NARRATOR: ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF "THE CIVIL WAR" WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THESE FUNDERS.

AND BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU, THANK YOU.

NARRATOR: CORPORATE FUNDING FOR THIS SPECIAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION WAS PROVIDED BY.

MAN: BEFORE THOUSANDS FELL ON THE BATTLEFIELD, BEFORE MILLIONS WERE FREED AND BEFORE A COUNTRY FORGED ITS IDENTITY... A NATION DECLARED A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM, REDEDICATING ITSELF TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.

BANK OF AMERICA IS PROUD TO SPONSOR "THE CIVIL WAR," A FILM BY KEN BURNS, NEWLY RESTORED FOR IT'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY.

[CRICKETS CHIRPING] NARRATOR: AT THE WILLARD HOTEL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., THE POET JULIA WARD HOWE AWOKE FROM A SPECTACULAR DREAM.

THAT DAY, SHE HAD HEARD A NEW ENGLAND REGIMENT SINGING ON PARADE... AND HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WITH THE SONG JOHN BROWN’S BODY RINGING IN HER HEAD.

NOW, IN THE DARK, SHE GOT UP AND SCRIBBLED OUT THE WORDS WITH A PENCIL STUB.

SHE SOLD HER POEM TO THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY FOR $4.00.

IT BECAME THE ANTHEM OF THE UNION.

WOMAN: ♪ MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY ♪ ♪ OF THE COMING OF THE LORD ♪ ♪ HE IS TRAMPLING OUT THE VINTAGE ♪ ♪ WHERE THE GRAPES OF WRATH ARE STORED ♪ ♪ HE HAS LOOSED THE FATEFUL LIGHTNING ♪ ♪ OF HIS TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD ♪ ♪ HIS TRUTH IS MARCHING ON ♪ NARRATOR: BY 1862, RUSSIA HAD EMANCIPATED THE SERFS.

IN FRANCE, VICTOR HUGO PUBLISHED LES MISERABLES, AND JEAN BERNARD FOUCAULT MEASURED THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

IN AMERICA, THE UNITED STATES PASSED THE FIRST NATIONAL INCOME TAX TO PAY FOR WAR.

THE GATLING GUN WAS INVENTED, AND WAR ITSELF WAS CHANGING.

THE SHOCKING CASUALTIES OF BULL RUN AND WILSON’S CREEK WERE DWARFED BY BATTLE AFTER BATTLE.

AND NOW THERE WERE NEW QUESTIONS-- WOULD THE NORTH’S STRENGTH BE OFFSET BY INCOMPETENCE AND LOW MORALE?

WOULD ENGLAND SIDE WITH COTTON AND THE SOUTH?

WHO WOULD CONTROL THE MISSISSIPPI?

FOR A YEAR, THE NATION, NOW TWO NATIONS, HAD TORN ITSELF APART.

FROM A BLOODLESS DUEL OVER A MAN-MADE ISLAND IN CHARLESTON HARBOR, THE WAR HAD SPREAD ALONG A THOUSAND-MILE LINE FROM MANASSAS, VIRGINIA, TO SHANGHAI, MISSOURI, AND BEYOND.

AS 1862 BEGAN, OVER A MILLION MEN WERE MASSING FOR WAR.

IN A FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR TENNESSEE, THE PEOPLE OF CLARKSVILLE ON THE CUMBERLAND FOUND THEMSELVES PRISONERS IN THEIR OWN HOMES.

FAR NORTH OF ANY FIGHTING, THE PEOPLE OF DEER ISLE, MAINE, SUFFERED, TOO-- WITH SAD NEWS FROM PLACES MOST OF THEM HAD NEVER HEARD OF.

BY THE END OF THE WAR, THE LITTLE TOWN OF WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA, HAD CHANGED HANDS 72 TIMES.

SAM WATKINS, A CONFEDERATE PRIVATE, WOULD SEE HIS FIRST BIG BATTLE IN APRIL ON THE BANKS OF THE TENNESSEE.

ELISHA HUNT RHODES, A CLERK FROM PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, WOULD CELEBRATE HIS 20th BIRTHDAY IN A UNION CAMP.

UNION GENERAL GEORGE McCLELLAN, THE IDOL OF HIS TROOPS, WOULD FASHION A MIGHTY ARMY AND LEAD IT SOUTH TOWARDS RICHMOND, WHERE ROBERT E. LEE WAS WAITING.

"THE STRUGGLE OF TODAY," LINCOLN TOLD CONGRESS, "IS NOT ALTOGETHER FOR TODAY.

IT IS FOR A VAST FUTURE, ALSO."

NOW, IN THIS, ITS SECOND YEAR, THE WAR WAS BECOMING A STRUGGLE OVER THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM.

IT REALLY IS ONE OF THOSE, UM... ONE OF THOSE WATERSHED THINGS.

IT WAS A HUGE CHASM BETWEEN THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF THE WAR.

THE NATION HAD COME FACE TO FACE WITH, UH, A DREADFUL TRAGEDY, AND WE REACTED THE WAY A FAMILY WOULD DO WITH A DREADFUL TRAGEDY.

UH, IT WAS ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE THAT ANYTHING THAT HORRENDOUS COULD HAPPEN.

YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT CASUALTIES IN CIVIL WAR BATTLES WERE SO FAR BEYOND ANYTHING WE CAN IMAGINE NOW.

IF WE HAD 10% CASUALTIES IN A BATTLE TODAY, IT WOULD BE LOOKED ON AS A BLOODBATH.

THEY HAD 30% IN SEVERAL BATTLES, AND ONE AFTER ANOTHER, YOU SEE.

[DISTANT EXPLOSIONS] [EXPLOSIONS CONTINUE] MAN: "THIS AFTERNOON, SEEING THE GENERAL ALONE IN THE OFFICE, "I STEPPED UP TO HIM AND SAID, "GENERAL, I WANT TO GO HOME.

"WANT TO GO HOME?

AND FOR WHAT?

HE REPLIED.

"AS I COULD NOT THINK OF AN EXCUSE, "I BLURTED OUT, I WANT TO SEE MY MOTHER.

"IS SHE SICK?

HE ASKED.

"NO, I REPLIED, I HOPE NOT.

"HE THEN ASKED ME HOW LONG SINCE I LEFT HOME "AND IF I WAS EVER AWAY "FOR SO LONG A TIME BEFORE.

"I TOLD HIM "I HAD BEEN IN THE SERVICE 7 MONTHS "AND NEVER HAD BEEN AWAY FROM HOME ALONE BEFORE.

"WELL, SAID THE GENERAL, "YOU HAVE BEEN A GOOD BOY, AND YOU SHALL HAVE A FURLOUGH FOR 10 DAYS."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

DIFFERENT MAN: "I ALWAYS SHOT AT PRIVATES.

"IT WAS THEY THAT DID THE SHOOTING AND KILLING, "AND IF I COULD KILL OR WOUND A PRIVATE, "WHY, MY CHANCES WERE SO MUCH THE BETTER.

I ALWAYS LOOKED ON OFFICERS AS HARMLESS PERSONAGES."

SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: THE COMMANDER OF SAM WATKINS’ COMPANY "H" WAS CAPTAIN WILLIAM R. JOHNSTON.

HIS IMMEDIATE SUPERIOR WAS COLONEL GEORGE MANEY OF THE 1st TENNESSEE.

FROM THERE, THE CONFEDERATE CHAIN OF COMMAND ASCENDED THROUGH COLONEL WILLIAM H. STEPHENS OF THE 2nd BRIGADE TO GENERAL BENJAMIN CHEATHAM, COMMANDER OF THE 2nd DIVISION OF GENERAL LEONIDAS POLK’S 1st ARMY CORPS, THEN TO GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ABOVE THAT, TO WAR SECRETARY GEORGE W. RANDOLPH...

FINALLY, TO JEFFERSON DAVIS, PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

FOR ONE UNION SOLDIER, THE CHAIN OF COMMAND DESCENDED FROM PRESIDENT LINCOLN, SECRETARY OF WAR SIMON CAMERON, AND GENERAL McCLELLAN, COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, TO GENERAL ERASMUS KEYES, COMMANDER OF THE UNION 4th CORPS, GENERAL DARIUS N. COUCH OF "COUCH’S BRIGADE," TO COLONEL FRANK WHEATON, COMMANDER OF THE 2nd RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS, AND FINALLY TO PRIVATE ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

MAN: "JANUARY 31, 1862.

"MUD, MUD, MUD.

"I’M THINKING OF STARTING A STEAMBOAT LINE "TO RUN ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE "BETWEEN OUR OFFICE AND THE CAPITOL.

WILL THE MUD NEVER DRY SO THE ARMY CAN MOVE?"

DIFFERENT MAN: "OF ALL DETESTABLE PLACES, "WASHINGTON IS THE FIRST.

"CROWD, HEAT, BAD QUARTERS, "BAD FARE, BAD SMELLS, "MOSQUITOES, AND A PLAGUE OF FLIES "TRANSCENDING EVERYTHING WITHIN MY EXPERIENCE.

"BEELZEBUB SURELY REIGNS HERE, AND WILLARD’S HOTEL IS HIS TEMPLE."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

FOOTE: THROUGHOUT LINCOLN’S PRESIDENCY-- AND THIS IS TRUE OF MOST PRESIDENTS-- HE WAS FAIRLY RUN CRAZY BY OFFICE SEEKERS, ESPECIALLY AT THE START, WHEN HIS CAMPAIGN MANAGERS HAD PROMISED JOBS TO A GREAT MANY PEOPLE WHO CAME TO COLLECT THEM.

AND ONE MAN SAW HIM ONE DAY, AND HE LOOKED PARTICULARLY WORRIED.

THE MAN SAID, "WHAT’S THE MATTER, MR.

PRESIDENT?"

AND LINCOLN SAID, "THERE’S TOO MANY PIGS FOR THE TITS."

NARRATOR: ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S PROBLEMS WERE NOT CONFINED TO FIGHTING REBELS ALONE.

THE PRESIDENT’S UNWIELDY CABINET INCLUDED FORMER CONSERVATIVE WHIGS, FREESOIL WHIGS, AND UNION DEMOCRATS.

4 HAD BEEN HIS RIVALS FOR THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION.

NEARLY ALL WERE PRIVATELY SURE THEY COULD DO A BETTER JOB THAN THEIR CHIEF.

SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM H. SEWARD HOPED TO REPLACE LINCOLN.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SALMON P. CHASE WANTED TO REPLACE SEWARD.

MARY TODD TOLD HER HUSBAND TO GET RID OF BOTH OF THEM.

INSTEAD, LINCOLN FIRED WAR SECRETARY SIMON P. CAMERON, A PENNSYLVANIA BOSS SO CORRUPT, SAID LINCOLN, THAT THE ONLY THING HE WOULDN’T STEAL WAS A RED-HOT STOVE.

THE NEW SECRETARY OF WAR WAS EDWIN M. STANTON, AN ABLE, RUTHLESS WAR DEMOCRAT FROM OHIO WHO WORRIED ABOUT WHAT HE BELIEVED TO BE LINCOLN’S "PAINFUL IMBECILITY."

ON ONE THING, THE CABINET WAS AGREED.

GENERAL GEORGE McCLELLAN WAS NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH AGAINST THE CONFEDERATES.

"THE ARMY," SECRETARY OF WAR STANTON SAID, "HAS GOT TO FIGHT OR RUN AWAY.

"THE CHAMPAGNE AND OYSTERS ON THE POTOMAC MUST BE STOPPED."

MAN: "DEAR ELLEN, "I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW DISGUSTED I AM BECOMING "WITH THESE WRETCHED POLITICIANS.

"THEY ARE A MOST DESPICABLE SET OF MEN.

"SEWARD IS A MEDDLING, OFFICIOUS, INCOMPETENT LITTLE PUPPY.

"THE PRESIDENT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A WELL-MEANING BABOON."

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

NARRATOR: THE PRESIDENT PORED OVER MILITARY BOOKS, ASKED OFFICERS FOR ADVICE, AND IN EXASPERATION SUGGESTED THAT "IF GENERAL McCLELLAN "DOES NOT WANT TO USE THE ARMY, I WOULD LIKE TO BORROW IT FOR A TIME."

FINALLY, HE ORDERED McCLELLAN TO MOVE ON MANASSAS JUNCTION, AND THEN PROCEED OVERLAND TO TAKE RICHMOND, BUT McCLELLAN WOULD NOT MOVE AND TOOK TO HIS BED WITH A FEVER.

McCLELLAN DID NOT WANT TO FIGHT THE VAST CONFEDERATE ARMY HE HAD CONVINCED HIMSELF NOW OCCUPIED NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

INSTEAD, HE PROPOSED TO FLOAT HIS ARMY TO FORTRESS MONROE AT THE TIP OF THE FINGER OF LAND BETWEEN THE JAMES AND YORK RIVERS, THEN RACE UP THE PENINSULA TO SEIZE THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL.

IMPATIENT FOR ANY ACTION, LINCOLN AGREED.

McCLELLAN WOULD MOVE IN MID MARCH.

IT HAD BEEN 8 MONTHS SINCE THE NORTHERN ARMY HAD CRAWLED BACK INTO WASHINGTON AFTER BULL RUN.

MAN: "FEBRUARY 9, 1862.

"DEAR MR. PRESIDENT, "GENERAL McCLELLAN HAS ALMOST RUINED YOUR ADMINISTRATION "AND THE COUNTRY.

"HE IS A DO-NOTHING.

"HE IS THINKING OF THE PRESIDENCY IN ’64.

"HE IS PLACATING THE REBELS-- "THAT’S WHAT AILS HIM.

DEPEND UPON IT."

JOSEPH MEDILL.

DIFFERENT MAN: "WHAT SHALL I DO?

"THE PEOPLE ARE IMPATIENT.

"CHASE HAS NO MONEY "AND TELLS ME HE CAN RAISE NO MORE.

"THE GENERAL OF THE ARMY, McCLELLAN, "HAS TYPHOID FEVER.

"THE BOTTOM IS OUT OF THE TUB.

WHAT SHALL I DO?"

DIFFERENT MAN: "WASHINGTON.

"DEAR ELLEN, "I WENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE SHORTLY AFTER TEA, "WHERE I FOUND THE ORIGINAL GORILLA, "ABOUT AS INTELLIGENT AS EVER.

WHAT A SPECIMEN TO BE AT THE HEAD OF OUR AFFAIRS NOW."

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

NARRATOR: IN THE MIDST OF ALL HIS TROUBLES, THE PRESIDENT DELIGHTED IN HIS SONS.

THE OLDEST, ROBERT, WAS AWAY AT HARVARD, BUT WILLIE, 11, AND 8-YEAR-OLD THOMAS, KNOWN AS TAD, HAD THE RUN OF THE WHITE HOUSE.

WILLIE WAS STUDIOUS, LIKED TO COMPOSE VERSE AND MEMORIZE RAILROAD TIMETABLES.

HE HAD RAISED A BOYS’ BATTALION FROM AMONG HIS SCHOOLMATES AND INVADED CABINET MEETINGS WITH HIS "TROOPS."

IN FEBRUARY, HE DEVELOPED WHAT THE DOCTOR CALLED "BILIOUS FEVER."

HIS PARENTS SAT UP NIGHT AFTER NIGHT TO NURSE HIM.

ON FEBRUARY 20, WILLIE DIED.

FOR 3 MONTHS, MARY LINCOLN VEERED BETWEEN LOUD WEEPING AND SILENT DEPRESSION AND SOUGHT TO COMMUNICATE WITH HER DEAD CHILD THROUGH SPIRITUALISTS.

WOMAN: "IF I HAD NOT FELT "THE SPUR OF NECESSITY URGING ME TO CHEER MR. LINCOLN, "WHOSE GRIEF WAS AS GREAT AS MY OWN, I COULD NEVER HAVE SMILED AGAIN."

NARRATOR: THE WAR LEFT LINCOLN LITTLE TIME TO MOURN.

HE WAS SOON BACK WORKING 18 HOURS A DAY.

MAN: "AS SHE CAME PLOWING THROUGH THE WATER, "SHE LOOKED LIKE A HUGE HALF-SUBMERGED CROCODILE.

"AT HER PROW, I COULD SEE THE IRON RAM PROJECTING STRAIGHT FORWARD."

NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERACY HAD BEGUN THE WAR WITH NO NAVY WHATSOEVER, BUT BY THE FALL OF 1861, CONFEDERATE ENGINEERS WERE BOLTING IRON PLATES TO THE HULL OF THE STEAM FRIGATE MERRIMACK, BUILDING A WARSHIP MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYTHING THE UNION HAD.

NEWS OF THE MONSTER QUICKLY REACHED THE NORTH.

SECRETARY OF WAR STANTON FEARED SHE WOULD STEAM UP THE POTOMAC AND SHELL THE WHITE HOUSE.

THERE WAS PROBABLY ONLY ONE MAN IN AMERICA WHO COULD STOP THE MERRIMACK, AND HE WAS MAD AT THE NAVY.

THE SWEDISH-BORN INVENTOR JOHN ERICSSON WAS PROUD, VAIN, AND CRANKY, AND FELT HE HAD BEEN CHEATED OUT OF PAYMENT FOR SERVICES TO THE GOVERNMENT YEARS BEFORE, BUT WHEN SECRETARY OF THE NAVY GIDEON WELLES BEGGED HIM TO DO SOMETHING TO STOP THE MERRIMACK, ERICSSON CAME UP WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY DESIGN.

HIS SHIP WOULD HAVE ONLY TWO GUNS TO THE MERRIMACK’S 10, BUT THEY WOULD BE MOUNTED ON A REVOLVING TURRET, AND THOUGH HIS VESSEL WOULD BE MADE ENTIRELY OF IRON, ERICSSON ASSURED EVERYBODY THAT "THE SEA SHALL RIDE OVER HER, AND SHE SHALL LIVE IN IT LIKE A DUCK."

PROFESSIONAL NAVY MEN DISMISSED THE PLAN, BUT LINCOLN OVERRULED THEM, AND JUST 100 DAYS LATER, ON JANUARY 30, 1862, ERICSSON’S SHIP SLID INTO MANHATTAN’S EAST RIVER.

HE CALLED HER THE MONITOR, AND THERE HAD NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE HER.

THE SINGLE VESSEL CONTAINED 47 PATENTABLE INVENTIONS.

MAN: "WE RAN FIRST TO THE NEW YORK SIDE "AND THEN TO BROOKLYN, "AND SO BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE RIVER, "LIKE A DRUNKEN MAN ON A SIDEWALK.

WE FOUND SHE WOULD NOT ANSWER HER RUDDER AT ALL."

NARRATOR: ONCE AT SEA, WATER SPILLED IN, VENTILATORS FAILED, THE SHIP FILLED WITH GAS, HER CREW BEGAN TO FAINT, BUT THE MONITOR KEPT LIMPING SOUTH.

400 MILES AWAY, OFF THE COAST OF VIRGINIA, THE MERRIMACK WAS WAITING.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, WAS WASH DAY FOR THE UNION FLEET IN HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA.

