The Civil War

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.

[BANJO PLAYING DIXIE] MAN: "IN THIS ARMY, "ONE HOLE IN THE SEAT OF THE BRITCHES "INDICATES A CAPTAIN, "TWO HOLES--A LIEUTENANT, "AND THE SEAT OF THE PANTS ALL OUT INDICATES THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS A PRIVATE."

THEY BOTH HAD A PARTICULAR WAY OF YELLING.

THE NORTHERN TROOPS MADE A SORT OF HURRAH.

IT WAS CALLED BY ONE SOLDIER, "THE DEEP, GENEROUS, MANLY SHOUT" OF THE NORTHERN SOLDIER.

THE CONFEDERATES, OF COURSE, HAD WHAT WAS CALLED THE REBEL YELL.

WE DONT REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT SOUNDED LIKE.

ONE NORTHERNER DESCRIBED IT, HE SAID-- HE DESCRIBED IT BY DESCRIBING THE PECULIAR CORKSCREW SENSATION THAT GOES UP YOUR BACKBONE WHEN YOU HEAR IT, AND HE SAID, "IF YOU CLAIM YOUVE HEARD IT "AND WERENT SCARED, THAT MEANS YOU NEVER HEARD IT."

IT WAS...

IT WAS BASICALLY, I THINK, A SORT OF FOX HUNT YIP MIXED UP WITH A SORT OF BANSHEE SQUALL.

AND IT WAS USED ON THE ATTACK.

AND AN OLD CONFEDERATE VETERAN AFTER THE WAR WAS ASKED AT A UDC MEETING IN TENNESSEE SOMEWHERE TO GIVE THE REBEL YELL.

THE LADIES HAD NEVER HEARD IT.

AND HE SAID, "IT CANT BE DONE, EXCEPT AT A RUN, "AND I COULDNT DO IT ANYHOW "WITH A MOUTH FULL OF FALSE TEETH AND A STOMACH FULL OF FOOD."

SO THEY NEVER GOT TO HEAR WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE.

NARRATOR: THE CIVIL WAR WAS FOUGHT IN 10,000 PLACES.

MURFREESBORO, CHAMBERSBURG, DRANESVILLE, AND OPELOUSAS, APACHE CANYON, ST. AUGUSTINE, PADUCAH, AND BRANDY STATION, ON THE RED RIVER, THE RAPPAHANNOCK, AND THE RAPIDAN, ACROSS THE SUSQUEHANNA AND THE MONONGAHELA, FROM MOUNT IDA AND MOUNT OLIVE TO MOUNT ZION, FROM NINEVAH AND NICKAJACK GAP TO NEW BERNE, NEW CARTHAGE, NEW IBERIA, NEW LISBON, AND NEW HOPE, FROM THE YAZOO DELTA TO THE CHICKASAW BLUFFS.

BY 1863, THE TAIPING REBELLION IN CHINA HAD ENTERED ITS 13th YEAR.

CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT IN AFGHANISTAN.

IN AMERICA, EDDIE CUTHBERT OF THE PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES STOLE THE FIRST BASE IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE WAS FOUNDED IN WASHINGTON.

THE ROLLER SKATE WAS PATENTED, AND HENRY FORD AND WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST WERE BORN.

IN 1863, CONFEDERATE GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON WOULD BECOME A TERROR TO THE UNION ARMY AND A LEGEND NORTH AND SOUTH.

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN, A COLLEGE PROFESSOR FROM MAINE, WOULD LEAD HIS REGIMENT TO GLORY ON HILLSIDES IN VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.

IN THE WILDERNESS WEST OF FREDERICKSBURG, ROBERT E. LEE WOULD DEVISE ONE OF THE MOST DARING AND BRILLIANT BATTLE PLANS OF THE WAR...

WHILE 1,000 MILES TO THE WEST, ULYSSES S. GRANT CONTINUED TO HAMMER AWAY AT THE REBEL STRONGHOLD AT VICKSBURG.

CONFEDERATE PRIVATE SAM WATKINS WOULD FIGHT AT MURFREESBORO, SHELBYVILLE, CHICKAMAUGA, LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, AND MISSIONARY RIDGE, AND SOMEHOW SURVIVE, WHILE ELISHA HUNT RHODES WOULD HAVE THE BEST FOURTH OF JULY OF HIS LIFE.

IN 1863, DESPITE A NORTHERN VICTORY AT ANTIETAM, DESPITE EMANCIPATION, DESPITE A CLEAR SUPERIORITY IN MEN AND MATERIEL, THE UNION SEEMED CLOSE TO FUMBLING ALL IT HAD.

MEANWHILE, FROM VICKSBURG TO CHARLESTON, THE FRAGILE CONFEDERATE COALITION WAS COMING APART, AND YET SOMEHOW THE CONFEDERACY STAYED ALIVE BY THE DARING AND LUCK AND GENIUS OF ITS HIGH COMMAND.

BUT THE BIGGEST TESTS WERE COMING THAT SUMMER WHERE THE MISSISSIPPI TOOK A SHARP TURN AT VICKSBURG AND AT A SLEEPY CORNER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

MAN: "MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE, JANUARY 1, 1863.

"MARTHA, I CAN INFORM YOU "THAT I HAVE SEEN THE MONKEY SHOW AT LAST, "AND I DONT WANT TO SEE IT NO MORE.

"I NEVER WANT TO GO ON ANOTHER FIGHT ANYMORE, SISTER.

"I WANT TO COME HOME WORSE THAN I EVER DID BEFORE.

THOMAS WARWICK."

MAN 2: "CHARLES COFFIN, BOSTON JOURNAL.

"ALL THE SURROUNDING FORESTS HAD DISAPPEARED, "BUILT INTO HUTS WITH CHIMNEYS OF STICKS AND MUD "OR CUT FOR BURNING IN THE STONE FIREPLACES.

"THE SOLDIERS WERE DISCOURAGED.

"THEY KNEW THAT THEY HAD FOUGHT BRAVELY "BUT THAT THERE HAD BEEN MISMANAGEMENT AND INEFFICIENT GENERALSHIP."

MAN 3: "FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

"THIS MORNING, WE FOUND OURSELVES COVERED "WITH SNOW THAT HAD FALLEN DURING THE NIGHT.

"IT IS TOO COLD TO WRITE.

"HOW I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE "SOME OF THOSE ON TO RICHMOND FELLOWS OUT HERE WITH US.

ELISHA HUNT RHODES."

NARRATOR: THE MEN OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC HAD NOT BEEN PAID FOR 6 MONTHS, AND WHILE ARMY WAREHOUSES AT WASHINGTON BULGED WITH FOOD, LITTLE OF IT GOT TO THE WINTER CAMP.

MAN: "I DO NOT BELIEVE "I HAVE EVER SEEN GREATER MISERY FROM SICKNESS "THAN NOW EXISTS IN OUR ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

THOMAS F. PERLY, INSPECTOR GENERAL."

NARRATOR: ONE WISCONSIN OFFICER CALLED THE WINTER CAMP AT FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA, THE UNIONS VALLEY FORGE.

HUNDREDS DIED FROM SCURVY, DYSENTERY, TYPHOID, DIPHTHERIA, PNEUMONIA.

THERE WERE EPIDEMICS OF MEASLES, MUMPS, AND OTHER CHILDHOOD DISEASES.

AND FARM BOYS, CROWDED WITH OTHER MEN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES, WERE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE.

DISEASE WAS THE CHIEF KILLER OF THE WAR, TAKING TWO FOR EVERY ONE WHO DIED OF BATTLE WOUNDS.

MAN: "ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THESE TIMES "WAS THE ARMY COUGH.

"IT IS ALMOST A LITERAL FACT "THAT WHEN 100,000 MEN BEGAN TO STIR AT REVEILLE, "THE SOUND OF THEIR COUGHING WOULD DROWN OUT THAT OF THE BEATING DRUMS."

MAN 2: "THE NEWSPAPERS SAY THE ARMY "IS EAGER FOR ANOTHER FIGHT.

"IT IS FALSE.

"THEY ARE HEARTILY SICK OF BATTLES THAT PRODUCE NO RESULTS."

MAN 3: "I DONT THINK I HAVE RECEIVED HALF OF MY LETTERS.

"IT CANNOT BE POSSIBLE THAT ONE IS MY QUOTA "IN OVER 3 WEEKS FROM HOME.

"IVE WRITTEN CONSTANTLY FROM EVERY PLACE "WHERE WE HAVE STOPPED LONG ENOUGH TO WRITE "AND COULD MAIL A LETTER.

EDWARD HASTINGS RIPLEY."

NARRATOR: 200 MEN DESERTED EVERY DAY.

BY LATE JANUARY, 1/4 OF THE UNION ARMY WAS ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE.

ADDED TO THE MENS MISERY WERE MEMORIES OF THE BATTLE THEY HAD FOUGHT ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK AT FREDERICKSBURG IN DECEMBER.

FOOTE: AT FREDERICKSBURG, THERE WAS A...AN EXCHANGE ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

ONE OF THEM HOLLERED, "HEY, REB," AND THEY SAID, "YEAH?"

"WHEN ARE YOU FELLAS GOING TO COME OVER?"

THEY SAID, "WHEN WE GET GOOD AND READY.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

AND THEY SAID, "WANT FREDERICKSBURG."

"DONT YOU WISH, YOU MAY GET IT!"

AND THINGS LIKE THAT.

THERE WERE A LOT OF THOSE EXCHANGES.

NARRATOR: A LINE OF HILLS OVERLOOKED FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA, A KEY CONFEDERATE TRANSPORTATION LINK MIDWAY BETWEEN RICHMOND AND WASHINGTON.

UNION GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDES PLAN HAD BEEN TO CROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK BY PONTOON, OCCUPY THE TOWN, THEN TAKE THE THINLY DEFENDED HEIGHTS.

BOLD ACTION DID NOT COME NATURALLY TO AMBROSE BURNSIDE, THOUGH HE HAD LED HIS MEN TO FREDERICKSBURG DETERMINED TO DISPLAY THE FIGHTING SPIRIT HIS PREDECESSOR GEORGE McCLELLAN HAD SO CONSPICUOUSLY LACKED.

BUT NOW THE WAR DEPARTMENT FAILED HIM, AND 17 DAYS PASSED WAITING FOR PONTOON BRIDGES TO ARRIVE.

BY THE TIME THE BRIDGE WAS IN PLACE, LEE HAD 75,000 MEN WAITING IN THE HILLS.

STONEWALL JACKSON WAS ON THE RIGHT, JAMES LONGSTREET ON THE LEFT ALONG A BLUFF CALLED MARYES HEIGHTS.

FROM THE TOP OF THE HEIGHTS, LEE COULD JUST SEE CHATHAM MANSION ACROSS THE RIVER ON THE UNION SIDE, WHERE 30 YEARS BEFORE HE HAD COURTED HIS WIFE MARY CUSTIS.

IT WAS NOW BURNSIDES HEADQUARTERS.

ON DECEMBER 11, UNION GUNS BEGAN SHELLING FREDERICKSBURG, SETTING MUCH OF THE TOWN ON FIRE.

THEN THE TROOPS STARTED ACROSS THE RIVER.

SOME WONDERED WHY THE CONFEDERATES DID NOT MAKE IT HARDER FOR THEM TO CROSS.

"THEY WANT TO GET US IN," ONE PRIVATE SAID.

"GETTING OUT WONT BE QUITE SO SMART AND EASY."

WHILE WAITING TO ATTACK THE HEIGHTS, UNION MEN LOOTED WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE TOWN.

THE GREAT ASSAULT CAME TWO DAYS LATER ON DECEMBER 13.

FEDERAL FORCES ADVANCED TOWARD MARYES HEIGHTS.

LEE COULD NOT BELIEVE THE ENEMY WOULD BE SO FOOLISH.

HIS ARTILLERY COVERED ALL THE APPROACHES.

4 LINES OF RIFLEMEN WAITED BEHIND A STONE WALL THAT RAN ALONG THE BASE OF THE HILL.

"GENERAL," AN OFFICER ASSURED JAMES LONGSTREET, "A CHICKEN COULD NOT LIVE IN THAT FIELD WHEN WE OPEN ON IT."

MAN: "HOW BEAUTIFULLY THEY CAME ON.

"THEIR BRIGHT BAYONETS GLISTENING IN THE SUNLIGHT "MADE THE LINE LOOK LIKE A HUGE SERPENT OF BLUE AND STEEL.

"WE COULD SEE OUR SHELLS BURSTING IN THEIR RANKS, "MAKING GREAT GAPS, BUT ON THEY CAME, "AS THOUGH THEY WOULD GO STRAIGHT THROUGH US AND OVER US.

"NOW WE GAVE THEM CANISTER, AND THAT STAGGERED THEM.

"A FEW MORE PACES ONWARD, "AND THE GEORGIANS IN THE ROAD BELOW US ROSE UP "AND LET LOOSE A STORM OF LEAD INTO THE FACES OF THE ADVANCING BRIGADE."

MAN 2: "THE BRILLIANT ASSAULT OF THEIR IRISH BRIGADE "WAS BEYOND DESCRIPTION.

"WE FORGOT THEY WERE FIGHTING US, "AND CHEER AFTER CHEER AT THEIR FEARLESSNESS WENT UP "ALONG OUR LINES.

GENERAL GEORGE PICKETT."

NARRATOR: IT WAS SUICIDE.

"THEY CAME FORWARD," ONE MAN SAID, "AS THOUGH THEY WERE BREASTING A STORM OF RAIN AND SLEET.

"FACES AND BODIES HALF TURNED TO THE STORM.

SHOULDERS SHRUGGED."

THE IRISH BRIGADE GOT WITHIN 25 PACES OF THE WALL.

THE MEN OF THE 24th GEORGIA WHO SHOT THEM DOWN WERE IRISH, TOO.

A UNION OFFICER WATCHING FROM A CHURCH STEEPLE SAW BRIGADE AFTER BRIGADE CHARGE THE STONE WALL.

"THEY SEEMED TO MELT," HE SAID, "LIKE SNOW COMING DOWN ON WARM GROUND."

FOOTE: THEY STILL BELIEVED THAT TO TAKE A POSITION, YOU MASSED YOUR MEN AND MOVED UP AND GAVE THEM THE BAYONET.

THERE WERE PRACTICALLY NO BAYONET WOUNDS IN THE CIVIL WAR MUCH MORE THAN THERE WERE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR OR THE SECOND.

THEY NEVER CAME IN THAT KIND OF CONTACT, OR AT LEAST VERY SELDOM CAME IN THAT KIND OF CONTACT, BUT THEY STILL THOUGHT THAT TO MASS THEIR FIRE THEY HAD TO MASS THEIR MEN.

SO THEY LINED UP AND MARCHED UP TOWARD AN ENTRENCHED LINE AND GOT BLOWN AWAY.

[CANNON FIRE] [HORSE NEIGHS] NARRATOR: 14 ASSAULTS WERE BEATEN BACK FROM MARYES HEIGHTS BEFORE BURNSIDE DECIDED IT COULD NOT BE TAKEN.

9,000 MEN FELL BEFORE THE CONFEDERATE GUNS.

MORE CREDIT FOR VALOR IS GIVEN TO CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS.

THEYRE SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAD MORE ELAN AND DASH.

ACTUALLY, I KNOW OF NO BRAVER MEN IN EITHER ARMY THAN THE UNION TROOPS AT FREDERICKSBURG, WHICH IS A SERIOUS DEFEAT.

BUT TO KEEP CHARGING THAT WALL AT THE FOOT OF MARYES HEIGHTS, AFTER ALL THE FAILURES THERE HAD BEEN-- AND THEY WERE ALL FAILURES-- IS A SINGULAR INSTANCE OF VALOR.

NARRATOR: WATCHING FROM ABOVE, EVEN ROBERT E. LEE WAS MOVED.

"IT IS WELL," HE SAID, "THAT WAR IS SO TERRIBLE.

WE SHOULD GROW TOO FOND OF IT."

COLONEL JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN AND HIS 20th MAINE WERE AMONG THE THOUSANDS OF UNION MEN PINNED DOWN AT THE FOOT OF THE HEIGHTS.

THAT NIGHT, THE TEMPERATURE FELL BELOW FREEZING, AND A STIFF WIND BLEW.

MEN NOW FROZE AS WELL AS BLED TO DEATH.

NIGHT BROUGHT QUIET.

MAN AS CHAMBERLAIN: "BUT OUT OF THAT SILENCE ROSE NEW SOUNDS, "MORE APPALLING STILL-- A STRANGE VENTRILOQUISM, "OF WHICH YOU COULD NOT LOCATE THE SOURCE.

"A SMOTHERED MOAN, "AS IF A THOUSAND DISCORDS WERE FLOWING TOGETHER "INTO A KEYNOTE-- "WEIRD, UNEARTHLY, TERRIBLE TO HEAR AND BEAR, "YET STARTLING WITH ITS NEARNESS.

"THE WRITHING CONCORD BROKEN BY CRIES FOR HELP.

"SOME BEGGING FOR A DROP OF WATER, "SOME CALLING ON GOD FOR PITY, "AND SOME ON FRIENDLY HANDS TO FINISH "WHAT THE ENEMY HAD SO HORRIBLY BEGUN.

"SOME WITH DELIRIOUS, DREAMY VOICES "MURMURING LOVED NAMES AS IF THE DEAREST WERE BENDING OVER THEM."

"AND UNDERNEATH, ALL THE TIME, "THE DEEP BASS NOTE FROM CLOSED LIPS TOO HOPELESS OR TOO HEROIC TO ARTICULATE THEIR AGONY."

"AT LAST, OUTWEARIED AND DEPRESSED, "I MOVED TWO DEAD MEN A LITTLE "AND LAY DOWN BETWEEN THEM, "MAKING A PILLOW OF THE BREAST OF A THIRD, "DREW THE FLAP OF HIS OVERCOAT OVER MY FACE "AND TRIED TO SLEEP.

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN."

NARRATOR: THEY WERE STUCK THERE ALL NIGHT AND ALL THE NEXT DAY, CROUCHING BEHIND A WALL OF THEIR OWN DEAD, TRYING NOT TO HEAR THE CONFEDERATE BULLETS THUDDING INTO THE CORPSES OF THEIR FRIENDS.

BURNSIDE, OPENLY WEEPING, DECLARED THAT HE HIMSELF WOULD LEAD THE NEW ATTACK.

SUBORDINATES TALKED HIM OUT OF IT.

THAT NIGHT, CHAMBERLAIN AND HIS MEN SCRAPED OUT SHALLOW GRAVES FOR THE DEAD.

AS THEY WORKED, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS BEGAN TO DANCE IN THE WINTER SKY.

MAN AS CHAMBERLAIN: "WHO WOULD NOT PASS ON AS THEY DID?

"DEAD FOR THEIR COUNTRYS LIFE "AND LIGHTED TO BURIAL BY THE METEOR SPLENDORS OF THEIR NATIVE SKY."

IT WAS VERY UNUSUAL TO SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS THAT FAR SOUTH, BUT THE WHOLE HEAVENS WERE LIT UP WITH STREAMERS OF FIRE, AND WHATEVER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ARE.

AND THE CONFEDERATES TOOK IT AS A SIGN THAT GOD ALMIGHTY HIMSELF WAS CELEBRATING A CONFEDERATE VICTORY.

MAN: "THE SLAUGHTER IS TERRIBLE, "THE RESULT, DISASTROUS.

"UNTIL WE HAVE GOOD GENERALS, IT IS USELESS TO FIGHT BATTLES."

NARRATOR: THE UNION HAD LOST 12,600 MEN.

THE SOUTH HAD LOST 5,300 MEN, BUT MANY OF THEM WERE ONLY MISSING-- GONE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.

THE BATTERED UNION ARMY LIMPED BACK ACROSS THE RIVER.

ICY RAIN BEGAN TO FALL.

FROM THE RUINS OF FREDERICKSBURG, CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS OPENLY TAUNTED THE UNION TROOPS HUDDLED MISERABLY ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

FOOTE: AFTER THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG, THE CONFEDERATES WENT BACK INTO THE TOWN, AND THEY SAW ALL THE DAMAGE THAT HAD BEEN DONE DURING THE UNION OCCUPATION OF THE TOWN-- IT WAS A GREAT DEAL OF DAMAGE, REAL VANDALISM-- AND THEY WERE SHOCKED.

AND SOMEONE ON JACKSONS STAFF SAID, "HOW ARE WE GOING TO PUT AN END TO ALL THIS KIND OF THING?"

AND JACKSON SAID, "KILL THEM.

KILL THEM ALL."

WOMAN: "CLARKSVILLE.

"THOSE HATEFUL GUNBOATS.

