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Original production
of "the civil war"
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was made possible by
generous contributions
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00:00:06,924 --> 00:00:10,386
from these funders.
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And by the corporation for
public broadcasting and by
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00:00:15,057 --> 00:00:18,019
contributions to your PBS
station from viewers like you,
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00:00:18,185 --> 00:00:19,520
thank you.
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Corporate funding for
this special 25th anniversary
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presentation was provided by.
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Before thousands
fell on the battlefield,
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00:00:30,364 --> 00:00:33,701
before millions were
freed and before a country
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forged its identity...
A nation declared a new
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birth of freedom,
rededicating itself to the
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proposition that all
men are created equal.
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Bank of America is proud
to sponsor "the civil war,"
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00:00:48,507 --> 00:00:50,509
a film by Ken burns,
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00:00:50,676 --> 00:00:53,971
newly restored for
it's 25th anniversary.
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"I require able-bodied men
with good horse and gun.
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"I wish none but those who
desire to be actively engaged.
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"Come on, boys,
if you want a heap of fun
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and to kill some Yankees."
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Nathan Bedford Forrest.
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Bedford Forrest's granddaughter
lived here in Memphis.
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She recently died,
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and I got to know her,
25
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and she even let me swing
the general's saber
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around my head once,
which was a great treat,
27
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and I had thought a long time,
and I called her and said,
28
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"I think the war produced
two authentic geniuses.
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"One of them
was your grandfather,
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00:01:48,734 --> 00:01:50,820
and the other
was Abraham Lincoln."
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And there was a silence
at the other end of the phone,
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and she said,
"well, you know, in our family,
33
00:01:55,908 --> 00:01:58,577
we never thought much
of Mr. Lincoln."
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00:01:58,744 --> 00:02:00,996
She didn't like my
coupling her grandfather
35
00:02:01,163 --> 00:02:04,834
with Abraham Lincoln
all these years later.
36
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,670
Southerners are very strange
about that war.
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00:02:21,642 --> 00:02:24,603
There was fighting
all across the country--
38
00:02:24,770 --> 00:02:28,357
at the Sabine crossroads near
the Texas-Louisiana border
39
00:02:28,524 --> 00:02:30,484
and down the red river,
40
00:02:30,651 --> 00:02:32,862
on the little blue in Missouri,
41
00:02:33,028 --> 00:02:36,615
at poison spring
and Jenkins ferry in Arkansas,
42
00:02:36,782 --> 00:02:39,285
and far out in Indian territory.
43
00:02:46,876 --> 00:02:49,128
By the summer of 1864,
44
00:02:49,295 --> 00:02:52,965
the union initiative
had ground to a halt.
45
00:02:53,132 --> 00:02:56,135
Despite its powerful
industrial machine,
46
00:02:56,302 --> 00:02:59,722
despite increasing hardships
for the south,
47
00:02:59,889 --> 00:03:03,517
the north was losing
control of the war.
48
00:03:03,684 --> 00:03:05,895
As the casualty lists
grew longer,
49
00:03:06,061 --> 00:03:08,898
opposition to the war increased.
50
00:03:12,902 --> 00:03:15,487
With the presidential
campaign looming,
51
00:03:15,654 --> 00:03:18,449
Abraham Lincoln now knew
he would have to do something
52
00:03:18,616 --> 00:03:21,243
that had never
been done before--
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00:03:21,410 --> 00:03:24,580
submit to a popular election
during civil war
54
00:03:24,747 --> 00:03:26,165
and win it.
55
00:03:28,083 --> 00:03:30,127
"The struggle within
and without,"
56
00:03:30,294 --> 00:03:32,046
an advisor told Lincoln,
57
00:03:32,213 --> 00:03:34,673
"is for
our national existence."
58
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,056
At Petersburg,
Robert E. Lee's entrenched army
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00:03:42,223 --> 00:03:44,683
continued to resist
Ulysses S. Grant's
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00:03:44,850 --> 00:03:47,061
two-month-old siege.
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00:03:47,228 --> 00:03:49,355
To end the stalemate,
62
00:03:49,521 --> 00:03:50,606
union troops were digging
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00:03:50,773 --> 00:03:53,943
deep beneath
the confederate lines.
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00:03:54,109 --> 00:03:56,987
North of Atlanta,
William Tecumseh Sherman
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00:03:57,154 --> 00:03:59,698
would have to blast through
an impenetrable system
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00:03:59,865 --> 00:04:01,992
of trenches, breastworks,
and parapets
67
00:04:02,159 --> 00:04:05,621
to take the city,
if he ever got there.
68
00:04:08,332 --> 00:04:11,877
That summer, in the sweltering
Mississippi heat,
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00:04:12,044 --> 00:04:14,713
confederate general
Nathan bedford Forrest
70
00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:16,382
would cement his reputation
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00:04:16,548 --> 00:04:19,927
as the most terrifying cavalry
commander of the war.
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00:04:20,094 --> 00:04:22,388
Meanwhile,
in the Shenandoah valley,
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00:04:22,554 --> 00:04:25,557
a diminutive union general,
Phil Sheridan,
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00:04:25,724 --> 00:04:26,976
would gleefully wreck
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00:04:27,142 --> 00:04:29,979
every farm and village
he could lay his hands on,
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00:04:30,145 --> 00:04:33,607
while in Richmond, Jefferson
Davis struggled desperately
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00:04:33,774 --> 00:04:37,987
to keep the idea
of the confederacy alive.
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00:04:38,153 --> 00:04:40,406
At the end of the year,
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00:04:40,572 --> 00:04:42,700
union quartermaster
general Montgomery Meigs
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00:04:42,866 --> 00:04:45,411
would lose a son
and bring his grief
81
00:04:45,577 --> 00:04:48,038
to the doorstep
of Robert E. Lee.
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00:04:51,166 --> 00:04:53,669
By the summer of 1864,
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00:04:53,836 --> 00:04:55,004
people could hardly remember
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00:04:55,170 --> 00:04:59,258
that there had ever been
a time without war,
85
00:04:59,425 --> 00:05:02,678
and many did not believe
it would ever end.
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00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:47,056
"Dear Mr. president,
87
00:05:47,222 --> 00:05:50,768
"the tide is setting
strongly against us.
88
00:05:50,934 --> 00:05:52,686
"Two special causes are assigned
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00:05:52,853 --> 00:05:56,065
"to this great reaction
in public sentiment--
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00:05:56,231 --> 00:06:00,069
"the want of military success
at Petersburg and Atlanta
91
00:06:00,235 --> 00:06:03,072
"and the impression
that we are fighting,
92
00:06:03,238 --> 00:06:07,076
not for union, but for
the abolition of slavery."
93
00:06:07,242 --> 00:06:08,494
Henry Raymond,
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00:06:08,660 --> 00:06:11,121
chairman,
republican national committee.
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00:06:20,672 --> 00:06:23,509
The siege of Petersburg went on.
96
00:06:23,675 --> 00:06:26,553
Morale had never been lower.
97
00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,515
"We should never have
wars like this again,"
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00:06:29,681 --> 00:06:32,101
one union soldier said.
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00:06:32,267 --> 00:06:34,103
In less than 6 months,
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00:06:34,269 --> 00:06:37,106
from the wilderness
to Spotsylvania,
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00:06:37,272 --> 00:06:39,108
cold harbor to Petersburg,
102
00:06:39,274 --> 00:06:42,528
Grant had nearly
destroyed his army.
103
00:06:42,694 --> 00:06:44,738
"The people are wild for peace,"
104
00:06:44,905 --> 00:06:46,532
a newspaper reported.
105
00:06:46,698 --> 00:06:50,119
"Lincoln's re-election
is an impossibility."
106
00:06:58,710 --> 00:07:01,130
Nevertheless, 140,000 soldiers
107
00:07:01,296 --> 00:07:04,299
re-enlisted
in the union army.
108
00:07:04,466 --> 00:07:07,136
Pride and patriotism
had much to do with it
109
00:07:07,302 --> 00:07:09,930
and a desire to see
the thing through,
110
00:07:10,097 --> 00:07:13,142
but so did the promise
of a month's furlough.
111
00:07:13,308 --> 00:07:15,769
"3 more years of hell,"
wrote one soldier,
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00:07:15,936 --> 00:07:20,399
"in exchange
for 30 days of heaven--home."
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00:07:24,111 --> 00:07:25,571
Harper's weekly.
114
00:07:25,737 --> 00:07:28,157
"The political campaign
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00:07:28,323 --> 00:07:31,618
"which ends in the election
of the 8th of November
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00:07:31,785 --> 00:07:35,998
"decides the most important
question in history.
117
00:07:36,165 --> 00:07:38,167
"It has always been
the fate of republics
118
00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:41,170
"to be destroyed by faction.
119
00:07:41,336 --> 00:07:45,591
"That fear is
now about to be confirmed
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00:07:45,757 --> 00:07:48,218
or dissipated forever."
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00:07:49,970 --> 00:07:53,182
The key,
everyone knew, was Atlanta.
122
00:07:53,348 --> 00:07:56,185
If Sherman could reach
the railroad hub of the south,
123
00:07:56,351 --> 00:08:00,022
the war might end at last,
124
00:08:00,189 --> 00:08:02,191
but it was the stalemate
in Virginia
125
00:08:02,357 --> 00:08:05,068
that concerned Lincoln now.
126
00:08:16,371 --> 00:08:19,625
"July 4, 1864,
127
00:08:19,791 --> 00:08:22,211
"the glorious fourth
has come again,
128
00:08:22,377 --> 00:08:24,213
"and we have had
quite a celebration
129
00:08:24,379 --> 00:08:26,215
"with guns firing shot and shell
130
00:08:26,381 --> 00:08:29,676
"into Petersburg
to remind them of the day.
131
00:08:29,843 --> 00:08:32,221
"This day makes
4 fourth of Julys
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00:08:32,387 --> 00:08:34,056
"that I have passed in the army,
133
00:08:34,223 --> 00:08:35,849
"the first at camp Clark,
134
00:08:36,016 --> 00:08:37,726
"the second
at Harrison's landing,
135
00:08:37,893 --> 00:08:41,355
"the third at Gettysburg,
and today at Petersburg.
136
00:08:41,522 --> 00:08:45,067
"I had a party of officers
to dine with me.
137
00:08:45,234 --> 00:08:46,860
"This was our bill of fare--
138
00:08:47,027 --> 00:08:51,240
"stewed oysters, canned,
roast Turkey, canned,
139
00:08:51,406 --> 00:08:54,243
"bread pudding, tapioca pudding,
140
00:08:54,409 --> 00:08:56,245
"apple pie made in camp,
141
00:08:56,411 --> 00:08:58,914
lemonade, cigars."
142
00:09:01,041 --> 00:09:02,876
"Tomorrow, if we march,
143
00:09:03,043 --> 00:09:06,255
hardtack and salt pork
will be our fare."
144
00:09:06,421 --> 00:09:08,298
Elisha Hunt Rhodes.
145
00:09:15,430 --> 00:09:18,433
"The enemy throw a number
of shells daily into Petersburg,
146
00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:19,935
"but they do little damage.
147
00:09:20,102 --> 00:09:23,897
"The women and children seem
not to mind them at all.
148
00:09:24,064 --> 00:09:26,900
"On one street yesterday where
such a number of shells burst
149
00:09:27,067 --> 00:09:30,279
"that I would have considered it
a warm place in the field,
150
00:09:30,445 --> 00:09:32,698
"women were passing about
with little concern,
151
00:09:32,864 --> 00:09:34,968
"dodging around a corner
when they heard a shell coming
152
00:09:34,992 --> 00:09:36,712
"or putting their heads
out of their windows
153
00:09:36,743 --> 00:09:38,412
"to see what damage they'd done.
154
00:09:38,579 --> 00:09:40,622
"A lady yesterday sent
Wardlaw and myself
155
00:09:40,789 --> 00:09:42,541
some ice cream and cakes."
156
00:09:42,708 --> 00:09:44,084
Harry Hammond.
