Lesson 22: and the War Came

SHAPING AMERICA FINAL SCRIPT

TITLE: Lesson 22: And the War Came

PREPARED FOR: Dallas TeleLearning

WRITER: Gretchen Dyer

PRODUCER: Julia Dyer

DRAFT: Final

DATE: 2 January, 2001 ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  1

V I S U A L A U D I O

FADE IN:

Introduction (1 min.) Opening graphics

music up

1. Image of Lincoln, pan of newspaper ACTOR (VO): Abraham Lincoln reprint of First Inaugural Address

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-

countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous

issue of civil war. The Government will not assail

you. You can have no conflict without being

yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath

registered in Heaven to destroy the Government,

while I shall have the most solemn one to

‘preserve, protect, and defend’ it…”

2. images of U.S. forts, post offices, NARRATOR etc.

In his inaugural address Lincoln had promised not to

make the first move against the South.

But he had also pledged to “hold, occupy and

possess the property and places belonging to the

government.”

3. newspaper headlines After his inauguration the country entered an anxious

period as both sides waited to see what the other

would do. Segment One music up

“Fort Sumter” ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  2

4. Image of Lincoln at work NARRATOR

In the spring of 1861, Lincoln faced a problem no

other United States president had ever faced.

Secession had split the country in two and the South

was in open rebellion. Should he make war on his

own countrymen, or should he continue to try to find a

peaceful solution?

5. Image of Fort Sumter—present day The most pressing situation was at Fort Sumter in footage, dissolve to period photo or painting South Carolina, where the Union garrison was

FORT SUMTER AND CHARLESTON surrounded by Confederate forces. HARBOR B-ROLL: 6750-51

6. McPHERSON on camera; JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:09:17)

7. images of Ft. Sumter or map showing location of Ft. Sumter Ft. Sumter was the most important and prominent

federal installation still in the hands of the federal

government in the seceding states, in the seven

states that had gone out by the end of January 1861.

Ft. Sumter was also in the harbor of Charleston,

which was the hotbed of secession. South Carolina

was the most fire-eating pro-secession state, and so

Ft. Sumter had taken on enormous symbolic

importance to both sides.

8. Present day footage of Ft. Sumter NARRATOR

On Lincoln’s first day in office, he had received notice

from the garrison commander Major Robert Anderson ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  3

that they were running short on supplies. Anderson

estimated that he could hold the fort for a little over a

month longer before he and his men would be

starved out.

9. image of Lincoln While the country cried out for action, Lincoln

carefully considered his options.

10. McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:11:00)

Lincoln basically had three choices of what he could

do about Ft. Sumter. He could pull out the 90 or so

American soldiers and yield to the commissioners

from the Confederate states who were demanding

that it be turned over to them. That probably would

have preserved the peace, but it would also have

given an enormous boost to the Confederacy’s

assertion that it was a sovereign, independent nation;

and Lincoln, who was of course insisting that

secession was unconstitutional and illegal and that

the United States still was supremely sovereign over

all those states, would have been yielding that whole

point that he had come into office pledging to

maintain.

11. group photo/portrait of Lincoln’s NARRATOR cabinet

12. newspaper headlines Lincoln was under a great deal of pressure from all

sides. His own advisers were divided over the ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  4

question of Fort Sumter.

13.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:12:10)

One choice was to send reinforcements, armed naval

ships carrying troops to shoot their way into

Charleston Harbor and reinforce the fort, but to do

that would place the onus of firing the first shot, of

starting a war, on the side of the federal government.

The North was already divided over what ought to be

done and this would divide it further, and would

probably unite all of the southern states, not just the

seven that had seceded so far, against the federal

government.

14. image of Governor’s Mansion or NARRATOR Capitol Bldg. of S. Carolina

At last, Lincoln made up his mind.

15.image of Abraham Lincoln; image of ACTOR (VO): Abraham Lincoln Ft. Sumter “…an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter

with provisions only; …if such attempt be not

resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or

ammunition, will be made…”

16. McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:12:45)

So Lincoln chose a third course, and I think it was a

stroke of genius. In effect, Lincoln said to Jefferson ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  5

Davis, the Confederate president, “I’m going to flip a

coin. Heads I win, tails you lose. If you fire on the

supply ships or on Ft. Sumter, then you will have

started the war. If you let the supplies go in

peacefully, then you have yielded an important point

of principle. That is, you have yielded the idea that

we are continuing to be sovereign over this state and

the American flag will continue to fly.”

