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The American Civil War - OverSimplified (Part 1) — Transcript

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0:00- [Narrator] This video was made possible by NordVPN.
0:02Click the link down below
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0:18Okay, Mrs. Lincoln, this is it.
0:20One last push and we're done.
0:22(grunting)
0:26Nine months and four days ago.
0:28My father brought forth upon my mother himself
0:32and gave to her a child conceived in a shack in Kentucky
0:36and dedicated to the proposition
0:38that I will drink num-nums from a bottle
0:40and do little poo poos in my pantses
0:41for the next two to three years.
0:43Now, what is it babies do again?
0:46Oh yeah.
0:48(cries loudly)
0:51I am not touching that.
0:56Abraham Lincoln grew up
0:57with his relatively poor family
0:58in Kentucky, eventually moving to Indiana,
1:01and finally, Illinois.
1:02He read a lot of books, worked a lot of jobs,
1:05wrote some questionable poetry
1:06and finally entered the law profession.
1:09Despite being self-taught,
1:10he turned out to be a pretty clever and astute lawyer.
1:12In one case, a guy claimed he witnessed a murder at night
1:15and Lincoln was like, "How could you have seen anything
1:17in the dark?"
1:18"There was a bright full moon."
1:19"A what?"
1:20"A bright full moon."
1:21"Can you say that again, please?"
1:23"There was a bright full moon."
1:24"A dim half moon?"
1:25"No, a bright full moon."
1:27"That's funny because according to this Almanac
1:29"there was a dim half moon that night
1:31which makes you a liar!"
1:34"Uh...
1:35"Well, I got a bright full moon for y'all right here."
1:39"Now that's what I call a rebuttal."
1:42(claps loudly)
1:44- [Narrator] Lincoln and his cheekbones,
1:45weren't only interested in law however,
1:47he also dabbled in the world of politics,
1:49serving as a legislator in both local
1:51and national assemblies.
1:52And what a time it was.
1:54Not even 100 years after the founding fathers wrote,
1:56all men are created equal.
1:58Politicians were already asking,
2:00yeah, but what does that mean exactly?
2:03It means all men.
2:04Yeah, but what does that mean...
2:07Exactly?
2:08And not just that states' rights
2:10versus the federal government.
2:12What are the executive powers of the president?
2:14Is cereal a soup?
2:15The founding fathers left some of these questions
2:17perhaps a little too open to interpretation.
2:20And the biggest question of them all was slavery,
2:23an ugly mark, and what should have been
2:25a revolutionary new nation based on liberty and democracy.
2:28Thomas Jefferson had written a condemnation of slavery
2:31in the declaration of independence,
2:33but out of fear of losing Southern State support,
2:35it was removed.
2:37Hey guys, do you think leaving this a little vague
2:39will create any unforeseen problems in the future?
2:42Cannonball.
2:44And those unforeseen problems
2:45were now beginning to rear their ugly heads.
2:48As the nation developed the North and the South developed
2:50along two very different lines
2:52and two very different cultural identities emerged.
2:55Northern cities began rapidly industrializing
2:57while the Southern climate allowed for large plantations
3:00of labor-intensive crops.
3:02As a result, one half of the country didn't rely on slaves
3:05while the other half had become economically
3:07dependent on them.
3:08In 1793, Eli Whitney's cotton gin caused the slave trade
3:12in the South to explode,
3:13while in the North a growing abolitionist movement
3:15was taking root.
3:17A general mistrust began to develop between the North
3:19and the South.
3:20As Northerners felt the South were hell bent
3:22on expanding slavery and fear spread throughout the South
3:25that the North wanted to take their slaves away.
3:28In 1819, there were 11 free states
3:30and 11 slave states, a perfect balance,
3:33a happy medium, a harmonious relationship.
3:35Hey guys, nice to meet you.
3:36I'm Missouri, and I would like to become the 23rd state.
3:39Hey buddy, welcome to the nation.
3:41We'll be happy to accept you as a free state.
3:44No, you don't.
3:45You're trying to get one over on us.
3:46Missouri is gonna be a slave state.