157
00:09:48,964 --> 00:09:50,924
To relieve the
pressure on Petersburg,
158
00:09:51,091 --> 00:09:53,010
Lee sent 10,000 men north
159
00:09:53,176 --> 00:09:55,637
to push union troops
out of the Shenandoah
160
00:09:55,804 --> 00:09:58,682
and harass Washington itself.
161
00:09:58,849 --> 00:10:00,642
In charge of the Southern forces
162
00:10:00,809 --> 00:10:02,311
was a ruthless
confederate general
163
00:10:02,477 --> 00:10:05,105
named Jubal early.
164
00:10:05,272 --> 00:10:08,317
Early attacked fort Stevens,
on the outskirts of Washington,
165
00:10:08,483 --> 00:10:10,902
terrifying the city,
166
00:10:11,069 --> 00:10:13,655
despite the 74 forts
that now made it
167
00:10:13,822 --> 00:10:16,908
the most heavily fortified
city on earth.
168
00:10:24,333 --> 00:10:26,710
Federal troops,
including Elisha Hunt Rhodes,
169
00:10:26,877 --> 00:10:29,338
were hastily brought up
from Petersburg
170
00:10:29,504 --> 00:10:30,714
to protect the capital.
171
00:10:32,382 --> 00:10:35,177
"July 12, 1864.
172
00:10:35,344 --> 00:10:37,638
"We marched in line of battle
into a peach orchard
173
00:10:37,804 --> 00:10:41,058
"in front of fort Stevens,
and here the fight began.
174
00:10:41,224 --> 00:10:43,477
"For a short time
it was warm work,
175
00:10:43,644 --> 00:10:46,480
"but as the president and many
ladies were looking at us,
176
00:10:46,647 --> 00:10:49,274
"every man tried to do his best.
177
00:10:49,441 --> 00:10:51,568
"Without our help,
the small force in the forts
178
00:10:51,735 --> 00:10:53,403
"would have been overpowered.
179
00:10:53,570 --> 00:10:57,157
"Jubal early should have
attacked early in the morning,
180
00:10:57,324 --> 00:11:00,410
but early was late!"
181
00:11:08,043 --> 00:11:10,671
Meanwhile, to stop
William Tecumseh Sherman's
182
00:11:10,837 --> 00:11:12,381
advance on Atlanta,
183
00:11:12,547 --> 00:11:15,967
Nathan bedford Forrest
was also on the move.
184
00:11:19,513 --> 00:11:21,223
You're asking about, uh...
185
00:11:21,390 --> 00:11:24,184
The most man
in the world, in some ways.
186
00:11:24,351 --> 00:11:26,728
Forrest was a natural genius.
187
00:11:26,895 --> 00:11:28,855
Someone said that he was
born to be a soldier
188
00:11:29,022 --> 00:11:32,275
the way John Keats
was born to be a poet.
189
00:11:32,442 --> 00:11:37,823
He had some basic principles
that, when you translate them,
190
00:11:37,989 --> 00:11:40,283
they fit right
into the army manual.
191
00:11:40,450 --> 00:11:43,704
When he said, "get there first
with the most men,"
192
00:11:43,870 --> 00:11:45,956
he's saying,
"take the interior lines
193
00:11:46,123 --> 00:11:49,167
and bring superior force
to bear."
194
00:11:49,334 --> 00:11:50,752
He had some very simple things.
195
00:11:50,919 --> 00:11:54,339
He used to say,
"hit them on the end"
196
00:11:54,506 --> 00:11:56,758
and he used to say,
"keep up the skeer."
197
00:11:56,925 --> 00:11:58,885
And these are all
good military principles
198
00:11:59,052 --> 00:12:00,971
expressed in Forrest's own way.
199
00:12:01,138 --> 00:12:04,057
And he was able to look
at a piece of ground
200
00:12:04,224 --> 00:12:05,767
and see how to use it.
201
00:12:05,934 --> 00:12:08,437
He had a marvelous sense
of topography.
202
00:12:08,603 --> 00:12:11,440
He could see
the key to a position
203
00:12:11,606 --> 00:12:13,233
and know where to hit.
204
00:12:14,526 --> 00:12:16,069
"Forrest,"
205
00:12:16,236 --> 00:12:17,779
William Tecumseh Sherman
later said,
206
00:12:17,946 --> 00:12:20,782
"was the most remarkable man
our civil war produced
207
00:12:20,949 --> 00:12:22,951
on either side."
208
00:12:23,118 --> 00:12:25,662
He was the son
of an illiterate blacksmith.
209
00:12:25,829 --> 00:12:27,038
He made himself a millionaire
210
00:12:27,205 --> 00:12:30,417
selling land, cotton,
and slaves.
211
00:12:30,584 --> 00:12:33,211
In 1861,
he enlisted as a private,
212
00:12:33,378 --> 00:12:36,465
then quit to raise and equip
an entire cavalry battalion
213
00:12:36,631 --> 00:12:39,468
out of his own pocket.
214
00:12:39,634 --> 00:12:40,927
By the end of the war,
215
00:12:41,094 --> 00:12:42,429
he had become
lieutenant general,
216
00:12:42,596 --> 00:12:45,932
the only man on either side
to rise so far.
217
00:12:46,099 --> 00:12:49,352
He was the most feared
cavalry commander of the war,
218
00:12:49,519 --> 00:12:51,438
the "wizard of the saddle,"
219
00:12:51,605 --> 00:12:53,523
wounded 4 times in battle
220
00:12:53,690 --> 00:12:57,110
and famous for having horses
shot out from under him.
221
00:12:57,277 --> 00:12:58,695
Old bedford Forrest,
222
00:12:58,862 --> 00:13:02,657
he's the most colorful man
in the war.
223
00:13:02,824 --> 00:13:06,411
He killed more men than any
other general officer ever has,
224
00:13:06,578 --> 00:13:08,413
had more horses
shot out from under him
225
00:13:08,580 --> 00:13:10,081
than any other officer ever had.
226
00:13:10,248 --> 00:13:12,501
He had 30 horses
shot from under him
227
00:13:12,667 --> 00:13:14,002
in the course of the war,
228
00:13:14,169 --> 00:13:16,588
and he killed 31 men
in hand-to-hand combat,
229
00:13:16,755 --> 00:13:19,633
and he said, "I was
a horse ahead at the end."
230
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:24,137
He was a master
of the lightning raid
231
00:13:24,304 --> 00:13:27,557
and an expert at winning
against long odds.
232
00:13:27,724 --> 00:13:30,727
He fought his battles,
he said, "by ear,"
233
00:13:30,894 --> 00:13:32,854
and he could anticipate
an enemy's movements
234
00:13:33,021 --> 00:13:35,941
with uncanny precision.
235
00:13:36,107 --> 00:13:38,485
He was only
surprised in battle once.
236
00:13:38,652 --> 00:13:41,696
It was a place called Parker's
crossroads up in Tennessee.
237
00:13:41,863 --> 00:13:43,532
He was on a raid,
238
00:13:43,698 --> 00:13:46,201
and he was closing in
on an opponent
239
00:13:46,368 --> 00:13:47,869
and fixing to finish him off
240
00:13:48,036 --> 00:13:49,538
when he was attacked in the rear
241
00:13:49,704 --> 00:13:52,541
by a force that he did not
suspect was within many miles.
242
00:13:52,707 --> 00:13:54,543
And everybody was
terribly upset,
243
00:13:54,709 --> 00:13:56,503
and said, "general,
what shall we do?"
244
00:13:56,670 --> 00:14:00,048
And he said, "split in two
and charge both ways,"
245
00:14:00,215 --> 00:14:02,342
and did and got out.
246
00:14:02,509 --> 00:14:05,720
In June 1864,
247
00:14:05,887 --> 00:14:08,056
in an attempt to cut off
Sherman's supplies
248
00:14:08,223 --> 00:14:11,309
at Brice's crossroads
near Tupelo, Mississippi,
249
00:14:11,476 --> 00:14:14,563
Forrest outdid even himself.
250
00:14:14,729 --> 00:14:16,565
The union army
coming to stop him
251
00:14:16,731 --> 00:14:18,942
was nearly 3 times
as strong as his,
252
00:14:19,109 --> 00:14:21,403
but Forrest was unimpressed.
253
00:14:21,570 --> 00:14:23,572
Factoring in
the mud-clogged roads
254
00:14:23,738 --> 00:14:25,574
and the blazing mid-June sun,
255
00:14:25,740 --> 00:14:27,909
he predicted the union cavalry
256
00:14:28,076 --> 00:14:30,579
would arrive well ahead
of the union infantry,
257
00:14:30,745 --> 00:14:34,583
giving him time to whip it
on his own terms.
258
00:14:34,749 --> 00:14:38,503
It all happened
exactly as he said.
259
00:14:40,380 --> 00:14:43,592
No army, it seemed,
could stop him.
260
00:14:43,758 --> 00:14:46,887
Forrest was free to slash
at Sherman's forces,
261
00:14:47,053 --> 00:14:49,639
slowing his approach to Atlanta.
262
00:14:55,604 --> 00:14:57,814
"Forrest must be
hunted down and killed
263
00:14:57,981 --> 00:15:00,025
"if it costs 10,000 lives
264
00:15:00,191 --> 00:15:03,403
and bankrupts
that federal treasury."
265
00:15:03,570 --> 00:15:05,071
William Tecumseh Sherman.
266
00:15:13,788 --> 00:15:16,499
"Who shall revive
the withered hopes
267
00:15:16,666 --> 00:15:19,252
"that bloomed at the opening
of Grant's campaign?
268
00:15:19,419 --> 00:15:22,672
"All are tired
of this damnable tragedy.
269
00:15:22,839 --> 00:15:27,385
"Each hour is but sinking us
deeper into bankruptcy
270
00:15:27,552 --> 00:15:29,346
and desolation."
271
00:15:29,512 --> 00:15:31,431
New York world.
272
00:15:31,598 --> 00:15:36,728
The summer of 1864
was the north's darkest hour.
273
00:15:36,895 --> 00:15:39,397
Grant's losses
had been appalling.
274
00:15:39,564 --> 00:15:42,651
His army was stalled
in front of Petersburg,
275
00:15:42,817 --> 00:15:46,196
his grand strategy
apparently come to nothing.
276
00:15:46,363 --> 00:15:51,076
Franz Sigel's army had been
routed in the Shenandoah.
277
00:15:51,242 --> 00:15:54,788
Ben Butler was bottled up
in a loop of the James river
278
00:15:54,955 --> 00:15:57,290
called the Bermuda hundred.
279
00:15:57,457 --> 00:16:02,671
Even William Tecumseh Sherman
was stalled outside Atlanta.
280
00:16:02,837 --> 00:16:05,674
"Mr. Lincoln
is already beaten.
281
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:07,842
"He cannot be re-elected,
282
00:16:08,009 --> 00:16:10,720
and we must have
another ticket."
283
00:16:10,887 --> 00:16:12,931
Horace Greeley.
284
00:16:13,098 --> 00:16:16,685
No nation
had ever held an election
285
00:16:16,851 --> 00:16:18,770
in the midst of a civil war.
286
00:16:18,937 --> 00:16:20,772
No president
since Andrew Jackson
287
00:16:20,939 --> 00:16:22,649
had won a second term.
288
00:16:22,816 --> 00:16:24,609
Long after Lincoln
was nominated,
289
00:16:24,776 --> 00:16:27,988
politicians in his own party
still hoped to reconvene
290
00:16:28,154 --> 00:16:30,699
and pick another nominee.
291
00:16:30,865 --> 00:16:34,494
Even Lincoln believed
his re-election unlikely.
292
00:16:36,663 --> 00:16:40,917
"We cannot have free
government without elections,
293
00:16:41,084 --> 00:16:43,003
"and if the rebellion
could force us
294
00:16:43,169 --> 00:16:46,715
"to forego or postpone
a national election,
295
00:16:46,881 --> 00:16:49,384
"it might fairly be claimed
296
00:16:49,551 --> 00:16:53,346
to have already
conquered and ruined us."
297
00:16:53,513 --> 00:16:55,682
Abraham Lincoln.
