douglass,
1683
01:34:45,588 --> 01:34:47,739
had been advocating
to allow free men
1684
01:34:47,757 --> 01:34:51,184
and these contraband enslaved
men to join the Army.
1685
01:34:52,579 --> 01:34:53,520
And Lincoln agrees,
1686
01:34:53,747 --> 01:34:56,172
so it is the
Emancipation Proclamation
1687
01:34:56,266 --> 01:35:00,694
that actually establishes the
United States colored troops.
1688
01:35:00,921 --> 01:35:03,438
- That was believed
that especially after
1689
01:35:03,532 --> 01:35:05,014
the proclamation,
1690
01:35:05,033 --> 01:35:08,868
if you deserved freedom, you
needed to fight for freedom.
1691
01:35:10,597 --> 01:35:12,597
- I don't see
before me property.
1692
01:35:12,615 --> 01:35:14,207
I see men.
1693
01:35:14,434 --> 01:35:17,043
I don't see slaves,
I see people.
1694
01:35:17,195 --> 01:35:20,939
So what better defense against
the hand of the slave holder
1695
01:35:21,032 --> 01:35:23,216
than the hand of the slave?
1696
01:35:23,367 --> 01:35:25,552
What better way to
prove our humanity?
1697
01:35:28,706 --> 01:35:30,390
What's your question, sir.
1698
01:35:30,541 --> 01:35:33,059
- Will we get uniforms,
like the whites?
1699
01:35:41,962 --> 01:35:44,070
- You want to prove
you're a man, don't you?
1700
01:35:44,297 --> 01:35:45,296
- Yes.
1701
01:35:45,315 --> 01:35:47,073
- You deserve to be
treated like one.
1702
01:35:48,559 --> 01:35:50,651
You're gonna get a
uniform, and a gun.
1703
01:35:50,746 --> 01:35:52,061
-Yes sir.
1704
01:35:52,155 --> 01:35:55,081
And when you got those
brass buttons on your chest
1705
01:35:55,233 --> 01:35:58,752
and a musket on your shoulder
and bullets in your pockets,
1706
01:35:58,903 --> 01:36:00,828
there's no one on
earth can tell you
1707
01:36:00,981 --> 01:36:03,256
you're not a citizen and a man.
1708
01:36:05,168 --> 01:36:06,501
Can you see it?
1709
01:36:06,595 --> 01:36:07,260
- Oh, yes, sir.
1710
01:36:09,264 --> 01:36:11,431
- Go see these gents behind
me and sign your name.
1711
01:36:14,327 --> 01:36:15,584
How about you, sir?
1712
01:36:15,678 --> 01:36:17,086
You want to do it?
1713
01:36:17,105 --> 01:36:20,348
- When you think about his
own sons, Louis and Charles,
1714
01:36:20,442 --> 01:36:23,276
who he recruited into the
Massachusetts 54th regiment,
1715
01:36:25,338 --> 01:36:28,615
that's really putting his
money where his mouth is.
1716
01:36:28,766 --> 01:36:31,526
They were free, but yet they
would risk their own freedom
1717
01:36:31,620 --> 01:36:35,179
and their own lives to go
and fight in the Civil War
1718
01:36:35,198 --> 01:36:37,773
because that's how important
that cause was to them.
1719
01:36:37,867 --> 01:36:40,794
That's how important the cause
was to Frederick Douglas.
1720
01:36:43,023 --> 01:36:44,856
- Many people in the
south were furious.
1721
01:36:44,874 --> 01:36:47,542
You know, this is what they
feared during the 1860 election
1722
01:36:47,636 --> 01:36:50,545
and they thought that it
would create slave rebellions
1723
01:36:50,639 --> 01:36:51,863
across the south.
1724
01:36:51,956 --> 01:36:53,289
They thought it would
create insurrections.
1725
01:36:53,308 --> 01:36:55,049
They thought that he not only
1726
01:36:55,201 --> 01:36:56,810
was taking away their property,
1727
01:36:56,961 --> 01:37:01,205
but putting their lives in
danger in a profound way.
1728
01:37:01,224 --> 01:37:05,043
- So once emancipation is one
of the twin goals of the war,
1729
01:37:05,136 --> 01:37:06,820
it must embolden
the south to know
1730
01:37:07,047 --> 01:37:08,988
that we have to win this
war unconditionally.
