mourning lincoln, so much as a president, but as another veteran or fallen in the civil war. as they waited for the priest to give the memorial address, they stack their arms and planted the fifth corps symbol on the mound in honor of lincoln. this was replicated in other regiments, in other parts of virginia. the regimental color draped the flags and mourning. where the african american troops? robert pins regiment, when one of their offices got the word, two days after lincoln dying on the 15th, he heard a rumor of an assassination. five days later it was confirmed. he talked about theis terrible

disaster. what about my troops? whatever complains black soldiers may have had about lincoln so p progress in a mess and aiding -- and man's of hating the slaves vanished. they mourned the death of abraham lincoln. there was no greater legacy to abraham lincoln. i notes of legacy. abraham lincoln's usually on a knowledge legacy of the men white and black, in the armies and navies of the union. look at how they honored lincoln. they behaves as the fine soldiers they had become. i think lincoln would have been proud to know that. the next month following lincoln's assassination, and event took place over three days right here in d.c.

the grand review of the armies of the east and west. there was a touch of melancholy. captured so beautifully i chamberlin. here was the president, his cabinet, ambassadors, judges, offices of the nation and states, but we missed the deep sad eyes of lincoln coming to u.s.. something is lacking to our hearts now at the supreme hour. they were coming home. 600,000 plus northern and southern soldiers would not come home. abraham lincoln would come home to springfield, illinois, but in a casket. soldiers had come back home before -- all of the american wars up until the time, never so many had debilitating injuries. there's also something else.

these men have a donnelly left their homes green. they wanted to see the elephant. they saw the elephant. they came home as professional soldiers, who had witnessed sites of quantity they could have never imagined. william broil, that vietnam veteran and screenwriter rights, you can come home broken, or not come back at all. if you come back whole -- the kaleidoscope of combat, to tell the pain and suffering that is injured on the battlefield, i cannot tell. it is beyond human mind to express words endured there. no mind can imagine it except for a soldier.

april 13 1862, passing over where the rebel lines have been formed, the revolting sight met my view. there was dead only partially buried. feeds and hands through truth from the graves. i turned away full of sadness from the scene with silence and prayer and a desire to visit no more battlefields. john bryson would visit one more battlefields. the bull run. he would lose his right arm. he became curator of two union cemeteries after the war. there's another site toward the people sometimes don't want to hear or knowledge. moore has a grandeur. that is the flipside of the horror. the morning of may 14 1854, i saw lines of injured infantry.

before noon, the most magnificent sight, more than 100,000 men in full view. think about that. they would never forget about it. they always talk about watching those men coming towards them and standing there. waiting for them. they say the site was beyond experience. there's also the thrill of combat. captain william hudson injured junior -- who can tell of a soldier's wounds. an american world war ii pilot wrote, never did i feel so much alive, never to the earth and all the surroundings look so bright and sharp that i had my life.

when you treat veterans, when you work with veterans, if you have acted in your family, this must be it knowledge. the experience of combat is life altering. in many ways, it is difficult to deal with not being in combat. by the way, josh which abel and had that difficulty -- joshua chamberlain had that difficulty. they talk about fear. someone who lost his right arm in antietam. he says, the truth is i was scared, badly scared. once i was engaged with the enemy, my fear vanished. i felt, every time i saw a comrade fall, i could take to live for one. there are two remarkable quotes. one from two american citizen soldiers, more than one century apart. private jennings from new york,

wounded at deserted farm. the midnight darkness possessed all the elements of terror. a century later, the vietnam veteran and gifted novelist, tim o'brien wrote, war is hell. that is not the half of it. was also mistreated and tear adventure, courage, discovery, holiness pity, despair loa ve. war is fun, war makes you a man, war makes you dead. people don't think about love with veterans. those of us who know veterans and work with them, there is a love that is almost impossible to replicate in life. the words of a survivor of the pacific theater in world war ii, i felt a tear rolled down my

cheek as i said goodbye to my last friend. i was delighted to be home, but i expense powerful ways of a motion as the last three years of my life rolled off like the night. the men of the union faced very similar emotions, as all men and women were returning from war, but they had special difficulties. there was no g.i. bill. the g.i. bill was 80 years away. eugene sledge got his doctorate in biology on the g.i. bill. union soldiers had no g.i. bill. there was no v.a.. no system of treating veterans. no rehabilitation program. the pension system was embryonic and only does designed for those

who were disabled only indirect correlation to their combat. . there were tens of thousands of men addicted to morphine and other opiates. a significant portion had the nero disease. -- venereal disease. by the way, the rate was lower than the prewar army. that leads you to think about the reasons why. there's another statistic that i find fascinating -- black troops had a much lower percentage of syphilis and gonorrhea. i attribute that to at least in part, black troops knew that everyone was watching. they would be judged, all african-americans would be judged by what they'd did. they also had much less alcohol abuse than white soldiers. the use of mercury added to a

lifetime with mayor gray. they also brought home something else. they were alienated. again, the romantic views of the civil war don't match the reality. in september 1854, many civilians were fearful that the scattering of so many men would result in turmoil as an commotions at home. [no audio] >> we are having problems with the signal from our live event at fords theatre. we are working to try and fix that for you.