298
00:16:55,849 --> 00:16:59,769
"After 4 years of failure
to restore the union
299
00:16:59,936 --> 00:17:01,813
"by the experiment of war,
300
00:17:01,980 --> 00:17:04,232
"we demand
that immediate effort be made
301
00:17:04,399 --> 00:17:06,317
"for a cessation of hostilities
302
00:17:06,484 --> 00:17:08,737
at the earliest
practicable moment."
303
00:17:08,903 --> 00:17:11,031
Democratic national platform.
304
00:17:11,197 --> 00:17:14,075
The democrats wanted
an end to the war,
305
00:17:14,242 --> 00:17:16,494
with or without victory.
306
00:17:16,661 --> 00:17:19,164
Their nominee was
general George McClellan,
307
00:17:19,330 --> 00:17:20,874
whose ambition had not shrunk
308
00:17:21,041 --> 00:17:23,793
since Lincoln removed him
from command.
309
00:17:27,547 --> 00:17:29,257
"McClellan was
our first commander,
310
00:17:29,424 --> 00:17:32,177
"and as such, he was almost
worshipped by his soldiers.
311
00:17:32,343 --> 00:17:34,137
"The political friends
of general McClellan
312
00:17:34,304 --> 00:17:35,764
"well understood that fact,
313
00:17:35,930 --> 00:17:38,308
"and it was a very crafty thing
for them to nominate him
314
00:17:38,475 --> 00:17:41,853
as their candidate
for the presidency."
315
00:17:42,020 --> 00:17:45,148
The south rejoiced
at McClellan's nomination.
316
00:17:45,315 --> 00:17:46,816
"The first ray of real light,"
317
00:17:46,983 --> 00:17:49,402
vice-president
Alexander Stephens said,
318
00:17:49,569 --> 00:17:51,196
"since the war began."
319
00:17:53,740 --> 00:17:55,075
Wherever it could,
320
00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:58,703
the south exploited
antiwar feeling in the north.
321
00:17:58,870 --> 00:18:00,497
The confederate government
sent money
322
00:18:00,663 --> 00:18:02,624
to support
the union peace movement
323
00:18:02,791 --> 00:18:05,668
and painted Lincoln
as the candidate of war.
324
00:18:08,088 --> 00:18:10,340
The campaign was ugly.
325
00:18:10,507 --> 00:18:13,802
Democrats charged that
the real goal of old Abe's war
326
00:18:13,968 --> 00:18:15,637
was miscegenation,
327
00:18:15,804 --> 00:18:19,015
a new word for the "blending
of white and black."
328
00:18:19,182 --> 00:18:23,770
Republicans charged democrats
with treason.
329
00:18:23,937 --> 00:18:27,816
The 1864 presidential election
330
00:18:27,982 --> 00:18:31,361
had become a referendum
on the war itself.
331
00:18:37,158 --> 00:18:39,077
All the word
from all Republicans,
332
00:18:39,244 --> 00:18:40,829
even on a most local level,
333
00:18:40,995 --> 00:18:42,831
indicated that Lincoln
couldn't possibly win.
334
00:18:42,997 --> 00:18:45,917
The fortunes of war had turned too
badly, too sour for the union.
335
00:18:46,084 --> 00:18:50,046
At one really poignant moment,
336
00:18:50,213 --> 00:18:53,049
Lincoln sat in the privacy
of his office
337
00:18:53,216 --> 00:18:54,717
contemplating the fact
338
00:18:54,884 --> 00:18:56,570
that he probably
wasn't going to be re-elected
339
00:18:56,594 --> 00:18:57,914
and that McClellan,
of all people,
340
00:18:58,012 --> 00:19:00,181
would replace him as president.
341
00:19:01,850 --> 00:19:04,477
"This morning,
as for some days past,
342
00:19:04,644 --> 00:19:06,855
"it seems exceedingly probable
that this administration
343
00:19:07,021 --> 00:19:09,858
"will not be re-elected.
344
00:19:10,024 --> 00:19:11,693
"Then it will be my duty
345
00:19:11,860 --> 00:19:14,487
"to so cooperate
with the president-elect
346
00:19:14,654 --> 00:19:16,197
"as to save the union
347
00:19:16,364 --> 00:19:20,076
"between the election
and the inauguration
348
00:19:20,243 --> 00:19:22,495
"as he will have secured
his election on such ground
349
00:19:22,662 --> 00:19:25,915
that he cannot possibly
save it afterward."
350
00:19:28,001 --> 00:19:30,545
Pressured to drop emancipation
351
00:19:30,712 --> 00:19:32,714
as a condition of peace
with the south,
352
00:19:32,881 --> 00:19:34,757
Lincoln refused.
353
00:19:34,924 --> 00:19:38,469
"The proclamation had promised
freedom," Lincoln said,
354
00:19:38,636 --> 00:19:41,389
"and the promise being made,
must be kept."
355
00:19:43,099 --> 00:19:47,520
"I should be damned
in time and in eternity
356
00:19:47,687 --> 00:19:49,772
"if I were to return to slavery
357
00:19:49,939 --> 00:19:53,443
the black warriors
who have fought for the union."
358
00:20:15,089 --> 00:20:16,549
Attention!
359
00:20:16,716 --> 00:20:17,926
Fire!
360
00:20:22,096 --> 00:20:25,600
"Spy Johnson,
shot near coffin."
361
00:20:30,104 --> 00:20:31,773
Even before bull run,
362
00:20:31,940 --> 00:20:33,942
stolen secrets
and intricate codes
363
00:20:34,108 --> 00:20:37,278
streamed between Washington
and Richmond.
364
00:20:44,535 --> 00:20:47,163
Allan Pinkerton ran
the northern secret service,
365
00:20:47,330 --> 00:20:49,958
while confederate
major William Norris
366
00:20:50,124 --> 00:20:54,587
had a spy network that extended
as far north as Montreal.
367
00:20:54,754 --> 00:20:57,966
In 1864, several Southern agents
368
00:20:58,132 --> 00:21:00,343
even invaded Vermont.
369
00:21:02,136 --> 00:21:05,390
Spies were everywhere.
370
00:21:05,556 --> 00:21:09,394
"Women who come before
the public are in a bad box now.
371
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,063
"All manner of things, they say,
come over the border
372
00:21:12,230 --> 00:21:14,607
"under the huge hoops now worn,
373
00:21:14,774 --> 00:21:16,818
"so they are
ruthlessly torn off.
374
00:21:16,985 --> 00:21:19,988
"Not legs but arms
are looked for under hoops
375
00:21:20,154 --> 00:21:22,991
and, sad to say, found."
376
00:21:23,157 --> 00:21:25,326
Mary Chesnut.
377
00:21:25,493 --> 00:21:29,414
Rose O'Neal Greenhow,
a Washington widow,
378
00:21:29,580 --> 00:21:30,999
ran a confederate spy ring
379
00:21:31,165 --> 00:21:34,002
just a few blocks
from the white house.
380
00:21:34,168 --> 00:21:37,005
Much of her information
came from an infatuated suitor,
381
00:21:37,171 --> 00:21:39,299
senator Henry Wilson,
382
00:21:39,465 --> 00:21:42,176
chairman of the military affairs
committee.
383
00:21:47,098 --> 00:21:49,434
Imprisonment failed
to stop belle Boyd
384
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,937
from coaxing secrets out
of union officers in Washington
385
00:21:53,104 --> 00:21:55,023
and passing them on
in code to Richmond
386
00:21:55,189 --> 00:21:59,193
inside rubber balls that
she tossed from her cell window
387
00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,905
to a shadowy agent
she knew only as "C.H."
388
00:22:03,072 --> 00:22:08,036
Her admirers called her
"la belle rebelle."
389
00:22:10,413 --> 00:22:12,040
Slaves and former slaves
390
00:22:12,206 --> 00:22:15,043
made especially good
union operatives,
391
00:22:15,209 --> 00:22:18,046
guiding northern troops
through swamps and forests
392
00:22:18,212 --> 00:22:21,007
and reporting on their masters.
393
00:22:21,174 --> 00:22:23,676
"After all,"
one union officer said,
394
00:22:23,843 --> 00:22:27,180
"they had been spies
all their lives."
395
00:22:27,347 --> 00:22:28,639
One northern agent,
396
00:22:28,806 --> 00:22:31,476
a black servant named
Mary Elizabeth Bowser,
397
00:22:31,642 --> 00:22:34,937
even worked inside
the confederate white house.
398
00:22:41,652 --> 00:22:43,363
In November of 1863,
399
00:22:43,529 --> 00:22:45,448
a Southern courier, Sam Davis,
400
00:22:45,615 --> 00:22:47,492
was sentenced to death
at Pulaski, Tennessee,
401
00:22:47,658 --> 00:22:49,118
for spying.
402
00:22:51,245 --> 00:22:52,830
On the scaffold,
403
00:22:52,997 --> 00:22:55,500
Davis' bravery proved so moving
that the commanding general
404
00:22:55,666 --> 00:22:59,545
was unable to give
the order of execution.
405
00:22:59,712 --> 00:23:02,548
Davis finally gave it himself.
406
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,690
"July 21st, Thursday,
in front of Petersburg.
407
00:23:19,857 --> 00:23:21,818
"The mine which
general Burnside is making
408
00:23:21,984 --> 00:23:23,319
"causes a good deal of talk
409
00:23:23,486 --> 00:23:25,905
"and is generally
much laughed at.
410
00:23:26,072 --> 00:23:28,533
"It is an affair
of his own entirely
411
00:23:28,699 --> 00:23:32,537
and has nothing to do
with the regular siege."
412
00:23:32,703 --> 00:23:34,539
For a month,
413
00:23:34,705 --> 00:23:36,541
a regiment of Pennsylvania
coal miners
414
00:23:36,707 --> 00:23:40,545
worked to dig a 500-foot tunnel
beneath the confederate lines
415
00:23:40,711 --> 00:23:44,298
and pack it with 4 tons
of gunpowder.
416
00:23:44,465 --> 00:23:46,551
Burnside's idea was
to blow a hole
417
00:23:46,717 --> 00:23:48,261
in the Petersburg defenses,
418
00:23:48,428 --> 00:23:51,097
then rush through
to take the town.
419
00:23:51,264 --> 00:23:52,974
Above ground,
not far from the tunnel,
420
00:23:53,141 --> 00:23:55,143
the unsuspecting
confederate commander
421
00:23:55,309 --> 00:23:57,311
was general William Mahone,
422
00:23:57,478 --> 00:23:59,272
a veteran of almost
every major battle
423
00:23:59,439 --> 00:24:01,941
fought by the army
of northern Virginia.
424
00:24:04,777 --> 00:24:09,240
At dawn on July 30,
union sappers lit the fuse.
425
00:24:16,747 --> 00:24:19,167
A great crater
was torn in the earth
426
00:24:19,333 --> 00:24:24,005
30 feet deep, 70 feet wide,
250 feet long.
427
00:24:25,965 --> 00:24:28,593
The stunned confederates
fell back.
428
00:24:28,759 --> 00:24:31,095
Then the plan
began to fall apart.
429
00:24:31,262 --> 00:24:32,597
A precious hour went by
430
00:24:32,763 --> 00:24:34,599
before the union assault force
got started,
431
00:24:34,765 --> 00:24:36,184
and when it did,
432
00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:38,936
3 divisions stormed
down into the great hole,
433
00:24:39,103 --> 00:24:40,313
rather than around it.
434
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,900
Their commander,
general James H. Ledlie,
435
00:24:44,066 --> 00:24:45,610
did not even watch the battle,
436
00:24:45,776 --> 00:24:50,198
huddling instead in a bombproof
shelter with a bottle of rum.
437
00:24:53,534 --> 00:24:55,703
Once inside the crater,
the union soldiers found
438
00:24:55,870 --> 00:24:59,624
there was no way up the sheer
30-foot wall of the pit,
439
00:24:59,790 --> 00:25:04,253
and no one had thought
to provide ladders.
