before we can move his army south to keysville union calvary and infantry moved around to the south of farmville near the area of hampden sydney college. thus, they cut off the avenue to lee's army. w what lee does is he decides that he will cross to the north side of the appomattox river here at farmville. he will burn all the bridges behind him. two bridges north of town, a wagon bridge and a well read -- a railroad bridge. those are burned successfully. a section of high bridge is destroyed. by leaving that smaller wagon bridge under it, union forces will use that and cross over to the north side of the river. what is happening then strategically is that lee's next point of destination is over here at appomattox station. there are more russian trains, -- there are more ration trains food and supplies located , there. his next point is to march through the town of appomattox three miles from appomattox station. appomattox station is currently the town of appomattox. that is where the next point of contact or supplies could be had. while lee is heading in this direction on the north s

with lee making this move to the north river he has left a short road open to the union army. the infantry are moving around and getting in front of lee's army on the station at the appomattox courthouse. on the morning of april 9, after an engagement on the nine of the -- on the night of the eighth where the cavalry attacked and captured the trains for lee's army and the next morning general lee, whose main army is in the village of appomattox here they now have union infantry behind them, union infantry beef -- in front of them and short after union infantry on the side. of course the rest is history. tomorrow a couple of us will go into further detail. hugh can see how the military maneuvers of the union and the confederate army brought the army to appomattox. that is not where he planned to go. he was still planning on going to north carolina. he had been able to break through this union surrounding maneuver. his next movement was not to lynchburg but the campbell courthouse. this is present-day restaurant virginia. trying to reach danville once again. after the attack on t

hugh can see how the military maneuvers of the union and the confederate army brought the army to appomattoxthat is not where he planned to go. he was still planning on going to north carolina. he had been able to break through this union surrounding maneuver. his next movement was not to lynchburg but the campbell courthouse. this is present-day restaurant virginia. trying to reach danville once again. after the attack on the night of april 8, after three night marches in a row, lee's army goes in the morning of april 9. there is the battle of appomattox. when i used to work at appomattox people would always say, i guess general lee got here to this pretty village and decided to surrender. that is not the case. because of the battle of appomattox on the morning of april 9, lee was forced to surrender. generally and general grant would be at mclean's home and surrender. at 3:30 on the afternoon of april 9, the surrender had taken place. i would like to close with in my years at appomattox i had the opportunity to converse with thousands of visitors and with the story of that placement to the

that's the union army. on the other hand the confederate army ran between 55 and 58,000 affect i was. general lee will surrender about 30,000 of his men at appomattox and casualties will number 48,000, most will be prisoners as we'll talk about tomorrow at sailor's creek. when lee pulled his army from richmond and petersburg they were all to consolidate and move on here amelia courthouse. runs along richmond and danville railroad and goes on through here and crosses the south side railroad right here at burkville. remember that is what lee had hoped to have supplies waiting for him at burk vim as early as february. when lee gets to amelia courthouse while army reconcentrating expects to find ration trains waiting for him there. through some mix-up they aren't there, so lee decides to spend a day in that area asking his troops to go out and asking local people if they have any surplus food items they could provide for the confederate army. consequently because he spends the day here he loses the one day's lea

the union army will form up, march forward going up the hill and the men at that time realize that the end was coming near and so a lot of the union soldiers took out hanker chfs and waved them at the confederate troops close enough to yell johnny lookout, we are coming. go ahead and surrender. with that the confederate troops froze and knelt down and fired a volley into the union line breaking it. union troops falling back towards the creek until they were reformed and made the final attack on the confederate forces. and in that fighting they will capture general joseph kershaw george washington cust s lee, dudley dubois and confederate officer who had been in charge of stonewall jackson's artillery and was wounded in the battle of chancelorsville with the general. he will be killed in that assault and buried on the battlefield. so with the counter attack taking place there along the creek one of the confederate soldiers who are in the battle mentioned in the final part of the battle said quicker than i can tell it the battle generated into a butchery and confused melee of brutal pers