LAUNDRY WAS DRYING ON THE RIGGING OF THE UNION WARSHIPS WHEN THE CONFEDERATE MERRIMACK HEADED STRAIGHT FOR THE U.S.S.

CUMBERLAND.

[CANNONS FIRING] THE CUMBERLAND OPENED FIRE, BUT THE SHOTS BOUNCED HARMLESSLY OFF THE MERRIMACK’S SIDE.

THE CONFEDERATE SHIP RAMMED THE CUMBERLAND, THEN STOOD IN SO CLOSE, THEIR MUZZLES ALMOST TOUCHED.

THE CUMBERLAND SANK IN SHALLOW WATER.

THE MERRIMACK WENT ON TO SET THE U.S.S.

CONGRESS AFIRE, DROVE THE U.S.S.

MINNESOTA AGROUND, THEN DREW BACK FOR THE NIGHT.

FOR ONE DAY, THE CONFEDERATE NAVY RULED THE SEA.

AT 1:00 THAT MORNING, THE CREW OF THE BATTERED MINNESOTA SAW A STRANGE-LOOKING SHIP DRAW UP ALONGSIDE THEM IN THE DARKNESS.

MAN: "CLOSE ALONGSIDE THE MINNESOTA, "THERE WAS A CRAFT SUCH AS THE EYES OF A SEAMAN "NEVER LOOKED UPON BEFORE-- "AN IMMENSE SHINGLE FLOATING ON THE WATER "WITH A GIGANTIC CHEESE BOX RISING FROM ITS CENTER.

"NO SAILS, NO WHEELS, NO SMOKESTACK, NO GUNS.

WHAT COULD IT BE?"

NARRATOR: THE MONITOR HAD ARRIVED.

[CANNONS FIRING] THE NEXT MORNING, THE EPIC BATTLE OF IRONCLADS BEGAN.

HULL TO HULL, THE TWO SHIPS HAMMERED AWAY AT EACH OTHER, SO CLOSE, THEY COLLIDED 5 TIMES AS THE MEN INSIDE, HALF-BLIND WITH SMOKE, LOADED AND FIRED.

AFTER 4 1/2 HOURS, THE MERRIMACK DREW OFF.

IT WAS HER ONLY FIGHT.

TWO MONTHS LATER, RATHER THAN SURRENDER THEIR SHIP, THE CONFEDERATES BLEW HER UP WHEN THEY WERE FORCED OUT OF NORFOLK.

BOTH SIDES SET TO WORK BUILDING MORE IRONCLADS WHILE EUROPE WATCHED IN WORRIED FASCINATION.

FROM THE MOMENT THE TWO SHIPS OPENED FIRE THAT SUNDAY MORNING, EVERY OTHER NAVY ON EARTH WAS OBSOLETE.

MAN: "GENERAL GRANT HABITUALLY WEARS AN EXPRESSION "AS IF HE HAD DETERMINED TO DRIVE HIS HEAD THROUGH A BRICK WALL AND WAS ABOUT TO DO IT."

NARRATOR: THE YEAR 1862 WOULD INTRODUCE TWO GREAT FORCES INTO THE WAR-- UNSPEAKABLE SLAUGHTER AND ULYSSES S. GRANT.

WHILE McCLELLAN HESITATED IN WASHINGTON, GRANT, BACK IN THE FIELD AFTER MONTHS OF DESK DUTY, WON TWO CRUCIAL VICTORIES OUT WEST.

LAUNCHING SIMULTANEOUS ATTACKS BY LAND AND WATER, HE TOOK FIRST FORT HENRY ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER, THEN FORT DONELSON ON THE CUMBERLAND, WHERE HE ISSUED AN ULTIMATUM TO THE CONFEDERATE COMMANDER-- "NO TERMS EXCEPT UNCONDITIONAL AND IMMEDIATE SURRENDER."

[CANNONS FIRING] THE TENNESSEE AND CUMBERLAND RIVERS WERE NOW IN UNION HANDS.

THE CONFEDERATES HAD BEEN DRIVEN FROM KENTUCKY.

DOZENS OF SOUTHERN TOWNS WERE NOW OCCUPIED BY UNION TROOPS.

IN LESS THAN A YEAR, GRANT HAD GONE FROM CLERK TO UNION HERO.

NEWS STORIES DESCRIBED HIM COOLLY SMOKING UNDER FIRE, AND ADMIRERS SHIPPED HIM BARRELS OF CIGARS.

A DELIGHTED NORTHERN PUBLIC NOW THOUGHT THEY KNEW WHAT THE INITIALS IN HIS NAME STOOD FOR.

THEY CALLED HIM "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" GRANT.

[HORSE NEIGHS] BUT BEFORE GRANT’S MEN MARCHED INTO FORT DONELSON, CONFEDERATE GENERAL NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST SLIPPED OUT OF IT WITH 1,000 MEN.

"I DID NOT COME HERE FOR THE PURPOSE OF SURRENDERING MY COMMAND," HE SAID, AND LED HIS TROOPS 75 MILES THROUGH THE SNOW TO SAFETY.

GRANT AND THE UNION ARMY WOULD MEET BEDFORD FORREST AGAIN.

[EXPLOSIONS] AFTER THE CONFEDERATE DEFEAT AT FORT DONELSON, THE FEMALE ACADEMY AND STEWART COLLEGE AT NEARBY CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE, WERE CONVERTED TO HOSPITALS.

WOMAN: "SUNDAY THE NEWS CAME.

"SUCH PANIC-STRICKEN PEOPLE WERE NEVER BEFORE SEEN.

"THE WOUNDED WERE BEING BROUGHT UP.

"THE CITIZENS WERE RUNNING.

"THERE WERE ALREADY TWO HOSPITALS HERE "WHICH WERE FILLED WITH THE SICK, "AND THEY, POOR FELLAS, WERE CRAWLING OUT FROM EVERY PIECE-- "WALKING, GOING ON HORSEBACK, IN WAGONS."

NANNIE HASKINS.

NARRATOR: THE UNION ARMY WAS RIGHT BEHIND THE WOUNDED.

THEY MET NO RESISTANCE.

A WHITE FLAG FLEW ABOVE TINY FORT DEFIANCE WEST OF TOWN, AND MAYOR SMITH CAME OUT TO INFORM THE UNION COMMANDER THAT THE CONFEDERATE ARMY HAD RETREATED TO NASHVILLE.

FARMER JOHN BARKER WROTE IN HIS DIARY THAT THERE WERE NOTHING BUT LINCOLNITES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY.

AN UNEASY FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CLARKSVILLE BEGAN.

EARLY IN THE WAR, SOME-- UM, A UNION SQUAD CLOSED IN ON A SINGLE RAGGED CONFEDERATE, AND HE OBVIOUSLY DIDN’T OWN ANY SLAVES.

HE COULDN’T HAVE MUCH INTEREST IN--IN THE CONSTITUTION OR ANYTHING ELSE.

THEY SAID, "WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR, ANYHOW?"

THEY ASKED HIM.

AND HE SAID, "I’M FIGHTING BECAUSE YOU’RE DOWN HERE," WHICH IS A PRETTY SATISFACTORY ANSWER.

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 4, GEORGE McCLELLAN AT LAST BEGAN TO MOVE FOR RICHMOND-- 121,500 MEN, 14,592 HORSES AND MULES, 1,150 WAGONS, 44 BATTERIES OF ARTILLERY, AMBULANCES, PONTOON BRIDGES, TONS OF PROVISIONS, TENTS, TELEGRAPH WIRE.

IT TOOK 400 BOATS 3 WEEKS TO LAND IT ALL AT FORTRESS MONROE ON THE VIRGINIA COAST.

MAN: "THE WHOLE REGION SEEMS "LITERALLY FILLED WITH SOLDIERY.

"ONE OF THE FINEST ARMIES "EVER MARSHALLED ON THE GLOBE "NOW WAKES UP THESE LONG, STAGNANT FIELDS AND WOODS.

"GENERAL McCLELLAN IS HERE AND COMMANDS IN PERSON."

REVEREND A.M. STEWART.

DIFFERENT MAN: "I AM TO WATCH OVER YOU "AS A PARENT OVER HIS CHILDREN, "AND YOU KNOW THAT YOUR GENERAL LOVES YOU "FROM THE DEPTHS OF HIS HEART.

"IT SHALL BE MY CARE TO GAIN SUCCESS WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE LOSS."

NARRATOR: BUT AT YORKTOWN, LESS THAN 20 MILES AWAY, THE CONFEDERATES WAITED, VASTLY OUTNUMBERED BUT DETERMINED TO DEFEND THEIR HOMES AND HURL BACK THE INVADERS.

FOR THE NORTH, IT WAS SLOW GOING.

ROADS SAID TO BE BONE DRY WERE BOGS.

UNION OFFICERS, FORCED TO RELY ON STORE-BOUGHT MAPS, LOST THEIR WAY.

FINALLY, ON APRIL 5, THE ADVANCE GUARD REACHED YORKTOWN, WHERE THE CONFEDERATES HAD TAKEN OVER THE BUILDING USED BY LORD CORNWALLIS AS HEADQUARTERS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

THERE WERE JUST 11,000 SOUTHERN TROOPS DUG IN-- NOT EVEN 1/10 OF McCLELLAN’S FORCE...

BUT THE CONFEDERATE COMMANDER WAS JOHN BANKHEAD MAGRUDER, A SHOWY VIRGINIAN WHO LOVED AMATEUR THEATRICALS.

HE NOW OUTDID EVEN HIMSELF.

TO FOOL McCLELLAN INTO BELIEVING THAT HIS SMALL FORCE WAS ENORMOUS, MAGRUDER KEPT UP A SPORADIC, WIDELY SCATTERED ARTILLERY BARRAGE AND PARADED ONE BATTALION IN AND OUT OF A CLEARING IN AN ENDLESS CIRCLE UNTIL IT SEEMED, TO UNION OBSERVERS, A MIGHTY HOST.

MAN: CORPORAL EDMUND PATTERSON, 9th ALABAMA.

"THIS MORNING, WE WERE CALLED OUT "BY THE LONG ROLL, AND HAVE BEEN TRAVELING "MOST OF THE DAY, "SEEMING WITH NO OTHER VIEW THAN TO SHOW OURSELVES TO THE ENEMY "AT AS MANY DIFFERENT POINTS OF THE LINE AS POSSIBLE.

I’M PRETTY TIRED."

NARRATOR: "IT SEEMS CLEAR THAT I SHALL HAVE THE WHOLE FORCE OF THE ENEMY ON MY HANDS," McCLELLAN TELEGRAPHED LINCOLN, "PROBABLY NOT LESS THAN 100,000 MEN, AND POSSIBLY MORE."

McCLELLAN CALLED FOR REINFORCEMENTS.

GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, THE OVERALL CONFEDERATE COMMANDER, COULD NOT BELIEVE HIS LUCK.

"NOBODY BUT McCLELLAN," HE SAID, "COULD HAVE HESITATED TO ATTACK."

MAN: "ONCE MORE, LET ME TELL YOU, "IT IS INDISPENSABLE TO YOU "THAT YOU STRIKE A BLOW.

"I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN TO YOU OR SPOKEN TO YOU "IN GREATER KINDNESS THAN NOW, "NOR WITH FULLER PURPOSE TO SUSTAIN YOU, BUT YOU MUST ACT."

DIFFERENT MAN: "THE PRESIDENT VERY COOLLY TELEGRAPHED ME "THAT HE THOUGHT I HAD BETTER BREAK THE ENEMY’S LINES AT ONCE.

"I WAS MUCH TEMPTED TO REPLY THAT HE HAD BETTER COME AND DO IT HIMSELF."

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

DIFFERENT MAN: "I DON’T SEE THE SENSE "OF PILING UP EARTH TO KEEP US APART.

"IF WE DON’T GET AT EACH OTHER SOMETIME, "WHEN WILL THE WAR END?

"MY PLAN WOULD BE TO QUIT DITCHING AND GO TO FIGHTING."

NARRATOR: BUT McCLELLAN CHOSE TO DIG IN.

[CANNONS FIRING] AS HE SETTLED IN FOR A SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, UNION GENERAL PHIL KEARNY TOOK TO CALLING HIS COMMANDER "THE VIRGINIA CREEPER."

FOOTE: DURING THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN, UH, McCLELLAN’S WORKING HIS WAY UP THE YORK JAMES PENINSULA, AND HE CAME TO A STREAM.

AND HE AND HIS STAFF WERE SITTING THERE WONDERING HOW DEEP IT WAS, IF THEY HAD TO MARCH ACROSS IT.

AND CUSTER, WHO WAS A JUNIOR OFFICER ON HIS STAFF-- JUST GRADUATED FROM WEST POINT, A CAPTAIN, I THINK-- RODE OUT INTO MIDSTREAM, SAT ON HIS HORSE, AND TURNED AROUND IN THE SADDLE AND SAID TO McCLELLAN, "THIS IS HOW DEEP IT IS, GENERAL."

MAN: ♪ I HAVE SEEN HIM IN THE WATCH-FIRES ♪ ♪ OF A HUNDRED CIRCLING CAMPS ♪ ♪ THEY HAVE BUILDED HIM AN ALTAR ♪ ♪ IN THE EVENING DEWS AND DAMPS ♪ ♪ I CAN READ HIS RIGHTEOUS SENTENCE ♪ ♪ BY THE DIM AND FLARING LAMPS ♪ ♪ HIS DAY IS MARCHING ON ♪ NARRATOR: "A MAN’S CONCEIT DWINDLES "WHEN HE CRAWLS INTO AN UNTEASLED SHIRT, "TROUSERS TOO SHORT AND BAGGY BEHIND, "COAT TOO LONG AT BOTH ENDS, "AND A CAP AS SHAPELESS AS A FEEDBAG.

"A PHOTOGRAPH OF ANY ONE OF THEM, "COVERED WITH YELLOW DUST OR MOSAICS OF MUD, "COULD ORNAMENT ANY MANTEL, NORTH OR SOUTH, AS A TRUE PICTURE OF OUR BOY."

NARRATOR: NORTH AND SOUTH, THE AVERAGE SOLDIER WAS 5’8" TALL AND WEIGHED 143 POUNDS.

HIS CHANCE OF DYING IN COMBAT WAS 1 IN 65; OF BEING WOUNDED, 1 IN 10.

1 IN 13 WOULD DIE OF DISEASE.

THE AVERAGE AGE OF A SOLDIER WAS 25.

THE MINIMUM AGE FOR ENLISTMENT WAS 18, BUT RECRUITING OFFICERS WERE NOT PARTICULAR.

DRUMMER BOYS AS YOUNG AS 9 SIGNED ON.

THERE WERE MORE THAN 100,000 SOLDIERS IN THE UNION ARMY WHO WERE NOT YET 15 YEARS OLD.

WILLIAM BLACK WAS NOT YET 12 WHEN HE ENLISTED.

SHOT IN THE LEFT ARM DURING BATTLE, HE WAS THOUGHT TO BE THE YOUNGEST COMBAT SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE WAR.

MAN: "ALMOST EVERY KNOWN TRADE, PROFESSION, "OR CALLING HAS ITS REPRESENTATIVES "IN OUR REGIMENT-- "TAILORS, CARPENTERS, MASONS, AND PLASTERERS, "MOULDERS AND GLASSBLOWERS, "PUDDLERS AND ROLLERS, "MACHINISTS AND ARCHITECTS, "PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS AND PUBLISHERS, "GENTLEMEN OF LEISURE, "POLITICIANS, MERCHANTS, "LEGISLATORS, JUDGES, "LAWYERS, DOCTORS, PREACHERS.

"SOME MALICIOUS FELLOW MIGHT ASK THE PRIVILEGE "OF COMPLETING THE CATALOGUE BY NAMING "JAILBIRDS, IDLERS, LOAFERS, DRUNKARDS, "AND GAMBLERS...

BUT WE BEG HIS PARDON AND REFUSE THE LICENSE."

"ALL THE APPLIANCES OF HOME LIFE "WHICH ARE POSSIBLE ARE BEING INTRODUCED "INTO OUR ENCAMPMENT-- "A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, "A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT, "A TEMPERANCE LEAGUE, "AND A CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

"WE HAVE A POST OFFICE, LETTER BOX, "POSTMASTER, AND MAIL CARRIER.

"OUR BOYS WRITE VASTLY MORE LETTERS "THAN THEY RECEIVE.

"YOU CAN HARDLY IMAGINE THE EAGERNESS "WITH WHICH THE MAILMAN IS LOOKED FOR, "THE DELIGHT ON THE RECEPTION OF A LETTER, "THE SADNESS, SOMETIMES EVEN TO TEARS, "WITH WHICH THOSE WHO ARE DISAPPOINTED TURN AWAY."

REVEREND A.M. STEWART.

NARRATOR: FOR THE ENLISTED MAN, ARMY LIFE MEANT PERIODS OF TEDIUM PUNCTUATED BY MOMENTS OF EXTREME TERROR.

IT ALSO MEANT LONG ABSENCES FROM FAMILY AND HOME.

MAN: "JULY 1862.

TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI.

"DEAR SISTERS, "I WOULD BE THE GLADDEST PERSON IN THE WORLD "TO SEE YOU AND TALK WITH YOU AWHILE, "FOR I SEE NOBODY HERE BUT MEN, "AND THEY APPEAR TO BE VERY SORRY COMPANY.

"I THINK THAT I COULD ENJOY MYSELF AT HOME BETTER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD."

BENJAMIN STUBBS.

NARRATOR: FOR THOSE OFFICERS WHO TOOK THEIR FAMILIES WITH THEM TO CAMP, LIFE WAS SOMEWHAT BETTER.

[DOG BARKING] MAN: "THERE HAS BEEN A GREAT BATTLE INDEED "IN THE SOUTHWEST, "A CONFLICT OF TWO DAYS, "CLOSELY FOUGHT AND WITH VARYING FORTUNE "AND BY GREAT ARMIES.

"IT SEEMS ENTITLED TO A PLACE AMONG THE FIRST-CLASS BATTLES OF HISTORY."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

FOOTE: IT WAS FOUGHT IN EARLY APRIL.

THE TREES WERE LEAFED OUT, AND THE ROADS WERE MEANDERING COWPATHS.

NOBODY KNEW NORTH FROM SOUTH, EAST FROM WEST.

THEY HAD NEVER BEEN IN COMBAT BEFORE, MOST OF THEM, ESPECIALLY ON THE SOUTHERN SIDE.

SO IT WAS JUST A DISORGANIZED, MURDEROUS FISTFIGHT-- 100,000 MEN SLAMMING AWAY AT EACH OTHER.

NARRATOR: IN EARLY APRIL, AS McCLELLAN CONTINUED TO SIT IN FRONT OF YORKTOWN, 42,000 UNION TROOPS UNDER GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT WERE ENCAMPED ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING.

