watergate on the 40th anniversary. american history tv >> a monday night on the communicators, three members of congress talk about their technology legislation. >> i believe an open, a free internet. when you look at where the internet has come and going into the future, only the private sector. >> privacy, not expose the product. rulesnk these blackout the ftc to the first move" finally at the end of the year but we believe they will follow suit. addressl that tries to rules over returns mission consent basically giving people level footing when it comes to negotiating with a broadcast and big apple to negotiate with a

providers and the people trying to deliver that media to the consumer. whene in 11 playing field it comes to those kind of negotiations. senators, monday night at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators." >> next on the civil war, emmanuel dabney of petersburg national battlefield discusses the role of u.s. colored troops. after weeks of tunneling, union forces blew up a mine to create a gap in the defenses. he discusses why the attack ended in a failure and why the colored troops were unjustly blamed. this event was part of the gettysburg college civil war institute annual conference.

it is about one hour. [applause] >> good morning. i will pre-warn you, we will hear language that we find repulsive. i will not cut it out. we will get started. in june 1864, after failing to defeat robert e lee's army, ulysses s. grant and a portion of the army of james pulled away and began the movement toward petersburg to begin the attack, petersburg in 1850 was the second largest city with a population of 18,266 folks.

since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as the -- city. four railroads radiated. the petersburg railroad which ran south to weldon, south carolina. the richmond and petersburg connecting the two places. the south side which ran from city point, modern-day through petersburg to lynchburg. and north of petersburg. in addition to petersburg's railroads, they contained 4 caught in males. these operations, the discussions we were having about the importance of places will be cranking out supplies and food confederacy. in addition to that, the

confederacy operated several wartime plants near the city still functioning in the summer of 1864 including the lead works, artificial -- saltpeter for gun power and wagon works. getting back to the blockade and created greater importance for the petersburg railroad because it was a separate company. connecting petersburg with european ran goods through the blockade. grant -- i should have -- there's petersburg. grant wanted to cut off communications and transportation of goods through petersburg and destroy lee's army.

from june 15-18, before lee even fully arrived in petersburg, union troops assaulted the city, seige operations began. in the midst of the summer of 1864's drought and heat wave was the constant sharpshooting. and a plan had developed to break this campaign before it lasted much longer. as early as june 21, colonel pleasant thought mining the confederate position at elliott's salient called ingrams battery was a possibility. he later noted the greatest enthusiasm was the division commander and the corps commander. the 40th infantry began excavating the mine the 26th of

june, for whatever reason, people remember it started at 12:00 noon. if you are a detail oriented person, they left it for us. the work was completed day and night even in the intense summer heat. the concerns about ventilating the mine were addressed and represented in the images here. fresh air entered a wooden duct. the bad air was sent through a chimney shaft. placed tooor was allow miners to get in and out of the shaft. as the laborers extended the mine, so was the wooden duct system. the mine would reach the 510 proposed. two galleries will be extended

under the confederacy position. gunpowder is supposed to be packed. while the 48th did the mine, burnside crafted a battle plan. he informed edward ferrero, as you see there, the colored troops to use it first. burnside expected 12,000 pounds of gunpowder to explode. then the black soldiers would be in double columns to pass through the gap in the enemy's line. it was to be perpendicular to the confederate line and executed this by maneuvering to the north and right of the explosion site and leaving regiment of the left would do

the same but in reverse. the remaining regiments would move as quickly as possible and front and rapidly as burnside wrote. the white troops of the core and others would soon follow. ferrero was directed to drill his enthusiastic troops but not veterans for this attack. however, this is an issue that we still do not know all of the details of. were the u.s. colored troops trained or not? it depends on who you ask. there was only one drill according to one person. he said nothing specific to this battle maneuver. they were as he said, most common and simple maneuvers. others recall specialized training. one remembered time after time, my regiment went through the imaginary along the lines.