the union army got away and a way that he felt he had to destroy the union army. time was not necessarily on his side. >> i came across an interesting comment. making dictator. >> it was published in newspapers at the time. they openly said basically george washington was essentially a dictator at the end of the revolutionary war. lee was never interested in that. he thought that he could barely do what he had to do to oversee the army in virginia. how could he possibly take responsibility for anything else? that said he does enough accepting the title of general in chief of all the confederate forces which makes his job all the much harder. you might think again for such a great honor but he doesn't see it that way. this year is not something to celebrate. the social order before the southern secession. rebelling. he wanted the social order maintained. >> you can make the argument that he had a more gradual view. for example, it wasn't that he was opposed to emancipation but he was in favor of it gradual emancipation. part of the key is understanding that he was

the estimate is, in the union army alone, among union veterans alone, there were 30,000 amputees that lived out their lives in one way or another. these men could not get jobs. this was in the 19 century. the united states had nothing resembling social security veterans associations. there was no health care. they eventually did have pensions. indeed, federal pensions to union soldiers was a kind of governmental revolution such that by 1890, one third of the entire federal budget of the united states was payments of pensions to union veterans. that story, especially of guys who survived prison camps, who survived multiple years in the army who encountered all kinds of diseases, that story has only recently been researched by historians. it has been waiting to be done. that war left a terrible set of scars on hundreds of thousands of veterans. it is also true that these veterans organizations were important fraternal organizations. veterans became an important voting block in both the south and north. they were also a political force. host: we are seeing the sights and sounds of soldie

that night three enslaved men made their way to the union army's expedition. the next morning they were interrogated. they explained why they were there. they believed the union government should provide them sanctuary since they were trying to support the union. eventually, butler agreed with the argument and changed the course of the war. initially, it was just a small trickle then it became a flood and then a tidal wave. butler's actions was not just a humanitarian gesture. he planned to employ in exchange for food and supplies to help the union troops. butler's goal did not matter. he had plan. word quickly spread and thousands of these freedom seekers fled to fort monroe and to all places where the union army was in the south. those men often didn't come alone. some arrived with their entire families necessitating a system of organize that would employ all of these individuals. although they were compensated for their work the $10 wage was not paid to the worker but placed in a general fund to be used for rationing provisions and for the worker and his fam

the union army moved around a little bit and unsuccessful in pushing lee out or destroying that army of northern virginia. lee realizing that grant is going to take the initiative as soon as possible starts to look at the possibilities. how he can force grant so leave him at petersburg? by spring of 1865, grant has over 120,000 soldiers in the operational area. they're supplied by a supply base at city point that is served by over 100 ships each day. shows ships have enough food to feed every soldier in that army for 60 days. lee on the other hand has none of that. so this supply depots at city point is now so instrumental has gone as far to bring 20 locomotives and 200 pieces of rolling stock and construct a railroad from there on the docks directly out to where union soldiers are fighting in the fields and trenches around petersburg. and so the union army is spending the last months of the winter of 1865 relate ofly well supplied. the con fed rats in their lines and east of petersburg can hear the trains. they can hear the whistles as the trains go by. and so therein will come lee'

these armies are of the same nationality, language, religion. there is no barrier between the union and confederate army other than some of them live up north, and some of them live down south. instantly, because there is no language barrier, for the most part, the trenches are set, then in front of the trenches are even closer soldiers. the eyes and ears of the army in the riflepits in no man's land are literally no further than me to the back of the room from here. with that you have almost instantly an open dialogue and conversation with the most written about is that fort stedman in march of 1865, where general gordon wants to launch the assault by having one of the pickets fire a warning shot, and that is to send everyone across the field. in doing so, the sentry pauses and he yells out before firing the shot, "hey, yanks, we are going out to gather some corn." with that, he clears his conscience because they have a informal truce of not firing without warning. at the same time there's no huge effect, but there's are newspaper boys from richmond who go through the lines to sell

that night three enslaved men made their way to the union army's expedition. the next morning they were interrogated. they explained why they were there. they believed the union government should provide them sanctuary since they were trying to support the union. eventually, butler agreed with the argument and changed the course of the war. initially, it was just a small trickle then it became a flood and then a tidal wave. butler's actions was not just a humanitarian gesture. he planned to employ in exchange for food and supplies to help the union troops. butler's goal did not matter. he had plan. word quickly spread and thousands of these freedom seekers fled to fort monroe and to all places where the union army was in the south. those men often didn't come alone. some arrived with their entire families necessitating a system of organize that would employ all of these individuals. although they were compensated for their work the $10 wage was not paid to the worker but placed in a general fund to be used for rationing provisions and for the worker and his fam