"THEY LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE FROM THE LOWER REGIONS.

"NOW THIS IS THE SECOND NIGHT "THAT 4 OF THEM HAVE BEEN ANCHORED IN THE RIVER "OPPOSITE OUR HOUSE.

"I SEE THE MEN CRAWLING ABOUT ON THE BOATS "LIKE SO MANY BLACK SNAKES.

NANNIE HASKINS."

NARRATOR: 1,500 UNION MEN WERE NOW STATIONED AT CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE.

NO ONE COULD ENTER OR LEAVE THE TOWN WITHOUT A MILITARY PASS.

"EVERY DAY," MRS. D.N.

KENNEDY WROTE HER HUSBAND IN GEORGIA, "THE REINS ARE TIGHTENED."

ON DEER ISLE, MAINE, THE PARENTS OF PRIVATE HARLTON POWERS LEARNED THAT HE WAS AMONG THE MISSING AT FREDERICKSBURG.

IN FACT, HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS WERE CERTAIN HE WAS DEAD, BUT HAD BEEN UNABLE TO RECOGNIZE HIS BODY AMONG THE SWOLLEN, BLACKENED UNION CORPSES.

HIS FATHER PLACED A STONE TO HIS MEMORY ANYWAY IN THE LITTLE CEMETERY AT SOUTHWEST HARBOR.

PRIVATE ALFRED ROBBINS, AGE 20, COLLAPSED AND DIED WHILE ON HIS WAY TO MAIL A LETTER IN CAMP NEAR PORT HUDSON, LOUISIANA.

THE CAUSE WAS NEVER DISCOVERED.

IN MARCH, CORPORAL FARNUM HASKELLS COFFIN CAME HOME FROM LOUISIANA AND WAS BURIED AT MOUNT ADAMS CEMETERY, DESPITE THE GREAT DIFFICULTY OF DIGGING A GRAVE IN THE FROZEN GROUND.

DURING THE LONG, COLD, RAINY WINTER OF 1863, CONFEDERATE FORCES HUDDLED IN DEFENSIVE POSITIONS SOUTH OF THE DUCK RIVER NEAR TULLAHOMA, TENNESSEE.

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS LIKED TO EXPLAIN THAT TULLAHOMA CAME FROM THE GREEK WORD TULLA, MEANING MUD, AND HOMA, MEANING MORE MUD.

THE CONFEDERACY WAS ON THE MOVE.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL JOHN C. PEMBERTON BEAT BACK UNION FORCES TRYING TO TAKE THE CHICKASAW BLUFFS NORTH OF VICKSBURG.

JOHN MORGANS CONFEDERATE CAVALRY RAIDED KENTUCKY, BURNING BRIDGES, TWISTING TRAIN TRACKS, AND TAKING 2,000 UNION PRISONERS.

AND NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST WAS DRIVING THE UNION ARMY MAD EVERYWHERE HE WENT-- STEALING HORSES, HARRYING SUPPLY LINES, ATTACKING ARMIES 4 TIMES THE STRENGTH OF HIS, THEN DISAPPEARING WITHOUT A TRACE.

IN TWO WEEKS, FORREST STOLE 10,000 RIFLES, WRECKED $3 MILLION WORTH OF EQUIPMENT, CUT U.S. GRANTS LIFE LINES, AND FORCED HIM TO RETREAT.

IN TEXAS, GENERAL JOHN B. MAGRUDER CAPTURED A UNION FLOTILLA AT GALVESTON.

AFTER THE BOMBARDMENT WAS OVER, CONFEDERATE MAJOR A.M. LEA WENT ABOARD THE BADLY HIT U.S.S.

HARRIET LANE.

THERE HE FOUND HIS SON, A FEDERAL LIEUTENANT, DYING ON THE DECK.

MAN AS RHODES: "JANUARY 24, NEAR FALMOUTH.

"DAYLIGHT SHOWED A STRANGE SCENE.

"MEN, HORSES, ARTILLERY, PONTOONS, AND WAGONS "WERE STUCK IN THE MUD.

"REBELS PUT UP A SIGN MARKED "BURNSIDE STUCK IN THE MUD. "WE CAN FIGHT REBELS, BUT NOT IN THE MUD.

ELISHA HUNT RHODES."

[MAN GIVING DRILL COMMANDS] MAN: "I WISH YOU COULD HEAR JOSHUA GIVE OFF A COMMAND "AND SEE HIM RIDE ALONG THE BATTALION "ON HIS WHITE HORSE.

"HE LOOKED SO SPLENDIDLY.

"HE TOLD ME LAST NIGHT "THAT HE NEVER FELT SO WELL IN HIS LIFE.

TOM CHAMBERLAIN."

MAN AS JOSHUA CHAMBERLAIN: "WHAT MAKES IT STRANGE "IS THAT I SHOULD HAVE GAINED 12 POUNDS LIVING ON WORMS."

MAN 2: "WE LIVE SO MEAN HERE THAT HARD BREAD IS ALL WORM, "AND THE MEAT STINKS LIKE HELL.

"AND RICE TWO OR 3 TIMES A WEEK, "AND WORMS AS LONG AS YOUR FINGER.

I LIKED RICE ONCE, BUT GODDAMN THE STUFF NOW."

MAN 3: "IT WAS NO UNCOMMON OCCURRENCE "FOR A MAN TO FIND THE SURFACE OF HIS POT OF COFFEE "SWIMMING WITH WEEVILS "AFTER BREAKING UP HARDTACK IN IT, "BUT THEY WERE EASILY SKIMMED OFF AND LEFT NO DISTINCTIVE FLAVOR BEHIND."

MAN 4: "TELL MA THAT I THINK OF HER BEANS AND COLLARDS OFTEN "AND WISH FOR SOME, BUT WISHING DOES NO GOOD.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JACKSON."

NARRATOR: UNION TROOPS WERE ISSUED BEANS; BACON; PICKLED BEEF-- CALLED SALT HORSE BY THE MEN-- DESICCATED, COMPRESSED MIXED VEGETABLES; AND HARDTACK--SQUARE FLOUR AND WATER BISCUITS HARD ENOUGH, SOME SAID, THEY COULD STOP BULLETS.

FOOTE: IN THE SOUTHERN ARMY, YOU ATE SOMETHING CALLED SLOOSH.

YOU GOT ISSUED CORNMEAL AND BACON, AND YOU FRIED THE BACON, WHICH LEFT A GREAT DEAL OF GREASE IN THE PAN.

THEN YOU TOOK THE CORNMEAL AND SWIRLED IT AROUND IN THE GREASE TO MAKE THE DOUGH.

THEN YOU MIGHT TAKE THE DOUGH AND MAKE A SNAKE OF IT AND PUT IT AROUND YOUR RAMROD AND COOK IT OVER THE CAMPFIRE.

THAT WAS CALLED SLOOSH.

THEY ATE A LOT OF THAT.

NARRATOR: COFFEE WAS THE PREFERRED DRINK OF BOTH ARMIES.

UNION TROOPS CRUSHED THE BEANS WITH THEIR RIFLE BUTTS, DRANK 4 PINTS OF IT A DAY-- STRONG ENOUGH, ONE MAN SAID, TO FLOAT AN IRON WEDGE-- AND WHEN THEY COULD NOT BUILD A FIRE, WERE CONTENT TO CHEW THE GROUNDS.

SOUTHERNERS MADE DO WITH SUBSTITUTES BREWED FROM PEANUTS, POTATOES, AND CHICORY.

MAN: "WE HAVE BEEN LIVING ON THE CONTENTS "OF THOSE BOXES YOU SENT TO US.

"NOTHING WAS SPOILED EXCEPT THAT CARD OF BISCUITS.

"THOSE WERE MOLDED SOME, "BUT WE USED OVER HALF OF THEM IN A SOUP.

"THANK MR. BERDICTS A THOUSAND TIMES FOR ME, "ALSO MRS. MAXSON FOR THOSE PIES, "AND THOSE FRIED CAKES AND GINGERSNAPS "ARE FIRST-RATE.

"AND THE DRIED BERRIES, THEYRE NICE, "AND THE DRIED BEEF AND APPLESAUCE-- THAT WAS FIRST-RATE."

MAN AS McCLELLAN: "NO ONE AGENT SO MUCH OBSTRUCTS THIS ARMY "AS THE DEGRADING VICE OF DRUNKENNESS.

"TOTAL ABSTINENCE WOULD BE WORTH 50,000 MEN "TO THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

GENERAL GEORGE McCLELLAN."

NARRATOR: IF A SOLDIER COULDNT BUY IT, HE MADE IT.

ONE UNION RECIPE CALLED FOR BARK JUICE, TAR WATER, TURPENTINE, BROWN SUGAR, LAMP OIL, AND ALCOHOL.

SOUTHERNERS SOMETIMES DROPPED IN RAW MEAT AND LET THE MIXTURE FERMENT FOR A MONTH OR SO TO ADD WHAT ONE VETERAN REMEMBERED AS "AN OLD AND MELLOW TASTE."

THE MEN CALLED THEIR HOME BREW "NOCKUM STIFF," "POP SKULL," AND "OH!

BE JOYFUL."

MAN: "I INVITED MY COMRADES TO ASSIST ME "IN EMPTYING 3 CANTEENS OF OH!

BE JOYFUL, "THEN SPENT THE BALANCE OF THE EVENING SINGING.

THEN WE PARTED IN GOOD SPIRITS."

NARRATOR: IN MARCH 1863, JOHN MOSBYS CONFEDERATE RANGERS RAIDED FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, VIRGINIA, CAPTURING TWO CAPTAINS, 30 PRIVATES, 58 HORSES, AND BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWIN STOUGHTON.

"FOR THAT, I AM SORRY," LINCOLN SAID WHEN TOLD OF THE CAPTURE, "FOR I CAN MAKE BRIGADIER GENERALS, BUT I CANT MAKE HORSES."

GENERAL MOSBY HAD MADE LIFE MISERABLE FOR NORTHERN COMMANDERS THROUGHOUT THE WAR.

NO OTHER CONFEDERATE OFFICER WAS MENTIONED FAVORABLY AS MANY TIMES IN ROBERT E. LEES DISPATCHES.

AS JOHN SINGLETON MOSBY.

FOOTE: THERE WERE NO MEDALS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY, NOT ONE IN THE WHOLE COURSE OF THE WAR.

THE CONFEDERATE REASON FOR THAT GIVEN WAS THAT THEY WERE ALL HEROES AND IT WOULD NOT DO TO SINGLE ANYONE OUT.

THEY WERE NOT ALL HEROES.

BUT THERE WAS A SUGGESTION MADE TO LEE THAT THERE BE A ROLL OF HONOR FOR THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, AND LEE DISALLOWED IT.

THE HIGHEST HONOR YOU COULD GET IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS TO BE MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES, AND THAT WAS CONSIDERED ABSOLUTELY ENOUGH.

MAN: "MARCH 5, 1863.

"THE ARM OF THE SLAVES "IS THE BEST DEFENSE "AGAINST THE ARM OF THE SLAVE HOLDER.

"WHO WOULD BE FREE THEMSELVES "MUST STRIKE THE BLOW.

"I URGE YOU TO FLY TO ARMS "AND SMITE WITH DEATH "THE POWER THAT WOULD BURY THE GOVERNMENT "AND YOUR LIBERTY "IN THE SAME HOPELESS GRAVE.

THIS IS OUR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS."

MAN AS LINCOLN: "THE COLORED POPULATION "IS THE GREAT AVAILABLE, AND YET UNAVAILED OF, FORCE "FOR RESTORING THE UNION.

"THE BARE SIGHT OF 50,000 ARMED AND DRILLED BLACK SOLDIERS "UPON THE BANKS OF THE MISSISSIPPI "WOULD END THE REBELLION AT ONCE, "AND WHO DOUBTS THAT WE CAN PRESENT THAT SIGHT "IF WE BUT TAKE HOLD IN EARNEST?

ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

THE PEOPLE MOST AFFECTED BY THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OBVIOUSLY DID NOT RECEIVE IT AS NEWS BECAUSE THEY KNEW BEFORE LINCOLN KNEW THAT THE WAR WAS ABOUT EMANCIPATION, AND MOREOVER, THEY KNEW, AS PERHAPS LINCOLN DID WITHOUT FULLY REALIZING IT, AND CERTAINLY AS MANY PEOPLE TODAY DO NOT REALIZE, THAT THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DID NOTHING TO GET THEM THEIR FREEDOM.

IT SAID THAT THEY HAD A RIGHT TO GO AND PUT THEIR BODIES ON THE LINE IF THEY HAD THE NERVE TO BELIEVE IN IT, AND MANY OF THEM HAD THE NERVE TO BELIEVE IN IT, AND MANY SUFFERED FOR THAT.

NARRATOR: TO LINCOLN, IT WAS NOW CLEAR THAT HARSHER MEASURES WERE NEEDED TO DESTROY THE CONFEDERACY.

HE CALLED FOR MORE TROOPS, AND IN FEBRUARY, PUSHED A CONSCRIPTION ACT THROUGH CONGRESS.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION HAD ALREADY AUTHORIZED THE ARMING OF FREED SLAVES.

MAN: "AS TO THE POLITICS OF WASHINGTON, "THE MOST STRIKING THING "IS THE ABSENCE OF PERSONAL LOYALTY TO THE PRESIDENT.

"IT DOES NOT EXIST.

"HE HAS NO ADMIRERS, NO ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTERS, NO ONE TO BET ON HIS HEAD."

NARRATOR: THE FALL ELECTIONS HAD NOT GONE WELL.

FREDERICKSBURG ONLY MADE MATTERS WORSE.

AND IN WASHINGTON, TALK OF THE DISASTER WAS EVERYWHERE.

"IF THERE IS A WORSE PLACE THAN HELL," LINCOLN TOLD A VISITOR, "I AM IN IT."

THE SINGLE MOST UNPOPULAR ACT OF LINCOLNS ADMINISTRATION WAS THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

IT NOT ONLY WAS HORRIBLY UNPOPULAR IN THE CONFEDERACY, WHERE JEFFERSON DAVIS CALLED IT "THE MOST WICKED THING THAT THE DARK SIDE OF HUMANKIND HAD EVER COME UP WITH," BUT MILLIONS OF NORTHERNERS RESPONDED TO IT AS WELL.

THEY DID NOT REALLY WANT THE-- A GREAT MANY NORTHERNERS DID NOT WANT THE WAR TO BE CHANGED TO A WAR OVER SLAVE LIBERATION.

NARRATOR: OPPOSITION TO THE WAR WAS SPREADING, ESPECIALLY AMONG DEMOCRATS IN THE HEARTLAND-- MICHIGAN, OHIO, IOWA, INDIANA, AND THE SOUTHERN HALF OF LINCOLNS OWN ILLINOIS.

THE PROCLAMATION IGNITED AN ANTIWAR MOVEMENT IN THE NORTH.

ALL BUT 35 MEN OF THE 138th ILLINOIS DESERTED OVER EMANCIPATION, DECLARING THEY WOULD LIE IN THE WOODS UNTIL MOSS GREW ON THEIR BACKS RATHER THAN HELP FREE THE SLAVES.

GROUPS WITH NAMES LIKE THE KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE AND SONS OF LIBERTY MET IN SECRET AND MUTTERED OF FORCING AN END TO THE WAR.

THEIR ENEMIES CALLED THEM COPPERHEADS, AND THEY WORE ON THEIR LAPELS THE HEAD OF LIBERTY, SNIPPED FROM A COPPER PENNY.

THEIR LEADER WAS CONGRESSMAN CLEMENT VALLANDIGHAM OF OHIO.

LINCOLN HAD HIM THROWN IN JAIL AND LATER BANISHED TO THE CONFEDERACY.

MAN AS VALLANDIGHAM: "YOU HAVE NOT CONQUERED THE SOUTH.

YOU NEVER WILL.

"WAR FOR THE UNION WAS ABANDONED, "WAR FOR THE NEGRO OPENLY BEGUN "AND WITH STRONGER BATTALIONS THAN BEFORE.

"WITH WHAT SUCCESS?

LET THE DEAD AT FREDERICKSBURG ANSWER."

MAN: ALL OF THESE THINGS BORE IN ON HIM, PLUS THE FACT THAT THE SOUTH HAD A STRONG ARMY AND A GOOD LEADERSHIP AND WAS-- BUT THEN HE WOULD PICK UP A RICHMOND NEWSPAPER, AND HED SAY, "HERES WHAT THEYRE SAYING "ABOUT JEFF DAVIS...DOWN HERE.

YOU KNOW, I DONT LOOK SO BAD."

BECAUSE THE SOUTH HAD A FREE PRESS, TOO.

AND HE REALIZED, YOU KNOW, THAT JEFF WAS NOT DOING ANY BETTER THAN HE WAS AS FAR AS THEY WERE CONCERNED.

DAVIS WAS WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN RICHMOND ONE DAY, AND A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER, WHO WAS IN RICHMOND ON FURLOUGH, PASSED HIM AND STOPPED HIM AND SAID, "SIR, MISTER, BE YOU JEFFERSON DAVIS?"

DAVIS SAID THAT HE WAS.

THE SOLDIER SAID, "WELL, I THOUGHT SO.

YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE A CONFEDERATE POSTAGE STAMP."

NARRATOR: JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS TRYING TO WIN A WAR WHILE FORGING A NATION OUT OF 11 STATES SUSPICIOUS OF EVEN THE MOST TRIVIAL MOVE TOWARD CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT.

WHEN DAVIS CALLED FOR A DAY OF NATIONAL FASTING, THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA IGNORED IT, THEN NAMED A DIFFERENT FAST DAY OF HIS OWN.

MAN: "I ENTERED INTO THIS REVOLUTION "TO CONTRIBUTE MY MIGHT "TO SUSTAIN THE RIGHTS OF STATES "AND TO PREVENT THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

"AND I AM STILL A REBEL, NO MATTER WHO MAY BE IN POWER.

GOVERNOR JOSEPH BROWN OF GEORGIA."

WOMAN: "THE CONFEDERACY HAS BEEN "DONE TO DEATH BY POLITICIANS.

MARY CHESNUT."

NARRATOR: "PARDON ME," A SOUTH CAROLINIAN WROTE HIS CONGRESSMAN, "IS THE MAJORITY ALWAYS DRUNK?"

VICE PRESIDENT ALEXANDER STEPHENS BELIEVED DAVIS WEAK AND VACILLATING, TIMID, PETULANT, PEEVISH, OBSTINATE.

STEPHENS LEFT RICHMOND IN 1862, RARELY TO RETURN.

"I MAKE NO TERMS," DAVIS ONCE SAID.

"I ACCEPT NO COMPROMISE."

HE REFUSED TO UNBEND IN PUBLIC OR TO CURRY FAVOR WITH THE PRESS.

PRIVATELY, HE COMMUTED NEARLY EVERY DEATH SENTENCE FOR DESERTION THAT REACHED HIS DESK, EXPLAINING THAT THE POOREST USE OF A SOLDIER WAS TO SHOOT HIM.

HES OFTEN DESCRIBED AS A BLOODLESS PEDANT, A MAN WHO FILLED ALL HIS TIME WITH SMALL-TIME PAPERWORK AND NEVER ANYTHING ELSE, AN ICY-COLD MAN WHO HAD NO FRIENDLINESS IN HIM.

I FOUND THE OPPOSITE TO BE TRUE IN ALL THOSE RESPECTS.

DAVIS WAS AN OUTGOING, FRIENDLY MAN, A GREAT FAMILY MAN-- LOVED HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN-- AN INFINITE STORE OF COMPASSION.

LEE SAID IT BEST-- HE SAID, "I DONT THINK ANYONE COULD NAME ANYONE "WHO COULD HAVE DONE A BETTER JOB THAN DAVIS DID.

"AND I PERSONALLY DONT KNOW OF ANYONE WHO COULD HAVE DONE AS GOOD A JOB."

THATS FROM ROBERT E. LEE, WHICH IS PRETTY GOOD AUTHORITY.

OATES: DAVIS MAY WELL HAVE BEEN THE ONLY SOUTHERNER WHO UNDERSTOOD SOUTHERN NATIONALITY, WHO UNDERSTOOD WHAT SACRIFICES HAD TO BE MADE IF THE CONFEDERACY WAS EVER GOING TO JELL AS A NATION.

HE KEPT SAYING, "I NEED THE KIND OF POWERS THAT LINCOLN GOT.

"I NEED THE KIND OF RESOURCES THAT HE GOT IN THE DRAFT LAWS.

"I NEED TO BE ABLE TO SUSPEND THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS LIKE HE DID."