17. portrait of Davis with cabinet NARRATOR members

Jefferson Davis called an emergency meeting of his

cabinet to consider a response to Lincoln’s move.

But on the subject of Ft. Sumter, his cabinet was no

more unanimous than Lincoln’s.

18. cont’d; close in on Robert Toombs ACTOR (VO): Robert Toombs, Sec’y of State, CSA

“The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war

greater than any the world has yet seen. You will

wantonly strike a hornets’ nest which extends

from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will

swarm out and sting us to death. It is

unnecessary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal.”

19. McPHERSON on camera; JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:14:52)

20. images of bombardment of Sumter The bombardment of Ft. Sumter began at 4:30 a.m.

on April 12th, 1861. There were only 80-some ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  6

American soldiers in Ft. Sumter, not all of them were

skilled artillerists. The fort was built to house 600

men to handle all of the guns. So if the Unionists at

Ft. Sumter, the American soldiers, could only fire a

few of the guns in response, and they were limited in

ammunition.

Major Anderson really had to surrender after 33 hours

of bombardment because the fort had been set on

fire in several places. That fire threatened to get to

the powder magazine which would have blown up

everybody in the fort if it reached it. His men were

exhausted; and so to save his men, to save the fort,

he decided that he must surrender.

21.footage of U.S. flag lowering on NARRATOR flagpole; image of Confederate flag flying On April 14th, 1861 the American flag was lowered

CONFEDERATE FLAG B-ROLL: 6764, and the Confederate flag was raised over Fort 17:26:11 Sumter.

22. image of George Templeton Strong ACTOR (VO): George Templeton Strong

“So Civil War is inaugurated at last. God defend

the right.”

Segment Two music up

“Why They Fought “

23. newspaper headlines re Lincoln’s NARRATOR call for troops ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  7

The day after Ft. Sumter fell Lincoln issued a call for

75,000 volunteers to serve in the army for ninety

From the free states, the response was

overwhelming.

24. images of young men enlisting ACTOR (VO): Carl Schurz, German immigrant (magazine illustrations); magazine illustrations of Northern patriotic demonstrations “… the cars thronged with young men hurrying to

the nearest enlistment place…The millionaires’

sons rushed to the colors by the side of the

laborers.”

25. southern magazine illustrations NARRATOR

In the Confederate South, the patriotic spirit of the

people was no less fervent.

26. cont’d above ACTOR (VO): Tennessee Rebel

“Every person, almost, was eager for the war, and

we were all afraid it would be over and we would

not be in the fight.”

27.MAP 22-1a of U.S. shows VA, NC, NARRATOR TN and Ark. switching from Union to Confederate While the onset of the war provoked a patriotic frenzy

to preserve the Union in the North, it had the opposite

effect in the states of the Upper South.

Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  8

immediately seceded and joined the Confederacy.

28.MAP 22-1b, of U.S. highlighting The slave-holding border states of Maryland, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri hung precariously

in the balance, as their secessionist and unionist

factions struggled for power.

The state of Maryland in some ways is the most

important of all because if Maryland had gone out,

that would mean that the United States capitol was

surrounded by the territory of a foreign and enemy

country. So, it was essential to the Lincoln

administration to hang onto Maryland. It was

essential in Lincoln’s mind to hang onto Kentucky.

He said, “I think if Kentucky goes, all is lost.”

Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland together had half

of the industrial capacity of all of the fifteen slave

states. They had a fairly substantial portion of the

white population of the slave states. If they had gone

with the Confederacy I think that would have made

the Confederacy too large, too powerful, too viable a

country for the rest of the United States ever to

subdue. 30.Slides/pictures NARRATOR ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  9

At the beginning of the war, both the North and the

South felt confident of victory. Each side believed its

cause and its character to be superior to the other.

31.newspaper editorials, illustrations NARRATOR

Both Union and Confederate soldiers saw themselves

following in the footsteps of their forefathers, carrying

out the legacy of the American Revolution.