3:48Okay, listen why don't we just ask Missouri
3:50what it wants to be...
3:51Slave state.
3:53Well, then allow me to introduce to you
3:56the newest freshest state on the scene, Maine.
4:00Hey, you can't do that.
4:01And you can't have any more slaves things about this line.
4:03What?
4:04The issue of slavery is solved
4:05and it will never come up again.
4:09A few years later, it came up again.
4:11You see, as America expanded westward,
4:13each new state or territory that was added
4:15threatened to up and the delicate balance between the slave
4:17and free States.
4:18If one faction managed to outnumber the other,
4:20it could gain an easy majority and force its own ideals
4:23on the opposing side
4:24leaving a huge portion of the population,
4:26feeling spiteful and depressed.
4:29For awhile compromises, kick the can down the road
4:31and kept the volatile balance in check
4:33as new free and slave states were roughly added in Paris
4:37but then one landmass mass state just had to barge in
4:39and ruin everything as usual.
4:42(gun shots)
4:43The addition of Texas saw the United States
4:45enter into a war with Mexico, which they won,
4:47gaining a huge amount of land out West
4:49and creating even more problems.
4:51Hey guys, nice to meet you.
4:52I'm California and I would like to become the 31st state.
4:55Hey buddy, welcome to the nation.
4:57We'll be happy to accept you as a Southern slave state.
5:00No, you don't.
5:01You're trying to get one over on us.
5:02California is gonna be a free state.
5:04Okay, listen,
5:05why don't we just ask California what it wants to be
5:07and we can...
5:08Free state.
5:08Well, then allow me to introduce to you
5:12the territories of New Mexico and Utah
5:14able to freely vote for slavery themselves.
5:16Hey, you can't do that!
5:18And we can enter Northern territory anytime we want
5:19to recapture escaped slaves!
5:21What?
5:22The issue of slavery is solved
5:23and it will never come up again.
5:25(crowd shouts loudly)
5:26A few years later, it came up again.
5:28In 1854 a democratic Senator from Illinois
5:30wanted to build a really cool Chichi train here
5:33and proposed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska
5:35be created open to slavery,
5:37even though they were clearly above
5:39the Missouri compromise line.
5:40Obviously the Northern States were like, "Hell no."
5:43But the Southern Democrats who controlled Congress
5:44at the time were like, "Well, if you love liberty
5:47and democracy so much,
5:48then you should let them vote on whether slavery
5:50should be legal or not."
5:51And so it was.
5:53Huge numbers of pro and anti-slavery settlers
5:55rushed to Kansas to sway the vote in their favor.
5:58And while they were all there,
5:59they began to beat crap out of each other.
6:01One of the settlers was a man named John Brown,
6:03a former businessman who failed
6:04at just about everything he tried and went arguably insane.
6:08He was a radical abolitionist and dedicated much of his life
6:11to the underground railroad and freeing slaves.
6:14One night in revenge for an earlier rate
6:16by pro-slavery forces,
6:18he and his sons killed a number of pro-slavery settlers
6:21in the territory, helping to kick-start years of violence
6:24known as Bleeding Kansas.
6:25Kansas and Nebraska both eventually voted in favor
6:28of outlawing slavery.
6:29But from here, the tension began to grow at a rapid pace.
6:32In 1852 author Harriet Beecher Stowe
6:35penned Uncle Tom's Cabin,
6:36a bestselling novel that exposed the terrible cruelty
6:39of slavery to the world.
6:41How awful.
6:41How morally corrupted nation must be
6:43to allow such things to happen.
6:45Your majesty, what should we do
6:46about all the starving children working in the coal mines?
6:48Nothing!
6:49In 1854, the Republican party was formed,
6:52and Abraham Lincoln emerged as a leading figure.
6:54Southern Democrats viewed the new Republican party
6:57with mistrust, believing it to be radical and abolitionist.
7:00In 1856 a politician named Charles Sumner
7:03gave a speech in Congress,
7:04calling out slave owning Democrats with fiery language,
7:07"If slavery was a woman, she'd be an ugly one.
7:09"And the Senator from South Carolina
7:11"would like to boink her."