every officer and every primate -- private knew his place and what he was expected to do. and so in short, we do not know if they were trained or not. but we do know because the confederates figured out what was going on with the mining activity just five days after the federal had started. this man is on the confederate side to be praised for lucky guessing. many of you in this audience, it you know edward alexander. he is inspecting the line on june 30. he is inspecting the siege operations and get them closer to the confederates. he is not noticing. he noticed there is intense

sharpshooting coming into his position. he thinks seriously that the enemy is not going to come above ground but they were coming underground. they were mining us, he later wrote. i always say, it is important to know that this is not farmer joe son and he probably would not have guessed this. alexander, a graduate of west point, third in his class. he knew this sort of world of siege operations which could include mines. alexander reported his suspicions to headquarters of counter mining in several places

but not elliott area to go deep but need. in addition to counter mining, constructing another single line behind position just because of the intense amount of sharpshooting and artillery fire. the confederates later stated practically honeycombed the area between the cavalier trench and the back of elliott's salient with the bombproof. what they did not know was it will create an obstacle for the federals. what is definitely planned beyond the trenches, alexander's orders to move up more artillery. it will be in a horseshoe shape. the confederates are going to have 30 cannons and five mortars to use against any attack in that particular area. the plan developed by burnside began unraveling almost as soon as headquarters got the plan on june 27, 8000 pounds of gunpowder arrived instead of 12,000. the lead engineer decided that was all they needed.

a single fuse arrived in the segments which required slicing. the plans, which burnside had proposed, were changed by meade. they had a show down about the battle plan. meade stated at a military inquiry that black soldiers were too green for the attack. later the year, grant testified to congress that general meade said if you put the colored troops in front, we only had that one division and it should prove a failure. it would then be said and very properly that we were shoving these people ahead to get killed because we did not care anything about them. that cannot be said if we put white troops in front.

since burnside protested this last-minute change, meade stated he would talk to grant about it and it is important to understand technically burnside out ranked meade. it had been a contentious sort of thing since burnside arrived back east in the spring. grant out ranks both of them and he can decide. meade represents what his opinion is and the postscript -- he gives his version of what burnside feels and grant agrees with meade. however, neither general bother to warn burnside. meade and another general appeared at burnside's headquarters. he still wanted the plan he had to go for it. he asked meade not to change and

meade said, no, the order is final. they use of the colored troops, meade rejected. he wanted the men to go up and get the crest. it does not take into account the other confederate troops to the north of the explosion site and i shall point out the objective here is take the high ground which is to the north, a few hundred yards away from elliott's salience. meade and this other general leave burnside and figure out what to do. these eligible division commanders and it will include orlando wilcox, james letley and robert potter on the right. despite burnside's later realization he probably should have selected wilcox or potter,

he felt like and they felt like their division had been used up. he selected james. as you know, he had a fondness for alcohol. it had been exhibited most notably in 1864 and in the initial attacks on petersburg on june 17. during the night and day of july 29, final preparations were made to include a moving 110 cannons and 54 mortars across a two-mile front to be used right of the explosion takes place and pin down confederates as the attack moves forward. white troops move into their position and now in front, ferrero's troops will be in the back of the attacking column.

colonel pleasant will go in and light the fuse. did not go off. two people volunteer to go back inside to see what had gone wrong. most of the time on my tours, i do not have many people say that would be me. [laughter] occassionally, i get it. and i say, you brave person. they relit the fuse. the gunpowder explodes as represented in this image from "harper's weekly." james payne of the colored troops wrote, "one of the enemies were in pleasant slumber. destroying nearly all who was in it at the time."

the whole confederate line is 170 feet long and 30 feet in deep. a few confederates in the position are going to live to tell the tale. between 278 and 350 men and 19 men in the confederate will become casualties in the blast. the battle that follows reveal more about personalities and racial division than military tactics and objectives. artillery shells belch from the federals, 110 cannon and 150 mortars as the war began lead of the division around 5:00 a.m. supported by robert potter and wilcox's men. they are going to respond and will be a weak response at this particular moment from the infantry. intends confederate artillery

fire began to develop rapidly. particularly through the federals and is coming from the right. part of the army of james will be deployed to cover and push out from north carolinians north of the crater and whatever the gun battery is working through the ranks. that is what is represented here. i am not going to spend a lot of time talking about the white troops. you should have come to kevin's talk yesterday about them. we will focus on the black troops. about 8:00 a.m., the division is order to attack the first brigade in and the first regiment will be bates' colored troops. they began to scream out, no