HE WOULD HAVE SAID, "WE CANT LIVE BY THE DOGMAS OF THE QUIET PAST ANY LONGER."

HE DIDNT SAY THAT, BUT HE ACTED THAT OUT.

HE SAID, "I HAVE TO BE GIVEN THE KINDS-- "THIS CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT "NEEDS THE KIND OF NATIONAL AUTHORITY--NATIONAL POWER THAT THE UNION HAD IN ORDER TO WIN."

AND THEY DIDNT GET IT BECAUSE THE STATES RIGHTS HELPED KILL THE CONFEDERACY.

NARRATOR: A SINGLE CAKE OF SOAP NOW COST $1.10-- 1/10 OF A SOLDIERS MONTHLY PAY.

AT THE BEGINNING OF 1863, A BARREL OF FLOUR COST $70 IN THE SOUTH.

BY YEARS END, IT COST $250.

THE CONFEDERATE TREASURY CRANKED OUT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN NOTES UNBACKED BY GOLD.

SOUTHERN PRINTING WAS SO PRIMITIVE THAT COUNTERFEITERS WERE SOMETIMES CAUGHT BECAUSE THEIR WORK WAS TOO GOOD.

OATES: BY 1862 AND 1863, THE SOUTH SUFFERED FROM TERRIBLE INFLATIONARY CURRENCY.

WHAT WAS REALLY AT A PREMIUM WAS A UNION GOLD DOLLAR.

SO THAT THE CONFEDERATE PEOPLE COULD NEVER GET AWAY FROM THE UNION, NOT EVEN ECONOMICALLY.

MAN: "IF THE CONFEDERACY IS DEFEATED, "IT WILL BE BY THE PEOPLE AT HOME.

ATLANTA SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY."

NARRATOR: THOUSANDS OF WOMEN, INFURIATED BY SOARING PRICES, STORMED THROUGH DOWNTOWN RICHMOND SHOPS, SMASHING WINDOWS AND GATHERING UP ARMFULS OF FOOD AND CLOTHING.

TROOPS TRIED TO STOP THEM, AND JEFFERSON DAVIS HIMSELF CAME OUT, THROWING WHAT MONEY HE HAD IN HIS POCKETS TO THE CROWD AND BEGGING THEM TO BLAME THE YANKEES, NOT THE GOVERNMENT.

THEN HE WARNED THE TROOPS WOULD OPEN FIRE IF THEY DID NOT DISPERSE.

THE WOMEN STRAGGLED HOME.

MAN: "PATRIOTIC PLANTERS WOULD WILLINGLY PUT "THEIR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD INTO THE ARMY, "BUT WHEN THEY WERE ASKED FOR A NEGRO, "IT WAS LIKE DRAWING AN EYETOOTH.

SENATOR LOUIS T. WIGFALL, TEXAS."

NARRATOR: FARMERS WERE CALLED UPON TO CONTRIBUTE 1/10 OF THEIR PRODUCE, AND THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS EMPOWERED TO IMPRESS MALE SLAVES AS LABORERS, PROVIDED A MONTHLY FEE WAS PAID TO THEIR MASTERS.

PLANTERS MOVED THEIR SLAVES INLAND, AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND THE FIGHTING.

150,000 SLAVES WERE MARCHED ALL THE WAY TO TEXAS.

HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS, DIED ALONG THE WAY.

MAN AS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JACKSON: "WARTRACE, TENNESSEE, JUNE 10, 1863.

"I HAVE JUST HEARD FROM HILLIARDS LEGION.

"THEYRE DESERTING EVERY DAY.

"THEY SAY THEY DONT GET ENOUGH TO EAT.

"I HAVE JUST BOUGHT ME A TESTAMENT.

"I GAVE $2.00 FOR IT.

"EVERYTHINGS HIGH HERE.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JACKSON."

MAN: "I SAW A SIGHT TODAY THAT MADE ME FEEL MIGHTY BAD.

"I SAW A MAN SHOT FOR DESERTING.

"THERE WAS 24 GUNS AT HIM, "AND THEY SHOT HIM ALL TO PIECES.

"HE WENT HOME, AND THEY BROUGHT HIM BACK, "AND THEN HE WENT HOME AGAIN, SO THEY SHOT HIM FOR THAT.

MARTHA, IT WAS ONE SIGHT THAT I DID HATE TO SEE."

NARRATOR: BY THE END OF THE YEAR, 2/5 OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY WOULD BE ABSENT, WITH OR WITHOUT LEAVE.

DESERTERS SOMETIMES BANDED TOGETHER, OFTEN FED AND CLOTHED BY UNION SYMPATHIZERS.

IN NORTH CAROLINA, THE PRO-UNION HEROES OF AMERICA HAD OVER 10,000 MEMBERS.

BY THE END OF THE WAR, UNIONISTS FROM EVERY CONFEDERATE STATE EXCEPT SOUTH CAROLINA HAD SENT REGIMENTS TO THE NORTH.

IN JONES COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, A GUERRILLA BAND RAN OFF TAX COLLECTORS, BURNED BRIDGES, AND AMBUSHED CONFEDERATE COLUMNS FOR 3 YEARS.

REPORTERS CALLED THE REGION THE KINGDOM OF JONES.

MAN: "HOW I WISH YOU COULD HEAR THE MUSIC "OF THIS ENCAMPMENT TONIGHT.

"JUST STAND OUT IN THE OPEN AIR A LITTLE WHILE AND LISTEN.

"ALL SEEMS HAPPY, AND ALL SEEMS GAY, "BUT STILL, COULD YOU LOOK INTO THEIR HEARTS, "YOU WOULD SEE THOUGHTS OF THE LOVED ONES "THAT THEY HAVE LEFT AT HOME "RISE ABOVE THEIR MIRTH AND GAIETY.

"YET, THEY ARE CONTENTED, THOUGH NOT HAPPY, "CONTENTED TO DO THEIR DUTY, "CONTENTED TO BEAR THEIR PART IN THIS WAR, AND SING SAD THOUGHTS AWAY."

MAN 2: "DEAR FANNY, "I DONT KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE "WITHOUT OUR BAND.

"ITS ACKNOWLEDGED BY EVERYONE "TO BE THE BEST IN THE DIVISION.

"EVERY NIGHT ABOUT SUNDOWN, "GILMORE GIVES US A SPLENDID CONCERT, "PLAYING SELECTIONS FROM THE OPERAS "AND SOME VERY PRETTY MARCHES, QUICKSTEPS, WALTZES, AND THE LIKE."

NARRATOR: TROOPS SANG IN CAMP AND ON THE WAY TO BATTLE.

CONFEDERATES FAVORED "DIXIE" AND "THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG."

UNION SOLDIERS STILL PREFERRED AN OLD METHODIST TUNE.

MOSTLY, THEY LIKED SENTIMENTAL SONGS.

"JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE, MOTHER," "THE VACANT CHAIR," "ALL QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC," AND "HOME SWEET HOME."

IN MANY CAMPS, THE MEN WERE FORBIDDEN TO PLAY A SONG CALLED "WEEPING, SAD AND LONELY," OFFICERS CONSIDERING IT DESTRUCTIVE OF MORALE.

BOTH SIDES LOVED "LORENA."

[SLOW TUNE PLAYING] MAN AS RHODES: "APRIL 14, 1863, "RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, NEAR FRANKLINS CROSSING.

"GENERAL THOMAS J. JACKSON CAME DOWN TO THE RIVERBANK TODAY "WITH A PARTY OF LADIES AND OFFICERS.

"WE RAISED OUR HATS TO THE PARTY, AND STRANGE TO SAY, "THE LADIES WAVED THEIR HANDKERCHIEFS IN REPLY.

"GENERAL JACKSON TOOK HIS FIELD GLASSES "AND COOLLY SURVEYED OUR PARTY.

"WE COULD HAVE SHOT HIM WITH A REVOLVER, "BUT WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT "THAT NEITHER SIDE WILL FIRE, "AS IT DOES NO GOOD AND IN FACT, IS SIMPLY MURDER.

ELISHA HUNT RHODES."

MAN AS LINCOLN: "GENERAL, I HAVE PLACED YOU "AT THE HEAD OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

"I HAVE HEARD IN SUCH A WAY AS TO BELIEVE IT "OF YOUR RECENTLY SAYING THAT BOTH THE ARMY AND THE GOVERNMENT "NEEDED A DICTATOR.

"OF COURSE, IT WAS NOT FOR THIS "BUT IN SPITE OF THIS THAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE COMMAND.

"ONLY THOSE GENERALS WHO GAIN SUCCESSES "CAN SET UP AS DICTATORS.

"WHAT I NOW ASK OF YOU IS MILITARY SUCCESS, "AND I WILL RISK THE DICTATORSHIP.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

NARRATOR: AGAIN LINCOLN TURNED TO A NEW GENERAL.

HE REPLACED BURNSIDE WITH JOSEPH HOOKER, A TENACIOUS WEST POINTER CALLED FIGHTING JOE, WHO DRANK AND TALKED TOO MUCH FOR HIS OWN GOOD.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, LINCOLN TOLD HIM, TO DESTROY LEES ARMY.

MAN AS HOOKER: "MY PLANS ARE PERFECT.

"MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON GENERAL LEE, FOR I WILL HAVE NONE."

NARRATOR: HOOKERS PLANS CALLED FOR ONE PART OF HIS ENORMOUS ARMY TO FEIGN AN ASSAULT ON LEES FRONT, STILL AT FREDERICKSBURG, WHILE THE REST MARCHED UP THE RAPPAHANNOCK, CROSSED THE RIVER, AND ATTACKED LEE FROM THE REAR.

ON APRIL 30, HOOKERS MAIN FORCE--70,000 STRONG-- REACHED CHANCELLORSVILLE-- A LONE HOUSE IN A CLEARING SURROUNDED BY A THICK FOREST CALLED THE WILDERNESS.

HOOKER AND HIS OFFICERS MOVED IN DOWNSTAIRS AND CONTINUED TO MAP OUT THE ASSAULT THEY WERE SURE WOULD TRAP LEE.

MAN AS HOOKER: "THE ENEMY MUST EITHER INGLORIOUSLY FLY "OR COME OUT FROM BEHIND HIS DEFENSES "AND GIVE US BATTLE UPON OUR OWN GROUND, WHERE CERTAIN DESTRUCTION AWAITS HIM."

MAN AS LINCOLN: "THE HEN IS THE WISEST OF ALL THE ANIMAL CREATION "BECAUSE SHE NEVER CACKLES UNTIL AFTER THE EGG IS LAID."

NARRATOR: BUT ROBERT E. LEE, OUTNUMBERED NEARLY TWO TO ONE, WAS NOT FOOLED BY HOOKERS PLAN.

DEFYING ALL MILITARY CONVENTION, HE DIVIDED HIS OWN MUCH SMALLER FORCE, LEAVING ONLY 1/4 OF HIS MEN AT FREDERICKSBURG BEFORE RUSHING WEST TO SHORE UP HIS FLANK.

WHEN LEES CONFEDERATES REACHED THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS, UNION TROOPS MOVED OUT TO ENGAGE THEM.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: FIRE!

NARRATOR: BUT THE FIGHTING HAD HARDLY BEGUN WHEN FIGHTING JOE HOOKER INEXPLICABLY ORDERED HIS FORCES BACK TO DEFENSIVE POSITIONS AROUND THE CHANCELLOR HOUSE.

"TO TELL THE TRUTH," HE LATER TRIED TO EXPLAIN, "I JUST LOST CONFIDENCE IN JOE HOOKER."

LEE SENSED HOOKERS CONFUSION AND THE NEXT DAY DIVIDED HIS ARMY A SECOND TIME, SENDING 28,000 MEN UNDER STONEWALL JACKSON ON AN EXTRAORDINARY 14-MILE MARCH THROUGH THE DENSE WILDERNESS AND AROUND THE UNIONS RIGHT FLANK.

[CANNON FIRE] HOOKER SOMEHOW PERSUADED HIMSELF THAT JACKSON WAS ACTUALLY RETREATING AND DESPITE THE SKELETAL REBEL FORCE REMAINING IN FRONT OF HIM, CHOSE TO STAY IN CAMP.

ALL DAY LONG CAME REPORTS FROM TERRIFIED UNION PICKETS OF A HUGE REBEL FORCE MOVING JUST BEYOND THE SCREEN OF TREES TO THE WEST.

THEY WERE IGNORED.

LATE THAT AFTERNOON, UNION TROOPS WERE BOILING COFFEE AND PLAYING CARDS WHEN DEER CAME BOUNDING OUT OF THE FOREST AND THROUGH THEIR CAMP.

JACKSONS ARMY WAS RIGHT BEHIND THEM.

[CANNON FIRE] "IT WAS A PERFECT WHIRLWIND OF MEN," A SURVIVOR SAID.

"THE ENEMY SEEMED TO COME FROM EVERY DIRECTION."

THE FEDERALS FELL BACK NEARLY TWO MILES BEFORE DARKNESS STOPPED THE CONFEDERATE SWEEP.

FOOTE: CHANCELLORSVILLE, IN MANY WAYS, IS LEES MASTERPIECE.

ITS WHERE THE ODDS WERE LONGEST.

ITS WHERE HE TOOK THE GREATEST RISK IN DIVIDING HIS ARMY IN THE PRESENCE OF A SUPERIOR ENEMY AND KEPT THE PRESSURE ON.

THE REAL FAULT AT CHANCELLORSVILLE WAS THE ATTACK WAS STAGED SO LATE IN THE DAY THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO PUSH IT TO THE EXTENT THAT JACKSON HAD INTENDED TO.

AND HE WAS EVEN ATTEMPTING TO MAKE A NIGHT ATTACK-- A VERY RARE THING IN THE CIVIL WAR-- BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT HE HADNT FINISHED UP WHAT HE HAD STARTED TO BEGIN.

NARRATOR: EAGER TO FIGHT ON, JACKSON RODE OUT BETWEEN THE LINES THAT EVENING TO SCOUT FOR A NIGHT ATTACK.

WHEN HE TURNED BACK TOWARD HIS MEN, NERVOUS CONFEDERATE PICKETS OPENED FIRE.

[GUNFIRE] TWO OF HIS AIDES FELL DEAD.

JACKSON WAS HIT TWICE IN THE LEFT ARM.

HIS SHATTERED ARM WAS AMPUTATED THE NEXT MORNING.

LEE WAS HORRIFIED.

"HE HAS LOST HIS LEFT ARM," HE SAID, "BUT I HAVE LOST MY RIGHT."

[CANNON FIRE] HOOKER CONTINUED TO BUMBLE.

AS HE NERVOUSLY WATCHED THE FIGHTING FROM THE PORCH OF THE CHANCELLOR HOUSE, A SHELL SPLIT THE PILLAR HE WAS LEANING AGAINST AND KNOCKED HIM SENSELESS.

GROGGY ALL DAY, HE REFUSED TO RELINQUISH COMMAND.

FINALLY, HE ORDERED RETREAT.

THE DEFEAT WAS TOTAL.

AGAIN THE UNION ARMY WITHDREW ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

HOOKER HAD LOST 17,000 MEN, EVEN MORE THAN AT FREDERICKSBURG.

"MY GOD, MY GOD," SAID LINCOLN WHEN HE GOT THE NEWS, "WHAT WILL THE COUNTRY SAY?"

CHANCELLORSVILLE WAS LEES MOST BRILLIANT VICTORY AND ONE OF THE COSTLIEST.

13,000 OF HIS MEN WERE DEAD OR OUT OF ACTION, BUT IT WAS THE LOSS OF ONE MAN THAT CONCERNED HIM MOST.

STONEWALL JACKSON SEEMED TO BE RECUPERATING.

THEN ON SUNDAY, MAY 10, HE TOOK A TURN FOR THE WORSE.

FOOTE: THE SCENE IS IN A BEDROOM IN WHICH HES COMING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

PNEUMONIAS WHAT HE DIED OF, NOT THE LOSS OF HIS ARM.

AND HIS WIFE GOT THERE TO BE WITH HIM, AND THE SURGEON, DR. McGUIRE, TOLD MRS. JACKSON THAT HER HUSBAND WOULD DIE THAT DAY, AND SHE TOLD HIM, SAID, "THE DOCTOR SAYS THAT YOU WONT LAST THE DAY OUT," AND HE SAID, "OH, NO, MY CHILD.

ITS NOT THAT SERIOUS."

AND THEN FINALLY SHE SAID, "YOULL BE WITH THE LORD THIS DAY," AND HE WENT OFF INTO SOME SORT OF SLEEPY DELIRIUM.

PNEUMONIA AFFECTS PEOPLE IN STRANGE WAYS.

AND HE CALLED THE DOCTOR OVER AND SAYS, "DR. McGUIRE, MY WIFE TELLS ME IM GONNA DIE TODAY.

IS THAT TRUE?"

AND THE DOCTOR SAID, "YES, IT IS."

HE SAID, "GOOD.

VERY GOOD.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO DIE ON A SUNDAY."

AND WHEN THEY OFFERED HIM BRANDY OR MORPHINE, HE SAID, "NO.

I WANT TO KEEP MY MIND CLEAR," AND THE LAST THING HE SAID--IT SORT OF-- HE WANDERED IN HIS MIND.

HE WAS CALLING ON A.P.

HILL, "PREPARE FOR ACTION."

AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE WAS QUIET, VERY QUIET FOR A SPELL, AND HE SAID IN A CLEAR, DISTINCT VOICE, "LET US CROSS OVER THE RIVER AND REST UNDER THE SHADE OF THE TREES," AND THEN DIED.

WOMAN: "THE DEATH OF OUR PIOUS, BRAVE, "AND NOBLE GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON IS A GREAT BLOW TO OUR CAUSE."

NARRATOR: WINFIELD SCOTT.

HENRY HALLECK.

IRVIN McDOWELL.

GEORGE McCLELLAN.

JOHN POPE.

GEORGE McCLELLAN AGAIN.

AMBROSE BURNSIDE.

JOSEPH HOOKER.

LINCOLN COULD NOT FIND THE GENERAL HE NEEDED.

HE NOW KNEW THAT TO WIN THE WAR, THE SOUTHERN ARMIES HAD TO BE CRUSHED.

HE HAD THE MEN, BUT HE NEEDED A GENERAL WITH THE WILL TO USE THEM.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "NO GENERAL YET FOUND CAN FACE THE ARITHMETIC, "BUT THE END OF THE WAR WILL BE AT HAND WHEN HE SHALL BE DISCOVERED."

"VICKSBURG IS THE KEY.

"THE WAR CAN NEVER BE BROUGHT TO A CLOSE UNTIL THE KEY IS IN OUR POCKET."

MAN: "A LONG LINE OF HIGH, RUGGED, IRREGULAR BLUFFS "CLEARLY CUT AGAINST THE SKY, "CROWNED WITH CANNON, WHICH PEERED OMINOUSLY "FROM EMBRASURES TO THE RIGHT AND LEFT "AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE-- THAT IS VICKSBURG."

NARRATOR: FOR 2 1/2 MONTHS, ULYSSES S. GRANT DOGGEDLY ATTEMPTED TO DIG OR HACK OR FLOAT HIS ARMY THROUGH THE TANGLED BAYOUS AND SEIZE THE TOWN OF VICKSBURG.

NOTHING WORKED.

THE PRESS ACCUSED HIM OF SLOTH AND STUPIDITY, HINTED HE WAS DRINKING AGAIN.

FINALLY, GRANT DECIDED ON A DARING PLAN.

HE WOULD MARCH DOWNRIVER THROUGH THE SWAMPS ON THE WESTERN SIDE, CROSS BELOW VICKSBURG, AND WITHOUT HOPE OF RESUPPLY OR REINFORCEMENT, COME UP FROM BEHIND AND ATTACK THE CITY.

BY EARLY MAY, GRANT HAD CROSSED THE RIVER.

MAN AS GRANT: "WHEN THIS WAS EFFECTED, "I FELT A DEGREE OF RELIEF "SCARCELY EVER EQUALED SINCE.

"I WAS NOW IN THE ENEMYS COUNTRY "WITH A RIVER AND THE STRONGHOLD OF VICKSBURG "BETWEEN ME AND MY BASE OF SUPPLY, "BUT I WAS ON DRY GROUND ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE RIVER WITH THE ENEMY."

THE MEN KNEW THEY WERE CUT LOOSE FROM THEIR BASE, KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO BE DEPENDENT FOR SUPPLIES ON A VERY TENUOUS SUPPLY LINE, BUT GRANT HIMSELF GAVE THEM CONFIDENCE.

THEY BELIEVED GRANT KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING.

