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.

[SNARE DRUM PLAYING CADENCE] MAN: "WE BELIEVED THAT IT WAS MOST DESIRABLE "THAT THE NORTH SHOULD WIN.

"WE BELIEVED IN THE PRINCIPLE "THAT THE UNION IS INDISSOLUBLE.

"WE, OR MANY OF US AT LEAST, ALSO BELIEVED "THAT THE CONFLICT WAS INEVITABLE "AND THAT SLAVERY HAD LASTED LONG ENOUGH, "BUT WE EQUALLY BELIEVED THAT THOSE WHO STOOD AGAINST US "HELD JUST AS SACRED CONVICTIONS "THAT WERE THE OPPOSITE OF OURS, "AND WE RESPECTED THEM AS EVERY MAN WITH A HEART MUST RESPECT THOSE WHO GIVE ALL FOR THEIR BELIEF."

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

[APPLAUSE] WE ARE THE VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR, 61 TO 65.

THIS FLAG IS OF THE HAWKINS ZOUAVES, NEW YORK.

NOW SALUTE.

AS A SOUTHERNER, I WOULD SAY ONE OF THE MAIN IMPORTANCES OF THE WAR IS THAT SOUTHERNERS HAVE A SENSE OF DEFEAT, UH, WHICH, UH, NONE OF THE REST OF THE COUNTRY HAS.

YOULL SEE IN THE MOVIE PATTON, THE ACTOR WHO PLAYS PATTON SAYING, "WE AMERICANS HAVE NEVER LOST A WAR."

THATS A RATHER AMAZING STATEMENT FOR HIM TO MAKE AS PATTON BECAUSE PATTONS GRANDFATHER WAS IN LEES ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, AND HE CERTAINLY LOST A WAR.

NARRATOR: IN 1865 IN SOUTH AFRICA, WHITES DROVE THE BASUTO TRIBE FROM THEIR LAND.

IN AFGHANISTAN, RUSSIAN TROOP MOVEMENTS ALONG THE BORDER WERE A CAUSE OF GREAT INTERNATIONAL CONCERN.

AT A MONASTERY IN AUSTRIA, GREGOR MENDEL ESTABLISHED THE PRINCIPLE OF HEREDITY, AND IN IRELAND, THE POET WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS WAS BORN.

IN 1865 IN AMERICA, SAMUEL CLEMENS PUBLISHED HIS FIRST SHORT STORY AS MARK TWAIN.

THE 13th AMENDMENT, ABOLISHING SLAVERY, WAS FORMALLY RATIFIED, AND THE KU KLUX KLAN WAS FORMED.

IN 1860, MOST OF THE NATIONS 31 MILLION PEOPLE LIVED PEACEABLY ON FARMS OR IN SMALL TOWNS.

BY 1865, EVERYTHING HAD CHANGED.

SHARPSBURG, MARYLAND.

FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA.

MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE.

GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

BY THE BEGINNING OF 1865, THE CONFEDERACY WAS DYING.

TO THE WEST, ONLY THE TATTERED CONFEDERATE ARMY OF TENNESSEE REMAINED.

ITS SOLDIERS, LIKE SAM WATKINS, WORRIED MORE ABOUT FOOD AND BLANKETS AND SHOES THAN FIGHTING.

OUTSIDE PETERSBURG, ELISHA HUNT RHODES AND 120,000 OTHER UNION TROOPS WERE DUG IN, UNABLE TO DISLODGE THE STUBBORN REBEL ARMY.

ATLANTA HAD BEEN RAZED, AND GEORGIA AND THE CAROLINAS LAY HELPLESS IN WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMANS PATH.

AS THE NEW YEAR BEGAN, ROBERT E. LEE ASSUMED COMMAND OF ALL SOUTHERN FORCES AND, WITH IT, THE HOPELESS TASK OF HURLING BACK THE HUGE UNION ARMIES NOW CLOSING IN FROM EVERY SIDE.

WITH VICTORY WITHIN HIS GRASP, ABRAHAM LINCOLN LOOKED FORWARD TO A SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM AND A NEW CHALLENGE-- HEALING THE NATION HE HAD STRUGGLED SO HARD TO REUNITE.

MAN: "HERE WAS THE GREATEST AND MOST MOVING CHAPTER "IN AMERICAN HISTORY, "A BLENDING OF MEANNESS AND GREATNESS, "AN ENDING AND A BEGINNING.

"IT CAME OUT OF WHAT MEN WERE, "BUT IT DID NOT GO AS MEN HAD PLANNED.

"OF ALL MEN, ABRAHAM LINCOLN CAME THE CLOSEST "TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAD HAPPENED.

"YET EVEN HE, IN HIS FINAL BACKWARD GLANCE, "HAD TO CONFESS THAT SOMETHING THAT WENT BEYOND WORDS HAD BEEN AT WORK IN THE LAND."

"THE ALMIGHTY HAD HIS OWN PURPOSES."

BRUCE CATTON.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN, AS SHERMAN: "MY AIM WAS TO WHIP THE REBELS, "TO HUMBLE THEIR PRIDE, "TO FOLLOW THEM TO THEIR INNERMOST RECESSES, AND TO MAKE THEM FEAR AND DREAD US."

"WAR IS CRUELTY.

"THERES NO USE TRYING TO REFORM IT.

THE CRUELER IT IS, THE SOONER IT WILL BE OVER."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

NARRATOR: "WAR IS ALL HELL," WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN ONCE SAID, AND IT WAS NOW HIS AIM TO BRING THAT HELL TO THE HEART OF THE CONFEDERACY.

FOOTE: HE SAW FROM THE VERY BEGINNING HOW HARD A WAR IT WAS GONNA BE, AND WHEN HE SAID HOW HARD A WAR IT WAS GONNA BE, HE WAS RETIRED UNDER SUSPICION OF INSANITY AND THEN BROUGHT BACK WHEN THEY DECIDED MAYBE HE WASNT SO CRAZY AFTER ALL.

SHERMAN IS MAYBE THE FIRST TRULY MODERN GENERAL.

HE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO UNDERSTAND, IN THE PRESENT-DAY WORLD, THAT CIVILIANS WERE THE BACKERS-UP OF THINGS AND THAT IF YOU WENT AGAINST CIVILIANS, YOU DEPRIVED THE ARMY OF WHAT KEPT IT GOING, SO HE QUITE PURPOSELY MADE WAR AGAINST CIVILIANS.

NARRATOR: FROM ATLANTA IN LATE 1864, SHERMAN PROPOSED TO MARCH HIS ARMY THROUGH THE HEART OF GEORGIA ALL THE WAY TO SAVANNAH.

HIS ARMY WOULD LIVE OFF THE LAND, DESTROYING EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH THAT COULD CONCEIVABLY AID THE FALTERING CONFEDERACY AND A GOOD DEAL THAT COULDNT.

"I CAN MAKE THIS MARCH," HE PROMISED, "AND MAKE GEORGIA HOWL."

LINCOLNS ADVISORS THOUGHT SHERMANS PLAN FOOLHARDY.

THE PRESIDENT APPROVED IT.

"IF YOU CAN WHIP LEE AND I CAN MARCH TO THE ATLANTIC," SHERMAN TOLD GRANT, "I THINK UNCLE ABE WILL GIVE US 20 DAYS LEAVE TO SEE THE YOUNG FOLKS."

MAN: "THERE ARE RUMORS THAT WE ARE TO CUT LOOSE "AND MARCH SOUTH TO THE OCEAN.

"WERE IN FINE SHAPE AND, I THINK, COULD GO ANYWHERE UNCLE BILLY WOULD LEAD."

PRIVATE THEODORE UPSON.

NARRATOR: BEFORE LEAVING ATLANTA, SHERMAN ORDERED ALL TOWNSPEOPLE, WHITE AND BLACK, OUT OF THEIR HOMES, THEN DIRECTED HIS MEN TO BURN OR DESTROY ANYTHING OF USE TO THE REBELS.

[CANNON FIRE] CIVILIANS LOOTED THE TOWN AND HELPED SPREAD THE BLAZE THROUGHOUT THE CITY.

MAN: "A GRAND AND AWFUL SPECTACLE IS PRESENTED TO THE BEHOLDER "IN THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY, NOW IN FLAMES.

"THE HEAVEN IS ONE EXPANSE OF LURID FIRE.

"THE AIR IS FILLED WITH FLYING CINDERS.

"THE CITY WHICH, NEXT TO RICHMOND, "HAS FURNISHED MORE MATERIAL FOR PROSECUTING THE WAR THAN ANY OTHER IN THE SOUTH..." "EXISTS NO MORE AS A MEANS FOR INJURY TO BE USED BY THE ENEMIES OF THE UNION."

NARRATOR: SHERMAN BEGAN HIS MARCH.

62,000 MEN IN BLUE WERE ON THE MOVE IN TWO GREAT COLUMNS.

THEIR SUPPLY TRAIN STRETCHED 25 MILES.

A SLAVE WATCHING THE ARMY STREAM PAST WONDERED ALOUD IF ANYBODY WAS LEFT UP NORTH.

MAN: "THE NAME OF THE CAPTOR OF ATLANTA, IF HE FAILS NOW, "WILL BECOME THE SCOFF OF MANKIND "AND THE HUMILIATION OF THE UNITED STATES FOR ALL TIME.

IF HE SUCCEEDS, IT WILL BE WRITTEN ON THE TABLET OF FAME."

LONDON HERALD.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: "REACHING THE HILL JUST OUTSIDE THE OLD REBEL WORKS, "WE PAUSED TO LOOK BACK.

"BEHIND US LAY ATLANTA IN RUINS, "THE BLACK SMOKE RISING HIGH IN THE AIR, "HANGING LIKE A PALL.

"THEN WE TURNED OUR HORSES HEADS TO THE EAST.

"ATLANTA WAS SOON LOST BEHIND THE SCREEN OF TREES AND BECAME A THING OF THE PAST."

FOOTE: IT HAD BEEN CUMULATIVE EVIDENCE THAT AN ARMY COULD SUBSIST ITSELF ON WHAT WAS GROWING IN THE FIELDS, WINTER OR SUMMER, AND THEY WERE A MOVING CITY, LIKE.

THEY WOULD GRIND THEIR OWN CORN AT THE GRIST MILLS ALONG THE WAY, BUTCHER THEIR OWN CATTLE.

SHERMAN WAS PERFECTLY SATISFIED HE COULD MAKE THE MARCH WITHOUT DIFFICULTY WITH REGARD TO SUPPLIES.

IN FACT, THEY ATE BETTER ON THAT MARCH THAN THEY DID NOT MARCHING.

SWEET POTATOES WERE PARTICULARLY PRIZED, AND PORK.

THEY HAD PLENTY TO EAT.

MAN: "THIS IS PROBABLY "THE MOST GIGANTIC PLEASURE EXCURSION EVER PLANNED.

"IT ALREADY BEATS EVERYTHING I EVER SAW SOLDIERING AND PROMISES TO PROVE MUCH RICHER YET."

MAN: "WE HAD A GAY OLD CAMPAIGN.

"DESTROYED ALL WE COULD NOT EAT, STOLE THEIR NIGGERS, "BURNED THEIR COTTON AND GINS, SPILLED THEIR SORGHUM, "BURNED AND TWISTED THEIR RAILROADS, AND RAISED HELL, GENERALLY."

NARRATOR: SHERMANS MEN TORE UP RAILROADS, HEATING THE RAILS AND TWISTING THEM BEYOND REPAIR.

IT BECAME A TRADEMARK-- SHERMANS NECKTIES.

HE FORBADE HIS MEN TO PLUNDER THE HOMES THEY PASSED, BUT NEITHER HE NOR THEY TOOK THE ORDER VERY SERIOUSLY.

MAN: "IVE GOT A REGIMENT THAT CAN KILL, GUT, AND SCRAPE A PIG WITHOUT BREAKING RANKS."

WOMAN: "THEY SAY NO LIVING THING "IS FOUND IN SHERMANS TRACK, "ONLY CHIMNEYS, LIKE TELEGRAPH POLES, TO CARRY THE NEWS OF HIS ATTACK BACKWARDS."

MARY CHESNUT.

MAN: "I DOUBT IF HISTORY AFFORDS A PARALLEL "TO THE DEEP AND BITTER ENMITY "OF THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.

"NO ONE WHO SEES THEM AND HEARS BUT MUST FEEL THE INTENSITY OF THEIR HATE."

[CANNON FIRE] WOMAN: "AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD REACH, "THE LURID FLAMES OF BURNING HOUSES "LIT UP THE HEAVENS.

"I COULD STAND OUT ON THE VERANDA AND, FOR 2 OR 3 MILES, WATCH THE YANKEES AS THEY CAME ON."

"I COULD MARK WHEN THEY REACHED THE RESIDENCE OF EACH AND EVERY FRIEND ON THE ROAD."

NARRATOR: THE TROOPS LOOTED SLAVE CABINS, AS WELL AS MANSIONS, POKED THEIR RAMRODS INTO FLOWER BEDS IN SEARCH OF BURIED VALUABLES, AND BURNED EVERYTHING IN THEIR PATH.

WOMAN: "THE THOUSAND POUNDS OF MEAT IN MY SMOKEHOUSE IS GONE.

"MY 18 FAT TURKEYS, MY HENS, "CHICKENS, AND FOWL, MY YOUNG PIGS "ARE SHOT DOWN IN MY YARD AS IF THEY WERE THE REBELS."

MAN: "THE CRUELTIES PRACTICED "ON THIS CAMPAIGN TOWARDS THE CITIZENS "HAVE BEEN ENOUGH TO BLAST A MORE SACRED CAUSE THAN OURS.

WE HARDLY DESERVE SUCCESS."

NARRATOR: AT MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, SHERMANS MEN BOILED THEIR COFFEE OVER BONFIRES OF CONFEDERATE CURRENCY, HELD A MOCK SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE THAT PASSED A RESOLUTION RETURNING GEORGIA TO THE UNION.

SHERMANS MEN WERE FEASTING ON DELICACIES FORAGED FROM LOCAL FARMS WHEN A BAND OF EMACIATED MEN TOTTERED INTO THE FIRELIGHT.

THEY WERE UNION ESCAPEES FROM ANDERSONVILLE PRISON.

AN INDIANA COLONEL REMEMBERED THAT THE SIGHT OF THE STARVED MEN "SICKENED AND INFURIATED" HIS TROOPS.

MAN: "WHEN FORAGING NOW, "THEY THINK OF THE TENS OF THOUSANDS "OF THEIR IMPRISONED COMRADES SLOWLY PERISHING WITH HUNGER, AND THEY SWEEP WITH THE SCYTHE OF DESTRUCTION."

[CANNON FIRE] NARRATOR: BEFORE THEY WERE THROUGH, SHERMAN AND HIS MEN WOULD CROSS 425 MILES OF HOSTILE TERRITORY AND WREAK $100 MILLION WORTH OF HAVOC.

THE SOUTH WOULD NEVER FORGET.

MAN: "WE WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE DEATH.

"BETTER TO DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS THAN SUBMIT TO LIVE UNDER YOU AND YOUR NEGRO ALLIES."

GENERAL JOHN BELL HOOD.

NARRATOR: LACKING A LEG AND THE USE OF ONE ARM, JOHN BELL HOOD HAD TO BE STRAPPED TO THE SADDLE EACH MORNING, BUT HE FOUGHT AS HARD AND AS RECKLESSLY AS EVER.

HOOD AND HIS DWINDLING ARMY NOW TRIED TO DIVERT SHERMANS ATTENTION BY MOVING NORTH TO JOIN FORCES WITH NATHAN BEDFORD FORRESTS CAVALRY AND INVADE TENNESSEE.

SHERMAN WAS DELIGHTED.

"IF HE WILL GO TO THE OHIO RIVER, ILL GIVE HIM RATIONS," HE SAID.

"MY BUSINESS IS DOWN SOUTH."

WAITING FOR HOOD IN TENNESSEE WAS A FRESH, WELL-EQUIPPED UNION ARMY 1/3 AGAIN AS LARGE AS HOODS, COMMANDED BY GEORGE THOMAS, "THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA."

[CANNON FIRE] AT FRANKLIN, HOOD ORDERED A SERIES OF 13 HOPELESS CHARGES IN WHICH 12 CONFEDERATE GENERALS AND 7,000 SOLDIERS WERE LOST, MORE MEN THAN U.S. GRANT HAD LOST AT COLD HARBOR THE YEAR BEFORE, MORE THAN GEORGE McCLELLAN LOST IN ALL THE BATTLES OF THE 7 DAYS IN 1862.

FOOTE: FRANKLIN IS A HORRENDOUS BATTLE, AND THE FLOWER OF THE ARMY FELL.

THERES A STRONG SUSPICION THAT HOOD WAS TRYING TO DISCIPLINE HIS ARMY BY STAGING THAT CHARGE, AND THERES SOME TRUTH IN IT.

HIS ARMY WAS WRECKED.