440
00:25:04,420 --> 00:25:06,631
General Mahone ordered
his men back to the rim
441
00:25:06,797 --> 00:25:09,926
to pour fire down upon them.
442
00:25:10,092 --> 00:25:12,178
Scores of black troops
were killed
443
00:25:12,345 --> 00:25:14,138
when they tried to surrender
at the crater,
444
00:25:14,305 --> 00:25:16,974
bayoneted or clubbed
by confederates shouting,
445
00:25:17,141 --> 00:25:19,685
"take the white man!
Kill the nigger!"
446
00:25:36,202 --> 00:25:37,620
"it was the saddest affair
447
00:25:37,787 --> 00:25:40,665
"I have ever witnessed
in the war.
448
00:25:40,831 --> 00:25:44,001
"Such opportunity
for carrying fortifications
449
00:25:44,168 --> 00:25:48,130
I have never seen and do not
expect again to have."
450
00:25:48,297 --> 00:25:51,092
Ulysses S. Grant.
451
00:25:51,259 --> 00:25:54,845
General Ledlie
was dismissed from the service.
452
00:25:55,012 --> 00:25:57,098
Burnside was granted
extended leave
453
00:25:57,265 --> 00:25:59,684
and never recalled to duty.
454
00:25:59,850 --> 00:26:03,938
"July 30, 1864.
455
00:26:04,105 --> 00:26:06,274
"The work and expectations
of almost two months
456
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,109
"have been blasted.
457
00:26:08,276 --> 00:26:12,113
"The first temporary success
had elated everyone so much
458
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,700
"that we already had imagined
ourselves in Petersburg,
459
00:26:15,866 --> 00:26:17,535
"but 15 minutes changed it all
460
00:26:17,702 --> 00:26:20,371
"and plunged everyone
into a feeling of despair
461
00:26:20,538 --> 00:26:23,624
"almost of ever
accomplishing anything.
462
00:26:23,791 --> 00:26:25,751
"Few officers can be found
this evening
463
00:26:25,918 --> 00:26:27,712
"who have not drowned
their sorrows
464
00:26:27,878 --> 00:26:29,755
in the flowing bowl."
465
00:26:29,922 --> 00:26:31,799
Washington Roebling.
466
00:27:42,828 --> 00:27:45,081
"The day has been
so excessively hot
467
00:27:45,247 --> 00:27:47,667
"that I am almost melted.
468
00:27:47,833 --> 00:27:49,377
"The thermometer in the wardroom
469
00:27:49,543 --> 00:27:51,379
"stands at 90 degrees,
470
00:27:51,545 --> 00:27:53,964
"while on deck the weather
is very pleasant,
471
00:27:54,131 --> 00:27:58,010
"a fair breeze
blowing from the east.
472
00:27:58,177 --> 00:28:01,180
"Everything is dirty,
everything smells bad,
473
00:28:01,347 --> 00:28:03,391
"everybody is demoralized.
474
00:28:03,557 --> 00:28:05,935
"How are you, ironclad?
475
00:28:06,102 --> 00:28:08,396
"A man who would stay
in an ironclad from choice
476
00:28:08,562 --> 00:28:10,815
"is a candidate
for the insane asylum,
477
00:28:10,981 --> 00:28:15,027
"and he who stays from
compulsion is an object of pity.
478
00:28:15,194 --> 00:28:18,364
Fresh leaks are breaking out
every day."
479
00:28:18,531 --> 00:28:20,241
Robert B. Ely.
480
00:28:24,036 --> 00:28:25,705
For two full years now,
481
00:28:25,871 --> 00:28:28,082
union troops had occupied
fort Pulaski
482
00:28:28,249 --> 00:28:30,501
at the entrance
to Savannah harbor,
483
00:28:30,668 --> 00:28:33,796
blocking confederate supplies
and waiting patiently
484
00:28:33,963 --> 00:28:37,842
for a union army to come
and seize the city itself.
485
00:28:39,927 --> 00:28:42,847
To fill the time,
the men played baseball,
486
00:28:43,013 --> 00:28:45,433
fast becoming
the national pastime,
487
00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:47,643
south as well as north.
488
00:28:49,603 --> 00:28:51,063
But 300 miles away,
489
00:28:51,230 --> 00:28:54,525
Sherman was stuck
in the hills of north Georgia.
490
00:28:54,692 --> 00:28:56,068
"The enemy must have
491
00:28:56,235 --> 00:28:59,447
at least 50 miles of
connected trenches," he wrote.
492
00:28:59,613 --> 00:29:02,491
"The whole country
is one vast fort."
493
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:17,760
"well, I think the damned
old cuss of a preacher
494
00:29:17,882 --> 00:29:19,967
"lied like Dixie,
495
00:29:20,134 --> 00:29:22,219
"for he said that
god has fought all our battles
496
00:29:22,386 --> 00:29:24,305
"and won our victories.
497
00:29:24,472 --> 00:29:28,350
"Now, if he had done all that,
why is it not in the papers
498
00:29:28,517 --> 00:29:31,353
and why has
he not been promoted?"
499
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,273
Sergeant Albinus fell.
500
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,735
"Is it possible that
god will bless a people
501
00:29:37,902 --> 00:29:39,445
"as wicked as our soldier?
502
00:29:39,612 --> 00:29:40,905
"I fear not.
503
00:29:41,071 --> 00:29:44,533
"One unceasing tide
of blasphemy and wickedness,
504
00:29:44,700 --> 00:29:46,744
coarseness and obscenity."
505
00:29:46,911 --> 00:29:49,705
Orville C. Bumpass.
506
00:29:49,872 --> 00:29:52,625
Men bet on anything--
507
00:29:52,792 --> 00:29:54,919
boxing matches, horse races,
508
00:29:55,085 --> 00:29:57,797
baseball games, and cockfights.
509
00:29:57,963 --> 00:30:00,174
In union camps, victorious birds
510
00:30:00,341 --> 00:30:01,759
named "Grant" and "bill Sherman"
511
00:30:01,926 --> 00:30:04,762
fought losers called
"Beauregard," "Jeff Davis,"
512
00:30:04,929 --> 00:30:06,347
and "bob Lee."
513
00:30:08,724 --> 00:30:11,769
"the boys would
frequently have a louse race.
514
00:30:11,936 --> 00:30:13,771
"The lice were placed in plates.
515
00:30:13,938 --> 00:30:16,065
"And the first that crawled off
was the winner.
516
00:30:16,232 --> 00:30:18,400
"There was one fellow
named Dornin,
517
00:30:18,567 --> 00:30:19,860
"who was winning all the money.
518
00:30:20,027 --> 00:30:21,946
"We could not understand it.
519
00:30:22,112 --> 00:30:24,740
"If a fellow happened to catch
a fierce-looking louse,
520
00:30:24,907 --> 00:30:26,909
"he would call on Dornin
for a race.
521
00:30:27,076 --> 00:30:29,787
"Dornin would come
and always win the stake.
522
00:30:29,954 --> 00:30:32,248
"At last we found out
Dornin's trick--
523
00:30:32,414 --> 00:30:34,792
he always
heated the plate."
524
00:30:34,959 --> 00:30:37,294
Sam Watkins.
525
00:30:37,461 --> 00:30:41,715
"Rutland, Vermont.
Dear Edward,
526
00:30:41,882 --> 00:30:44,593
"it will be hard
to have all my sons go,
527
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,805
"but if it is right,
I've nothing to say.
528
00:30:47,972 --> 00:30:49,974
"As you value your good name,
529
00:30:50,140 --> 00:30:51,140
"your peace of mind,
530
00:30:51,267 --> 00:30:53,477
"and happiness here
and hereafter,
531
00:30:53,644 --> 00:30:56,814
"do keep aloof
from card playing,
532
00:30:56,981 --> 00:31:01,777
"for imperceptibly you will
be led, I fear, to gambling.
533
00:31:01,944 --> 00:31:03,612
Your devoted mother."
534
00:31:05,614 --> 00:31:10,494
There were, in all, 450
brothels in Washington, D.C.,
535
00:31:10,661 --> 00:31:13,247
known to steady customers
as "fort Sumter,"
536
00:31:13,414 --> 00:31:15,332
"madame Russell's bake oven,"
537
00:31:15,499 --> 00:31:18,419
and "headquarters, U.S.A."
538
00:31:18,586 --> 00:31:21,922
Men called a trip there
"going down the line."
539
00:31:24,091 --> 00:31:26,802
"I had a good time
in Washington--
540
00:31:26,969 --> 00:31:28,846
"lager beer
and a horse and buggy,
541
00:31:29,013 --> 00:31:32,141
"and in the evening,
horizontal refreshments,
542
00:31:32,308 --> 00:31:35,769
"or in plainer words,
riding a Dutch gal.
543
00:31:35,936 --> 00:31:38,397
Had a good time generally,
I tell you."
544
00:31:38,564 --> 00:31:40,983
Private Eli Veazie.
545
00:31:50,784 --> 00:31:52,870
"In the city of New Orleans,
546
00:31:53,037 --> 00:31:55,873
"we could see signs
of smothered hate and prejudice
547
00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:00,753
"to both our color and present
character as union soldiers,
548
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,881
"but for once in his life,
549
00:32:04,048 --> 00:32:07,551
"your humble correspondent
walked fearlessly and boldly
550
00:32:07,718 --> 00:32:09,970
"through the streets
of a Southern city,
551
00:32:10,137 --> 00:32:11,889
"and he did this
552
00:32:12,056 --> 00:32:15,434
"without being required to take
off his cap at every step
553
00:32:15,601 --> 00:32:17,186
"or to give all the sidewalks
554
00:32:17,353 --> 00:32:20,481
"to those lordly princes
of the sunny south,
555
00:32:20,648 --> 00:32:22,358
"the planters' sons.
556
00:32:22,524 --> 00:32:25,402
"Oh, chivalry!
557
00:32:25,569 --> 00:32:30,157
"How hast thou lost
thy potent power and charms?
558
00:32:30,324 --> 00:32:34,912
"By what means, pray tell me,
hast thou so degenerated
559
00:32:35,079 --> 00:32:38,290
"as to lose the respect
and admiration
560
00:32:38,457 --> 00:32:41,335
even of the sable sons
of Africa?"
561
00:32:43,128 --> 00:32:46,298
That summer, congress
finally passed legislation
562
00:32:46,465 --> 00:32:50,886
giving black soldiers
equal pay with whites.
563
00:32:52,805 --> 00:32:55,307
On August 5, 1864,
564
00:32:55,474 --> 00:32:58,477
union admiral David Farragut
led 18 ships
565
00:32:58,644 --> 00:33:00,145
storming past 3 forts
566
00:33:00,312 --> 00:33:03,732
to engage the confederate fleet
guarding mobile bay.
567
00:33:05,943 --> 00:33:08,904
Farragut suffered from vertigo
so intense
568
00:33:09,071 --> 00:33:12,408
he ordered himself lashed
to the rigging of his flagship.
569
00:33:12,574 --> 00:33:14,076
When a mine sank the lead vessel
570
00:33:14,243 --> 00:33:16,328
and the captains
of the other ships hesitated,
571
00:33:16,495 --> 00:33:17,705
Farragut shouted,
572
00:33:17,871 --> 00:33:21,542
"damn the torpedoes,
full speed ahead!"
573
00:33:21,709 --> 00:33:24,962
And rammed and shelled
the rebel fleet into submission.
574
00:33:30,884 --> 00:33:32,386
It was the first good news
575
00:33:32,553 --> 00:33:35,264
for the union,
and Lincoln, all year.
576
00:33:45,899 --> 00:33:49,236
"In camp. Near Atlanta.
577
00:33:49,403 --> 00:33:50,988
"Dear companion,
578
00:33:51,155 --> 00:33:53,490
"I seat myself
one time more in life
579
00:33:53,657 --> 00:33:55,617
"to drop you a few lines.
580
00:33:55,784 --> 00:33:57,745
"I am wore out marching.
581
00:33:57,911 --> 00:33:59,913
"We have been running
from one place to another
582
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,999
"for 5 days.
