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America The Story of Us Episode 5 Civil War — Transcript

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0:04The north against south,
0:08brother against brother.
0:13The Civil War is the bloodiest in
0:15American history.
0:17Victory will take far more than brute
0:20firepower on the battlefield.
0:24technology,
0:27communications,
0:30logistics.
0:32It's what happens behind the front line
0:34that will ultimately decide this battle
0:38for America's future.
0:44We are pioneers and trailblazers.
0:48We fight for freedom.
0:51We transform our dreams into the truth.
0:56Our struggles will become a nation.
1:071862,
1:09the Civil War is at its height. North
1:11and South locked in a bitter conflict
1:14for the future of America.
1:17A new kind of bullet has brought this
1:19war to a terrible deadlock,
1:25bringing death on a scale never
1:27previously seen in warfare.
1:41Here at a metal works in Springfield,
1:43Illinois, molten lead is beginning its
1:46journey
1:50to becoming a lethal instrument of
1:52destruction.
1:54The bullet known as the mini ball.
1:58This crude piece of lead is the primary
2:01reason for the unprecedented levels of
2:04slaughter in this war.
2:08Invented in France, just an ounce in
2:10weight and half an inch across, one
2:13person can cast 3,000 mini balls an
2:16hour.
2:20Each one of these simple bullets can rip
2:22through a man's body in a fraction of a
2:24second.
2:29The mini ball is used by North and South
2:31alike.
2:33Demand for this killer bullet runs so
2:35high
2:37that an entire industry springs up,
2:39supplying mini balls to the front line.
2:47In total, the North makes over half a
2:49billion mini balls ready to be fired
2:51from the 2 million musketss it supplies
2:53to its men.
2:58In many ways, the Civil War was the
3:01first modern war because it was the
3:04first war that took place after the
3:07industrial revolution had begun to
3:09transform our country.
3:12It will take over 33 hours for a bullet
3:15in this box to travel the 800 plus miles
3:18to the battlefield, ready to find its
3:20target.
3:25The new musket is much faster to reload
3:28than traditional weapons.
3:32Load the gunpowder,
3:36ram down the bullet,
3:43and it's ready to fire.
3:47Imagine
3:50warfare where your ability to load a
3:55musket faster than the guy with the
3:57other musket would determine if you
3:59lived or died.
4:22grooves on the inside of the barrel,
4:24rifling, spin the ball toward its
4:26target.
4:30The improved accuracy and range are a
4:33deadly combination.
4:39One second everything's great. The next
4:42second your guy's your your buddy's
4:45head's gone or his arms flying off.
4:50>> You don't want to know what a soft metal
4:53musk ball does when it enters the human
4:56body.
5:01On impact,
5:03the bullet flattens out.
5:07Bone shatters and splinters.
5:13causing further damage to muscle and
5:15tissue.
5:19More often than not,
5:21the result of a direct hit, death.
5:32But for all the Miniball's technological
5:35edge, the army still uses traditional
5:38military tactics.
5:44What made it particularly tragic was
5:46modern technology meeting much more
5:49ancient tactics. So, uh the the death
5:52rates were were truly appalling.
5:56The troops still face one another openly
5:58in lines across the battlefield,
6:03but the mini ball is accurate over a
6:05range of 600 yd.
6:10easily spanning this distance
6:16and it can be reloaded eight times
6:18faster than a traditional weapon.
6:26The effects are catastrophic.
6:36The kill rate increases dramatically
6:38compared to previous wars.
6:42>> Across the battlefield, the results are
6:45carnage. Blood and death on a previously
6:48unseen scale.
6:51They killed each other in droves, in
6:55lines, and in piles.
7:01Soldier Alexander Hunter writes,
7:04>> "One lay on his face with his body
7:06almost in two parts.
7:09Another was shot just as he was taking
7:11aim.