quarter and remember fort pillow. some of you know and for those of you did not fort pillow earlier in the year, confederate troops refused to accept surrender. when in the battle finally comes to a crazed end, about 150 pows and 58 black men. everybody had been killed or mortally wounded. it does not really matter that the black troops were not there or the white troops were, it became a battle cry with the black troops. one confederate officer screamed to his men as he saw the black column common, "rally, they are nothing but niggers." it was overheard by sergeant john offer and another black

combatants and one of the officers, he thrust a bayonet into the officer's chest. within that regiment, albert wright captures the flag you see here on the left. thank you for providing that image. he was wounded himself. around the crater and seven artillery starting the slow progress of the 39th brigade. as these regiments moved through the remains of elliott salient, donovan bates was shot in the the bullet traveled through his cheek and exited near his left ear. amazingly, bates survived. he has a pretty impressive mustache here already, it is bigger to cover up the part of his face that has been partially collapsed from the bullet. he will receive a medal of

honor for his actions at the crate. sergeant decatur dorsey ran his regiment's flag ahead of the rest of the men which encourage them to move forward. following on the heels of siegfried men, thomas recalled a deadly ever treat for eight guns on our right. the firepower forced thomas to admit his first regiment men will be mowed down like grass. thomas ordered the troops back behind the crater. that meant having to move through the masses of white troops already there which is also honeycombed.

it will be met with doom. thomas here on the left. the colonel, who gets himself all dandied up, he has on the best coat, hat. he will stand on top of confederate earthworks and tried to encourage his men. he will get shot down. robert beauchamp wrote his soldiers and their attempt to charge the confederates, there was no flinching on their part. they came to shoulder like true soldiers ready to face the enemy and it to death on the battlefield. but think for a moment of an effective charge in that death valley under a moderate fire jammed with other troops confused and broken up as we were. officers are going down. heavy confederate artillery fire. an infantry unit on the confederate side is beginning to move up. commanded by the only division

troops that lee commands this day on the south side of the river which is temporarily tried not to be permanent by brigadier general robert mahone. he will decide to initially move up the brigades and initially virginians he wants commanded. and currently commanded by a native of petersburg. and his georgia brigade now commanded by matthew hall, lieutenant colonel. the virginians, as they get onto the battlefield, are moving toward the battlefield are going to encounter confederates moving backwards. one informed mahone, that they are busted back thar.

lieutenant colonel william stewart wrote very frankly many years later "the report from the report from the men was the first intimation we would have to fight the negroes. i never felt more like fighting in my life. our comrades had been slaughtered in the most inhuman and brutal way and black slaves were trampling over their mangled and bleeding forms. we strung every arm with nerves of steel with a herculean task." mahone gives a rallying speech which amazingly is not filled with any racially charged language just before the virginians attack at 9:00 a.m. confederate officers actually

wrote," they sprang forth from the ravine." he admits the bayonet was used in a way that he had never seen. this was a veteran. virginians pay a heavy cost to capture a few feet of earthworks. the georgians would follow them in. as a virginian who was watching recalled they made to a tax and -- two attacks and fell like autumn leaves. the 49th georgia infantry share with his dear sister. "the president came leaping over -- [indiscernible] he underlined this part "they were niggers.

as soon as they came, the bayonet was sent through their chest. they were hit with the butts of their guns." dorsey and someone who ought to know about beating the black bodies since he was an overseer before the war began and told his dear sister mary, just 11 days afterward, "we got to the work it was filled with negroes and yanks. you may depend on it we did not show much quarter but slated -- slayed them." keep in mind they are writing to the prim and proper southern women. they want to know what their men are doing on the battlefield and now they are fighting armed black men, they are providing very detailed, they put down the

slave insurrection. it is perhaps during the time that sergeant dorsey of 39 realized the battle was going to end in disaster. he grabbed the unit's flag and ran it across fire and planted the flag on top of a union picket line. for that, he would receive a medal of honor. the attack along with the remnants of other confederates on the field at that particular time. launghing bayonet weapons as -- confederates are going to eventually launching bayonet weapons as they get very close on the tops of their muskets and ease over the rim of the crater. this hand to hand conflict

really gets underway. an aspiring alabaman to say that all black soldiers "would have been killed if it were not for general mahone who begged to spare them." one soldier disobeyed mahone is saying he would kill another and pulls a pocket knife and cut a man's throat. they bash the heads of the negroes' skulls. when the black troops cried out they wanted quarter, the response was "no quarter this morning, no quarter now." amazingly, people like oliver scott made it off the battlefield. only 27 years old and he left slavery and enlisted in the colored troops promoted to corporal.