AND ONE GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THEIR BELIEVING THAT WAS QUITE OFTEN ON THE MARCH, WHETHER AT NIGHT OR IN THE DAYTIME, THEYD BE MOVING ALONG A ROAD OR OVER A BRIDGE AND RIGHT BESIDE THE ROAD WOULD BE GRANT ON HIS HORSE-- A DUST-COVERED MAN ON A DUST-COVERED HORSE, SAYING "MOVE ON, CLOSE UP."

SO THEY FELT VERY MUCH THAT HE PERSONALLY WAS IN CHARGE OF THEIR MOVEMENT, AND IT GAVE THEM AN ADDED CONFIDENCE.

NARRATOR: IN 3 WEEKS, GRANTS ARMY, CUT OFF FROM ALL COMMUNICATION WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD, MARCHED 180 MILES, FOUGHT AND WON 5 BATTLES AT PORT GIBSON... RAYMOND... JACKSON... CHAMPIONS HILL... AND BIG BLACK RIVER... AND FINALLY SURROUNDED VICKSBURG ITSELF, TRAPPING 31,000 CONFEDERATES.

ON MAY 19, GRANT TRIED TO TAKE THE TOWN BY DIRECT ASSAULT BUT WAS BEATEN BACK.

[CANNON FIRE] [BELLS RING] MAN: "MAY 19.

"THANKS BE TO THE GREAT RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.

"VICKSBURG IS STILL SAFE.

"THE FIRST GREAT ASSAULT "HAS BEEN MOST SUCCESSFULLY REPELLED.

"ALL MY FEARS IN REFERENCE TO TAKING THE PLACE BY STORM "NOW VANISHED.

"REVEREND WILLIAM LOVELACE FOSTER, CHAPLAIN, 35th MISSISSIPPI VOLUNTEERS."

NARRATOR: GRANT SETTLED IN FOR A SIEGE, RESOLVED, HE SAID, TO "OUTCAMP THE ENEMY."

WOMAN: "IT IS SUCH FOLLY FOR THEM "TO WASTE THEIR AMMUNITION LIKE THAT.

"HOW CAN THEY EVER TAKE A TOWN "THAT HAS SUCH ADVANTAGES FOR DEFENSE AND PROTECTION AS THIS?

"WELL JUST BURROW INTO THESE HILLS AND LET THEM BATTER AWAY AS HARD AS THEY PLEASE."

NARRATOR: ON MAY 15, JEFFERSON DAVIS SUMMONED GENERAL LEE TO RICHMOND.

SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE ABOUT GRANT.

DAVIS WANTED TO SEND PART OF LEES ARMY TO RELIEVE VICKSBURG.

LEE WAS AGAINST IT.

HE HAD A BOLDER PLAN.

THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA SHOULD INVADE THE NORTH AGAIN, STRIKING THIS TIME INTO PENNSYLVANIA.

LEE WOULD ATTACK HARRISBURG AND PHILADELPHIA AND FORCE GRANT NORTH TO DEFEND WASHINGTON.

WITH LUCK, WASHINGTON ITSELF MIGHT FALL.

IT MIGHT EVEN FORCE LINCOLN TO SUE FOR PEACE AND RECOGNIZE THE CONFEDERACY.

DAVIS AGREED.

EVERYTHING NOW HUNG ON VICKSBURG IN THE WEST AND PENNSYLVANIA IN THE EAST.

AS GRANT PRESSED HIS SIEGE AT VICKSBURG, LEE MOVED NORTH.

[WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME PLAYS] MAN: THERES A PHOTOGRAPH IM VERY FOND OF.

IT SHOWS 3 CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS WHO WERE CAPTURED AT GETTYSBURG, AND THEY HAVE POSED IN FRONT OF OR ALONGSIDE A SNAKE-RAIL FENCE.

AND YOU SEE EXACTLY HOW THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER WAS DRESSED.

YOU SEE SOMETHING IN HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE CAMERA THATS REVEALING OF HIS NATURE, AND ONE OF THEM HAS HIS ARMS LIKE THIS, AS IF HES HAVING HIS PICTURE MADE, BUT HES DETERMINED TO BE THE INDIVIDUAL HE IS.

AND THERES SOMETHING ABOUT THAT PICTURE THAT DRAWS ME STRONGLY AS AN IMAGE OF THE WAR.

[RUMBLING] NARRATOR: MORE THAN ONCE DURING THE CIVIL WAR, NEWSPAPERS REPORTED A STRANGE PHENOMENON.

FROM ONLY A FEW MILES AWAY, A BATTLE SOMETIMES MADE NO SOUND, DESPITE THE FLASH AND SMOKE OF CANNON AND THE FACT THAT MORE-DISTANT OBSERVERS COULD HEAR IT CLEARLY.

THESE EERIE SILENCES WERE CALLED ACOUSTIC SHADOWS.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1863, A UNION WARSHIP, HUNTING A CONFEDERATE COMMERCE RAIDER OFF YOKOHAMA, ATTACKED A JAPANESE FLEET FOR HARASSING THE COLONY OF WESTERNERS THERE.

THE UNITED STATES WON ITS FIRST NAVAL BATTLE AGAINST THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN, BUT THE CONFEDERATES GOT AWAY.

IN PARIS THAT YEAR, NEW PAINTINGS BY CEZANNE, WHISTLER, AND MANET WERE SHOWN AT A SPECIAL EXHIBIT FOR OUTCASTS.

IN RUSSIA, DOSTOYEVSKY FINISHED NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, AND IN LONDON, KARL MARX LABORED TO COMPLETE HIS MASTERPIECE, DAS KAPITAL.

FOR THE FIRST 6 MONTHS OF 1863, ROBERT E. LEE AND STONEWALL JACKSON HAD CARRIED OUT ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY MILITARY CAMPAIGNS IN HISTORY, SMASHING HUGE FEDERAL ARMIES AT FREDERICKSBURG AND CHANCELLORSVILLE AND WINNING THE UNDYING LOVE OF THE SOUTH.

BUT BY LATE MAY, CONFEDERATE LUCK HAD CHANGED.

JACKSON WAS DEAD.

A THOUSAND MILES TO THE WEST, ULYSSES S. GRANTS SIEGE OF THE REBEL STRONGHOLD AT VICKSBURG HAD GONE ON SO LONG THAT GRANT HIMSELF HAD TAKEN TO THE BOTTLE OUT OF BOREDOM.

AS JUNE BEGAN, THE CONFEDERATES INSIDE THE TOWN SOMEHOW MANAGED TO HOLD ON.

NOW, TO DRAW FEDERAL TROOPS AWAY FROM VICKSBURG, LEE LED HIS ARMY ONTO NORTHERN SOIL AGAIN, LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT TO ATTACK.

WHEN IT CAME, ON THE MORNING OF JULY 1, 1863, IT WOULD BE IN THE MOST ORDINARY OF PLACES.

FOR 3 DAYS, 150,000 MEN WOULD MAKE WAR ON EACH OTHER IN THE GENTLE FARMLAND OF SOUTH PENNSYLVANIA.

WHEN THE THIRD DAY WAS OVER, IT WOULD PROVE TO HAVE BEEN THE MOST CRUCIAL DAY OF THE ENTIRE WAR.

IN THE SOUTH, THE WAR HAD RUINED THE ECONOMY, AND YET THE SOUTHERN FIGHTING SPIRIT WAS STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE.

IN THE NORTH, WHERE INDUSTRY WAS BOOMING, ANGRY WORKING MEN WOULD SOON TAKE TO THE STREETS IN PROTEST AGAINST EMANCIPATION AND THE WAR.

AT THE END OF THE YEAR, ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD TRAVEL TO THE NOW-QUIET FIELDS AT GETTYSBURG AND STRUGGLE TO PUT INTO WORDS WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO HIS PEOPLE.

WHEN A BLACK SOLDIER IN NEW ORLEANS SAID, "LIBERTY MUST TAKE THE DAY, NOTHING SHORTER," HE SAID, IN EFFECT, THAT WHEN WE COUNT UP THOSE WHO HAVE DIED, WHEN WE SURVEY THE CARNAGE, IT MUST BE FOR SOMETHING HIGHER THAN UNION AND FREE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

DURING THE SUMMER OF 1863, A CONVENTION OF FREE BLACK PEOPLE DEMANDED THE RIGHT FOR BLACK MEN TO TAKE PART IN THE STRUGGLE AS SOLDIERS, AND THEIR KEY RESOLUTION SAID, "IT IS TIME NOW FOR MORE EFFECTIVE REMEDIES "TO BE THOROUGHLY TRIED "IN THE SHAPE OF WARM LEAD AND COLD STEEL DULY ADMINISTERED BY 100,000 BLACK DOCTORS."

[GUNFIRE] NARRATOR: EARLY IN THE WAR, A FUGITIVE SLAVE NAMED ALEX TURNER HAD MADE HIS WAY NORTH AND JOINED THE 1st NEW JERSEY CAVALRY.

IN THE SPRING OF 1863, HE GUIDED HIS REGIMENT BACK TO HIS OLD PLANTATION AT PORT ROYAL, VIRGINIA, AND KILLED HIS FORMER OVERSEER.

WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, HE WENT TO NEW ENGLAND AND FOUND WORK AS A LOGGER.

IN 1883, HIS DAUGHTER DAISY WAS BORN.

"DEAR MADAM, "I AM A SOLDIER, "AND MY SPEECH IS ROUGH AND PLAIN.

"IM NOT MUCH USED TO WRITING, "AND I HATE TO GIVE YOU PAIN, "BUT I PROMISED I WOULD DO IT, "AND HE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE SO, "IF IT CAME FROM ONE THAT LOVED HIM "PERHAPS IT WOULD EASE THE BLOW.

"BY THIS TIME, YOU MUST SURELY GUESS "THE TRUTH I FEIGN WOULD HIDE, "AND YOU PARDON ME FOR ROUGH SOLDIER WORDS, WHILE I TELL YOU HOW HE DIED."

MAN: "THIS ARMY HAS NEVER DONE SUCH FIGHTING "AS IT WILL DO NOW.

"WE MUST CONQUER A PEACE.

WE WILL SHOW THE YANKEES THIS TIME HOW WE CAN FIGHT."

PRIVATE WILLIAM CHRISTIAN.

NARRATOR: LATE IN MAY, LEES ARMY MARCHED TOWARD PENNSYLVANIA.

UNION TROOPS SENT TO SEE WHAT THEY WERE UP TO COMPLETELY SURPRISED JEB STUART AND HIS CONFEDERATE CAVALRY AT BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA.

21,000 MOUNTED MEN CLASHED ALONG THE RAPPAHANNOCK FOR 12 HOURS.

IT WAS THE BIGGEST CAVALRY ENGAGEMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY, AND IT WAS A STAND-OFF, BUT THE NORTH HAD LEARNED THE CONFEDERATES WERE ON THE MOVE.

THE FLAMBOYANT STUART, EMBARRASSED AT HAVING BEEN CAUGHT OFF GUARD AND DETERMINED TO REDEEM HIMSELF, NOW TOOK OFF ON ANOTHER DARING RIDE AROUND THE UNION ARMY WITH STRICT ORDERS TO STAY IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH LEE.

LEES 70,000 MEN WERE DIVIDED INTO 3 CORPS.

THE FIRST WAS COMMANDED BY JAMES LONGSTREET, "OLD PETE," WHOM LEE CALLED "MY WARHORSE."

THE SECOND CORPS, STONEWALL JACKSONS OLD COMMAND, WAS UNDER RICHARD "BALDY" EWELL, WHO HAD LOST A LEG AT SECOND MANASSAS.

THE THIRD WAS LED BY A.P.

HILL, A NEW CORPS COMMANDER FROM VIRGINIA WHO HAD HELPED STAVE OFF DISASTER AT SHARPSBURG IN 1862.

ON JUNE 16, LEES ADVANCE COLUMN CROSSED THE POTOMAC INTO MARYLAND.

AN EVEN LARGER UNION ARMY FOLLOWED, CAREFUL TO KEEP BETWEEN THE CONFEDERATES AND WASHINGTON.

THE NEW UNION COMMANDER WAS GEORGE MEADE.

BLUNT AND BOOKISH, HE WAS REFERRED TO BY SUBORDINATES AS "A DAMNED, OLD, GOGGLE-EYED SNAPPING TURTLE."

IF THE UNION GENERALS WERE NOT SURE WHERE LEE WAS GOING, LEE HAD NO IDEA WHERE THE UNION ARMY EVEN WAS.

JEB STUARTS CAVALRY HAD RIDDEN TOO FAR FROM THE ADVANCING ARMY TO KEEP HIM INFORMED.

FOOTE: THE CONFEDERATES MARCHED THROUGH MARYLAND ON INTO PENNSYLVANIA.

ITS VERY HANDSOME COUNTRY THERE.

THE BARNS ARE MAGNIFICENT AND THE GREEN FIELDS AND EVERYTHING, AND THE PEOPLE WATCHING THESE CONFEDERATES GO BY.

AND THERE WAS A BLACK BODY SERVANT IN THE COLUMN, AND THEY STOPPED, JUST A HALT, AND THE PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE ASKED HIM WHAT HE THOUGHT OF THIS COUNTRY AROUND HERE.

AND HE SAID, "THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, BUT IT DOESNT COME UP TO HOME IN MY EYES."

NARRATOR: PANIC SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRYSIDE.

LEES MEN SEIZED LIVESTOCK, FOOD, WAGONS, AND CLOTHING FROM CIVILIANS, GIVING THEM WORTHLESS CONFEDERATE SCRIP IN EXCHANGE.

THEY ALSO SEIZED FREE BLACKS AND SENT THEM SOUTH INTO SLAVERY.

"MY FRIENDS," A SOUTHERN OFFICER ASKED THE FRIGHTENED INHABITANTS OF ONE PENNSYLVANIA TOWN, "HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS WAY OF OUR COMING BACK INTO THE UNION?"

DAISY TURNER: "IT WAS IN THE MORROWS BATTLE "FAST RAINED THE SHOT AND SHELL, "I WAS STANDING CLOSE BESIDE HIM, AND I SAW HIM WHEN HE FELL."

"AND SO I TOOK HIM IN MY ARMS, "AND LAID HIM ON THE GRASS.

"IT WAS GOING AGAINST ORDERS, "BUT I THINK THEY LET IT PASS.

"TWAS A MINIE BALL THAT STRUCK HIM, "IT ENTERED AT HIS SIDE, "BUT WE DIDNT THINK IT FATAL, TILL THIS MORNING, WHEN HE DIED."

NARRATOR: THE GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE BEGAN AS A CLASH OVER SHOES.

AT DAWN ON JULY 1, A CONFEDERATE INFANTRY OFFICER LED HIS MEN TOWARD THE LITTLE CROSSROADS TOWN OF GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, WITHIN VIEW OF A LUTHERAN SEMINARY, WHOSE HIGH CUPOLA OFFERED A FINE PROSPECT OF THE SURROUNDING FARMS AND ROLLING HILLS.

THERE WAS RUMORED TO BE A SUPPLY OF SHOES AT GETTYSBURG, AND THE FOOTSORE REBELS WERE THERE TO COMMANDEER THEM.

THE SOUTH CAME IN FROM THE NORTH THAT DAY, AND THE NORTH CAME IN FROM THE SOUTH.

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN, THE CONFEDERATES RAN HEADLONG INTO GENERAL JOHN BUFORDS UNION CAVALRY.

WHILE BOTH SIDES SENT COURIERS POUNDING OFF FOR REINFORCEMENTS, BUFORD TRIED DESPERATELY TO HOLD HIS GROUND, BUT THE CONFEDERATES FINALLY OVERWHELMED HIM AND PUSHED THE UNION FORCES BACK TOWARD TOWN.

WOMAN: "PEOPLE WERE RUNNING HERE AND THERE, "SCREAMING THAT THE TOWN WOULD BE SHELLED.

"NO ONE KNEW WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO.

"MY HUSBAND WENT TO THE GARDEN AND PICKED A MESS OF BEANS, FOR HE DECLARED THE REBELS SHOULD NOT HAVE ONE."

SALLIE BROADHEAD.

[SHOUTING] NARRATOR: EVERY CONFEDERATE AND UNION DIVISION IN THE AREA NOW CONVERGED ON GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

[CANNON FIRE] BY MIDAFTERNOON, CONFEDERATE TROOPS OCCUPIED GETTYSBURG, AND UNION FORCES HAD BEEN DRIVEN BACK SOUTH OF THE TOWN.

THERE, MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK MANAGED TO RALLY THE FLEEING TROOPS INTO DEFENSIVE POSITIONS ON CULPS HILL AND CEMETERY RIDGE.

A SIGN NEAR THE CEMETERYS GATEWAY READ, "ALL PERSONS FOUND USING FIREARMS IN THESE GROUNDS "WILL BE PROSECUTED WITH THE UTMOST RIGOR OF THE LAW."

DURING THE BATTLE, THE ARTIST ALFRED WAUD SKETCHED THE ACTION, SENDING HIS DRAWINGS BACK TO NEW YORK FOR ENGRAVING.

MEANWHILE, SAM WILKESON OF THE NEW YORK TIMES FILED DISPATCHES, SITTING NEXT TO THE FRESH GRAVE OF HIS SON.

LEE ARRIVED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON, SET UP HEADQUARTERS, AND URGED EWELL TO RENEW THE ATTACK BEFORE NIGHTFALL.

EWELL CHOSE NOT TO.

HIS MEN NEEDED REST.

BY THE END OF THE DAY, THE UNION ARMY HELD THE HIGH GROUND.

RATHER THAN ATTACK IT HEADLONG, CONFEDERATE GENERAL LONGSTREET WANTED TO SWING AROUND THE UNION POSITION AND TAKE A STAND BETWEEN MEADES ARMY AND WASHINGTON, THEN LET THE UNION ATTACK.

WITHOUT KNOWING THE ENEMYS STRENGTH, LEE OVERRULED LONGSTREET.

"NO," SAID LEE, "IM GOING TO WHIP THEM HERE, OR THEY ARE GOING TO WHIP ME."

FOOTE: HE HAD ALWAYS COUNTED ON STUART AND HIS CAVALRY FOR INTELLIGENCE AS TO ENEMY POSITIONS AND MOVEMENTS, AND HE WAS LACKING THAT.

HE WAS GROPING AROUND THE LANDSCAPE BLIND.

AND PEOPLE WOULD COME UP TO HIM IN THE FIELD ALL THROUGH THOSE DAYS, "CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE STUART IS?

HAVE YOU SEEN MY CAVALRY?"

VERY STRANGE THING FOR A COMMANDER TO HAVE TO ASK.

SO WHEN STUART ARRIVED, ALL HE HAD TO SHOW FOR ALL THIS WAS A COUPLE OF HUNDRED WAGONS AND MULES AND EVERYTHING ELSE.

AND HE SAW LEE STANDING THERE, STERNLY LOOKING AT HIM ARRIVING LATE, AND HE BLEW THE THING BY MAKING HIS ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE START.

HE SAID, "GENERAL, I BROUGHT YOU 200 BRAND-NEW WAGONS."

AND LEE SAID, "GENERAL, THEYRE AN IMPEDIMENT TO ME NOW.

I ASKED YOU TO HELP ME WHIP THESE PEOPLE."

AND IT WAS A SEVERE ADMONISHMENT FROM LEE, AND LEE SAW HED HURT HIS FEELINGS, SO HE SAID, "COME.

ITLL BE ALL RIGHT.

ITLL BE ALL RIGHT."

BROADHEAD: "I CANNOT SLEEP.

"WE KNOW NOT WHAT THE MORROW WILL BRING FORTH.

"I THINK LITTLE HAS BEEN GAINED SO FAR.

HAS OUR ARMY BEEN SUFFICIENTLY REINFORCED?"

SALLIE BROADHEAD.

NARRATOR: COMPARED TO WHAT WAS COMING, THE DAY HAD BEEN A SKIRMISH.

MAN: "MY DEAR SON ALBERT, "I RECEIVED YOUR AFFECTIONATE LETTER YESTERDAY.

"AND I ASSURE YOU, MY DEAR SON, "IT GIVES ME GREAT RELIEF OF MIND "TO HEAR THAT YOU AND YOUR DEAR BROTHERS "WERE STILL IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING.

"I HAD NOT HEARD ONE WORD FROM YOU "SINCE BARLOW RODGERS RETURNED HOME.

"MAY GOD BLESS YOU, MY DEAR ALBERT.

YOUR DEVOTED FATHER, THOMAS BATCHELOR."

NARRATOR: THROUGH THE NIGHT, THE TWO ARMIES CONTINUED TO GATHER.

AFTER A 35-MILE, ALL-NIGHT MARCH, UNION GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK ARRIVED WITH HIS 6th CORPS.