7:13One eye was still open while the other
7:15was closed, and one arm extended in a
7:18position of holding his rifle, which lay
7:20beside him on the ground.
7:23The troops on both sides must live in
7:26the middle of this untold death and
7:28suffering.
7:29Horatio Chapman records the experience
7:31in his diary.
7:33>> The dead in some places were piled upon
7:35each other, and the groans and moans of
7:38the wounded were truly saddening to
7:40hear. Some were just alive and gasping,
7:43but unconscious. Others were mortally
7:46wounded and were conscious of the fact
7:47that they could not live long.
7:54By the time of the North's final
7:56victory, over 600,000 men on both sides
7:59are dead. Some 2% of the entire US
8:03population.
8:05In current population terms, that's the
8:07equivalent of 6 million people.
8:16Almost half of the dead remain
8:18unidentified.
8:24The fear of dying forgotten on the
8:26battlefield leads soldiers for the first
8:28time to begin pinning their names and
8:30units on their uniforms.
8:34These crude early versions of the dog
8:37tag will make it possible to identify
8:39their bodies after they're killed.
8:48For the first time, America's growing
8:50postal service means soldiers can write
8:53to their loved ones from the front.
8:56With none of today's military
8:57censorship, it allows soldiers like
9:00Robert Styles to relay the terrifying
9:03realities of life on the front line.
9:08>> The sights and smells that assailed us
9:10were simply indescribable.
9:15Corpses swollen to twice their original
9:18size.
9:19Some of them actually burst aunder with
9:22the pressure of foul gases and vapors.
9:28Fueling this carnage lies the deep
9:30political animosity that has led to this
9:33war.
9:36In a bitter conflict that has pitted
9:38brother against brother, the South is
9:40determined to defend its independence
9:42and its system of slavery.
9:46But the North will not allow it to leave
9:47the Union of States.
9:52We fought and lost hundreds of thousands
9:54of men on both sides fighting for what
9:57they believed was right.
10:02The unholy alliance of new weapons and
10:04outdated battle tactics means a body
10:07count on an industrial scale.
10:12The war is locked in a bloody stalemate.
10:15Neither side can land a decisive blow
10:21in this bitter war of attrition.
10:26Victory will come to the last man
10:29standing.
10:39August 1862,
10:41over a year into the war,
10:44General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army
10:47is readying to launch a wide-ranging
10:49assault against Union forces in
10:51Virginia.
10:54Highly motivated, these men are fighting
10:57on their home turf and are ready to die
11:00for southern independence, its
11:02traditions, and its rural way of life.
11:06Its prosperity is built around a simple
11:09crop,
11:11cotton
11:15known as white gold. The South accounts
11:17for 2/3 of the world's supply of cotton.
11:22It brings extraordinary wealth to the
11:24southern states,
11:27but it is wealth built on the backs of
11:30slaves.
11:35Now Lincoln's victory at the ballot box
11:38threatens this traditional way of life
11:41and the slavery it is built on.
11:50Rather than submit to northern rule, the
11:53South decides to fight. They want a
11:56separate nation.
12:00General Robert E. Lee takes command at
12:04the head of the newly formed Army of
12:05Northern Virginia.
12:07Lee, a brilliant graduate of the elite
12:10West Point Academy, is already a veteran
12:12of the Mexican War.
12:19and highly regarded for his
12:21effectiveness on the battlefield.
12:25>> Lee could intuitit the battlefield
12:28uh in a way that almost resembles Raml
12:30in World War II, Patton. And as a
12:34result, he could he could sort of almost
12:36sense where the place would be to take
12:39the gamble and where to hit.
12:42Manasses, Virginia, 1862.
12:46Confederate troops gather ahead of the
12:48second battle of Bull Run.
12:52Lee's forces are heavily outnumbered.
12:56But this Virginia woodland is home
12:59territory. These volunteer troops know
13:02like the back of their hand. Rigid
13:04training and strict discipline have
13:06turned them into a formidable fighting
13:08force.