SOUTHERN B-ROLL (PLANTATIONS, LANDSCAPES) Most Confederate soldiers said they were fighting for their country, fighting to defend their states and their

new nation, the Confederate States of America, from

invasion by a hostile Yankee nation. So, they felt that

they were defending their homeland, their homes,

their hearth, their country, from foreign invasion.

33. images of Rebel soldiers NARRATOR

Most Confederate soldiers did not claim to be fighting

for slavery per se, but for their “way of life” and their

independence.

34. images of Rebel soldiers ACTOR (VO): Confederate soldier

“We had better all go the same way than suffer

the wretches who are trying to enslave us, to

accomplish their ends. I prefer death to Yankee ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  10

rule.”

35. images of Yankee soldiers NARRATOR

In the beginning, few Yankee soldiers went to war

with the desire to overthrow slavery. In fact,

many had no desire to see the slaves freed at

36. images of contrabands working for ACTOR (VO): Indiana private Union soldiers

“If emancipation is to be the policy of this war…I

do not care how quick the country goes to pot.” 37.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:21)

IMAGE OF U.S. CAPITOL, HALF- Northern soldiers fought for the preservation of one COMPLETED nation, indivisible. They felt that if secession was

permitted, that that would mean the end of the United

States. It would also mean the end of any kind of

democratic political order. The United States was a

fragile experiment in republicanism, in democratic

government in the 19th century.

38.northern factories, northern soldiers, etc. NARRATOR NORTHERN INDUSTRY B-ROLL (FROM PROGRAM 23) Because the North had greater material and

manpower resources than the South, to northerners it

seemed obvious that the South would quickly be

forced to surrender. ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  11

39.MAP 22-2, of United States, pan NARRATOR from north to south Although the North had most of the material

advantages, the South had certain strategic

advantages. 40.McPHERSON on camera; JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:23:06)

map of Confederacy The chief strategic advantage of the Confederacy LAYER IN SOUTHERN LANDSCAPES (VARIOUS) was its huge size - 750,000 square miles, as large as

France, Germany, and Spain all together. To invade,

conquer and subdue such a huge territory would be a

huge logistical and military task for the North.

Another strategic advantage the Confederacy had

was that it would be fighting on the defensive, to

defend territory that it already controlled politically

and militarily.

(18:25:30) What did it have to do to win the war? It merely had to force the North to give up trying to invade,

conquer, occupy and subdue and destroy southern

armies.

41. GALLAGHER on camera; GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:10:08) images of civilians of North and South The key factor on both sides is whether or not the

civilian population will stay hitched to the war in a

sense. Whichever civilian population gave up first

would doom that side’s war effort. So, the South ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  12

didn’t have to conquer the North, just persuade a

majority of northerners not to fight. The United

States, theoretically anyway, didn’t have to conquer

all of the South, just persuade the Confederate

people that the fight was no longer worth it.

42. patriotic images of North and South NARRATOR

In the spring of 1861, most people in both the North

and the South believed the war would be quick and

almost painless.

43. GALLAGHER on camera GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:07:25)

It was a common attitude on both sides, among

many people, that there probably would be

one large battle, and whoever won that

battle would win the war. Others, more

familiar with what wars are like, had no

illusions that this would be a short war.

They knew it would be a long war.

44. image of Mary Chestnut ACTOR (VO): Mary Chestnut

“Woe to those who began this war if they were

not in bitter earnest.” ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  13

Short Take music up

“Two Generals”

45.images of Grant and Lee NARRATOR

STATUES: The Civil War would ultimately produce two legendary GRANT: 6836, 10:23 LEE: 6785, 6709 military commanders, General Ulysses S. Grant for the Union, and General Robert E. Lee for the

Confederacy.

But when the war began, neither man had reached

the height of his powers.

46. McPHERSON on camera/intercut JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:01) with relevant images of Lee, Mexican War, West Point, etc. At the beginning of the war, Robert E. Lee was one

of the most promising officers in the United States

Army, had just been recently promoted to colonel.

He had a sterling record in the Mexican War. He had

graduated second in his class at West Point and had

entirely fulfilled that promise; and indeed so

prominent and so promising was Robert E. Lee that

before, just before Virginia seceded, he was actually

offered command of the largest Union field army.

