The Civil War (1990) s01e08 Episode Script
War Is All Hell (1865)
"we believed that it was most desirable "that the north should win.
"we believed in the principle "we, or many of us at least, also be "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.
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.
you see in the moviepatton the actor who plays patton saying, "we americans have never lost a war.
" that's a rather amazing statement for him to make as patton because patton's grandfather was in lee's army of northern virginia, and he certainly lost a war.
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 nation's 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.
only the tattered confederate army of tennessee remained.
its soldiers, like sam watkins, worried more about food and blankets and shoes than fighting.
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 sherman's 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.
"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.]
"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.
"there's no use trying to reform it.
the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
" william tecumseh sherman.
"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.
he saw from the very beginning how hard a war it was going to be, and when he said how hard a war it was going to be, he was retired under suspicion of insanity and then brought back when they decided maybe he wasn't 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.
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 couldn't.
"i can make this march," he promised, "and make georgia howl.
" lincoln's advisors thought sherman's 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.
" "there are rumors that we are to cut loose "and march south to the ocean.
"we're in fine shape and, i think, could go anywhere uncle billy would lead.
" private theodore upson.
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.
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" londonherald.
[cannon fire.]
"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.
" [shelby 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 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.
"the most gigantic pleasure excursion ever planned.
"it already beats everything i ever saw soldiering and promises to prove much richer yet.
" fell to grant's army.
"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.
" sherman's men tore up railroads, heating the rails and twisting them beyond repair.
it became a trademark-- sherman's neckties.
he forbade his men to plunder the homes they passed, but neither he nor they took the order very seriously.
"i've got a regiment that can kill, gut, and scrape a pig without breaking ranks.
" "they say no living thing is found in sherman's track, "only chimneys, like telegraph poles, to carry the news of his attack backwards.
" mary chesnut.
"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.]
"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.
" 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.
"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 iftheywere the rebels.
" "on this campaign towards the citizens "have been enough to blast a more sacred cause than ours.
we hardly deserve success.
" at milledgeville, georgia, sherman's 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.
sherman's 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.
"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.]
would cross 425 miles of hostile territory and wreak $100 million worth of havoc.
the south would never forget.
"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.
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 sherman's attention by moving north to join forces with nathan bedford forrest's cavalry and invade tennessee.
sherman was delighted.
"if he will go to the ohio river, i'll give him rations," he said.
"mybusiness is down south.
" waiting for hood in tennessee was a fresh, well-equipped union army 1/3 again as large as hood's, commanded by george thomas, "the rock of chickamauga.
" 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.
franklin is a horrendous battle, and the flower of the army fell.
there's a strong suspicion that hood was trying to discipline his army by staging that charge, and there's 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.
at nashville, george thomas attacked what was left of hood's army.
"my boot was full of blood "and my clothing saturated with it.
"i reached general hood's 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.
hood's 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.
"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.
" "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.
"darkest of all decembers "ever my life has known, "sitting here by the embers, stunned, helpless, alone.
" mary chesnut.
"my name is charles jess.
"i was born in south carolina as a slave, "and i was freed "when sherman's army came into the county of chatham.
"i was a union man.
"i was 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.
" "the negroes followed the army "like a sable cloud in the sky before a thunderstorm.
they thought it was freedom now or never.
" 25,000 slaves fled to sherman's 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.
" 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.
" [sherman.]
"they gather around me in crowds, "and i can't find out whether i am moses or aaron, but surely i am rated as one of the congregation.
" "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 don't 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.
throughout the north, people wondered what had happened to sherman's army, until suddenly, william tecumseh sherman emerged near savannah.
"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 that's where secession started.
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.
"when i learned that sherman's army "was marching through the salkehatchie swamps "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.]
sherman's 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.
"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.
" on february 17, 1865, fort sumter was abandoned, along with all of charleston.
"thidisappointment,"" jefferson davis admitted, "is extremely bitter.
" "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.]
"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.
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.
"if the confederacy fails, "there should be written on its tombstone-- died of a theory.
" president jefferson davis.
"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.
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.
"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.
" 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 richmondexaminersaid, "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 ofdixie.
"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.
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.
"verily, the work does not end "with the abolition of slavery, but only begins.
" frederick douglass.
"i see the president almost every day.
"i saw him this morning about 8:30, "coming into business.
"we have got so that we exchange bows, and very cordial ones.
"i see very plainly "abraham lincoln's 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 man's face.
"there is something else there.
"one of the great portrait painters of 2 or 3 centuries ago is needed.
" walt whitman.
[cannon fire.]
"march 4.
"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.
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.