THE DEFEAT AT NASHVILLE IS IN LARGE PART DUE TO WHAT HAD HAPPENED AT FRANKLIN A MONTH BEFORE.

NARRATOR: AT NASHVILLE, GEORGE THOMAS ATTACKED WHAT WAS LEFT OF HOODS ARMY.

MAN: "MY BOOT WAS FULL OF BLOOD "AND MY CLOTHING SATURATED WITH IT.

"I REACHED GENERAL HOODS HEADQUARTERS.

"HE WAS MUCH AGITATED AND AFFECTED, "PULLING HIS HAIR WITH HIS ONE HAND-- "HE HAD BUT ONE-- AND CRYING LIKE HIS HEART WOULD BREAK."

SAM WATKINS.

NARRATOR: HOODS ARMY HAD DISINTEGRATED.

"I BEHELD FOR THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME," HE CONFESSED, "A CONFEDERATE ARMY ABANDON THE FIELD IN CONFUSION."

HOOD RESIGNED.

LEE RECALLED JOE JOHNSTON TO ACTIVE DUTY AND PUT HIM IN CHARGE OF PATCHING TOGETHER WHATEVER CONFEDERATE FORCES REMAINED OUTSIDE OF VIRGINIA.

MAN: "WE WERE WILLING TO GO ANYWHERE "OR TO FOLLOW ANYONE WHO WOULD LEAD US.

"WE WERE ANXIOUS TO FLEE, FIGHT, OR FORTIFY.

"I HAVE NEVER SEEN AN ARMY SO CONFUSED AND DEMORALIZED.

THE WHOLE THING SEEMED TO BE TOTTERING AND TREMBLING."

MAN: "GENTLEMEN, YOU CANNOT QUALIFY WAR "IN HARSHER TERMS THAN I WILL.

"WE CANNOT CHANGE THE HEARTS "OF THESE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH, "BUT WE CAN MAKE WAR SO TERRIBLE "AND MAKE THEM SO SICK OF WAR "THAT GENERATIONS WILL PASS AWAY BEFORE THEY AGAIN APPEAL TO IT."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

WOMAN: "DARKEST OF ALL DECEMBERS "EVER MY LIFE HAS KNOWN, "SITTING HERE BY THE EMBERS, STUNNED, HELPLESS, ALONE."

MARY CHESNUT.

MAN: "MY NAME IS CHARLES JESS.

"I WAS BORN IN SOUTH CAROLINA AS A SLAVE, "AND I WAS FREED "WHEN SHERMANS ARMY CAME INTO THE COUNTY OF CHATHAM.

"I WAS A UNION MAN.

"IS A SLAVE AND COULD NOT BE ANYTHING ELSE "BECAUSE I WANTED MY FREEDOM, "AND I HOPED AND EXPECTED IT WOULD GIVE ME MY FREEDOM, AS IT DID."

MAN: "THE NEGROES FOLLOWED THE ARMY "LIKE A SABLE CLOUD IN THE SKY BEFORE A THUNDERSTORM.

THEY THOUGHT IT WAS FREEDOM NOW OR NEVER."

NARRATOR: 25,000 SLAVES FLED TO SHERMANS ARMY, JUBILANT HE HAD COME TO LIBERATE THEM, BUT FEARFUL THAT IF THEY STRAYED TOO FAR FROM HIS COLUMNS, THEY WOULD BE CAUGHT BY CONFEDERATE GUERRILLAS.

"PERFECT ANARCHY REIGNED," ONE PLANTATION OWNER SAID.

IT WAS, SAID ANOTHER, "THE BREATH OF EMANCIPATION."

MAN, ON RECORDING: AND THE YANKEES WOULD COME, AND AFTER A WHILE, THERE WOULD BE A WHOLE TROOP OF MEN COME.

THEY SAID THEY WERE YANKEES, ALL RIDING HORSES.

SO I ASKED THEM, I SAID, "WHERE ARE THEY GOING?"

THEY SAID THEY ALL GOING HOME NOW.

THEY SAID, "WELL, ALL OF YOU NIGGERS IS ALL FREE NOW."

MAN, AS SHERMAN: "THEY GATHER AROUND ME IN CROWDS, "AND I CANT FIND OUT WHETHER I AM MOSES OR AARON, BUT SURELY I AM RATED AS ONE OF THE CONGREGATION."

MAN: "IT SEEMS THE GOOD PEOPLE IN THE NORTH "ARE TERRIBLY WORRIED ABOUT US.

"THEY CALLED US THE LOST ARMY, "AND SOME THOUGHT WE WOULD NEVER SHOW UP AGAIN.

"I DONT THINK THEY KNOW WHAT KIND OF AN ARMY THIS IS "THAT UNCLE BILLY HAS.

"WHY, IF GRANT CAN KEEP LEE AND HIS TROOPS BUSY, WE CAN TRAMP ALL OVER THIS CONFEDERACY."

PRIVATE THEODORE UPSON.

NARRATOR: THROUGHOUT THE NORTH, PEOPLE WONDERED WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO SHERMANS ARMY, UNTIL SUDDENLY, WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN EMERGED NEAR SAVANNAH.

MAN: "DECEMBER 25, 1864.

"DEAR MR. PRESIDENT, "I BEG TO PRESENT YOU, AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT, "THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, "WITH 150 HEAVY GUNS AND PLENTY OF AMMUNITION, ALSO ABOUT 25,000 BALES OF COTTON."

HE THEN REGROUPS AT SAVANNAH, AND IN THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY, HE STARTS INTO SOUTH CAROLINA.

SOUTH CAROLINA GETS IT EVEN WORSE THAN GEORGIA BECAUSE THEY FIGURED THATS WHERE SECESSION STARTED.

NARRATOR: SHERMAN NOW TURNED HIS COLUMNS NORTHWARD INTO THE CAROLINAS.

A RELENTLESS WINTER RAIN WAS FALLING, AND CONFEDERATE GENERALS WERE CONFIDENT NO ARMY COULD MARCH THROUGH THE MUD, BUT SHERMAN AND HIS MEN MADE A STEADY 10 MILES A DAY.

BATTALIONS OF AXMEN LED THE WAY, HACKING DOWN WHOLE FORESTS TO CONSTRUCT CORDUROY ROADS.

MAN: "WHEN I LEARNED THAT SHERMANS ARMY "WAS MARCHING THROUGH THE SALKEHATCHIE SWAMPS "MAKING ITS OWN ROADS "AT THE RATE OF A DOZEN MILES A DAY "AND BRINGING ITS ARTILLERY AND WAGONS WITH IT, "I MADE UP MY MIND THAT THERE HAD BEEN NO SUCH ARMY IN EXISTENCE SINCE THE DAYS OF JULIUS CAESAR."

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

[CANNON FIRE] NARRATOR: SHERMANS MEN WERE STILL HARSHER IN SOUTH CAROLINA THAN THEY HAD BEEN IN GEORGIA.

"HERE IS WHERE TREASON BEGAN," A PRIVATE SAID, "AND BY GOD, THIS IS WHERE IT SHALL END."

FEW HOUSES WERE LEFT STANDING.

WOMAN: "THE WIND MOANS AMONG THE BLEAK CHIMNEYS "AND WHISTLES THROUGH THE GAPING WINDOWS.

"THE MARKET IS A RUINED SHELL, ITS SPIRE FALLEN IN, "THE OLD BELL, SECESSIA, "THAT HAD RUNG OUT EVERY STATE AS IT SECEDED, LYING HALF-BURIED IN THE EARTH."

NARRATOR: ON FEBRUARY 17, 1865, FORT SUMTER WAS ABANDONED, ALONG WITH ALL OF CHARLESTON.

"THIS DISAPPOINTMENT," JEFFERSON DAVIS ADMITTED, "IS EXTREMELY BITTER."

MAN: "A CITY OF RUINS, "OF DESOLATION, OF VACANT HOUSES, OF WIDOWED WOMEN..." "OF ROTTING WHARVES, "OF DESERTED WAREHOUSES, "OF WEED-WILD GARDENS, OF MILES OF GRASS-GROWN STREETS, "OF ACRES OF PITIFUL AND VOICEFUL BARRENNESS-- "THAT IS CHARLESTON, WHEREIN REBELLION LOFTILY REARED ITS HEAD."

[CANNON FIRE] WOMAN: "JACK MIDDLETON WRITES FROM RICHMOND, "THE WOLF IS AT THE DOOR HERE.

"WE DREAD STARVATION FAR MORE "THAN WE DO GRANT OR SHERMAN.

FAMINE--THAT IS THE WORD NOW."

MARY CHESNUT.

NARRATOR: EVERYWHERE THE UNION ARMIES MARCHED, THE BACK ROADS FILLED WITH CONFEDERATE REFUGEES.

THOUSANDS FLED TO TEXAS IN SEARCH OF A NEW START.

THOUSANDS MORE FLOCKED TO RICHMOND, HOPING THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT WOULD CARE FOR THEM.

THERE WAS LITTLE IT COULD DO.

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT WAS COMING APART.

THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA REFUSED TO PERMIT ANY BUT HIS OWN TROOPS TO WEAR THE 92,000 UNIFORMS HE WAS HOARDING.

IN GEORGIA, GOVERNOR JOSEPH BROWN THREATENED TO SECEDE FROM THE CONFEDERACY.

STATES RIGHTS STILL CAME FIRST.

MAN: "IF THE CONFEDERACY FAILS, "THERE SHOULD BE WRITTEN ON ITS TOMBSTONE-- DIED OF A THEORY."

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS.

MAN, AS LEE: "I HAVE BEEN UP TO SEE THE CONGRESS, "AND THEY DO NOT SEEM ABLE TO DO ANYTHING "EXCEPT EAT PEANUTS AND CHEW TOBACCO, WHILE MY ARMY IS STARVING."

ROBERT E. LEE.

NARRATOR: LEE BEGGED FOR MORE SUPPLIES.

DAVIS HAD NONE TO GIVE.

A SINGLE STICK OF FIREWOOD COST $5.00 IN RICHMOND.

A BARREL OF FLOUR HAD RISEN TO $250 AND COULD RARELY BE FOUND EVEN AT THAT PRICE.

WOMAN: "I DAILY PART WITH MY RAIMENT FOR FOOD.

"WE FIND NO ONE WHO WILL EXCHANGE EATABLES "FOR CONFEDERATE MONEY, SO WE ARE DEVOURING OUR CLOTHES."

NARRATOR: HUNDREDS OF CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS WERE DESERTING EVERY DAY, COLD, HUNGRY, BAREFOOT, DRIVEN BY DESPERATE LETTERS FROM HOME.

LEE ASKED THAT SLAVES NOW BE ARMED TO DEFEND THE CONFEDERACY.

"WE MUST DECIDE," HE SAID, "WHETHER THE NEGRO SHALL FIGHT FOR US OR AGAINST US.

THOSE WILLING TO FIGHT," HE ADDED, WOULD BE FREED AFTER THE WAR."

THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS FINALLY AUTHORIZED BLACK TROOPS BECAUSE, AS THE RICHMOND EXAMINER SAID, "THE COUNTRY WILL NOT DENY GENERAL LEE ANYTHING HE MAY ASK FOR."

6 DAYS LATER, THE CITIZENS OF RICHMOND SAW AN ASTONISHING SIGHT-- A NEW CONFEDERATE BATTALION MADE UP OF WHITE CONVALESCENTS AND BLACK HOSPITAL ORDERLIES MARCHING UP MAIN STREET TO THE STRAINS OF DIXIE.

MAN: "YOU CANNOT MAKE SOLDIERS OF SLAVES "OR SLAVES OF SOLDIERS.

"THE DAY YOU MAKE A SOLDIER OF THEM "IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE REVOLUTION, "AND IF SLAVES SEEM GOOD SOLDIERS, THEN OUR WHOLE THEORY OF SLAVERY IS WRONG."

SENATOR HOWELL COBB, GEORGIA.

NARRATOR: EARLIER THAT WINTER, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS HAD VOTED 119 TO 56 TO PASS THE 13th AMENDMENT TO ABOLISH SLAVERY AND SENT IT TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION.

11 MONTHS LATER, SLAVERY WAS OFFICIALLY ABOLISHED EVERYWHERE AND FOR ALL TIME.

MAN: "VERILY, THE WORK DOES NOT END "WITH THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, BUT ONLY BEGINS."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

MAN: "I SEE THE PRESIDENT ALMOST EVERY DAY.

"I SAW HIM THIS MORNING ABOUT 8:30, "COMING INTO BUSINESS.

"WEVE GOT SO THAT WE EXCHANGE BOWS, AND VERY CORDIAL ONES.

"I SEE VERY PLAINLY "ABRAHAM LINCOLNS DARK BROWN FACE WITH ITS DEEP-CUT LINES, "THE EYES ALWAYS, TO ME, WITH A LATENT SADNESS IN THE EXPRESSION."

"NONE OF THE ARTISTS OR PICTURES "HAS CAUGHT THE DEEP, THOUGH SUBTLE AND INDIRECT, EXPRESSION "OF THIS MANS FACE.

"THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE THERE.

"ONE OF THE GREAT PORTRAIT PAINTERS OF 2 OR 3 CENTURIES AGO IS NEEDED."

WALT WHITMAN.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: "MARCH 4th.

"WE CAPTURED 25 CANNON.

"GENERAL MOWER FIRED THEM TODAY IN A SALUTE "IN HONOR OF THE INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN "FOR HIS SECOND TERM.

"HIS FIRST INAUGURATION WAS NOT CELEBRATED IN NORTH CAROLINA, "BUT THE GLORIFICATION OVER THE BEGINNING OF HIS SECOND TERM GOES TO MAKE UP THE DEFICIENCY."

GEORGE NICHOLS.

NARRATOR: INAUGURATION DAY WAS COLD AND WINDY, JUST AS IT HAD BEEN 4 YEARS EARLIER...

BUT THE U.S. CAPITOL WAS NOW COMPLETE, ITS GREAT IRON DOME IN PLACE, CROWNED BY A BRONZE LIBERTY.

JUST BEFORE THE PRESIDENT BEGAN TO SPEAK, THE CLOUDS PARTED, FLOODING THE STAND WITH BRILLIANT SUNLIGHT.

MAN, AS LINCOLN: "FONDLY DO WE HOPE, "FERVENTLY DO WE PRAY THAT THIS MIGHTY SCOURGE OF WAR MAY SPEEDILY PASS AWAY."

"YET IF GOD WILLS THAT IT CONTINUE "UNTIL ALL THE WEALTH PILED UP "BY THE BONDSMANS 250 YEARS OF UNREQUITED TOIL "SHALL BE SUNK "AND UNTIL EVERY DROP OF BLOOD DRAWN WITH THE LASH "SHALL BE PAID BY ANOTHER DRAWN WITH THE SWORD, "AS WAS SAID 3,000 YEARS AGO, "SO STILL MUST BE SAID, "THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS ALTOGETHER."

"WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE, "WITH CHARITY FOR ALL... "WITH FIRMNESS IN THE RIGHT "AS GOD GIVES US TO SEE THE RIGHT, "LET US STRIVE ON TO FINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN, "TO BIND UP THE NATIONS WOUNDS, "TO CARE FOR HIM WHO SHALL HAVE BORNE THE BATTLE "AND FOR HIS WIDOW AND HIS ORPHAN... "TO DO ALL WHICH MAY ACHIEVE AND CHERISH "A JUST AND LASTING PEACE AMONG OURSELVES AND WITH ALL NATIONS."

MAN: CAN IT BE ANYONE BUT LINCOLN THAT ANY OF US COULD BE DRAWN TO AS THE CENTRAL FIGURE OF THE WAR?

BECAUSE, IN A WAY, HE COMPREHENDED BOTH SIDES.

"WE MUST NOT BE ENEMIES.

WE MUST BE FRIENDS."

[HAIL TO THE CHIEF PLAYING] NARRATOR: "IM A TIRED MAN," LINCOLN SAID AFTERWARDS.

"SOMETIMES I THINK IM THE TIREDEST MAN ON EARTH."

IN THE CROWD JUST A FEW YARDS FROM LINCOLN WAS THE YOUNG ACTOR JOHN WILKES BOOTH, A PISTOL IN HIS POCKET.

HIS VANTAGE POINT ON THE BALCONY, BOOTH SAID AFTERWARDS, HAD OFFERED "AN EXCELLENT CHANCE TO KILL THE PRESIDENT...

IF I HAD WISHED."

JOHN WILKES BOOTH WAS A FERVENT BELIEVER IN SLAVERY AND WHITE SUPREMACY, BUT DURING 4 YEARS OF WAR, HE HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO BRING HIMSELF ACTUALLY TO FIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN CAUSE.

MAN, AS BOOTH: "I HAVE BEGUN TO DEEM MYSELF A COWARD AND TO DESPISE MY OWN EXISTENCE."