BY MORNING, 65,000 CONFEDERATES FACED 85,000 FEDERAL TROOPS COMMANDED BY GENERAL GEORGE MEADE.

HILLS OVERLOOKED THE FEDERAL POSITION AT EITHER END-- TO THE NORTH, ON THE UNION RIGHT, CULPS HILL AND CEMETERY HILL; TO THE SOUTH, THE BIG AND LITTLE ROUND TOPS.

LEE WANTED THEM TAKEN.

MEADE WAS NO LESS DETERMINED TO HOLD HIS GROUND.

MAN: "ALL COMMANDERS ARE AUTHORIZED "TO ORDER THE INSTANT DEATH OF ANY SOLDIER WHO FAILS IN HIS DUTY AT THIS HOUR."

NARRATOR: IT TOOK LONGSTREET ALL MORNING AND MOST OF THE AFTERNOON TO SHIFT TWO DIVISIONS INTO POSITION FOR THE ASSAULT ON THE ROUND TOPS.

ASSIGNED TO HOLD THE UNION POSITION WAS GENERAL DAN SICKLES, A TURBULENT, EX-TAMMANY HALL POLITICIAN BEST KNOWN BEFORE THE WAR FOR HAVING SHOT AND KILLED HIS WIFES LOVER.

NOW SICKLES DISOBEYED ORDERS AND MARCHED HIS MEN FURTHER OUT FROM LITTLE ROUND TOP TO THE DEVILS DEN, THE WHEAT FIELD, AND INTO THE PEACH ORCHARD BEYOND.

HE WAS 1/2 MILE IN FRONT OF THE UNION LINE ON A FLAT, EXPOSED POSITION THAT LEFT THE ROUND TOPS COMPLETELY UNDEFENDED.

FOOTE: THE REST OF THE ARMY WAS AMAZED.

SOMEONE SAID HE STUCK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB.

I THINK IT WAS HANCOCK WHO SAW HIM GO OUT, AND HE SAID, "WAIT AWHILE.

YOULL SEE HIM TUMBLING BACK."

AND, OF COURSE, HE DID.

[CANNON FIRE] NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERATES FINALLY ATTACKED AT 4:00 IN THE AFTERNOON.

AS THEY SWEPT FORWARD, THE 15th ALABAMA REGIMENT SCRAMBLED UP BIG ROUND TOP.

FROM THERE, WELL ABOVE THE FIGHTING, COLONEL WILLIAM C. OATES SAW HIS CHANCE.

LITTLE ROUND TOP WAS COMPLETELY UNDEFENDED.

FROM THAT POSITION, OATES SAID, HE COULD BLOW THE WHOLE UNION ARMY APART.

MAN: "WITHIN 1/2 HOUR, I COULD CONVERT LITTLE ROUND TOP "INTO A GIBRALTAR THAT I COULD HOLD AGAINST 10 TIMES THE NUMBER OF MEN THAT I HAD."

NARRATOR: MEANWHILE, MEADE DISPATCHED GENERAL G.K. WARREN TO THE SUMMIT.

HE IMMEDIATELY SAW THE DANGER.

ONLY A HANDFUL OF SIGNAL MEN HELD THE HILL.

OATES CONFEDERATES WERE MOVING DOWN AND AROUND THE UNION LEFT.

WARREN SENT AT ONCE FOR REINFORCEMENTS.

4 UNION REGIMENTS RACED UP LITTLE ROUND TOP.

MAN: "IN A MOMENT, ALL WAS EXCITEMENT.

"EVERY SOLDIER SEEMED TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION "AND TO BE INSPIRED BY ITS DANGER.

"AWAY WE WENT, "UNDER THE TERRIBLE ARTILLERY FIRE.

"SHELLS WERE EXPLODING ON EVERY SIDE.

"BUT OUR MEN APPEARED TO BE AS COOL AND DELIBERATE "IN THEIR MOVEMENTS, "AS IF THEY HAD BEEN FORMING A LINE "UPON THE PARADE GROUND IN CAMP.

"UP THE STEEP HILLSIDE WE RAN, AND REACHED THE CREST."

NARRATOR: AT THE EXTREME LEFT OF THE UNION LINE NOW WAS JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAINS 20th MAINE.

OATES ALABAMIANS WERE ALREADY MOVING BETWEEN THE TWO HILLS.

CHAMBERLAINS ORDERS WERE TO "HOLD THAT GROUND AT ALL COSTS."

MAN: "IMAGINE, IF YOU CAN, "9 SMALL COMPANIES OF INFANTRY, "NUMBERING PERHAPS 300 MEN, "IN THE FORM OF A RIGHT ANGLE, "ON THE EXTREME FLANK OF AN ARMY OF 80,000 MEN, "PUT THERE TO HOLD THE KEY OF THE ENTIRE POSITION AGAINST A FORCE AT LEAST 10 TIMES THEIR NUMBER."

"STAND FIRM, YOU BOYS FROM MAINE, "FOR NOT ONCE IN A CENTURY "ARE MEN PERMITTED TO BEAR SUCH RESPONSIBILITIES "FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE, FOR GOD AND HUMANITY, AS ARE NOW PLACED UPON YOU."

NARRATOR: 360 MAINE MEN NOW TOOK COVER BEHIND BOULDERS.

THEY HAD LESS THAN 10 MINUTES TO SPARE.

AT THE LAST POSSIBLE MOMENT, CHAMBERLAIN SENT HIS COMPANY B ACROSS THE HOLLOW BETWEEN THE HILLS TO BOLSTER HIS LEFT FLANK.

BEFORE THEY WERE IN PLACE, OATES CONFEDERATES CHARGED UP THE SLOPE.

CHAMBERLAIN ASSUMED COMPANY B HAD BEEN WIPED OUT.

HE COULD NOT AFFORD THE LOSS.

[GUNFIRE] THE MAINE MEN OPENED FIRE INTO THE CHARGING REBELS.

OATES MEN STAGGERED BUT REGROUPED AND CAME AT THEM AGAIN.

MAN: "THE LINE HAD BROKEN BECAUSE OF THE TIMBER "AND THE FIRST FIRE OF THE HIDDEN FEDERALS.

"A LONG LINE OF US WENT DOWN, 3 OF US CLOSE TOGETHER.

"THERE WAS A SHARP, ELECTRIC PAIN IN THE LOWER PART OF THE BODY, "AND THEN A SINKING SENSATION TO THE EARTH, "AND, FALLING, ALL THINGS GROWING DARK.

"THE ONE AND LAST IDEA PASSING THROUGH THE MIND WAS, THIS IS THE LAST OF EARTH."

PRIVATE W.C. WARD, 4th ALABAMA.

MAN: FIRE!

MAN: "THE ENEMY WAS POURING A TERRIBLE FIRE UPON US, "HIS SUPERIOR FORCES GIVING HIM A GREAT ADVANTAGE.

"THE AIR SEEMED TO BE ALIVE WITH LEAD.

"THE LINES AT TIMES WERE SO NEAR EACH OTHER THAT THE HOSTILE GUN BARRELS ALMOST TOUCHED."

NARRATOR: THE SOUTHERNERS DROVE THE MAINE MEN FROM THEIR POSITIONS 5 TIMES.

5 TIMES THEY FOUGHT THEIR WAY BACK AGAIN.

SAPLINGS WERE GNAWED IN TWO BY BULLETS.

MAN: "AT TIMES, I SAW AROUND ME "MORE OF THE ENEMY THAN OF MY OWN MEN-- "GAPS OPENING, SWALLOWING, CLOSING AGAIN-- "SQUADS OF STALWART MEN WHO HAD CUT THEIR WAY THROUGH US, "DISAPPEARING AS IF TRANSLATED.

"ALL AROUND, A STRANGE, MINGLED ROAR."

NARRATOR: IN AN HOUR AND A HALF, 1/3 OF CHAMBERLAINS MEN FELL.

SOUNDS OF BATTLE NOW INCREASED BEHIND THE 20th MAINE.

CHAMBERLAIN ASSUMED LITTLE ROUND TOP WAS BEING SURROUNDED.

MAN: "OUR AMMUNITION IS NEARLY ALL GONE.

"WE ARE USING THE CARTRIDGES "FROM THE BOXES OF OUR WOUNDED COMRADES.

"A CRITICAL MOMENT HAS ARRIVED "AND WE CAN REMAIN AS WE ARE NO LONGER.

"WE MUST ADVANCE OR RETREAT.

"IT MUST NOT BE THE LATTER, BUT HOW CAN IT BE THE FORMER?"

NARRATOR: CHAMBERLAINS ONLY CHOICE WAS TO ATTACK, AND NOW, HE CONJURED UP AN UNLIKELY TEXTBOOK MANEUVER.

WITH HIS MEN ALMOST OUT OF AMMUNITION, HE ORDERED THEM TO FIX BAYONETS.

THEN, WHILE THE RIGHT OF HIS LINE HELD STRAIGHT, HE HAD HIS LEFT PLUNGE DOWN THE HILLSIDE ALL THE WHILE WHEELING TO THE RIGHT-- "LIKE A GREAT GATE UPON A POST," AN EYEWITNESS SAID.

THE CONFEDERATES WERE TAKEN COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE.

THOSE IN THE FRONT RANKS DROPPED THEIR WEAPONS.

THOSE BEHIND TURNED AND RAN.

MAN: "MANY OF THE ENEMYS FIRST LINE "THREW DOWN THEIR ARMS AND SURRENDERED.

"AN OFFICER FIRED HIS PISTOL AT MY HEAD WITH ONE HAND WHILE HE HANDED ME HIS SWORD WITH THE OTHER."

NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERATES HAD GONE ONLY A FEW PACES WHEN FROM THEIR LEFT CAME A SECOND HORRIFYING SURPRISE.

CHAMBERLAINS MISSING COMPANY B, WHICH HAD FOUND PROTECTION BEHIND A STONE WALL, NOW ROSE AND FIRED.

[GUNFIRE] MAN: "WHILE ONE MAN WAS SHOT IN THE FACE, "HIS RIGHT-HAND COMRADE WAS SHOT IN THE SIDE OR BACK.

"SOME WERE STRUCK SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM TWO OR 3 BALLS FROM DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS."

COLONEL WILLIAM C. OATES.

NARRATOR: OATES MEN WAVERED, BROKE, AND RAN FOR THEIR LIVES.

[WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME PLAYS SLOWLY] MAN: "MY DEAD AND WOUNDED WERE THEN NEARLY AS GREAT IN NUMBER "AS THOSE STILL ON DUTY.

"THEY LITERALLY COVERED THE GROUND.

"THE BLOOD STOOD IN PUDDLES IN SOME PLACES ON THE ROCKS.

THE GROUND WAS SOAKED WITH BLOOD."

NARRATOR: JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAINS SCANTY FORCE CAPTURED 400 CONFEDERATES.

LITTLE ROUND TOP HELD.

MAN: "THE REGIMENT WE FOUGHT AND CAPTURED "WAS THE 15th ALABAMA.

"THEY SAID THEY NEVER WERE WHIPPED BEFORE AND NEVER WANTED TO MEET THE 20th OF MAINE AGAIN."

CORPORAL WILLIAM T. LIVERMORE.

NARRATOR: ON THE SLOPES OF LITTLE ROUND TOP, FARMERS FROM TALLADEGA, ALABAMA HAD FOUGHT FISHERMEN FROM PRESQUE ISLE, MAINE.

THE TWO TOWNS WERE EACH 650 MILES FROM GETTYSBURG, WHICH LAY ALMOST EXACTLY ON A DIRECT LINE BETWEEN THEM.

THROUGHOUT THE DAYS FIGHTING, COLONEL A.S. FREMANTLE, A BRITISH OBSERVER TRAVELING WITH LEE, WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THE SOUND OF A CONFEDERATE BAND PLAYING POLKAS AND WALTZES AMIDST THE HISSING AND BURSTING OF THE SHELLS.

BUT FAR OUT IN FRONT OF THE UNION LINES, GENERAL SICKLES AND HIS MEN WERE IN DESPERATE TROUBLE.

THE REBELS WERE CLOSING IN FROM 3 SIDES.

CONFEDERATE SHELLS TORE BRANCHES FROM THE PEACH TREES AND BOUNDED AMONG THE MEN.

MAN: "THE HOARSE AND INDISTINGUISHABLE ORDERS "OF COMMANDING OFFICERS, "THE SCREAMING AND BURSTING OF SHELLS, CANISTER, AND SHRAPNEL "AS THEY TORE THROUGH "THE STRUGGLING MASSES OF HUMANITY, "THE DEATH SCREAMS OF WOUNDED ANIMALS, "THE GROANS OF THEIR HUMAN COMPANIONS, "WOUNDED AND DYING AND TRAMPLING UNDERFOOT "BY HURRYING BATTERIES, RIDERLESS HORSES, "AND THE MOVING LINES OF BATTLE.

"A PERFECT HELL ON EARTH, "NEVER PERHAPS TO BE EQUALLED, "CERTAINLY NOT TO BE SURPASSED "NOR EVER TO BE FORGOTTEN IN A MANS LIFETIME.

"IT HAS NEVER BEEN EFFACED FROM MY MEMORY, DAY OR NIGHT, FOR 50 YEARS."

PRIVATE ROBERT H. CARTER, 22nd MASSACHUSETTS.

NARRATOR: "THE BALLS WERE WHIZZING SO THICK," A TEXAN REMEMBERED, "THAT IT LOOKED LIKE A MAN COULD HOLD OUT A HAT AND CATCH IT FULL."

MAN: "I WAS WITHIN A FEW FEET OF GENERAL SICKLES "WHEN HE RECEIVED THE WOUND BY WHICH HE LOST HIS LEG.

"A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION SEEMED TO SHAKE THE VERY EARTH, "INSTANTLY FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER.

"I NOTICED THAT HIS PANTS AND DRAWERS AT THE KNEE "WERE TORN CLEAR OFF TO THE LEG, WHICH WAS SWINGING LOOSE.

"HE WAS CARRIED FROM THE FIELD, COOLLY SMOKING A CIGAR."

NARRATOR: SICKLES MEN COUNTERATTACKED, FELL BACK, HELD, PUSHED THE CONFEDERATES BACK, THEN RETREATED AGAIN THROUGH PLACES STILL REMEMBERED FOR THE FEROCITY OF THE FIGHTING THAT HAPPENED THERE-- THE WHEAT FIELD...

THE SLAUGHTER PEN... DEVILS DEN...

THE VALLEY OF DEATH.

FINALLY, THE FIGHTING SUBSIDED.

OF THE 262 IN ONE MINNESOTA REGIMENT, ONLY 47 SURVIVED UNHURT.

82% HAD FALLEN IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.

NO UNION REGIMENT IN THE WAR SUFFERED GREATER CASUALTIES.

COMPANY F OF THE 6th NORTH CAROLINA LOST 100%.

MAN: "DEAR FATHER, "FINALLY I CAME TO POOR ALBERT LYING ON THE GROUND, "WOUNDED UNDER THE LEFT EYE.

"HE HAD ALSO HAD A BALL SHOT THROUGH HIS LEFT LEG.

"I HAD NO ONE TO HELP ME BEAR HIM FROM THE FIELD.

"I THEN CALLED A CAPTAIN OF ANOTHER COMPANY TO ASSIST ME, "AND WE BORE ALBERT 600 YARDS THROUGH A DENSE SWAMP, "ALL BLEEDING AND SORE WITH PAIN, "BEFORE WE COULD FIND ANY OF THE AMBULANCE CORPS "TO BEAR HIM OFF TO THE HOSPITAL.

"TAKING HIM IN MY ARMS, I ASSISTED HIM IN THE STRETCHER.

"DROPPING A TEAR OF GRIEF UPON HIS BLEEDING FACE, I BADE HIM GOOD-BYE."

CHARLES BATCHELOR.

DAISY TURNER: "LAST NIGHT I WANTED SO TO LIVE, "I SEEMED SO YOUNG TO GO, "LAST WEEK I PASSED MY BIRTHDAY, "I WAS JUST 19, YOU KNOW.

"WHEN I THOUGHT OF ALL ID PLANNED TO DO "IT SEEMED SO HARD TO DIE, "BUT NOW IVE PRAYED TO GOD FOR GRACE "AND ALL MY CARES GONE BY.

"AND HERE HIS VOICE GREW WEAKER, "AS HE PROUDLY RAISED HIS HEAD, "AND WHISPERED, GOOD-BYE, MOTHER. AND YOUR SOLDIER BOY WAS DEAD."

[PLAYING TAPS] BROADHEAD: "WHO WAS VICTORIOUS "OR WITH WHOM THE ADVANTAGE RESTS, NO ONE HERE CAN TELL.

"SOME THINK THE REBELS WERE DEFEATED, "AS THERE HAS BEEN NO BOASTING AS ON YESTERDAY, "AND THEY LOOK UNEASY AND BY NO MEANS EXULTANT.

"I FEAR WE ARE TOO HOPEFUL.

WE SHALL SEE TOMORROW."

SALLIE BROADHEAD.

NARRATOR: AS THE SUN SET, THE UNION LEFT AND RIGHT STILL HELD.

LEE WAS SURE AN ALL-OUT CONFEDERATE ATTACK ON THE CENTER THE NEXT DAY WOULD WORK.

MAN AS LONGSTREET: "WHEN THE SECOND DAYS BATTLE WAS OVER, "GENERAL LEE PRONOUNCED IT A SUCCESS, BUT WE HAD ACCOMPLISHED LITTLE TOWARD VICTORIOUS RESULTS."

GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET.

THE FIRST DAYS FIGHTING WAS SO ENCOURAGING, AND THE SECOND DAYS FIGHTING, HE CAME WITHIN AN INCH OF DOING IT.

AND BY THAT TIME, LONGSTREET SAID, LEES BLOOD WAS UP.

AND LONGSTREET SAID WHEN HIS BLOOD WAS UP, THERE WAS NO STOPPING HIM.

LONGSTREET TRIED TO STOP HIM.

LEE SAID, "NO, HES THERE," MEANING THE ENEMY, "AND IM GOING TO STRIKE HIM."

MAN: GENERAL LONGSTREET, I THINK, HAD GOOD REASONS TO WORRY ABOUT ATTACKING THE UNION POSITION AT GETTYSBURG.

AFTER ALL, IT WAS HIS CORPS AT FREDERICKSBURG THAT MOWED DOWN THE UNION TROOPS IN FRONT OF THE STONE WALL.

HE COULD REALIZE WHAT THE RIFLE MUSKET COULD DO HELD IN THE HANDS OF DETERMINED TROOPS.

NARRATOR: THE NEXT DAY WAS PICKETTS CHARGE.

LEE, BY THE SUMMER OF 1863, HAD COME TO BELIEVE THAT HE WAS INVINCIBLE AND SO WAS THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

THE RECORD WOULD ALMOST INVITE THAT WHEN YOU SEE HOW THEY HAD PUMMELLED ONE UNION GENERAL AFTER ANOTHER AND HAD DEFEATED-- OR AT LEAST FOUGHT TO A DRAW THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ALMOST IN EVERY BATTLE UP TO THAT POINT.

LEE REALLY DID THINK THAT IF HE ASKED HIS BOYS TO DO SOMETHING, THEY WOULD DO IT, THAT THEY WOULD DO ANYTHING.

HE HAD COME, BY GETTYSBURG, THEN, TO BELIEVE IN HIS INVINCIBILITY AND THAT OF HIS MEN, AND IT WAS HIS DOOM.

[CANNON FIRE] [SHOUTING] NARRATOR: THE THIRD DAY BEGAN BADLY FOR LEE.

EWELLS MEN WERE DRIVEN BACK FROM CULPS HILL.

JEB STUART WAS SUPPOSED TO GET BEHIND THE FEDERALS AND ATTACK THEM FROM THE REAR, BUT UNION CAVALRY STOPPED AND HELD HIM, THANKS IN PART TO A SERIES OF RECKLESS CHARGES LED BY 23-YEAR-OLD GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER.

EVERYTHING NOW DEPENDED ON LONGSTREETS ATTACK ON THE UNION CENTER ON CEMETERY RIDGE.

MEADE SAW IT COMING AND WAS READY FOR HIM.

THE MAN LEE CHOSE TO LEAD THE ASSAULT WAS DASHING, PERFUMED GENERAL GEORGE E. PICKETT, WHO HAD NEVER BEFORE TAKEN HIS DIVISION INTO COMBAT.

FOOTE: IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE MISTAKE.

THERES SCARCELY A TRAINED SOLDIER WHO DIDNT KNOW IT WAS A MISTAKE AT THE TIME IT WAS DONE EXCEPT POSSIBLY PICKETT HIMSELF, WHO WAS VERY HAPPY HE HAD A CHANCE FOR GLORY.