"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 bondman's 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 nation's 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.
" 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 chiefplaying.]
"i'm a tired man," lincoln said afterwards.
"sometimes i think i'm 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.
"i have begun to deem myself a coward and to despise my own existence.
" his mind fixed on lincoln as the tyrant responsible for all the country's 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 druggist's 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 boarding house 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 grant's floating headquarters, thriver 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.
" "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.]
"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.
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.
lee's lines had been forced to stretch, too, but his army was shrinking.
in 9 months, 60,000 southern soldiers had deserted.
"all of us think we're whipped now.
"the men are ragged and are getting half rations.
"some say we'll have to go to georgey, but the men will not go there.
" the thinning confederate lines around petersburg finally extended 53 miles.
grant's forces numbered 125,000.
lee's had dwindled to 35,000.
[cannon fire.]
lee's 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 25, confederates under john b.
gordon mounted a sudden night assault that briefly won possession of an earthwork called fort stedman.
it was lee's last advance.
grant counterattacked, racing around the rebel flank to block lee's escape at five forks.
there, on april 1, 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.
"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.
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.
"he is at rest, and we who are left are the ones to suffer.
" [yankee doodleplaying.]
petersburg, the scene of 9 months' siege, as black civilians cheered the black soldiers that led the union columns into the city, lee's army slipped across the appomattox river.
[bell chimes.]
jefferson davis was attending 10:00 services that sunday morning at st.
paul's episcopal church when the sexton handed him a message.
"president davis, my lines are broken in 3 places.
richmond must be evacuated this evening.
" robert e.
lee.
"i happened to sit in the rear of the president's 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.
" davis hurried from the church and ordered his government to move to danville, virginia, 140 miles to the south.
on the evening of april 2, davis and his cabinet boarded the last train, a series of freight cars labeled "treasury department," "quartermaster's department," "war department.
" "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.
" 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.
the explosion rocked the city and shattered windows for miles around.
"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.
" "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.]
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" on april 3, abraham lincoln and his son tad arrived at rockett's 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.
"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.
"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.
" on april 8, abraham and mary lincoln took a drive together past a country cemetery on the outskirts of petersburg.
"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 i'm gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.
" "general lee was riding slowly "along the line of tangled wagons.
he rode erect, as if incapable of fatigue.
" lee's army fled westward.
grant was right behind them.
"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, i'm running because i can't fly.
" from danville on april 4, jefferson davis issued a proclamation pledging to fight on.
"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.
" on april 6 at saylers creek, union cavalry and infantry inflicted 6,000 casualties on lee's army and captured 8 generals, including lee's 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.
you'retthe country to these men.
" "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.
lee's 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.
"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.
on april 8, grant again flanked lee's 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.
"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.
they were almost entirely surrounded, outnumbered nearly 5 to 1, without hope of resupply or reinforcement.
"by sunrise, we had reached appomattox station, "where we might cut lee's retreat.
"already we heard the sharp ring of the horse artillery.
"there was no mistake.
"sheridan was square across the enemy's front, "holding at bay all that was left "of the proudest army of the confederacy.
it had come at last-- the supreme hour.
" april 9 was palm sunday.
lee ordered gordon to make one more attempt at breaking out.
at dawn, just outside appomattox courthouse, gordon's 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.
"there is nothing left for me to do "but to go and see general grant, and i would rather die a thousand deaths.
" 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 year's bird nest," but his headache had instantly disappeared.
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" "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 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.
" 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 grant's 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 private's dirty jacket.
his boots and trousers were splattered with mud.
he had no sword.
the two commanders shook hands.
"what general lee's 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.
" grant reminded lee that they had met once before during the mexican war.
lee said he had not remembered what grant looked like.
"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 didn't 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 they're together; lee dressed in his last good uniform, grant apologizing that he was rushing from the field and didn't have time to change; the scribe being unable to hold the pen steady and having it taken by another soldier; the, uh that, from lee's point of view, awful moment, and from grant's 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 beginning of the unification of the country.
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.
"this will have the best effect upon my men.
"it will be very gratifying and do much toward conciliating our people.
" colonel eli s.
parker, a seneca indian and a member of grant's 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.
" lee's men lined the road to his camp.
"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.
" "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.
" "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.
" a crowd of soldiers waited in front of lee's 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.
"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.
now chamberlain made an extraordinary gesture.
"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.
"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 horse's head swung down with a graceful bow, "and general gordon dropped his sword point to his toe in salutation.
" [fireworks exploding.]
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 playdixie.
"i have always thought it one of the best tunes i ever heard," he said.
the next day, lincoln walked over to alexander gardner's studio at the corner of seventh 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.