during the battle, he is wounded. he is shot in the hip. the bullet exited his butt. what is interesting about the photo is the scott must have obeyed the rules of whomever his owner was. no sign of whip marks across his back. the desire to be free was so great that he observed. he was lucky he managed to get off the field at all. the bullet is only going to pass three inches from the spinal column. another former slave was george carr. the second bullet entering the middle third of the inside of the leg and passed through. freeborn charles harris, a native of new york, hit by a ball in the back leg which

passed through the tibua and -- tibia and fibula. as the confederates went across killing union troops, whites realize how angry the one wrote, day after the battle and remembered many years after the battle, "white union troops will start killing black union troops as they readily admit in an effort to preserve white people's lives." the battle finally ends at about 2:30 in the afternoon. the aftermath is going to be a court inquiry and general meade picks who will be on the court and if you want to know details, we can discuss later. more or less, the blame will be

on burnside and it will be some blame for james letley and ferrero who were drinking together during the battle. ferrero is going to more or less be slapped on the wrist. letley goes home on a furlough and never returns and ferrero. federal casualties will be around 3800. the u.s. colored troops will suffer 219 killed, 957 wounded, and 410 either captured or go missing. seen here represents the flag that will happen on august 1. burnside, who everybody likes to beat up as the idiot general, calls for a flag of truce after the battle ends. meade wants him to arrange a localized truce. he does not want to admit defeat.

get the wounded off of the field even though it is 100 plus degrees. july 30 and all day on july 31 and finally they are picked up on the morning of august 1 and by that point, one of meade's staff members admits he cannot tell who is naturally african or european except for the texture of their here. in the in between, henry bird wrote his fiancée that as the men cried out for water, the response from the confederates was -- if you are not french student, drink your blood, and you will have no more thirst.

he said black troops were [indiscernible] remember fort pillow and a great slaughter and he was infuriated. he ordered the lives of all remaining troops to be spared. this is much to be regretted. even more angry is the female version of edmund ruffin. katherine edmonston, 4 days after the battle and it helps to illustrate our protection of southern ladies is soon -- is too scarlet o'hara. "the negro troops ran shouting no quarter. they were met with such determination by the old masters and what they saw earnestly

clambered up for that in spite of the yankees bayonets behind them they ran." she got a dubious story about somebody who was in the ranks who sees his old mississippi master, the problem is -- there are no mississippi troops here. and wants immediately to become a slave again. and it is unlikely that actually happened. mrs. edmiston does touch upon the truth. the newspapers respond with their biases. there are statements like "cowardice of the nigger." they said, "the niggers sat down their weapons and refused to obey." they said, "if it were not for

the niggers they would have won. general meade, chris burnside, ferrero, officers who were actually on the field and garland white, a chaplain who wrote none of our troops, white or colored, are responsible for the actions of the general. there is no higher sin than to blame innocent people for consequences of which they are not responsible. let me leave time for questions. the federal prisoners, white and black, will be marched through the city of petersburg on the day after the battle. petersburg turned up in its finest garment and lieutenant freeman remember women asking why didn't you kill all of the

yankee wretches. they were being marched, 2 white, 2 black until they run out of black troops. the highest-ranking officers at the front. a nine-year-old girl at the time as she recalled years later, victoria dotson, i remember swinging on a gate and i said "kill them." nine years old. her mother told her, "come into this house or they will kill you." we got a good comment. commissioned officers, highest ranked going on down, as there were 500 colored troops, the greater part of the column was a

appearance that was amusing. many were sent to prisoner of war camps. captain beecham and sergeant boley will not be going to more famous places. captain beechem spends time in jail where he admitted he was decently treated. black troops however will not get the same kind of treatment. this representation of richmond will be important in a moment. an interesting story, will talk more about this if you want to. john haskell is out there. he finds some black wounded troops. he told his personal slave to go get the other slaves and get those men to a hospital.