it made him a bit unusual in the union army, he had grown up in an abolitionist family. he wrote to his brother during that first year of the war -- if i had money enough to raise a few hundred contraband meaning escaped slaves, and armed them, i would get up and insurrection among the slaves. i told the captain i would desert to do it." that is a bit of bravado, i expect. he did not lead any mutinies that we know of or organize a set of contraband's for insurrection. at the root -- the letters kept going. in 1861 and 1862 he starts denouncing lincoln and denouncing the administration. he's angry that the war is not officially a war to free the slaves. he does not get it. why are we not fighting to free the slaves? he writes home early in 1862. "this will settle the question as to whether the constitution or the rebellion shall triumph. the great heart wound, slavery will not be reached. " " he's impatient. he's angry. he writes to his brother saying that he wishes he had the moral courage to desert because the union army had not yet begun officially to fight against sla

wasn't it one of the more dangerous positions to be a drummer in the union or confederate army?not really. on the battlefield in the movies, you see five's and drums advancing with the line. that never really happened. what they would do, they would drop their instruments and assist the surgeons and act as stretcher bearers. host: what got you interested in participating in events like this? >> i was friends with his nephew, and in 2007, i decided to join before four mchenry guard. i started off doing war of 1812 events, and i gradually did war of 1812 and civil war events. host: you are the musical coordinator for the national park service. you are in the fort mchenry group. how different was the martial music from 1812 to 1865? >> very different. it is very stately and marshall and slow in the war of 1812. they were doing a direct step. by the civil, that pace picks up very quick. we demonstrate that at fort mchenry and throughout the bicentennial. we would play "yankee doodle" from the war of 1812 and the civil war to demonstrate those differences. host: there obviously are n

union army is down here in mobile and is moving into montgomery. there's no union soldiers in sight when these men laid down their weapons in camp and began the journey home. to the north in upper mississippi, general nathan lee forest had his cavalry command part of this department and forest will disband his cavalry. again, there's no union troops in the vicinity but being under general taylor he's instructed to have his men turn their equipment in and get ready to go home. there's a nice monument here that marks where general forest was camped. that's may 4th. let's move a little more to the west, to the trans-mississippi. the largest geographic department in the confedaeracy embraces there entire area, arkansas, texas, missouri and the indian territory which today is oklahoma. the commander of this department is general kirby smith. that's not his picture up there. see him later. this is going to be one of the more chaotic events that unfolds. by 1865 the bulk of the confederate army of the trans-mississippi is camped around shreveport louisiana

you cannot discount the union army. i think grant became a symbol of the union army and the symbol of the country staying together. gary: he appealed across political lines for most of the war. john: democrats -- joan: both democrats and republicans wanted him to run in 1864. he declined. john: in addition to the political structures, you are right. when the war begins, the military becomes a third part of that. we talked in the lost cause being rooted and admiration for the confederate soldier and his officers. think during the war, how the war goes, how the military is successful or unsuccessful is directly related, as seen by the loyal north as an indicator of their cause as well. matt: if we have been able whole loyal citizens -- gary: if we had been able to pull loyal citizens, what would be major elements of the response speed? -- responses have been? >> family feud? matt: the top answer is going to be restore the union. those people would go on to say ended slavery and punish the people who started this thing. ki

there were differing accounts of her service in the union army. and i would suspect there were some concerns about her gender and some resentment about the role she played. but eventually, took as long -- until the carter administration, the honor was restored back to marry. important to note, that mary never returned her medal. she resisted the plea to return the medal. she retained that to her death. and we remember her commitment and her service by displaying tools she carried when in service to the union army back in 1864, right here on display. another element of our civil medicine exhibit is the whole wall of the display case that has been featuring speaks means of each year of the conflict 150 years later. we featured specimens during the battle of gettysburg and in 2015, our exhibit will feature specimens in the last few months of the civil war and so visitors should look to see that on display when visiting. so as we continue through our civil war medicine exhibit, we come across the story of captain wertz. he is known as the commander of