GRANT’S INVASION OF TENNESSEE HAD PRACTICALLY CUT THE STATE IN TWO, AND NOW HE WAS WAITING FOR DON CARLOS BUELL’S ARMY OF THE OHIO TO JOIN HIM.

THEIR COMBINED FORCES WERE THEN TO PLUNGE INTO THE HEART OF MISSISSIPPI, BUT BUELL WAS LATE, AND AT CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI, 22 MILES AWAY, THE COMMANDER OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY, ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, SAW NO REASON TO WAIT.

THEIR ARMIES WERE STILL EVENLY MATCHED, AND HE WOULD ATTACK AND END GRANT’S INVASION.

"TONIGHT WE WILL WATER OUR HORSES IN THE TENNESSEE," JOHNSTON TOLD HIS STAFF OFFICERS ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 6.

THE CONFEDERATES QUIETLY MOVED TOWARD THE UNION LINES.

MAN: "IT WAS A MOST BEAUTIFUL MORNING.

"IT REALLY SEEMED LIKE SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY AT HOME.

"THE BOYS WERE SCATTERED AROUND CAMP, "POLISHING AND BRIGHTENING THEIR MUSKETS "AND BRUSHING UP AND CLEANING THEIR SHOES, JACKETS, AND TROUSERS FOR INSPECTION."

PRIVATE LEANDER STILWELL.

NARRATOR: AT THE HEAD OF ONE UNION DIVISION WAS WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, WHO HAD SHAKEN OFF THE MELANCHOLY THAT HAD SENT HIM HOME THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

HIS OHIOANS WERE ENCAMPED ON A HILL NOT FAR FROM A LITTLE LOG-BUILT METHODIST CHURCH CALLED SHILOH WHEN THE 6th MISSISSIPPI ATTACKED.

[CANNON FIRE] [HORSE NEIGHS] MAN: "I SAW MEN IN GRAY AND BROWN CLOTHES "RUNNING THROUGH THE CAMP.

"AND I SAW SOMETHING ELSE, TOO, "SOMETHING I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE-- "A GAUDY SORT OF THING WITH RED BARS... A REBEL FLAG."

"WE WERE CROWDING THEM.

"ONE MORE CHARGE, AND THEIR LINES WAVER AND BREAK.

"THEY RETREAT IN WILD CONFUSION.

"WE WERE JUBILANT, "AND THE OFFICERS COULD NOT CURB THEIR MEN TO KEEP THEM IN LINE."

SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: THE BATTLE EXTENDED ALONG A 3-MILE FRONT.

THE WORST FIGHTING WAS IN THE CENTER, WHERE THE REBELS CAME ON AND ON LIKE "MADDENED DEMONS," A UNION SOLDIER SAID.

FOOTE: THE GENERALS DIDN’T KNOW THEIR JOBS.

THE SOLDIERS DIDN’T KNOW THEIR JOBS.

IT WAS JUST PURE DETERMINATION TO STAND AND FIGHT AND NOT RETREAT, AND THE BLOODINESS OF IT WAS JUST ASTOUNDING TO EVERYONE.

IT ALSO CORRECTED A SOUTHERN MISCONCEPTION WHICH HAD SAID, "ONE GOOD SOUTHERN SOLDIER IS WORTH 10 YANKEE HIRELINGS."

THEY FOUND OUT THAT WASN’T TRUE BY A LONG SHOT.

NARRATOR: IN A PEACH ORCHARD, THE FEDERALS LAY FLAT BENEATH THE BLOSSOMING TREES, FIRING AS THE REBELS CAME, SOFT PINK PETALS RAINING DOWN ON THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.

BY LATE MORNING, THOUSANDS OF UNTRIED FEDERAL TROOPS HAD SEEN ENOUGH.

MOST DID NOT STOP RUNNING UNTIL THEY REACHED THE RIVER, WHERE ALMOST 5,000 MEN COWERED BENEATH THE BLUFF.

"WE ARE SWEEPING THE FIELD," GENERAL JOHNSTON TOLD HIS SECOND IN COMMAND, BEAUREGARD, "AND I THINK WE SHALL PRESS THEM TO THE RIVER."

GRANT’S BACK WAS TO THE TENNESSEE.

THERE WAS NO SIGN OF BUELL AND NOWHERE ELSE TO GO, BUT A THIN FEDERAL LINE HELD IN THE CENTER, ILLINOIS AND IOWA FARM BOYS MOSTLY, PRONE ALONG A SUNKEN ROAD.

THEIR COMMANDER, BENJAMIN PRENTISS, UNDERSTOOD THE DEADLY SERIOUSNESS OF GRANT’S ORDER TO "MAINTAIN THAT POSITION AT ALL COSTS."

THE CONFEDERATES LAUNCHED A DOZEN MASSIVE ASSAULTS AGAINST WHAT BECAME KNOWN AS THE HORNET’S NEST.

ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON HIMSELF LED THE LAST CHARGE.

UH, HE CAME OUT OF IT WITH, UH, BITS OF HIS CLOTHING NICKED ALL UP.

ONE BOOT SOLE WAS SHOT IN HALF, AND HE FLAPPED HIS-- ON--ON HORSEBACK THERE, AND SAID, "THEY DIDN’T TRIP ME UP THAT TIME."

AND VERY SOON AFTER THAT, THEY SAW HIM REEL IN THE SADDLE AND REALIZED HE WAS HURT, AND THEN SOMEONE SAID, "GENERAL, ARE YOU WOUNDED?"

AND HE SAID, "YES, AND I FEAR SERIOUSLY," AND HE WAS SHOT BEHIND THE KNEE-- IN THE FEMORAL ARTERY, I SUPPOSE-- AND BLED TO DEATH.

THEY SAW BLOOD COMING OUT OF HIS BOOT, AND HE COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY SAVED WITH A TOURNIQUET, BUT HE HAD SENT HIS--HIS SURGEON OFF TO TAKE CARE OF SOME FEDERAL PRISONERS.

MAN: "ADVANCING A LITTLE FURTHER, "WE SAW GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON "SURROUNDED BY HIS STAFF.

"WE SAW SOME LITTLE COMMOTION "AMONG THOSE WHO SURROUNDED HIM, "BUT WE DID NOT KNOW AT THE TIME THAT HE WAS DEAD.

THE FACT WAS KEPT FROM THE TROOPS."

SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: THE COMMAND OF THE WESTERN ARMY NOW PASSED TO GENERAL BEAUREGARD.

ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON WAS LOOKED ON BY MANY PEOPLE AT THE TIME OF SHILOH, AND ESPECIALLY BEFORE SHILOH WHILE HE WAS HOLDING THAT LINE UP IN KENTUCKY, AS THE SOUTH’S NUMBER-ONE FIELD SOLDIER.

JEFFERSON DAVIS VIEWED HIM AS THAT, AND WHEN HE LOST ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, HE SAID, "I REALIZED OUR STRONGEST PILLAR HAD BEEN BROKEN."

NARRATOR: MEANWHILE, THE CENTER OF THE UNION LINE BENT BACK ON ITSELF BUT WOULD NOT BREAK.

CONFEDERATES TRAINED 62 CANNON AT POINT-BLANK RANGE AND OPENED FIRE.

THE HORNET’S NEST EXPLODED IN A HAIL OF SPLINTERED TREES AND SHATTERED MEN.

AT 5:30, PRENTISS AND THE 2,200 SURVIVORS OF HIS DIVISION SURRENDERED.

THEY HAD HELD UP THE SOUTHERN ADVANCE FOR NEARLY 6 HOURS, AND IT WAS GROWING DARK.

BEAUREGARD WIRED JEFFERSON DAVIS THAT HE HAD WON A COMPLETE VICTORY.

"I HAD GENERAL GRANT JUST WHERE I WANTED HIM," HE SAID, "AND COULD FINISH HIM UP IN THE MORNING."

EVERYWHERE, WOUNDED MEN LAY IN AGONY.

NEITHER ARMY HAD YET DEVISED A SYSTEM FOR GATHERING OR CARING FOR THEM ON THE FIELD.

SCORES OF WOUNDED COLLAPSED AND DIED DRINKING FROM A MUD HOLE NEAR THE PEACH ORCHARD, STAINING THE WATER RED.

IT BEGAN TO RAIN, AND FLASHES OF LIGHTNING SHOWED HOGS FEEDING ON THE UNGATHERED DEAD.

MAN: "SOME CRIED FOR WATER, "OTHERS FOR SOMEONE TO COME AND HELP THEM.

"I CAN HEAR THOSE POOR FELLOWS CRYING FOR WATER.

"GOD HEARD THEM, FOR THE HEAVENS OPENED AND THE RAIN CAME."

NARRATOR: GRANT SPENT THAT NIGHT BENEATH A TREE RATHER THAN LISTEN TO THE SCREAMS OF THE WOUNDED MEN IN HIS HEADQUARTERS.

IT WAS THERE THAT SHERMAN FOUND HIM.

"WELL, GRANT," HE SAID, "WE’VE HAD THE DEVIL’S OWN DAY, HAVEN’T WE?"

"YES," SAID GRANT.

"LICK ’EM TOMORROW, THOUGH."

[STEAMBOAT WHISTLE] MAN: "NEVER TO ME WAS THE SIGHT "OF REINFORCING LEGIONS SO WELCOME "AS ON THAT SUNDAY EVENING "WHEN BUELL’S ADVANCE COLUMN DEPLOYED ON THE BLUFFS OF PITTSBURG LANDING."

NARRATOR: DURING THE NIGHT, BUELL’S ARMY FINALLY ARRIVED.

THE UNION MEN MARCHED ASHORE AS A BAND PLAYED DIXIE.

[CANNON FIRE] AT DAWN, THE UNION FORCE, NOW 70,000 STRONG, DROVE INTO BEAUREGARD’S 30,000.

THE CONFEDERATES FELL BACK, COUNTERATTACKED, FELL BACK AGAIN, AND BEGAN TO WITHDRAW.

THE UNION HELD THE FIELD.

COVERING THE CONFEDERATE RETREAT WAS NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, WHO NOW TURNED TO LEAD ONE LAST CAVALRY CHARGE HEADLONG INTO THE PURSUING NORTHERN ARMY.

FOOTE: AND HE LANDED SQUARE IN THE MAIN BODY OF THE UNION TROOPS.

HE WAS SURROUNDED BY-- ONE GRAY UNIFORM IN A SEA OF BLUE, AND, UH, THEY BEGAN TO HOLLER, "KILL HIM.

KILL THE GODDAMN REBEL.

KNOCK HIM OFF HIS HORSE," AND ONE SOLDIER DID, UH, STICK HIS, UH, RIFLE OUT INTO FORREST’S SIDE AND PULLED THE TRIGGER AND LIFTED FORREST CLEAR OF THE SADDLE WITH THE IMPACT OF THE BULLET, AND FORREST, MEANTIME, WAS SLASHING WITH HIS SABER.

HIS HORSE WAS KICKING AND TURNING, AND FORREST SAWED HIM AROUND AND GOT HIM CLEAR AND TOOK OFF, AND THEY WERE SHOOTING AFTER HIM, SO HE REACHED DOWN AND GRABBED ONE UNION SOLDIER AND SWUNG HIM UP BEHIND HIM ON THE CRUPPER OF THE HORSE TO USE AS A SHIELD, AND WHEN HE GOT OUT OF RANGE, HE THREW THE MAN OFF AND RODE BACK TO JOIN HIS COMMAND.

THAT WAS THE LAST SHOT FIRED IN THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

NARRATOR: THE GROUND, GRANT SAID, WAS SO COVERED WITH DEAD THAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE TO WALK ACROSS THE CLEARING IN ANY DIRECTION, STEPPING ON DEAD BODIES WITHOUT A FOOT TOUCHING THE GROUND.

MAN: "WHEN THE GRAVE WAS READY, "WE PLACED THE BODIES THEREIN, TWO DEEP.

"ALL THE MONUMENT REARED TO THOSE BRAVE MEN WAS A BOARD "UPON WHICH I CUT WITH MY POCKET KNIFE THE WORDS 125 REBELS."

NARRATOR: 2,477 MEN WERE KILLED AT SHILOH.

THERE WERE 23,000 CASUALTIES OVERALL-- MORE THAN ALL THE AMERICAN CASUALTIES IN ALL PREVIOUS AMERICAN WARS COMBINED... AND IT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

FOOTE: SHILOH HAD THE SAME NUMBER OF CASUALTIES AS WATERLOO, AND YET, WHEN IT WAS FOUGHT, THERE WERE ANOTHER 20 WATERLOOS TO FOLLOW, AND GRANT, SHORTLY BEFORE SHILOH, SAID, "I CONSIDER THIS WAR PRACTICALLY OVER.

THEY’RE READY TO GIVE UP," AND THE DAY AFTER SHILOH, HE SAID, "I SAW THAT IT WAS GOING TO HAVE TO BE A WAR OF CONQUEST IF WE WERE TO WIN."

SHILOH DID THAT, AND IT SOBERED THE NATION UP SOMETHING AWFUL, THE REALIZATION THAT THEY HAD A VERY BLOODY AFFAIR ON THEIR HANDS, AND IT CALLED FOR A HUGE REASSESSMENT OF WHAT THIS THING WAS GOING TO BE.

NARRATOR: YEARS AFTERWARD, A UNION VETERAN SAID, THE MOST A SOLDIER COULD SAY OF ANY FIGHT WAS, "I WAS WORSE SCARED THAN I WAS AT SHILOH."

"SHILOH" IS A HEBREW WORD MEANING "PLACE OF PEACE."

MAN: "APRIL 11, 1862.

"I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT BEFORE MANY CENTURIES MORE, "SCIENCE WILL BE THE MASTER OF MAN.

"THE ENGINES HE WILL HAVE INVENTED "WILL BE BEYOND HIS STRENGTH TO CONTROL.

"SOMEDAY, SCIENCE SHALL HAVE THE EXISTENCE OF MANKIND "IN ITS POWER, "AND THE HUMAN RACE COMMIT SUICIDE BY BLOWING UP THE WORLD."

HENRY ADAMS.

NARRATOR: THE ARMIES THAT U.S. GRANT AND GEORGE McCLELLAN LED WERE THE BEST-EQUIPPED IN HISTORY.

THE PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND TECHNICAL INGENUITY OF THE NORTH WERE NOW FOCUSED ON WEAPONS... AND THE CIVIL WAR WOULD SEE THE FIRST RAILROAD ARTILLERY, THE FIRST LAND MINES AND TELESCOPIC SIGHTS, THE FIRST MILITARY TELEGRAPHS.

IN 1862 ALONE, 240 PATENTS WERE ISSUED FOR MILITARY WEAPONS.

LINCOLN WAS FASCINATED BY NEW WEAPONRY.

HE PERSONALLY TESTED NEW RIFLES AND ORDERED UP 10 UNION REPEATING GUNS, FORERUNNERS OF THE MACHINE GUN, BUT HE PASSED UP A SCHEME TO MANUFACTURE CANOE-SHAPED FOOTWEAR FOR WALKING ON WATER, AND TACTFULLY DECLINED A HERD OF WAR ELEPHANTS OFFERED BY THE KING OF SIAM.

FOOTE: OH, THEY HAD MANY CRAZY IDEAS, UH, ALONG WITH SOME GOOD ONES.

THERE WAS ONE PLAN TO USE TWO CANNON, EACH WITH A CANNONBALL AND THE TWO CANNONBALLS CONNECTED BY A CHAIN.

AND YOU WOULD FIRE THE TWO CANNONS AT THE SAME TIME, AND THE BALLS WOULD GO OUT, AND THE CHAIN BETWEEN THEM WOULD JUST CUT A SWATH THROUGH EVERYTHING IN THE WAY.

THE TROUBLE WAS, ONE CANNON, OF COURSE, WENT OFF BEFORE THE OTHER ONE DID WITH THE RESULT THAT THE BALL WENT AROUND IN A CIRCLE FROM THE OTHER CANNON.

NARRATOR: THE MOST IMPORTANT INNOVATION OF THE WHOLE WAR WAS THE RIFLED MUSKET, ALONG WITH A FRENCH REFINEMENT-- CAPTAIN CLAUDE MINIE’S NEW BULLET, AN INCH-LONG LEAD SLUG THAT EXPANDED INTO THE BARREL’S RIFLED GROOVES AND SPUN AS IT LEFT THE MUZZLE.

THE MINIE BALL COULD KILL AT HALF A MILE AND WAS ACCURATE AT 250 YARDS-- 5 TIMES AS FAR AS ANY OTHER ONE-MAN WEAPON.

THE AGE OF THE BAYONET CHARGE HAD ENDED, THOUGH MOST OFFICERS DID NOT YET KNOW IT WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, AND SOME HAD STILL NOT LEARNED IT WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER.

FOOTE: IT WAS BRUTAL STUFF.

THE REASON FOR THE HIGH CASUALTIES IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE-- THE WEAPONS WERE WAY AHEAD OF THE TACTICS.

THE RIFLE ITSELF, IT THREW A .53 CALIBER SOFT LEAD BULLET AT A LOW MUZZLE VELOCITY, AND WHEN IT HIT-- UH, THE REASON THERE WERE SO MANY AMPUTATIONS, IF YOU GOT HIT HERE, IT DIDN’T CLIP YOUR BONE THE WAY THE MODERN STEEL-JACKETED BULLET DOES.

YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY BONE FROM HERE TO HERE.

THEY HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE YOUR ARM OFF, AND YOU’LL SEE PICTURES OF THE DEAD ON THE BATTLEFIELD WITH THEIR CLOTHES IN DISARRAY AS IF SOMEONE HAD BEEN GOING--RIFLING THEIR BODIES.

THAT WAS THE MEN THEMSELVES TEARING THEIR CLOTHES UP TO SEE WHERE THE WOUND WAS, AND THEY KNEW PERFECTLY WELL IF THEY WERE GUT SHOT, THEY’D DIE.

MAN: "APRIL 25, 1862, "PITTSBURG LANDING, TENNESSEE.

"DEAR JULIA... "I’M NO LONGER BOSS.

"GENERAL HALLECK IS HERE, "AND I’M TRULY GLAD OF IT.

"I HOPE THE PAPERS WILL LET ME ALONE "IN THE FUTURE.

"IF THE PAPERS ONLY KNEW HOW LITTLE AMBITION I HAVE "OUTSIDE OF PUTTING DOWN THIS REBELLION "AND GETTING BACK ONCE MORE "TO LIVE QUIETLY AND UNOBTRUSIVELY "WITH MY FAMILY, I THINK THEY WOULD SAY FEWER FALSEHOODS."

ULYSSES S. GRANT.

NARRATOR: ULYSSES S. GRANT’S REWARD FOR THE COSTLY UNION VICTORY AT SHILOH WAS TO BE REMOVED FROM FIELD COMMAND.

GRANT’S SUPERIOR WAS GENERAL HENRY WAGER HALLECK, A CALCULATING ADMINISTRATOR WHO WAS JEALOUS OF GRANT’S SUCCESS AND ANXIOUS TO GET RID OF HIS CHIEF RIVAL.