7:12Representative Brooks, do you have a rebuttal?
7:14I have a rebuttal, all right?
7:16Yeah, here's a rebuttal for you.
7:19(loud bangs)
7:20Come on, surely this isn't allowed.
7:22I dunno.
7:23I'll have to consult the rule book.
7:28Hmm, I can't find anything about caning
7:29a political opponent, but it says here I'm not
7:31allowed to wear a woman's underwear.
7:35News of the violence,
7:36on the Senate floor took the nation by storm.
7:38Southern slave owners sent representative Brooks new canes
7:41to replace his now broken one.
7:42And on the floors of Congress, politicians carried weapons
7:45in self-defense, which is never a good sign.
7:47In 1857, the Supreme court ruled in the Dred Scott Case
7:51that all people of African descent slave
7:54or free could not be citizens
7:56and therefore could not sue for their own freedom
7:58under any circumstances,
8:00undoing years of progress with the strike of a gavel.
8:03Now within all this bitter debate over slavery
8:05there were many nuances North versus South,
8:08Republican versus Democrat,
8:10States versus the federal government.
8:12But let's strip all of that away.
8:14For 4 million individuals living in America,
8:16this wasn't about political intrigue or party alignment.
8:19It was about the basic human right to be free.
8:23Men, women and children were stolen from their homelands
8:27and brought to the American continent where for generations
8:30they were considered to be property,
8:32forced to live in poverty
8:33and work from sunrise to sunset,
8:36plantation overseers did whatever they
8:38felt was necessary to get the most out of their slaves.
8:41Punishments were often barbaric.
8:44Families were regularly separated
8:45and parents could often only watch
8:48as their children were auctioned off,
8:49never to be seen again.
8:52Thousands of slaves took the treacherous risk
8:54of running away and abolitionists in the North helped
8:56many escape by the underground railroad.
8:58As bounty hunters entered the North to chase them down.
9:01Leading figures within the abolitionist movement
9:04included many significant free black men and women.
9:06But it's important to note that
9:08from many of the anti-slavery white individuals
9:10in the North,
9:11opposition to slavery was often an economic issue,
9:14not a moral one.
9:15As many worried large plantations would take their lands
9:18and livelihoods away.
9:19Abraham Lincoln knew that slavery was a moral evil
9:22and he regularly spoke out against it
9:24in powerful speeches that helped him rise
9:26through the ranks of the new Republican Party.
9:28He lamented at the hypocrisy
9:30of a great American nation meant to stand
9:32as a shining beacon of freedom
9:34while also enslaving 4 million men, women and children.
9:38He most famously declared in 1858 that a house divided
9:41against itself cannot stand,
9:43that one day, slavery in America would end.
9:46However, even Lincoln was cautious in his opposition.
9:49He didn't want to outlaw it entirely
9:51but simply prevent its expansion.
9:53So that given enough time he believed it would
9:55naturally die out.
9:56Thankfully history would force his hand.
9:59In October, 1859 one abolitionist
10:01decided he tried to single-handedly
10:03take down slavery by force.
10:05Who'd be crazy enough to even attempt such a thing?
10:07Ah, it's our good friend, John Brown.
10:09He planned to seize arms from an armory in the town
10:11of Harper's ferry, free the slaves there
10:13and continue South inciting a major slave uprising
10:16along the way, a noble cause, a bad plan,
10:19and terrible execution.
10:21Brown's van took the armory and some hostages
10:23but we're quickly surrounded by one Robert E. Lee
10:25and his US Marine.
10:27Brown was captured, and a couple of months later,
10:29he was executed for treason.
10:31Northerners sympathized with Brown,
10:33but Southerners were like you see this,
10:35they're coming for us.
10:36Soon, there'll be a million John Browns.
10:39A million John Browns?
10:43What on earth are you thinking about?
10:45The John Brown farm.
10:46Yeah, me too.
10:48To make matters worse,
10:49new Northern free States meant now the Southern States
10:51really were outnumbered and they were beginning to
10:53feel bitterly, spiteful and oppressed.
10:56Further fear began to spread in the South,
10:58when news broke that a relatively unknown figure had just
11:00secured the Republican party nomination for president.