robert e lee and the confederate army and george meade and the union army have been fighting for two days and neither side has gained victory. the battle falls on the third day. robert e. lee believes his army is invincible and eager to gain success in pennsylvania on the third of july, he will assemble 13,000 confederate infantryman in a line that is a mile-long soldier to soldier. he preludes the assault with a big artillery bombardment. at 3:00 in the afternoon after the confederate artillery is quite, the 13,000 infantryman step across the field, open field, we have been there, we have walked this. remember how long it took us to get across the field? it is a mile from cemetery ridge to seminary ridge. what happens when the confederate soldiers get to the center of the union line? do they break it? no they hit the wall and are repulsed. this is the angle to be there focal point on july 3. at the end of the day on july 3 agency three, by 4:00 in the afternoon, the high tide of the confederacy receded. they are falling back to cemetery ridge. robert e. lee will say 50% of the confed

in this war, freedom follows the union army where the union army was successful.ued his famous proclamation in 1863 but until the confederacy had been brought to heel, it could not be grasped by many slaves in the south. lee's army was so potent a symbol -- the pretense of racial superiority, all the confederacy stood for, this limbs large as a freedom day. there are two stories here at appomattox that involve african-americans, both liberators and the liberated. that makes this symbolically a very powerful symbol. host: our cameras are all over and we have seen the reenactors of the colored troops here as well as the reenactors of some of the freed slaves were here. we hope to be able to see them as well. elizabeth: the caller's right to know that this is a very important subject about which there is still a lot to learn. host: let's go to linda in panama city, florida. caller: first of all, c-span thank you so much. elizabeth, i bought your book when i saw you lecture. i have no question, i have a comment. the book, everyone needs to get it. whatever your intere

probably the best political general in the union army. now johnston faces a real dilemma. he has been facing slocum to the west of to this point. now he's got a deal with the might of sherman's entire army. he has to bend back his left flank. in effect, he's going to create a bridge guarding his only route of retreat across a flooded millcreek. by early morning march 21, 1865, johnston will be outnumbered on the order of 3 to 1. the federals will have nearly 60,000 troops at bentonville. johnston will have 20,000 that most. sherman is wondering why johnston decided to stay at bentonville. this is not typical johnston behavior. johnston cites two reasons why he's going to her main at bentonville. one, he wants to evacuate his wounded. two, he wants to tap sherman into launching a desperate frontal assault. maybe he can take some heavy yankee casualties before he pulls out. three, he doesn't say this, but i think this is also in the back of his head. it appears to the confederates at bentonville that on the 19th it came this close to defeating slcoum's -- slocum's wing. to re

probably the best political general in the union army. now johnston faces a real dilemma. he has been facing slocum to the west of to this point. now he's got a deal with the might of sherman's entire army. he has to bend back his left flank. in effect, he's going to create a bridge guarding his only route of retreat across a flooded millcreek. by early morning march 21, 1865, johnston will be outnumbered on the order of 3 to 1. the federals will have nearly 60,000 troops at bentonville. johnston will have 20,000 that most. sherman is wondering why johnston decided to stay at bentonville. this is not typical johnston behavior. johnston cites two reasons why he's going to her main at bentonville. one, he wants to evacuate his wounded. two, he wants to tap sherman into launching a desperate frontal assault. maybe he can take some heavy yankee casualties before he pulls out. three, he doesn't say this, but i think this is also in the back of his head. it appears to the confederates at bentonville that on the 19th it came this close to defeating slcoum's -- slocum's wing. to re

for the union army the same thing. they didn't have a lot of good maps of this area. the free slaves as they went along, the contraband, as they fell along side the union army could tell you go on that land that will lead you to jetersvill e, etc. that is another reason i enjoy researching this area. the first book i wrote, which just went out of print. i was still in college. it is called 36 hours before appomattox. it covers sailor's creek, highbridge, farmville and cumberland church. >> we have a few left. chris: the new version just came out yesterday. anyway, that was after reading to appomattox, the only book we had to learn from. i was trying to figure out how the armies actually got around from sailor's creek in this area where most of the heavy fighting takes place. i remember the editor of the farmville herald some historian asked him how the troops got from highbridge to farmville they were wanting to know. i remember he said it would take a philadelphia lawyer to figure out how the armies got through this area. i'm not from philadelphia but i think i've fi

