Lesson 22: and the War Came

SHAPING AMERICA FINAL SCRIPTTITLE: Lesson 22: And the War CamePREPARED FOR: Dallas TeleLearningWRITER: Gretchen DyerPRODUCER: Julia DyerDRAFT: FinalDATE: 2 January, 2001 ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  1V I S U A L A U D I OFADE IN:Introduction (1 min.) Opening graphics music up1. 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  2V I S U A L A U D I O4. Image of Lincoln at work NARRATORIn 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: 6750-516. 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 NARRATOROn 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  3V I S U A L A U D I O 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 cabinet12. 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  4V I S U A L A U D I O 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. CarolinaAt 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  5V I S U A L A U D I ODavis, 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 membersJefferson 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  6V I S U A L A U D I OAmerican 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  7V I S U A L A U D I OThe day after Ft. Sumter fell Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve in the army for ninety days. 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 NARRATORIn 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  8V I S U A L A U D I O 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.29.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:17:15)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  9V I S U A L A U D I OAt 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 NARRATORBoth Union and Confederate soldiers saw themselves following in the footsteps of their forefathers, carrying out the legacy of the American Revolution.32.McPHERSON on camera JAMES McPHERSON (Roll 6692, 18:19:00)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  10V I S U A L A U D I O rule.”35. images of Yankee soldiers NARRATORIn 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 all.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 UnitedStates. 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  11V I S U A L A U D I O39.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  12V I S U A L A U D I O 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 NARRATORIn 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  13V I S U A L A U D I OShort Take music up“Two Generals”45.images of Grant and Lee NARRATORSTATUES: 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  14V I S U A L A U D I OMexican 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 battlefieldTo 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 battlefieldBut 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  15V I S U A L A U D I O50. 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 PrivateREENACTMENT 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 NARRATORIn 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  16V I S U A L A U D I OConfederates 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  17V I S U A L A U D I O 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 RunGreen 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 NARRATORBull 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  18V I S U A L A U D I O 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 McClellanHe was afraid of failure. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had gone through WestPoint, 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 WestWhile McClellan paraded his soldiers in Washington, ES 22-Final: And the War Came  01/02/01  19V I S U A L A U D I OUnion 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  20V I S U A L A U D I O75. 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  21V I S U A L A U D I O80. GALLAGHER on camera; intercut GARY GALLAGHER (Roll 6715, 7:16) with images of Battle of ShilohEach 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 day. 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  22V I S U A L A U D I O 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 NARRATORDespite 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  23V I S U A L A U D I OGeneral 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  24V I S U A L A U D I OSUMMARY ANALYSIS music up“On The Verge”92. images from Brady exhibit NARRATORIn 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  25V I S U A L A U D I O 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.

Lesson 22: and the War Came

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