11:03Abraham Lincoln mostly well liked among anti-slavery
11:06northerners had made some of the most powerfully
11:08worded speeches against slavery of any politician
11:11at the time.
11:12And now there was a chance
11:13that he and his cheekbones could become president,
11:16for the South,
11:17that would be too much.
11:18In the 1860 election,
11:20Lincoln's name, didn't even appear on the ballot
11:22in 10 Southern States, but much to their horror,
11:25when the final results came in
11:26Lincoln had won by an electoral college landside
11:30Lincoln himself tried to calm their fear.
11:32How many times do I have to tell you,
11:34I'm not gonna take away your slaves?
11:36Yeah, right honest Abe.
11:37We've had enough of you northerners.
11:39We're gonna go form our own country.
11:41You can't do that.
11:42Why not?
11:43Well, if you had won the election,
11:45would it be okay for us to leave?
11:46Of course not.
11:47Well, why not?
11:48Because that's not how victim mentality works.
11:51Many States felt that when they joined union
11:53they always withheld the right to leave it
11:55whenever they pleased.
11:56Many people living in 19th century, America often
11:58felt more loyalty to their state than to the nation.
12:01And now with the South feeling like it had lost its voice
12:04in the federal government, they were out of here.
12:07South Carolina was the first to go.
12:09And over a period of six months, one by one 11 slave States
12:13officially succeeded from the union
12:15with just four contested border States opting to remain.
12:18The succeeding States issued a number
12:20of official documents justifying their succession.
12:23South Carolina proclaimed that it was Northern States
12:26hostility to slavery that rendered
12:27the federal government illegitimate.
12:29Mississippi declared that their position
12:31was thoroughly identified
12:33with the institution of slavery and then a speech.
12:36The Confederate vice-president stated
12:38that the new Confederate government rested
12:39upon what he called the great truth of racial inequality.
12:43Revered American generals,
12:44such as Robert E. Lee opted to side
12:46with their States over the union.
12:48And with all the chaos, one New York lawyer wrote
12:50that rather than a bold Eagle America's national
12:53bird should be a debilitated chicken.
12:55And hey, I kind of like that.
12:57One man watching the crisis unfold
13:00knew it would be his job to solve it.
13:02Lincoln was just about to hop on a train
13:04and become the president of the United States of America.
13:08Hey man, you're hella ugly
13:09Grow a beard or something to hide that face.
13:12Hmm, good idea.
13:14Hmm.
13:17Still ugly
13:18With assassination plots already underway,
13:21Lincoln had to travel to Washington DC,
13:23under heavy disguise and protection.
13:25All along the way he received stacks of threatening letters.
13:28May the hand of the devil strike you down.
13:30You are destroying this country.
13:32Damn you every breath you take, love from, grandma?
13:36At his inauguration speech Lincoln
13:38once again, reiterated that,
13:40no, I do not wanna take away anyone's slaves
13:43but for Lincoln, he did want to preserve the union.
13:46He declared succession to be nothing
13:47but an illegitimate rebellion in your hands and not in mine.
13:51He said is the momentous issue of civil war.
13:54You can have no conflict without being yourselves
13:56the aggressors, we are not enemies, but friends.
14:00It was clear Lincoln was ready and willing to get freaky
14:03and open up a can of Scatman John if he had to,
14:05whether he had the support of the people,
14:06however, was in question.
14:08In the end it was the Confederates
14:10that fired the first shot.
14:12As they succeeded
14:12the Confederate States began seizing federal us property
14:15throughout the South.
14:16Off the coast of Charleston South Carolina
14:18was one such federal property,
14:20Fort Sumpter, held by a measly under supplied US force.
14:24The Confederate militia there demanded the Fort surrender,
14:26a request, which was quickly denied
14:28and any remaining hope for a peaceful solution
14:31to the secession crisis probably then died
14:33when the Confederates did this.
14:36The battle of Fort Sumpter is considered to be the beginning
14:40of the American Civil War.
14:41Many of the Confederates there also considered it to
14:44be the end of the American Civil War.
14:46They hoped old Abe would just sign and say, okay, you win.