13:11If you had been a betting man back then,
13:12you would have bet the South would have
13:13won. The South only had to hold its
13:16territory. The North had to come and
13:17take it away. The North had to be the
13:19occupying force, which is far harder to
13:21do.
13:31>> At Bull Run, Lee easily demonstrates his
13:34forc's superiority.
13:45In one engagement lasting just 10
13:47minutes, the Yankee Fifth New York
13:49Regiment loses more men than any other
13:52regiment during the entire Civil War.
13:59All told, Lee's men kill over 1,700
14:03Union soldiers.
14:09Determination and local knowledge give
14:11the South their greatest victory in the
14:13war to date.
14:19But Lee and his commanders have
14:21underestimated the nature of this
14:23conflict
14:26and of their opponent, President Abraham
14:29Lincoln.
14:31Because Lincoln is fighting a totally
14:33new kind of war
14:35and his southern adversaries just don't
14:38get it.
14:50A packed train speeds on its way south,
14:53ready to replenish the Union Army with
14:55fresh troops and supplies.
14:59Lieutenant George Benedict writes home.
15:02>> We were stowed away in freight cars and
15:05started out of the city.
15:08The train took 600 other troops besides
15:11our regiment and numbered 34 heavily
15:13loaded cars.
15:20The railroad, one of Lincoln's hidden
15:22weapons in this war.
15:29In one key operation ordered directly by
15:32the president,
15:35>> 25,000 fresh troops are sent on a 1200m
15:39journey to the south.
15:48>> By road, it would take over 2 months.
15:51By rail, it will take these men just 7
15:54days.
16:00Following its introduction in the 1830s,
16:03America's rail infrastructure has
16:05gradually spread its tentacles across
16:06the country.
16:10Lincoln realizes it can revolutionize
16:12the speed of troop deployments.
16:21He strikes a deal with the rail owners
16:23to put the North's railroad network
16:25under government control.
16:29It turns the railroad into a weapon of
16:31war.
16:35Instead of armies being limited to the
16:37speed at which they could march, all of
16:40a sudden you had armies being able to
16:42move to uh to the front uh by rail and
16:45more importantly supplies.
16:51Supplies and troops pour out of the
16:53north towards the battlefront.
16:55Some busy lines carry 800 tons of
16:57supplies a day, the equivalent of 80
17:00railroad cars.
17:05In Lincoln's hands, the 24,000 mi of
17:08rail track in the north becomes an arm
17:10of his war machine.
17:15But the South has a far smaller network,
17:18just 9,000 mi at the start of the war,
17:21and it remains under private control.
17:28In the four years the war lasts, the
17:31North adds 4,000 m of new track to its
17:33network against just 400 miles in the
17:36South.
17:42This inability to coordinate rail
17:44supplies will prove disastrous for the
17:46South. Even though they're just 30 m
17:49from their capital in Richmond, in the
17:52winter of 1863,
17:54four rail links mean southern troops in
17:56Virginia starve.
18:05For all their brilliance and
18:06determination in battle, the South
18:09simply lack the logistics to deliver a
18:11decisive blow.
18:15And it isn't simply rail.
18:21Lincoln realizes that victory depends on
18:23mobilizing the entire industrial might
18:25of the north behind the war effort.
18:31Production of clothing in the north
18:32doubles during the conflict.
18:36Pitchfork manufacturers start making
18:38swords
18:39while the number of patents doubles in
18:41the course of the war.
18:44manufacturing,
18:46technology,
18:47infrastructure.
18:49It will change the face of America.
18:54For the first time in history, industry
18:56is put behind the war effort.
19:00An approach to conflict that America
19:02will exploit in the first and second
19:04world wars.
19:07It is the beginning of a new integrated
19:10economy that will be the hallmark of the
19:13modern age.
19:25In a building just across the road from
19:26the White House is a small room that
19:30will become Lincoln's nerve center in
19:31this war.