[CANNONS FIRING] AFTER THE BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON, HE SPREAD RUMORS GRANT WAS DRINKING.

AFTER THE FEARFUL LOSSES AT SHILOH, HE HAD GRANT REASSIGNED.

GRANT DECIDED TO QUIT, BUT HIS FRIEND WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN TALKED HIM OUT OF IT.

"YOU COULD NOT BE QUIET AT HOME FOR A WEEK," HE SAID, "WHEN ARMIES ARE MOVING."

GRANT AND SHERMAN WERE BOTH OHIO BOYS AND WEST POINTERS WHO WERE FOND OF CIGARS, SCORNED POMP AND POLITICS, AND HAD FARED POORLY IN CIVILIAN LIFE.

GRANT ENJOYED SHERMAN’S RAPID-FIRE BRILLIANCE AND WAS GRATEFUL FOR THE DISPATCH WITH WHICH HE CARRIED OUT EVERY ORDER.

SHERMAN ADMIRED HIS FRIEND’S COOL TEMPER, HIS STEADINESS IN THE MIDST OF CRISIS, AND WHAT HE CALLED GRANT’S "SIMPLE FAITH IN SUCCESS."

THEY TRUSTED EACH OTHER.

MAN: "I’M A DAMNED SIGHT SMARTER THAN GRANT.

"I KNOW MORE ABOUT ORGANIZATION, SUPPLY, AND ADMINISTRATION, "AND ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE THAN HE DOES.

"BUT I’LL TELL YOU WHERE HE BEATS ME "AND WHERE HE BEATS THE WORLD-- "HE DON’T CARE A DAMN FOR WHAT THE ENEMY DOES OUT OF HIS SIGHT, BUT IT SCARES ME LIKE HELL."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

MAN: "ANY ATTEMPT NOW "TO SEPARATE THE FREEDOM OF THE SLAVE "FROM THE VICTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT, "ANY ATTEMPT TO SECURE PEACE TO THE WHITES "WHILE LEAVING THE BLACKS IN CHAINS, "WILL BE LABOR LOST.

"THE AMERICAN PEOPLE "AND THE GOVERNMENT AT WASHINGTON "MAY REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE IT FOR A TIME, "BUT THE INEXORABLE LOGIC OF EVENTS "WILL FORCE IT UPON THEM IN THE END-- "THAT THE WAR NOW BEING WAGED IN THIS LAND IS A WAR FOR AND AGAINST SLAVERY."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

NARRATOR: LETTER BY LETTER, SPEECH BY SPEECH, MONTH AFTER MONTH, FREDERICK DOUGLASS TIRELESSLY LOBBIED THE GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON, URGING LINCOLN TO EMANCIPATE THE SLAVES...

BUT THE PRESIDENT STILL INSISTED THE WAR WAS BEING FOUGHT FOR UNION AND PUBLICLY AVOIDED DOUGLASS AND THE DEBATE.

MAN: "OUR SOUTHERN FRIEND TELLS US "THE NORTH IS FIGHTING FOR NEGROES.

"OUR UNION FRIEND SAYS "THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING TO FREE THE NEGROES, "BUT FOR THE UNION.

"VERY WELL.

"LET THE WHITES FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY WANT; "WE NEGROES FIGHT FOR WHAT WE WANT.

"LIBERTY MUST TAKE THE DAY, "NOTHING SHORTER.

"WE CARE NOTHING ABOUT THE UNION.

"WE HAVE BEEN IN IT SLAVES OVER 250 YEARS."

DIFFERENT MAN: "WHATEVER NATION GETS THE CONTROL "OF THE OHIO, MISSISSIPPI, AND MISSOURI RIVERS WILL CONTROL THE CONTINENT."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

[EXPLOSIONS] NARRATOR: OUT WEST, UNION NAVAL STRATEGY WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD-- SEIZE CONTROL OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND CUT THE CONFEDERACY IN TWO.

ON APRIL 7, UNION GUNBOATS AND 2,000 TROOPS TOOK THE CONFEDERATE FORTRESS AT ISLAND NUMBER 10 NEAR NEW MADRID, MISSOURI, LEAVING THE RIVER OPEN AS FAR SOUTH AS MEMPHIS.

TWO MONTHS LATER, MEMPHIS FELL.

ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL 24, A 60-YEAR-OLD FLAG OFFICER, DAVID G. FARRAGUT, STARTED NORTH UP THE MISSISSIPPI, INTENT ON CAPTURING NEW ORLEANS.

BUT FIRST, HE HAD TO GET BY THE HEAVY GUNS AT FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILLIPS, 70 MILES BELOW THE CITY.

WHEN THE MOON ROSE, THE CONFEDERATES OPENED FIRE AND SENT BLAZING RAFTS DRIFTING INTO THE UNION FLEET.

THE FIRST VESSEL WAS HIT 42 TIMES.

FARRAGUT’S OWN FLAGSHIP WAS SET ON FIRE, BUT SOMEHOW THE ENTIRE FLEET MADE IT PAST THE FORTS.

NEW ORLEANS SURRENDERED THE NEXT DAY.

FARRAGUT HAD THE AMERICAN FLAG RAISED OVER CITY HALL.

WOMAN: "NEW ORLEANS GONE-- "AND WITH IT, THE CONFEDERACY?

"ARE WE NOT CUT IN TWO?

THAT MISSISSIPPI RUINS US, IF LOST."

MARY CHESNUT.

MAN: "TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI.

"I DON’T KNOW HOW THE WAR WILL BE DECIDED "IF ENGLAND AND FRANCE DON’T INTERFERE "AND STOP THE WAR.

"AND IF THE CONFEDERACY "HAS TO GAIN HER INDEPENDENCE BY FIGHTING, "I AM AFRAID SHE WILL HAVE TO GIVE IT UP, "FOR THERE ARE SO FEW PROVISIONS IN THIS PORTION OF THE CONFEDERACY."

JAMES JACKSON.

NARRATOR: IN THE FOLLOWING MONTHS, FARRAGUT’S FLEET GAINED CONTROL OF THE SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI AS FAR NORTH AS BATON ROUGE AND NATCHEZ, BUT THE NORTH DID NOT POSSESS THE WHOLE RIVER.

THE CONFEDERATE STRONGHOLD AT VICKSBURG STILL HELD.

WOMAN: "REPUBLICS-- EVERYBODY JAWING, "EVERYBODY PUTTING THEIR MOUTHS IN, "NOTHING SACRED, "ALL CONFUSION OF BABBLE.

"REPUBLICS CAN’T CARRY ON WAR.

HURRAH FOR A STRONG ONE-MAN GOVERNMENT."

MARY CHESNUT.

NARRATOR: FROM THE SOUTHERN WHITE HOUSE IN RICHMOND, JEFFERSON DAVIS STRUGGLED TO KEEP THE WAR EFFORT ON TRACK.

SOUTHERN INDUSTRY GREW, DRIVEN BY NECESSITY, AND THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT, FOUNDED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF DECENTRALIZATION, FOUND ITSELF CONTROLLING EVERYTHING... FROM THE FORGING OF CANNON AT THE BIG TREDEGAR IRON WORKS IN RICHMOND TO THE DAILY OUTPUT OF THE WOMEN WHO SPUN CLOTH FOR UNIFORMS IN THEIR PARLORS.

IN CHARLESTON, MARY CHESNUT’S CIRCLE KNIT SOCKS FOR STONEWALL JACKSON’S ENTIRE BRIGADE.

WOMEN WOVE BOOTS FROM PALMETTO FRONDS, AND SAVED THEIR URINE FROM WHICH TO DISTILL NITER FOR GUNPOWDER.

SOUTHERNERS GREW POPPIES TO YIELD OPIUM, AND MADE COFFEE FROM CORN AND PEAS, HYPODERMIC NEEDLES FROM THORNS, ROPE FROM SPANISH MOSS...

BUT THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS SHRINKING.

THE TERM OF ENLISTMENT FOR THE EARLIEST VOLUNTEERS WAS UP IN THE SPRING.

MOST MEN PLANNED TO GO HOME.

IN APRIL, AT THE INSISTENCE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS, THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS PASSED TWO LAWS.

ONE EXTENDED ALL ENLISTMENTS FOR THE DURATION.

THE OTHER REQUIRED ALL ABLE-BODIED WHITE MEN BETWEEN 18 AND 35 TO SERVE FOR 3 YEARS.

IT WAS THE FIRST NATIONAL DRAFT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

MAN: "THE CONSCRIPTION ACT, AT ONE FELL SWOOP, "STRIKES DOWN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES, "TRAMPLES UPON THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS "AND PERSONAL LIBERTY OF THE CITIZENS, AND ARMS THE PRESIDENT WITH IMPERIAL POWERS."

GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN OF GEORGIA.

WOMAN: "MRS. DAVIS IS BEING UTTERLY UPSET.

"SHE IS BEGINNING "TO HEAR THE CARPING AND FAULTFINDING "TO WHICH THE PRESIDENT IS SUBJECTED.

"THERE MUST BE AN OPPOSITION "IN A FREE COUNTRY, BUT IT IS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE."

MARY CHESNUT.

NARRATOR: VETERANS WERE ESPECIALLY RESENTFUL BECAUSE POTENTIAL DRAFTEES WHO OWNED 20 SLAVES OR MORE COULD BE EXEMPTED.

MAN: "A LAW WAS MADE ALLOWING EVERY PERSON "WHO OWNED 20 NEGROES TO GO HOME.

"IT GAVE US THE BLUES.

"WE WANTED 20 NEGROES.

"THERE WAS RAISED THE HOWL "OF RICH MAN’S WAR, POOR MAN’S FIGHT!

"FROM THIS TIME ON TILL THE END OF THE WAR, "A SOLDIER WAS SIMPLY A MACHINE, A CONSCRIPT.

"ALL OUR PRIDE AND VALOR HAD GONE, "AND WE WERE SICK OF WAR AND CURSED THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY."

SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: NEARLY HALF THE SOUTHERNERS ELIGIBLE FOR THE NEW DRAFT FAILED TO SIGN UP.

MAN: "APRIL 21.

"16 DAYS HAVE NOW BEEN SPENT IN THIS PLACE.

"OUR GRAND ARMY HAS AGAIN COME TO A HALT.

"UNDER THE DRY PINE LEAVES WHERE WE ENCAMP, "A GREAT SECESH ARMY OF WOOD TICKS HAVE WINTERED.

"FEW ARE SO HAPPY AS NOT TO FIND "HALF A DOZEN OF THESE VILLAINOUS BLOODSUCKERS STICKING IN HIS FLESH EVERY MORNING."

CHAPLAIN A.M. STEWART.

DIFFERENT MAN: "THE FIRING FROM THE CONFEDERATE LINES "WAS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE, "NOT AMOUNTING TO OVER 10 OR 12 ARTILLERY SHOTS EACH DAY, "A NUMBER OF THESE BEING DIRECTED AT THE HUGE BALLOON WHICH WENT UP DAILY FROM GENERAL FITZ JOHN’S HEADQUARTERS."

DIFFERENT MAN: "WHEN ABOUT 100 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, "THE ROPE BROKE, "AND THE GENERAL SAILED OFF TOWARD RICHMOND "AT A GREATER SPEED "THAN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC IS MOVING.

"HE HAD SUFFICIENT CALMNESS "TO PULL THE VALVE ROPE, AND GRADUALLY DESCENDED ABOUT 3 MILES FROM CAMP."

NARRATOR: ON THE PENINSULA, GENERAL GEORGE McCLELLAN’S HUGE ARMY SAT IN FRONT OF THE SMALLER REBEL FORCE AT YORKTOWN FOR ALMOST A MONTH.

IT RAINED 2 OUT OF EVERY 3 DAYS.

HUNDREDS FELL ILL. MAN: "I FEEL THAT THE FATE OF A NATION DEPENDS ON ME, "AND THAT I HAVE NOT ONE SINGLE FRIEND AT THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT."

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

NARRATOR: McCLELLAN HAD MOVED MORE THAN 90 FEDERAL GUNS TO YORKTOWN BY MAY 3, SOME SO MASSIVE THAT IT TOOK 100 HORSES TO HAUL THEM UP ALONG HASTILY CONSTRUCTED TIMBER HIGHWAYS CALLED "COR-DU-ROI" ROADS.

McCLELLAN FINALLY DECIDED TO ACT AND CAREFULLY PLANNED A MASSIVE BOMBARDMENT FOR MAY 5, BUT ON THE NIGHT OF THE 3rd, GENERAL MAGRUDER’S CONFEDERATE BATTERIES SUDDENLY INTENSIFIED THEIR FIRE.

McCLELLAN BRACED FOR AN ATTACK, BUT THE NEXT MORNING, THE CONFEDERATES HAD VANISHED.

DISBELIEVING FEDERAL TROOPS EDGED INTO THE DESERTED SOUTHERN CAMPS.

MAGRUDER HAD PACKED UP HIS SHOW AND MOVED ON, BUT McCLELLAN DECLARED IT A UNION VICTORY.

MAN: "THE SUCCESS IS BRILLIANT, "AND YOU MAY REST ASSURED "THAT ITS EFFECTS WILL BE OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE.

"THERE SHALL BE NO DELAY IN FOLLOWING UP THE REBELS."

NARRATOR: THE UNION MEN NOW CAUTIOUSLY FOLLOWED THE REBEL ARMY WEST TOWARDS RICHMOND.

MAN: "MAY 20.

"RICHMOND IS JUST 9 MILES OFF.

"THE NEGROES ARE DELIGHTED TO SEE US, "BUT THE WHITES LOOK AS IF THEY WOULD LIKE TO KILL US."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

[BELL TOLLING] FOOTE: FROM McCLELLAN’S LINES, YOU COULD HEAR THE BELLS OF RICHMOND TOLLING.

YOU COULD HEAR THE CHURCH BELLS IN THE PUBLIC CLOCK STRIKING, HE WAS THAT CLOSE.

NARRATOR: A WORRIED JEFFERSON DAVIS NOW PREPARED FOR A SIEGE OF RICHMOND, RELYING MORE AND MORE ON THE ADVICE OF HIS CLOSE MILITARY ADVISOR ROBERT E. LEE.

WHEN DAVIS ASKED WHERE LEE THOUGHT THE SOUTH’S NEXT DEFENSIVE LINE SHOULD BE DRAWN ONCE RICHMOND FELL, LEE SAID, "RICHMOND MUST NOT FALL.

IT SHALL NOT BE GIVEN UP."

STILL, GEORGE McCLELLAN REFUSED TO ATTACK.

THOUGH HIS ARMY STILL OUTNUMBERED THE REBELS, HE REMAINED CONVINCED THE OPPOSITE WAS TRUE.

ONE OBSERVER NOTED THAT McCLELLAN HAD A PARTICULAR FACULTY FOR "REALIZING HALLUCINATIONS."

HE DEMANDED ANOTHER 40,000 MEN.

MAN: "IF HE HAD A MILLION MEN, "HE WOULD SWEAR THE ENEMY HAD TWO MILLIONS, "AND THEN HE WOULD SIT DOWN IN THE MUD AND YELL FOR 3."

EDWIN M. STANTON.

NARRATOR: WITH THE YEAR HALF GONE, THE UNION’S GRAND STRATEGY HAD STALLED.

THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN BEGUN BY U.S. GRANT HAD GROUND TO A HALT IN NORTH MISSISSIPPI, AND McCLELLAN’S MIGHTY FORCES WERE PARALYZED IN FRONT OF RICHMOND.

THERE WAS WORSE TO COME.

THE KILLING THAT WOULD SOON BREAK OUT IN VIRGINIA WOULD CONTINUE ALL YEAR AND COME TO A CLIMAX ALONG A TINY CREEK IN WESTERN MARYLAND CALLED THE ANTIETAM.

MAN: "WE TALK OF THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT "AND PRACTICALLY GIVE THE LIE TO OUR TALK.

"WE WAGE WAR AGAINST SLAVEHOLDING REBELS "AND YET PROTECT AND AUGMENT THE MOTIVE "WHICH HAS MOVED THE SLAVEHOLDERS TO REBELLION.

"WE STRIKE AT THE EFFECT "AND LEAVE THE CAUSE UNHARMED.

"FIRE WILL NOT BURN IT OUT OF US, "WATER CANNOT WASH IT OUT OF US, "THAT THIS WAR WITH THE SLAVEHOLDERS "CAN NEVER BE BROUGHT TO A DESIRABLE TERMINATION "UNTIL SLAVERY, "THE GUILTY CAUSE OF ALL OUR NATIONAL TROUBLES, HAS BEEN TOTALLY AND FOREVER ABOLISHED."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

MAN: PRIVATE EDWIN TENNISON, KILLED IN ACTION AT MALVERN HILL, JULY 1, 1862.

NARRATOR: DURING THE CIVIL WAR, PHOTOGRAPHERS FOLLOWED THE ARMIES EVERYWHERE TO MAKE PROUD PORTRAITS FOR THE BOYS TO SEND HOME AND TO CAPTURE AS MUCH OF THE ACTION AS CUMBERSOME EQUIPMENT AND SLOW SHUTTER SPEEDS ALLOWED.

NEAR THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS, VIRGINIA, CAPTAIN GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER PAUSED TO HAVE HIS PICTURE TAKEN WITH J.B. WASHINGTON, CLOSE FRIEND AND CLASSMATE FROM WEST POINT-- AND NOW A CONFEDERATE LIEUTENANT WHO HAD JUST THAT MORNING BEEN CAPTURED BY FEDERAL PICKETS.

AS 1862 DRAGGED ON, THE CHARACTER OF THE WAR WAS CHANGING, AND MUCH OF THE COUNTRY WAS CHANGING WITH IT.

BY 1862, MORE THAN A MILLION FARM WORKERS HAD ENLISTED IN THE UNION ARMY, AND TRAVELERS IN THE MIDWEST SAW MORE WOMEN AT WORK IN THE FIELDS THAN MEN.

THE YEAR, WHICH HAD BEGUN SO PROMISINGLY FOR THE NORTH, HAD NOW GONE AWRY.

U.S. GRANT’S TRIUMPHS AT DONELSON AND SHILOH WERE BEING OVERSHADOWED BY DISASTERS IN THE EAST.

IN VIRGINIA, UNION GENERAL GEORGE McCLELLAN’S ARMY SAT OUTSIDE RICHMOND, ITS COMMANDER IN POSSESSION OF VASTLY GREATER FORCES, BUT WITHOUT THE WILL TO FIGHT.

MEANWHILE, THE CONFEDERACY WAS BEGINNING TO APPRECIATE THE BRILLIANCE OF A NEW COMMANDER, ROBERT E. LEE, WHO WOULD SOON ESTABLISH A REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE GREATEST MILITARY LEADERS OF ALL TIME.

AND THERE WAS STILL MORE TROUBLE FOR THE UNION.

AT BLACKBURN, ENGLAND, A PUBLIC MEETING DECLARED THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE NORTH TO VANQUISH THE SOUTH AND CALLED FOR A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT OF THE WAR.

