All language subtitles for Abraham Lincoln s01e03.Saving the Union

Charge! (soldiers war cry)

(guns firing)

Come on, boys!

- McClellan had fresh
troops in reserve.

Could have used
them to destroy Lee.

Instead he let him him escape
over the river to Virginia.

- We chased him out of Maryland.

Still a victory.

Now I can release
the proclamation.

On the first day of
January, all persons

held as slaves shall be then,

thenceforward, and forever free.

Where's Lee?

- Gettysburg.

- It may be the best
chance to destroy his army.

- One big battle.

(guns firing)

What if Lee is thinking
the exact same thing?

- [Lincoln] Then we're both
looking at the end of this war.

One way or the other.

- [Announcer] Ladies
and gentlemen,

some of you may
have heard of him.

- [Caroline] His story
has been passed down

from one generation to the next.

- Four score and
seven years ago.

- He felt that democracy in its

purest form is for all people.

- All persons held
as slaves shall be

thenceforward and forever free.

- But there's something
deeper than what he did.

It's about who he was.

- Lincoln grew up in poverty.

- Haven't done anything to make

anyone remember
that I ever lived.

- He's living proof
that Americans

can rise from
obscurity to power.

- With that wit and that
charm and that intellect.

- It's better to stay
silent and be thought

a fool than to speak up
and remove all doubt.

- He has this deep
sense of empathy.

- He takes the Declaration
of Independence.

- All men are created equal.

- And turns it into a
nation's moral compass.

(glass breaking)
(men shouting)

- As the country
is breaking apart,

there's a turning point where

he's gonna have to take a stand.

- Charge!

- Blood will be on your hands!

- Blood is already on my hands!

- He had to learn how to
be a commander in chief.

- We can't have a
war on two fronts.

- He was willing to admit
he was wrong and to change.

- We can attack immediately.

- [Historian] He was the right
person at the right time.

- If we let this stand
for one minute longer

we might as well say
goodbye to the whole thing.

Union.

Democracy.

All of it.

(dramatic sting)

(tense music)

- In 1863, Lee
swings north again.

What he hoped was that
having moved swiftly

into Pennsylvania, the Union
Army would play catch up

in a disorganized and
bedraggled fashion.

And then he would have them.

- When Lee crossed into
Maryland and then Pennsylvania,

Lincoln was ecstatic that
Lee was in Union territory

because he said this is
our chance to bag Lee.

Lincoln believes that
destroying that army

would in effect destroy
the Confederacy.

- By the end of the
day on July 1st,

on the Gettysburg battlefield,

the Union Army had taken
a real shellacking.

(clicking)

(soldiers rallying)
(bombs exploding)

- Where the hell is Sickles
and the Third Corps?

Find them!

- Yes sir.

- Move!

- From General Warren.

- Give it here, give it here!

- On the morning
of July 2nd, 1863,

Robert E. Lee makes
the decision to test

both flanks of the Union
Army of the Potomac.

At a place called
Little Round Top.

- And on the second day of
the Battle of Gettysburg

Meade sends General Dan Sickle's

Third Corps off
to the left flank.

- Sickles moved his corps and it

created a gap in the Union line.

This opening creates
this existential threat.

- Brigadier General Warren fears

Little Round Top may be exposed.

- What does that
mean for the line?

- If Lee's army takes that hill.

We might not stand a chance.

- During Gettysburg,
Abraham Lincoln

almost lived in the
war department offices

close to the
telegraph operators.

He was about as closely
involved in monitoring

the operations of
an army in the field

as maybe any president
had ever been.

- You wonder what Lincoln
had to shore him up

emotionally and psychologically.

As he went through all
these different decisions

he had to make and the
crisis that took place.

- Do you have news?

- Not of the battle.

Mr. President.

- Reinforcements have been
sent to Little Round Top.

- We don't know how old
that information is.

We have to wait and see.

- Mr. President.