14:49Unfortunately for them, Lincoln actually said
14:51"You're about to get a roundhouse to the face."
14:54Lincoln sent out the call for 75,000 volunteers
14:57and men signed up in droves hopeful
14:59for some adventure and good old fashioned F-U-N.
15:03In the new Confederate Capitol at Richmond Virginia,
15:05Confederate president Jefferson Davis
15:07and his cheekbones had also sent out the call
15:09for 100,000 men.
15:10As ever both sides hope for a quick end to the war.
15:13Is it over yet?
15:14No, Jimmy it's been one week.
15:16Is it over now?
15:17No.
15:18How about now?
15:19If you ask that one more time
15:21I swear I will turn this army around
15:23and you'll all have to go back home
15:25to your wives and children (troop cheering).
15:28But in particular, the South
15:29knew the conflict would pose a bit of a challenge.
15:32How can we expect to win with a population
15:34of only 5 million against 22 million in the North?
15:37If you count us 4 million slaves
15:38you'd have 9 million, great idea.
15:41Hand these rifles to all the, hey, wait a minute,
15:44you almost had me there.
15:45The problem for Lincoln was that many
15:47of his top generals were getting old
15:48and were being a bit too cautious.
15:50The commanding general was a man named Winfield, Scott
15:53a veteran of the Mexican American war.
15:54And by now he was too fat to even mount a horse.
15:57Okay chaps,
15:58we need to come up with a plan, hit me.
16:00We could wait for the Confederates to come and apologize.
16:03Maybe we should all sit
16:03in a circle and discuss our feelings.
16:05Crossing the Delaware into New Jersey worked for me.
16:08Those are all terrible ideas and you, wrong video.
16:12Hey, I'm the greatest president
16:13in the history of this nation.
16:14Yeah, we'll see about that Dingus.
16:16Eventually Lincoln's generals came
16:17up with a multi-pronged strategy.
16:19First, a blockade would cut off
16:21and starve the South of supplies by sea.
16:23Secondly, taking control
16:24of the great Mississippi river would sever the
16:26South's economic artery while splitting it into two.
16:29And finally a main union force in the East would move South
16:32and take the Confederate Capitol ending the war,
16:35bada-boom bada-bing.
16:36Skirmishes began to break out
16:37across the nation and the union army
16:39in the East began to move South towards Richmond.
16:42Everything seemed to be going well
16:43until they reached Manassas
16:45where they came upon a large Confederate force.
16:47It's almost like they were waiting for us.
16:49How did they know?
16:50As it turned out, spies in DC had sent a coded message
16:52to the Confederates warning of the invasion.
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17:57Now, where were we?
17:58Oh yeah, succession, fat man,
18:00and the union invasion into Virginia.
18:03The two sites encountered each other
18:04at Manassas and both geared up
18:06for the first major battle of the Civil War.
18:08The first battle of Bull Run.
18:11The Confederates rapidly brought in support by a rail
18:13and the two sites were about equal in numbers.
18:15However, they were also equally inexperienced.
18:18A large number of civilians also wrote
18:20out by carriage from DC to picnic
18:22on the nearby hills and watch the excitement unfold.
18:25Nobody seemed to quite understand how
18:27destructive this war was going to be.
18:29The union forces pulled a flanking maneuver to
18:31hit the Confederates on their left
18:32and the two sides fired on each other in rows.
18:35Farm families living in the area
18:36were forced to flee the fighting
18:37including a man named Wilmer McLean.
18:40Hurry up, Martha, there's a war out here.
18:42The more you tell me to hurry up, the slower I will go.
18:48The union foresaw initial success
18:49pushing the Confederates back to Henry Hill.
18:52But one as of yet, fairly unknown general
18:54Thomas Jackson had arrived
18:56and he took a defensive position standing
18:58from like a Stonewall, holding the union army off
19:01and finally sending them running back
19:03to Washington DC with heavy casualties.
19:06The sobering reality of war hit both sides hard
19:08and the North having just lost the first
19:11major battle had to face this serious prospect
19:13that they may not actually win this war.