19:34And at its heart, a simple device that
19:37will transform how this war is fought
19:40and won.
19:42The telegraph.
19:49The invention of Morse code in 1844
19:52turns the telegraph into America's first
19:54tool of mass communication.
20:03Quickly encoded, the basic system of
20:06dots and dashes is ideal for brief
20:08messages.
20:14Like Twitter today, it needs just
20:16seconds to send them and transcribe
20:18them.
20:22where messengers previously took days on
20:25horseback over hundreds of miles and
20:28across every kind of terrain.
20:32Now the country's 50,000mi telegraph
20:35network means communication is almost
20:38instantaneous.
20:41As telegraph poles snake out alongside
20:43the railroad lines, this vast country
20:46begins to shrink.
20:56It will transform the nature of this war
20:58as information and decisions can flow
21:01backwards and forwards at lightning
21:03speed.
21:05It became kind of the early version of
21:07email. Suddenly it was possible to get a
21:09message to somebody from St. Louis, you
21:11know, to get a message to New York in a
21:13shockingly short amount of time.
21:18Lincoln immediately realizes the
21:19telegraph's potential as a weapon of
21:22war.
21:24He insists on the installation of
21:26telegraph lines directly into the war
21:28department
21:34and he quickly acts to place all
21:36telegraph facilities in the Union under
21:38military control.
21:46The telegraph office becomes the central
21:48hub of Lincoln's war operation, his
21:51command and control center.
21:58He even takes to sleeping here at busy
22:00times.
22:03The Telegraph office manager, David
22:05Homer Bates, describes how Lincoln
22:07obsesses over every scrap of news from
22:09the front. Sometimes reading dispatches
22:12word by word as they are deciphered.
22:20Lincoln's habit was to go immediately to
22:22the drawer each time he came into our
22:24room
22:26and read over the telegrams, beginning
22:28at the top until he came to the one he
22:31had seen on his previous visit.
22:38The North's telegraph network spreads
22:41its tentacles far and wide, sucking
22:43information back to Lincoln and his
22:45commanders in Washington.
22:51It gives him a vast strategic overview,
22:54providing him an unrivaled insight into
22:56his commander's tactical thinking.
23:02Lincoln himself was able to stay on top
23:04of literally hour-by- hour developments
23:07in in the course of individual battles
23:10that had never happened before.
23:15To the irritation of his generals, it
23:17even allows him to issue his own direct
23:19orders, telling them how to fight.
23:25In one campaign, with General Lee's
23:28forces threatening Washington, Lincoln
23:30responds by telegraphing direct orders
23:32to his generals.
23:44The exposed position of General Banks
23:46makes his immediate relief a point of
23:48paramount importance.
23:51You are therefore directed by the
23:53president to move against Jackson at
23:55Harrisonenberg.
23:57This movement must be made immediately.
24:02In the course of the war, Lincoln sends
24:04almost a thousand telegrams from this
24:06small office.
24:16But the South never grasped the
24:18potential of the telegraph in creating a
24:20centralized command and control system.
24:28It means southern generals like Lee must
24:30plan their battles without that kind of
24:32strategic overview.
24:40>> As the war continues, Lincoln brings
24:42down the hammer of his war machine.
24:48industry, lines of communication and
24:51supplies, manpower and firepower are all
24:55marshaled to deliver blow after blow to
24:57the Confederate army.
25:01But the South, bolstered by the belief
25:04in the rightness of its cause, doggedly
25:06refuses to give in.
25:11As a result, the death toll just keeps
25:14rising.
25:17At Ant Tatum in 1862,
25:216,000 are killed,
25:2617,000 wounded,
25:32over four times as many as during World
25:35War II's D-Day landings.
25:41The carnage will trigger a revolution in
25:44battlefield medicine.
25:57>> 3/4 of all operations conducted by Army
26:00surgeons during the Civil War are
26:02amputations.