BUT EVERY MAN WHO LOOKED OUT OVER THAT FIELD, WHETHER ITS A SERGEANT OR A LIEUTENANT GENERAL, SAW THAT IT WAS A DESPERATE ENDEAVOR AND, IM SURE, KNEW THAT IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE.

NARRATOR: PICKETTS MEN FILED INTO THE WOODS WEST OF THE EMMITSBURG ROAD AND WAITED IN THE STIFLING HEAT.

TO RELIEVE THE TENSION, SOME OF THE MEN PELTED EACH OTHER WITH GREEN APPLES.

THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO, BUT THEY HAD TO WAIT.

AND WHILE THEY WERE WAITING, FORMED AND READY TO MOVE OUT-- THEY WERE IN DEFILADE AMONG BRUSH AND THINGS-- AND A RABBIT JUMPED OUT OF THE BUSHES AND TOOK OFF, A REAL ONE, AND ONE OF THE SOLDIERS LOOKED AFTER HIM AND HOLLERED, "RUN, OLD HARE.

IF I WAS AN OLD HARE, ID RUN, TOO."

IT WASNT ALL VALOR.

NARRATOR: EXACTLY AT 1:00, A GIANT ARTILLERY BARRAGE INTENDED TO SOFTEN UP THE UNION DEFENSES BEFORE THE ATTACK BEGAN WITH A DEAFENING EXPLOSION.

MAN: FIRE!

[EXPLOSION] NARRATOR: MEADE HAD JUST LEFT HIS COMMANDERS FINISHING THEIR LUNCH.

AS AN ORDERLY SERVED THEM BUTTER, A SHELL TORE THE MAN IN TWO.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: "THE STORM BROKE UPON US SO SUDDENLY "THAT NUMBERS OF SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS "WHO LEAPED FROM THEIR TENTS OR LAZY SIESTAS ON THE GRASS "WERE STRICKEN IN THEIR RISING WITH MORTAL WOUNDS AND DIED, "SOME WITH CIGARS CLAMPED BETWEEN THEIR TEETH, SOME WITH PIECES OF FOOD IN THEIR FINGERS."

MAN 2: "THE FLYING IRON AND PIECES OF STONE "STRUCK SOME MEN DOWN IN EVERY DIRECTION.

ABOUT 30 MEN OF OUR BRIGADE WERE KILLED OR WOUNDED."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: TO KEEP UP HIS MENS COURAGE, GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK RODE UP AND DOWN THE LINE WITHOUT FLINCHING AT THE SCREAMING SHELLS.

A BRIGADIER URGED HIM TO TAKE COVER.

HANCOCK REFUSED.

"THERE ARE TIMES," HE ANSWERED, "WHEN A CORPS COMMANDERS LIFE DOES NOT COUNT."

UNION ARTILLERY BEGAN TO FIRE BACK.

MAN: "WE SAT AND HEARD IN SILENCE.

"WHAT OTHER EXPRESSION HAD WE THAT WAS NOT MEAN "FOR SUCH AN AWFUL UNIVERSE OF BATTLE?

"ALL IN THE REAR OF THE CREST FOR 1,000 YARDS "WAS THE FIELD OF THE SHELLS BLIND FURY.

"AMBULANCES PASSING DOWN THE TARRYTOWN ROAD "WITH WOUNDED MEN WERE STRUCK.

THE HOSPITALS WERE RIDDLED."

FRANK HASKELL.

NARRATOR: SUDDENLY, THE UNION GUNS FELL SILENT TO CONSERVE AMMUNITION FOR THE ATTACK MEADE WAS SURE WAS COMING AND TO LURE THE ENEMY OUT INTO THE OPEN FIELDS.

IT WORKED.

AT ABOUT 2: 00, PICKETT ASKED IF HIS MEN SHOULD GO FORWARD.

LONGSTREET, CONVINCED THE CHARGE WAS FOLLY, UNABLE TO BRING HIMSELF TO SPEAK, ONLY NODDED.

IF YOU STOP TO THINK ABOUT IT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH HARDER NOT TO GO THAN TO GO.

IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN A GREAT DEAL OF COURAGE TO SAY, "MASTER ROBERT, I AINT GOING."

NOBODYS GOT THAT MUCH COURAGE.

NARRATOR: NOW PICKETT GAVE THE ORDER.

"UP, MEN, AND TO YOUR POSTS.

DONT FORGET TODAY THAT YOU ARE FROM OLD VIRGINIA."

AT 3: 00, 3 DIVISIONS, 13,000 MEN, STARTED OUT OF THE WOODS TOWARD THE STONE WALL A MILE-AND-A-HALF AWAY, AT A BRISK, STEADY PACE, COVERING ABOUT 100 YARDS A MINUTE.

THEY WERE SILENT AS THEY MARCHED, FORBIDDEN THIS TIME TO FIRE OR EVEN TO GIVE THE REBEL YELL UNTIL THEY WERE ON TOP OF THE ENEMY.

MAN: "MORE THAN 1/2 MILE THEIR FRONT EXTENDS, "MAN TOUCHING MAN, RANK PRESSING RANK.

"THE RED FLAGS WAVE.

"THEIR HORSEMEN GALLOP UP AND DOWN.

"THE ARMS OF 13,000 MEN, BARREL AND BAYONET, "GLEAM IN THE SUN, "A SLOPING FOREST OF FLASHING STEEL.

RIGHT ON THEY MOVE, AS WITH ONE SOUL."

"NONE ON THAT CREST NOW NEED BE TOLD "THE ENEMY IS ADVANCING.

"EVERY EYE COULD SEE HIS LEGIONS, "AN OVERWHELMING RESISTLESS TIDE, AN OCEAN OF ARMED MEN SWEEPING UPON US."

"ALL WAS ORDERLY AND STILL UPON OUR CREST, "NO NOISE AND NO CONFUSION.

"GENERAL GIBBON RODE DOWN THE LINES, COOL AND CALM, "AND IN AN UNIMPASSIONED VOICE HE SAID TO THE MEN, "DO NOT HURRY, MEN, AND FIRE TOO FAST.

"LET THEM COME UP CLOSE BEFORE YOU FIRE AND THEN AIM SLOW."

NARRATOR: "IT WAS," A UNION COLONEL RECALLED, "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I EVER SAW."

MAN: FIRE!

SUDDENLY, THE UNION ARTILLERY ON CEMETERY RIDGE AND LITTLE ROUND TOP OPENED FIRE, AND A GREAT MOAN WENT UP FROM THE CONFEDERATE LINE.

"WE COULD NOT HELP HITTING THEM AT EVERY SHOT," A FEDERAL OFFICER RECALLED.

AS MANY AS 10 MEN AT A TIME WERE DESTROYED BY A SINGLE BURSTING SHELL.

A CONFEDERATE LIEUTENANT CRIED OUT TO HIS MEN, "HOME, BOYS, HOME!

REMEMBER, HOME IS OVER BEYOND THOSE HILLS."

THE WAITING UNION TROOPS BEGAN CHANTING, "FREDERICKSBURG!

FREDERICKSBURG!

FREDERICKSBURG!"

WHEN THE FIRST SOUTHERNERS CAME WITHIN 200 YARDS, UNION GENERAL ALEXANDER HAYS TOLD HIS MEN TO FIRE.

11 CANNON AND 1,700 MUSKETS WENT OFF AT ONCE.

ENTIRE REGIMENTS DISAPPEARED.

MAN: "THE REBEL LINES WERE AT ONCE ENVELOPED "IN A DENSE CLOUD OF DUST.

"ARMS, HEADS, BLANKETS, GUNS, AND KNAPSACKS WERE TOSSED INTO THE CLEAR AIR."

NARRATOR: STILL THE CONFEDERATES CAME ON.

THEY REACHED THE UNION LINE AT ONE PLACE ONLY, A CROOK IN THE STONE WALL KNOWN AS THE ANGLE.

MAN: "SECONDS ARE CENTURIES, MINUTES AGES.

"MEN FIRE INTO EACH OTHERS FACES, "NOT 5 FEET APART.

"THERE ARE BAYONET THRUSTS, SABRE STROKES, PISTOL SHOTS, "MEN GOING DOWN ON THEIR HANDS AND KNEES "SPINNING ROUND LIKE TOPS, "THROWING OUT THEIR ARMS, GULPING BLOOD, "FALLING LEGLESS, ARMLESS, HEADLESS.

THERE ARE GHASTLY HEAPS OF DEAD MEN."

MAN 2: "FOOT TO FOOT, BODY TO BODY, AND MAN TO MAN, "THEY STRUGGLED AND PUSHED AND STRIVED AND KILLED.

"THE MASS OF WOUNDED AND HEAPS OF DEAD "ENTANGLED THEIR FEET, "AND UNDERNEATH THE TRAMPLING MASS, "WOUNDED MEN WHO COULD NO LONGER STAND FOUGHT, DROWNED IN SWEAT, BLACK WITH POWDER, RED WITH BLOOD."

NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERATES WERE LED BY GENERAL LEWIS A. ARMISTEAD.

HE STEPPED OVER THE WALL WAVING HIS HAT ON HIS SWORD AND SEIZED A UNION BATTERY BEFORE HE WAS SHOT DOWN.

ALL THE CONFEDERATES WHO BREACHED THE WALL WERE KILLED OR CAPTURED.

THE UNION LINE HELD.

PICKETTS CHARGE HAD FAILED.

LEES ARMY WOULD NEVER AGAIN PENETRATE SO FAR INTO NORTHERN TERRITORY.

[BUGLE SOUNDS] [CHEERING] MAN: "CHEER AFTER CHEER "ROSE FROM THE TRIUMPHANT BOYS IN BLUE, "ECHOING FROM ROUND TOP, FROM CEMETERY HILL, "RESOUNDING IN THE VALE BELOW AND MAKING THE VERY HEAVENS THROB."

PRIVATE JESSE YOUNG.

NARRATOR: AS THE REBELS STAGGERED BACK, LEE RODE OUT TO MEET THEM.

"ALL THIS HAS BEEN MY FAULT," HE TOLD THEM.

FOOTE: PROBABLY HIS FINEST HOUR WAS AFTER THE REPULSE OF PICKETTS CHARGE.

HE WALKED OUT INTO THE FIELD, MET THE MEN RETREATING, AND SAID, "IT IS ALL MY FAULT."

HE TOLD THEM THAT.

HE WROTE TO THE GOVERNMENT, TO JEFFERSON DAVIS, AND SAID, "IT WAS ALL MY FAULT.

I ASKED MORE OF MEN THAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN ASKED OF THEM."

NARRATOR: PICKETT WAS HORRIFIED.

WHEN TOLD TO RALLY HIS DIVISION FOR A POSSIBLE UNION COUNTERATTACK, PICKETT ANSWERED, "GENERAL LEE, I HAVE NO DIVISION NOW."

PICKETT NEVER FORGAVE LEE.

YEARS LATER HE SAID, "THAT OLD MAN HAD MY DIVISION SLAUGHTERED."

FOOTE: GETTYSBURG WAS THE PRICE THE SOUTH PAID FOR HAVING R.E.

LEE.

THAT WAS THE MISTAKE HE MADE, THE MISTAKE OF ALL MISTAKES.

NARRATOR: 6,500 MEN HAD FALLEN OR BEEN CAPTURED, HALF OF THOSE WHO MARCHED OUT OF THE WOODS.

ALL 15 REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS HAD BEEN HIT.

SO HAD 16 OF 17 FIELD OFFICERS, 3 BRIGADIER GENERALS, AND 8 COLONELS.

EVERY ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY GREYS, A COMPANY MADE UP OF STUDENTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI, HAD BEEN KILLED OR WOUNDED.

"GETTYSBURG," LONGSTREET SAID, HAD BEEN "GROUND OF NO VALUE."

"THAT DAY," HE ADDED, "WAS THE SADDEST OF MY LIFE."

ALMOST 1/3 OF THOSE ENGAGED, 51,000 MEN, WERE LOST.

THE NORTH SUFFERED 23,000 CASUALTIES...

THE SOUTH, 28,000.

THE 2,400 INHABITANTS OF GETTYSBURG NOW HAD 10 TIMES THAT NUMBER OF DEAD AND WOUNDED MEN TO CARE FOR.

WOMAN: "WOUNDED MEN WERE BROUGHT INTO OUR HOUSES "AND LAID SIDE BY SIDE "IN OUR HALLS AND FIRST-STORY ROOMS.

"CARPETS WERE SO SATURATED WITH BLOOD "AS TO BE UNFIT FOR FURTHER USE.

"WALLS WERE BLOODSTAINED, AS WELL AS BOOKS THAT WERE USED FOR PILLOWS."

JENNIE McCREARY.

NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERACY COULD NOT AFFORD SUCH SACRIFICES.

ALL HOPE OF INVADING THE NORTH WAS ENDED.

THE NEXT DAY, LEE BEGAN THE LONG RETREAT BACK TO VIRGINIA AS A SUMMER DOWNPOUR WASHED THE BLOOD FROM THE GRASS AND PELTED THE WOUNDED WHO RODE IN A WAGON TRAIN THAT STRETCHED 17 MILES.

MAN AS RHODES: "JULY 4.

WAS EVER THE NATIONS BIRTHDAY "CELEBRATED IN SUCH A WAY BEFORE?

"I WONDER WHAT THE SOUTH THINKS OF US YANKEES NOW.

"I THINK GETTYSBURG WILL CURE THE REBELS OF ANY DESIRE TO INVADE THE NORTH AGAIN."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

NARRATOR: DESPITE URGINGS FROM WASHINGTON, MEADE REFUSED TO ATTACK LEES RETREATING ARMY.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO DESTROY THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA WAS LOST.

ONCE AGAIN, LINCOLN WAS FURIOUS.

MEANWHILE, ROBERT E. LEE WROTE JEFFERSON DAVIS, OFFERING TO RESIGN.

MAN AS LEE: "DEAR PRESIDENT DAVIS, "I CANNOT EVEN ACCOMPLISH WHAT I MYSELF DESIRE.

"HOW CAN I FILL THE EXPECTATIONS OF OTHERS?

"I GENERALLY FEEL THE GROWING FAILURE OF MY BODILY STRENGTH.

"I ANXIOUSLY URGE THE MATTER UPON YOUR EXCELLENCY "FROM MY BELIEF THAT A YOUNGER AND ABLER MAN THAN MYSELF CAN READILY BE OBTAINED."

ROBERT E. LEE.

NARRATOR: THE OFFER WAS NOT ACCEPTED.

WILLIAM FAULKNER, IN INTRUDER IN THE DUST, SAYS THAT FOR EVERY SOUTHERN BOY, ITS ALWAYS IN HIS REACH TO IMAGINE IT BEING 1:00 ON AN EARLY JULY DAY IN 1863.

THE GUNS ARE LAID.

THE TROOPS ARE LINED UP.

THE FLAGS ARE ALREADY OUT OF THEIR CASES AND READY TO BE UNFURLED, BUT IT HASNT HAPPENED YET.

AND HE CAN GO BACK TO THE TIME BEFORE THE WAR WAS GOING TO BE LOST.

AND HE CAN ALWAYS HAVE THAT MOMENT FOR HIMSELF.

MAN AS ALBERT BATCHELOR: "HOSPITAL NEAR GETTYSBURG.

"MY DEAR FATHER, "IT HAS PLEASED THE GOD OF BATTLES "THAT I SHOULD NUMBER AMONG THE MANY WOUNDED.

"THROUGH HIS INFINITE KINDNESS AND MERCY, "I AM PERMITTED TO INFORM YOU THAT I HAVE RECOVERED.

"I WAS WOUNDED IN TWO PLACES.

"FIRST, THROUGH THE HIP, "SECOND, THE BALL ENTERED THE INNER CORNER OF MY LEFT EYE "AND CAME OUT AT THE LOWER TIP OF MY RIGHT EAR.

"BOTH ARE DOING FINE AND HEALED UP.

"WRITE TO ME.

I MAY GET THE LETTER.

YOUR DEVOTED SON, ALBERT BATCHELOR."

NARRATOR: AFTER GETTYSBURG, THE RESIDENTS OF DEER ISLE, MAINE, BEGAN SCANNING THE CASUALTY LISTS FOR FAMILIAR NAMES.

TWO PRIVATES, JOHN GRAY AND ISAIAH EATON, WERE BADLY WOUNDED AND SOON DIED IN HOSPITALS.

BOTH WERE BURIED IN THE NEW NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG.

THE STREETS GREW QUIET WHEN NEWS OF GETTYSBURG REACHED CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE.

THE 14th TENNESSEE REGIMENT HAD LEFT TOWN TWO YEARS BEFORE WITH 960 MEN.

WHEN THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG BEGAN, ONLY 365 REMAINED.

BY THE END OF THE FIRST DAY, THERE WERE 60 MEN LEFT.

BY THE END OF THE BATTLE, THERE WERE ONLY 3.

MAN: "A GLOOM RESTS OVER THE CITY.

"THE HOPES AND AFFECTIONS OF THE PEOPLE "WERE WRAPPED IN THE REGIMENT.

"WHAT A TERRIBLE RESPONSIBILITY RESTS UPON THOSE WHO INAUGURATED THIS UNHOLY WAR."

NARRATOR: ON JULY 26, 1863, SAM HOUSTON, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, UNSHAKABLE SUPPORTER OF THE AMERICAN UNION, DIED AT HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS.

MAN: "I ASK OF HIM WHO BUILDETH UP AND PULLETH DOWN NATIONS "TO UNITE US.

"I WISH, IF THIS UNION MUST BE DISSOLVED, THAT ITS RUINS BE THE MONUMENT OF MY GRAVE."

DAISY TURNER: "I CARVED HIM OUT A HEADBOARD AS SKILLFUL AS I COULD, "AND IF YOU WISH TO FIND IT, I CAN TELL YOU WHERE IT STOOD.

"I SEND YOU BACK HIS HYMN BOOK, THE CAP HE USED TO WEAR, "AND A LOCK I CUT THE NIGHT BEFORE OF HIS BRIGHT CURLY HAIR.

"I SEND YOU BACK HIS BIBLE.

"THE NIGHT BEFORE HE DIED I TURNED ITS LEAVES TOGETHER, "AND READ IT BY HIS SIDE.

"ILL KEEP THE BELT HE WAS WEARING, "HE TOLD ME SO TO DO, "IT HAD A HOLE UPON THE SIDE "JUST WHERE THE BALL WENT THROUGH.

"SO NOW IVE DONE HIS BIDDING, THERES NOTHING MORE TO TELL, "BUT I SHALL ALWAYS MOURN WITH YOU THE BOY WE LOVED SO WELL."

WOMAN: "OUR HIRED MAN LEFT TO ENLIST "JUST AS CORN PLANTING COMMENCED, "SO I SHOULDERED MY HOE AND HAVE WORKED OUT EVER SINCE.

I GUESS MY SERVICES ARE JUST AS ACCEPTABLE AS HIS."

NARRATOR: "NO CONFLICT IN HISTORY," A JOURNALIST WROTE, "WAS SO MUCH A WOMANS WAR AS THE CIVIL WAR."

NORTH AND SOUTH, WOMEN LOOKED FOR WAYS TO HELP.

IN THE NORTH, CITIZENS FORMED THE SANITARY COMMISSION AND THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION TO ORGANIZE PRIVATE RELIEF AND CHECK THE SPREAD OF DISEASE IN THE ARMY.

THE DISEASE RATE WAS CUT IN HALF.

SANITARY COMMISSIONERS PROWLED THE CAMPS, DEMANDING THEY BE CLEANED UP, REFORMING HOSPITAL CONDITIONS, INSISTING ON BETTER FOOD, MAKING SURE BLANKETS, SHOES, MEDICINES, AND PACKAGES FROM HOME WERE DISTRIBUTED FAIRLY.

PROMINENT MEN RAN THE SANITARY COMMISSION.

NEW YORK LAWYER GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG WAS ITS TREASURER.

BUT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WOMEN IN 7,000 LOCAL CHAPTERS ALL OVER THE NORTH DID THE WORK-- SEWING, KNITTING, BAKING, WRAPPING BANDAGES, RAISING FUNDS, ORGANIZING RALLIES.

WOMAN: "IF THIS WAR DEVELOPED SOME OF THE MOST BRUTAL, BESTIAL, "AND DEVILISH QUALITIES LURKING IN THE HUMAN RACE, "IT HAS ALSO SHOWN US HOW MUCH OF THE ANGEL THERE IS IN THE BEST MEN AND WOMEN."

MARY LIVERMORE.