NARRATOR: HIS MIND FIXED ON LINCOLN AS THE TYRANT RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE COUNTRYS TROUBLES AND HIS OWN.

BOOTH HATCHED A SCHEME TO KIDNAP LINCOLN AND GATHERED A WORSHIPFUL BAND OF DUBIOUS CONSPIRATORS WILLING TO HELP OUT.

LEWIS PAINE, A WOUNDED CONFEDERATE WHO HAD RECENTLY SWORN ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNION.

DAVID E. HEROLD, A DRUGGISTS CLERK WHO WAS THOUGHT BY SOME TO BE MENTALLY RETARDED.

GEORGE ATZERODT, A GERMAN-BORN WAGON PAINTER BARELY ABLE TO MAKE HIMSELF UNDERSTOOD IN ENGLISH.

AND JOHN H. SURRATT, A SOMETIME CONFEDERATE SPY WHOSE WIDOWED MOTHER MARY KEPT A WASHINGTON BOARDINGHOUSE WHERE BOOTH AND HIS ADMIRERS SOMETIMES MET.

[HOOFBEATS] TWO WEEKS AFTER THE INAUGURATION, BOOTH AND HIS ACCOMPLICES, ALL WEARING MASKS, RODE OUT TOWARD THE SOLDIERS HOME, WHERE LINCOLN OFTEN SLEPT, HOPING TO INTERCEPT HIS CARRIAGE.

THE PRESIDENT NEVER CAME.

"SO GOES THE WORLD," BOOTH WROTE.

"MIGHT MAKES RIGHT."

[STEAM WHISTLE] LATE IN MARCH, LINCOLN SAILED DOWN TO CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, TO CONFER WITH HIS GENERALS ABOARD GRANTS FLOATING HEADQUARTERS, THE RIVER QUEEN.

SHERMAN, WHO HAD INTERRUPTED HIS MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS, HAD MET LINCOLN ONLY ONCE BEFORE, IN 1861, AND FOUND HIM THEN A WEAK AND PARTISAN POLITICIAN UNEQUAL TO HIS TASK.

THE TALKS LASTED TWO DAYS.

GRANT, SHERMAN, AND ADMIRAL PORTER DETAILED PLANS FOR ONE LAST MAJOR CAMPAIGN.

LINCOLN, SATISFIED THAT VICTORY SEEMED WITHIN REACH, OUTLINED PLANS FOR PEACE.

"IF THE REBELS WOULD LAY DOWN THEIR GUNS AND GO HOME," LINCOLN SAID, "THEY SHOULD BE WELCOMED BACK AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES."

MAN: "I NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN.

"OF ALL THE MEN I EVER MET, "HE SEEMED TO ME TO POSSESS MORE OF THE ELEMENTS OF GREATNESS "COMBINED WITH GOODNESS THAN ANY OTHER."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

[CANNON FIRE] MAN: "MY OWN CORPS WAS STRETCHED "UNTIL THE MEN STOOD LIKE A ROW OF VEDETTES "15 FEET APART.

"IT WAS NOT A LINE, IT WAS THE MERE SKELETON OF A LINE."

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON.

NARRATOR: ULYSSES S. GRANT AND ROBERT E. LEE HAD FACED ONE ANOTHER IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG FOR 9 MONTHS.

SLOWLY, STEADILY, GRANT HAD EXTENDED HIS TRENCHES AROUND PETERSBURG.

LEES LINES HAD BEEN FORCED TO STRETCH, TOO, BUT HIS ARMY WAS SHRINKING.

IN 9 MONTHS, 60,000 SOUTHERN SOLDIERS HAD DESERTED.

MAN: "ALL OF US THINK WERE WHIPPED NOW.

"THE MEN ARE RAGGED AND ARE GETTING HALF RATIONS.

"SOME SAY WELL HAVE TO GO TO GEORGEY, BUT THE MEN WILL NOT GO THERE."

NARRATOR: THE THINNING CONFEDERATE LINES AROUND PETERSBURG FINALLY EXTENDED 53 MILES.

GRANTS FORCES NUMBERED 125,000.

LEES HAD DWINDLED TO 35,000.

[CANNON FIRE] LEES ONLY HOPE LAY IN MOVING HIS ARMY TO THE SOUTHWEST TO LINK UP WITH JOHNSTON IN THE HILLS OF NORTH CAROLINA AND FIGHT ON.

[CANNON FIRE] ON MARCH 25th, CONFEDERATES UNDER JOHN B. GORDON MOUNTED A SUDDEN NIGHT ASSAULT THAT BRIEFLY WON POSSESSION OF AN EARTHWORK CALLED FORT STEDMAN.

IT WAS LEES LAST ADVANCE.

GRANT COUNTERATTACKED, RACING AROUND THE REBEL FLANK TO BLOCK LEES ESCAPE AT FIVE FORKS.

THERE, ON APRIL 1st, HE ROUTED A CONFEDERATE DIVISION UNDER GEORGE PICKETT.

THE NEXT DAY, UNION FORCES ATTACKED ALL ALONG THE PETERSBURG LINE.

SLOWLY, RELENTLESSLY, AND AT GREAT COST, THEY DROVE THE CONFEDERATES OUT OF THEIR TRENCHES.

AMONG THE SOUTHERN DEAD LEFT BEHIND WERE SHOELESS BOYS AS YOUNG AS 14.

MAN: "THE CONDUCT OF THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE "APPEARS MANY TIMES TRULY NOBLE, AS EXEMPLIFIED, FOR INSTANCE, "IN THE DEFENSE OF PETERSBURG.

"OLD MEN WITH SILVER LOCKS LAY DEAD IN THE TRENCHES "SIDE BY SIDE WITH MERE BOYS OF 13 OR 14.

"IT ALMOST MAKES ONE SORRY TO HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST PEOPLE WHO SHOW SUCH DEVOTION FOR THEIR HOMES AND THEIR COUNTRY."

WASHINGTON ROEBLING.

NARRATOR: A.P.

HILL, WHO HAD SERVED LEE FAITHFULLY IN A DOZEN BATTLES AND STAVED OFF CONFEDERATE DISASTER AT ANTIETAM, TRIED TO RALLY HIS MEN.

TWO UNION INFANTRYMEN SHOT HIM DEAD AS HE RODE BETWEEN THE LINES.

MAN: "HE IS AT REST, AND WE WHO ARE LEFT ARE THE ONES TO SUFFER."

[YANKEE DOODLE PLAYING] NARRATOR: PETERSBURG, THE SCENE OF 9 MONTHS SIEGE, FELL TO GRANTS ARMY.

AS BLACK CIVILIANS CHEERED THE BLACK SOLDIERS THAT LED THE UNION COLUMNS INTO THE CITY, LEES ARMY SLIPPED ACROSS THE APPOMATTOX RIVER.

[BELL CHIMES] IN RICHMOND, JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS ATTENDING 10:00 SERVICES THAT SUNDAY MORNING AT ST. PAULS EPISCOPAL CHURCH WHEN THE SEXTON HANDED HIM A MESSAGE.

MAN: "PRESIDENT DAVIS, MY LINES ARE BROKEN IN 3 PLACES.

RICHMOND MUST BE EVACUATED THIS EVENING."

ROBERT E. LEE.

WOMAN: "I HAPPENED TO SIT IN THE REAR OF THE PRESIDENTS PEW, "SO NEAR THAT I PLAINLY SAW THE SORT OF GRAY PALLOR "THAT CAME UPON HIS FACE AS HE READ A SCRAP OF PAPER THRUST INTO HIS HAND."

NARRATOR: DAVIS HURRIED FROM THE CHURCH AND ORDERED HIS GOVERNMENT TO MOVE TO DANVILLE, VIRGINIA, 140 MILES TO THE SOUTH.

ON THE EVENING OF APRIL 2nd, DAVIS AND HIS CABINET BOARDED THE LAST TRAIN, A SERIES OF FREIGHT CARS LABELED "TREASURY DEPARTMENT," "QUARTERMASTERS DEPARTMENT," "WAR DEPARTMENT."

WOMAN: "WE TRIED TO COMFORT OURSELVES BY SAYING IN LOW TONES "THAT THE CAPITAL WAS ONLY MOVED TEMPORARILY, "THAT GENERAL LEE WOULD MAKE A STAND "AND REPULSE THE DARING ENEMY, AND THAT WE WOULD YET WIN THE BATTLE AND THE DAY."

NARRATOR: A SLAVE DEALER NAMED LUMPKIN FAILED TO GET HIS 50 CHAINED SLAVES ABOARD.

HE HAD TO UNLOCK $50,000 WORTH OF PROPERTY IN THE STREET AND LET THEM GO.

THE RETREATING CONFEDERATES SET FIRE TO MUCH OF RICHMOND.

MOBS PLUNDERED STORES, BROKE INTO ABANDONED HOUSES.

THE FIRE ON LAND SPREAD TO THE CONFEDERATE ARSENAL.

[EXPLOSION] THE EXPLOSION ROCKED THE CITY AND SHATTERED WINDOWS FOR MILES AROUND.

MAN: "EVERYTHING WAS IN THE WILDEST CONFUSION.

"THE LOW CHARACTERS OF THE TOWN HAD BROKEN INTO EVERYTHING "AND WERE LOOTING THE TOWN, "BEING AIDED TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT "BY THE SOLDIERS WHO HAD BROKEN THROUGH ALL DISCIPLINE."

WOMAN: "I SAW A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER ON HORSEBACK "PAUSE UNDER MY WINDOW.

"HE WHEELED AND FIRED BEHIND HIM, "RODE A SHORT DISTANCE, "WHEELED AND FIRED AGAIN.

COMING UP THE STREET RODE A BODY OF MEN IN BLUE."

[BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC PLAYING] MAN: "ARRIVING AT THE CAPITAL, I SPRANG FROM MY HORSE, "FIRST UNBUCKLING THE STARS AND STRIPES FROM MY SADDLE, "AND WITH CAPTAIN LANGDON, I RUSHED UP TO THE ROOF.

"TOGETHER, WE HOISTED THE FIRST LARGE FLAG OVER RICHMOND AND, ON THE PEAK OF THE ROOF, DRANK TO ITS SUCCESS."

NARRATOR: MRS. ROBERT E. LEE, TOO CRIPPLED BY ARTHRITIS TO TRAVEL, REMAINED IN RICHMOND.

THE UNION COMMANDER POSTED A GUARD BEFORE HER HOUSE, A BLACK CAVALRYMAN, TO ENSURE NO HARM CAME TO HER.

MAN, AS LINCOLN: "APRIL 3, 1865.

"THANK GOD I HAVE LIVED TO SEE THIS.

"IT SEEMS TO ME "THAT I HAVE BEEN DREAMING A HORRID NIGHTMARE "FOR 4 YEARS, "AND NOW THE NIGHTMARE IS GONE.

I WANT TO SEE RICHMOND."

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 3rd, ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS SON TAD ARRIVED AT ROCKETTS WHARF ABOARD A SMALL BARGE AND WERE ESCORTED THROUGH THE SMOKING CITY BY A UNIT OF BLACK CAVALRY.

FREED SLAVES MOBBED THE PRESIDENT, LAUGHING, SINGING, WEEPING FOR JOY, KNEELING BEFORE HIM, STRAINING TO TOUCH HIS CLOTHES.

"I KNOW I AM FREE," SAID ONE MAN, "FOR I HAVE SEEN FATHER ABRAHAM AND FELT HIM."

THE PRESIDENT WALKED ABOUT A MILE THROUGH THE CROWD AND LOPED UP THE STEPS OF THE CONFEDERATE WHITE HOUSE, NOW UNION HEADQUARTERS.

WHEN HE SAT DOWN AT JEFFERSON DAVIS DESK, THE TROOPS OUTSIDE BURST INTO CHEERS.

WOMAN: "RICHMOND HAS FALLEN, "AND I HAVE NO HEART TO WRITE ABOUT IT.

"THEY ARE TOO MANY FOR US.

"EVERYTHING LOST IN RICHMOND, EVEN OUR ARCHIVES.

BLUE-BLACK IS OUR HORIZON."

MARY CHESNUT.

MAN: "THERE IS A STILLNESS IN THE MIDST OF WHICH "RICHMOND, WITH HER RUINS AND HER UNCHANGING SPIRES, "RESTS BENEATH A GHASTLY, FITFUL GLARE.

"WE ARE UNDER THE SHADOW OF RUINS.

"FROM THE PAVEMENTS WHERE WE WALK "STRETCHES A VISTA OF DEVASTATION.

"THE WRECK, THE LONELINESS SEEM INTERMINABLE.

"THERE IS NO SOUND OF LIFE "BUT THE STILLNESS OF THE CATACOMB, "ONLY AS OUR FOOTSTEPS FALL DULL ON THE DESERTED SIDEWALK "AND A FUNERAL TROOP OF ECHOES "BUMP AGAINST THE DEAD WALLS AND CLOSED SHUTTERS IN REPLY.

"AND THIS IS RICHMOND, "SAYS A MELANCHOLY VOICE.

AND THIS IS RICHMOND."

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 8th, ABRAHAM AND MARY LINCOLN TOOK A DRIVE TOGETHER PAST A COUNTRY CEMETERY ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF PETERSBURG.

WOMAN, AS MARY: "IT WAS A RETIRED PLACE SHADED BY TREES, "AND EARLY SPRING FLOWERS WERE OPENING ON NEARLY EVERY GRAVE.

"IT WAS SO QUIET AND ATTRACTIVE "THAT WE STOPPED THE CARRIAGE AND WALKED THROUGH IT.

"MR. LINCOLN SEEMED THOUGHTFUL AND IMPRESSED.

"HE SAID, "MARY, YOU ARE YOUNGER THAN I.

YOU WILL SURVIVE ME.

"WHEN IM GONE, LAY MY REMAINS IN SOME QUIET PLACE LIKE THIS."

MAN: "GENERAL LEE WAS RIDING SLOWLY "ALONG THE LINE OF TANGLED WAGONS.

HE RODE ERECT, AS IF INCAPABLE OF FATIGUE."

NARRATOR: LEES ARMY FLED WESTWARD.

GRANT WAS RIGHT BEHIND THEM.

MAN: "ON AND ON, HOUR AFTER HOUR, "FROM HILLTOP TO HILLTOP, "THE LINES WERE ALTERNATELY FORMING, FIGHTING, "AND RETREATING, "MAKING ONE ALMOST CONTINUOUS BATTLE.

"A BOY SOLDIER CAME RUNNING BY AT THE TOP OF HIS SPEED.

"WHEN ASKED WHY HE WAS RUNNING, HE SHOUTED BACK, IM RUNNING CAUSE I CANT FLY."

NARRATOR: FROM DANVILLE ON APRIL 4th, JEFFERSON DAVIS ISSUED A PROCLAMATION PLEDGING TO FIGHT ON.

MAN, AS DAVIS: "RELIEVED FROM THE NECESSITY OF GUARDING CITIES, "WITH OUR ARMY FREE TO MOVE FROM POINT TO POINT, "NOTHING IS NOW NEEDED TO RENDER OUR TRIUMPH CERTAIN "BUT OUR OWN UNQUENCHABLE RESOLVE.

NO PEACE WILL EVER BE MADE WITH THE INFAMOUS INVADERS."

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 6th AT SAYLERS CREEK, UNION CAVALRY AND INFANTRY INFLICTED 6,000 CASUALTIES ON LEES ARMY AND CAPTURED 8 GENERALS, INCLUDING LEES OWN SON CUSTIS.

HE NOW HAD FEWER THAN 25,000 MEN.

125,000 FEDERAL TROOPS WERE NOW CLOSING IN ON LEE FROM 3 SIDES.

UNION GENERAL PHIL SHERIDAN WIRED GRANT, "IF THE THING IS PRESSED, I THINK THAT LEE WILL SURRENDER."

"LET THE THING BE PRESSED," LINCOLN ANSWERED.

AN OFFICER URGED LEE TO SURRENDER.

THE GENERAL ASKED WHAT THE COUNTRY WOULD THINK OF HIM IF HE FAILED TO FIGHT ON.

"THE COUNTRY BE DAMNED," SAID THE OFFICER, "THERE IS NO COUNTRY.

"THERE HAS BEEN NO COUNTRY FOR A YEAR OR MORE.

YOURE THE COUNTRY TO THESE MEN."

MAN: "THE FEW MEN WHO STILL CARRIED THEIR MUSKETS "HAD HARDLY THE APPEARANCE OF SOLDIERS, "THEIR CLOTHES ALL TATTERED AND COVERED WITH MUD, "THEIR EYES SUNKEN AND LUSTERLESS, "YET STILL THEY WERE WAITING FOR GENERAL LEE TO SAY WHERE THEY WERE TO FACE ABOUT AND FIGHT."

MAGNUS THOMPSON, 35th VIRGINIA CAVALRY BATTALION.

NARRATOR: LEES CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS MOVING ALONG ONE SIDE OF THE APPOMATTOX RIVER, A WILLOW-FRINGED RUN THAT ANY COUNTRY BOY COULD JUMP.