26:05Letters from surgeon William Watson
26:08record what these battlefield ERS were
26:10like.
26:12>> Day before yesterday, I performed 14
26:14amputations without leaving the table. I
26:16do not exaggerate when I say I have
26:18performed at the least calculation 50
26:21amputations. There are so many severely
26:24wounded through the joints. There are so
26:26many operations yet to be performed.
26:29Surgeon Theodore Diamond describes the
26:31hideous wounds left by weapons like the
26:33Miniball.
26:36>> The shattering, splintering, and
26:38splitting of a long bone by the impact
26:40of the Miniball is both remarkable and
26:44frightening.
26:47>> An experienced surgeon can hack off a
26:49limb in just 10 minutes.
26:52Ether and chloroform are used as
26:55anesthetics.
27:00If a bullet doesn't kill you, then
27:02infection can.
27:05Gang green is the greatest killer.
27:08Deprived of oxygen, wounds become an
27:11ideal breeding ground for claustrdium.
27:16A bacteria that releases a poisonous
27:18toxin, destroying tissue.
27:22Death can follow quickly.
27:27Approximately 60,000 amputations are
27:29performed during the Civil War, more
27:32than in any other war America has fought
27:34in.
27:36Twice as many soldiers die from infected
27:38wounds and disease as on the
27:40battlefield.
27:47This unprecedented carnage forces a
27:50complete rethink of traditional
27:52battlefield medicine.
27:56Looking after the well-being of soldiers
27:58becomes as central to the war effort the
28:01supply of guns and ammunition.
28:06Large numbers of women sign up as
28:08battlefield nurses.
28:12One of them is Clara Barton.
28:18>> Clara Barton is untrained and unpaid.
28:21When she starts, most nurses are men, is
28:25a menial occupation.
28:27The remedies she proposes for the care
28:29of the wounded are simple but
28:31revolutionary in their effect.
28:37>> They want food, clothing, shelter,
28:40medicines, and a few calm, practical
28:42persons to administer them.
28:47>> She insists the injured have a ready
28:49supply of clean bandages.
28:53First aid, the sorting of the wounded to
28:56put the most serious cases first.
29:00>> The Civil War brings in a series of
29:02innovations that form the basis of
29:04battlefield medicine to this day.
29:0720,000 women sign on as nurses during
29:10the war.
29:14Clara Barton herself goes on to found
29:17the American Red Cross.
29:24Standards of hygiene begin to
29:26dramatically improve with the discovery
29:28of bromine.
29:32This costic chemical is effective
29:34against the bacteria that cause gang
29:36green.
29:38As a result, nearly 3/4 of amputees
29:41survive surgery. And gang green becomes
29:44rare by the war's end.
29:55With the war dragging on without a clear
29:57end in sight,
30:00Lincoln is increasingly forced to fight
30:02on a very different front.
30:05The war for public opinion.
30:12The spread of portable cameras means for
30:14the first time gory images of the
30:17battlefield can now reach every home.
30:23While these simple cameras rule out
30:25dramatic action scenes, they are ideal
30:28for capturing the gruesome aftermath of
30:30battle.
30:36As many as500 photographers flood the
30:39battlefield.
30:40Their images are sold widely to members
30:42of the public for as little as 25 cents.
30:48>> There was war photography coming back
30:50from the Civil War that captured it in a
30:52way, made it real and made people
30:53recognize the the really extraordinary
30:56unprecedented violence.
31:00America's growing newspaper mass media
31:03reproduces simple woodcuts of the
31:05images.
31:08More than 200 correspondents cover the
31:10war, filing over 100 million words of
31:14copy.
31:18This deluge of information about the war
31:21ensures the grim reality of this
31:23conflict is seared into the public
31:25consciousness.
31:28Never again will politicians be able to
31:30fight wars without public support.