NARRATOR: MARY LIVERMORE, A CHICAGO MINISTERS WIFE, ORGANIZED MIDWESTERN VOLUNTEERS INTO 3,000 CHAPTERS AND, WHEN THE ARMY WAS THREATENED WITH SCURVY, SENT SO MUCH FOOD SOUTH THAT ONE REPORTER SAID, "A LINE OF VEGETABLES CONNECTED CHICAGO AND VICKSBURG."

CLARA BARTON, WHO STOOD BARELY 5 FEET TALL, DISTRIBUTED SUPPLIES BY MULE TRAIN, MINISTERED TO THE WOUNDED FROM CEDAR MOUNTAIN TO ANTIETAM, AND TIRELESSLY LOBBIED WASHINGTON FOR BETTER CARE FOR THE MEN.

IN A LETTER HOME, KATHERINE WORMSLEY, A NURSE ON A HOSPITAL SHIP, DECRIED THE CONFUSION AND CHAOS ON BOARD, BUT SHE ENDED, "GOOD-BYE.

THIS IS LIFE."

[HORN BLOWS] GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONGS WIFE ELLIE WENT SOUTH TO SERVE ON A HOSPITAL SHIP, TOO.

MAN: "ELLIES TACT, SENSE, GOOD NATURE, AND ENERGY "CONQUERED THE USA SURGEON IN CHARGE AT ONCE "AND COERCED ALL HIS OFFICIAL DIGNITY "INTO HEARTY, GRATEFUL COOPERATION "IN THE CARE OF HIS CARGO OF 500 CASES, "MOSTLY BAD ONES.

"IVE NEVER GIVEN HER CREDIT FOR TITHE OF THE ENTERPRISE, "PLUCK, DISCRETION, AND FORCE OF CHARACTER "SHE HAS SHOWN.

GOD BLESS HER."

WOMAN: "WE HAD NO SANITARY COMMISSION IN THE SOUTH.

"WE WERE TOO POOR.

"WE HAD NO LINE OF RICH AND POPULOUS CITIES "CLOSELY CONNECTED BY RAIL.

WITH US, EVERY HOUSE WAS A HOSPITAL."

NARRATOR: SOUTHERN WOMEN WORKED AS NURSES, TOO, DESPITE CRITICISM THAT IT WAS UNLADYLIKE FOR THEM TO CARE FOR RUFFIANS.

SALLIE THOMPKINS OF RICHMOND AND A STAFF OF ONLY 6 NURSED 1,333 WOUNDED MEN IN HER PRIVATE HOSPITAL AND KEPT ALL BUT 73 OF THEM ALIVE, A RECORD UNMATCHED BY ANY OTHER CIVIL WAR HOSPITAL, NORTH OR SOUTH.

MARY ANN BICKERDYKE, A QUAKER WIDOW AND SANITARY COMMISSION AGENT, TRAVELED WITH THE UNION ARMY THROUGH 4 YEARS AND 19 BATTLES, ASSISTING AT AMPUTATIONS, BREWING BARRELS OF COFFEE, ROUNDING UP CATTLE AND CHICKENS AND EGGS TO FEED THE GRATEFUL MEN WHO CALLED HER MOTHER BICKERDYKE.

BY THE END OF THE WAR, GENERAL SHERMAN SAID SIMPLY, "SHE RANKS ME."

[CANNON FIRE] EVERY DAY SINCE LATE MAY, U.S. GRANTS 200 UNION GUNS HAD POUNDED VICKSBURG FROM LAND, WHILE ADMIRAL DAVID PORTERS GUNBOATS BATTERED IT FROM THE RIVER.

WOMAN: "THEY FIRE AT THE CITY, THINKING THAT THEY WILL "WEAR OUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND SICK, "AND GENERAL PEMBERTON WILL BE OBLIGED TO SURRENDER THE PLACE "ON THAT ACCOUNT, "BUT THEY LITTLE KNOW THE SPIRIT OF THE VICKSBURG WOMEN AND CHILDREN."

NARRATOR: CIVILIANS DUG CAVES IN THE YELLOW CLAY HILLSIDES, SOME WITH SEVERAL ROOMS FITTED OUT WITH RUGS AND BEDS AND CHAIRS AND STAFFED WITH SLAVES.

BUT FOOD RAN LOW.

THE CITYS DEFENDERS WERE REDUCED TO EATING MULES, HORSES, AND DOGS.

THE VICKSBURG GAZETTE HAD TO BE PRINTED ON THE BACK OF FLOWERED WALLPAPER.

THERE WAS NO MORE NEWSPRINT.

WOMAN: "WE ARE UTTERLY CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD, "SURROUNDED BY A CIRCLE OF FIRE.

"THE SHOWER OF SHELLS GOES ON DAY AND NIGHT.

"PEOPLE DO NOTHING BUT EAT WHAT THEY CAN GET, SLEEP WHEN THEY CAN, AND DODGE THE SHELLS."

DORA MILLER.

NARRATOR: IT WAS "LIVING LIKE PLANT ROOTS," ONE WOMAN SAID.

UNION TROOPS BEGAN CALLING VICKSBURG "PRAIRIE DOG TOWN."

FINALLY, AFTER 48 DAYS OF SIEGE, ON JULY 4, THE SAME DAY THAT LEE BEGAN HIS RETREAT FROM GETTYSBURG, 31,000 CONFEDERATES SURRENDERED.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL JOHN C. PEMBERTON SAID IT WOULD BE AN ACT OF "CRUEL INHUMANITY" TO SUBJECT HIS MEN TO THE TERRIBLE ORDEAL ANY LONGER.

BESIDES, HE ADDED, "I AM A NORTHERN MAN.

I KNOW MY PEOPLE.

"I KNOW WE CAN GET BETTER TERMS FROM THEM ON THE FOURTH OF JULY THAN ON ANY OTHER DAY OF THE YEAR."

THE STARS AND STRIPES WAS RAISED ABOVE THE VICKSBURG COURTHOUSE.

AT THE CELEBRATION ABOARD ADMIRAL PORTERS FLAGSHIP ON THE MISSISSIPPI, GRANT WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO DID NOT TOUCH THE WINE OFFERED HIM, BUT CONTENTED HIMSELF WITH A CIGAR.

MAN: "GRANT IS NOW DESERVEDLY THE HERO, "BELABORED WITH PRAISE BY THOSE WHO ACCUSED HIM A MONTH AGO "OF ALL THE SINS IN THE CALENDAR "AND WHO NEXT WEEK WILL TURN AGAINST HIM "IF SO BLOWS THE POPULAR BREEZE.

VOX POPULI, VOX HUMBUG."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

MAN: "IT IS NOW CONCEDED THAT ALL IDEA OF BRITISH INTERVENTION "IS AT AN END.

"I WANT TO HUG THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC FOR GETTYSBURG, "I WANT TO GET THE WHOLE ARMY OF VICKSBURG DRUNK "AT MY OWN EXPENSE, I WANT TO FIGHT SOME SMALL MAN AND LICK HIM."

HENRY ADAMS.

NARRATOR: THE CONFEDERACY WAS CUT IN TWO.

THE MISSISSIPPI HAD BECOME A UNION HIGHWAY.

"THE FATHER OF WATERS," LINCOLN SAID, "AGAIN GOES UNVEXED TO THE SEA."

MAN: "WE HAVE LOST THE MISSISSIPPI, "AND OUR NATION IS DIVIDED, AND THERES NOT ENOUGH LEFT TO FIGHT FOR."

NARRATOR: THE FOURTH OF JULY WOULD NOT BE CELEBRATED IN VICKSBURG AGAIN FOR 81 YEARS.

MAN AS STRONG: "I FOUND FOR MY SUBSTITUTE "A BIG DUTCH BOY OF 20 OR THEREABOUTS, "FOR THE MODERATE CONSIDERATION OF $1,100.

"MY ALTER EGO COULD MAKE A GOOD SOLDIER IF HE TRIED.

"GAVE HIM MY ADDRESS AND TOLD HIM TO WRITE TO ME "IF HE FOUND HIMSELF IN THE HOSPITAL OR IN TROUBLE, AND THAT I WOULD TRY TO DO WHAT I PROPERLY COULD TO HELP HIM."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

NARRATOR: IN JULY, LINCOLN ISSUED THE FIRST FEDERAL DRAFT CALL.

ALL ABLE-BODIED MEN BETWEEN 20 AND 45 WERE ENROLLED, BUT THE LAW FAVORED THE WELL-TO-DO.

ANY MAN WILLING TO PAY $300 AS A "COMMUTATION FEE" OR HIRE A SUBSTITUTE TO SERVE IN HIS PLACE WAS EXEMPT.

MAN: "THE LAW IS A RICH MANS BILL, MADE FOR HIM WHO CANNOT RAISE THAT SUM."

SENATOR THADDEUS STEVENS.

NARRATOR: THE FATHERS OF THEODORE AND FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT HIRED SUBSTITUTES.

SO DID ANDREW CARNEGIE AND J.P. MORGAN AND TWO FUTURE PRESIDENTS-- CHESTER A. ARTHUR AND GROVER CLEVELAND.

BOUNTY JUMPING BECAME A PROFESSION.

MEN SIGNED UP FROM ONE DISTRICT LONG ENOUGH TO RECEIVE A REWARD FOR ENLISTING, THEN DESERTED TO DO THE SAME ELSEWHERE.

ONE MAN REPEATED THE PROCESS 32 TIMES BEFORE HE WAS CAUGHT.

SHAKER ELDER FREDERICK EVANS CAME TO SEE LINCOLN, HOPING TO HAVE HIS PACIFIST COMMUNITY EXCUSED FROM MILITARY SERVICE.

"WE NEED REGIMENTS OF SUCH MEN AS YOU," LINCOLN SAID, BUT GRANTED ELDER EVANS REQUEST.

THE SHAKERS WERE AMONG THE FIRST CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS.

ON DEER ISLE, TWO PROMINENT LOCAL CITIZENS BEGAN GOING HOUSE TO HOUSE DELIVERING INDUCTION NOTICES.

149 MEN WERE CALLED FOR THE NEW DRAFT.

42 NEVER SHOWED UP.

33 WERE EXEMPTED FOR MEDICAL REASONS.

TWO PAID SUBSTITUTES.

AND ONE MAN SOLD HIS HOUSE AND LEFT HIS WIFE AND SEVERAL CHILDREN HOMELESS RATHER THAN DESERT THEM FOR THE FRONT.

FOOTE: NEW YORK CITY CONTEMPLATED SECESSION FROM THE UNION, TOO, AND THEY WANTED TO BE DECLARED AN OPEN CITY.

THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF RESENTMENT OF THE INFLUX OF BLACKS AND A LOT OF RESISTANCE TO THE DRAFT, BECAUSE MEN COULD GET BETTER-PAYING JOBS THAN THEYD EVER HAD, AND THE LAST THING THEY WANTED WAS TO GO TO THE WAR.

THERE WAS A GOOD DEAL OF RESENTMENT, TOO, THAT IF YOU COULD SCRAPE UP $300, YOU COULD BE EXEMPT, AND ALL THOSE RESENTMENTS FLARED UP INTO WHATS CALLED THE NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS.

NARRATOR: NO GROUP WAS MORE OUTRAGED THAN THE IMMIGRANT IRISH OF NEW YORK, WHO FEARED THE BLACKS WHO COMPETED FOR THE LOWEST-PAYING JOBS AND FOR WHOSE FREEDOM THEY DID NOT WISH TO FIGHT.

DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS FANNED THEIR ANGER.

MAN: "REMEMBER THIS, "THAT THE BLOODY AND TREASONABLE "AND REVOLUTIONARY DOCTRINE "OF PUBLIC NECESSITY "CAN BE PROCLAIMED BY A MOB AS WELL AS BY A GOVERNMENT."

GOVERNOR HORATIO SEYMOUR, NEW YORK.

NARRATOR: ON SUNDAY, JULY 12, WHEN THE NAMES OF THE FIRST DRAFTEES APPEARED IN THE NEWSPAPERS ALONGSIDE LONG LISTS OF THOSE WHO HAD FALLEN AT GETTYSBURG, A MOSTLY IRISH MOB ATTACKED AND DESTROYED THE DRAFT OFFICE, THEN FANNED OUT ACROSS THE CITY.

FOR 3 DAYS, THE EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN BELONGED TO THE MOB.

BLACKS WERE THEIR MAIN TARGETS.

THEY BURNED BLACK BOARDING HOUSES, A BLACK CHURCH, A BLACK ORPHANAGE, THEN LYNCHED A CRIPPLED BLACK COACHMAN AND SET HIS CORPSE ON FIRE WHILE CHANTING "HURRAH FOR JEFF DAVIS!"

[FIRE BELLS CLANKING] MAN AS STRONG: "JULY 14, FIRE BELLS CLANKING "AS THEY HAVE CLANKED AT INTERVALS "THROUGHOUT THE EVENING.

"MANY DETAILS COME IN "OF YESTERDAYS BRUTAL, COWARDLY RUFFIANISM AND PLUNDER.

"SHOPS WERE CLEANED OUT "AND BLACK MEN HANGED IN CARMINE STREET FOR NO OFFENSE BUT THAT OF NEGRITUDE."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

NARRATOR: FINALLY, EXHAUSTED TROOPS FROM GETTYSBURG ARRIVED TO IMPOSE ORDER.

MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE HAD BEEN KILLED.

BLOODY RIOTS BROKE OUT THROUGHOUT THE NORTH AS OPPOSITION TO THE WAR INCREASED.

"THE NATION," WROTE THE EDITOR OF THE WASHINGTON TIMES, "IS AT THIS TIME IN A STATE OF REVOLUTION-- NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, AND WEST."

MAN AS LINCOLN: "YOU SAY YOU WILL NOT FIGHT TO FREE NEGROES.

"SOME OF THEM SEEM WILLING TO FIGHT FOR YOU.

"WHEN VICTORY IS WON, "THERE WILL BE SOME BLACK MEN WHO CAN REMEMBER THAT "WITH SILENT TONGUE AND CLENCHED TEETH "AND STEADY EYE AND WELL-POISED BAYONET, THEY HAVE HELPED MANKIND ON TO THIS GREAT CONSUMMATION."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

MAN: "THE NEGRO IS THE KEY TO THE SITUATION, "THE PIVOT UPON WHICH THE WHOLE REBELLION TURNS.

"THIS WAR, DISGUISE IT AS THEY MAY, "IS VIRTUALLY NOTHING MORE OR LESS "THAN PERPETUAL SLAVERY AGAINST UNIVERSAL FREEDOM, "AND TO THIS END THE FREE STATES WILL HAVE TO COME."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

MAN: "WILL THE SLAVE FIGHT?

"IF ANY MAN ASKS YOU, TELL HIM NO, "BUT IF ANYONE ASKS YOU WILL A NEGRO FIGHT, TELL HIM YES."

WENDELL PHILLIPS.

NARRATOR: SINCE THE FIRST SHOTS WERE FIRED, ABOLITIONISTS HAD BEEN PRESSING THE GOVERNMENT TO PUT BLACKS INTO BATTLE.

CONGRESS AUTHORIZED COLORED TROOPS IN 1862, BUT A YEAR WENT BY BEFORE THE FIRST BLACK MEN PUT ON BLUE COATS TO SERVE UNDER WHITE OFFICERS.

MAN: "THIS, WITH THE EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGRO, "IS THE HEAVIEST BLOW YET GIVEN THE CONFEDERACY.

"BY ARMING THE NEGRO, "WE HAVE ADDED A POWERFUL ALLY.

THEY WILL MAKE GOOD SOLDIERS."

ULYSSES S. GRANT.

CHORUS: DO YOU DO YOU THINK ILL THINK ILL MAKE A MAKE A CHRISTIAN SOLDIER?

DO YOU... NARRATOR: BLACK PRIVATES WERE PAID $10 A MONTH, $3.00 LESS THAN WHITES.

SEVERAL REGIMENTS SERVED WITHOUT PAY RATHER THAN SUBMIT TO THAT INEQUALITY.

BLACKS WERE RARELY PROMOTED.

CHORUS: ...MAKE A MAKE A SOLDIER SOLDIER SOLDIER OF THE CROSS?

FIELDS: MANY OF THE UNION SOLDIERS WHO BEGAN WITH STEREOTYPICAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT BLACK MEN, WHO ASSUMED THAT THEY COULDNT FIGHT, THAT THEY WOULD HAND THEIR WEAPONS OVER TO THE ENEMY, THAT THEY WOULD RUN AND SO ON, HAD THEIR MINDS CHANGED IN THE GRIMMEST CIRCUMSTANCES.

AND SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS THAT TELL THE STORY OF HOW PEOPLES IDEAS WERE TRANSFORMED ARE NOT THE SORT OF DOCUMENTS THAT YOU ENJOY READING BECAUSE THEY SPEAK OF HOW PEOPLE BECAME COMPANIONS IN DEATH, OF HOW WHITE SOLDIERS LEARNED TO RESPECT THEIR BLACK COMRADES WHEN THEY WATCHED HOW THEY REACTED AS PEOPLE ALL AROUND WERE BEING KILLED, BEING BUTCHERED.

[DRUMS BEATING] [SHOUTING] NARRATOR: ON JULY 18, JUST 3 DAYS AFTER THE DRAFT RIOTS ENDED, 650 MEN OF THE ALL-BLACK 54th MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT ASSAULTED A CONFEDERATE POSITION AT BATTERY WAGNER, SOUTH CAROLINA.

THEIR COMMANDER WAS A BOSTON ABOLITIONISTS SON, COLONEL ROBERT GOULD SHAW.

MAN: "IT IS NOT TOO MUCH TO SAY "THAT IF THIS MASSACHUSETTS 54th HAD FALTERED "WHEN ITS TRIAL CAME, "200,000 TROOPS FOR WHOM IT WAS A PIONEER "WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN PUT INTO THE FIELD, "BUT IT DID NOT FALTER.

"IT MADE FORT WAGNER SUCH A NAME FOR THE COLORED RACE "AS BUNKER HILL HAS BEEN FOR 90 YEARS TO THE WHITE YANKEES."

NARRATOR: 40% OF THE REGIMENT DID NOT RETURN, INCLUDING COLONEL SHAW.

FOOTE: SHAW LED THEIR ATTACK ON BATTERY WAGNER.

THEY WERE CUT TO PIECES.

THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE MADE THAT CHARGE EITHER.

AND WHEN IT WAS OVER, THE CONFEDERATES WERE IN CONTROL.

AND THERE WAS VERY HARD FEELING AGAINST THE WHITE OFFICERS OF BLACK REGIMENTS.

SHAW WAS SIMPLY THROWN IN A BURIAL PIT WITH HIS SOLDIERS.

SHAWS FATHER LATER SAID HE WAS PROUD TO HAVE HIM BURIED THAT WAY.

NARRATOR: WHEN THE FLAG BEARER FELL AND THE ORDER TO WITHDRAW WAS GIVEN, SERGEANT WILLIAM CARNEY SEIZED THE COLORS AND MADE IT BACK TO HIS LINES, DESPITE BULLETS IN THE HEAD, CHEST, RIGHT ARM, AND LEG.

HE WAS THE FIRST OF 23 BLACKS AWARDED THE MEDAL OF HONOR, THOUGH HE HAD TO WAIT 37 YEARS TO GET IT.

MAN: "FORT WAGNER.

"MY DEAR AMELIA, "I HAVE BEEN IN TWO FIGHTS AND AM UNHURT.

"I AM ABOUT TO GO IN ANOTHER, I BELIEVE, TONIGHT.

"OUR MEN FOUGHT WELL ON BOTH OCCASIONS.

"HOW I GOT OUT OF THAT FIGHT ALIVE I CANNOT TELL, "BUT I AM HERE.

"MY DEAR GIRL, I HOPE AGAIN TO SEE YOU.

"I MUST BID YOU FAREWELL.

"SHOULD I BE KILLED, "REMEMBER, IF I DIE, I DIE IN A GOOD CAUSE.

"I WISH WE HAD 100,000 COLORED TROOPS.

WE WOULD PUT AN END TO THIS WAR."

SERGEANT LEWIS DOUGLASS.

CHORUS: CHILDREN CHILDREN DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM... NARRATOR: THEY CONSTITUTED LESS THAN 1% OF THE NORTHS POPULATION, YET BY THE WARS END, THEY WOULD MAKE UP NEARLY 1/10 OF THE NORTHERN ARMY, MOST OF THEM FREED BLACKS AND RUNAWAY SLAVES.

CHORUS: DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM?

SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS NARRATOR: 85% OF THE ELIGIBLE BLACK MALE POPULATION HAD SIGNED ON.

180,000 FOUGHT TO FREE THEIR PEOPLE.