HIS PURSUERS CLUNG TO THE OPPOSITE BANK.

MAN, AS GRANT: "5 P.M., APRIL 7, 1865.

"GENERAL LEE, "THE RESULT OF LAST WEEK MUST CONVINCE YOU "OF THE HOPELESSNESS OF FURTHER RESISTANCE.

"I REGARD IT AS MY DUTY TO SHIFT FROM MYSELF "THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ANY FURTHER EFFUSION OF BLOOD "BY ASKING OF YOU THE SURRENDER "OF THAT PORTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY KNOWN AS THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA."

ULYSSES S. GRANT.

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 8th, GRANT AGAIN FLANKED LEES ARMY AND CAPTURED TWO TRAINLOADS OF SUPPLIES.

THE CONFEDERATES WERE LIVING ON HANDFULS OF PARCHED CORN.

THAT NIGHT, LEE AND HIS WEARY LIEUTENANTS GATHERED AROUND A CAMPFIRE NEAR THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE.

MAN: "WE MET IN THE WOODS AT HIS HEADQUARTERS "BY A LOW-BURNING BIVOUAC FIRE.

"THERE WAS NO TENT, NO TABLE, NO CHAIRS, NO CAMP STOOLS.

"ON BLANKETS SPREAD UPON THE GROUND "OR ON SADDLES AT THE ROOTS OF TREES WE SAT AROUND THE GREAT COMMANDER."

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON.

NARRATOR: THEY WERE ALMOST ENTIRELY SURROUNDED, OUTNUMBERED NEARLY 5 TO 1, WITHOUT HOPE OF RESUPPLY OR REINFORCEMENT.

MAN: "BY SUNRISE, WE HAD REACHED APPOMATTOX STATION, "WHERE WE MIGHT CUT LEES RETREAT.

"ALREADY WE HEARD THE SHARP RING OF THE HORSE ARTILLERY.

"THERE WAS NO MISTAKE.

"SHERIDAN WAS SQUARE ACROSS THE ENEMYS FRONT, "HOLDING AT BAY ALL THAT WAS LEFT "OF THE PROUDEST ARMY OF THE CONFEDERACY.

IT HAD COME AT LAST-- THE SUPREME HOUR."

NARRATOR: APRIL 9th WAS PALM SUNDAY.

LEE ORDERED GORDON TO MAKE ONE MORE ATTEMPT AT BREAKING OUT.

AT DAWN, JUST OUTSIDE APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, GORDONS MEN DROVE FEDERAL CAVALRY FROM THEIR POSITIONS AND SWEPT FORWARD TO THE CREST OF A HILL.

BELOW THEM, A SOLID WALL OF BLUE WAS ADVANCING-- THE ENTIRE UNION ARMY OF THE JAMES.

MAN, AS LEE: "THERE IS NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO DO "BUT TO GO AND SEE GENERAL GRANT, AND I WOULD RATHER DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS."

NARRATOR: SHORTLY BEFORE NOON, LEE DISPATCHED A LETTER UNDER A WHITE FLAG INTO THE UNION LINES.

GRANT WAS RESTING IN A FIELD, NURSING A BLINDING HEADACHE.

SUDDENLY, A HORSEMAN GALLOPED UP AT FULL SPEED, A REPORTER NOTED, "WAVING HIS HAT ABOVE HIS HEAD AND SHOUTING AT EVERY JUMP."

GRANT OPENED THE ENVELOPE, LOOKED AT IT, THEN ASKED HIS FRIEND GENERAL JOHN RAWLINS TO READ IT ALOUD-- LEE WOULD SURRENDER.

GRANT HIMSELF SAID NOTHING, BETRAYED NO MORE EMOTION, A WITNESS SAID, THAN "LAST YEARS BIRD NEST," BUT HIS HEADACHE HAD INSTANTLY DISAPPEARED.

MAN: "NO ONE LOOKED HIS COMRADE IN THE FACE.

"FINALLY COLONEL DUFF, CHIEF OF ARTILLERY, "SPRANG UPON A LOG AND PROPOSED 3 CHEERS.

"A FEEBLE HURRAH CAME FROM A FEW THROATS, WHEN ALL BROKE DOWN IN TEARS."

NARRATOR: LEE DISPATCHED COLONEL CHARLES MARSHALL TO APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE TO FIND A SUITABLE BUILDING IN WHICH HE AND GRANT MIGHT MEET.

THE STREETS WERE ALMOST DESERTED.

MARSHALL STOPPED THE FIRST CIVILIAN HE HAPPENED TO SEE, WILMER McLEAN, WHO RELUCTANTLY AGREED TO LOAN THE ARMIES HIS HOUSE FOR THE OCCASION.

MAN: "BY A SINGULAR COINCIDENCE, "THE MEETING OF GENERALS LEE AND GRANT "TOOK PLACE IN THE HOUSE OF WILMER McLEAN, "THE SAME GENTLEMAN WHO, IN 1861, "AT THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN, "HAD TENDERED HIS HOUSE TO GENERAL BEAUREGARD "FOR HEADQUARTERS.

"HE REMOVED FROM MANASSAS AFTER THE BATTLE "WITH THE INTENTION OF SEEKING SOME QUIET NOOK WHERE THE ALARMS OF WAR COULD NEVER FIND HIM."

MAN: "1:00 CAME.

"I TURNED ABOUT.

"THERE BEHIND ME APPEARED A COMMANDING FORM, "SUPERBLY MOUNTED, RICHLY ACCOUTERED, "OF IMPOSING BEARING, NOBLE COUNTENANCE, "WITH EXPRESSION OF DEEP SADNESS "OVER-MASTERED BY A DEEPER STRENGTH.

"IT WAS NO OTHER THAN ROBERT E. LEE.

"NOT LONG AFTER APPEARED ANOTHER FORM-- "PLAIN, UNASSUMING, SIMPLE, AND FAMILIAR TO OUR EYES, "BUT AS AWE-INSPIRING AS LEE IN HIS SPLENDOR AND SADNESS.

"IT WAS GRANT, "SITTING HIS SADDLE WITH THE EASE OF A BORN MASTER, "TAKING NO NOTICE OF ANYTHING, "ALL HIS FACULTIES GATHERED INTO INTENSE THOUGHT.

"HE SEEMED GREATER THAN I HAD EVER SEEN HIM, A LOOK AS OF ANOTHER WORLD ABOUT HIM."

NARRATOR: LEE ARRIVED AT THE McLEAN HOUSE FIRST, MAGNIFICENT IN A CRISP GRAY UNIFORM, AN ENGRAVED SWORD AT HIS SIDE.

"I HAVE PROBABLY TO BE GENERAL GRANTS PRISONER," HE EXPLAINED TO AN AIDE, "AND THOUGHT I MUST MAKE MY BEST APPEARANCE."

HE WAITED HALF AN HOUR FOR GRANT TO ARRIVE.

THE UNION COMMANDER WORE A PRIVATES DIRTY JACKET.

HIS BOOTS AND TROUSERS WERE SPLATTERED WITH MUD.

HE HAD NO SWORD.

THE TWO COMMANDERS SHOOK HANDS.

MAN, AS GRANT: "WHAT GENERAL LEES FEELINGS WERE, I DO NOT KNOW.

"AS HE WAS A MAN OF MUCH DIGNITY "WITH AN IMPASSIBLE FACE, "HIS FEELINGS WERE ENTIRELY CONCEALED "FROM MY OBSERVATION, "BUT MY OWN FEELINGS WERE SAD AND DEPRESSED.

"I FELT LIKE ANYTHING RATHER THAN REJOICING "AT THE DOWNFALL OF A FOE "WHO HAD FOUGHT SO LONG AND VALIANTLY "AND HAD SUFFERED SO MUCH FOR A CAUSE, "THOUGH THAT CAUSE WAS, I BELIEVE, ONE OF THE WORST FOR WHICH PEOPLE EVER FOUGHT."

NARRATOR: GRANT REMINDED LEE THAT THEY HAD MET ONCE BEFORE DURING THE MEXICAN WAR.

LEE SAID HE HAD NOT REMEMBERED WHAT GRANT LOOKED LIKE.

MAN, AS GRANT: "OUR CONVERSATION GREW SO PLEASANT "THAT I ALMOST FORGOT THE OBJECT OF THE MEETING.

GENERAL LEE CALLED MY ATTENTION TO THE OBJECT."

THEY KNEW EACH OTHER.

GRANT REMEMBERED LEE VERY WELL.

LEE DIDNT QUITE REMEMBER GRANT.

THAT WAS UNDERSTANDABLE FROM THE TIME THAT THEY WERE ACQUAINTED BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS, BUT I THINK IT WAS THE SENSITIVITY THAT THE TWO MEN HAD FOR EACH OTHER AND FOR THE MOMENT, ENORMOUS DIGNITY AND YET THE NECESSARY INFORMALITY-- GRANT NOT WANTING TO GET TO THE POINT TOO QUICKLY, LEE BRINGING HIM UP SHORTLY TO THE POINT OF WHY THEYRE TOGETHER; LEE DRESSED IN HIS LAST GOOD UNIFORM, GRANT APOLOGIZING THAT HE WAS RUSHING FROM THE FIELD AND DIDNT HAVE TIME TO CHANGE; THE SCRIBE BEING UNABLE TO HOLD THE PEN STEADY AND HAVING IT TAKEN BY ANOTHER SOLDIER; THE, UH... THAT, FROM LEES POINT OF VIEW, AWFUL MOMENT, AND FROM GRANTS POINT OF VIEW, GLORIOUS MOMENT, AND YET FOR THE TWO OF THEM, A SAD AND QUIET MOMENT; AND LEE TAKING HIS LEAVE AND DOFFING HIS HAT FROM TRAVELLER AND RIDING BACK TO HIS TROOPS AFTER SECURING THOSE REASONABLE TERMS.

IT WAS THE-- IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIFICATION OF THE COUNTRY.

NARRATOR: THE TERMS GRANT OFFERED WERE SIMPLE AND GENEROUS.

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS COULD KEEP THEIR SIDE-ARMS AND PERSONAL POSSESSIONS.

OFFICERS AND MEN WHO OWNED THEIR OWN HORSES COULD KEEP THEM, TOO.

IT WAS PLANTING SEASON.

GRANT ASKED LEE HOW MANY MEN HE HAD AND IF THEY NEEDED ANY RATIONS.

LEE SAID HE NO LONGER KNEW THE SIZE OF HIS ARMY, BUT HE WAS SURE ALL HIS MEN WERE HUNGRY.

GRANT OFFERED 25,000 RATIONS.

MAN, AS LEE: "THIS WILL HAVE THE BEST EFFECT UPON MY MEN.

"IT WILL BE VERY GRATIFYING AND DO MUCH TOWARD CONCILIATING OUR PEOPLE."

NARRATOR: COLONEL ELY S. PARKER, A SENECA INDIAN AND A MEMBER OF GRANTS STAFF, INSCRIBED THE ARTICLES OF SURRENDER FOR THE TWO COMMANDERS TO SIGN.

THE TWO MEN SHOOK HANDS AGAIN.

LEE LEFT THE HOUSE, MOUNTED TRAVELLER, AND STARTED BACK TOWARD HIS ARMY.

THE UNION SOLDIERS BEGAN TO CHEER.

GRANT ORDERED THEM TO STOP.

"THE CONFEDERATES ARE NOW OUR PRISONERS," HE EXPLAINED, "AND WE DO NOT WANT TO EXULT OVER THEIR DOWNFALL.

"THE WAR IS OVER.

THE REBELS ARE OUR COUNTRYMEN AGAIN."

LEES MEN LINED THE ROAD TO HIS CAMP.

MAN: "AS HE APPROACHED, "WE COULD SEE THE REINS HANGING LOOSE, "AND HIS HEAD WAS SUNK LOW ON HIS BREAST.

"AS THE MEN BEGAN TO CHEER, "HE RAISED HIS HEAD, AND, HAT IN HAND, HE PASSED BY, HIS FACE FLUSHED, HIS EYES ABLAZE."

MAN: "AS HE PASSED, THEY RAISED THEIR HEADS "AND LOOKED UPON HIM WITH SWIMMING EYES.

"THOSE WHO COULD FIND VOICE SAID GOOD-BYE.

"THOSE WHO COULD NOT SPEAK PASSED THEIR HANDS GENTLY OVER THE SIDES OF TRAVELLER."

MAN: "IF ONE ARMY DRANK THE JOY OF VICTORY "AND THE OTHER THE BITTER DRAUGHT OF DEFEAT, "IT WAS A JOY MODERATED BY THE RECOLLECTION OF THE COST "AT WHICH IT HAD BEEN PURCHASED "AND A DEFEAT MOLLIFIED "BY THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF MANY TRIUMPHS.

"IF THE VICTORS COULD RECALL A MALVERN HILL, AN ANTIETAM, "A GETTYSBURG, A FIVE FORKS, "THE VANQUISHED COULD RECALL A MANASSAS, A FREDERICKSBURG, A CHANCELLORSVILLE, A COLD HARBOR."

NARRATOR: A CROWD OF SOLDIERS WAITED IN FRONT OF LEES TENT.

"BOYS," HE TOLD THEM, "I HAVE DONE THE BEST I COULD FOR YOU.

"GO HOME NOW, "AND IF YOU MAKE AS GOOD CITIZENS AS YOU HAVE SOLDIERS, "YOU WILL DO WELL, "AND I SHALL ALWAYS BE PROUD OF YOU.

GOOD-BYE, AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL."

HE TURNED AND DISAPPEARED INTO HIS TENT.

THE FORMAL SURRENDER CAME 3 DAYS LATER.

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON, SHOT THROUGH THE FACE AND WOUNDED 4 MORE TIMES IN THE SERVICE OF THE CONFEDERACY, LED 20,000 MEN TOWARD THE UNION LINES FOR THE LAST TIME-- NOT TO FIGHT, BUT TO STACK THEIR ARMS AND SURRENDER THEIR BATTLE FLAGS.

THERE TO RECEIVE THEM WAS MAJOR GENERAL JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN, HIMSELF WOUNDED SIX TIMES FOR THE UNION.

PROMOTED ON THE FIELD AT PETERSBURG NEAR DEATH, HE HAD SOMEHOW SURVIVED.

MAN: "ON THEY COME "WITH THE OLD SWINGING ROUTE STEP AND SWAYING BATTLE FLAGS.

"BEFORE US IN PROUD HUMILIATION "STOOD THE EMBODIMENT OF MANHOOD-- "THIN, WORN, AND FAMISHED, "BUT ERECT AND WITH EYES LOOKING LEVEL INTO OURS, "WAKING MEMORIES THAT BOUND US TOGETHER AS NO OTHER BOND.

"WAS NOT SUCH MANHOOD TO BE WELCOMED BACK "INTO THE UNION SO TESTED AND ASSURED?

"ON OUR PART, NOT A SOUND OF TRUMPET MORE "NOR ROLL OF DRUM, NOT A CHEER NOR WORD "NOR WHISPER OF VAINGLORYING NOR MOTION OF MAN, "BUT AN AWED STILLNESS, RATHER, AND BREATH-HOLDING, AS IF IT WERE THE PASSING OF THE DEAD."

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN.

NARRATOR: NOW CHAMBERLAIN MADE AN EXTRAORDINARY GESTURE.

MAN: "CHAMBERLAIN CALLED HIS MEN INTO LINE, "AND AS MY MEN MARCHED IN FRONT OF THEM, "THE VETERANS IN BLUE GAVE A SOLDIERLY SALUTE "TO THOSE VANQUISHED HEROES, A TOKEN OF RESPECT FROM AMERICANS TO AMERICANS."

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON.

MAN: "AT THE SOUND OF THAT MACHINELIKE SNAP OF ARMS, "GENERAL GORDON STARTED, "THEN WHEELED HIS HORSE, FACING ME, "TOUCHING HIM GENTLY WITH THE SPUR "SO THAT THE ANIMAL SLIGHTLY REARED, "AND, AS HE WHEELED, HORSE AND RIDER MADE ONE MOTION.

"THE HORSES HEAD SWUNG DOWN WITH A GRACEFUL BOW, "AND GENERAL GORDON DROPPED HIS SWORD POINT TO HIS TOE IN SALUTATION."

[FIREWORKS EXPLODING] NARRATOR: IN WASHINGTON, FIREWORKS FILLED THE SKY.

A GREAT CROWD GATHERED AROUND THE WHITE HOUSE AND CALLED FOR LINCOLN.

HE WAS TOO WEARY TO MAKE A FORMAL SPEECH BUT ASKED THE BAND TO PLAY DIXIE.

"I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT IT ONE OF THE BEST TUNES I EVER HEARD," HE SAID.

THE NEXT DAY, LINCOLN WALKED OVER TO ALEXANDER GARDNERS STUDIO AT THE CORNER OF 7th AND D STREET TO SIT FOR ANOTHER PORTRAIT.