WITH EUROPE POISED TO RECOGNIZE THE CONFEDERACY, THE UNTHINKABLE LOOKED INCREASINGLY LIKELY-- THE UNION WAS GOING TO LOSE THE WAR.

"WE MUST CHANGE OUR TACTICS OR LOSE THE GAME," ABRAHAM LINCOLN WROTE IN 1862.

TO LINCOLN, IT WAS CLEAR NOW THAT IT WAS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO RESTORE THE OLD UNION.

A NEW ONE HAD TO BE EMBRACED.

BY SUMMER, HE KNEW WHAT TACTIC WAS NEEDED TO WIN THE WAR-- EMANCIPATION-- BUT DOUBTED WHETHER HE WOULD EVER HAVE THE POLITICAL OR MILITARY OPPORTUNITY TO USE IT.

"I FIND IT HARD TO MAINTAIN MY LIVELY FAITH IN THE TRIUMPH OF THE NATION AND THE LAW," NEW YORK LAWYER GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG CONFIDED TO HIS DIARY.

"THESE ARE THE DARKEST DAYS WE HAVE SEEN SINCE BULL RUN."

WHAT NO ONE KNEW WAS THAT THE YEAR WOULD SOON SEE THE BLOODIEST DAY OF THE WAR AND THEN THE BRIGHTEST.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN A VERY UGLY, FILTHY WAR WITH NO REDEEMING CHARACTERISTICS AT ALL... AND IT WAS THE BATTLE FOR EMANCIPATION AND THE PEOPLE WHO PUSHED IT FORWARD-- THE SLAVES, THE FREE BLACK PEOPLE, THE ABOLITIONISTS, AND A LOT OF ORDINARY CITIZENS-- IT WAS THEY WHO ENNOBLED WHAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE BEEN MEANINGLESS CARNAGE INTO SOMETHING HIGHER.

NARRATOR: OUTSIDE RICHMOND, GEORGE McCLELLAN CONTINUED TO CALL ANXIOUSLY FOR MORE TROOPS, THOUGH HIS 110,000-MAN FORCE ALREADY GREATLY OUTNUMBERED JOSEPH JOHNSTON’S ARMY.

MEANWHILE, WEST OF THE BLUE RIDGE IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, GENERAL THOMAS J. JACKSON WAS KEEPING 3 FEDERAL ARMIES BUSY.

MAN: "ALWAYS MYSTIFY, MISLEAD, AND SURPRISE THE ENEMY.

"AND WHEN YOU STRIKE AND OVERCOME HIM, "NEVER LET UP IN THE PURSUIT.

"NEVER FIGHT AGAINST HEAVY ODDS "IF YOU CAN HURL YOUR FORCE "ON ONLY A PART OF YOUR ENEMY AND CRUSH IT.

"A SMALL ARMY MAY THUS DESTROY A LARGE ONE, AND REPEATED VICTORY WILL MAKE IT INVINCIBLE."

GENERAL T.J. JACKSON.

MAN 2: HE WAS A TRUE ECCENTRIC.

HE BELIEVED THAT IF HE HAD PEPPER IN HIS FOOD, IT WOULD MAKE HIS LEFT LEG ACHE.

HE WOULD NEVER MAIL A LETTER THAT WOULD BE IN TRANSIT ON A SUNDAY.

HE WAS A STRICT OBSERVER OF THE SABBATH.

AND YET SO MANY OF HIS BATTLES WERE FOUGHT ON SUNDAYS THAT THE SOLDIERS BEGAN TO BELIEVE THAT HE WOULD FIGHT ON SUNDAY BECAUSE THE LORD WOULD BE EVEN MORE WITH HIM.

NARRATOR: JACKSON WAS A PIOUS, BLUE-EYED KILLER, UTTERLY UNTROUBLED BY THE LIKELIHOOD OF DEATH.

IT WAS A MAN’S "ENTIRE DUTY," HE SAID, "TO PRAY AND FIGHT."

MAN: "HE WOULD HAVE A MAN SHOT AT THE DROP OF A HAT, AND HE’D DROP IT HIMSELF."

SAM WATKINS.

FOOTE: HE HAD A STRANGE QUALITY OF OVERLOOKING SUFFERING.

DURING ONE OF THE BATTLES, HE HAD A YOUNG COURIER, AND JACKSON LOOKED AROUND FOR HIM, AND HE WASN’T THERE.

AND HE SAID, "WHERE IS LIEUTENANT SO-AND-SO?"

AND THEY SAID, "HE WAS KILLED, GENERAL."

JACKSON SAID, "VERY COMMENDABLE, VERY COMMENDABLE."

AND THEN PUT HIM OUT OF HIS MIND.

MAN: "ALL OLD JACKSON GAVE US "WAS A MUSKET, 100 ROUNDS, AND A GUM BLANKET, AND HE DROVE US LIKE HELL."

NARRATOR: HIS MEN DID NOT LOVE HIM.

HE WAS TOO GRIM, TOO REMOTE, AND HE DEMANDED TOO MUCH.

SOME THOUGHT HIM MAD.

HE BELIEVED THAT ONLY BY KEEPING ONE HAND IN THE AIR COULD HE STOP HIMSELF FROM GOING OUT OF BALANCE.

AND HE SUCKED CONSTANTLY ON LEMONS, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE.

OTHERS WORRIED THAT HIS RELIGIOUS FERVOR WOULD CLOUD HIS JUDGMENT.

HIS COMMAND, JACKSON SAID, WAS "AN ARMY OF THE LIVING GOD, AS WELL AS OF ITS COUNTRY."

BUT HIS MEN WERE WILLING TO ENDURE THE 36-MILE-A-DAY MARCHES HE DEMANDED BECAUSE HE BROUGHT THEM VICTORIES.

IT WAS JACKSON’S DUTY IN THE SHENANDOAH TO UNSETTLE THE UNION AND KEEP WASHINGTON FROM REINFORCING McCLELLAN.

OPERATING IN THE MIDST OF 3 FEDERAL ARMIES, EACH WITH MORE MEN THAN HIS OWN FORCE OF 17,000, JACKSON LASHED OUT AT ONE ARMY AND THEN ANOTHER.

ARMED WITH A DETAILED MAP THAT STRETCHED 8 1/2 FEET, HE SURPRISED THEM EVERY TIME-- AT WINCHESTER, FRONT ROYAL, CROSS KEYS, PORT REPUBLIC, AND A HALF DOZEN OTHER PLACES.

AFTER ROUTING NATHANIEL BANKS’ ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, JACKSON CHASED IT ALL THE WAY TO THE POTOMAC.

"STOP, MEN!"

BANKS SHOUTED TO HIS RETREATING TROOPS.

"DON’T YOU LOVE YOUR COUNTRY?"

"YES, BY GOD," SAID ONE, "AND I’M TRYING TO GET BACK TO IT JUST AS FAST AS I CAN."

JACKSON’S VALLEY CAMPAIGN WAS A TRIUMPH.

IN JUST OVER A MONTH, HIS MEN MARCHED ALMOST 400 MILES, INFLICTED 7,000 CASUALTIES, SEIZED HUGE QUANTITIES OF BADLY NEEDED SUPPLIES, AND KEPT ALMOST 40,000 FEDERAL TROOPS OFF THE PENINSULA.

MAN: "HE WHO DOES NOT SEE THE HAND OF GOD IN THIS IS BLIND, SIR, BLIND."

MAN 2: "THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT JEFFERSON DAVIS "AND OTHER LEADERS OF THE SOUTH "HAVE MADE AN ARMY.

"THEY ARE MAKING, IT APPEARS, A NAVY, "AND THEY HAVE MADE WHAT IS MORE THAN EITHER.

"THEY HAVE MADE A NATION.

"WE MAY ANTICIPATE WITH CERTAINTY THE SUCCESS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES."

WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE.

NARRATOR: CONFEDERATE GOSPEL HELD THAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE COULD NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT SOUTHERN COTTON.

BEFORE LONG, ONE OR BOTH WOULD SURELY INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF THE CONFEDERACY TO END THE UNION BLOCKADE.

TO PUT MORE PRESSURE ON EUROPE, THE CONFEDERATES CUT COTTON PRODUCTION 90%.

2.5 MILLION BALES WERE BURNED OR LEFT TO ROT ON CONFEDERATE WHARVES TO KEEP IT OUT OF ENGLISH HANDS.

NOW, IN ADDITION TO DIRECTING A WAR AT HOME, LINCOLN HAD TO FIND A WAY TO KEEP EUROPE FROM COMING IN ON THE SIDE OF THE SOUTH.

AND INCREASINGLY, IN THE NORTH, THERE WAS PRESSURE FOR EMANCIPATION, AND IT CAME FROM UNLIKELY PEOPLE IN UNLIKELY PLACES.

ON MAY 1, 1862, LINCOLN NAMED GENERAL BENJAMIN F. BUTLER MILITARY GOVERNOR OF OCCUPIED NEW ORLEANS.

BUTLER WENT RIGHT TO WORK.

HE HANGED A MAN SUSPECTED OF HAVING DESECRATED THE AMERICAN FLAG.

HE CLOSED A SECESSIONIST NEWSPAPER, CONFISCATED THE PROPERTY OF CITIZENS WHO REFUSED TO SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNION, AND WAS GIVEN THE SCORNFUL NICKNAME "SPOONS" FOR ALLEGEDLY POCKETING SILVERWARE.

NEW ORLEANS WOMEN ROUTINELY INSULTED HIS TROOPS.

WHEN A WOMAN IN THE FRENCH QUARTER LEANED FROM A WINDOW TO DUMP HER CHAMBER POT ON THE HEAD OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT, BUTLER ISSUED GENERAL ORDER NUMBER 28.

MAN AS BUTLER: "AS THE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE UNITED STATES "HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO REPEATED INSULTS "FROM THE WOMEN CALLING THEMSELVES LADIES OF NEW ORLEANS, "IT IS ORDERED THAT, HEREAFTER, "WHEN ANY FEMALE SHALL, "BY WORD, GESTURE, OR MOVEMENT, "INSULT OR SHOW CONTEMPT "FOR ANY OFFICER OR SOLDIER OF THE UNITED STATES, "SHE SHALL BE REGARDED AND HELD LIABLE "TO BE TREATED AS A WOMAN OF THE TOWN, PLYING HER AVOCATION."

GENERAL BENJAMIN BUTLER.

NARRATOR: SOUTHERNERS WERE OUTRAGED AND CALLED BUTLER "THE BEAST."

A NEW ORLEANS ENTREPRENEUR SOLD CHAMBER POTS FEATURING BUTLER’S PORTRAIT INSIDE THE BOWL.

IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, A PRIVATE CITIZEN OFFERED A $10,000 REWARD FOR THE CAPTURE OF "BEAST" BEN BUTLER-- DEAD OR ALIVE.

BUT THE HARASSMENT OF HIS MEN STOPPED.

WITH THE UNION ARMY SO NEAR, UNREST ON LOUISIANA PLANTATIONS INCREASED.

WHEN DESPERATE SLAVE OWNERS BEGAN COMPLAINING OF REBELLIOUS BLACKS, BUTLER DECLARED THE PLANTERS DISLOYAL TO THE UNION, THEN TOOK AWAY THEIR SLAVES.

"GO TO THE YANKEES," ONE SLAVE-HOLDER TOLD HIS SLAVES.

"THEY ARE KINGS HERE NOW."

WOMAN: "I HAVE BEEN READING SO MUCH ABOUT THE YANKEES, "I WAS VERY ANXIOUS TO SEE THEM.

"THE WHITES WOULD TELL THEIR COLORED PEOPLE "NOT TO GO TO THE YANKEES, "FOR THEY WOULD HARNESS THEM TO CARTS "AND MAKE THEM PULL THE CARTS AROUND IN PLACE OF HORSES.

"I ASKED GRANDMOTHER ONE DAY IF THIS WAS TRUE.

"SHE REPLIED, CERTAINLY NOT, "THAT THE WHITE PEOPLE "DID NOT WANT SLAVES TO GO OVER TO THE YANKEES "AND TOLD THEM THESE THINGS TO FRIGHTEN THEM.

"I WANTED TO SEE THOSE WONDERFUL YANKEES SO MUCH, "AS I HEARD MY PARENTS SAY THAT THE YANKEES WERE GOING TO SET ALL THE SLAVES FREE."

SUSAN KING TAYLOR.

FIELDS: THE SLAVES UNDERSTOOD THAT THAT WAR WAS ABOUT SLAVERY BEFORE IT WAS A WAR.

THEY MADE A NUISANCE FOR THE ARMY, AND THEY ALSO MADE AN ISSUE THAT THE ARMY HAD TO DEAL WITH.

AND IF THE ARMY HAD TO DEAL WITH IT, THE WAR DEPARTMENT HAD TO DEAL WITH IT.

IF THE WAR DEPARTMENT HAD TO DEAL WITH IT, CONGRESS HAD TO DEAL WITH IT.

THAT MEANS THAT EVERY FUGITIVE SLAVE WHO MADE A NUISANCE OF HIMSELF TO THE LOCAL COMMANDER EVENTUALLY MADE A FIGURE OF HIMSELF TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

NARRATOR: CONGRESS, CONTROLLED BY REPUBLICANS, NOW FORBADE THE ARMY TO RETURN SLAVES TO THEIR MASTERS.

AND IN JUNE, IT OUTLAWED SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, FINALLY REVERSING THE OLD DRED SCOTT DECISION.

MAN: "ONLY THE DAMNEDEST OF DAMNED ABOLITIONISTS "DREAMED OF SUCH THINGS A YEAR AGO.

"JOHN BROWN’S SOUL IS MARCHING ON, WITH THE PEOPLE AFTER IT."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

MAN 2: "THE SLAVERY QUESTION PERPLEXES THE PRESIDENT "ALMOST AS MUCH AS EVER, "AND YET I THINK HE IS ABOUT TO EMERGE "FROM THE OBSCURITIES "WHERE HE HAS BEEN GROPING "INTO SOMEWHAT CLEARER LIGHT.

SO, YOU SEE, THE MAN MOVES."

SALMON P. CHASE.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "JULY 4, 1862.

"I WOULD DO IT "IF I WERE NOT AFRAID "THAT HALF THE OFFICERS WOULD FLING DOWN THEIR ARMS AND 3 MORE STATES WOULD RISE."

NARRATOR: LINCOLN CONTINUED TO BACK A PLAN TO PAY $400 FOR EVERY SLAVE FREED AND THEN ENCOURAGE THE FREED MEN TO SAIL OFF TO A COLONY IN AFRICA OR CENTRAL AMERICA.

THE ABOLITIONIST WENDELL PHILLIPS CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN A FIRST-RATE SECOND-RATE MAN.

FIELDS: I LOSE PATIENCE WITH THE ARGUMENT THAT BECAUSE OF SOMEONE’S TIME, HIS LIMITATIONS ARE THEREFORE EXCUSABLE OR EVEN PRAISEWORTHY.

IT IS NOT TRUE THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE IN THAT TIME AND PLACE TO LOOK ANY HIGHER.

THINK OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, WHO, COMMENTING ON ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S PROPOSAL TO COLONIZE BLACK PEOPLE OUT OF THE COUNTRY, WAS SARCASTIC.

HE SAID, "COLONIZE THE BLACKS?

"A MAN MIGHT AS WELL COLONIZE HIS OWN HANDS.

"OR WHEN THE ROBBER IS IN HIS HOUSE, HE MIGHT AS WELL COLONIZE HIS REVOLVER."

MAN: "EMANCIPATION IS THE DEMAND OF CIVILIZATION.

"THAT IS A PRINCIPLE.

ALL ELSE IS INTRIGUE."

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

NARRATOR: ON THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA, THE RAINS CAME, INUNDATING THE BOTTOMLANDS.

ALONG THE ROADS OUTSIDE RICHMOND, GEORGE McCLELLAN’S FORCE WAS DIVIDED IN TWO BY THE FLOODED CHICKAHOMINY RIVER.

[EXPLOSIONS] THE REBELS SAW THEIR CHANCE AND ATTACKED THE SMALLER FORCE ON MAY 31st.

IN THE FIERCE FIGHTING THAT FOLLOWED, THE CONFEDERATES DID BEST NEAR A CROSSROADS CALLED SEVEN PINES.

THE UNION SOLDIERS WERE MOST SUCCESSFUL AT FAIR OAKS.

WHEN THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS WAS OVER, THE NORTH HAD LOST 5,000 MEN, THE SOUTH, 6,000, AND IT HADN’T CHANGED A THING.

JOSEPH JOHNSTON, THE OVERALL CONFEDERATE COMMANDER, WAS HIMSELF SEVERELY WOUNDED AND CARRIED FROM THE FIELD.

MAN: "THE SHOT THAT STRUCK ME DOWN "WAS THE BEST EVER FIRED FOR THE CONFEDERACY, "FOR I POSSESSED IN NO DEGREE "THE CONFIDENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT, "AND NOW A MAN WHO DOES ENJOY IT WILL SUCCEED ME AND BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT I NEVER COULD."

MAN 2: "HIS NAME MIGHT BE AUDACITY.

"HE WILL TAKE MORE CHANCES AND TAKE THEM QUICKER, "THAN ANY OTHER GENERAL IN THIS COUNTRY, NORTH OR SOUTH."

NARRATOR: NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WAR, ROBERT E. LEE WAS PLACED AT THE HEAD OF A MAJOR ARMY.

MAN: "I PREFER LEE TO JOHNSTON.

"LEE IS TOO CAUTIOUS "AND WEAK UNDER GRAVE RESPONSIBILITY.

"PERSONALLY BRAVE AND ENERGETIC TO A FAULT, "HE IS YET WANTING IN MORAL FIRMNESS WHEN PRESSED BY HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY."

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

NARRATOR: McCLELLAN COMPLETELY MISJUDGED THE NEW CONFEDERATE COMMANDER.

ROBERT E. LEE WAS A FIGHTER.

WANTING TO GET AT THE UNION MEN WHO HAD DARED INVADE HIS STATE, LEE RENAMED HIS FORCE THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, SEIZED THE INITIATIVE, AND NEVER LET IT GO.

FIRST, LEE SENT HIS CAVALRY CHIEF, JEB STUART, TO RECONNOITER McCLELLAN’S FORCES.

STUART NOW LED 1,200 TROOPERS ON A POUNDING 3-DAY, 150-MILE RIDE AROUND McCLELLAN’S HUGE ARMY.

HIS MEN BURNED FEDERAL CAMPS, CUT DOWN TELEGRAPH POLES, TOOK PRISONERS AND HORSES AND MULES, AND SLOWED ONLY TO ACCEPT BOUQUETS AND KISSES FROM WOMEN ALONG THE WAY.

IN VAIN PURSUIT WAS STUART’S OWN FATHER-IN-LAW, WHO HAD STAYED LOYAL TO THE UNION AND BECOME A GENERAL-- A DECISION STUART SAID HE WOULD "REGRET BUT ONCE, AND THAT WILL BE CONTINUOUSLY."

THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN, LEE CAREFULLY OBSERVED McCLELLAN’S TENTATIVE ADVANCE UP THE PENINSULA.

AS McCLELLAN WAS PREPARING AT LAST TO LAY SIEGE TO RICHMOND, LEE SURPRISED HIM FIRST, AT MECHANICSVILLE ON JUNE 26th.

IT WAS A DARING MOVE.

DEFYING ALL MILITARY CONVENTION, LEE DIVIDED HIS TINY FORCE AND THEN ATTACKED THE HUGE UNION ARMY, GAMBLING THAT McCLELLAN WOULD BE TOO CAUTIOUS TO MOVE INTO RICHMOND.

LEE’S ASSAULT DIDN’T WORK.

HE LOST 1,500 MEN AT MECHANICSVILLE, BUT HE WOULD NOT LET UP.

DETERMINED TO DRIVE McCLELLAN OUT OF VIRGINIA, LEE KEPT ON THE ATTACK.

AND SO IT WENT.

FOR 7 DAYS, THE TWO ARMIES CLASHED.

FROM GAINE’S MILL... FROM SAVAGE’S STATION... TO FRAYSER’S FARM... AND MALVERN HILL, WHERE FEDERAL GUNNERS STOPPED THE CONFEDERATES WHO CAME AT THEM UP THE LONG SLOPE.

MAN: "OUR EARS HAD BEEN FILLED ALL NIGHT "WITH AGONIZING CRIES BEFORE THE FOG WAS LIFTED.

"BUT NOW OUR EYES SAW "THAT 5,000 DEAD OR WOUNDED MEN "WERE ON THE GROUND.

"A THIRD OF THEM WERE DEAD OR DYING, "BUT ENOUGH OF THEM WERE ALIVE AND MOVING TO GIVE THE FIELD A SINGULAR CRAWLING EFFECT."

WOMAN: "EACH OF THE BATTLES OF THOSE 7 DAYS "BROUGHT A HARVEST OF WOUNDED "TO OUR HOSPITAL.

"I USED TO VEIL MYSELF CLOSELY "AS I WALKED TO AND FROM MY HOTEL, "THAT I MIGHT SHUT OUT "THE DREADFUL SIGHTS.

"ONCE I DID SEE ONE OF THOSE DREADFUL WAGONS.

"IN IT, A STIFF ARM WAS RAISED, "AND IT SHOOK AS IT WAS DRIVEN DOWN THE STREET, "AS THOUGH THE DEAD OWNER APPEALED TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE."

NARRATOR: ALL BUT ONE OF THE BATTLES OF THE 7 DAYS WERE UNION VICTORIES, YET McCLELLAN TREATED THEM AS DEFEATS, CONTINUING TO BACK DOWN UNTIL HE REACHED THE SAFETY OF FEDERAL GUNBOATS AT HARRISON’S LANDING ON THE JAMES RIVER.

UNION OFFICERS URGED A COUNTERATTACK.

LEE HAD LOST 20,000 MEN.

McCLELLAN REFUSED.

ONE OFFICER SUGGESTED HIS COMMANDER WAS MOTIVATED EITHER BY "COWARDICE OR TREASON."

IN JUST ONE WEEK, LEE HAD COMPLETELY UNNERVED THE UNION GENERAL AND DEMONSTRATED FOR THE FIRST TIME THE STRENGTHS THAT WOULD MAKE HIM A LEGEND-- SURPRISE, AUDACITY, AND AN EERIE ABILITY TO READ HIS OPPONENT’S MIND.

IN JUST 7 DAYS, McCLELLAN HAD BEEN TOTALLY OUT-GENERALED.

MAN: "I AM TIRED OF THE SICKENING SIGHT OF THE BATTLEFIELD, "WITH ITS MANGLED CORPSES AND POOR SUFFERING WOUNDED.

"VICTORY HAS NO CHARMS FOR ME WHEN PURCHASED AT SUCH COST."

NARRATOR: ON JULY 7th, AN EXASPERATED LINCOLN SAILED DOWN TO SEE HIS COMMANDING GENERAL.

HE HAD NOT LOST, McCLELLAN INSISTED.

HE HAD MERELY FAILED TO WIN.

HE NEEDED 50,000 MORE MEN, OR PERHAPS 100,000.

NO SUCH NUMBERS WERE AVAILABLE, LINCOLN TOLD HIM.

IF McCLELLAN DID NOT FEEL HE COULD RESUME THE OFFENSIVE, HIS MEN WOULD BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE PENINSULA.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "IF I GAVE McCLELLAN ALL THE MEN HE ASKS FOR, "THEY COULDN’T FIND ROOM TO LIE DOWN.

"THEY’D HAVE TO SLEEP STANDING UP.

"SENDING MEN TO THAT ARMY "IS LIKE SHOVELING FLEAS ACROSS A BARNYARD-- NOT HALF OF THEM GET THERE."

MAN: "SEPTEMBER 3.

"TODAY WE TOOK A STEAMER "AND WENT UP THE POTOMAC PAST WASHINGTON "AND LANDED AT GEORGETOWN.

"IT IS HARD TO HAVE REACHED "THE POINT WE STARTED FROM LAST MARCH, AND RICHMOND IS STILL THE REBEL CAPITAL."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: UNION GUNS BATTERED FORT PULASKI, GEORGIA, INTO SURRENDERING AND CHOKED OFF THE SAVANNAH RIVER TO SOUTHERN SHIPS.

THERE WAS FIGHTING AT FOYT’S PLANTATION, NORTH CAROLINA, ST. ANDREW’S BAY, FLORIDA, WARTRACE, TENNESSEE, AND AT ALBUQUERQUE IN FAR-OFF NEW MEXICO TERRITORY.

MAN: "SEA ISLANDS, GEORGIA.

"HERE I AM, SURROUNDED BY TROOPERS, "MISSIONARIES, CONTRABANDS, "COTTON FIELDS, AND SERPENTS, "IN A SUMMER CLIMATE, "DISGUSTED WITH ALL THINGS MILITARY "AND FIGHTING OFF MALARIA "WITH WHISKEY AND TOBACCO.

"NO MAN SEEMS TO REALIZE THAT HERE IN THIS LITTLE ISLAND, "ALL AROUND US, HAS BEGUN THE SOLUTION "OF THE TREMENDOUS NIGGER QUESTION.

"SOME 10,000 FORMER SLAVES "ARE THROWN UPON THE HANDS "OF THE UNFORTUNATE GOVERNMENT.

"THEY ARE THE FORERUNNERS OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MORE."

LIEUTENANT CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

NARRATOR: STATIONED IN PLACES LIKE HILTON HEAD AND BEAUFORT, NEW ENGLANDERS GOT THEIR FIRST TASTE OF THE TROPICS.

NONE OF THE 2nd MASSACHUSETTS HAD EVER SEEN A PALM TREE BEFORE.

WHEN UNION FORCES TOOK PARTS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA COAST, PLANTATION OWNERS FLED, LEAVING BEHIND EMPTY HOUSES AND 10,000 SLAVES.

MISSIONARIES, TEACHERS, AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS SOON ARRIVED TO HELP THE NEWLY-LIBERATED.

"WE HAVE COME TO DO ANTISLAVERY WORK," ONE TEACHER WROTE.

"WE THINK IT NOBLE WORK, AND WE WILL DO IT NOBLY."

MAN: "MY DEAR WIFE, "THIS DAY I CAN ADDRESS YOU, "THANK GOD, AS A FREE MAN.

"I HAD A LITTLE TROUBLE GETTING AWAY, "BUT AS THE LORD LED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO THE LAND OF CANAAN, "SO HE LED ME TO A LAND WHERE FREEDOM WILL REIGN "IN SPITE OF EARTH AND HELL.

"MY DEAR, I TRUST THE TIME WILL COME "WHEN WE WILL MEET AGAIN.

"AND IF WE DON’T MEET ON EARTH, "WE WILL MEET IN HEAVEN, WHERE JESUS REIGNS.

"DEAR WIFE, I MUST CLOSE.

"REST YOURSELF CONTENTED.

I AM FREE.

"YOUR AFFECTIONATE HUSBAND.

KISS DANIEL FOR ME."

JOHN BOSTON.

NARRATOR: AT DEER ISLE, MAINE, PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO GO TO THE POST OFFICE, WHERE THE CASUALTY LISTS WERE POSTED.

MAN: "NEW BERNE, NORTH CAROLINA.

"MARCH 20, 1862.

"TO MR. JOHN WEBSTER, JR., "DEER ISLE, MAINE.

"DEAR SIR... "IT IS WITH PAIN "THAT I HAVE TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU "THE DEATH OF YOUR BROTHER CHARLES GRAY.

"BY HIS GOOD CONDUCT "AND BRAVERY WHILE WITH ME, "HE HAD RISEN TO THE RANK OF CORPORAL, "AND HAD HE LIVED, I SHOULD HAVE PROMOTED HIM AGAIN.

"HE WAS SHOT THROUGH THE BODY "AT THE BATTLE OF NEW BERNE.

"HIS LAST WORDS WERE, WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP.

"HE IS BURIED HERE.

"HIS EFFECTS I SHALL SEND HOME "AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY.

"YOURS TRULY, E.A.P.

BREWSTER, "CAPTAIN COMMANDING COMPANY ’A’, 23rd MASSACHUSETTS."

NARRATOR: DEER ISLE HAD LOST ITS FIRST SOLDIER.

A PARCEL CONTAINING CHARLES GRAY’S PERSONAL EFFECTS ARRIVED IN THE MAIL-- HIS HAT, PROMOTION PAPERS ATTESTING TO HIS VALOR, AND A CARTRIDGE BOX IN WHICH SOMEONE HAD PLACED THE MANGLED BULLET THAT KILLED HIM.

HIS MOTHER REFUSED TO LOOK AT IT.

THE MEN OF THE REDUCED FISHING FLEET STRUGGLED TO HARVEST A CATCH.

WIVES TENDED KITCHEN GARDENS AND SCRAPED LINEN FOR THE LINT FROM WHICH ARMY BANDAGES WERE MADE.

MORE BAD NEWS ARRIVED.

PRIVATE ALEX HENDERSON HAD DIED OF DISEASE AT FORT JACKSON, LOUISIANA, LEAVING A WIDOW AND SEVERAL CHILDREN.

AT CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE, TENSIONS BETWEEN THE TOWN AND THE OCCUPYING UNION ARMY RAN HIGH.

FEDERAL TROOPS VANDALIZED STEWART COLLEGE, WRECKING LABORATORIES AND STEALING BOOKS, THEN SET UP HEADQUARTERS THERE.

SOLDIERS BURST IN ON A CHURCH SERVICE, ARRESTED THE PREACHER, COMMANDEERED HORSES, AND FORCED RELUCTANT PARISHIONERS TO TAKE A LOYALTY OATH.

AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, THE RESIDENTS STAYED AT HOME.

THE ANSWER TO-- A SOUTHERNER WOULD GIVE YOU AS TO WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING IF YOU WERE A NORTHERNER-- HE WOULD SAY, "I’M FIGHTING ’CAUSE YOU’RE DOWN HERE."

HE WAS BEING INVADED, AND HE FOUGHT, AS HE THOUGHT, TO DEFEND HIS HOME.

LINCOLN HAD A MUCH MORE DIFFICULT JOB OF SENDING MEN OUT TO SHOOT UP SOMEBODY ELSE’S HOME.

AND HE HAD TO UNITE THEM BEFORE HE COULD DO THAT.

AND HIS WAY OF DOING IT WAS DOUBLE.

ONE WAS TO SAY THAT THE REPUBLIC MUST BE PRESERVED, NOT SPLIT IN TWO.

THAT WAS ONE.

AND THE OTHER ONE HE GAVE THEM AS A CAUSE-- THE FREEING OF THE SLAVES.

NARRATOR: ON THE MORNING OF JULY 22, 1862, THE PRESIDENT CALLED A CABINET MEETING.

WHAT HE SAID TOOK EVERYONE BY SURPRISE.

AFTER LONG THOUGHT, HE TOLD THEM, HE HAD DECIDED TO EMANCIPATE THE SLAVES.

MAN: IT WAS A STUNNING MOMENT.

IT WAS AGAINST EVERYTHING LINCOLN HAD PROMISED ALL THE REPUBLICANS AND INDEED THE COUNTRY-- THAT HE WOULD NOT BECOME AN ABOLITIONIST, HE WOULD NOT STRIKE AT SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTED.

AND HERE, SUDDENLY, HE WAS CHANGING THE CHARACTER OF THE WAR.

NARRATOR: BUT SECRETARY OF STATE SEWARD WORRIED THAT UNTIL THE ARMY HAD WON A REAL VICTORY, EMANCIPATION WOULD SEEM LIKE THE LAST SHRIEK ON THE RETREAT.

LINCOLN AGREED TO WAIT FOR A VICTORY.

FIELDS: IT’S HARD TO SEPARATE ONE ISSUE FROM ANOTHER.

OBVIOUSLY, LINCOLN HAD TO WIN THE WAR.

HE HAD TO KEEP HIS RESPECTABILITY AS PRESIDENT OF A COUNTRY THAT WOULD NOT ALLOW ITSELF TO BE DEFEATED BY A GROUP OF REBELS.

SO THAT WAS ALWAYS AN ISSUE, AND IT WAS ESPECIALLY AN ISSUE, OF COURSE, IN 1862.

HE COULD NOT LET HIMSELF BE MADE A FOOL AND THE UNION BE MADE A FOOL BY STANDING UP FOR PRINCIPLES THAT COULD NOT BE VINDICATED ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

WOMAN: ♪ I HAVE READ A FIERY GOSPEL ♪ ♪ WRIT IN BURNISHED ROWS OF STEEL ♪ ♪ AS YE DEAL WITH MY CONTEMNERS ♪ ♪ SO WITH YOU MY GRACE SHALL DEAL ♪ ♪ LET THE HERO BORN OF WOMAN ♪ ♪ CRUSH THE SERPENT WITH HIS HEEL ♪ ♪ SINCE GOD IS MARCHING ON ♪ NARRATOR: DESPERATE FOR A VICTORY, LINCOLN REMOVED McCLELLAN AND PUT TALL, BOMBASTIC JOHN POPE IN COMMAND.

POPE SO OFTEN BRAGGED THAT HIS HEADQUARTERS WERE IN THE SADDLE, PEOPLE BEGAN TO SAY HE HAD HIS HEADQUARTERS WHERE HIS HINDQUARTERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

FOOTE: LINCOLN WAS WARNED AT THE START THAT POPE WAS NOT TO BE TRUSTED WITH TELLING THE TRUTH.

AND LINCOLN SAID, "I’VE KNOWN THE POPES BACK IN ILLINOIS.

"KNOWN ALL OF THEM.

THEY’RE ALL LIARS AND BRAGGARTS, "BUT I DON’T KNOW OF ANY PARTICULAR REASON WHY A LIAR AND A BRAGGART SHOULDN’T MAKE A GOOD GENERAL."

[EXPLOSIONS] NARRATOR: POPE WASTED NO TIME CHARGING INTO NORTHERN VIRGINIA AFTER THE REBEL ARMIES, BUT HE WAS IN TROUBLE FROM THE START.

FIRST, STONEWALL JACKSON FOUGHT HIM TO A STAND-OFF AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN.

JEB STUART HIT HIM NEXT, RAIDING HIS HEADQUARTERS AND GETTING AWAY WITH $35,000 IN CASH AND THE UNION COMMANDER’S DRESS COAT.

THEN THE REBELS SIMPLY DISAPPEARED.

IT TOOK POPE TWO DAYS TO FIND THEM, DUG IN ALONG AN ABANDONED RAILROAD OVERLOOKING THE OLD BULL RUN BATTLEFIELD.

[EXPLOSIONS] ON AUGUST 29th, POPE ATTACKED, PROMISING TO "BAG THE WHOLE CROWD."

BUT THE CONFEDERATES HELD, JACKSON’S MEN HURLING ROCKS WHEN AMMUNITION RAN LOW.

AT 2:00 THE NEXT AFTERNOON, CONFEDERATE GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET SENT 5 DIVISIONS STORMING INTO THE UNION FLANK.

IT WAS ANOTHER UNION DISASTER.

25,000 MEN WERE KILLED, WOUNDED, OR MISSING AT SECOND BULL RUN, FIVE TIMES THE FIGURE THAT HAD SO HORRIFIED THE COUNTRY THE FIRST TIME NORTH AND SOUTH FOUGHT THERE.

LINCOLN SENT POPE WEST TO MINNESOTA TO DEAL WITH AN UPRISING AMONG THE SIOUX AND RELUCTANTLY PUT GEORGE McCLELLAN BACK IN COMMAND.

"WE MUST USE THE TOOLS WE HAVE," LINCOLN SAID.

McCLELLAN TOLD HIS WIFE HE HAD BEEN CALLED UPON TO SAVE THE COUNTRY ONCE AGAIN.

MAN: "WE WOULD ASK THE NORTH CAROLINIANS "IF THEY HAD ANY TAR "AND CALL THEM TAR HEELS.

"THEY WOULD REPLY THAT THEY WERE JUST OUT "AS THEY HAD LET US VIRGINIANS HAVE ALL THEY HAD "TO MAKE US STICK IN THE LAST FIGHT "AND CALL US SORE BACKS, "AS THEY’D KNOCKED ALL THE SKIN OFF OUR BACKS "RUNNING OVER US TO GET INTO BATTLE.

"AND SO IT WOULD GO, BUT ALL IN THE BEST OF HUMOR, KNOWING THAT ALL DID THEIR DUTY."

JOHN CASLER, 33rd REGIMENT, VIRGINIA INFANTRY, STONEWALL’S BRIGADE.

FOOTE: YOU MUST REMEMBER THEY WERE ALL FROM THE SAME STATE.

THEY HAD FOLLOWED THE SAME FLAG.

THE BATTLES THEY HAD FOUGHT IN, THE NAMES WERE STITCHED ON THAT FLAG.

AND THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF UNIT PRIDE.

AND I’M SURE THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF SADNESS OVER THE LOSSES THAT THEY SUFFERED.

BUT THERE WAS A CLOSENESS AMONG THOSE MEN THAT CAME FROM YEARS OF BEING EXPOSED TO THE MOST HORRENDOUS WARFARE THAT I KNOW OF.

MAN: "DEAR FATHER, THE NEXT MORNING, "WE HAD OUR SECOND BATTLE.

"IT WAS RATHER STRANGE MUSIC "TO HEAR THE BALLS SCREAM WITHIN AN INCH OF MY HEAD.

"I HAD A BULLET STRIKE ME ON TOP OF THE HEAD "JUST AS I WAS GOING TO FIRE, "AND A PIECE OF SHELL STRUCK MY FOOT.

"A BALL HIT MY FINGER, AND ANOTHER HIT MY THUMB.

"THE FIRING INCREASED TENFOLD, "THEN IT SOUNDED LIKE THE ROLLS OF THUNDER, "AND ALL THE TIME EVERY MAN SHOUTING "AS LOUD AS HE COULD.