31:37The war means a soldier is five times
31:39more likely to die than a civilian.
31:43Where families used to grieve for the
31:44dead at home, now men die on the
31:47battlefield.
31:53It forces a fundamental shift in the
31:55rituals surrounding death.
31:58Nat Bodic dies on a battlefield in
32:01Virginia.
32:03Yet his family in Boston can still say
32:06goodbye to their son killed 500 miles
32:08away.
32:14Are you ready for Christmas,
32:18>> even though it has taken a week for his
32:20body to travel from the battlefield, his
32:22father describes how it is free of any
32:24signs of decomposition.
32:27Though the marks of closely contested
32:29battle were still upon the face, the
32:31features were placid, as if he was
32:34sleeping.
32:38That's because of the new technique
32:40known as imbalming.
32:43Chemicals like arsenic and zinc chloride
32:45are injected into the corpse to halt the
32:47natural process of decay.
32:53The business of death and the
32:54preservation of bodies turns undertakers
32:57into overnight millionaires.
33:00One undertaker boasts,
33:02>> "I would be glad to prepare private
33:04soldiers. They were worth a $5 bill a
33:06piece, but Lord bless you, a colonel
33:09pays a hundred and a brigadier general
33:12200."
33:16>> If you've got the money, all sorts of
33:18new techniques are available.
33:21Airtight coffins and imbalming are most
33:23popular. And for the wealthiest, even
33:26elaborate refrigerated coffins packed
33:28with ice.
33:36The war drags on. Lincoln is determined
33:39to end it and abolish slavery.
33:45In September 1862, he gives the South an
33:48ultimatum.
33:51rejoin the Union. He threatens to
33:54forcibly liberate their slaves if they
33:56refuse.
33:59But the South, having tasted
34:00independence,
34:03does not want to rejoin a union where
34:05slavery would be at risk. They reject
34:08the ultimatum.
34:14Lincoln is in no mood to negotiate.
34:19If the South won't free their slaves, he
34:21will do it himself.
34:23>> For white southerners, it was a
34:25confirmation that their thoughts about
34:26Lincoln all along, that he was in fact
34:29somebody who was bent on destroying what
34:32they thought was the southern way of
34:33life
34:37in the north. In a sense, it gave people
34:40a different understanding of what the
34:41war was about.
34:45On January 1st, 1863, Lincoln issues a
34:49proclamation abolishing slavery in the
34:52rebellious southern states.
34:54Thanks to the Telegraph, the news
34:57quickly spreads.
35:02On the first day of January, in the year
35:04of our Lord 186,
35:07>> Lincoln had totally grown to where he
35:10said that not only should blacks not be
35:12slaves, they should be treated as equal
35:15citizens with full infranchisement,
35:18right to vote, right to participate.
35:21>> All persons held as slaves shall be
35:24then, henceforth,
35:27and forever free.
35:48In the wake of Lincoln's emancipation of
35:50the slaves, black American soldiers
35:52rushed to enlist for the Union.
35:58Almost 200,000 sign up by the end of the
36:01war.
36:03General James Blunt described their
36:05skill as fighters.
36:08I never saw such fighting as was done by
36:11the Negro regiment. They make better
36:14soldiers in every respect than any other
36:16troops I have ever had under my command.
36:23The Emancipation Proclamation changes
36:26the dynamics of the war. The Union Army
36:30becomes a force for liberation. Now
36:32fighting to end slavery.
36:38They understood that saving the Union
36:41would give them some sense of freedom,
36:44some sense of dignity. It was the
36:46dignity that I'm a soldier. I'm not just
36:49a servant. I'm a soldier. I have a
36:51uniform. I have stripes. I'm somebody.
36:58>> Lincoln follows the proclamation with
37:00his master stroke. His address in 1863
37:05dedicating America's first national
37:07cemetery for soldiers at Gettysburg is
37:10perhaps the single most famous piece of
37:12political rhetoric in history.