SOMEHOW, THE GLASS-PLATE NEGATIVE CRACKED WHILE BEING DEVELOPED.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER MADE A SINGLE PRINT, THEN THREW THE NEGATIVE AWAY.

OVER THE NEXT 4 YEARS, THERE WOULD BE PLENTY OF TIME TO MAKE MORE LINCOLN PORTRAITS.

JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, A FRIEND FOUND JOHN WILKES BOOTH ALONE IN HIS DARKENED ROOM AND ASKED HIM IF HE WANTED TO GET A DRINK.

"YES," SAID BOOTH, WHO WAS NOW DRINKING A QUART OF BRANDY A DAY, "ANYTHING TO DRIVE AWAY THE BLUES."

Man: "WERE THESE THINGS REAL?

"DID I SEE THOSE BRAVE AND NOBLE COUNTRYMEN OF MINE "LAID LOW IN DEATH AND WELTERING IN THEIR BLOOD?

"DID I SEE OUR COUNTRY LAID WASTE AND IN RUINS?

"DID I SEE SOLDIERS MARCHING, "THE EARTH TREMBLING AND JARRING BENEATH THEIR MEASURED TREAD?

"DID I SEE THE RUINS "OF SMOLDERING CITIES AND DESERTED HOMES?

"DID I SEE THE FLAG OF MY COUNTRY, "THAT I HAD FOLLOWED SO LONG, FURLED TO BE NO MORE UNFURLED FOREVER?"

"SURELY THEY ARE BUT THE VAGARIES OF MINE OWN IMAGINATION."

[CANNON FIRE] "BUT HUSH!

I NOW HEAR THE APPROACH OF BATTLE.

"THAT LOW, RUMBLING SOUND IN THE WEST IS THE ROAR OF CANNON IN THE DISTANCE."

PRIVATE SAM WATKINS, COMPANY H, 1st TENNESSEE REGIMENT.

Different man: "STRANGE, IS IT NOT, "THAT BATTLES, MARTYRS, BLOOD, EVEN ASSASSINATION SHOULD SO CONDENSE A NATIONALITY?"

WALT WHITMAN.

IT IS THE EVENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY IN THAT IT IS THE MOMENT THAT MADE THE UNITED STATES AS A NATION, AND I MEAN THAT IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

THE UNITED STATES WAS OBVIOUSLY A NATION WHEN IT ADOPTED A CONSTITUTION, BUT IT ADOPTED A CONSTITUTION THAT, UH, REQUIRED A WAR TO BE SORTED OUT AND THEREFORE REQUIRED A WAR TO MAKE A REAL NATION OUT OF WHAT WAS A THEORETICAL NATION AS--AS IT WAS DESIGNED AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

BEFORE THE WAR, IT WAS SAID, "THE UNITED STATES ARE."

GRAMMATICALLY, IT WAS SPOKEN THAT WAY AND THOUGHT OF AS A COLLECTION OF INDEPENDENT STATES.

AFTER THE WAR, IT WAS ALWAYS "THE UNITED STATES IS," AS WE SAY TODAY WITHOUT BEING SELF-CONSCIOUS AT ALL.

AND THAT SUMS UP WHAT THE WAR ACCOMPLISHED.

IT MADE US AN "IS."

Narrator: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA HAD ONCE STRETCHED FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK TO THE RIO GRANDE.

ITS LEADERS HAD ONCE DREAMED OF A TROPICAL EMPIRE REACHING EVER SOUTHWARD TO MEXICO, GUATEMALA, NICARAGUA, BRAZIL.

BY APRIL 1865, THE DREAM WAS GONE.

RICHMOND HAD FALLEN.

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT, AND JEFFERSON DAVIS WITH IT, HAD FLED INTO THE WILDERNESS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

THE CONFEDERATE ARMIES, ONCE THE TERROR OF THE UNION, HAD BEEN BATTERED AND STARVED ALMOST OUT OF EXISTENCE AND THEN FORCED TO SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX, WHERE ULYSSES S. GRANT HAD FINALLY CORNERED ROBERT E. LEE.

IN APRIL 1865, ELISHA HUNT RHODES WOULD RECEIVE THE BEST NEWS OF THE WAR AND THEN THE WORST.

IN THE WOODS OF NORTH CAROLINA, TWO OLD ADVERSARIES, WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN AND JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, WOULD MEET ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE ONE LAST TIME.

BY THEN, CONFEDERATE SAM WATKINS WOULD WRITE, "THE ONCE PROUD ARMY OF TENNESSEE HAD DEGENERATED TO A MOB."

IN APRIL 1861, ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAD IMPLORED HIS COUNTRYMEN NOT TO GO TO WAR, TO LISTEN TO "THE BETTER ANGELS OF THEIR NATURE."

NOW IN APRIL 1865, THE BLOODSHED WAS FINALLY COMING TO AN END.

BUT IN WASHINGTON, JOHN WILKES BOOTH COULD NOT ACCEPT THAT THE WAR WAS OVER.

IN FOUR YEARS, MORE THAN A MILLION PHOTOGRAPHS WERE MADE OF THE WAR.

NOW NO ONE SEEMED TO WANT THEM ANYMORE.

MATHEW BRADY WENT BANKRUPT.

THOUSANDS OF GLASS-PLATE NEGATIVES WERE LOST, MISLAID OR FORGOTTEN.

THOUSANDS MORE WERE SOLD TO GARDENERS, NOT FOR THE IMAGES THEY HELD, BUT FOR THE GLASS ITSELF.

IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED APPOMATTOX, THE SUN SLOWLY BURNED THE IMAGE OF WAR FROM THOUSANDS OF GREENHOUSE GLASS PANES.

"THE CIVIL WAR," A HARVARD PROFESSOR WROTE AT THE TIME, "OPENED A GREAT GULF "BETWEEN WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE IN OUR CENTURY "AND WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE.

"IT DOES NOT SEEM TO ME AS IF I WERE LIVING IN THE COUNTRY IN WHICH I WAS BORN."

THE WAR WAS OVER, AND IT WAS NOT OVER.

Man: "MY SHOES ARE GONE.

MY CLOTHES ARE GONE.

"I'M WEARY, I'M SICK, I'M HUNGRY.

"MY FAMILY HAVE ALL BEEN KILLED OR SCATTERED.

"AND I HAVE SUFFERED ALL THIS FOR MY COUNTRY.

"I LOVE MY COUNTRY, BUT IF THIS WAR IS EVER OVER, I'LL BE DAMNED IF I EVER LOVE ANOTHER COUNTRY."

Different man: "SO BLACKWOOD AND I LEFT THE ARMY--OUR ARMY-- "LEFT THEM THERE ON THE HILL "WITH THEIR ARMS STACKED IN THE FIELD, "ALL IN ROWS, NEVER TO SEE IT ANYMORE.

"TELLING CLARKE AND BELL GOOD-BYE, "WE CROSSED THE ROAD INTO THE FIELDS AND THICKETS "AND IN A LITTLE WHILE LOST SIGHT OF ALL THAT TOLD OF THE PRESENCE OF WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE ARMY."

BARRY BENSON.

Different man: "MONDAY, APRIL 10.

"LEE AND HIS ARMY HAVE SURRENDERED!

"GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO.

"THEY CAN BOTHER AND PERPLEX NONE BUT HISTORIANS HENCEFORTH, "FOREVER.

THERE IS NO SUCH ARMY ANYMORE.

GOD BE PRAISED."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

Different man: "NEAR APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, VIRGINIA.

"GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!

"PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN!

"THANK GOD LEE HAS SURRENDERED, AND THE WAR WILL SOON END.

"HOW CAN I RECORD THE EVENTS OF THIS DAY?

"SUCH A SCENE ONLY HAPPENS ONCE IN CENTURIES.

"GENERAL MEADE RODE LIKE MAD DOWN THE ROAD WITH HIS HAT OFF, SHOUTING, "THE WAR IS OVER, AN D WE ARE GOING HOME.

"THE MEN THREW THEIR KNAPSACKS AND CANTEENS INTO THE AIR "AND HOWLED LIKE MAD.

"THE REBELS ARE HALF-STARVED, "AND OUR MEN DIVIDED THEIR RATIONS WITH THEM.

"I CRIED AND LAUGHED BY TURNS.

"I WAS NEVER SO HAPPY IN MY LIFE.

"I THANK GOD FOR ALL HIS BLESSINGS TO ME AND THAT MY LIFE HAS BEEN SPARED TO SEE THIS GLORIOUS DAY."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

Narrator: WORD OF LEE'S SURRENDER SPREAD FAST.

A GALLOPING RIDER SHOUTED THE GOOD NEWS TO SHERMAN'S ARMY IN NORTH CAROLINA, AND ONE GLEEFUL SOLDIER BELLOWED BACK AT HIM, "YOU'RE THE SON OF A BITCH WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL THESE FOUR YEARS!"

[BELLS TOLLING] CHURCH BELLS RANG OUT IN EVERY NORTHERN TOWN.

THE PEOPLE OF DEER ISLE, MAINE, HAD FOLLOWED THE STEADY MARCH OF UNION VICTORIES WITH THE SAME JOY FELT BY TOWNS ALL OVER THE NORTH, AND WHEN NEWS OF APPOMATTOX GOT OUT TO THE ISLANDS, SHOUTING HORSEMEN CARRIED IT FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, BUT THE GRIEVING DID NOT END.

PRIVATE WILLIAM TOOTHAKER SUCCUMBED TO DISEASE ABOARD A TRANSPORT SHIP, LEAVING FOUR SMALL CHILDREN WHOSE MEMORIES OF HIM WOULD QUICKLY FADE.

AND A LETTER CAME, INFORMING PRIVATE ALBION STINSON'S WIFE THAT HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN KILLED NEAR APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE JUST FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE CONFEDERATE SURRENDER.

WHEN THE NEWS REACHED CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE, THE UNION MILITARY GOVERNOR ORDERED A GRAND CITYWIDE CELEBRATION.

Woman: "ALL THE STOREHOUSES WERE BRILLIANTLY LIGHTED.

"THESE BLUE DEVILS DESECRATED OUR CHURCHES "BY RINGING THE BELLS.

THEY DID ALL IN THEIR POWER TO A-RILE US."

NANNIE HASKINS.

[STEAM WHISTLE BLOWS] Narrator: AT VICKSBURG, 2,000 LIBERATED UNION PRISONERS CROWDED ONTO THE DECKS OF THE STEAMBOAT SULTANA, GLEEFUL TO BE ON THEIR WAY NORTH AT LAST.

NEAR MEMPHIS, A BOILER EXPLODED, AND SHE BURST INTO FLAMES.

MORE THAN 1,200 MEN DIED, STILL HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM HOME.

Woman: "WE ARE SCATTERED, STUNNED..." "THE REMNANT OF HEART LEFT ALIVE IN US "IS FILLED WITH BROTHERLY HATE.

"WHOSE FAULT?

"EVERYBODY BLAMED BY SOMEBODY ELSE.

"ONLY THE DEAD HEROES LEFT STIFF AND STARK ON THE BATTLEFIELD ESCAPE."

MARY CHESNUT.

Narrator: WHEN THE NEWS OF THE SURRENDER REACHED EDMUND RUFFIN, THE OLD VIRGINIA SECESSIONIST WHO HAD FIRED ONE OF THE FIRST SHOTS AT FORT SUMTER, HE DRAPED A REBEL FLAG OVER HIS SHOULDERS AND SHOT HIMSELF RATHER THAN LIVE, HE WROTE, IN A RESTORED UNION WITH MEMBERS OF "THE YANKEE RACE."

"YOU MAY FORGIVE US," A SURRENDERING REBEL OFFICER TOLD JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN AFTER THE CEREMONY AT APPOMATTOX, "BUT WE WON'T BE FORGIVEN.

"THERE IS A RANCOR IN OUR HEARTS WHICH YOU LITTLE DREAM OF.

WE HATE YOU, SIR."

APRIL 14, 1865 WAS GOOD FRIDAY.

IT ALSO MARKED TO THE DAY THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SURRENDER OF FORT SUMTER, AND WITHIN THE FORT'S PULVERIZED WALLS THAT MORNING, EVERYTHING WAS BEING READIED FOR A NOONTIME CEREMONY.

THE FORT'S OLD UNION COMMANDER, COLONEL ROBERT ANDERSON, WAS TO RAISE THE SAME FLAG HE HAD BEEN FORCED TO HAUL DOWN IN 1861.

AN AUDIENCE OF NORTHERN SOLDIERS AND DIGNITARIES AND SOME 4,000 FORMER SLAVES WATCHED.

FEW LOCAL WHITES CHOSE TO ATTEND.

[THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER PLAYING] Woman: "AT FIRST, I COULD NOT HEAR COLONEL ANDERSON, "FOR HIS VOICE CAME THICKLY, "BUT IN A MOMENT, HE SAID CLEARLY, "I THANK GOD THAT I HAVE LIVED TO SEE THIS DAY.

"AND AFTER A FEW MORE WORDS, HE BEGAN TO HOIST THE FLAG.

"IT WENT UP SLOWLY AND HUNG LIMP, "A WEATHER-BEATEN, FRAYED, AND SHELL-TORN OLD FLAG "NOT FIT FOR MUCH MORE WORK, "BUT WHEN IT HAD CREPT CLEAR OF THE SHELTER OF THE WALLS, "A SUDDEN BREATH OF WIND CAUGHT IT, "AND IT SHOOK ITS FOLDS AND FLEW STRAIGHT OUT ABOVE US.

"I THINK WE STOOD UP.

"SOMEBODY STARTED TH E STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

"AND WE SANG THE FIRST VERSE, "WHICH IS ALL THAT MOST PEOPLE KNOW.

"BUT IT DID NOT MAKE MUCH DIFFERENCE, "FOR A GREAT GUN WAS FIRED CLOSE TO US FROM THE FORT ITSELF, "FOLLOWED, IN OBEDIENCE TO THE PRESIDENT'S ORDER, "BY A NATIONAL SALUTE FR OM EVERY FORT AND BATTERY THAT FIRED UPON FORT SUMTER."

[CANNON FIRE] Narrator: IN WASHINGTON THAT SAME DAY, JOHN WILKES BOOTH DROPPED BY FORD'S THEATRE TO PICK UP HIS MAIL.

A STAGEHAND TOLD HIM THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL GRANT WERE BOTH EXPECTED TO ATTEND THAT NIGHT TO SEE THE ACTRESS LAURA KEENE IN A BRITISH COMEDY CALLED OUR AMERICAN COUSIN.

BOOTH TOLD HIS BAND OF DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF A NEW PLAN.

HE WOULD SHOOT LINCOLN AND GRANT.

LEWIS PAINE WAS TO KILL SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM SEWARD.

GEORGE ATZERODT WAS TO SHOOT THE VICE PRESIDENT, ANDREW JOHNSON.

EARLY THAT EVENING, BOOTH LED HIS HORSE OUT OF THE LIVERY STABLE NEAR FORD'S THEATRE.

A YOUNG BOY WAS TOLD TO HOLD IT AT THE STAGE DOOR.

AT THE LAST MINUTE, GENERAL AND MRS. GRANT BEGGED OFF THE THEATRE PARTY AND LEFT THE CITY FOR PHILADELPHIA.

THE LINCOLNS ARRIVED AND TOOK THEIR SEATS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL BOX.

WITH THEM WERE MAJOR HENRY RATHBONE AND HIS FIANCEE, CLARA HARRIS.

Woman: WHAT WOULD YOU AD VISE, MA?

Mother: JUST REMEMBER, DE AR, HE'S RICH.

[LAUGHTER] HUSH!

HERE HE COMES.

AH, MR. TRENCHARD!

WE WERE JUST SAYING HOW YOU ALWAYS SE EM SURE OF HI TTING YOUR MARK.

[LAUGHTER] Narrator: THE PRESIDENT SEEMED TO BE ENJOYING THE PLAY.

HIS WIFE HELD HIS HAND.

BOOTH SWALLOWED TWO BRANDIES AT A NEARBY BAR, THEN RETURNED TO THE THEATRE.

HE WAITED FOR THE LAUGHTER TO RISE, THEN SLIPPED SILENTLY INTO THE PRESIDENT'S BOX.

HE HELD A DAGGER IN HIS LEFT HAND, A DERRINGER PISTOL IN HIS RIGHT.

Woman: TH E NASTY BEAST!

[LAUGHTER] Mother: SIR, YOUR VU LGARITY RENDERS YO U INTOLERABLE IN POLITE SOCIETY.

[FOOTSTEPS] [LAUGHTER] [DOOR CLOSES] Trenchard: MAYBE I DON'T KN OW THE MANNERS OF POLITE SOCIETY, BUT I GUESS I KNOW ENOUGH TO TURN YOU INSIDE OUT, OL D GAL, YOU SOCKDOLAGIZING OL D MAN-TRAP.