583
00:34:02,166 --> 00:34:05,586
I must close, for it is
Avery bad place to write."
584
00:34:05,753 --> 00:34:07,713
Benjamin Franklin Jackson.
585
00:34:09,548 --> 00:34:10,758
Back in Alabama,
586
00:34:10,924 --> 00:34:13,260
Benjamin Franklin Jackson's
wife Martha
587
00:34:13,427 --> 00:34:15,763
awoke with a start.
588
00:34:15,929 --> 00:34:19,767
A mourning dove was sitting
on her windowsill.
589
00:34:19,933 --> 00:34:22,728
She took it as a sign
her husband had been killed
590
00:34:22,895 --> 00:34:25,022
and began to weep silently
591
00:34:25,189 --> 00:34:27,399
so that her family
would not hear her grief
592
00:34:27,566 --> 00:34:29,026
and think her superstitious.
593
00:34:29,193 --> 00:34:32,529
Her husband had been
fatally wounded that morning
594
00:34:32,696 --> 00:34:34,948
in battle with Sherman's men.
595
00:34:40,996 --> 00:34:43,749
"Mine eyes have beheld
the promised land.
596
00:34:43,916 --> 00:34:47,169
"The domes and spires of Atlanta
are glittering
597
00:34:47,336 --> 00:34:48,962
"in the sunlight before us
598
00:34:49,129 --> 00:34:51,799
and only 8 miles distant."
599
00:34:54,551 --> 00:34:57,596
Finally, Sherman was at Atlanta.
600
00:34:58,972 --> 00:35:00,432
For more than two months,
601
00:35:00,599 --> 00:35:02,768
confederate general
Joseph Johnston
602
00:35:02,935 --> 00:35:04,812
had kept his army intact,
603
00:35:04,978 --> 00:35:07,022
dodging Sherman's superior force
604
00:35:07,189 --> 00:35:10,067
and looking for
the right moment to attack.
605
00:35:10,234 --> 00:35:12,611
The opportunity never came.
606
00:35:14,488 --> 00:35:17,032
An increasingly frustrated
Jefferson Davis
607
00:35:17,199 --> 00:35:19,785
now removed
the popular Johnston.
608
00:35:19,952 --> 00:35:22,162
His troops were stunned.
609
00:35:22,329 --> 00:35:25,707
"The news came
like a flash of lightning,
610
00:35:25,874 --> 00:35:28,293
"staggering
and blinding everyone.
611
00:35:28,460 --> 00:35:30,337
"Farewell, old fellow!
612
00:35:30,504 --> 00:35:34,049
We privates loved you because
you made us love ourselves."
613
00:35:34,216 --> 00:35:35,968
Sam Watkins.
614
00:35:39,263 --> 00:35:40,889
Joseph Johnston's replacement
615
00:35:41,056 --> 00:35:44,434
was 33-year-old John bell hood
of Texas.
616
00:35:44,601 --> 00:35:46,645
His arm had been mangled
at Gettysburg,
617
00:35:46,812 --> 00:35:48,814
and he'd lost a leg
at Chickamauga,
618
00:35:48,981 --> 00:35:51,900
but his recklessness
remained intact.
619
00:35:52,067 --> 00:35:55,821
His men called him
"old wooden head."
620
00:35:55,988 --> 00:35:57,948
"hood is a bold fighter.
621
00:35:58,115 --> 00:36:02,244
I am doubtful as to
other qualities necessary."
622
00:36:02,411 --> 00:36:04,496
Robert E. Lee.
623
00:36:04,663 --> 00:36:06,915
Sherman was delighted with hood,
624
00:36:07,082 --> 00:36:09,918
sure he would be
attacked at last.
625
00:36:10,085 --> 00:36:13,755
Many of his units were now armed
with Henry repeating rifles,
626
00:36:13,922 --> 00:36:17,843
capable of firing 15 shots
without being reloaded.
627
00:36:18,010 --> 00:36:19,803
Outgunned rebels complained
628
00:36:19,970 --> 00:36:21,847
the Yankees could now load
on a Sunday
629
00:36:22,014 --> 00:36:24,016
and keep shooting all week.
630
00:36:28,687 --> 00:36:30,147
To cut off Atlanta's rail links
631
00:36:30,314 --> 00:36:31,314
with Richmond,
632
00:36:31,398 --> 00:36:32,900
Sherman sent 35-year-old
633
00:36:33,066 --> 00:36:34,860
general James McPherson's army
634
00:36:35,027 --> 00:36:37,863
east of the city.
635
00:36:38,030 --> 00:36:41,033
McPherson was a special favorite
of Sherman's--
636
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,828
handsome, warm-hearted,
intelligent.
637
00:36:44,995 --> 00:36:46,830
"If he lives,"
Sherman predicted,
638
00:36:46,997 --> 00:36:50,083
"he'll outdistance Grant
and myself."
639
00:36:50,250 --> 00:36:52,878
Northern papers cheered
the union advance
640
00:36:53,045 --> 00:36:55,881
and daily predicted
Atlanta's fall.
641
00:37:00,052 --> 00:37:01,887
But on July 22nd,
642
00:37:02,054 --> 00:37:05,390
hood rushed to counter
the new union threat.
643
00:37:05,557 --> 00:37:07,935
The battle of Atlanta had begun.
644
00:37:23,742 --> 00:37:25,702
It raged all afternoon,
645
00:37:25,869 --> 00:37:28,080
the lines forming,
falling back, reforming,
646
00:37:28,247 --> 00:37:30,582
attacking again.
647
00:37:30,749 --> 00:37:33,085
At 2:00,
general McPherson himself
648
00:37:33,252 --> 00:37:36,463
went to inspect
the imperiled union position
649
00:37:36,630 --> 00:37:40,259
and rode right into a band
of rebel skirmishers.
650
00:37:40,425 --> 00:37:43,887
Ordered to surrender, McPherson
raised his hat politely,
651
00:37:44,054 --> 00:37:47,224
turned his horse about,
and raced for the union lines.
652
00:37:49,017 --> 00:37:52,271
The rebels shot him in the back.
653
00:37:52,437 --> 00:37:55,607
Sherman covered
the body of his young friend
654
00:37:55,774 --> 00:37:56,984
with an American flag
655
00:37:57,150 --> 00:37:59,027
and wept.
656
00:38:01,154 --> 00:38:03,073
"Sherman had the rare faculty
657
00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:06,702
"of remaining calm
under great responsibilities
658
00:38:06,868 --> 00:38:09,997
"and scenes of great excitement.
659
00:38:10,163 --> 00:38:14,418
"At such times,
his eccentricities disappeared.
660
00:38:14,584 --> 00:38:19,631
"His mind seemed never so clear,
his confidence never so strong,
661
00:38:19,798 --> 00:38:21,967
"his spirit never so inspiring
662
00:38:22,134 --> 00:38:25,095
"in the crisis
of some fierce struggle,
663
00:38:25,262 --> 00:38:27,639
"like that of the day
when McPherson fell
664
00:38:27,806 --> 00:38:30,142
in front of Atlanta."
665
00:38:30,309 --> 00:38:32,394
General Jacob D. Cox.
666
00:38:36,356 --> 00:38:38,650
Crying "McPherson
and revenge, boys,
667
00:38:38,817 --> 00:38:40,610
McPherson and revenge,"
668
00:38:40,777 --> 00:38:44,031
the union army smashed down
on the rebels.
669
00:38:54,166 --> 00:38:58,795
In less than 30 minutes,
hood was forced to withdraw.
670
00:39:05,010 --> 00:39:07,012
At Ezra church,
west of the city,
671
00:39:07,179 --> 00:39:09,056
hood again tried
to rout Sherman's army.
672
00:39:09,222 --> 00:39:11,099
Again he failed.
673
00:39:11,266 --> 00:39:16,104
1/3 of his army was gone--
20,000 men,
674
00:39:16,271 --> 00:39:19,024
and hood fell back into Atlanta.
675
00:39:20,859 --> 00:39:23,236
"I cannot describe it.
676
00:39:23,403 --> 00:39:25,906
"I remember I went in the rear
of the building,
677
00:39:26,073 --> 00:39:28,116
"and there I saw a pile
of arms and legs
678
00:39:28,283 --> 00:39:30,535
"rotting and decomposing.
679
00:39:30,702 --> 00:39:32,621
"I have no recollection
in my whole life
680
00:39:32,788 --> 00:39:36,208
of ever seeing anything that
I remember with more horror."
681
00:39:36,375 --> 00:39:38,043
Sam Watkins.
682
00:40:02,609 --> 00:40:04,027
Behind their ramparts,
683
00:40:04,194 --> 00:40:07,114
the confederates waited
for Sherman to attack.
684
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,117
"The Yankee gents can't get
their men to charge our works,"
685
00:40:10,283 --> 00:40:11,743
a texan said,
686
00:40:11,910 --> 00:40:15,288
but Sherman saw no need
to be so rash.
687
00:40:15,455 --> 00:40:18,792
He sealed off
the city's supplies and waited.
688
00:40:22,295 --> 00:40:24,131
Federal guns began shelling
689
00:40:24,297 --> 00:40:26,133
the heavily fortified
confederate trenches
690
00:40:26,299 --> 00:40:27,843
and the city beyond.
691
00:40:39,312 --> 00:40:42,524
"Saturday, August 21st.
692
00:40:42,691 --> 00:40:46,736
"Another week of anxiety
and suspense has passed,
693
00:40:46,903 --> 00:40:50,490
"and the fate of Atlanta
is still undecided.
694
00:40:50,657 --> 00:40:54,161
"It is said that about
20 lives have been destroyed
695
00:40:54,327 --> 00:40:55,912
"by these terrible missiles
696
00:40:56,079 --> 00:40:59,499
"since the enemy began
to throw them into the city.
697
00:40:59,666 --> 00:41:02,669
"It is like living
in the midst of a pestilence.
698
00:41:02,836 --> 00:41:06,214
No one can tell, but he may be
the next victim."
699
00:41:08,967 --> 00:41:12,762
Outside Atlanta,
things were no better.
700
00:41:12,929 --> 00:41:15,724
"The enemy hold us
by an inferior force,"
701
00:41:15,891 --> 00:41:18,768
Sherman admitted
as the siege dragged on.
702
00:41:18,935 --> 00:41:22,105
"We are more besieged
than they."
703
00:41:22,272 --> 00:41:23,773
"Both Grant and Sherman,"
704
00:41:23,940 --> 00:41:26,693
George Templeton strong
predicted from New York,
705
00:41:26,860 --> 00:41:29,404
"are on the Eve
of disaster."
706
00:41:47,964 --> 00:41:49,966
Every evening for a month
during the siege,
707
00:41:50,133 --> 00:41:53,803
a Georgia sharpshooter
played his cornet so beautifully
708
00:41:53,970 --> 00:41:56,973
that men on both sides
stopped to listen.
709
00:42:33,009 --> 00:42:35,720
Finally, on August 31st,
710
00:42:35,887 --> 00:42:36,887
the same day that
711
00:42:36,930 --> 00:42:38,115
George McClellan was nominated
712
00:42:38,139 --> 00:42:39,182
for president,
713
00:42:39,349 --> 00:42:40,934
Sherman hurled most of his army
714
00:42:41,101 --> 00:42:42,852
against the macon & western
railroad
715
00:42:43,019 --> 00:42:44,646
south of the city
716
00:42:44,813 --> 00:42:47,857
in one more attempt
to break hood's grip.
717
00:42:48,024 --> 00:42:50,026
It worked.
718
00:42:50,193 --> 00:42:52,862
On September 1, 1864,
719
00:42:53,029 --> 00:42:55,282
hood abandoned Atlanta.
720
00:43:00,662 --> 00:43:03,707
Sherman's troops marched in
the next day.
721
00:43:05,458 --> 00:43:09,671
"Atlanta is ours
and fairly won."
722
00:43:11,881 --> 00:43:14,759
"September 3, 1864.
723
00:43:14,926 --> 00:43:18,680
"Glorious news this morning--
Atlanta taken at last.