47. McPHERSON on camera; intercut JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:01) with relevant images of Grant, Mexican war, Grant as a civilian, etc. Grant, although he had a very good record in the ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  14

Mexican War, had languished in the peacetime army;

had resigned from the army as a captain in 1854

under a cloud, and had tried a number of civilian

occupations without any great success. And at the

beginning of the Civil War he was an obscure

salesman in his father’s leather store in Galena,

Illinois.

48. McPHERSON on camera; intercut JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:04) with images of Lee on battlefield

To compare Grant and Lee - I think Lee was probably

the pre-eminent tactical commander of the Civil War.

Tactics means the handling of troops on the

battlefield in the presence of an enemy. His sense of

timing, his ability to detect the weakness in the

enemy position, and the psychological weakness of

the enemy commander in many cases, was almost

uncanny.

49. McPHERSON on camera; intercut JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:06) with images of Grant on battlefield

But Grant, I think, was the top strategic commander

in the war. Strategy means the handling of armies

over a large territory to bring them into a position

favorably to engage the enemy, and Grant was

superb at that. ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  15

50. images of Lee and Grant in battle, NARRATOR conferring with officers, etc.

Lee and Grant were very different men, but in each

other they met their match. 51.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:03)

They did share one quality, which made them stand

out from most of their contemporaries. They were

both willing to take risks. They were not afraid of

failure. They recognized that in commanding an

army in battle, one has to accept the possibility of

failure in order to achieve success.

Segment Three music up

“Bull Run to Fredericksburg “

52.images of soldiers marching ACTOR (VO): Pennsylvania Private

REENACTMENT B-ROLL (DRILLING AND CAMP LIFE): 6780, 6781, 6782, “The first thing in the morning is drill. Then drill, 6786, 6788, 6789 then drill again. Then drill, drill, a little more drill,

then drill, lastly drill.

53. image of Irwin McDowell NARRATOR

In the spring of 1861, Lincoln named Irwin McDowell

to command the Union forces in the east, known as

the Army of the Potomac.

54. images of military encampments; While McDowell organized and trained the thousands newspaper headlines of soldiers encamped around Washington,

D.C., the political pressure to attack the ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  16

Confederates grew stronger.

55.MAP 22-3, showing Manassas in Finally, Lincoln could resist the pressure no longer. relation to Washington, D.C. Although McDowell still believed his troops

were too green for battle, Lincoln ordered him

to attack the Confederates at Manassas

Junction, 37 miles southwest of Washington,

on a creek called Bull Run.

56. GALLAGHER on camera; intercut GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:11:29) with illustrations of battle, paintings/drawings of Battle of Bull Run, b-roll of battlefield and creek. General McDowell and General Beauregard, the

57.MAP 22-4a, military map showing Union and Confederate commanders, respectively, at Union and Confederate positions at Bull Run. First Manassas, or Bull Run, had the same plan.

MANASSAS B-ROLL: 6732, 6733 Each wanted to turn the other’s left flank. McDowell

began very successfully. He turned the Confederate

left flank in the initial stage of the first battle of Bull

Run—was a grand Union success.

58. cont’d above; intercut with images of (7:11:51) The battle unraveled for the North when Stonewall Jackson at Bull Run Confederates managed to stop the northern 59.MAP 22-4b, showing the tide turning for the Confederates attacks, especially the brigade of Thomas

Jonathan Jackson who earned his nickname

“Stonewall” on that battlefield; and then by the

arrival of reinforcements late in the afternoon

which turned the tide and enabled the

Confederates to not only blunt the Union ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  17

assaults but to drive the Federals from the

field.

60. GALLAGHER on camera; intercut GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:13:06) with images of retreat at Bull Run

Green troops, once things begin to go badly, often

flee a field and that happened to the northern

army on the battlefield at First Bull Run. The

soldiers began to first drift away from the

battlefield, then move away very rapidly.

61. GALLAGHER on camera; intercut GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:13) with images of retreat, soldiers in Wash., D.C. There were also many civilians who’d come out from

Washington to watch the battle; and these civilians

got caught up in this retreat as well, so you had a

quite amazing jumble of military men, animals,

wagons, civilians caught up in this great movement

back toward Washington. Took the Federal army

nearly five days to get to the battlefield at First

Manassas and get ready to fight. Took them just a

few hours to get back to Washington.