1731
01:37:11,568 --> 01:37:15,219
- So Robert E. Lee once
again steals the initiative.
1732
01:37:15,238 --> 01:37:18,832
He marches for a second time
on a raid into the north.
1733
01:37:20,651 --> 01:37:21,893
Through northern Virginia,
1734
01:37:21,986 --> 01:37:24,337
across Maryland,
into Pennsylvania,
1735
01:37:24,488 --> 01:37:26,840
and the Union army of the
Potomac is on its heels.
1736
01:37:28,659 --> 01:37:31,919
- As Lee's army moved through
south central Pennsylvania,
1737
01:37:32,072 --> 01:37:35,923
they had no compunction
about rounding up
1738
01:37:36,017 --> 01:37:39,185
any black people they
could find in Pennsylvania,
1739
01:37:39,337 --> 01:37:41,837
shackling them together,
and shipping them south
1740
01:37:41,857 --> 01:37:45,191
to be sold in the slave
marts of Richmond.
1741
01:38:24,307 --> 01:38:25,547
- Meade is positioned here.
1742
01:38:25,567 --> 01:38:27,291
You can either defend Washington
1743
01:38:27,385 --> 01:38:29,235
or go after Lee in Pennsylvania.
1744
01:38:30,554 --> 01:38:32,647
- Where's Lee?
- We're not sure.
1745
01:38:32,741 --> 01:38:33,981
Somewhere here.
1746
01:38:34,075 --> 01:38:36,225
We think he was trying to
keep this mountain pass
1747
01:38:36,244 --> 01:38:38,912
between him and any troops
Meade may send his way.
1748
01:38:39,897 --> 01:38:41,322
- What's the nearest town?
1749
01:38:41,416 --> 01:38:42,248
- Gettysburg.
1750
01:38:48,481 --> 01:38:50,256
- What if we catch
Lee in the field here,
1751
01:38:51,501 --> 01:38:52,425
or in Pennsylvania?
1752
01:38:53,911 --> 01:38:55,929
That may be the best
chance to destroy his army.
1753
01:38:56,839 --> 01:38:57,764
- One big battle.
1754
01:38:59,601 --> 01:39:01,601
- What if Lee's thinking
the exact same thing?
1755
01:39:03,346 --> 01:39:05,104
- Then we're both looking
at the end of this war,
1756
01:39:05,256 --> 01:39:06,105
one way or the other.
1757
01:39:10,278 --> 01:39:13,095
- When Robert E. Lee decides
to advance into Pennsylvania,
1758
01:39:13,114 --> 01:39:14,763
another invasion of the north,
1759
01:39:14,783 --> 01:39:16,932
we are roughly two
years into the war.
1760
01:39:16,952 --> 01:39:18,843
There's hundreds of
thousands of dead,
1761
01:39:18,936 --> 01:39:20,954
and there's really
no end in sight.
1762
01:39:21,181 --> 01:39:22,513
- Lee wants to put
pressure on the north,
1763
01:39:22,532 --> 01:39:24,958
so we want to go north again
1764
01:39:25,185 --> 01:39:28,035
and force the north
to defend themselves.
1765
01:39:28,188 --> 01:39:29,629
Second, Lee wants to get the war
1766
01:39:29,856 --> 01:39:31,130
out of Virginia
for a while again,
1767
01:39:31,282 --> 01:39:32,966
he wants to give
Virginia a chance
1768
01:39:33,117 --> 01:39:35,193
to grow crops and harvest.
1769
01:39:35,211 --> 01:39:40,198
And because his army had
defined a decisive battle.
1770
01:39:40,700 --> 01:39:42,049
- And so what he's trying to do
1771
01:39:42,143 --> 01:39:44,719
is provide the ultimate evidence
to that northern population
1772
01:39:44,871 --> 01:39:46,628
that the magnitude of
sacrifice for this war
1773
01:39:46,648 --> 01:39:48,372
is no longer worth it.
1774
01:39:48,391 --> 01:39:50,725
We see this growing war
weariness in the north.
1775
01:39:50,877 --> 01:39:53,377
That's how Lee refers to it,
this growing war weariness.