his servant stands up to the owner and said i would rather die than move those men. none of the other camp negroes wants to move them it either. he gets a southern doctor who takes them to a hospital. after the battle, the physician in charge, john claiborne, find 150 men naked with every kind of mutilation. my first thought is this christian civilization? after threatening to send surgeons, they joined in treating the troops. among those captured is churchwell, a former slave who escaped and served and is captured. he recalled years later, i was kept until my old master found i was in prison and claimed me as a slave and sold me to a slave

dealer who took me to north carolina. and he then sold to me to patrick murphy who took me on his farm near raleigh. most of our black pow's would be returned to slavery and including the right here in the heart of virginia's slave trading district. where the purple arrow is marked is one of the petersburg regents' former slave will go to a dealer and to be kept there until the war ends. i will stop there. i am out of slides and i will let you ask questions. [applause]

>> my name is jeff smith. i am curious. except for the last-minute interference, it seemed like meade and grant deferred to burnside in the operations. after this disaster, there's 15,000 union troops involved in this operation, did any land in their laps, deferring responsibility such an operation to burnside? >> not particularly. meade decided who was going to be in the court of inquiry. there are people who do not like burnside from the battle of fredericksburg from 1862 and

1863. they already have a negative opinion of burnside. in meade's recorder is one of his own inspector general's and none of them will say you are the blame or grant, you are the blame. they keep the blame on burnside and rightfully with letley and ferrero. >> in the film version of the movie made of "cold mountain," it depicted all of the troops, black and white, poor and into pouring into the crater. that has been told in other stories. is there any truth to that or was that a problem people went into the crater and cannot get out or just a legend? >> the question is troops, black and white, rush through the crater into the whole in itself. it is partially true. advanced men as they move up run into the crater. partly because they go into

rescue confederate trapped folks and provide prayer and water to those who were dying. they said they cannot ignore their adversaries and some of their greatest pain in the last minutes of your life. many of the union troops will be pushed because the hole is only 170 feet long and it will be pushed on either side and beyond the hole and not beyond the extra trench that was created. this is a moment of come to the battlefield and you will get a sense of how it happened. >> i want to confirm of what i thought you said toward the end of the battle, white troops were killing blacks and then the union troops started killing the blacks? >> you are correct. union troops started killing blacks. they -- in order to preserve white mens' lives.

>> it is my understanding that originally black troops were going to lead the attack and they were trained for it. and then, grant said we cannot use blacks. and then [indiscernible] they weren't trained. was it because it was so soon and they do not have time? i am asking if there is any way they could have been better trained? >> could the white troops be better prepared?

the answer is, no, making these last-minute changes on july 29 and the battle is the next morning right at dawn. there is no prep time. >> david rosen. against the background of the circumstances and what you described a little bit of humaneness compelled, i wonder if you could tell us something about mahone. >> yes, i am not sure with all you want. i will start with a brief biography. mahone is a native of virginia which is growing up in the era of the imagery of nat turner's slave insurrection and graduates from virginia military institute. in the beginning of the war, not do anything superb. he really knows how to manage a division. his troops accidentally shoot james near where jackson's

mortal wound had been which anderson moved up and mahanta -- mahone moved up to division. lee praises mahone's ability to recapture the line. he will be division commander until the surrender. >> what about the showing of humaneness? >> several people commented on that. he stopped his soldiers from killing blacks as best as he can and he cannot stop them all even when they were right in front of him. mahone does not believe in equality at the beginning of the war or perhaps when it ends. he has his miraculous sort of desire to become a politician and sustain the biracial political party onto the postwar years and attempts to cater to blacks. at one point, he admits slavery

was wrong and he should not have owned slaves. i am sure there were all sort of political points he tried to reach at that point. i do not know what it is they will try to stop it. and that this is christian civilization. we are still talking about the christian civilization and i do not know. i do not know what it says about him. >> i thought pointed was the murderous nature of the racism among white southern women. i have long thought "gone with the wind" is damaging. i see it as a propaganda film. not so different from nazi propaganda films. my question to you is, do you agree with my assessment of "gone with the wind" or do you disagree and why? >> oh, brother. [laughter]