724
00:43:18,847 --> 00:43:20,765
"It is, coming
at this political crisis,
725
00:43:20,932 --> 00:43:23,226
the greatest event
of the war."
726
00:43:23,393 --> 00:43:25,937
George Templeton strong.
727
00:43:28,481 --> 00:43:30,025
"Dear general Sherman,
728
00:43:30,191 --> 00:43:33,903
"I feel you have accomplished
the most gigantic undertaking
729
00:43:34,070 --> 00:43:36,823
"given to any general
in this war
730
00:43:36,990 --> 00:43:38,742
"and with a skill and ability
731
00:43:38,908 --> 00:43:41,911
"that will be acknowledged
in history as unsurpassed,
732
00:43:42,078 --> 00:43:43,747
if not unequalled."
733
00:43:43,913 --> 00:43:45,206
U.S. Grant.
734
00:43:47,250 --> 00:43:48,918
In Sherman's honor,
735
00:43:49,085 --> 00:43:50,920
Grant ordered
a 100-gun salute
736
00:43:51,087 --> 00:43:53,882
fired into the confederate works
at Petersburg.
737
00:43:58,386 --> 00:44:00,347
"Atlanta is gone.
738
00:44:00,513 --> 00:44:02,682
"That agony is over.
739
00:44:02,849 --> 00:44:07,562
There is no hope, but we will
try to have no fear."
740
00:44:07,729 --> 00:44:09,147
Mary Chesnut.
741
00:44:14,819 --> 00:44:16,863
To avenge Sherman's
victories in Georgia,
742
00:44:17,030 --> 00:44:19,741
6 confederate agents slipped
into New York City
743
00:44:19,908 --> 00:44:22,994
armed with phosphorous,
intent upon burning down
744
00:44:23,161 --> 00:44:26,998
the city's most
fashionable hotels.
745
00:44:27,165 --> 00:44:29,918
They managed to light 10 fires
746
00:44:30,085 --> 00:44:32,962
and set
P.T. Barnum's museum ablaze.
747
00:44:33,129 --> 00:44:35,090
Firemen put everything out.
748
00:44:35,256 --> 00:44:37,967
All but one
of the confederates got away.
749
00:44:38,134 --> 00:44:41,888
"The people of the north can't be
rolling in wealth and comfort,"
750
00:44:42,055 --> 00:44:44,933
the captured man said
before he was hanged,
751
00:44:45,100 --> 00:44:47,060
"while we at the south
752
00:44:47,227 --> 00:44:50,689
are bearing all the hardship
and privations."
753
00:44:55,652 --> 00:44:57,987
From the front,
on his wedding anniversary,
754
00:44:58,154 --> 00:45:02,409
Robert E. Lee wrote home
to his wife in Richmond.
755
00:45:02,575 --> 00:45:04,994
"Dear Mary,
756
00:45:05,161 --> 00:45:06,996
"do you recollect
what a happy day
757
00:45:07,163 --> 00:45:10,083
"33 years ago this was?
758
00:45:10,250 --> 00:45:14,003
"How many hopes and pleasures
it gave birth to?
759
00:45:14,170 --> 00:45:18,341
"God has been very merciful
and kind to us,
760
00:45:18,508 --> 00:45:21,136
"and how thankless and sinful
I have been.
761
00:45:21,302 --> 00:45:26,015
"I pray that he may continue
his mercies and blessings to us
762
00:45:26,182 --> 00:45:27,684
"and give us
a little peace and rest
763
00:45:27,851 --> 00:45:29,811
together in this world."
764
00:45:43,199 --> 00:45:44,451
"that man Haupt
765
00:45:44,617 --> 00:45:46,995
"has built a bridge
across the Potomac creek
766
00:45:47,162 --> 00:45:51,040
"about 400 feet long
and nearly 100 feet tall
767
00:45:51,207 --> 00:45:54,711
"over which loaded trains
are running every hour,
768
00:45:54,878 --> 00:46:00,049
and there is nothing in it
but beanpoles and cornstalks."
769
00:46:00,216 --> 00:46:01,926
Abraham Lincoln.
770
00:46:06,055 --> 00:46:07,432
Near Petersburg,
771
00:46:07,599 --> 00:46:10,018
the union camp at city point
on the James river
772
00:46:10,185 --> 00:46:14,481
suddenly found itself one
of the world's busiest seaports,
773
00:46:14,647 --> 00:46:17,192
with bakeries, barracks,
warehouses,
774
00:46:17,358 --> 00:46:22,113
a200-acre tent hospital,
more than a mile of wharves,
775
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:27,202
and a new 70-mile railroad built
by Herman Haupt in record time
776
00:46:27,368 --> 00:46:29,287
to bring supplies
and fresh troops
777
00:46:29,454 --> 00:46:31,498
right up to the union trenches.
778
00:46:31,664 --> 00:46:35,210
"Not merely profusion but
extravagance," a visitor wrote,
779
00:46:35,376 --> 00:46:37,879
"soldiers provided
with everything."
780
00:46:44,177 --> 00:46:47,138
An industrial machine
of unparalleled power
781
00:46:47,305 --> 00:46:50,308
now kept the war supplies
streaming to the front.
782
00:46:50,475 --> 00:46:53,102
In Cleveland, Ohio,
when the war began,
783
00:46:53,269 --> 00:46:56,523
there was not a single forge
or foundry.
784
00:46:56,689 --> 00:46:59,567
When the war ended,
there were 21,
785
00:46:59,734 --> 00:47:01,152
employing 3,000 men
786
00:47:01,319 --> 00:47:05,198
and turning out 60,000 tons
of steel a year.
787
00:47:05,365 --> 00:47:08,159
By then, the cold spring foundry
opposite west point
788
00:47:08,326 --> 00:47:09,744
on the Hudson
789
00:47:09,911 --> 00:47:13,414
was producing 7,000
artillery projectiles a week
790
00:47:13,581 --> 00:47:15,542
and the military
telegraph system
791
00:47:15,708 --> 00:47:19,087
was carrying over
3,300 messages a day
792
00:47:19,254 --> 00:47:22,423
along 15,000 miles of wire.
793
00:47:23,925 --> 00:47:26,845
"The world has seen
its iron age,
794
00:47:27,011 --> 00:47:29,389
"its silver age, its golden age,
795
00:47:29,556 --> 00:47:31,099
"and its bronze age.
796
00:47:31,266 --> 00:47:34,894
This is the age of shoddy."
797
00:47:35,061 --> 00:47:37,856
For shrewd northern businessmen,
798
00:47:38,022 --> 00:47:40,859
there were quick profits
in army contracts.
799
00:47:41,025 --> 00:47:42,861
Philip Armour gave up
gold mining
800
00:47:43,027 --> 00:47:45,864
to strike it rich
packing pork for the army.
801
00:47:46,030 --> 00:47:48,533
Samuel Colt of Hartford
told his men
802
00:47:48,700 --> 00:47:52,620
to "run the armory night and day
with double sets of hands."
803
00:47:52,787 --> 00:47:54,831
Jay Cooke sold war bonds,
804
00:47:54,998 --> 00:47:57,876
raised more than $400 million
for the union,
805
00:47:58,042 --> 00:48:00,962
and got rich on the commissions.
806
00:48:01,129 --> 00:48:05,633
Unscrupulous contractors sold
the war department rusty rifles,
807
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:09,846
boats that leaked,
caps that melted in the rain.
808
00:48:10,013 --> 00:48:12,140
When one manufacturer was asked
809
00:48:12,307 --> 00:48:15,018
why the soles of the shoes
he supplied fell off
810
00:48:15,184 --> 00:48:16,895
after a few minutes' marching,
811
00:48:17,061 --> 00:48:21,524
he explained they had been meant
for the cavalry.
812
00:48:21,691 --> 00:48:23,693
"You can sell almost
anything to the government
813
00:48:23,860 --> 00:48:27,030
at almost any price
you've got the guts to ask."
814
00:48:33,077 --> 00:48:34,954
I think that
the north fought that war
815
00:48:35,121 --> 00:48:37,665
with one hand behind its back.
816
00:48:37,832 --> 00:48:39,709
At the same time
the war was going on,
817
00:48:39,876 --> 00:48:41,878
the homestead act
was being passed.
818
00:48:42,045 --> 00:48:44,631
All these marvelous inventions
were going on.
819
00:48:44,797 --> 00:48:46,215
In the spring of '64,
820
00:48:46,382 --> 00:48:48,426
the Harvard-Yale boat races
were going on,
821
00:48:48,593 --> 00:48:49,928
and not a man in either crew
822
00:48:50,094 --> 00:48:51,930
ever volunteered
for the army or the Navy.
823
00:48:52,096 --> 00:48:54,223
They didn't need them.
824
00:48:54,390 --> 00:48:58,061
I think that if it had been
more Southern successes
825
00:48:58,227 --> 00:48:59,604
and a lot more,
826
00:48:59,771 --> 00:49:01,891
the north simply would have
brought that other arm out
827
00:49:01,940 --> 00:49:03,566
from behind its back.
828
00:49:03,733 --> 00:49:06,986
I don't think the south ever
had a chance to win that war.
829
00:49:17,538 --> 00:49:20,875
Out west, bloody Bill Anderson,
a confederate guerrilla
830
00:49:21,042 --> 00:49:23,753
who rode with union scalps
tied to his bridle,
831
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:26,714
led 30 men
into Centralia, Missouri,
832
00:49:26,881 --> 00:49:29,342
killed 24 unarmed
federal soldiers,
833
00:49:29,509 --> 00:49:32,136
then ambushed 116 more.
834
00:49:34,806 --> 00:49:36,683
On October 26th,
835
00:49:36,849 --> 00:49:39,686
Anderson himself
was ambushed and killed,
836
00:49:39,852 --> 00:49:42,313
but one of his close
lieutenants, Jesse James,
837
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:43,731
got away.
838
00:49:48,861 --> 00:49:50,321
In Tennessee,
839
00:49:50,488 --> 00:49:53,032
Nathan bedford Forrest's men
surrounded fort pillow,
840
00:49:53,199 --> 00:49:56,661
held by a unit of Tennessee
unionists and black troops,
841
00:49:56,828 --> 00:49:58,913
and demanded its surrender.
842
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:03,001
When the union commander
refused, the fort was overrun.
843
00:50:03,167 --> 00:50:07,046
As many as 300 soldiers,
most of them black, were killed,
844
00:50:07,213 --> 00:50:10,508
many after they surrendered.
845
00:50:10,675 --> 00:50:12,969
"It is hoped that these
facts will demonstrate
846
00:50:13,136 --> 00:50:14,554
"to the northern people
847
00:50:14,721 --> 00:50:17,765
that negro soldiers cannot cope
with southerners."
848
00:50:17,932 --> 00:50:19,767
Nathan bedford Forrest.
849
00:50:23,312 --> 00:50:27,567
"I said, don't shoot me,
850
00:50:27,734 --> 00:50:31,446
"and one of them said,
go out and hold my horse.
851
00:50:31,612 --> 00:50:34,323
"I made a step or two,
and he said,
852
00:50:34,490 --> 00:50:40,329
"turn around. I will hold
my horse and shoot you, too.
853
00:50:40,496 --> 00:50:43,750
I no sooner turned around
than he shot me in the face."
854
00:50:46,544 --> 00:50:49,464
"I fell down as if I was dead.
855
00:50:49,630 --> 00:50:51,507
He shot me again
and hit my arm, not my head."
856
00:50:54,510 --> 00:50:57,388
"I laid there until I could
hear him no more,
857
00:50:57,555 --> 00:50:59,766
"and then I started back.
858
00:50:59,932 --> 00:51:02,685
"I got back about sunup
859
00:51:02,852 --> 00:51:06,481
"and wandered about
until a gunboat came along,
860
00:51:06,647 --> 00:51:10,443
and I came up on that
with about 10 others."
861
00:51:10,610 --> 00:51:14,947
Private George Shaw, company B,
6th U.S. heavy artillery.