19:15President Lincoln, General Jackson whipped us so hard,
19:18the Confederates are calling him Stonewall Jackson.
19:20Wait, that's why they're calling him that?
19:22Not because he looks like
19:23he ran face first into a Stonewall?
19:24Apparently not.
19:25Worse yet, the North had also lost the first major battle
19:28out West giving away control of Southwest, Missouri.
19:31All of this was terrible news for Abraham Lincoln.
19:33Especially since many of his generals
19:35in cabinet already didn't have much respect for him.
19:38They felt he wasn't capable of running a war
19:40because he seemed a bit like your friendly old grandpa.
19:42He famously loved a long-winded story and a good pun.
19:45I've been so busy.
19:46My wife is missing me, but her aim is starting to improve.
19:51But deep down do you realized he could also
19:53be incredibly shrewd.
19:54Oh Abe, you're so funny.
19:57Funny how?
19:59Funny, like I'm a clown?
20:00Abe, I was just.
20:01No, no funny how, like I'm here to amuse you?
20:03During the war Lincoln committed acts that were viewed
20:06by some as impeachable.
20:07His administration suppressed the free media
20:09from printing articles sympathetic towards the South.
20:12Some Southern sympathizers were even arrested
20:14without a trial.
20:15Lincoln's criticizers began accusing him of being a tyrant
20:19but to quote the man himself,
20:20"Hey it's war, baby.
20:22"What are you gonna do?"
20:23By the end of 1861 with things already looking bad
20:25for the North,
20:26abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas couldn't believe
20:29that the union army weren't enlisting black men.
20:31He continued to put pressure on Lincoln to make the war
20:34about emancipation.
20:35Mr. President, it's time to make the war about emancipation.
20:39I don't wanna ruffle any feathers.
20:40The feathers are already ruffled.
20:43But Lincoln hanging on to hope
20:44for a quick end to the conflict,
20:46continued to fight only for the preservation of the union.
20:49It was decided, however, that escaped slaves
20:51from the Confederacy could be held as enemy contraband.
20:54And many of these men were put to work,
20:56bolstering the unions, infrastructure and supply lines.
20:59Hoping to get things moving,
21:00Lincoln made young General George McClellan
21:02the new commanding general and McClellan began to train
21:05up his men.
21:06He thought a lot of himself, however, and believed he
21:08was going to be the nation's great savior.
21:10Unlike many others, he didn't approve of the president's
21:12handling of the war.
21:13On one occasion, Lincoln went to McClellan's house to meet
21:16with him, but McClellan was late returning home.
21:18He kept the president waiting.
21:20And when he finally got there,
21:21he just straight up went to bed.
21:24Now that's what I call disrespectful.
21:26McClellan talked the talk, but could he walk the walk?
21:29No, like Lincoln's other generals,
21:31McClellan was maddeningly cautious.
21:33Hey man, could you move South and attack the enemy?
21:35What are you crazy?
21:36What if they have a big, scary army down there?
21:38They probably do.
21:40What?
21:41Oh my gosh.
21:42McClellan worried that he did not have the numbers
21:44he needed to fight effectively.
21:45What if they have like 10,000 men?
21:47Okay, no problem.
21:48We'll get you 20,000 men.
21:50Well, what if they have 30,000 men?
21:52I'll need 40.
21:53Okay, you can have 40.
21:54Well, what if they have 50 I'll need 60.
21:58Lincoln tried but it was all in vain.
22:00McClellan would not make a move for the rest of the year.
22:03The North's one saving grace for now,
22:05was a General out west fighting Kentucky and Tennessee.
22:08General Ulysses S. Grant cool, collected, methodical
22:12and a big fan of whiskey.
22:13His chief of staff took it upon himself to keep Grant sober.
22:16One officer said that Grant habitually worn expression
22:19as though he were determined to drive his head
22:21through a brick wall and was about to do it.
22:23And that determination led him to score a number
22:25of key victories when others around him were failing.
22:27At the battle of Fort Donaldson Grant was like,
22:29why does Stonewall Jackson get a cool nickname and I don't?
22:31I want a cool nickname.
22:33Sir, the Confederate say they're ready to surrender
22:35and wanna know your terms.