scarlet would say fiddly, diddly, dee. [laughter] [applause] i actually -- something culturally impactful about "gone with the wind" that is still with us today. i would not go so far as to compare it to nazi propaganda having watched one that was 20 minutes and it took me 2 days to make it through. i can watch "gone with the wind" and make all kinds of jokes as i watch it. it tells us about 1939, the film production and hopeful perpetuation of the racial divide in the country and it is very popular and many people like this movie. based on ticket sales and continued popularity of the

margaret mitchell's book. one more. keep going. oh, sorry. >> question. we have this explosion that takes place and the bottom of a hole and the top. one position if any was made by the union to get to the bottom of the hole to the top to invade the line? >> no provision for them to get out of the crater once they are in it. it is difficult to tell. the crater is very hard. you have these lovely battle maps at gettysburg that show the regiment at 10:00 a.m. and 10:15, we do not have that for the crater. people are too mingled up. it is lost. and both sides, north and south. it is unclear how many people are stuck in the crater. they are stuck for one survivor

to say the men dead could not fall and the living were squirming beneath feet. and so, i do not know how many that is. most people on the outside trying to move forward, but the problem is they did not know the honeycombed bomb proofs were behind the battery or another line of earthworks there for the confederate had just right position of the artillery to have the fire directly into what had been elliott salient. they thought they all knew where the cannons were. >> disclaimer, it may be a controversial question. >> yes. [laughter] >> when the black soldiers were captured and already sent to

prison camps, how come confederates didn't reslave them since they were considered property? and a proclamation about a year or two years ago for the crater saying, and a black soldier -- any black who became a soldier in the u.s. soldier would be shot or killed. how come that policy did not happen in 1864? even though there was the emancipation proclamation. was that a factor? >> most of our crater black troops are not going to pow camps. i found 4 who go to salisbury and die there. most will be sent to richmond and danville where advertisements are placed in newspapers to come look for your runaway slaves and people come and look for them and take them back to their ownership. some people do not come looking

because they do not live in virginia. maryland runaways and delaware slaves, there are free blacks from the north who enlisted. they will be kept in the slave pens. and they will be there if they survive until the war ends. some people rejoined the regiments and go for missing in action to what happened to you? we get details of what happened, not very great details of what happened to them. as far as why the confederates do not implement their 1853 law, white officers will be executed if they are found leading black men into combat and blacks when captured it would suggest we do not need to take them prisoner

will be turned over to the state of authority in whichever state they were captured and dealt as if they were in a slave insurrection. it would just be easier to kill them as seen as poison spring and fort pillow as seen as the crater as will be seen in other battles during the war. thanks. >> this is a lesson learned question. during meade's conversation with grant and grant being the commanding officer, during this siege is another line attempted there as well. in your research, is there any conversation that has been recorded where grant reflects back and say we tried there, maybe we should not try here? as a lesson learned. one of the big things to all military do is you capture your lessons learned and try not to repeat. >> i spoke with terry winchell.

i cannot find any evidence of grant saying anything about vicksburg mine disaster. when the petersburg mine came around because he was not overly enthusiastic about it, and the back of his mind, it might work and it may not work and whatever. but i do not get any real sense he is really reflective about it. >> you mentioned several times about the fortification behind the salient. one of the new technologies that arrived in the civil war was balloon observations. was there any? >> no balloon use by the federals or confederates for that matter. pete has a question.

so robert e. lee is the question. can we hold robert e. lee accountable for the killing of u.s. colored troops after they stopped the battle? lee is very near the battlefield the whole time, less than a quarter of a mile. with general beauregard, they come out onto the field and we are not really clear and it is my observation that they must have seen some killing. i do not know -- what i hold them accountable for and grant and meade is they leave their wounded, and in the battlefield in the 100 plus degree heat because meade does not want to admit defeat. it is preposterous to leave these people out there bleeding

and crying out in agony and by the time they will be recovered, the other comment meade's staff member made is the bodies are so black from the sun and also white with maggots eating the flesh and it could've been avoided if the letter that meade wrote he had sent it over to the confederates. and all of these intricacies, if you want to talk about it we talk about it we can, with where the letter is going and how will arrange and it takes a day and a half. it is really disgusting. i always say to those people, these men are not heroes. thank you. [applause] >> the