Mr. President,
it's Mrs. Lincoln.

She was in the
presidential carriage.

They were going
downhill when the seat

came loose and
they lost control.

- Is she all right?

- She had to jump
from the carriage.

It's a head injury.

It looks like somebody
removed the screws that fasten

the driver's seat to the
body of the carriage.

Somebody was trying
to kill you, sir.

- [Operator] This is
from General Meade.

- Mrs. Pomeroy's tending to her.

Shall I tell her
you'll be around?

- They still got the hill.

- [Messenger] Mr. President.

- Tell Mrs. Lincoln I'm sorry.

I can't possibly leave now.

Ask Robert to go to her.

- All hell seemed to
be breaking loose.

Lincoln was faced
with the consequences

that someone had tampered with

the carriage in
order to do him in,

and his wife had become
collateral damage.

- On the third day of
the Battle of Gettysburg,

Robert E. Lee would
launch his 12,500 men

across nearly a mile wide field.

And they would strike
the Union position.

- This comes to be known
as Pickett's Charge.

It becomes a huge bloodletting.

The casualties mount for both
Confederate and Union armies

as Lee's men are storming
the center of the Union line.

- On and on it went.

Confusion, no
certain information.

Through July 2nd.

Through July 3rd.

- And while the Battle of
Gettysburg is going on,

Ulysses S. Grant
is now laying siege

to the Confederate Army
inside of Vicksburg.

- [Caroline] Vicksburg
was the last portion

of the Mississippi River
the Confederates still held.

- Everybody knows the importance
of the Mississippi River

for commerce and
military movements.

And the primary goal of
the Vicksburg campaign

is to open the
Mississippi River.

On July 3rd Lincoln will
stay at the telegraph office.

Spending all night waiting
on reports from the army.

(telegraph machine tapping)

- It's from General Meade.

"The battle has been
successfully concluded.

"Lee's retreating."

(group cheers and applauds)

- After Gettysburg, Lincoln
is thrilled with Meade.

Here we've had the
first decisive victory

for the Army of the
Potomac over Lee's army.

This is a victory in
no uncertain terms.

Unlike Antietam,
it is clear that

the Union Army has
won this battle.

- The patriotism and
cheers going in offices.

And in Washington, DC hardly
any work gets done that day.

The president gets serenaded
at the white house.

The idea that if
it isn't the end,

it is the beginning of the end,

this is prevailing
throughout the north.

- Gettysburg has been
the largest battle

of the war up until that time,

will remain the largest
battle of the war.

Somewhere around
50,000 casualties.

Lee has lost a third of his
army on this venture north.

And he has clearly
been defeated.

- Send this message
to General Meade.

Go after Lee's army now.

While they're vulnerable.

Imperative you attack before
they cross the Potomac.

- Lincoln believes
that the aftermath

of Gettysburg could
have been the end

of the army in
Northern Virginia.

- [Thomas] Papa!

- How's mother?

- It was a terrible fall.

She's been asking for you.

So we've won at Gettysburg?

- Yes.

But there's much work ahead.

(tense music)

- You're here.

I overheard the doctor
speaking to Mrs. Pomeroy.

Is it true that someone
was trying to hurt you?

- Don't you worry.

You need to rest.

- Is your life in danger?

(knocking)

- Mrs. Lincoln.

I'm sorry to interrupt.

Sir.

I just received a message
from General Grant.

Pemberton surrendered.

Vicksburg is ours.

- That's great news.

That's great.

Well we must congratulate Grant.

I had my doubts, but he done it.

Any word from Meade?

- Progress is slow.

- He can't let Lee retreat now.

If Meade completes the work
the rebellion will be over.

He has orders to
attack now doesn't he?

- Those are the orders.

- Please stay with your mother.

You must rest.

- He learns of the
capitulation of Vicksburg

the same day as the last
battle of Gettysburg.

- You can just see the
joy on Lincoln's face

when he gets the news of
Vicksburg on top of Gettysburg.

