jay barberie on the life of the first man to walk on the moon, neil armstrong tonight at 10:00 eastern on c-span 2's "afterwords." --american tv's history series the civil war marks the 150th anniversary of the conflict by bringing lectures and that of field visits. 1864,ars ago in july of 100 confederate troops almost invaded washington, d.c.. the mark leeson takes us on a tour of battlefields in washington dc to tell the story of a battle where confederates ine delayed by union forces the battle of fort stevens.

>> consider what could have happened with a core of troops let loose in washington dc. the treasury was there for the looting. the treasury department. they could have burned the capital. shipavy department had a waiting for him in the potomac to take him out of town. think about what could have happened to the union cause had there been confederates running loose in the streets of washington dc. don't forget, lincoln was fighting for his political life at this time. as presidential election of 1864 just a few months away. lincoln barely got the republican nomination. he had to choose a democrat for his running mate, andrew johnson of tennessee and lincoln's popularity with solo no one thought he would win the election. this would have killed any chances that lincoln could have been reelected. think about this, too -- the

english and -- the the french were looking for an excuse to comment in on the side of the confederacy. we did not have cnn or c-span but we had newspapers and it got covered. it would not have been good for the union cause had headlines flashed around the country and world that confederate troops were loose in the streets of washington dc. this is the battle to save washington and it saved -- change the course of american is revered lee's objective was trying to take brand posturings around from richmond and petersburg. grant did not want to do it but we did to the last minute and finally did. the number of troops went down drastically from like 137,000 at the end of june to almost 70,002 months later. it did not work until 1865. ee hadhad not forced -- l

not forced grant to do this, i believe that the war could have monthsooner, maybe six or three months sooner. it is a what if and to never be proven one way or another. it was a what if that came pretty close to happening and it also goes to show that nothing is inevitable in history. nothing is inevitable in the civil war. it did not have to come out the way it did. other things had to do with it. this one piece of the puzzle was very important in the end of the timing of the end of the war. >> we are at the henry a wallace

country life center, which is 50 miles south and west of the mornings. this is the birthplace home of henry a wallace. the waltzes consist of -- wallaces consist of three generations. the patriarch was known as uncle henry and he was the founder of "wallace's farmer magazine." his son was u.s. secretary of agriculture under woodrow wilson thisenry's son was born on farm in 1888. he went on to be editor of the magazine. he was asked by franklin roosevelt to serve as u.s. secretary of agriculture, which he did from eight years from 1933-1941. in 1941-19 45, he was roosevelt's vice president. as the secretary of agriculture, he is known for the agricultural

adjustment act which was the first time that farmers were asked not to produce. at first, people could not believe the things he was proposing regarding that. as prices went up, they started to listen to them. people still refer to him today as the genius secretary of agriculture. >> explore the history and literary life of des moines, iowa throughout the weekend on c-span 2 possible tv and >> history bookshelf features popular american history writers airs every weekend at this time. astronaut neil9, man tong was the first walk on the noon. discusses hisener

book, "one giant leap: neil armstrong's stellar american journey." in 2012 hado died lifelong dream of going to space. the book also details the moon landing and the scientific the moonwalk made possible. this is about 45 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for coming. this book started about 15 years when an english magazine go to ohio in a town that i had never heard of at that point. neil armstrong's hometown and write a story for the 20th anniversary of the moon landing. and found it was a charming little town and not far interestingly far from dto