[LAUGHTER] [GUNSHOT] Narrator: BOOTH FIRED, THEN VAULTED OVER THE FRONT OF THE BOX, CAUGHT HIS RIGHT SPUR IN THE DRAPED FLAG, AND LANDED ON STAGE, BREAKING HIS LEFT LEG.

HE WAVED HIS DAGGER AND SHOUTED SOMETHING TO THE STUNNED AUDIENCE.

SOME THOUGHT HE SAID, "S IC SEMPER TYRANNIS"-- THUS BE IT EVER TO TYRANTS, VIRGINIA'S STATE MOTTO.

OTHERS HEARD IT AS "THE SOUTH IS AVENGED!"

FOR A LONG MOMENT, THE THEATRE WAS STILL, THEN MARY LINCOLN SCREAMED.

THE BULLET FROM BOOTH'S PISTOL HAD ENTERED THE BACK OF LINCOLN'S HEAD, TORN THROUGH HIS BRAIN, AND LODGED BEHIND HIS RIGHT EYE.

A SURGEON FROM THE AUDIENCE PRONOUNCED THE WOUND MORTAL.

SOLDIERS CARRIED THE UNCONSCIOUS PRESIDENT FROM THE THEATRE INTO A BOARDING HOUSE ACROSS 10th STREET.

Man: "WE PUT HIM ON THE FIRST FLOOR "AND LAID HIM ON THE BED.

"WHEN WE TOOK HIM INTO THE ROOM, WE HAD TO GET OUT.

"THEY WOULDN'T LET ANYBODY IN WITHOUT IT WAS A DOCTOR OR SOMETHING."

PRIVATE JACOB SOLES.

Different man: "THE GIANT SUFFERER LAY EXTENDED DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE BED, "WHICH WAS NOT LONG ENOUGH FOR HIM.

"HE HAD BEEN STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHES.

"HIS SLOW, FULL RESPIRATION LIFTED THE COVERS "WITH EACH BREATH HE TOOK.

HIS FEATURES WERE CALM AND STRIKING."

GIDEON WELLES.

Narrator: THE DOCTORS COULD DO NOTHING.

MARY IMPLORED HER HUSBAND TO SPEAK TO HER AND WEPT SO INCONSOLABLY, SHE WAS FINALLY TAKEN INTO THE FRONT PARLOR.

CABINET OFFICERS STOOD BY HELPLESS ALL NIGHT, DOUBLY SHOCKED TO HEAR THAT BOOTH'S ACCOMPLICE LEWIS PAINE HAD STABBED SECRETARY OF STATE SEWARD, THEN RUN OUT INTO THE STREET CRYING, "I'M MAD!

I'M MAD!"

GEORGE ATZERODT HAD BEEN TOO FRIGHTENED TO CARRY OUT BOOTH'S ORDER TO KILL THE VICE PRESIDENT.

AROUND 6: 00 IN THE MORNING, NAVY SECRETARY WELLES STEPPED OUTSIDE AND FOUND THE STREETS FILLED WITH SILENT, ANXIOUS PEOPLE.

Man: "A LITTLE BEFORE 7:00, I WENT BACK INTO THE ROOM.

"THE DEATH STRUGGLE HAD BEGUN.

"ROBERT, HIS SON, STOOD AT THE HEAD OF THE BED.

"HE BORE HIMSELF WELL, "BUT ON TWO OCCASIONS GAVE WAY AND SOBBED ALOUD, LEANING ON THE SHOULDER OF SENATOR SUMNER."

AT 7: 22 ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 15, 1865, ABRAHAM LINCOLN DIED.

HE WAS 56 YEARS OLD.

SECRETARY OF WAR EDWIN STANTON SAID, "NOW HE BELONGS TO THE AGES."

HIS POCKETS CONTAINED TWO PAIRS OF SPECTACLES, A POCKET KNIFE, A LINEN HANDKERCHIEF, AND A WALLET.

IN IT WERE NINE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS AND A CONFEDERATE $5.00 BILL.

Man: "MOTHER PREPARED BREAKFAST AND OTHER MEALS AS USUAL, "BUT NOT A MOUTHFUL WAS EATEN ALL DAY BY EITHER OF US.

"WE EACH DRANK HALF A CUP OF COFFEE.

THAT WAS ALL.

"LITTLE WAS SAID.

"WE GOT EVERY NEWSPAPER, MORNING AND EVENING, AND PASSED THEM SILENTLY TO EACH OTHER."

WALT WHITMAN.

Narrator: THE TELEGRAPH CARRIED THE NEWS ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN MINUTES.

NO PRESIDENT HAD EVER BEEN MURDERED.

PEOPLE WOULD REMEMBER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES WHERE THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY FELT AND WHAT THE WEATHER WAS LIKE WHEN THEY HEARD WHAT HAD HAPPENED.

Man: "NEAR APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, VIRGINIA, "SATURDAY, APRIL 15.

"BAD NEWS HAS JUST ARRIVED.

"CORPORAL THOMAS PARKER HAS JUST SAID PRESIDENT LINCOLN IS DEAD, "MURDERED.

"WE CANNOT REALIZE THAT OUR PRESIDENT IS DEAD.

MAY GOD HELP HIS FAMILY AND OUR DISTRACTED COUNTRY."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

Different man: "I HAVE BEEN EXPECTING THIS.

"I AM STUNNED, "AS BY A FEARFUL PERSONAL CALAMITY, "THOUGH I CAN SEE THAT THIS THING "OCCURRING JUST AT THIS TIME "MAY BE OVERRULED TO OUR GREAT GOOD.

WE SHALL APPRECIATE HIM AT LAST."

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG.

Different man: "ON THE AVENUE IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE "WERE SEVERAL HUNDRED COLORED PEOPLE, "MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN, "WEEPING AND WAILING THEIR LOSS.

"THIS CROWD DID NOT DIMINISH "THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THAT COLD, WET DAY.

"THEY SEEMED NOT TO KNOW WHAT WAS TO BE THEIR FATE "SINCE THEIR GREAT BENEFACTOR WAS DEAD, "AND THOUGH STRONG AND BRAVE MEN WEPT WHEN I MET THEM, "THE HOPELESS GRIEF OF THOSE POOR COLORED PEOPLE AFFECTED ME MORE THAN ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE."

GIDEON WELLES.

Narrator: LINCOLN'S CASKET LAY IN STATE, FIRST IN THE EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, THEN IN THE ROTUNDA OF THE CAPITOL.

HE WAS TO BE BURIED IN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, HIS ADOPTED HOME.

THE SMALL COFFIN OF HIS SON WILLY, WHO HAD DIED IN WASHINGTON, WAS DISINTERRED TO MAKE THE JOURNEY WITH HIM.

MARY LINCOLN WAS TOO OVERCOME WITH GRIEF TO GO.

THE FUNERAL TRAIN TOOK 12 DAYS AND TRAVELED 1,662 MILES THROUGH THE SOFT SPRING LANDSCAPE, RETRACING THE ROUTE LINCOLN HAD TAKEN TO WASHINGTON FOUR YEARS EARLIER.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS] IN PHILADELPHIA, LINCOLN'S COFFIN LAY IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, WHERE HE HAD DECLARED HE WOULD "RATHER BE ASSASSINATED" THAN SURRENDER THE PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

[DRUM AND FIFE PLAYING FUNEREAL MARCH] IN NEW YORK, THE PROCESSION TOOK FOUR HOURS.

SCALPERS SOLD CHOICE WINDOW POSITIONS ALONG THE ROUTE FOR $4.00 AND UP.

FROM HIS GRANDFATHER'S WINDOW, A YOUNG THEODORE ROOSEVELT WATCHED THE PROCESSION PASS.

AT CLEVELAND, 10,000 MOURNERS PASSED THROUGH A SPECIALLY BUILT OUTDOOR PAVILION EVERY HOUR, ALL DAY, DESPITE A DRIVING RAIN.

IT ENDED IN SPRINGFIELD ON MAY 4th.

THE COFFIN RODE TO THE ILLINOIS STATE HOUSE IN A MAGNIFICENT BLACK-AND-SILVER HEARSE BORROWED FROM ST. LOUIS AND LAY OPEN IN THE CHAMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WHERE LINCOLN HAD WARNED THAT "A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND."

AMONG THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO SHUFFLED PAST HIS COFFIN WERE MANY WHO HAD KNOWN HIM IN THE OLD DAYS-- FARMERS FROM NEW SALEM, LAW CLIENTS AND RIVAL ATTORNEYS, NEIGHBORS WHO HAD NODDED TO HIM EACH MORNING ON HIS WAY TO WORK.

SARAH, THE PRESIDENT'S STEPMOTHER, HAD HAD A PREMONITION WHEN LINCOLN LEFT FOR WASHINGTON FOUR YEARS BEFORE.

"I FELT IT IN MY HEART THAT SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN TO HIM," SHE SAID, "AND THAT I SHOULD SEE HIM NO MORE."

GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER LED THE FINAL, SLOW MARCH TO OAK RIDGE CEMETERY THROUGH A GENTLE SPRING RAIN.

"YOU WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"WE ARE AT BEST ONLY HIS STEPCHILDREN.

"VIEWED FROM THE GENUINE ABOLITION GROUND, "MR. LINCOLN SEEMED TARDY, COLD, DULL, INDIFFERENT, "BUT MEASURING HIM BY THE SENTIMENT OF HIS COUNTRY, "A SENTIMENT HE WAS BOUND AS A STATESMAN TO CONSULT, "HE WAS SWIFT, ZEALOUS, RADICAL, AND DETERMINED.

"TAKING HIM ALL IN ALL, "MEASURING THE TREMENDOUS MAGNITUDE "OF THE WORK BEFORE HIM, "CONSIDERING THE NECESSARY MEANS TO ENDS, "INFINITE WISDOM HAS SELDOM SENT ANY MAN INTO THE WORLD BETTER FITTED FOR HIS MISSION THAN ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

[HOOFBEATS] [NEIGH] Narrator: ON APRIL 26, UNION CAVALRY TRAPPED JOHN WILKES BOOTH IN A VIRGINIA TOBACCO BARN AND SET IT AFIRE.

HIS ACCOMPLICE DAVID HEROLD SURRENDERED.

BOOTH PREFERRED DEATH.

A SOLDIER SHOT HIM IN THE NECK.

[GUNSHOT] AT THE END, HE ASKED TO HAVE HIS HANDS RAISED, LOOKED AT THEM, AND SAID, "USELESS, USELESS."

THAT DAY, IN A FARMHOUSE NEAR DURHAM STATION, NORTH CAROLINA, CONFEDERATE GENERAL JOSEPH JOHNSTON SURRENDERED WHAT WAS LEFT OF HIS ARMY TO WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

JEFFERSON DAVIS, EXHAUSTED BUT STILL DEFIANT, FLED SOUTHWARD, HOPING SOMEHOW TO RALLY THE CONFEDERACY FROM TEXAS.

Man: "IT MAY BE THAT WITH A DEVOTED BAND OF CAVALRY, "I CAN FORCE MY WAY ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI, "AND IF NOTHING CAN BE DONE THERE, "THEN I CAN GO TO MEXICO AND HAVE THE WORLD FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE A LOCATION."

Narrator: ON MAY 10 AT IRWINVILLE, GEORGIA, UNION CAVALRY CAUGHT UP WITH HIM.

WITH THE ARREST OF ITS PRESIDENT, THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT CEASED TO EXIST.

DAVIS WAS SENT NORTH TO VIRGINIA UNDER HEAVY GUARD.

NORTHERN NEWSPAPERS SPREAD THE FALSE RUMOR THAT DAVIS HAD BEEN APPREHENDED WEARING WOMEN'S CLOTHES.

NORTH AND SOUTH, HE WAS REVILED AS THE VILLAIN OF THE WAR.

THESE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT DAVIS ARE SO STRANGE, THAT IT'S AS IF A GIGANTIC CONSPIRACY WAS LAUNCHED.

IT WAS PARTLY LAUNCHED BY SOUTHERNERS WHO, HAVING LOST THE WAR, DID NOT WANT TO BLAME IT ON THEIR GENERALS, SO THEY BLAMED IT ON THE POLITICIANS, AND, OF COURSE, DAVIS WAS THE CHIEF POLITICIAN.

SO IT WAS THE SOUTHERNERS MORE THAN THE NORTHERNERS WHO VILIFIED JEFFERSON DAVIS.

THE NORTHERNERS WANTED TO HANG HIM FROM A SOUR APPLE TREE, BUT, UH, THE SOUTHERNERS REALLY TORE HIM DOWN AFTER THE WAR.

Narrator: DAVIS WAS IMPRISONED AT FORTRESS MONROE IN A CELL KEPT PERPETUALLY LIT AND WAS MADE TO WEAR CHAINS, THOUGH HE PROTESTED THAT "THOSE ARE ORDERS FOR A SLAVE, AND NO MAN WITH A SOUL IN HIM WOULD OBEY SUCH ORDERS."

Man: "DEAR VARINA, THIS IS NOT THE FATE TO WHICH I INVITED YOU "WHEN THE FUTURE WAS ROSE-COLORED FOR US BOTH, "BUT I KNOW YOU WILL BEAR IT EVEN BETTER THAN MYSELF, "AND THAT, OF US TWO, I ALONE WILL EVER LOOK BACK REPROACHFULLY ON MY CAREER."

[CANNON FIRE] Narrator: SCATTERED FIGHTING STUTTERED ON IN LOUISIANA, ALABAMA, AND MISSISSIPPI, AND EVEN FURTHER WEST, WHERE ON MAY 13, 1865, PRIVATE JOHN J. WILLIAMS OF THE 34th INDIANA BECAME THE LAST MAN KILLED IN THE CIVIL WAR, IN A BATTLE AT PALMITTO RANCH, TEXAS.

THE FINAL SKIRMISH WAS A CONFEDERATE VICTORY.

[MARCHING BAND PLAYING] ON THE MORNING OF MAY 23, 1865, THE AMERICAN FLAG FLEW AT FULL STAFF ABOVE THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE LINCOLN'S DEATH.

U.S. GRANT AND THE NEW PRESIDENT, ANDREW JOHNSON, STOOD SIDE BY SIDE TO WATCH THE GRAND ARMIES OF THE REPUBLIC PASS IN REVIEW DOWN PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE FROM THE CAPITOL.

Woman: "AND SO IT CAME, "THIS GLORIOUS OLD ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, "FOR SIX HOURS MARCHING PAST, "18 OR 20 MILES LONG, "THEIR COLORS TELLING THEIR SAD HISTORY.

"IT WAS A STRANGE FEELING "TO BE SO INTENSELY HAPPY AND TRIUMPHANT AND YET TO FEEL LIKE CRYING."

[APPLAUSE] Narrator: THE GREAT PROCESSION TOOK TWO DAYS.

GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER STOLE THE SHOW THE FIRST DAY, GALLOPING PAST THE DIGNITARIES FAR AHEAD OF HIS MEN, BRANDISHING HIS SABRE, HIS LONG YELLOW HAIR WHIPPING IN THE WIND.

BUT THE CROWDS CHEERED LOUDEST THE NEXT MORNING AS WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN RODE PAST AT THE HEAD OF THE GREAT ARMY HE HAD LED TO THE SEA.

BY MAY, MOST OF THE YANKEES HAD WITHDRAWN FROM CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE.

WHAT REMAINED OF THE 49th AND 14th TENNESSEE REGIMENTS CAME HOME.

PRIVATE JOHN J. DENNY OF COMPANY K WAS NOT AMONG THEM.

HE HAD DIED AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.

OF THE 29 STEWART COLLEGE SENIORS WHO WENT TO WAR, 16 HAD BEEN KILLED IN BATTLE.

7 MORE HAD DIED OF WOUNDS AND DISEASE.

IN SEPTEMBER, RAILWAY SERVICE TO CLARKSVILLE WAS RESUMED.

DEER ISLE, MAINE, WAS AN INDIRECT CASUALTY OF THE WAR.

WHEN ITS MEN CAME HOME, THEY FOUND FISHING HAD FALLEN OFF.

THERE WAS NEW MONEY TO BE MADE IN OTHER INDUSTRIES IN NEARBY TOWNS.

THE OLD FAMILIES MOVED AWAY.

SOME OF THE HOUSES THEY LEFT BEHIND BECAME SUMMER HOMES FOR VACATIONERS, MOST OF WHOM WERE UNAWARE OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED THERE.

JOHN WILKES BOOTH'S ACCOMPLICES WERE SWIFTLY TRIED BEFORE A MILITARY COMMISSION.

ALL EIGHT WERE FOUND GUILTY.

FOUR WERE SENTENCED TO BE HANGED, INCLUDING MARY SURRATT, WHOSE ONLY CRIME MAY HAVE BEEN THAT SHE OWNED THE BOARDING HOUSE IN WHICH THE CONSPIRATORS MET.

THE EXECUTIONS TOOK PLACE IN THE COURTYARD OF THE OLD PENITENTIARY BUILDING ON JULY 7.