62. Northern newspaper headlines NARRATOR

Bull Run was a severe blow to the morale of the

North. Some even suggested that the war was a lost

cause and the Union should make peace with the

Confederacy. But for most, it inspired a deeper ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  18

commitment.

63. newspaper headlines re war After Bull Run, the war effort was vastly expanded. production, 3-year enlistments; images of soldiers; images of period War production increased and new volunteers manufacturing were enlisted for 3 years instead of 3 months.

64. portrait of Gen. George McClellan And Lincoln brought General George McClellan to

Washington to assume command of the Army

of the Potomac.

But McClellan was not the general Lincoln hoped he

would be.

65. McPHERSON on camera; intercut JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:03:34) with images of McClellan

He was afraid of failure. He had been born with a

silver spoon in his mouth. He had gone through West

Point, graduating at the age of 20. He had graduated

second in his class. He had had a meteoric rise in

the pre-war army as a young officer. He had never

failed at anything and, as a consequence, I think he

was afraid to risk failure and he thought of all kinds of

excuses and reasons why he could not undertake an

offensive, why he could not commit himself to a major

initiative.

66. dissolve to images of battle in the NARRATOR West

While McClellan paraded his soldiers in Washington, ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  19

Union armies in the West took the offensive.

67. image of Gen. U.S. Grant; In February of 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant

68.MAP 22-5a, showing location of Fts. captured Forts Henry and Donelson. Grant’s Henry and Donelson, Confederate retreat to Corinth victory forced the Confederates to retreat

southward, abandoning Tennessee to the

Union.

69. cont’d above Grant’s next target was Corinth, an important rail

junction in the northeast corner of Mississippi.

70.MAP 22-5b, showing Pittsburgh Grant spread his troops out along the Tennessee Landing on the Tennessee River; images of Grant in camp River at Pittsburg Landing, confident that the

Confederates under General Albert Sidney 71. Image of Albert Sidney Johnston Johnston would remain on the defensive.

72.image of encampment at Shiloh or On Saturday, April 5th General Grant was notified of present day battlefield signs of an impending attack. Disbelieving them, he SHILOH B-ROLL: 6830, 6831, 6832 sent a wire to his superiors.

73. image of Gen. U.S. Grant; or image ACTOR (VO): Gen. U.S. Grant of hand tapping on telegraph in Morse code “I do not apprehend anything like an attack on

our position.”

74. footage of battlefield at Shiloh today NARRATOR (SFX of guns)

The next morning, as Union soldiers were making

their breakfast, the attack came. ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  20

75. Drawing of Shiloh Church It began near a small church called Shiloh, whose

name meant “place of peace.”

76. GALLAGHER on camera; GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:14:26)

77.MAP 22-6a, of Shiloh battlefield showing “Hornets’ Nest,” Shiloh church, The first day at the battle of Shiloh was an amazing river bluffs, etc. exercise in contrast. The Confederates managed to

surprise the Union army. They drove back the Union

defenders on many parts of the field. The Federals

rallied in a place called the Hornet’s Nest, one

division of Union soldiers did, and beat off a number

of Confederate attacks. Throughout the day many of

the Union soldiers fell back from the lines where the

battle was being fought and cowered along the banks

of the Tennessee River in the rear areas.

78.MAP 22-6b, showing Confederate NARRATOR and Union lines at end of first day When the fighting ended on the first day, the Yankees

had been driven two miles backward. One good push

would drive them into the river.

79. image of Sam Watkins; Rebel ACTOR (VO): Sam Watkins, Rebel soldier soldiers

“Now those Yankees were whipped, fairly

whipped, and according to all the rules of war

they ought to have retreated. But they didn’t.” ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  21

80. GALLAGHER on camera; intercut GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:16) with images of Battle of Shiloh