1776
01:39:53,396 --> 01:39:54,729
It shows up in the
mid-term elections
1777
01:39:54,881 --> 01:39:55,971
where the Republicans lose seats
1778
01:39:55,991 --> 01:39:57,398
in the House of Representatives.
1779
01:39:57,492 --> 01:39:58,825
How much longer?
1780
01:39:59,052 --> 01:40:01,160
How much more is this gonna
cost in lives and dollars?
1781
01:40:03,723 --> 01:40:06,165
- Lincoln is starting
to come into his own
1782
01:40:06,317 --> 01:40:07,575
as Commander in Chief.
1783
01:40:07,669 --> 01:40:11,153
He's trying to find someone
who will chase after Lee
1784
01:40:11,172 --> 01:40:13,898
and destroy the army
in northern Virginia.
1785
01:40:13,991 --> 01:40:15,675
He turns to George Gordon Meade.
1786
01:40:17,178 --> 01:40:19,345
George Gordon Meade
lived in Pennsylvania.
1787
01:40:19,497 --> 01:40:23,407
He was a battle-hardened veteran
of the army of the Potomac.
1788
01:40:23,426 --> 01:40:28,337
- And the reason Meade is
chosen is in large part
1789
01:40:28,356 --> 01:40:30,598
because Lincoln's running
out of generals elsewhere.
1790
01:40:30,692 --> 01:40:33,251
He started with Irwin
McDowell, got rid of him,
1791
01:40:33,269 --> 01:40:35,436
and then McClellan,
got rid of him.
1792
01:40:35,588 --> 01:40:38,698
Then John Pope and
then Burnside, Booker,
1793
01:40:38,849 --> 01:40:41,200
and Meade is just
simply the next in line,
1794
01:40:41,427 --> 01:40:43,870
and he only has command
just a short while
1795
01:40:44,021 --> 01:40:45,371
before he has to fight
1796
01:40:45,598 --> 01:40:48,875
really what is the climactic
battle of the eastern theater.
1797
01:40:51,788 --> 01:40:54,213
- Union calvary will ride
in to Gettysburg on the 30th
1798
01:40:54,440 --> 01:40:56,198
and they'll accomplish
the first orders
1799
01:40:56,292 --> 01:40:57,383
that Lincoln gives Meade,
1800
01:40:57,535 --> 01:41:00,294
which is find. Robert
E. Lee, and they do.
1801
01:41:00,388 --> 01:41:02,129
They find two thirds
of the Confederate army
1802
01:41:02,223 --> 01:41:04,782
are down to the west, one
third are off to the north.
1803
01:41:04,875 --> 01:41:06,542
The next morning on July 1st
1804
01:41:06,561 --> 01:41:08,728
Confederates'll march down
the road from the west.
1805
01:41:08,879 --> 01:41:10,212
Lieutenant Marcellus Jones
1806
01:41:10,231 --> 01:41:12,139
borrows Sergeant Levi
Shaffer's carbine
1807
01:41:12,233 --> 01:41:14,883
rested on a fence rail and
it's 7:30 in the morning.
1808
01:41:14,977 --> 01:41:17,236
Squeeze off the first shot
of the battle of Gettysburg.
1809
01:41:18,406 --> 01:41:19,797
This is a meeting engagement.
1810
01:41:19,816 --> 01:41:21,741
Both sides will send
in reinforcements
1811
01:41:21,892 --> 01:41:25,727
and what starts off as a spark
will throw like a wildfire.
1812
01:41:25,822 --> 01:41:29,064
- The Union army of the
Potomac is holding a position
1813
01:41:29,158 --> 01:41:33,477
just north of the city with a
couple of brigades of cavalry.
1814
01:41:33,496 --> 01:41:35,830
The Union puts up
one heck of a fight
1815
01:41:35,982 --> 01:41:37,498
and is able to delay
the Confederate army
1816
01:41:37,592 --> 01:41:38,925
for several hours
1817
01:41:39,076 --> 01:41:43,262
to allow for the Union to
bring up infantry support.
1818
01:41:44,674 --> 01:41:47,100
Robert E. Lee is going
to bring every soldier
1819
01:41:47,251 --> 01:41:50,085
he possibly can, overwhelm
the Union army of the Potomac,
1820
01:41:50,105 --> 01:41:52,772
and push them back through
the city of Gettysburg.