THE PRISONERS CLIMBED THE 13 STEPS AND SAT IN CHAIRS WHILE THE CHARGES WERE READ ALOUD.

TWO PRIESTS COMFORTED MRS. SURRATT AND SHIELDED HER FROM THE SUN.

WHITE HOODS WERE SLIPPED OVER THEIR HEADS.

GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, THE HERO OF GETTYSBURG, CLAPPED HIS HANDS THREE TIMES, AND SOLDIERS KNOCKED THE FRONT PART OF THE PLATFORM OUT FROM UNDER THE CONDEMNED.

[TRAP DOOR OPENS] IT TOOK THEM MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES TO DIE.

A NORTHERN NEWSPAPER SAID, "WE WANT TO KNOW THEIR NAMES NO MORE."

Man: "SOMEWHERE THEY CRAWLED TO DIE ALONE IN BUSHES, "LOW GULLIES, OR ON THE SIDES OF HILLS.

"THERE, IN SECLUDED SPOTS, "THEIR SKELETONS, BLEACHED BONES, TUFTS OF HAIR, "BUTTONS, FRAGMENTS OF CLOTHING ARE OCCASIONALLY FOUND YET."

"OUR YOUNG MEN, ONCE SO HANDSOME AND SO JOYOUS, "TAKEN FROM US-- "THE SON FROM THE MOTHER, "THE HUSBAND FROM THE WIFE, THE DEAR FRIEND FROM THE DEAR FRIEND."

WALT WHITMAN.

Narrator: 3.5 MILLION MEN WENT TO WAR.

620,000 MEN DIED IN IT, AS MANY AS IN ALL THE REST OF AMERICA'S WARS COMBINED.

1/4 OF THE SOUTH'S WHITE MEN OF MILITARY AGE WERE DEAD.

IN IOWA, HALF THE MEN ELIGIBLE TO FIGHT SERVED IN THE UNION ARMY, FILLING 46 REGIMENTS IN ALL.

13,001 IOWANS DIED-- 3,540 IN BATTLE, 515 WHILE PRISONERS OF WAR, AND 8,498 OF DISEASE.

THOSE FIGURES WERE TYPICAL.

THE 5th NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT STARTED OUT FROM CONCORD IN 1861 WITH 1,200 MEN.

WHEN THEY RETURNED TO NEW HAMPSHIRE AFTER GETTYSBURG, THERE WERE ONLY 380 LEFT.

IN MISSISSIPPI IN 1866, 1/5 OF THE STATE'S ENTIRE BUDGET WAS SPENT ON ARTIFICIAL LIMBS.

MILLIONS WERE LEFT WITH VIVID MEMORIES OF MEN WHO SHOULD HAVE STILL BEEN LIVING BUT WERE NOT.

THE SURVIVORS WENT HOME AND GOT ON WITH THE BUSINESS OF LIVING.

Man: "THE MORNING AFTER MY ARRIVAL HOME, "I DOFFED MY UNIFORM OF FIRST LIEUTENANT, "PUT ON SOME OF MY FATHER'S OLD CLOTHES, "AND PROCEEDED TO WAGE WAR ON THE STANDING CORN.

"THE FEELING I HAD WAS SORT OF QUEER.

"IT ALMOST SEEMED, SOMETIMES, "AS IF I HAD BEEN AWAY ONLY A DAY OR TWO "AND HAD JUST TAKEN UP THE FARM WORK WHERE I HAD LEFT OFF."

LEANDER STILLWELL, FORMERLY 61st ILLINOIS.

Narrator: THE BOYS WHO HAD GONE OFF TO WAR WERE OLD MEN NOW.

THEY WALKED OVER THE OLD BATTLEFIELDS WITH THEIR FAMILIES, POINTING OUT THE PLACES WHERE THEY HAD ONCE DONE THINGS THAT NOW SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE, EVEN TO THEM.

Foote: THEY HAD A THEORETICAL NOTION OF HAVING A COUNTRY, BUT WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, ON BOTH SIDES, THEY KNEW THEY HAD A COUNTRY.

THEY'D BEEN THERE.

THEY HAD WALKED ITS HILLS AND TRAMPED ITS ROADS.

UH, THEY--THEY SAW THE COUNTRY, AND THEY KNEW THEY HAD A COUNTRY, AND THEY KNEW THE--THE EFFORT THAT THEY HAD EXPENDED AND THEIR DEAD FRIENDS HAD EXPENDED TO PRESERVE IT.

IT DID THAT.

IT MADE THEIR COUNTRY AN ACTUALITY.

[BIRDS CHIRPING] BY THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS AND STATUES STOOD IN CITY PARKS AND COURTHOUSE SQUARES FROM MAINE TO MISSISSIPPI.

Man: "NUMBER 220-- STATUE OF AMERICAN SOLDIER.

"PRICE, $450.

"WHEN USED AS A FAMILY MONUMENT "AND PHOTOS OF THE DECEASED SOLDIER CAN BE FURNISHED, "WE WILL MODEL A NEW HEAD IN A TRUE LIKENESS.

THE EXTRA COST WILL BE BUT $150."

THE MONUMENTAL BRONZE COMPANY, BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

Man: "HALL'S HILL, VIRGINIA, JULY 4, 1865.

"ANOTHER INDEPENDENCE DAY IN THE ARMY, "AND THIS HAS BEEN MY FIFTH.

"THE FIRST WE PASSED AT CAMP CLARK NEAR WASHINGTON, "THE SECOND AT HARRISON'S LANDING, "THE THIRD AT GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, "THE FOURTH AT PETERSBURG, "AND TODAY WE ARE BACK IN WASHINGTON "WITH OUR WORK FINISHED.

THE DAY HAS BEEN FUN."

ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

Narrator: THE WAR MADE ELISHA HUNT RHODES.

HAVING RISEN FROM PRIVATE TO COLONEL DURING THE WAR, HE WAS PROMOTED TO BRIGADIER GENERAL AFTER IT, THEN WENT INTO THE COTTON AND WOOL BUSINESS IN PROVIDENCE.

HE DEVOTED NEARLY EVERY IDLE HOUR TO VETERANS' AFFAIRS AND NEVER MISSED A REGIMENTAL REUNION.

Man: "AMERICA HAS NO NORTH, NO SOUTH, NO EAST, NO WEST.

"THE SUN RISES OVER THE HILLS AND SETS OVER THE MOUNTAINS.

"THE COMPASS JUST POINTS UP AND DOWN, "AND WE CAN LAUGH NOW AT THE ABSURD NOTION "OF THERE BEING A NORTH AND A SOUTH.

WE ARE ONE AND UNDIVIDED."

SAM WATKINS.

Narrator: SAM WATKINS RETURNED TO COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, RAN THE FAMILY FARM, AND IN THE EVENINGS WORKED ON HIS MEMOIRS, COMPANY AYTCH, DESPITE, HE SAID, "A HOUSE FULL OF YOUNG REBELS CLUSTERING AROUND MY KNEES AND BUMPING MY ELBOWS."

BUT FOR THE WAR, THESE MEN WERE LIKE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE FRIENDS.

YOU CAN, UH, REMEMBER THE-- THOMAS HARDY'S POEM.

"HAD HE AND I BUT MET, IN SOME OLD ANCIENT INN, WE MIGHT SIT DOWN TO WET RIGHT MANY A NIPPERKIN."

YOU KNOW, "BUT RANGED AS INFANTRY, STANDING FACE TO FACE, "I SHOT AT HIM AS HE AT ME, AND KILLED HIM IN HIS PLACE.

"STRANGE AND CURIOUS, A WAR IS.

"YOU SHOOT A FELLOW DOWN YOU'D TREAT WHERE ANY BAR IS, OR HELP TO HALF A CROWN."

ISN'T THAT IT?

ESPECIALLY IN OUR OWN, UH--OUR OWN SOCIETY, WHERE THESE MEN SHARED A COMMON HISTORY, MEN AND WOMEN, SHARED A COMMON LOVE OF LIBERTY, GAVE IT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ENGLISH AS IT SPUN THROUGH THEIR LIVES, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, WHEN DEATH CAME AND THERE WAS NO MORE TO FIGHT ABOUT, THE SORT OF OCEAN OF--OF LOVE AND RESPECT CLOSED OVER THEM AGAIN, AND THEY WERE TOGETHER.

Man: "I THINK WE UNDERSTAND WHAT MILITARY FAME IS-- "TO BE KILLED ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE AND HAVE OUR NAMES SPELLED WRONG IN THE NEWSPAPERS."

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

Narrator: WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN REMAINED A SOLDIER, FIGHTING INDIANS AND SHUNNING POLITICS UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 1883.

"IF NOMINATED, I WILL NOT RUN," HE TOLD A REPUBLICAN DELEGATION URGING HIM TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT.

"IF ELECTED, I WILL NOT SERVE."

HE DIED IN NEW YORK CITY IN THE WINTER OF 1891.

AMONG THE HONORARY PALLBEARERS WHO STOOD BAREHEADED IN THE COLD WIND OUTSIDE THE CHURCH WAS 82-YEAR-OLD JOE JOHNSTON, WHO HAD FOUGHT SHERMAN IN GEORGIA AND THE CAROLINAS.

WHEN A FRIEND WARNED HIM HE MIGHT FALL ILL, JOHNSTON TOLD HIM, "IF I WERE IN SHERMAN'S PLACE "AND HE WERE STANDING HERE IN MINE, HE WOULD NOT PUT ON HIS HAT."

JOHNSTON DIED 10 DAYS LATER OF PNEUMONIA.

Woman: "APRIL 1866.

"THERE ARE NIGHTS HERE WITH THE MOONLIGHT, "COLD AND GHASTLY, AND THE WHIPPOORWILLS "AND THE SCREECH OWLS ALONE DISTURBING THE SILENCE, "WHEN I COULD TEAR MY HAIR AND CRY ALONE FOR ALL THAT IS PAST AND GONE."

MARY CHESNUT.

Narrator: WHEN JAMES AND MARY CHESNUT RETURNED TO MULBERRY PLANTATION, THEY FOUND THE OLD HOUSE STRIPPED BY UNION MEN, THE COTTON BURNED.

MARY MANAGED TO MAKE A LITTLE MONEY SELLING BUTTER AND EGGS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HER FORMER SLAVE, AND SHE CONTINUED TO WRITE, BUT SHE NEVER COMPLETED THE MAMMOTH TASK OF REWORKING HER WAR DIARY.

JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS NEVER TRIED FOR TREASON, NOR COULD HE EVER BRING HIMSELF TO ASK FOR A PARDON.

AFTER TWO YEARS IN PRISON, HE WAS RELEASED ON BOND AND SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE LIVING OFF THE CHARITY OF A WEALTHY WIDOW AND WORKING ON A MASSIVE MEMOIR, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT.

HE DIED, STILL PERSUADED OF THE JUSTICE OF HIS CAUSE, AT THE AGE OF 81.

HIRAM REVELS OF MISSISSIPPI BECAME THE FIRST BLACK MAN EVER ELECTED TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE, FILLING THE SEAT LAST HELD BY JEFFERSON DAVIS.

VICE PRESIDENT ALEXANDER STEPHENS WAS IMPRISONED BRIEFLY AND THEN RE-ELECTED TO HIS OLD CONGRESSIONAL SEAT FROM GEORGIA AS IF THERE HAD NEVER BEEN A CONFEDERACY.

MARY TODD LINCOLN NEVER RECOVERED FROM HER HUSBAND'S MURDER.

HER SON TAD DIED IN 1871.

FIVE YEARS LATER, HER ELDEST SON ROBERT HAD HER COMMITTED TO A MENTAL INSTITUTION.

SHE SPENT HER LAST YEARS IN SPRINGFIELD, RARELY LEAVING A ROOM WHOSE CURTAINS WERE NEVER RAISED.

FOR CLARA BARTON, THE ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD, THE GRIM WORK CONTINUED.

AFTER THE WAR, SHE WENT DOWN TO ANDERSONVILLE AND HELPED ARRANGE DIGNIFIED BURIAL FOR THOUSANDS OF THE UNION PRISONERS WHO HAD DIED THERE, THEN WENT ON TO FOUND THE AMERICAN RED CROSS.

ON NOVEMBER 10, 1865, HENRY WIRZ, COMMANDANT AT ANDERSONVILLE PRISON, WAS HANGED IN THE YARD OF THE OLD CAPITOL PRISON IN WASHINGTON FOR WAR CRIMES.

HE PLEADED HE HAD ONLY FOLLOWED ORDERS.

WALT WHITMAN PUBLISHED DR UM TAPS, A BOOK OF CIVIL WAR POEMS HE THOUGHT HIS FINEST, THEN TURNED LARGELY TO PROSE.

HIS WRITINGS REVOLUTIONIZED AMERICAN LITERATURE.

PHIL SHERIDAN WENT OUT WEST TO TAKE ON A NEW ENEMY, DECLARING THAT THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN WAS A DEAD INDIAN.

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER WENT WEST, TOO, CARRYING WITH HIM HIS BELIEF IN HIS OWN INVINCIBILITY.

IN 1876, THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNE PROVED HIM WRONG.

GEORGE McCLELLAN STAYED ABROAD FOR THREE YEARS AFTER LOSING THE ELECTION TO LINCOLN.

HE HEARD NO SLANDER ABOUT HIMSELF THERE, HE SAID.

THEN HE CAME HOME AND GOT HIMSELF ELECTED GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY.

THE CONQUEROR OF FORT SUMTER, PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT BEAUREGARD, PROMOTED RAILROADS, MANAGED THE LOUISIANA STATE LOTTERY, AND GOT RICH.

NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST PROMOTED RAILROADS, TOO, BUT FAILED.

IN 1867, HE BECAME THE FIRST IMPERIAL WIZARD OF THE KU KLUX KLAN BUT QUIT WHEN THE KLAN GREW TOO VIOLENT EVEN FOR HIM.

GENERAL DAN SICKLES SOMEHOW ESCAPED COURT-MARTIAL FOR HIS BLUNDER AT GETTYSBURG.

HE HAD THE LEG HE LOST IN THE PEACH ORCHARD MOUNTED IN A MINIATURE CASKET AND GAVE IT TO THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, WHERE HE VISITED IT REGULARLY FOR 50 YEARS.

JOHN BELL HOOD, WHO HAD SURVIVED SOME OF THE FIERCEST FIGHTING OF THE WAR, DIED WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN THE NEW ORLEANS YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC OF 1878, LEAVING 10 ORPHANED CHILDREN.

GEORGE PICKETT NEVER OVERCAME HIS BITTERNESS OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS DIVISION AT GETTYSBURG.

SUFFERING FROM SEVERE DEPRESSION, HE TURNED DOWN OFFERS OF COMMAND FROM THE RULER OF EGYPT AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND ENDED UP IN THE INSURANCE BUSINESS.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET JOINED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, SERVED AS GRANT'S MINISTER TO TURKEY, DARED TO CRITICIZE LEE'S STRATEGY AT GETTYSBURG, AND FOR ALL THESE THINGS WAS CONSIDERED A TRAITOR TO THE SOUTH BY HIS FORMER COMRADES-IN-ARMS.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS CONTINUED TO FIGHT AS HARD FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AS HE HAD AGAINST SLAVERY AND BECAME THE MOST POWERFUL BLACK POLITICIAN IN AMERICA.

A YOUNG VISITOR ONCE ASKED HIM WHAT HE SHOULD DO WITH HIS LIFE.

"AGITATE!"

THE OLD MAN ANSWERED.

"AGITATE!

AGITATE!"

JULIA WARD HOWE HELPED LEAD THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION FOR 55 YEARS.

AT HER FUNERAL IN 1910, 4,000 MOURNERS JOINED IN SINGING THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC.

COLONEL WASHINGTON ROEBLING LEFT THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, FINISHED HIS FATHER'S BRIDGE AT CINCINNATI, AND WENT ON TO BUILD THE GREATEST SUSPENSION BRIDGE IN THE WORLD IN BROOKLYN.

Man: "I HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH "BECAUSE I BELIEVED THEY WERE SEEKING TO WREST FROM THE SOUTH "ITS DEAREST RIGHTS, "BUT I HAVE NEVER CHERISHED TOWARD THEM "BITTER OR VINDICTIVE FEELINGS, AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE DAY WHEN I DID NOT PRAY FOR THEM."

Narrator: ROBERT E. LEE SWORE RENEWED ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES AND BY SO DOING PERSUADED THOUSANDS OF HIS FORMER SOLDIERS TO DO THE SAME.

HE WAS WEARY, AILING, AND WITHOUT WORK IN THE SUMMER OF 1865 WHEN AN INSURANCE FIRM OFFERED HIM $50,000 JUST FOR THE USE OF HIS NAME.

HE TURNED IT DOWN.

"I CANNOT CONSENT TO RECEIVE PAY FOR SERVICES I DO NOT RENDER."