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.
"
"we believed in the principle "we, or many of us at least, also be "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.
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.
you see in the moviepatton the actor who plays patton saying, "we americans have never lost a war.
" that's a rather amazing statement for him to make as patton because patton's grandfather was in lee's army of northern virginia, and he certainly lost a war.
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 nation's 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.
only the tattered confederate army of tennessee remained.
its soldiers, like sam watkins, worried more about food and blankets and shoes than fighting.
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 sherman's 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.
"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.]
"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.
"there's no use trying to reform it.
the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
" william tecumseh sherman.
"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.
he saw from the very beginning how hard a war it was going to be, and when he said how hard a war it was going to be, he was retired under suspicion of insanity and then brought back when they decided maybe he wasn't 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.
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 couldn't.
"i can make this march," he promised, "and make georgia howl.
" lincoln's advisors thought sherman's 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.
" "there are rumors that we are to cut loose "and march south to the ocean.
"we're in fine shape and, i think, could go anywhere uncle billy would lead.
" private theodore upson.
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.
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" londonherald.
[cannon fire.]
"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.
" [shelby 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 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.
"the most gigantic pleasure excursion ever planned.
"it already beats everything i ever saw soldiering and promises to prove much richer yet.
" fell to grant's army.
"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.
" sherman's men tore up railroads, heating the rails and twisting them beyond repair.
it became a trademark-- sherman's neckties.
he forbade his men to plunder the homes they passed, but neither he nor they took the order very seriously.
"i've got a regiment that can kill, gut, and scrape a pig without breaking ranks.
" "they say no living thing is found in sherman's track, "only chimneys, like telegraph poles, to carry the news of his attack backwards.
" mary chesnut.
"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.]
"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.
" 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.
"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 iftheywere the rebels.
" "on this campaign towards the citizens "have been enough to blast a more sacred cause than ours.
we hardly deserve success.
" at milledgeville, georgia, sherman's 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.
sherman's 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.
"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.]
would cross 425 miles of hostile territory and wreak $100 million worth of havoc.
the south would never forget.
"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.
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 sherman's attention by moving north to join forces with nathan bedford forrest's cavalry and invade tennessee.
sherman was delighted.
"if he will go to the ohio river, i'll give him rations," he said.
"mybusiness is down south.
" waiting for hood in tennessee was a fresh, well-equipped union army 1/3 again as large as hood's, commanded by george thomas, "the rock of chickamauga.
" 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.
franklin is a horrendous battle, and the flower of the army fell.
there's a strong suspicion that hood was trying to discipline his army by staging that charge, and there's 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.
at nashville, george thomas attacked what was left of hood's army.
"my boot was full of blood "and my clothing saturated with it.
"i reached general hood's 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.
hood's 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.
"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.
" "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.
"darkest of all decembers "ever my life has known, "sitting here by the embers, stunned, helpless, alone.
" mary chesnut.
"my name is charles jess.
"i was born in south carolina as a slave, "and i was freed "when sherman's army came into the county of chatham.
"i was a union man.
"i was 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.
" "the negroes followed the army "like a sable cloud in the sky before a thunderstorm.
they thought it was freedom now or never.
" 25,000 slaves fled to sherman's 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.
" 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.
" [sherman.]
"they gather around me in crowds, "and i can't find out whether i am moses or aaron, but surely i am rated as one of the congregation.
" "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 don't 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.
throughout the north, people wondered what had happened to sherman's army, until suddenly, william tecumseh sherman emerged near savannah.
"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 that's where secession started.
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.
"when i learned that sherman's army "was marching through the salkehatchie swamps "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.]
sherman's 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.
"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.
" on february 17, 1865, fort sumter was abandoned, along with all of charleston.
"thidisappointment,"" jefferson davis admitted, "is extremely bitter.
" "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.]
"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.
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.
"if the confederacy fails, "there should be written on its tombstone-- died of a theory.
" president jefferson davis.
"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.
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.
"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.
" 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 richmondexaminersaid, "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 ofdixie.
"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.
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.
"verily, the work does not end "with the abolition of slavery, but only begins.
" frederick douglass.
"i see the president almost every day.
"i saw him this morning about 8:30, "coming into business.
"we have got so that we exchange bows, and very cordial ones.
"i see very plainly "abraham lincoln's 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 man's face.
"there is something else there.
"one of the great portrait painters of 2 or 3 centuries ago is needed.
" walt whitman.
[cannon fire.]
"march 4.
"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.
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.
"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 bondman's 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 nation's 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.
" 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 chiefplaying.]