862
00:51:18,951 --> 00:51:20,787
In retaliation for fort pillow,
863
00:51:20,953 --> 00:51:22,622
Grant ended the system
864
00:51:22,789 --> 00:51:24,957
under which prisoners
had always been exchanged
865
00:51:25,124 --> 00:51:27,251
until the south agreed
to recognize
866
00:51:27,418 --> 00:51:31,422
"no distinction whatever between
white and colored prisoners."
867
00:51:31,589 --> 00:51:34,467
Davis and Lee refused.
868
00:51:34,634 --> 00:51:36,928
North and south,
869
00:51:37,095 --> 00:51:40,765
prisons soon bulged
with unexchanged prisoners.
870
00:51:40,932 --> 00:51:44,977
Already inadequate prison camps
became nightmares.
871
00:51:51,901 --> 00:51:53,361
The worst
was the confederate prison
872
00:51:53,528 --> 00:51:55,822
near Andersonville, Georgia.
873
00:51:55,988 --> 00:52:00,284
Meant to hold a maximum
of 10,000 northern prisoners,
874
00:52:00,451 --> 00:52:04,705
by August 1864,
it had 33,000--
875
00:52:04,872 --> 00:52:08,835
the fifth-largest city
in the confederacy.
876
00:52:09,001 --> 00:52:12,922
Its commandant, a German-Swiss
immigrant named Henry Wirz,
877
00:52:13,089 --> 00:52:15,842
forbade prisoners
to build shelters.
878
00:52:16,008 --> 00:52:18,845
Most lived in holes
scratched in the ground
879
00:52:19,011 --> 00:52:20,972
covered by a blanket.
880
00:52:21,139 --> 00:52:24,892
The daily ration
was a teaspoon of salt,
881
00:52:25,059 --> 00:52:30,731
3 tablespoons of beans,
and half-pint of cornmeal.
882
00:52:30,898 --> 00:52:34,110
A foul creek called
sweet water branch
883
00:52:34,277 --> 00:52:37,864
served as both drinking water
and sewer.
884
00:52:38,030 --> 00:52:41,868
"1/3 of the original
enclosure was swampy,
885
00:52:42,034 --> 00:52:44,871
"a mud of liquid filth,
Voidings from the thousands,
886
00:52:45,037 --> 00:52:47,874
"seething with maggots
in full activity.
887
00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:49,542
"Death at the hands
of the guards,
888
00:52:49,709 --> 00:52:51,669
"though murder in cold blood,
was merciful
889
00:52:51,836 --> 00:52:54,297
"beside the systematic, studied,
absolute murder inside
890
00:52:54,463 --> 00:52:56,257
by slow death."
891
00:53:12,064 --> 00:53:16,277
In one year,
13,000 men died at Andersonville
892
00:53:16,444 --> 00:53:18,738
and were buried in mass graves.
893
00:54:09,247 --> 00:54:11,707
"Can those be men?
894
00:54:11,874 --> 00:54:14,293
"Are they not really corpses?
895
00:54:14,460 --> 00:54:17,171
"They lay there,
most of them, quite still,
896
00:54:17,338 --> 00:54:20,007
"but with a horrible look
in their eyes.
897
00:54:20,174 --> 00:54:22,301
"The dead there
are not to be pitied
898
00:54:22,468 --> 00:54:26,514
"as much as some of the living
that have come from there--
899
00:54:26,681 --> 00:54:28,975
if they can
be called living."
900
00:54:29,141 --> 00:54:31,018
Walt Whitman.
901
00:54:33,938 --> 00:54:38,776
"When I was taken prisoner,
I weighed 165 pounds,
902
00:54:38,943 --> 00:54:42,530
"and when I came out,
I weighed 96 pounds
903
00:54:42,697 --> 00:54:46,284
and was considered stout
compared with some I saw."
904
00:54:49,161 --> 00:54:52,581
"my heartaches
for these poor wretches,
905
00:54:52,748 --> 00:54:54,792
"Yankees though they are,
906
00:54:54,959 --> 00:54:58,963
"and I am afraid god will suffer
some terrible retribution
907
00:54:59,130 --> 00:55:03,259
"to fall upon us
for letting such things happen.
908
00:55:03,426 --> 00:55:08,014
"If the Yankees should ever
come to southwest Georgia
909
00:55:08,180 --> 00:55:11,642
"and go to Anderson
and see the graves there,
910
00:55:11,809 --> 00:55:14,603
god have mercy
on the land!"
911
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:29,869
With Sherman's
victory at Atlanta,
912
00:55:30,036 --> 00:55:33,039
Lincoln's chances of re-election
were improving.
913
00:55:34,832 --> 00:55:38,252
And now came more bad news
for the confederacy.
914
00:55:38,419 --> 00:55:41,922
Phil Sheridan and 45,000 men
were on the loose
915
00:55:42,089 --> 00:55:43,799
in the Shenandoah.
916
00:55:45,968 --> 00:55:47,136
"The whole country
917
00:55:47,303 --> 00:55:49,138
"from the blue Ridge
to the north mountains
918
00:55:49,305 --> 00:55:52,683
"has been made untenable
for a rebel army.
919
00:55:52,850 --> 00:55:55,353
"I have destroyed
over 2,000 barns
920
00:55:55,519 --> 00:55:58,064
"filled with wheat, hay,
and farming implements
921
00:55:58,230 --> 00:56:00,274
"and over 70 mills.
922
00:56:00,441 --> 00:56:03,402
"Tomorrow I will continue
the destruction.
923
00:56:03,569 --> 00:56:04,779
"When this is completed,
924
00:56:04,945 --> 00:56:07,073
"the valley will have
but little in it
925
00:56:07,239 --> 00:56:09,325
for man or beast."
926
00:56:09,492 --> 00:56:12,411
General Phil Sheridan.
927
00:56:12,578 --> 00:56:16,207
He was sent there to
clear it out once and for all.
928
00:56:16,374 --> 00:56:18,793
His instructions were
to strip it so clean
929
00:56:18,959 --> 00:56:20,503
that a crow flying across it
930
00:56:20,669 --> 00:56:22,755
would have to carry
his own provender,
931
00:56:22,922 --> 00:56:25,800
and he came close to doing it.
932
00:56:25,966 --> 00:56:27,259
No union officer
933
00:56:27,426 --> 00:56:29,095
was fonder of fighting
than Sheridan.
934
00:56:29,261 --> 00:56:31,806
None, save Sherman,
was so relentless.
935
00:56:31,972 --> 00:56:36,727
His orders were to follow
Jubal early "to the death."
936
00:56:36,894 --> 00:56:41,816
Before dawn on October 18th,
Jubal early tried one last time
937
00:56:41,982 --> 00:56:45,820
to destroy Sheridan's army
by attacking at cedar creek,
938
00:56:45,986 --> 00:56:48,239
while Sheridan himself
was asleep at Winchester
939
00:56:48,406 --> 00:56:50,032
20 miles away.
940
00:56:50,199 --> 00:56:53,119
At first it seemed
early had succeeded.
941
00:56:53,285 --> 00:56:55,955
Union forces were driven
from their camps.
942
00:56:56,122 --> 00:56:59,625
Sheridan mounted
his great black horse Rienzi
943
00:56:59,792 --> 00:57:01,352
and galloped through
his retreating men,
944
00:57:01,419 --> 00:57:03,170
urging them to turn back.
945
00:57:03,337 --> 00:57:06,048
They stopped
and began to chant his name.
946
00:57:06,215 --> 00:57:08,134
"God damn you!"
Sheridan shouted.
947
00:57:08,300 --> 00:57:11,095
"Don't cheer me. Fight!"
948
00:57:11,262 --> 00:57:15,391
The union lines re-formed
and won back the field.
949
00:57:20,438 --> 00:57:23,816
Early fled, and the Shenandoah
was closed forever
950
00:57:23,983 --> 00:57:26,569
to the confederacy.
951
00:57:26,735 --> 00:57:30,322
MAN, AS LINCOLN: "General Sheridan,
when this particular war began,
952
00:57:30,489 --> 00:57:35,077
"I thought a cavalryman
should be at least 6'4" high,
953
00:57:35,244 --> 00:57:37,663
"but I have changed my mind.
954
00:57:37,830 --> 00:57:40,458
5'4 " will do in a pinch."
955
00:57:40,624 --> 00:57:42,918
Abraham Lincoln.
956
00:57:43,085 --> 00:57:44,879
At Petersburg,
957
00:57:45,045 --> 00:57:47,006
Grant fired
a second 100-gun volley
958
00:57:47,173 --> 00:57:49,508
into the enemy works.
959
00:57:56,724 --> 00:58:00,352
"Dear Nat, I think well
of the president.
960
00:58:00,519 --> 00:58:03,606
"He has a face
like a Hoosier Michelangelo,
961
00:58:03,772 --> 00:58:06,025
"so awful ugly
it becomes beautiful,
962
00:58:06,192 --> 00:58:10,196
"with its strange mouth,
its deep-cut, crisscross lines,
963
00:58:10,362 --> 00:58:13,866
"and its doughnut complexion.
964
00:58:14,033 --> 00:58:16,118
"I do not dwell
on the supposed failures
965
00:58:16,285 --> 00:58:18,120
"of his government.
966
00:58:18,287 --> 00:58:21,749
"He has shown
an almost supernatural tact
967
00:58:21,916 --> 00:58:24,251
"in keeping
the ship afloat at all.
968
00:58:24,418 --> 00:58:30,758
I more and more rely upon
his idiomatic western genius."
969
00:58:30,925 --> 00:58:32,259
Walt Whitman.
970
00:58:38,182 --> 00:58:40,309
Harper's weekly.
971
00:58:40,476 --> 00:58:41,477
"Abraham Lincoln
972
00:58:41,644 --> 00:58:42,937
"and Andrew Johnson
973
00:58:43,103 --> 00:58:44,855
"have been elected by enormous
974
00:58:45,022 --> 00:58:46,482
"and universal majorities
975
00:58:46,649 --> 00:58:48,317
"in almost all the states.
976
00:58:48,484 --> 00:58:52,530
"This result is the proclamation
of the American people
977
00:58:52,696 --> 00:58:55,199
"that they are not conquered.
978
00:58:55,366 --> 00:58:57,701
"This is what they confirm
979
00:58:57,868 --> 00:59:01,121
"by the re-election
of Mr. Lincoln.
980
00:59:01,288 --> 00:59:03,249
"In himself, he is unimportant,
981
00:59:03,415 --> 00:59:05,209
"but as the representative
982
00:59:05,376 --> 00:59:08,504
"of the feeling and purpose
of the American people,
983
00:59:08,671 --> 00:59:13,217
he is the most important fact
in the world."
984
00:59:13,384 --> 00:59:15,928
"I give thanks to the almighty
985
00:59:16,095 --> 00:59:19,056
"for this evidence
of the people's resolution.
986
00:59:19,223 --> 00:59:22,977
"This contest has demonstrated
to the world
987
00:59:23,143 --> 00:59:27,648
"that a people's government
can sustain a national election
988
00:59:27,815 --> 00:59:31,068
in the midst
of a great civil war."
989
00:59:34,863 --> 00:59:38,284
Sherman's and Sheridan's
victories had changed the odds.
990
00:59:38,450 --> 00:59:42,830
Lincoln carried 55%
of the popular vote.
991
00:59:42,997 --> 00:59:46,000
Only 3 states--Kentucky,
Delaware, and New Jersey--
992
00:59:46,166 --> 00:59:48,836
went to George McClellan.
993
00:59:49,003 --> 00:59:51,297
Virtually all of the general's
old command,
994
00:59:51,463 --> 00:59:53,299
the union army of the Potomac,
995
00:59:53,465 --> 00:59:55,718
voted for Abraham Lincoln.
996
00:59:55,884 --> 01:00:00,014
"That grand old army
performed many heroic acts,
997
01:00:00,180 --> 01:00:03,017
"but never in its history
did it do a more devoted service
998
01:00:03,183 --> 01:00:05,185
than vote
for Abraham Lincoln."