probably the best political general in the union army. now johnston faces a real dilemma. he's been facing sloakum to the west, now he has to deal with the might of sherman's entire army. so those bend back his left flank. and in effect, he's going to create a bridge head guarding his only route of retreat across a flooded mill creek. early morning, march 21st 1865 johnston will be outnumbered three to one. nearly 60,000 troops at bentonville. johnston will have 20,000 at most. sherman's wondering kbrg johnston decided to stay because this is not typical skbraunstone beheir, he's very cautious. what johnston cites two reasons why he'll remain. evacuate the the wounded, two, he wants to tempt him into an assault. maybe heavy yankee casual distance before he pulls out. and thee he opportunity say this been but this is also in the back of the head. it appears that they came this close to defeating the wing. and to retreat is to concede defeat. bolster the moral of his men who haven't enjoyed a success in a very long time, johnston decides to remain at bentonville he feels hst

the union army of until this 1863. time was suffering a string of defeat, mead was the commander of the army, brings about 90,000 forces into pennsylvania and in three days defeats the seemingly invincible robert e. lee and his army of north virginia. after three days, the union army claimed victory. v headlines already defining gettysburg as a monumental event in the civil war. the tide is turned. after 1865, union and confederate veterans alike come back to gettysburg and they commemorate a memorial, making it permanently set in american history and our narrative. as where the american civil war was one and where the -- won and where the union was preserved. that is the direction we will take in our presentation today. we will move forward on how veterans remember the civil war. let's start with the north. mystic chords memories. mystic chords of memory is a line from lincoln's first encouraging americans to remember a common past. memories are created, we create memories in our own lives. we choose to remember thing

the grand army of the republic was the union army veterans organization. it was an honestly powerful and large and a great honor to belong to. in the gar, africa and americans join. when i did my research, i found that black americans also belonged to posts with white americans, which is really -- i won't even say unusual. i would say unprecedented in the 19th century, particularly in such an honored organization. so i found instances where it was in the gar, they are comrades and the comrade is a central piece of their relationship. you and i suffered in the same union army. even if we did not fight in the same organization. you know how we emphasize that. veterans understood they marched, they were cold, they were sickened, the entire experience was pretty bad. so they embrace them as part of it because they were in the -- they wore the blue. within their organization, the commander of the massachusetts grand army of the republic for african-americans, i mentioned robert penn was commander of his integrated post. that is not unusual. this is not unusual.

grant , commander of all union armies. one veteran officer described him as an military slouchy western looking. very ordinary, in fact. a private soldier who saw him said he rode his horse like a bag of meal. another noted, and walking, he leaned forward and toddled. it could not have been more different than robert e lee. at the time the armies arrived at appomattox, he might have been only slightly less famous than his opponent. certainly he had become a central figure to his nation's aspirations, as only was to the confederacy. -- adams junior, a grandson of the president, talked about grant's awkward ways, but saw the man within. " he is a remarkable man. he handles those around him quietly and well. he has a faculty president lincoln recognized his skill, but especially admired his persistent purpose. he had the great of a bulldog. another officer put it in more colorful terms. he wears an expression as if he is determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it. general grant attached himself

of whites in the union army, confederates, and then african-american. prof. brundage: for white southerners, 1865 was a bitter pill to take because they had been telling themselves this was a slaveholder's republic that had a providential mission. white southerners pivoted particularly certain denominations. at this compel you said presbyterians went all in. -- up to aliens -- episcopalians and presbyterian when all in. they believed god was punishing them for their hubris. that was their way of making sense what had happened. if you were devoted to your faith, the only solution i can imagine you would come up with. white northerners could see this as vindication. lincoln described vindication in a way. for the one group in particular for home the providential interpretation was unambiguous was african-americans. the way in which black ministers made sense of this was that god had intervened in human affairs in 1861's. god had chosen abraham lincoln to do his work in 1862. that god's will was to transform the status of african-americans because they were his

he said, i joined the union army to fight texans in the civil war, not indians.other ideas for him. >> in the end, carson agrees to head up the campaign. for kit, it's the lessor of two evils. >> it is going to happen so it's better me than someone who doesn't care. and i can handle it in a way to maybe minimize suffering. >> kit carson might have had that type of an attitude towards this. >> i want you over here. >> instead of taking up arms ta with the navajo, carson attempts to starve them out. >> carson realized that he could not fight the navajo in conventional terms. instead he had to fight their land. he essentially had to destroy every cornfield, kill every horse, every sheep, every cow, and he had to perform the scorched earth campaign. this was the only way he realized he could bring the navajo nation to their feet. >> the merciless campaign drags on for months. what follows is the darkest events in making a fist something we do to show resolve. to defend ourselves. to declare victory. so cvs health provides expert support and vital medicines. make a fi