"I GOT RATHER MORE EXCITED THAN I WISH TO AGAIN."

MAN 2: "I SAW THE BODY "OF A MAN KILLED THE PREVIOUS DAY THIS MORNING, "AND A HORRIBLE SIGHT IT WAS.

"SUCH SIGHTS DO NOT AFFECT ME AS THEY ONCE DID.

"I CANNOT DESCRIBE THE CHANGE, "NOR DO I KNOW WHEN IT TOOK PLACE, "YET I KNOW THERE IS A CHANGE, "FOR I LOOK ON THE CARCASS OF A MAN NOW "WITH PRETTY MUCH THE SAME FEELING AS I WOULD DO WERE IT A HORSE OR A HOG."

MAN AS RHODES: "SUNDAY A SOLDIER OF COMPANY ’A’ DIED AND WAS BURIED.

"EVERYTHING WENT ON AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED, "FOR DEATH IS SO COMMON THAT LITTLE SENTIMENT IS WASTED.

IT IS NOT LIKE DEATH AT HOME."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: FALLING BACK FROM THE BULL RUN BATTLEFIELD, UNION TROOPS SKIRMISHED BRIEFLY WITH REBEL FORCES AT FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA, WHERE THE MEN STOPPED LONG ENOUGH TO SCRIBBLE THEIR NAMES ON THE CHAPEL WALLS.

"IN GREAT CONTESTS," ABRAHAM LINCOLN WROTE AS THE SUMMER WANED, "EACH PARTY CLAIMS TO ACT IN ACCORDANCE "WITH THE WILL OF GOD.

"BOTH MAY BE, BUT ONE MUST BE, WRONG.

"GOD CANNOT BE FOR AND AGAINST THE SAME THING AT THE SAME TIME."

MAN: "AUGUST 20, 1862.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT."

"WE THINK YOU ARE UNDULY INFLUENCED "BY THE COUNSELS OF CERTAIN FOSSIL POLITICIANS "HAILING FROM BORDER SLAVE STATES.

"WE ASK YOU TO CONSIDER THAT SLAVERY "IS EVERYWHERE THE INCITING CAUSE AND SUSTAINING BASE "OF TREASON.

"IT SEEMS TO US THE MOST OBVIOUS TRUTH "THAT WHATEVER STRENGTHENS OR FORTIFIES SLAVERY "DRIVES HOME THE WEDGE INTENDED TO DIVIDE THE UNION."

HORACE GREELEY.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "AUGUST 22nd.

"MY PARAMOUNT OBJECT IN THIS STRUGGLE "IS TO SAVE THE UNION "AND IS NOT EITHER TO SAVE "OR TO DESTROY SLAVERY.

"IF I COULD SAVE THE UNION "WITHOUT FREEING ANY SLAVE, I WOULD DO IT.

"IF I COULD SAVE IT BY FREEING ALL THE SLAVES, "I WOULD DO IT.

"AND IF I COULD SAVE IT BY FREEING SOME "AND LEAVING OTHERS ALONE, I WOULD ALSO DO THAT."

MAN: "IT SEEMS TO ME THAT TIME IS FAST APPROACHING "WHEN SOME JOINT OFFER OF MEDIATION "BY ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND RUSSIA "MIGHT BE MADE WITH SOME PROSPECT OF SUCCESS "TO THE COMBATANTS IN NORTH AMERICA.

"THE PROPOSAL WOULD NATURALLY BE MADE "TO BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH.

"IF BOTH ACCEPTED, WE SHOULD RECOMMEND AN ARMISTICE "AND CESSATION OF BLOCKADES, "WITH A VIEW TO NEGOTIATION ON THE BASIS OF SEPARATION."

PRIME MINISTER PALMERSTON.

NARRATOR: LINCOLN HAD TO HAVE A VICTORY.

MAN: "SEPTEMBER 3, 1862.

"THE PRESENT SEEMS TO BE "THE MOST PROPITIOUS TIME "SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR FOR THE CONFEDERATE ARMY TO ENTER MARYLAND."

ROBERT E. LEE.

NARRATOR: THE BRILLIANT SOUTHERN VICTORIES OF SPRING AND SUMMER HAD BROUGHT LEE’S ARMY INTERNATIONAL RENOWN.

"ONE MORE SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN," HE WROTE JEFFERSON DAVIS, "WOULD FORCE EUROPE TO RECOGNIZE THE CONFEDERACY."

NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, LEE LED 40,000 SOLDIERS ACROSS THE POTOMAC AND ONTO UNION SOIL.

WOMAN: "THIS BODY OF MEN MOVING ALONG WITH NO ORDER, "THEIR GUNS CARRIED IN EVERY FASHION, "NO TWO DRESSED ALIKE, "THEIR OFFICERS HARDLY DISTINGUISHABLE "FROM THE PRIVATES-- "WERE THESE THE MEN THAT HAD DRIVEN BACK AGAIN AND AGAIN OUR SPLENDID LEGIONS?"

"THEY WERE THE DIRTIEST MEN I EVER SAW, "A MOST RAGGED, LEAN, "AND HUNGRY SET OF WOLVES.

"YET THERE WAS A DASH ABOUT THEM THAT THE NORTHERN MEN LACKED."

NARRATOR: LEE’S TARGET WAS THE FEDERAL RAIL CENTER AT HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

HOPING MARYLANDERS WOULD RISE UP AGAINST THE UNION, HE INSTRUCTED HIS MEN TO SING MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND AS THEY MARCHED.

IT DIDN’T WORK.

MOST RESIDENTS OF THE SMALL TOWNS STAYED FEARFULLY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

THEN, ON SEPTEMBER 13th, IN A MEADOW NEAR FREDERICK, A UNION SOLDIER FOUND 3 CIGARS WRAPPED IN A PIECE OF PAPER.

IT WAS A COPY OF LEE’S BATTLE PLANS, ACCIDENTALLY LEFT BEHIND.

McCLELLAN NOW KNEW LEE HAD DIVIDED HIS ARMY, SENDING ONE PART OFF TO SEIZE HARPERS FERRY.

McCLELLAN HAD IN HIS HANDS THE INSTRUMENT WITH WHICH TO DESTROY LEE.

STILL, HE DID NOTHING FOR 18 CRUCIAL HOURS.

ON SEPTEMBER 15th, LEE AND HIS CONFEDERATES TOOK UP POSITIONS ALONG THE CREST OF A 3-MILE RIDGE JUST EAST OF THE TOWN OF SHARPSBURG AND ONLY 52 MILES FROM WASHINGTON.

THE POTOMAC WAS AT THEIR BACK.

IN FRONT RAN A CREEK CALLED ANTIETAM.

MAN AS LONGSTREET: "ON THE FORENOON OF THE 15th, "THE BLUE UNIFORMS OF THE FEDERALS "APPEARED AMONG THE TREES THAT CROWNED THE HEIGHTS "ON THE EASTERN BANK OF THE ANTIETAM.

"THE NUMBER INCREASED, AND LARGER AND LARGER GREW THE FIELD OF BLUE "TILL IT SEEMED TO STRETCH AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE.

"AND FROM THE TOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS DOWN TO THE EDGES OF THE STREAM GATHERED THE GREAT ARMY OF McCLELLAN."

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET.

NARRATOR: HAD McCLELLAN HURLED HIS ARMY AT THE CONFEDERATES THAT DAY, THE WAR MIGHT HAVE ENDED, BUT HE DID NOT.

"THERE WAS A SINGLE ITEM IN OUR ADVANTAGE," AN AIDE TO LEE REMEMBERED, "BUT IT WAS AN IMPORTANT ONE.

"McCLELLAN HAD BROUGHT SUPERIOR FORCES TO SHARPSBURG," THE AIDE CONCEDED, "BUT HE HAD ALSO BROUGHT HIMSELF."

MAN: "SEPTEMBER 16th-- THAT NIGHT, I LAY BESIDE THE CHARLESTOWN PIKE "AND WATCHED UNTIL MORNING "THE GRIMY COLUMNS COME POURING UP FROM THE PONTOONS.

"IT WAS A WEIRD, UNCANNY SIGHT "AND DROVE SLEEP FROM MY EYES.

"IT WAS SOMETHING DEMON-LIKE, "A SCENE FROM AN INFERNO.

"THEY WERE SILENT AS GHOSTS, "RUTHLESS AND RUSHING IN THEIR SPEED, "RAGGED, EARTH-COLORED, DISHEVELED, AND DEVILISH.

"THE SHUFFLE OF THEIR BADLY SHOD FEET "ON THE HARD SURFACE OF THE PIKE "WAS SO RAPID AS TO BE CONTINUOUS, "LIKE THE HISS OF A GREAT SERPENT.

"THE SPECTRAL, GHOSTLY PICTURE WILL NEVER BE ERASED FROM MY MEMORY."

CAPTAIN EDWARD HASTINGS RIPLEY.

WOMAN: "AS NIGHT GREW NEARER, "WHISPERS OF A GREAT BATTLE "TO BE FOUGHT THE NEXT DAY GREW LOUDER, "AND WE SHUDDERED AT THE PROSPECT, "FOR THE BATTLES HAD COME TO MEAN TO US, "AS THEY NEVER HAD BEFORE, BLOOD, WOUNDS, AND DEATH."

NARRATOR: THE BATTLE THAT BEGAN THE NEXT DAY WAS REALLY 3 BATTLES.

THE FIRST BEGAN AT 6 A.M. ON LEE’S LEFT, WHERE A FEDERAL FORCE CHARGED ALONG THE HAGERSTOWN PIKE TO ATTACK STONEWALL JACKSON’S MEN HIDDEN IN WOODS BEYOND A BIG CORNFIELD.

THE UNION OBJECTIVE WAS A PLATEAU EDGED WITH ARTILLERY ON WHICH STOOD A SMALL WHITEWASHED CHURCH, BUILT BY A GERMAN BAPTIST PACIFIST SECT, THE DUNKARDS, FOR WHOM EVEN A STEEPLE WAS THOUGHT IMMODEST.

THE UNION FIELD COMMANDER WAS MAJOR GENERAL JOE HOOKER, A PROFANE AND HARD-DRINKING MASSACHUSETTS SOLDIER KNOWN AS FIGHTING JOE.

AS HOOKER CAUTIOUSLY ADVANCED, HE NOTICED THE GLINT OF BAYONETS IN THE CORNFIELD AND ORDERED 4 BATTERIES TO FIRE INTO IT.

[CANNON FIRE] THE REBELS COUNTERCHARGED.

THE BATTLE SURGED BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE CORNFIELD 15 TIMES.

IN A MATTER OF MINUTES, THE 12th MASSACHUSETTS LOST 224 OF 334 MEN.

HOOKER HIMSELF WAS CARRIED FROM THE FIELD, SHOT THROUGH THE FOOT.

MAN: "THE MEN ARE LOADING AND FIRING "WITH DEMONIACAL FURY "AND SHOUTING AND LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY, "AND THE WHOLE FIELD BEFORE US "IS COVERED WITH REBELS FLEEING FOR LIFE INTO THE WOODS."

NARRATOR: HOOKER’S MEN WERE CLOSING IN ON THE DUNKARD CHURCH.

AT THAT MOMENT, STONEWALL JACKSON SENT IN HIS LAST RESERVES, JOHN BELL HOOD’S DIVISION-- FIERCE FIGHTERS AT ANY TIME, BUT NOW ENRAGED AT HAVING MISSED BREAKFAST, WHICH HAD PROMISED TO BE THEIR FIRST REAL MEAL IN DAYS.

THEIR FIRST VOLLEY WAS "LIKE A SCYTHE RUNNING THROUGH OUR LINE," ONE UNION SURVIVOR REMEMBERED.

AND THEN THE CONFEDERATE COUNTERATTACK CAME ON.

[YELLING] MAN AS HOOKER: "EVERY STALK OF CORN WAS CUT AS CLOSELY "AS COULD HAVE BEEN DONE WITH A KNIFE, "AND THE SLAIN LAY IN ROWS, "PRECISELY AS THEY HAD STOOD IN THEIR RANKS A FEW MOMENTS BEFORE."

JOSEPH HOOKER.

NARRATOR: THE NORTHERN TROOPS RAN BACK THROUGH THE CORNFIELD.

HOOD’S MEN RAN AFTER THEM, BUT WERE STOPPED BY A HAIL OF SHELLS AND FEDERAL REINFORCEMENTS.

WHEN THE CONFEDERATES FINALLY WITHDREW, ONE OFFICER ASKED HOOD WHERE HIS DIVISION WAS.

"DEAD ON THE FIELD," HE ANSWERED.

MAN AS RHODES: "I HAVE NEVER IN MY SOLDIER’S LIFE "SEEN SUCH A SIGHT.

"THE DEAD AND WOUNDED COVERED THE GROUND.

"IN ONE SPOT, "A REBEL OFFICER AND 20 MEN "LAY NEAR A WRECK OF A BATTERY.

"IT IS SAID BATTERY ’A’, 1st RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY DID THIS WORK."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: BY 10 A.M., 8,000 MEN LAY DEAD OR WOUNDED.

JACKSON’S LINES HAD WAVERED, BUT HELD.

FOOTE: AFTER HIS PART OF THE BATTLE WAS OVER, JACKSON WAS SITTING ON HIS HORSE, EATING A PEACH, AND HIS MEDICAL DIRECTOR, DR. McGUIRE, WAS THERE.

AND, UH...

HE LOOKED OUT OVER THIS FIELD WHERE THERE WERE DEAD OF BOTH SIDES LITTERED ALL OVER THE PLACE.

AND AS HE’S EATING THE PEACH, HE SAID, "GOD HAS BEEN VERY KIND TO US THIS DAY."

NARRATOR: THE SECOND PART OF THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM BEGAN AT THE CENTER OF LEE’S LINE, A SUNKEN COUNTRY ROAD THAT NOW SERVED AS A READY-MADE RIFLE PIT FOR TWO CONFEDERATE BRIGADES.

LEE ORDERED IT HELD AT ALL COSTS.

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON ASSURED HIM, "THESE MEN ARE GOING TO STAY HERE, GENERAL, TILL THE SUN GOES DOWN OR VICTORY IS WON."

THEN THE UNION ATTACKED.

MAN AS GORDON: "THE BRAVE UNION COMMANDER, "SUPERBLY MOUNTED, PLACED HIMSELF IN FRONT, "WHILE HIS BAND CHEERED THEM "WITH MARTIAL MUSIC.

"I THOUGHT, WHAT A PITY TO SPOIL WITH BULLETS SUCH A SCENE OF MARTIAL BEAUTY."

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON.

NARRATOR: GORDON LET THE BLUE LINE GET WITHIN A FEW YARDS, THEN GAVE THE ORDER TO FIRE.

THE UNION COMMANDER WAS KILLED INSTANTLY.

HIS MEN WAVERED, RETREATED, THEN CAME BACK AT THE CONFEDERATES 5 MORE TIMES.

GORDON WAS HIT TWICE IN THE RIGHT LEG, ONCE IN THE LEFT ARM, A FOURTH TIME THROUGH THE SHOULDER.

HE REFUSED ALL AID, LIMPING ALONG THE LINE TO STEADY HIS MEN AS THE FEDERALS KEPT COMING.

MAN AS GORDON: "I WAS FINALLY SHOT DOWN BY A FIFTH BALL, "WHICH STRUCK ME SQUARELY IN THE FACE.

"I FELL FORWARD AND LAY UNCONSCIOUS "WITH MY FACE IN MY CAP.

"I MIGHT HAVE SMOTHERED IN BLOOD "BUT FOR A YANKEE BULLET HOLE WHICH LET THE BLOOD RUN OUT."

NARRATOR: STILL THE CONFEDERATES HELD.

UNIT AFTER UNIT OF NORTHERN TROOPS FELL BACK FROM THE SHEETS OF SOUTHERN FIRE.

FINALLY, SOME NEW YORKERS MANAGED TO FIND A SPOT FROM WHICH THEY COULD SHOOT DOWN ON THE ROAD’S DEFENDERS.

THE TIDE OF BATTLE TURNED.

THE SUNKEN ROAD, REMEMBERED NOW AS BLOODY LANE, RAPIDLY FILLED WITH SOUTHERN BODIES, TWO AND 3 DEEP, AND THE TRIUMPHANT FEDERALS KNELT ON TOP OF WHAT ONE CALLED "THIS GHASTLY FLOORING" TO FIRE AT THE FLEEING SURVIVORS.

THE CONFEDERATE CENTER HAD SPLINTERED.

ONE MORE PUSH MIGHT HAVE BROKEN IT APART.

GENERAL McCLELLAN, HOWEVER, DECIDED IT "WOULD NOT BE PRUDENT" TO ATTACK AGAIN.

ALL DAY LONG, IN HASTILY CONSTRUCTED FIELD HOSPITALS, CLARA BARTON TENDED THE WOUNDED.

SHE WORKED SO CLOSE TO THE FIGHTING THAT A BULLET WENT THROUGH HER SLEEVE AND KILLED A MAN SHE WAS TREATING.

WOMAN: "I HAD TO WRING THE BLOOD "FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY CLOTHING "BEFORE I COULD STEP, FOR THE WEIGHT ABOUT MY FEET."

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: "I WAS LYING ON MY BACK, SUPPORTED ON MY ELBOWS, "WATCHING THE SHELLS EXPLODE OVERHEAD AND SPECULATING "AS TO HOW LONG I COULD HOLD UP MY FINGER "BEFORE IT WOULD BE SHOT OFF.

"WHEN THE ORDER TO GET UP WAS GIVEN, "I TURNED OVER TO LOOK AT COLONEL KIMBALL, THINKING HE HAD BECOME SUDDENLY INSANE."

LIEUTENANT MATTHEW J. GROHAN.

NARRATOR: THE THIRD BATTLE TOOK PLACE ON THE CONFEDERATE RIGHT, WHERE THE UNION ARMY, LED BY GENERAL BURNSIDE’S CORPS, TRIED TO FIGHT ITS WAY ACROSS A STRONGLY DEFENDED STONE BRIDGE OVER ANTIETAM CREEK.

AMBROSE BURNSIDE WAS A GENIAL, DAPPER MAN-- HIS DISTINCTIVE WHISKERS OR SIDEBURNS SET A FASHION-- BUT "HE SHRANK FROM RESPONSIBILITY," AN ADMIRING FELLOW OFFICER SAID, "WITH SINCERE MODESTY," AND HE OWED HIS POSITION TO HIS OLD FRIEND McCLELLAN, WHO NOW PROMISED TO SUPPORT HIS ASSAULT ACROSS THE BRIDGE.

BURNSIDE HAD 12,500 MEN AGAINST BARELY 400 GEORGIANS LED BY ROBERT TOOMBS.

BUT THE CONFEDERATES COMMANDED THE BLUFF OVERLOOKING THE BRIDGE AND POURED A RELENTLESS VOLLEY OF FIRE DOWN ON THE UNION TROOPS.