1821
01:41:52,999 --> 01:41:55,333
- The rest of the
day for the Yankees
1822
01:41:55,426 --> 01:41:58,002
seems like a dramatic defeat.
1823
01:41:58,020 --> 01:42:01,172
Yankees are running through
the center of Gettysburg.
1824
01:42:01,190 --> 01:42:02,189
Some of 'em are breaking off
1825
01:42:02,283 --> 01:42:05,025
and hidin' in addicts
and in cellars.
1826
01:43:02,826 --> 01:43:03,843
- By the end of the day,
1827
01:43:04,070 --> 01:43:06,828
it seemed as though
Lee had in fact won,
1828
01:43:06,923 --> 01:43:07,996
exactly the kind of fight
1829
01:43:08,090 --> 01:43:10,516
he thought he was
going to have to fight.
1830
01:43:10,668 --> 01:43:13,260
A Union force blunders
into his hands,
1831
01:43:13,413 --> 01:43:15,913
is defeated, is thrown back.
1832
01:43:15,932 --> 01:43:17,172
The only hitch of course was
1833
01:43:17,192 --> 01:43:19,358
that they hadn't been
thrown completely back.
1834
01:43:19,510 --> 01:43:21,027
They were still
holding Cemetery Hill
1835
01:43:28,594 --> 01:43:31,162
Come on.
1836
01:43:57,065 --> 01:44:00,382
Lincoln is in Washington
and he is anxious
1837
01:44:00,401 --> 01:44:01,567
for what is happening.
1838
01:44:02,737 --> 01:44:05,312
He knows that
fighting is going on,
1839
01:44:06,632 --> 01:44:09,891
but both of these armies are
out beyond the immediate reach
1840
01:44:09,986 --> 01:44:11,986
of telegraph and railroad.
1841
01:44:12,138 --> 01:44:15,656
So the only news is fragmentary,
1842
01:44:15,750 --> 01:44:19,477
bits and pieces that are
floating through the newspapers,
1843
01:44:19,495 --> 01:44:21,420
through couriers.
1844
01:44:21,572 --> 01:44:23,589
There are wild rumors,
1845
01:44:23,816 --> 01:44:25,983
complete defeat of the
Confederate forces,
1846
01:44:26,002 --> 01:44:28,819
followed by complete
defeat of the Union forces.
1847
01:44:28,838 --> 01:44:31,931
But nothing entirely clear,
nothing entirely certain.
1848
01:44:32,082 --> 01:44:35,417
He's going to have to
wait, he has no choice.
1849
01:44:42,944 --> 01:44:47,262
- Our fathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation.
1850
01:44:47,282 --> 01:44:49,282
- We might not stand a chance.
1851
01:44:49,433 --> 01:44:51,433
- Go after Lee's army now.
1852
01:44:51,527 --> 01:44:53,010
- We'll hold off for now.
1853
01:44:53,103 --> 01:44:55,029
- General-
- I said we'll hold off!
1854
01:44:55,181 --> 01:44:57,105
- He can't let Lee get away.
1855
01:44:57,125 --> 01:44:59,274
- Tell me again why
Robert isn't fighting?
1856
01:44:59,368 --> 01:45:00,518
- Because I won't let him.
1857
01:45:00,536 --> 01:45:01,852
- Come on.
- What, are you?
1858
01:45:01,871 --> 01:45:03,129
- Douglass?
1859
01:45:03,280 --> 01:45:06,040
- When we're doing waiting,
what will be left of us?
1860
01:45:06,134 --> 01:45:08,467
- If I turn my back on
the black soldiers now
1861
01:45:08,619 --> 01:45:10,878
I will be damned in
time and eternity.
1862
01:45:13,457 --> 01:45:14,548
I'd like to start
with a campaign-
1863
01:45:14,642 --> 01:45:15,549
- Mr. President.
1864
01:45:15,701 --> 01:45:17,201
I have my own plan.
1865
01:45:17,219 --> 01:45:19,870
- The plain truth is that I'm
likely to lose this election.
1866
01:45:19,889 --> 01:45:22,556
Everything I've
done will be undone.
1867
01:45:22,708 --> 01:45:24,708
- We don't have to go
to the theater, do we?
1868
01:45:24,802 --> 01:45:26,152
I'd much rather stay.
146579
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