999
01:00:11,483 --> 01:00:15,029
"not the fall of Richmond,
nor Wilmington,
1000
01:00:15,195 --> 01:00:18,198
"nor Charleston,
nor Savannah, nor mobile,
1001
01:00:18,365 --> 01:00:22,036
"nor all combined
can save the enemy
1002
01:00:22,202 --> 01:00:24,955
"from the constant
and exhaustive drain
1003
01:00:25,122 --> 01:00:28,959
"of blood and treasure
which must continue
1004
01:00:29,126 --> 01:00:32,338
"until he shall discover
that no peace is attainable
1005
01:00:32,504 --> 01:00:37,343
unless based on the recognition
of our indefeasible rights."
1006
01:00:37,509 --> 01:00:39,386
President Jefferson Davis.
1007
01:00:42,514 --> 01:00:44,266
If it hadn't begun before,
1008
01:00:44,433 --> 01:00:47,478
the lost cause was born
with his words.
1009
01:00:49,104 --> 01:00:50,564
As Davis spoke at Richmond,
1010
01:00:50,731 --> 01:00:53,442
his audience could hear
Grant's guns at Petersburg,
1011
01:00:53,609 --> 01:00:55,527
just 20 miles away.
1012
01:00:57,446 --> 01:00:58,614
More and more,
1013
01:00:58,781 --> 01:01:01,992
it was becoming
a confederacy of the mind.
1014
01:01:04,620 --> 01:01:11,001
It was a realization
that defeat was foreordained.
1015
01:01:11,168 --> 01:01:12,795
Miss Chesnut,
for instance, said,
1016
01:01:12,961 --> 01:01:14,713
"it's like in a Greek tragedy,
1017
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:17,466
"where you know what
the outcome is bound to be,
1018
01:01:17,633 --> 01:01:20,969
and we're living
a Greek tragedy."
1019
01:01:21,136 --> 01:01:24,640
And things began to close in
on them more and more.
1020
01:01:24,807 --> 01:01:28,477
There was scarcely a family
that hadn't lost someone.
1021
01:01:28,644 --> 01:01:32,106
There were--
disruption of society.
1022
01:01:32,272 --> 01:01:33,565
The blockade was working.
1023
01:01:33,732 --> 01:01:35,901
They couldn't
get very simple things
1024
01:01:36,068 --> 01:01:39,530
like needles to sew with--
very simple things.
1025
01:01:39,697 --> 01:01:43,617
And the discouragement began
to settle in more and more
1026
01:01:43,784 --> 01:01:47,496
with the realization that they
were not gonna win that war.
1027
01:01:47,663 --> 01:01:49,623
Their political leaders
did everything they could,
1028
01:01:49,790 --> 01:01:51,792
especially Jefferson Davis,
to assure them
1029
01:01:51,959 --> 01:01:54,044
that this was
the second American revolution,
1030
01:01:54,211 --> 01:01:57,840
and if they would stand fast,
they way their forefathers had,
1031
01:01:58,006 --> 01:02:01,176
victory was unquestionably
gonna come,
1032
01:02:01,343 --> 01:02:02,970
but the realization came
more and more
1033
01:02:03,137 --> 01:02:05,055
that it was not gonna come,
1034
01:02:05,222 --> 01:02:07,200
especially that they were not
gonna get foreign recognition,
1035
01:02:07,224 --> 01:02:10,144
without which we wouldn't have
won the first revolution,
1036
01:02:10,310 --> 01:02:12,813
and all those things
closed in on them.
1037
01:02:23,866 --> 01:02:24,950
In the north,
1038
01:02:25,117 --> 01:02:27,578
the reservoir of men
seemed bottomless.
1039
01:02:27,745 --> 01:02:30,789
Whole units, like the 3rd
Massachusetts volunteers,
1040
01:02:30,956 --> 01:02:34,460
had still never heard
a shot fired in anger.
1041
01:02:35,711 --> 01:02:37,546
Lincoln now issued
a proclamation
1042
01:02:37,713 --> 01:02:39,423
making the last Thursday
in November
1043
01:02:39,590 --> 01:02:42,217
a national day of Thanksgiving.
1044
01:02:46,722 --> 01:02:48,432
In the trenches at Petersburg,
1045
01:02:48,599 --> 01:02:51,435
120,000 Turkey and chicken
dinners were served
1046
01:02:51,602 --> 01:02:53,687
to Grant's huge army.
1047
01:02:55,189 --> 01:02:56,815
Only yards away,
1048
01:02:56,982 --> 01:02:58,817
the confederates had no feast,
1049
01:02:58,984 --> 01:03:00,944
but held their fire all day
1050
01:03:01,111 --> 01:03:03,447
out of respect
for the union holiday.
1051
01:03:07,409 --> 01:03:11,455
Lincoln called for more men
to finish the war.
1052
01:03:11,622 --> 01:03:14,583
The south had
no more men to spare.
1053
01:03:16,376 --> 01:03:20,881
And William Tecumseh Sherman
had begun his march to the sea.
1054
01:03:26,678 --> 01:03:28,514
"We lay in grim repose
1055
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:32,601
"and expected the renewal
of the mortal conflict.
1056
01:03:32,768 --> 01:03:34,603
"The conviction
everywhere prevailed
1057
01:03:34,770 --> 01:03:38,524
that we could sustain
but one more campaign."
1058
01:03:38,690 --> 01:03:41,652
Captain James F.J. Caldwell.
1059
01:03:47,533 --> 01:03:49,159
On the night of November 25th
1060
01:03:49,326 --> 01:03:50,702
at the winter garden theater
1061
01:03:50,869 --> 01:03:52,371
on Broadway,
1062
01:03:52,538 --> 01:03:54,665
Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar opened.
1063
01:03:56,416 --> 01:03:59,503
3 brothers had
the starring roles--
1064
01:03:59,670 --> 01:04:03,632
Edwin, Junius,
and John Wilkes booth.
1065
01:04:03,799 --> 01:04:05,884
At one point
in Shakespeare's play,
1066
01:04:06,051 --> 01:04:09,513
Cassius speaks
of the assassination of Caesar.
1067
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:11,890
"How many ages hence
1068
01:04:12,057 --> 01:04:15,644
"shall this our lofty scene
be acted over,
1069
01:04:15,811 --> 01:04:19,940
in states unborn
and accents yet unknown?"
1070
01:04:42,129 --> 01:04:47,718
"captain Clapp, 77th New York.
Wounded at Petersburg."
1071
01:04:49,720 --> 01:04:54,224
"Captain Smith, 77th New York.
Wounded at wilderness."
1072
01:04:56,101 --> 01:04:59,563
"Captain Taylor,
61st Pennsylvania.
1073
01:04:59,730 --> 01:05:02,274
Wounded at Spotsylvania."
1074
01:05:03,984 --> 01:05:09,740
"Captain Orr, 77th New York.
Lost arm at cedar creek."
1075
01:05:11,658 --> 01:05:16,747
"Captain Defoe.
Eye shot out at Spotsylvania."
1076
01:05:18,582 --> 01:05:24,755
"Major Ellis, 49th New York.
Died of wound at Spotsylvania."
1077
01:05:26,715 --> 01:05:29,593
"Captain Hickmott,
49th New York.
1078
01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:32,095
Killed at wilderness."
1079
01:05:33,805 --> 01:05:39,394
"Lieutenant Lyon, 77th New York.
Killed at Spotsylvania."
1080
01:05:41,146 --> 01:05:44,608
"Lieutenant Belding,
77th New York.
1081
01:05:44,775 --> 01:05:47,069
Killed at cedar creek."
1082
01:05:49,154 --> 01:05:53,033
"Union officers.
All killed in battle."
1083
01:05:57,579 --> 01:06:00,332
"it really looks
as if it would never end."
1084
01:06:01,792 --> 01:06:03,627
"The most inspiring sight
1085
01:06:03,794 --> 01:06:06,505
"is the flock of buzzards
constantly hovering over us
1086
01:06:06,672 --> 01:06:09,007
"and waiting for their feast.
1087
01:06:09,174 --> 01:06:11,635
"Those birds are
at least impartial
1088
01:06:11,802 --> 01:06:14,054
because they eat
both sides alike."
1089
01:06:15,514 --> 01:06:19,017
"The same, I suppose,
is true of worms."
1090
01:06:19,184 --> 01:06:20,811
Washington Roebling.
1091
01:06:35,826 --> 01:06:37,661
By the spring of 1864,
1092
01:06:37,828 --> 01:06:41,039
union dead completely filled
the military cemeteries
1093
01:06:41,206 --> 01:06:43,750
of Washington and Alexandria.
1094
01:06:45,836 --> 01:06:47,337
Secretary of war Stanton
1095
01:06:47,504 --> 01:06:50,048
ordered the quartermaster
general, Montgomery Meigs,
1096
01:06:50,215 --> 01:06:52,592
to choose a new site.
1097
01:06:52,759 --> 01:06:55,721
Meigs was a Georgian
who had served under Lee
1098
01:06:55,887 --> 01:06:59,016
in the peacetime army,
but he had developed
1099
01:06:59,182 --> 01:07:01,935
an intense hatred
for all his fellow southerners
1100
01:07:02,102 --> 01:07:05,188
who fought against the union
he still served.
1101
01:07:09,651 --> 01:07:11,820
Without hesitation,
he picked the grounds
1102
01:07:11,987 --> 01:07:13,822
of Robert E. Lee's
home at Arlington
1103
01:07:13,989 --> 01:07:15,407
for the new army cemetery,
1104
01:07:15,574 --> 01:07:17,826
and ordered that the union dead
be laid to rest
1105
01:07:17,993 --> 01:07:19,828
within a few feet
of the front door
1106
01:07:19,995 --> 01:07:21,913
of the man
he blamed for their deaths
1107
01:07:22,080 --> 01:07:26,209
so that no one could ever again
live in the house.
1108
01:07:30,714 --> 01:07:33,216
In October, meigs' own son John
was killed
1109
01:07:33,383 --> 01:07:35,844
by confederate guerrillas
in the Shenandoah
1110
01:07:36,011 --> 01:07:39,264
and buried
in Mrs. Lee's Rose garden.
1111
01:07:44,019 --> 01:07:46,855
At one point that year,
the union army was sending back
1112
01:07:47,022 --> 01:07:51,777
2,000 wounded, maimed, and dying
men a week to Washington.
1113
01:07:55,030 --> 01:07:58,825
Now the men Grant was sending
to fight Robert E. Lee
1114
01:07:58,992 --> 01:08:02,245
were being buried
in Lee's own front yard.
1115
01:08:05,582 --> 01:08:10,378
And that yard became
Arlington national cemetery,
1116
01:08:10,545 --> 01:08:13,548
the union's
most hallowed ground.
1117
01:12:36,728 --> 01:12:38,355
Corporate
funding for this special 25th
1118
01:12:38,521 --> 01:12:40,802
anniversary presentation of
the civil war was provided by.
1119
01:12:42,609 --> 01:12:45,570
Before thousands
fell on the battlefield,
1120
01:12:45,737 --> 01:12:48,990
before millions were
freed and before a country
1121
01:12:49,157 --> 01:12:53,078
forged its identity...
A nation declared a new
1122
01:12:53,244 --> 01:12:56,706
birth of freedom,
rededicating itself to the
1123
01:12:56,873 --> 01:13:00,168
proposition that all
men are created equal.
1124
01:13:00,335 --> 01:13:03,546
Bank of America is proud
to sponsor "the civil war,"
1125
01:13:03,713 --> 01:13:05,799
a film by Ken burns,
1126
01:13:05,965 --> 01:13:08,718
newly restored for
it's 25th anniversary.
1127
01:13:12,847 --> 01:13:15,350
Original
production of "the civil war"
1128
01:13:15,517 --> 01:13:17,394
was made possible by
generous contributions
1129
01:13:17,560 --> 01:13:19,479
from these funders.
1130
01:13:21,731 --> 01:13:24,025
And by the corporation
for public broadcasting.
1131
01:13:24,192 --> 01:13:25,952
And by contributions
to your PBS station from
1132
01:13:26,111 --> 01:13:28,196
viewers like you, thank you.
87729
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