And he said it
couldn't be better.

It just couldn't be better.

- Lincoln had said early
on Vicksburg is the key.

The war can never be
brought to a close

until that key is in our pocket.

Ulysses S. Grant delivered
the key to Lincoln.

- This is a turning
point in the war.

Vicksburg and Gettysburg,

it's the high tide
of the Confederacy.

Never again would they
have that much initiative,

never again when they
have that much momentum,

never again would they
have that much numbers.

- After the victory at
Gettysburg, Lincoln just assumed

that General Meade
would be able to capture

General Lee's army and
the war would be over.

And telegrams had
been sent to him

to make sure that Lee's
army doesn't escape.

- George Gordon Meade
has filled almost every

branch in the army
except for the calvary.

Arguably one of
the most qualified

people to lead an army.

- But George Meade
is a cautious man,

so his pursuit of
Lee is careful.

When Lee's army retreats to
the Potomac at Williamsport,

he finds the Potomac has been
swollen by incessant floods.

And Lee suddenly realized he had

no way to get across the river.

The Army of the
Potomac could close in

on him here and crush him.

(thunder booming)
(tense music)

- General.

- I've got orders from
Washington to march on Lee.

But I won't do the damn
thing unless we can

agree here we have a
fighting chance to beat him.

- His army's whipped.

Most are wounded.

We can take him.

- General, a wet deserter
told us Lee's army's

still mostly intact with
plenty of fight left in it.

Probably planning a
counterattack right now.

- He probably planted that
deserter just to buy time.

Backs to the river.

He's trapped.

- The trap could be for us.

- All right.

We'll hold off for now.

- But General...

- I said we'll hold off!

- General.

- What is Meade talking about?

He says he'll attack
the enemy tomorrow.

Unless something intervenes?

This is the time.

He can't let Lee get away.

- But Meade does not
arrive at Williamsport

for a number of days.

(tense music)

And when on the
morning of July 14th

he is finally
ready to attack Lee

he finds that in the
night Lee, his engineers

have improvised, the
pontoons, the bridges,

the materials, have slipped
away across the Potomac

back into Maryland,
back into Virginia.

And they're gone.

- Lee was entrenched, all right.

Now he's gone.

His army escaped
across the Potomac.

- Meade had him in his grasp.

How could that be?

- He says they've driven
the invader from our soil.

- "Driven the invader
from our soil"?

Will our generals never get
that idea out of their heads?

The whole country is our soil.

(sighs)

What does it mean?

McClellan.

And now Meade.

There's bad faith somewhere.

Our army held the
war in the hollow

of their hand and yet
they would not close it.

(tense music)

(dramatic music)

I need a second opinion.

"General Meade.

"I am very, very grateful

"for the magnificent
success at Gettysburg.

"But I am also
immeasurably distressed.

"By the magnitude of misfortune
involved in Lee's escape.

"He was within your easy
grasp, and to have closed

"upon him would in
connection with our

"other late successes
have ended the war.

"As it is, the war will be
prolonged indefinitely."

Meade was like an
old woman trying

to shoot the rebels
across a crick.

That's not how we win this war.

- "As it is, the war will
be prolonged indefinitely."

It's very...

Well, direct.

- There's 50,000 casualties
at Gettysburg alone.

50,000.

- More of them on their side.

- They are all Americans.

- Meade did win the battle.

With Vicksburg, things
have shifted in our favor.

- Everybody's sick of this war.

Perhaps because of
my proclamation.

- Yes.

But you will find the
right path forward.

- Don't worry.

I won't send it.

- Lincoln writes
this letter to Meade,

which he never sends,
in which he says

this was your chance,
this was your opportunity.

You had him.

And yet you failed to end
this war at this moment.

He never gave up
the belief that war

could have been ended
in the summer of 1863.

- When he found out that
Lee's army had escaped,

that was one of the
lowest moments of the war.