MAN: "ONCE LET THE BLACK MAN GET UPON HIS PERSON "THE BRASS LETTERS U.S., "LET HIM GET AN EAGLE ON HIS BUTTONS "AND A MUSKET ON HIS SHOULDER AND BULLETS IN HIS POCKETS, "AND THERES NO POWER ON EARTH WHICH CAN DENY "THAT HE HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO CITIZENSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES."

MAN AS SHERMAN: "THE WHOLE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES "COULD NOT RESTORE THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY "IN THE SOUTH.

"THEY CANT GET BACK THEIR SLAVES "ANY MORE THAN THEY CAN GET BACK THEIR DEAD GRANDFATHERS.

IT IS DEAD."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

NARRATOR: ONCE A BLACK UNION SOLDIER SPOTTED HIS FORMER OWNER AMONG A GROUP OF CONFEDERATE PRISONERS.

"HELLO, MASSA," HE SAID, "BOTTOM RAIL ON TOP THIS TIME."

MAN: "FOLKS TALK ABOUT THE FIGHTING BEING NEARLY OVER, "BUT I BELIEVE THERES A HEAP YET TO COME.

"LET THE COLORED MAN ACCEPT THE OFFER "OF THE PRESIDENT AND CABINET.

"TAKE ARMS, JOIN THE ARMY.

"THEN WELL WHIP THE REBELS.

"EVEN IF LONGSTREET AND ALL THE STREETS OF THE SOUTH CONCENTRATE AT CHATTANOOGA."

JERRY SULLIVAN.

NARRATOR: HARD AGAINST THE TENNESSEE RIVER AT THE MEETING POINT OF TWO STRATEGICALLY CRUCIAL RAILROADS, THE CITY OF CHATTANOOGA GUARDED THE GATEWAY TO THE EASTERN CONFEDERACY AND THE REBEL WAR INDUSTRIES IN GEORGIA.

FOR 5 MONTHS, UNION GENERAL WILLIAM ROSECRANS RESISTED LINCOLNS URGENT CALLS TO DRIVE BRAXTON BRAGGS CONFEDERATES OUT OF TENNESSEE AND SEIZE CHATTANOOGA.

WHEN SUMMER CAME, LINCOLN DEMANDED MORE DECISIVE ACTION, AND AT LONG LAST ROSECRANS MOVED, LAUNCHING A SERIES OF BRILLIANT AND ALMOST BLOODLESS FLANKING MANEUVERS.

IN 10 DAYS, HE DROVE BRAGG 80 MILES THROUGH A RELENTLESS TENNESSEE RAIN.

"NO PRESBYTERIAN RAIN, EITHER," A SOLDIER REMEMBERED, "BUT A GENUINE BAPTIST DOWNPOUR."

IN SEPTEMBER, BRAGG ABANDONED CHATTANOOGA AND KEPT BACKING AWAY UNTIL JUST OVER THE TENNESSEE LINE IN GEORGIA, WHERE HE GATHERED HIS FORCES-- NOW BOLSTERED BY LONGSTREETS VIRGINIA VETERANS-- ALONG A MEANDERING CREEK CALLED CHICKAMAUGA.

FOOTE: CHICKAMAUGA, LIKE ALL INDIAN WORDS, IS INTERPRETED TO MEAN THE RIVER OF DEATH.

GOD KNOWS WHAT IT REALLY MEANS.

CHICKAMAUGA WAS A HORRENDOUS BATTLE, A LOT OF BREAKTHROUGHS, A LOT OF HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT, A LONG, RAGGED RETREAT, A GLORIOUS SOUTHERN VICTORY WHICH WAS UNEXPLOITED.

ALL THE WESTERN HEROES WERE THERE, FROM FORREST ON DOWN.

ITS A GREAT BATTLE.

NARRATOR: AT 8 A.M. ON THE MORNING ON SEPTEMBER 18, NATHAN BEDFORD FORRESTS CAVALRY RAN INTO A BRIGADE OF FEDERALS HEADING FOR LITTLE BRIDGE OVER THE CREEK.

BY NOON, ONE OF FORRESTS OFFICERS REPORTED, THE DEAD WERE PILED UPON EACH OTHER LIKE CORDWOOD TO MAKE PASSAGE FOR ADVANCING COLUMNS.

BY NIGHTFALL, BOTH LINES HELD.

ON THE SECOND DAY OF FIERCE FIGHTING, ROSECRANS COMMITTED A FATAL MISTAKE-- ORDERING HIS TROOPS TO CLOSE A GAP IN THE UNION LINE THAT WASNT THERE.

IN THE PROCESS, HE OPENED UP A REAL ONE, AND LONGSTREETS CONFEDERATES STORMED THROUGH.

THE UNION FORCES BROKE AND RAN.

"THEY HAVE FOUGHT THEIR LAST MAN," LONGSTREET SAID, "AND EVEN HE IS RUNNING."

BUT GEORGE HENRY THOMAS, A UNION MAN FROM VIRGINIA, REFUSED TO RETREAT AND ORGANIZED A STUBBORN LAST-MINUTE DEFENSE THAT KEPT THE BATTLE FROM BECOMING A ROUT AND EARNED HIM THE NICKNAME THE "ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA."

THE NORTHERN ARMY LIMPED BACK INTO CHATTANOOGA.

ROSECRANS WAS "CONFUSED AND STUNNED," LINCOLN SAID, "LIKE A DUCK HIT ON THE HEAD."

BOTTLED UP IN CHATTANOOGA, THE UNION FORCES WERE MISERABLE-- COLD, VERMIN-INFESTED, CUT OFF FROM ALL BUT A THIN TRICKLE OF SUPPLIES.

THEY DEMOLISHED HOUSES AND HACKED DOWN EVERY TREE AND FENCE IN TOWN FOR FUEL.

THE CONFEDERATES BESIEGING THE CITY WERE IN NO BETTER SHAPE.

MAN: "IN THE VERY ACME OF OUR PRIVATIONS AND HUNGER, "WHEN THE ARMY WAS MOST DISSATISFIED AND UNHAPPY, "WE WERE ORDERED INTO LINE TO BE REVIEWED "BY THE HONORABLE JEFFERSON DAVIS.

"WHEN HE PASSED US WITH HIS GREAT RETINUE "OF STAFF OFFICERS AT FULL GALLOP, "CHEERS GREETED HIM WITH THE WORDS SEND US SOMETHING TO EAT, MASSA JEFF, IM HUNGRY, IM HUNGRY." SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: IN OCTOBER, ULYSSES S. GRANT, NOW IN COMMAND OF ALL UNION ARMIES FROM THE APPALACHIANS TO THE MISSISSIPPI, HURRIED TO CHATTANOOGA AND IMMEDIATELY REPLACED ROSECRANS WITH THOMAS.

BRAXTON BRAGGS CONFEDERATE ARMY NOW OCCUPIED THE 6-MILE CREST OF MISSIONARY RIDGE EAST OF THE CITY.

CONFEDERATE GUNS WERE MASSED ON THE 2,000-FOOT SUMMIT OF NEARBY LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN SOUTH OF TOWN.

GRANT, DOWN IN CHATTANOOGA, RESOLVED TO DRIVE THEM OFF.

[CANNON FIRE] THE BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA BEGAN ON NOVEMBER 24.

UNION TROOPS STORMED LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, FIGHTING THROUGH SUCH DENSE FOG THAT IT WAS REMEMBERED AS THE "BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS."

[CANNON FIRE] [SHOUTING] [BUGLE PLAYING] DURING THE NIGHT, A BESIEGED BRAGG WITHDREW FROM THE SUMMIT OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN TO NEARBY MISSIONARY RIDGE.

[BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC PLAYING] JUST BEFORE DAWN THE NEXT MORNING, FEDERALS STEPPED OUT ONTO AN OVERHANGING ROCK, AND AS THE SUN ROSE, UNFURLED THEIR FLAG.

THOUSANDS OF UNION MEN IN THE VALLEY BELOW BROKE INTO A THUNDEROUS CHEER.

THE UNION HAD WON.

THE NEXT UNION TASK WAS TO TAKE MISSIONARY RIDGE.

IN COMMAND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL WAS 115-POUND GENERAL PHIL SHERIDAN, WHO PULLED A FLASK FROM HIS POCKET AND TOASTED THE CONFEDERATE GUNNERS ABOVE HIM.

"HERES AT YOU," HE SAID.

THE REBELS OPENED FIRE, SPATTERING HIM AND HIS OFFICERS WITH DIRT.

"THAT WAS UNGENEROUS," SHERIDAN SAID, "ILL TAKE YOUR GUNS FOR THAT."

"WHO ORDERED THOSE MEN UP THE HILL?"

GRANT ASKED.

"NO ONE," AN AIDE REPLIED.

"THEY STARTED UP WITHOUT ORDERS.

"WHEN THOSE FELLOWS GET STARTED, ALL HELL CANT STOP THEM."

MAN: "THOSE DEFENDING THE HEIGHTS "BECAME MORE AND MORE DESPERATE "AS OUR MEN APPROACHED THE TOP.

"THEY SHOUTED CHICKAMAUGA "AS THOUGH THE WORD ITSELF WERE A WEAPON.

"THEY THRUST CARTRIDGES INTO GUNS BY THE HANDSFUL.

"THEY LIGHTED THE FUSES OF SHELLS "AND ROLLED THEM DOWN, BUT NOTHING COULD STOP THE FORCE OF THE CHARGE."

MAN 2: "JOHN WILLIAMS, SOUTH CAROLINA, KILLED AT MISSIONARY RIDGE, TENNESSEE, NOVEMBER 1863."

NARRATOR: UNDER GRANTS LEADERSHIP, THE UNION ARMY HAD BROKEN THE CONFEDERATE SIEGE AT CHATTANOOGA.

IT WAS ANOTHER TRIUMPH FOR GRANT.

"IT WAS A GREAT VICTORY," SHERMAN SAID, "THE NEATEST AND CLEANEST BATTLE I WAS EVER IN, AND GRANT DESERVES THE CREDIT OF IT ALL."

IN THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOWED, EVERYBODY POSED ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.

GENERAL THOMAS ORDERED A UNION CEMETERY LAID OUT ON A HILL CALLED ORCHARD KNOB THAT HAD SEEN SAVAGE FIGHTING.

A CHAPLAIN ASKED IF THE BURIALS SHOULD BE BY STATE.

"NO, NO.

MIX THEM UP," THOMAS SAID, "IM TIRED OF STATES RIGHTS."

AT THE CAPITOL IN WASHINGTON AT NOON ON DECEMBER 2, 1863, A 19-FOOT BRONZE GODDESS OF "FREEDOM TRIUMPHANT" WAS AT LAST HOISTED INTO PLACE.

THE GREAT DOME WAS FINISHED.

MAN: "I LIKE TO STAND ASIDE "AND LOOK A LONG, LONG WHILE UP AT THE DOME.

IT COMFORTS ME SOMEHOW."

WALT WHITMAN.

MAN: "IN CAMP, DECEMBER 3, 1863.

"IT IS NOW JUST 21 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS.

"I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING IF I COULD BE THERE "TO TAKE CHRISTMAS WITH YOU.

"MARTHA, IF YOU GET THIS LETTER AND HAVE ANY CHANCE, "I WISH YOU WOULD SEND ME AN OLD WOOLEN QUILT, "FOR IVE NOT GOT ANY BLANKETS, AND WE CANT GET ANY, SO I FARE BAD OF A COLD NIGHT."

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JACKSON.

WOMAN: "CHRISTMAS DAY, 1863.

"GENERAL BUCKNER HAD SEEN A YANKEE PICTORIAL.

"ANGELS WERE SENT DOWN FROM HEAVEN "TO BEAR UP STONEWALLS SOUL.

"THEY COULD NOT FIND IT, FLEW BACK, SORROWING.

"WHEN THEY GOT TO THE GOLDEN GATES ABOVE, "THEY FOUND STONEWALL, BY A RAPID FLANK MOVEMENT, HAD ALREADY CUT HIS WAY IN."

MARY CHESNUT.

MAN: "THIS YEAR HAS BROUGHT ABOUT MANY CHANGES "THAT AT THE BEGINNING WOULD HAVE BEEN THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE.

"THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR FINDS ME A SOLDIER "FOR THE CAUSE OF MY RACE.

"MAY GOD BLESS THE CAUSE AND ENABLE ME IN THE COMING YEAR TO FORWARD IT ON."

CHRISTIAN FLEETWOOD.

STEPHEN OATES: IT WAS AN EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS AGE.

BOTH SIDES WANTED TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD.

JOHN BROWN SAID HE WAS AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD TO BRING HIM TO HARPERS FERRY TO FREE THE SLAVES AND PERHAPS BEGIN THE CIVIL WAR.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN FINALLY FELT THAT HE, TOO, WAS AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HAND OF GOD AND THAT GOD WAS PUNISHING THE COUNTRY FOR THE CRIME OF SLAVERY.

ROBERT E. LEE SAID THAT HE WAS AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD AND SAID AT GETTYSBURG THAT ITS ALL IN GODS HANDS AND THEN SENT THE CREAM OF HIS ARMY TO ITS DOOM.

THEY REALLY FELT THAT PROVIDENCE WAS AT WORK IN THIS WAR.

AS LINCOLN SAID, "WE BOTH PRAY TO THE SAME GOD.

"WE BOTH INVOKED HIM.

WE BOTH SAID WE WERE ON HIS SIDE."

BUT IT WASNT UNTIL 1863, INDEED AT THE END OF THE WAR, THAT IT BECAME CLEAR WHERE GODS JUDGMENT WAS COMING DOWN-- THAT WAS ON THE WHOLE COUNTRY.

IT MUST NOW ATONE IN BLOOD FOR ITS COMPLICITY IN WICKEDNESS, THE WICKEDNESS OF SLAVERY.

NARRATOR: THE CIVIL WAR WAS FOUGHT IN 10,000 PLACES-- AT BIG BEND, BIG SANDY, AND THE BIG SUNFLOWER RIVER, FROM BUNKER HILL, WEST VIRGINIA, AND BLUE SPRINGS, TENNESSEE, AND CAIRO, ILLINOIS, TO GOLGOTHA CHURCH, GEORGIA, AND CHRISTIANBURG, KENTUCKY, AT CITRUS POINT ON THE CIMARRON RIVER, AND ALONG COWSKIN BOTTOM, AT PEBBLY RUN AND LA GLORIETA PASS AND GETTYSBURG.

I THINK IF I HAD MY CHOICE OF ALL THE MOMENTS TO BE PRESENT AT IN THAT WAR PERIOD, IT WOULD BE AT GETTYSBURG DURING LINCOLNS DELIVERY OF HIS SPEECH, MAYBE TO HAVE SEEN HIM CRAFT THOSE BEAUTIFUL WORDS, THOSE MARVELOUS HEALING WORDS, AND THEN DELIVER THEM.

THEY WERE FOR EVERYONE FOR ALL TIME.

THEY SUBSUMED THE ENTIRE WAR AND ALL IN IT.

IT SHOWED HIS COMPASSION FOR EVERYONE, HIS LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE.

THATS WHERE ID LIKE TO BE.

NARRATOR: ON NOVEMBER 19, LINCOLN TRAVELED TO GETTYSBURG TO DEDICATE THE NEW UNION CEMETERY.

THE FEATURED SPEAKER WAS EDWARD EVERETT OF MASSACHUSETTS, A DIPLOMAT, CLERGYMAN, AND CELEBRATED ORATOR.

THE PRESIDENT HAD BEEN INVITED ALMOST AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT TO OFFER A FEW "APPROPRIATE REMARKS."

EVERETT SPOKE FOR NOT QUITE TWO HOURS, THEN LINCOLN ROSE.

A LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHER TOOK HIS TIME FOCUSING.

PRESUMABLY THE PRESIDENT COULD BE COUNTED ON TO GO ON FOR A WHILE.

BUT HE SPOKE JUST 269 WORDS.

HE STARTED OFF BY REMINDING HIS AUDIENCE THAT JUST 87 YEARS HAD PASSED SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE NATION, AND THEN HE WENT ON TO EMBOLDEN THE UNION CAUSE WITH SOME OF THE MOST STIRRING WORDS EVER SPOKEN.

LINCOLN WAS HEADING BACK TO HIS SEAT BEFORE THE PHOTOGRAPHER COULD OPEN THE SHUTTER.

FOOTE: HE FELT THAT HE HAD FAILED, THAT IT WAS A POOR SPEECH, THAT THE PEOPLE DIDNT LIKE IT.

IT WAS SO BRIEF-- LESS THAN TWO MINUTES.

HE FELT THAT HE HAD FAILED.

LAMON-- HIS FRIEND, WARD LAMON-- WAS SITTING NEXT TO HIM ON THE STAND.

WHEN HE SAT DOWN, THERE WAS JUST A SPRINKLING OF APPLAUSE.

AND HE SAID, "LAMON, THAT SPEECH WONT SCOUR."

THATS WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT A PLOW IN THE PRAIRIES WHEN THE MUD DOESNT COME OFF IT.

MAN: "THE CHEEK OF EVERY AMERICAN MUST TINGLE WITH SHAME "AS HE READS THE SILLY, FLAT, DISH-WATERY UTTERANCES "OF THE MAN WHO HAS TO BE "POINTED OUT TO INTELLIGENT FOREIGNERS AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

CHICAGO TIMES.

MAN AS EVERETT: "DEAR MR. PRESIDENT, "I SHOULD BE GLAD IF I COULD FLATTER MYSELF "THAT I CAME AS NEAR TO THE CENTRAL IDEA "OF THE OCCASION IN TWO HOURS AS YOU DID IN TWO MINUTES."

EDWARD EVERETT.

MAN AS LINCOLN: "FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO, "OUR FATHERS BROUGHT FORTH UPON THIS CONTINENT "A NEW NATION, "CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL."

"NOW WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GREAT CIVIL WAR, "TESTING WHETHER THAT NATION "OR ANY NATION SO CONCEIVED AND SO DEDICATED CAN LONG ENDURE."

"WE ARE MET HERE ON A GREAT BATTLEFIELD OF THAT WAR.

"WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF IT "AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THOSE WHO HERE GAVE THEIR LIVES "THAT THEIR NATION MIGHT LIVE.

"IT IS ALTOGETHER FITTING AND PROPER THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS."

"BUT IN A LARGER SENSE, "WE CANNOT DEDICATE, WE CANNOT CONSECRATE, WE CANNOT HALLOW THIS GROUND."

"THE BRAVE MEN, LIVING AND DEAD, "WHO STRUGGLED HERE "HAVE CONSECRATED IT FAR ABOVE OUR POOR POWER TO ADD OR DETRACT."

"THE WORLD WILL LITTLE NOTE NOR LONG REMEMBER "WHAT WE SAY HERE, "BUT CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID HERE.

"IT IS FOR US, THE LIVING, RATHER, "TO BE DEDICATED HERE TO THE UNFINISHED WORK "WHICH THEY HAVE THUS FAR SO NOBLY CARRIED ON.

"IT IS RATHER FOR US TO BE HERE DEDICATED "TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING BEFORE US-- "THAT FROM THESE HONORED DEAD "WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSE "FOR WHICH THEY HERE GAVE "THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION, "THAT WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE "THAT THESE DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN, "THAT THIS NATION, UNDER GOD, "SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM, "AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, "BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH."

CHORUS: WE ARE WE ARE CLIMBING CLIMBING JACOB'S JACOB'S LADDER LADDER OH, WE ARE WE ARE CLIMBING CLIMBING JACOB'S JACOB'S LADDER OH, OH...WE ARE WE ARE CLIMBING CLIMBING JACOB'S LADDER SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS EVERY EVERY ROUND GOES ROUND GOES HIGHER HIGHER...HIGHER... EVERY EVERY ROUND GOES ROUND GOES HIGHER EVERY ROUND HIGHER EVERY OH, OH... ROUND GOES ROUND GOES HIGHER HIGHER OH... SOLDIERS SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS DO YOU DO YOU NARRATOR: TO LEARN MORE 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.

RISE RISE SHINE SHINE GIVE GOD YOUR GLORY GLORY RISE RISE SHINE SHINE GIVE GOD YOUR GLORY GLORY RISE RISE SHINE SHINE GIVE GOD YOUR GLORY GLORY SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS KEEP ON KEEP ON CLIMBING CLIMBING WE WILL WE WILL TURN AND MAKE IT KEEP ON KEEP ON CLIMBING CLIMBING WE WILL MAKE IT KEEP ON CLIMBING CLIMBING WE WILL MAKE IT SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS CHILDREN CHILDREN DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM FREEDOM CHILDREN TELL ME DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM CHILDREN DO YOU DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS 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 FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

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