"i'm a tired man," lincoln said afterwards.
"sometimes i think i'm 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.
"i have begun to deem myself a coward and to despise my own existence.
" his mind fixed on lincoln as the tyrant responsible for all the country's 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 druggist's 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 boarding house 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 grant's floating headquarters, thriver 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.
" "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.]
"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.
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.
lee's lines had been forced to stretch, too, but his army was shrinking.
in 9 months, 60,000 southern soldiers had deserted.
"all of us think we're whipped now.
"the men are ragged and are getting half rations.
"some say we'll have to go to georgey, but the men will not go there.
" the thinning confederate lines around petersburg finally extended 53 miles.
grant's forces numbered 125,000.
lee's had dwindled to 35,000.
[cannon fire.]
lee's 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 25, confederates under john b.
gordon mounted a sudden night assault that briefly won possession of an earthwork called fort stedman.
it was lee's last advance.
grant counterattacked, racing around the rebel flank to block lee's escape at five forks.
there, on april 1, 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.
"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.
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.
"he is at rest, and we who are left are the ones to suffer.
" [yankee doodleplaying.]
petersburg, the scene of 9 months' siege, as black civilians cheered the black soldiers that led the union columns into the city, lee's army slipped across the appomattox river.
[bell chimes.]
jefferson davis was attending 10:00 services that sunday morning at st.
paul's episcopal church when the sexton handed him a message.
"president davis, my lines are broken in 3 places.
richmond must be evacuated this evening.
" robert e.
lee.
"i happened to sit in the rear of the president's 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.
" davis hurried from the church and ordered his government to move to danville, virginia, 140 miles to the south.
on the evening of april 2, davis and his cabinet boarded the last train, a series of freight cars labeled "treasury department," "quartermaster's department," "war department.
" "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.
" 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.
the explosion rocked the city and shattered windows for miles around.
"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.
" "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.]
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" on april 3, abraham lincoln and his son tad arrived at rockett's 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.
"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.
"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.
" on april 8, abraham and mary lincoln took a drive together past a country cemetery on the outskirts of petersburg.
"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 i'm gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.
" "general lee was riding slowly "along the line of tangled wagons.
he rode erect, as if incapable of fatigue.
" lee's army fled westward.
grant was right behind them.
"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, i'm running because i can't fly.
" from danville on april 4, jefferson davis issued a proclamation pledging to fight on.
"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.
" on april 6 at saylers creek, union cavalry and infantry inflicted 6,000 casualties on lee's army and captured 8 generals, including lee's 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.
you'retthe country to these men.
" "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.
lee's 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.
"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.
on april 8, grant again flanked lee's 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.
"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.
they were almost entirely surrounded, outnumbered nearly 5 to 1, without hope of resupply or reinforcement.
"by sunrise, we had reached appomattox station, "where we might cut lee's retreat.
"already we heard the sharp ring of the horse artillery.
"there was no mistake.
"sheridan was square across the enemy's front, "holding at bay all that was left "of the proudest army of the confederacy.
it had come at last-- the supreme hour.
" april 9 was palm sunday.
lee ordered gordon to make one more attempt at breaking out.
at dawn, just outside appomattox courthouse, gordon's 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.
"there is nothing left for me to do "but to go and see general grant, and i would rather die a thousand deaths.
" 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 year's bird nest," but his headache had instantly disappeared.
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" "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 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.
" 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 grant's 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 private's dirty jacket.
his boots and trousers were splattered with mud.
he had no sword.
the two commanders shook hands.
"what general lee's 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.
" grant reminded lee that they had met once before during the mexican war.
lee said he had not remembered what grant looked like.
"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 didn't 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 they're together; lee dressed in his last good uniform, grant apologizing that he was rushing from the field and didn't have time to change; the scribe being unable to hold the pen steady and having it taken by another soldier; the, uh that, from lee's point of view, awful moment, and from grant's 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 beginning of the unification of the country.
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.
"this will have the best effect upon my men.
"it will be very gratifying and do much toward conciliating our people.
" colonel eli s.
parker, a seneca indian and a member of grant's 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.
" lee's men lined the road to his camp.
"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.
" "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.
" "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.
" a crowd of soldiers waited in front of lee's 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.
"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.
now chamberlain made an extraordinary gesture.
"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.
"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 horse's head swung down with a graceful bow, "and general gordon dropped his sword point to his toe in salutation.
" [fireworks exploding.]
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 playdixie.
"i have always thought it one of the best tunes i ever heard," he said.
the next day, lincoln walked over to alexander gardner's studio at the corner of seventh 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.
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.
"