22:36No terms.
22:37Just unconditional surrender.
22:39Hey, Unconditional Surrender Grant.
22:42That's a pretty cool nickname, right guys, right?
22:46Later in April, 1862, the Confederates launched
22:48a sudden attack on Grant's army at Shiloh
22:50but the determined Unconditional Surrender Grant
22:52through his lines at the rebels and sent them running.
22:55The battle resulted in the heaviest casualties
22:57in US history so far.
22:59And despite his victory, Grant found himself under fire.
23:02You have to get rid of Grant.
23:03Why?
23:04Didn't he win?
23:05Yes, but he just threw his men at the enemy.
23:07Isn't that the point?
23:09Also he's a loony drunk.
23:10Well, what does he like to drink?
23:11I believe whiskey, sir.
23:13Then send him more.
23:16Lincoln watched as his cabinet did nothing but bicker.
23:19And his generals did nothing but then worst of all,
23:23personal tragedy struck Lincoln's young son, Willie.
23:26Very much loved by the president died of typhoid fever
23:30at the age of 11.
23:31Lincoln was a sensitive man
23:32and was heavily effected by the loss.
23:35His wife was inconsolable
23:37but one of Lincoln's greatest traits,
23:38what made him such a great leader was
23:40in the darkest of times
23:42with composure and determination, he kept moving forward.
23:46He knew it was his responsibility to hold himself
23:49and his family together.
23:50And by doing so, he hoped to hold the nation together
23:53and he had had it with McClellan's in action.
23:56Lincoln decided he was gonna take control.
23:59In March, 1862 Lincoln firmly ordered
24:01McClellan to once again move South towards Richmond,
24:04McClellan insisted instead they moved by sea
24:06to the Virginia Peninsula
24:07and attack Richmond from the South East.
24:09Yes, said Lincoln.
24:10Okay, anything.
24:12Lincoln held onto some of McClellan's men to defend DC
24:14from a nearby Stonewall Jackson wreaking havoc
24:17in the Shenandoah Valley.
24:18And he sent McClellan South.
24:20McClellan landed on the Peninsula
24:21and he began to move inland.
24:23He came up against a small Confederate army
24:24that had dug in at Yorktown.
24:26McClellan vastly outnumbered the force
24:28but it said that Confederate general Magruder
24:30deceived McClellan
24:31by cleverly maneuvering his smaller force
24:33and making McClellan believe he faced a huge army.
24:36No, you have way more men than them, move forward.
24:40No.
24:41McClellan settled in for a month long siege, giving time
24:43for Johnston to move South from Manassas and Magruder
24:46time to retreat.
24:47When he finally entered the city and found it deserted
24:49he declared it a victory calling his success brilliant.
24:53Then after meeting some resistance at Williamsburg
24:55McClellan moved to within just 20 miles of Richmond
24:58his Army's able to hear the church bells ringing
25:00in the enemy capital.
25:01You still outnumber them.
25:03Go give them hell.
25:05No.
25:05McClellan once again held back
25:07moving slowly and defensively.
25:09And with his army split in two, the Confederate
25:11saw an opportunity to strike back.
25:13McClellan's advance was halted, and now the Confederates
25:16pulled an ace out of their sleep.
25:18General Lee, you're up.
25:19Do you think we should evacuate Richmond?
25:21No. Mr. President, no need.
25:23General. Robert E. Lee,
25:25one of the most brilliant military commanders
25:26of the time was now in charge.
25:29One of his biggest strengths was his ability to
25:30read the mind of his enemy and he knew McClellan was
25:33cautious and weak after moving Stonewall Jackson South to
25:36join him.
25:37And even though he had a smaller army, Lee hit McClellan
25:39in a series of fast paced, close combat battles
25:42that had McClellan spook, McClellan retreated the union
25:45army back again and again and again, escaping the Peninsula
25:49and returning to DC.
25:51Lee had defeated McClellan and the campaign had failed.
25:54Well, that was a major success.
25:56A success?
25:57Tell me exactly what was successful about that.
26:00Well, we successfully retreated.
26:01You lost.