in the meantime, we'll take a look at artifacts related to president lincoln's assassination, which took place nearly 150 years ago. >> each week, "american artifacts, takes viewers into museums and historic sites around the country. next, we take a look at the national museum of health and music medicine. >> our final stop today is an exhibit on the assassination of president lincoln. these are artifacts collected during those hours that surgeons were treating him after he was shot at fords theatre, and during, and after his autopsy the next day. you might remember, abraham lincoln's shot at fords theatre at about 10:30 a.m. on friday the 14th, 1855.

this is just a few days after the surrender to grant at appomattox, effectively ending the civil war. lakin is at the play, and shot in the back of the head by john looks boost by a small -- john wilkes booth by a small lead bullet. apple is acting on display here. the bullet was recovered the next day and an autopsy performed at the white house. in the hours just shortly after lincoln's shot, the surgeon general response to the president. this is that peterson's house directly across the street from fords theatre. he calls for something called a probe, and we have noted that on the back here in display. the idea is that it would be threaded into the wound and

depending on how far the probe would go, it might identify where the fragment of the bullet was. they were able to do so. the bullet, they found later was large behind lincoln's eye. the probe was retained and eventually made its way to the museum holdings, and is part of the display. the surgeon general, and army medical staff john woodward, and another surgeon named edward curtis were at the present bedside in the hours before he died, which was about 7:22 a.m. on april 15, 1855. it was decided then that a postmortem would be performed very quickly. the present body -- president's body was removed from the white house, and the odds that the was performed in a broom -- the autopsy was performed in a room that is now one of the

president's dining rooms. this goal would have been removed. the top of this goal would have been removed from lincoln's head. as the story is recounted by dr. curtis, he lifted the brain out of this goal, and held it over at china bowl. the bullet itself -- bowl itself made a tingling sound. there was applause, moment of silence. with that sound of the bullet in the china bowl was really the only sound making any noise at that exact moment. curtis reflected on it saying something to the effect that this was a lead ball, with the cannot yet measure the effect. the autopsy is completed and some fragments of lincoln's skull were retained by surgeons

at autopsy. in some cases one fragment was stuck on one of the doctors will. as he was cleaning his kate later that day, he found a bit of lincoln's skull fragments stuck in one of the saws. we also have on display of the of lincoln's hair, removed from the site of the wound. several locks of hair are accounted for in the notes from those hours before lincoln died. these are just a few of those that were cut and given away to different people. another object that is on display relates again to dr. curtis. edward curtis, a surgeon on this half of the army medical museum is the assistant at autopsy. when he got home that night, april 15, after the autopsy, he discovered that his underst hirt was stained with the

present line. mrs. curtis cut those cuffs off and put them in all below which they signed and endorsed. this is one of those shortcuts. both of these shortcuts are in the museum holdings. only one is on display. the bullet was used at the trial of the conspirators. the fragments of bone and hair were in the care and holdings of others for many years. most were collected in the early 1950's by an army medical museum curator. and, for the most part, have been displayed at the army medical museum and now the national museum of health and medicine for many decades. it is important to note that 2015 will be the 150th anniversary of the assassination of abraham lincoln. >> you can watch this, or other

"american artifacts" programs any time by visiting our website. >> today on american history tv on c-span3, we are covering an all-day symposium at fords theatre, looking at abraham lincoln's life and legacy. the event is scheduled to go on and will resume at 145 1:45 p.m. eastern time as will live coverage here on c-span 3. >> this weekend, the c-span city store has partnered with media cocom to learn about the history and literary life of columbus, georgia. >> here are the remains of an ironclad, the jackson. those oval shapes that you see are actually begun ports -- the gun ports of the jackson. the jackson was armed with six

rifles. the rifle that we are firing today was created specifically for the jackson. it was cast in selma, alabama and completed in january 1865. the real claim to fame is directly connected to the fact that there are only four ironclad from the civil war that we can study right now. the jackson is right here. this is why this facility is here. it's first and foremost to tell the story of this particular ironclad, and to show people that there were more than just wanted to ironclad. there were many. >> watch all of our events from columbus throughout the day on c-span 2. >> 150 years ago on march 4,

1860 5,000 gathered on the east front of the u.s. capitol to hear president lincoln deliver his secondary not real address. it was several weeks before the and of the civil war, and lincoln's assassination. next, on american history tv, from the steps of the lincoln memorial, the 150th anniversary commemoration of president lincoln's second eggnog role. the national park service reenacted the speech. this is about an hour and a half. >> good morning. my name is bob vogel and i'm the regional director of the national capital region of the national park service. it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this chilly march morning to the lincoln memorial

as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of abraham lincoln's second eggnog duration as president of the united states. abraham lincoln's birthday inauguration was held beneath the gathering clouds of war. a tense standoff at fort sumter and charleston harbor continued. both the north and south anxiously look to the inauguration for signs of what was to come. lincoln's eggnog go address was filled with all minutes warnings -- ominous warnings against success in and promises to meet the use of arms by the seceded southern states with force on the part of the united states. four years later on march 4 1865 despite for terrible years of civil war, president lincoln viewed his