Each side expected reinforcements to come. 81.MAP 22-6c, showing Buell’s reinforcements arriving, driving Confederate reinforcements did not arrive, but Don Confederates back Carlos Buell and his army, his Union army, did arrive

to reinforce Grant’s soldiers at Shiloh, and the second

day was really the reverse of what had happened on

the first day. This time the North was doing the

attacking, driving back the Confederates little by little

until finally Beauregard, who remained in command,

realizing that he was not going to be reinforced,

decided to abandon the field, which he did late in the

82. images of Battle of Shiloh ACTOR (VO): Union soldier from Chicago

“We have at last had our wish for a hard battle

gratified and never again do I expect to hear the

same wish from the lips of our men.” 83.GALLAGHER on camera; GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:17:55) footage of battlefield at Shiloh today Shiloh was an enormously important battle, really one

of the watersheds of the war. In a strategic

sense, it opened northern Mississippi, and

Corinth especially, a key rail center to the

advancing Union forces. It really sealed the

fate of western Tennessee. But beyond ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  22

that, it served as a wake-up call to people in

both the North and the South that the war

was going to be far costlier than they had

thought it would be. More than 20,000 men

fell at Shiloh on April 6th and 7th, 1862.

That’s more casualties, more Americans

killed and wounded, than had been shot in

all other wars down to that point in our

history.

84. image of Gen. Grant; intercut with ACTOR (VO): Gen. U.S. Grant images of Rebel soldiers in battle

“Up to the battle of Shiloh I, as well as thousands

of other citizens, believed that the rebellion

against the Government would collapse suddenly

and soon if a decisive victory could be gained

over any of its armies. But afterward I gave up all

idea of saving the Union except by complete

conquest.”

85. Southern newspaper headlines NARRATOR

Despite the defeat at Shiloh, the year 1862

was the high-water mark for the Confederacy.

86. newspaper headlines; intercut with In the East, although the Union troops significantly maps of Peninsula campaign; images of Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. George outnumbered the Confederates, General McClellan McClellan consistently overestimated the

enemy’s strength. ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  23

General Lee brilliantly exploited his hesitation,

proving that he was everything McClellan was

not—bold, aggressive, and not afraid to take

risks.

87.battlefield map of Antietam; battle With less than half as many men, Lee fought photos McClellan to a stalemate at Antietam on the ANTIETAM B-ROLL: 6727 bloodiest day of the entire war.

88.images of Fredericksburg, Gen. And at Fredericksburg in December, General Ambrose Burnside; battle of Fredericksburg Ambrose Burnside led the Union soldiers into

FREDERICKSBURG B-ROLL: 6733 a one-sided slaughter at Marye’s Heights.

Rebel soldiers protected by a stone wall mowed down

wave after wave of Yankees in what

Burnside’s own generals had warned him

would be “murder, not warfare.”

89. newspaper headlines With superior resources on every count, the North

was losing the war in the East.

90. image of Lincoln with his sons Beset by military defeat, political dissent, and grieving

over the death of his middle son, Willie,

Lincoln was deeply discouraged.

91. image of White House circa 1860 ACTOR (VO): Abraham Lincoln

“We are now on the brink of destruction. It

appears to me that the Almighty is against

us.” ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  24

SUMMARY ANALYSIS music up

“On The Verge”

92. images from Brady exhibit NARRATOR

In October, 1862, Matthew Brady opened a new

photographic exhibit in New York.

But these were not the vivid portraits of high society

that he was known for.

They were photographs of the dead from Antietam.

93. cont’d above Northerners who had been far removed from the

actual carnage were shocked at the scenes

they depicted.

The photos only contributed to the feeling in the North

that somehow the war had gone fearfully

awry. 94.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6693, 19:09:30)

At the end of 1862 things looked very good for the

Confederacy, and very bad for the Union, but this

was not something that had evolved in a linear

fashion over the past year. Rather, I like to use the

image of a seesaw. In the first six months or so, five ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  25

months of 1862, the Union forces seemed to have

everything pretty much their own way, especially in

the western theater.

94. (19:08:32) cont’d above; reprise It looked like the Confederacy was just about and reenactment footage finished. But then Lee and Jackson, and some of the

western Confederate commanders, launched

counteroffensives in the summer of 1862 that drove

McClellan’s army out of Virginia, and Confederates

who were down for the count of nine in May 1862

had, by September 1862, crossed the Potomac to

invade Maryland and had invaded Kentucky and

reached almost the Ohio River in the western theater.

So at the end of 1862, Union armies on several fronts

were demoralized, frustrated. Confederates were

confident, looking toward possible victory, once the

spring campaign season began in 1863, and most

outside observers would have said at the end of 1862

that it looks like the Confederates were on the verge

of winning the war.