IT TOOK 3 HOURS AND 3 BLOODY CHARGES FOR THE FEDERALS TO CROSS THE CREEK AND BEGIN FIGHTING THEIR WAY UP THE SLOPE TOWARDS SHARPSBURG.

7 SUCCESSIVE UNION COLOR BEARERS WERE HIT BEFORE THE CONFEDERATES FINALLY BROKE, RACING BACK INTO THE TOWN.

MAN: "OH, HOW I RAN.

"I WAS AFRAID OF BEING STRUCK IN THE BACK, "AND I FREQUENTLY TURNED AROUND IN RUNNING "SO AS TO AVOID, IF POSSIBLE, SO DISGRACEFUL A WOUND."

PRIVATE JOHN DOOLEY.

NARRATOR: UNION VICTORY AGAIN SEEMED CERTAIN.

BUT WHILE THE UNION TROOPS CHEERED, THE CONFEDERATE LIGHT DIVISION WAS ARRIVING FROM HARPERS FERRY... 3,000 MEN, FOOTSORE FROM THEIR 17-MILE MARCH, BUT OTHERWISE READY TO FIGHT AND COMMANDED BY GENERAL A.P.

HILL, DRESSED IN THE RED SHIRT HE LIKED TO WEAR IN BATTLE.

MAN: "A.P.

HILL IS THE FIGHTINGEST DIVISION COMMANDER "IN LEE’S ARMY.

"HILL ARRIVED AT ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE NICK-OF-THE-MOMENT THINGS, "AND IT WAS THE LAST ONE, "AND IT SUCCEEDED IN THROWING BURNSIDE BACK AFTER HE FINALLY GOT ACROSS THE BRIDGE."

NARRATOR: HILL SLAMMED INTO THE CELEBRATING UNION TROOPS.

BURNSIDE BEGGED McCLELLAN TO SEND UP THE REINFORCEMENTS HE HAD PROMISED.

McCLELLAN REFUSED.

AS NIGHT FELL, BURNSIDE WITHDREW TO THE STONE BRIDGE HIS MEN HAD FOUGHT SO HARD TO SEIZE.

THE BATTLE WAS OVER.

NO GROUND HAD BEEN GAINED.

MAN: "BEFORE THE SUNLIGHT FADED, "I WALKED OVER THE NARROW FIELD.

"ALL AROUND LAY THE CONFEDERATE DEAD, "CLAD IN BUTTERNUT.

"AS I LOOKED DOWN ON THE POOR PINCHED FACES, ALL ENMITY DIED OUT."

"THERE WAS NO SECESSION IN THOSE RIGID FORMS, "NOR IN THOSE FIXED EYES STARING AT THE SKY.

CLEARLY, IT WAS NOT THEIR WAR."

"THE SUN WENT DOWN.

THE THUNDER DIED AWAY.

"THE MUSKETRY CEASED.

"BIVOUAC FIRES GLEAMED OUT AS IF A GREAT CITY HAD LIGHTED ITS LAMPS."

NARRATOR: IT HAD BEEN THE BLOODIEST DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

THE UNION LOST 2,108 DEAD, ANOTHER 10,293 WOUNDED OR MISSING-- DOUBLE THE CASUALTIES OF D-DAY 82 YEARS LATER.

LEE LOST FEWER MEN-- 10,318 CASUALTIES-- BUT THAT WAS A QUARTER OF HIS ARMY.

MAN AS RHODES: "WHY DID WE NOT ATTACK THEM "AND DRIVE THEM INTO THE RIVER?

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS.

BUT THEN, I AM ONLY A BOY."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: McCLELLAN HAD PLENTY OF RESERVES WAITING OUTSIDE SHARPSBURG, BUT HE NEVER USED THEM.

LEE, OUTNUMBERED 3-TO-1, BRACED FOR A NEW ATTACK ALL THE NEXT DAY.

IT NEVER CAME.

ON THE 18th, LEE AND HIS ARMY SLIPPED BACK ACROSS THE POTOMAC.

McCLELLAN COULD CLAIM A VICTORY, BUT HE COULD HAVE WON THE WAR.

LEE’S INVASION HAD BEEN HALTED, HE HAD SUFFERED TERRIBLE LOSSES, BUT HIS ARMY HAD NOT BEEN DESTROYED.

MAN: "THE CAUSES OF THE WAR WERE WIDE APART, BUT THE MANHOOD WAS THE SAME."

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN, 20th MAINE.

NARRATOR: HELD IN RESERVE OUTSIDE SHARPSBURG, THE 20th MAINE INCLUDED FARMERS AND LUMBERMEN, SEAMEN AND SHOPKEEPERS AND TRAPPERS.

ITS COLONEL WAS JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN, A 33-YEAR-OLD PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC, ORATORY, AND MODERN LANGUAGES AT BOWDOIN COLLEGE.

DENIED A LEAVE OF ABSENCE TO ENLIST, HE APPLIED FOR A SABBATICAL TO STUDY IN EUROPE, THEN VOLUNTEERED.

ON PAPER, HIS ONLY QUALIFICATION FOR COMMAND WAS THAT HE WAS A GENTLEMAN OF THE HIGHEST MORAL, INTELLECTUAL, AND LITERARY WORTH.

CHAMBERLAIN WAS STILL AT SHARPSBURG WHEN ABRAHAM LINCOLN CAME TO SEE THE BATTLEFIELD.

MAN: "WE COULD SEE THE DEEP SADNESS "IN THE PRESIDENT’S FACE "AND FEEL THE BURDEN ON HIS HEART, "THINKING OF HIS GREAT COMMISSION TO SAVE THIS PEOPLE "AND KNOWING THAT HE COULD DO THIS NO OTHERWISE "THAN AS HE HAD BEEN DOING-- BY AND THROUGH THE MANLINESS OF THESE MEN."

NARRATOR: WATCHING THE PRESIDENT REVIEW HIS TROOPS, IT SEEMED TO JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN THAT A "MYSTIC BOND, WONDERFUL IN ITS INTENSITY," JOINED THE MEN TO THEIR COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

THE OBJECT OF LINCOLN’S VISIT WAS TO GET McCLELLAN TO PURSUE LEE.

MAN: "I CAME BACK THINKING HE WOULD MOVE AT ONCE.

"BUT WHEN I GOT HOME, "HE BEGAN TO ARGUE WHY HE OUGHT NOT TO MOVE.

"I PEREMPTORILY ORDERED HIM TO ADVANCE.

"IT WAS 19 DAYS BEFORE HE PUT A MAN OVER THE RIVER, "AND 9 DAYS LONGER BEFORE HE GOT HIS ARMY ACROSS.

AND THEN HE STOPPED AGAIN."

NARRATOR: LINCOLN AT LAST HAD HAD ENOUGH OF GEORGE McCLELLAN.

THE PRESIDENT RELIEVED HIM OF COMMAND PERMANENTLY.

MAN: "THEY HAVE MADE A GREAT MISTAKE.

ALAS, FOR MY POOR COUNTRY."

WOMAN: "SEPTEMBER 21, 1862.

"DEAR SAM, JR., "A GREAT MANY OF YOUR OLD FRIENDS AND SCHOOLMATES "HAVE DIED OR BEEN KILLED.

"I WILL MERELY NAME LEM AMBERCROMBIE, "JEFF MONTGOMERY, "JOHN GARRETT, "LEM HATCH, JOHN HILL, "PROCTOR PORTER, BILL HUMES, "JOHN WHITE, "WALTER MAXEY, "ANGUS ALSTON.

"OLD MRS. THOMAS OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD "HAS LOST 5 SONS.

YOUR MOTHER, MARGARET HOUSTON."

YOU DO HAVE A BIG PROBLEM WHEN YOU HAVE UNITS THAT ARE FROM STATES AND COUNTIES AND EVEN TOWNS.

AND ONE OF THOSE REGIMENTS CAN GET IN A VERY TIGHT SPOT IN A PARTICULAR BATTLE, LIKE IN THE CORNFIELD AT SHARPSBURG, AND THE NEWS MAY BE THAT THERE ARE NO MORE YOUNG MEN IN THAT TOWN.

THEY’RE ALL DEAD.

NARRATOR: IN OCTOBER OF 1862, AT HIS NEW YORK GALLERY, MATHEW BRADY OPENED AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS ENTITLED "THE DEAD OF ANTIETAM."

NOTHING LIKE THEM HAD EVER BEEN SEEN IN AMERICA BEFORE.

MAN: "THE DEAD OF THE BATTLEFIELD COME UP TO US VERY RARELY, "EVEN IN DREAMS.

"WE SEE THE LISTS IN THE MORNING PAPER AT BREAKFAST, "BUT DISMISS ITS RECOLLECTION WITH THE COFFEE.

"MR. MATHEW BRADY HAS DONE SOMETHING "TO BRING TO US THE TERRIBLE REALITY "AND EARNESTNESS OF THE WAR.

"IF HE HAS NOT BROUGHT BODIES "AND LAID THEM IN OUR DOORYARDS AND ALONG OUR STREETS, HE HAS DONE SOMETHING VERY LIKE IT."

NARRATOR: AGAINST THE ADVICE OF HIS ADVISERS, LINCOLN REINSTATED U.S. GRANT TO FIELD COMMAND.

"I CAN’T SPARE THIS MAN," LINCOLN SAID.

"HE FIGHTS."

1,000 MILES TO THE WEST, VICKSBURG, HIGH ON A BLUFF OVERLOOKING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, REMAINED CONFEDERATE.

"VICKSBURG," JEFFERSON DAVIS SAID, "IS THE NAIL THAT HOLDS THE SOUTH’S TWO HALVES TOGETHER."

THAT FALL, GRANT TRIED TO TAKE THE HEAVILY FORTIFIED CITY.

HE FAILED.

THE CONFEDERACY WAS ON THE OFFENSIVE OVER A 1,000-MILE FRONT.

MR. GLADSTONE, A POWER IN THE ENGLISH CABINET, IS SAYING, "JEFF DAVIS HAS MADE A NAVY.

HE’S MADE AN ARMY," AND, WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT, INTIMATING THAT HE’S MADE A NATION.

BUT THE INVASION OF MARYLAND FAILS.

LEE IS DEFEATED, FALLS BACK.

THEY LOSE AT PERRYVILLE IN KENTUCKY.

THEY LOSE AT IUKA AND CORINTH IN MISSISSIPPI, AND EVEN NEWTONIA IN MISSOURI.

AND THE CONFEDERATE TIDE ROLLS BACK.

LINCOLN, AS A RESULT OF ANTIETAM, CONVERTED THE WAR TO A HIGHER PLANE, AGAIN THE MASTER POLITICIAN.

HE ANNOUNCES A PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

OF COURSE, IT DOESN’T FREE A SINGLE SLAVE IN REVOLT, FREES ONLY AS A WAR MEASURE AND ONLY FREES THE SLAVES IN STATES WHERE THE CONFEDERACY IS IN CONTROL, AND IT WILL TAKE EFFECT ON THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "ON THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY, "IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1863, "ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES WITHIN ANY STATE "OR DESIGNATED PART OF A STATE, "THE PEOPLE WHEREOF SHALL THEN BE IN REBELLION "AGAINST THE UNITED STATES, "SHALL BE THEN, THENCEFORTH, AND FOREVER FREE.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

NARRATOR: ON SEPTEMBER 22nd, JUST 5 DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM, THE PRESIDENT ISSUED HIS EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

"IF MY NAME EVER GOES INTO HISTORY," LINCOLN SAID, "IT WILL BE FOR THIS ACT."

THE SOUTH WAS OUTRAGED.

JEFFERSON DAVIS CALLED IT THE "MOST EXECRABLE MEASURE RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF GUILTY MAN."

AT A WASHINGTON DINNER, JOHN HAY, THE PRESIDENT’S 23-YEAR-OLD SECRETARY, NOTED THAT "EVERYONE SEEMED TO FEEL "A NEW SORT OF EXHILARATING LIFE.

"THE PRESIDENT’S PROCLAMATION HAD FREED THEM, AS WELL AS THE SLAVES."

MAN: "IT WAS NO LONGER A QUESTION "OF THE UNION AS IT WAS "THAT WAS TO BE RE-ESTABLISHED.

"IT WAS THE UNION AS IT SHOULD BE-- "THAT IS TO SAY, WASHED CLEAN "FROM ITS ORIGINAL SIN.

"WE WERE NO LONGER MERELY THE SOLDIERS "OF A POLITICAL CONTROVERSY.

"WE WERE NOW THE MISSIONARIES "OF A GREAT WORK OF REDEMPTION, "THE ARMED LIBERATORS OF MILLIONS.

THE WAR WAS ENNOBLED.

THE OBJECT WAS HIGHER."

NARRATOR: ABROAD, THE PROCLAMATION HAD THE EFFECT LINCOLN HAD HOPED FOR.

NEITHER ENGLAND NOR FRANCE WAS WILLING OPENLY TO OPPOSE A UNITED STATES PLEDGE TO END SLAVERY.

MAN: "THE TRIUMPH OF THE CONFEDERACY "WOULD BE A VICTORY OF THE POWERS OF EVIL, "WHICH WOULD GIVE COURAGE TO THE ENEMIES OF PROGRESS "AND DAMP THE SPIRITS OF FRIENDS "ALL OVER THE CIVILIZED WORLD.

"THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR "IS DESTINED TO BE A TURNING POINT, "FOR GOOD OR EVIL, OF THE COURSE OF HUMAN AFFAIRS."

JOHN STUART MILL.

MAN: "PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES, "AND REST NOT YOUR HOPES ON FOREIGN NATIONS.

"THIS WAR IS OURS.

WE MUST FIGHT IT OUT OURSELVES."

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

NARRATOR: THAT DECEMBER, LINCOLN SPOKE TO CONGRESS.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "THE DOGMAS OF THE QUIET PAST "ARE INADEQUATE TO THE STORMY PRESENT.

"AS OUR CASE IS NEW, SO WE MUST THINK ANEW "AND ACT ANEW.

"WE MUST DISENTHRALL OURSELVES, "AND THEN WE SHALL SAVE OUR COUNTRY.

"FELLOW CITIZENS, WE CANNOT ESCAPE HISTORY.

"THE FIERY TRIAL THROUGH WHICH WE PASS "WILL LIGHT US DOWN, IN HONOR OR DISHONOR, "TO THE LATEST GENERATION.

"WE SAY WE ARE FOR UNION.

"THE WORLD WILL NOT FORGET THAT WE SAY THIS.

"IN GIVING FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE, "WE ASSURE FREEDOM TO THE FREE-- "HONORABLE ALIKE IN WHAT WE GIVE "AND WHAT WE PRESERVE.

"WE SHALL NOBLY SAVE OR MEANLY LOSE THE LAST BEST HOPE OF EARTH."

MAN AS RHODES: "DECEMBER 31.

"WELL, THE YEAR 1862 IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE, "AND AS I LOOK BACK, I AM BEWILDERED "WHEN I THINK OF THE HUNDREDS OF MILES "I HAVE TRAMPED, "THE THOUSANDS OF DEAD AND WOUNDED THAT I HAVE SEEN.

"BUT WE HOPE FOR THE BEST "AND FEEL SURE THAT IN THE END, THE UNION WILL BE RESTORED.

GOODBYE, 1862."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

MAN 2: "WE SHOUT FOR JOY THAT WE LIVE TO RECORD "THIS RIGHTEOUS DECREE-- FREE FOREVER!

"OH, YE MILLIONS OF FREE AND LOYAL MEN "WHO HAVE EARNESTLY SOUGHT "TO FREE YOUR BLEEDING COUNTRY "FROM THE DREADFUL RAVAGES OF REVOLUTION AND ANARCHY, "LIFT UP NOW YOUR VOICES WITH JOY AND THANKSGIVING, "FOR WITH FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE WILL COME PEACE AND SAFETY TO YOUR COUNTRY."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

[BELL TOLLS] NARRATOR: ON DECEMBER 31st, A LARGE CROWD OF ABOLITIONISTS, INCLUDING HARRIET TUBMAN AND WENDELL PHILLIPS, GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE MUSIC HALL IN BOSTON.

AT MIDNIGHT, THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WOULD TAKE EFFECT.

ON THE STAGE, WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON WEPT WITH JOY BESIDE FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

THE CHEERING CROWD CALLED FOR HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

SHE STOOD IN THE BALCONY, TEARS IN HER EYES.

AT A WASHINGTON, D.C., CONTRABAND CAMP, FORMER SLAVES TESTIFIED.

ONE REMEMBERED THE SALE OF HIS DAUGHTER.

"NOW NO MORE OF THAT," HE SAID.

"THEY CAN’T SELL MY WIFE AND CHILDREN ANYMORE.

BLESS THE LORD."

ON THE SEA ISLANDS OFF SOUTH CAROLINA, FEDERAL AGENTS READ THE PROCLAMATION ALOUD TO FORMER SLAVES UNDER THE SPREADING BOUGHS OF A HUGE OAK TREE.

AS THE COMMANDER OF A NEW ALL-BLACK REGIMENT UNFURLED AN AMERICAN FLAG, HIS MEN BROKE INTO SONG.

"IT SEEMED THE CHOKED VOICE OF A RACE AT LAST UNLOOSED," HE WROTE.

CHORUS: ♪ IN THE BEAUTY OF THE LILIES ♪ ♪ CHRIST WAS BORN ACROSS THE SEA ♪ ♪ WITH A GLORY IN HIS BOSOM ♪ ♪ THAT TRANSFIGURES YOU AND ME ♪ ♪ AS HE DIED TO MAKE MEN HOLY ♪ ♪ LET US DIE TO MAKE MEN FREE ♪ ♪ WHILE GOD IS MARCHING ON ♪ ♪ GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH ♪ ♪ GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH ♪ ♪ GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH ♪ ♪ HIS TRUTH IS MARCHING ON ♪ NARRATOR: TO LEARN MO RE ABOUT THE FILM AND SEE EXCLUSIVE WEB CONTENT, VISIT PBS.ORG/CIVIL WAR.

AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK WITH THE #CIVILWARPBS.

NARRATOR: THE CIVIL WAR 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION IS AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY AND DVD.

THE COMPANION BOOK IS ALSO AVAILABLE.

TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.ORG OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM ITUNES.

NARRATOR: CORPORATE FUNDING FOR THIS SPECIAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION OF THE CIVIL WAR WAS PROVIDED BY.

MAN: BEFORE THOUSANDS FELL ON THE BATTLEFIELD, BEFORE MILLIONS WERE FREED AND BEFORE A COUNTRY FORGED ITS IDENTITY... A NATION DECLARED A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM, REDEDICATING ITSELF TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.

BANK OF AMERICA IS PROUD TO SPONSOR "THE CIVIL WAR," A FILM BY KEN BURNS, NEWLY RESTORED FOR IT'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY.

NARRATOR: ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF "THE CIVIL WAR" WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THESE FUNDERS.

AND BY THE CORPORATION FO R PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU, THANK YOU.