26:03I didn't lose.
26:04I merely failed to win.
26:06Things just kept looking worse for the North.
26:08At least their Navy had seen some success capturing a number
26:11of key port cities, notably when they steamrolled
26:13past Confederate forts to take New Orleans.
26:16And speaking of the Navy
26:17both sides have begun using ironclads.
26:19So that's pretty cool.
26:20But in the East, they still weren't having any luck.
26:23After McClellan's disastrous campaign,
26:25Lincoln briefly sent that one General John Pope
26:27to attack Northern Virginia.
26:29Hey man, just checking in.
26:30How's it going?
26:31Well, the Confederates kicked my butt at Cedar mountain.
26:34Then they raided my camp and ran off
26:35with my money and clothes.
26:36Also, I appear to have been wedgied.
26:38Lee defeated Pope at yet another battle
26:40at Bull Run in which nearby farm families,
26:43once again got caught up in the fighting.
26:45Hurry up, Martha, there's another war out here.
26:48I'm waiting for my hair to dry.
26:52Wilmer McLean sick of war moved his family South
26:55where he knew the war would definitely
26:57absolutely never touch him again.
27:00But Lincoln had yet another problem to contend with
27:02European powers in particular the UK
27:04we're looking increasingly
27:05like they may intervene diplomatically
27:07on the side of the Confederates.
27:09They were missing their precious supply
27:10of Southern cotton because of the union blockade.
27:13And they wanted to see a swift conclusion to the war.
27:15The tension between America and Great Britain
27:17had been increasing especially after Confederate diplomats
27:20were discovered on a British ship.
27:22Now after McClellan's failure to take Richmond
27:24the UK declared it impossible for the North to win.
27:27Lincoln needed something to
27:29prevent Europe from getting involved.
27:30And after more petitioning from abolitionists
27:33he decided maybe the time was finally right to make the war
27:35about ending the institution he hated, slavery.
27:39If the North had a noble cause to fight for,
27:41Europe would be less likely to intervene
27:43but Lincoln and his cabinet knew before they
27:45could declare something as radical as emancipation,
27:48they needed a victory, especially now
27:50that the Confederates were about to go on the attack.
27:53Aware that he had a limited number of men and supplies,
27:55Lee now hoped that
27:56if he could just threaten Washington DC militarily
27:59he would gain Europe's recognition
28:01and crush Northern morale in time
28:02for the midterm elections, forcing the North to negotiate.
28:05With confidence at an all-time high
28:07for the first time Robert E. Lee invaded the North
28:10but on September 13th, the North finally had some luck.
28:14Oh boy, it's my lucky day.
28:15That's a garner field.
28:17Hey, what's this wrapped around it?
28:18Oh my gosh.
28:19That's right.
28:20The North had discovered General Lee's battle plans
28:22wrapped around some cigars
28:23and in them they saw that Lee had split up his forces
28:26McClellan headed out from DC and the two sides met
28:29in the battle of Antietam.
28:31A crucial battle that would decide the course of the war.
28:34It saw the most vicious fighting to date and still
28:36remains the single bloodiest day in American history.
28:40But for once the North came out victorious
28:42and Lee was forced to retreat.
28:44He's on the run, chase him down and finish them off.
28:47No.
28:49You know what old buddy old pal, you're fired.
28:52The North had won their crucial victory.
28:55Lincoln breathed a huge sigh of relief.
28:57And with that wind, he was prepared to take a huge step
29:01on September 22nd, the emancipation proclamation was issued
29:05in January.
29:06All slaves held in the Confederate States would be as far
29:09as the US government was concerned officially free.
29:12Throughout the North free black men and women
29:15rejoiced knowing that if the North were to win
29:17their brothers and sisters would no longer
29:19be held in bondage.
29:20The proclamation also had the intended effect
29:23on Europe who were not willing to oppose a pledge to
29:25end slavery and outraged Confederacy knew that
29:28Lincoln had given the war a new meaning.
29:30It was no longer just about the preservation of the union.
29:34Now, it was about creating a new union,
29:36washed clean of its original sin,
29:39a union without slavery.
29:41(upbeat music)

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