Foote: HE ENDED UP IN THE NOBLE WAY YOU MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED AFTER YOU'D LEARNED TO EXPECT IT.

HE WAS, UH--DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH HIMSELF AFTER THE WAR.

HIS PROFESSION WAS GONE.

EVEN HIS COUNTRY WAS GONE.

UH, AND HE WAS APPROACHED, WITH A GOOD DEAL OF HESITATION, BY THESE PEOPLE FROM A LITTLE SCHOOL CALLED WASHINGTON COLLEGE, AND HE ACCEPTED THE PRESIDENCY OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE.

HE HAD AN ANNUAL SALARY OF $1,500 AND A HOUSE TO LIVE IN, AND HE SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE AT WHAT AFTER HIS DEATH WAS CALLED WASHINGTON AND LEE.

Narrator: "THE GREATEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE," HE SAID, "WAS TAKING A MILITARY EDUCATION."

AND WHENEVER HIS STUDENTS AND THOSE OF THE NEIGHBORING VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE MARCHED TOGETHER, LEE MADE A POINT OF STAYING OUT OF STEP.

HE NEVER RETURNED TO ARLINGTON AGAIN.

ONCE, ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON, HE GLIMPSED HIS OLD HOME FROM A PASSING TRAIN.

HE DIED IN 1870.

IN HIS LAST MOMENTS, HE WENT BACK TO THE WAR, ORDERING A.P.

HILL TO BRING UP HIS TROOPS, JUST AS STONEWALL JACKSON HAD ON HIS DEATHBED AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.

THEN LEE CALLED OUT, "STRIKE THE TENT."

Foote: "FOR HE WILL SMILE "AND GIVE YOU WITH UNFLINCHING COURTESY, "PRAYERS, TRAPPINGS, LETTERS, UNIFORMS AND ORDERS, "PHOTOGRAPHS, KINDNESS, VALOR AND ADVICE, "AND DO IT WITH SUCH GRACE AND GENTLENESS "THAT YOU WILL KNOW YOU HAVE THE WHOLE OF HIM PINNED DOWN, "MAPPED OUT, EASY TO UNDERSTAND-- "AND SO YOU HAVE.

"ALL THINGS EXCEPT THE HEART.

"THE HEART HE KEPT... A SECRET TO THE END FROM ALL THE PICKLOCKS OF BIOGRAPHERS."

Man: "I FEEL THAT WE ARE ON THE EVE OF A NEW ERA "WHEN THERE IS TO BE A GREAT HARMONY "BETWEEN THE FEDERAL AND THE CONFEDERATE.

"I CANNOT STAY TO BE A LIVING WITNESS "TO THE CORRECTNESS OF THIS PROPHECY, BUT I FEEL IT WITHIN ME THAT IT IS TO BE SO."

Narrator: THE QUALITIES THAT SERVED ULYSSES S. GRANT SO WELL IN WAR-- STUBBORNNESS, INDEPENDENCE, AVERSION TO POLITICS-- DESERTED HIM IN PEACETIME.

HE ENTERED THE WHITE HOUSE PLEDGED TO PEACE, HONESTY, AND CIVIL RIGHTS, BUT CORRUPTION TAINTED HIS TWO TERMS.

AFTER THE PRESIDENCY, HE SETTLED IN MANHATTAN, WHERE HE LENT HIS NAME TO A WALL STREET BROKERAGE FIRM.

ANOTHER PARTNER IN THE FIRM STOLE MILLIONS FROM THE SHAREHOLDERS IN 1884 AND BANKRUPTED THE GRANT FAMILY.

ONCE AGAIN, U.S. GRANT WAS PENNILESS.

AT ALMOST THE SAME MOMENT, HE WAS FOUND TO BE SUFFERING FROM INOPERABLE CANCER OF THE THROAT.

DETERMINED TO PROVIDE FOR HIS FAMILY BEFORE HE DIED, HE SET TO WORK WRITING HIS MEMOIRS.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1885, HE MOVED TO A COTTAGE AT MOUNT McGREGOR IN THE ADIRONDACKS.

UNABLE NOW TO EAT OR SPEAK, HE SAT ON THE FRONT PORCH IN THE AFTERNOONS, LABORING OVER HIS MANUSCRIPT.

HE FINISHED IT ON JULY 16 AND DIED ONE WEEK LATER.

GRANT'S MEMOIRS SOLD HALF A MILLION COPIES AND RESTORED HIS FAMILY'S FORTUNE.

IN 1913, THE GOVERNMENT HELD A 50th ANNIVERSARY REUNION AT GETTYSBURG.

IT LASTED THREE DAYS.

THOUSANDS OF SURVIVORS BIVOUACKED ON THE OLD BATTLEFIELD, SWAPPING STORIES, LOOKING UP OLD COMRADES.

THE CLIMAX WAS TO BE A RE-ENACTMENT OF PICKETT'S CHARGE.

AS THE REBEL YELL RANG OUT AND THE OLD CONFEDERATES STARTED FORWARD AGAIN ACROSS THE FIELDS, A MOAN, "A GIGANTIC GASP OF UNBELIEF," ROSE FROM THE UNION MEN ON CEMETERY RIDGE.

"IT WAS THEN," ONE ONLOOKER SAID, "THAT THE YANKEES, UNABLE TO RESTRAIN THEMSELVES LONGER, "BURST FROM BEHIND THE STONE WALL "AND FLUNG THEMSELVES UPON THEIR FORMER ENEMIES, "NOT IN MORTAL COMBAT, BUT EMBRACING THEM IN BROTHERLY LOVE AND AFFECTION."

Man: "PAGEANT HAS PASSED.

"THE DAY IS OVER, BUT WE LINGER, "LOATH TO THINK WE SHALL SEE THEM NO MORE TOGETHER-- THESE MEN, THESE HORSES, THESE COLORS AFIELD."

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN.

Narrator: JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN WAS AT THE GETTYSBURG REUNION, STILL IMPOSING AT 83, DESPITE ALMOST CONSTANT PAIN FROM THE UNHEALED INTERNAL DAMAGE DONE HIM BY A CONFEDERATE MINIE BALL AT PETERSBURG.

THE REUNION WAS, HE SAID, A TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCE, "A RADIANT FELLOWSHIP OF THE FALLEN."

HE HAD RECEIVED THE MEDAL OF HONOR FOR HIS COURAGE AT LITTLE ROUND TOP, SERVED FOUR TERMS AS GOVERNOR OF MAINE, THEN BECAME PRESIDENT OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE, WHERE HE MANAGED TO TEACH EVERY SUBJECT IN THE CURRICULUM EXCEPT MATHEMATICS.

HE DIED OF HIS ANCIENT WOUND IN 1914.

THE WAR WAS OVER.

WHO WON THE WAR?

THE UNION ARMY OBVIOUSLY WON THE WAR IN THE SENSE THAT THEY WERE THE ARMY LEFT STANDING AND HOLDING THEIR WEAPONS WHEN IT WAS ALL OVER.

UH, SO THE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THE UNION ARMY, THE GENERALS WHO DIRECTED IT, THE PRESIDENT WHO LED THE COUNTRY DURING IT WON THE WAR.

IF WE'RE NOT TALKING JUST ABOUT THE SERIES OF BATTLES THAT FINISHED UP WITH THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX, BUT TALKING INSTEAD ABOUT THE STRUGGLE TO MAKE SOMETHING HIGHER AND BETTER OUT OF THE COUNTRY, THEN THE QUESTION GETS MORE COMPLICATED.

THE SLAVES WON THE WAR, AND THEY LOST THE WAR BECAUSE THEY WON FREEDOM, THAT IS, THE REMOVAL OF SLAVERY, BUT THEY DID NOT WIN FREEDOM AS THEY UNDERSTOOD FREEDOM.

I SUPPOSE THAT SLAVERY IS MERELY THE, UH--THE HORRIBLE STATUTORY EXPRESSION OF A DEEPER--OF A DEEPER RIFT BETWEEN PEOPLE BASED ON RACE, AND THAT IS WHAT WE STRUGGLE STILL TO--TO HEAL.

AND, UH, I THINK THE--THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LINCOLN'S LIFE AND HIS VICTORY WAS THAT--THAT WE WILL NEVER AGAIN ENSHRINE THESE CONCEPTS INTO LAW, BUT NOW LET'S SEE WHAT WE CAN DO TO ERASE THEM FROM THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF--OF PEOPLE.

THE CIVIL WAR IS NOT ONLY THE CENTRAL EVENT OF AMERICAN HISTORY, BUT IT'S A CENTRAL EVENT IN LARGE WAYS FOR THE WORLD ITSELF.

IF WE BELIEVE, TODAY, IN THE 20th CENTURY, AS SURELY WE MUST, THAT POPULAR GOVERNMENT IS THE WAY TO GO, IT IS THE WAY FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, THEN THE CIVIL WAR ESTABLISHED THE FACT THAT A POPULAR GOVERNMENT COULD SURVIVE, THAT IT COULD OVERCOME AN INTERNAL SECESSION MOVEMENT THAT COULD DESTROY IT.

SO THE WAR BECOMES--IN ESSENCE, IT BECOMES A TESTAMENT FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FOR ALL TIME.

Narrator: FOUR MILLION AMERICANS HAD BEEN FREED AFTER FOUR YEARS OF AGONY, BUT THE MEANING OF FREEDOM IN AMERICAN LIFE REMAINED UNRESOLVED.

"EMANCIPATED SLAVES OWN NOTHING," ONE TENNESSEE PLANTER WROTE, "BECAUSE NOTHING BUT FREEDOM HAS BEEN GIVEN THEM."

THOUSANDS OF BLACKS WANDERED SOUTHERN ROADS SEARCHING FOR RELATIVES OR LOOKING FOR WORK OR FOOD.

THOUSANDS MORE STAYED ON THEIR PLANTATIONS AS HIRED HANDS OR SHARECROPPERS.

THE 13th AMENDMENT WAS FOLLOWED BY A 14th AND A 15th, PROMISING FULL CITIZENSHIP AND DUE PROCESS FOR ALL AMERICAN MEN, WHITE AND BLACK.

BUT THE PROMISES WERE SOON OVERLOOKED IN THE SCRAMBLE FOR A NEW PROSPERITY, AND WHITE SUPREMACY WAS BRUTALLY REIMPOSED THROUGHOUT THE OLD CONFEDERACY.

THE WHITE SOUTH WON THAT WAR OF ATTRITION.

IT WOULD TAKE ANOTHER CENTURY BEFORE BLACKS GAINED BACK THE GROUND FOR WHICH SO MANY HAD GIVEN THEIR LIVES.

Fields: I THINK WHAT WE NEED TO REMEMBER MOST OF ALL IS THAT THE CIVIL WAR IS NOT OVER UNTIL WE, TODAY, HAVE DONE OUR PART IN FIGHTING IT, AS WELL AS UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE CIVIL WAR GENERATION FOUGHT IT.

WILLIAM FAULKNER, UH, SAID ONCE THAT HISTORY IS NOT "WAS," IT'S "IS," AND WHAT WE NEED TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR IS THAT THE CIVIL WAR IS IN THE PRESENT AS WELL AS IN THE PAST.

THE GENERATION THAT FOUGHT THE WAR, THE GENERATION THAT ARGUED OVER THE DEFINITION OF THE WAR, THE GENERATION THAT HAD TO PAY THE PRICE IN BLOOD, THAT HAD TO PAY THE PRICE IN BLASTED HOPES AND A LOST FUTURE, ALSO ESTABLISHED A STANDARD THAT WILL NOT MEAN ANYTHING UNTIL WE HAVE FINISHED THE WORK.

YOU CAN SAY THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SLAVERY ANYMORE WE'RE ALL CITIZENS.

BUT IF WE'RE ALL CITIZENS, THEN WE HAVE A TASK TO DO TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT, TOO, IS NOT A JOKE.

IF SOME CITIZENS LIVE IN HOUSES AND OTHERS LIVE ON THE STREET, THE CIVIL WAR IS STILL GOING ON.

IT'S STILL TO BE FOUGHT, AND REGRETTABLY, IT CAN STILL BE LOST.

WE'RE CAMPING TONIGHT ON THE OLD CA MPGROUND GIVE US A SONG TO CHEER OUR WE ARY HEARTS... Marshall: GETTYSBURG'S GU NS ARE STILL, AN D THE DEAD SLEEP ON.

AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS BA TTLEGROUND IS A CAMP AGAIN WITH A ROAD DIVIDING TH E BLUE AND GRAY.

THERE IS NO OTHER DI VIDING LINE NOW AS 2,500 VETERANS GATHER FR OM NORTH AND SOUTH TO MARK THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICA'S ARMAGEDDON.

HELLO.

HELLO.

HO W ARE YOU?

GLAD TO SEE YOU.

HA HA HA!

YO U'RE ALL RIGHT.

WOO!

WOO!

WO O!

WOO!

WOO!

WO O!

HA HA HA!

THAT'S TH E REBEL YELL.

WOO!

WOO!

WOO!

WE THINK THAT WE ARE A WHOLLY SUPERIOR PEOPLE.

IF WE'D BEEN ANYTHING LIKE AS SUPERIOR AS WE THINK WE ARE, WE WOULD NOT HAVE FOUGHT THAT WAR, BUT SINCE WE DID FIGHT IT, WE HAVE TO MAKE IT THE GREATEST WAR OF ALL TIMES AND OUR GENERALS WERE THE GREATEST GENERALS OF ALL TIME.

IT'S VERY AMERICAN TO DO THAT.

[SNARE DRUM BEATING] [DRUM BEATING STOPS] IN TIME, EVEN DEATH ITSELF MIGHT BE ABOLISHED.

SERGEANT BARRY BENSON, A SOUTH CAROLINA VETERAN FROM McGOWEN'S BRIGADE, WILCOX'S DIVISION, A.P.

HILL'S CORP, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, HE HAD ENLISTED THREE MONTHS BEFORE SUMTER, AT AGE 18, AND SERVED THROUGH APPOMATTOX-- SAW IT SO WHEN HE GOT AROUND TO COMPOSING THE REMINISCENCES HE HOPED WOULD "GO DOWN AMONGST MY DESCENDANTS FOR A LONG TIME."

RELIVING THE WAR IN WORDS, HE BEGAN TO WISH HE COULD RELIVE IT IN FACT.

AND HE CAME TO BELIEVE THAT HE AND HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS, GRAY AND BLUE, MIGHT ONE DAY BE ABLE TO DO JUST THAT, IF NOT HERE ON EARTH, THEN AFTERWARDS IN VALHALLA.

"WHO KNOWS?"

HE ASKED, AS HIS NARRATIVE DREW TOWARD ITS CLOSE, "BUT IT MAY BE GIVEN TO US, AFTER THIS LIFE, "TO MEET AGAIN IN THE OLD QUARTERS, "TO PLAY CHESS AND DRAUGHTS, "TO GET UP SOON TO ANSWER THE MORNING ROLL CALL, "TO FALL IN AT THE TAP OF THE DRUM FOR DRILL AND DRESS PARADE, "AND AGAIN TO HASTILY DON OUR WAR GEAR "WHILE THE MONOTONOUS PATTER OF THE LONG ROLL "SUMMONS TO BATTLE.

"WHO KNOWS, BUT AGAIN THE OLD FLAGS, RAGGED AND TORN, "SNAPPING IN THE WIND, MAY FACE EACH OTHER AND FLUTTER, "PURSUING AND PURSUED, "WHILE THE CRIES OF VICTORY FILL A SUMMER DAY.

"AND AFTER THE BATTLE, "THEN THE SLAIN AND WOUNDED WILL ARISE "AND ALL MEET TOGETHER UNDER THE TWO FLAGS, "ALL SOUND AND WELL.

"THERE WILL BE TALKING AND LAUGHTER AND CHEERS, "AND ALL WILL SAY, DI D IT NOT SEEM REAL?

WAS IT NOT AS IN THE OLD DAYS?"

WE ARE 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 AND HIGHER EVERY EVERY ROUND GOES ROUND GOES HIGHER HIGHER AND HIGHER EVERY EVERY ROUND GOES ROUND GOES HIGHER HIGHER OH SOLDIERS SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS DO YOU DO YOU THINK I'LL NARRATOR: TO LEARN MO RE ABOUT THE FILM AND SEE EXCLUSIVE WEB CONTENT, VISIT PBS.ORG/CIVIL WAR.

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

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

THE COMPANION BOOK IS ALSO AVAILABLE.

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

ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM ITUNES.

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 SURELY MAKE IT KEEP ON KEEP ON CLIMBING CLIMBING WE WILL WE WILL SURELY MAKE IT KEEP ON KEEP ON CLIMBING CLIMBING WE WILL WE WILL MAKE IT SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS DO YOU CHILDREN DO YOU DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM?

FREEDOM CHILDREN TELL ME DO YOU DO YOU WANT YOUR FREEDOM?

TELL ME DO YOU 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 FO R PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

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