37:16Four score and seven years ago, our
37:19fathers brought forth upon this nation,
37:21conceived in liberty and dedicated to
37:24the proposition that all men are created
37:27equal.
37:31That we here highly resolve that these
37:34dead shall not have died in vain. That
37:37this nation under God shall have a new
37:39birth of freedom. and that government of
37:42the people, by the people, and for the
37:45people shall not perish from this earth.
37:53It is an emotional thing to think about
37:56people sacrificing, giving their lives
37:58for an ideal.
38:01And it's Lincoln at his absolute best.
38:04Um, the genius, the simplicity that
38:06conveys a great amount.
38:11It's spiritual in a way. It's a hymn to
38:14America and it's the hymn to the
38:16possibilities and the great sacrifices
38:18of this country.
38:21But in 1864,
38:23the war remains deadlocked.
38:47With an election looming and a challenge
38:50coming from those who want to negotiate
38:51a peace with the South, Lincoln knows he
38:54needs to land a decisive blow.
38:58>> At some point, somebody gets tired,
39:00somebody blinks, somebody makes a
39:03mistake. And when you're talking about
39:06war, that mistake,
39:09that's everything.
39:12Lincoln puts the North's entire
39:13industrial might behind one final push.
39:19The man who will lead the charge from
39:21Chattanooga to Atlanta. William Sherman.
39:25His orders to stop for nothing.
39:28I would make this war as severe as
39:30possible and show no symptoms of tiring
39:33till the south begs for mercy.
39:43Advancing under the cover of night,
39:45Sherman's march is sustained by one of
39:47the greatest logistical operations yet
39:49seen in this conflict.
40:02Sherman knows he needs to throw
40:04everything he's got at the Confederate
40:05army.
40:07While he uses his own supply lines to
40:09maximum effect,
40:12he destroys those of the South, ripping
40:14up their railroad and bending it beyond
40:17use.
40:24In one day, the North supply lines
40:26replaced 200,000 bullets.
40:37While the South is left scavenging on
40:39the battlefield for spent rounds, food,
40:42even old boots.
40:50Sherman calls it total war, a scorched
40:54earth approach that becomes the
40:56trademark of modern warfare.
41:02Finally, with Atlanta under siege,
41:05Confederate forces set fire to their own
41:07munition stores
41:12before abandoning their city to the
41:14Union soldiers.
41:16Come on.
41:34Sherman's tactics of total war have won
41:37out.
41:40His victory helped secure Lincoln's
41:42election in the fall. With Atlanta in
41:45ruins, he just keeps going. Now
41:48launching what will be his final
41:49assault, the march to the sea. In a 19th
41:53century equivalent of shock and awe,
41:5662,000 Union soldiers wreak a 60-m wide
42:00path of destruction across Georgia.
42:04From Atlanta to the coast at Savannah,
42:11supply lines are cut. Villages are
42:14sacked and crops torched.
42:19Anything of military value is destroyed.
42:31Within 6 months, General Lee has
42:33tendered the Confederate army's
42:35surrender.
42:41The rebellion is over.
42:43The South will have to submit to the
42:45Union and bring an end to slavery.
42:50>> By the act of winning, the North both
42:53validated freedom and validated the
42:55industrial model. And so you have an
42:58American confidence, an American sense
43:00of achievement, uh an American
43:02willingness to go out around the world.
43:05For all the Confederacy's commitment,
43:08its inferior logistical infrastructure
43:10has been no match for the North's
43:12unstoppable war machine.
43:16Its industrial heartland, its growing
43:18network of railroads,
43:21its telegraph network,
43:23all bring victory to the north.
43:32Within a week, Lincoln flies dead from
43:35an assassin's bullet. But America has
43:38pulled back from the brink.
43:41The nation is once again united. And out
43:44of that unity now grows a modern
43:47industrialized economy that will reach
43:50right across this great continent.

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