Because he felt we had
victory within our grasp.

It was in the
hollow of our hands.

And then it meant that
the war was gonna go on

month after month,
year after year.

- McClellan had done this
to him after Antietam.

He didn't want to see
Meade do it to him.

He didn't want to relive
this experience of so many

dead Americans not buying
anything with their lives.

- In the north, there
was initially this idea,

okay, we've got to
maintain the Union.

For most northerners, the
war wasn't about slavery.

There was this idea among
many people in the north

that this is a war we
shouldn't be fighting.

- Lincoln has changed
the character of the war.

Which now becomes
about emancipation.

Along with this idea means
that it also opens up

the opportunity on January
1st, 1863 to now start

to recruit African Americans
to serve in uniform.

That they might fight
for their own freedom.

- Frederick Douglas has been
advocating to allow free men,

and these now contraband
enslaved men, to join the army.

And Lincoln agrees.

So the emancipation
proclamation actually

establishes the United
States colored troops.

Lincoln is moved to
understanding and belief

in what the nation could
and should be despite

his own prejudices and
concerns when he starts.

He is wise enough to
know that he has them.

And wise enough to
know that his nation

needs to move beyond them.

The fear is if we have
trained black men,

who then have the potential
to train other black men,

we have insurrection and
that's how the south viewed it.

When they sent their response

to the emancipation
proclamation,

they issued it as
you have fomented

insurrection among our Negroes.

Therefore, any slaves
who dared do this,

they were caught, were
gonna be put to death.

- And this led Lincoln
to issue his strong

retaliatory order
against the Confederacy.

- Lincoln made the
decision that for every

black person that was captured,

who was being
executed, that there

would be one Confederate
that had been

captured and would be executed.

- But Douglas is
frustrated that Lincoln

is not really enforcing
his retaliation order.

- Frederick Douglas
understood that black men

would fight with
the power because

they're fighting for
their own freedom.

- But they didn't get
equal pay until 1864.

They were not able to
command their own units.

Those us colored troops
were commanded by white men.

- Douglas was unhappy
about the mistreatment

of black soldiers
in the Union Army.

And so he said I'm gonna go
and talk to the president.

(footsteps approaching)

- [Secretary] Mr. Douglas.

The president will
see you right away.

(tense music)

- Mr. President.

I'm Frederick...

- I know who you
are, Mr. Douglas.

I'm glad to see you.

Have a seat.

I read your recent article.

About the tardy, hesitating,
vacillating policy

of the President of
the United States.

Tardy and hesitating
perhaps, but vacillating?

- I tend to speak my mind.

- Well I admire that.

I expect it's what
you're here for.

- It is.

Mr. President, when I
persuade men to enlist,

I want to do it with my heart.

But I cannot in good
conscience recruit

for the Union Army any longer.

First there was
the issue of pay.

Now the retaliatory order.

And your response?

It's too little too late.

My own sons are
fighting as if they

have halters around their necks.

- I am in a difficult
position, Mr. Douglas.

If I could find the
rebels responsible

for acting out those orders
I could execute them.

But to kill just
any captured rebel?

You'll agree that there's
a difference between

stating a principle and
putting it into practice.

And had I issued
the order any sooner

there would've been a public
outcry against the measure.

But now that the black
soldiers have proven

themselves at Milliken's
Bend and Fort Wagner,

public opinion's changing.

So you see, I had to wait.

- You say all this, but
I hear only one word.

Wait.

Wait for equal pay.

Wait for justice.

When we're done waiting,
what will be left of us?

- You're right, Mr. Douglas.

But you must know.

It will come.

Once I take a position,
I never retreat from it.

(tense music)

(crowd chatter)
(dramatic music)

(crowd applauds)

Hello.

Hello.

Pleasure to meet you as well.

Hello, what's your name?

- Emiya.

- Emiya.

What a beautiful name.

Hello.

How's it's going?

Good to see you.

Hello.

Pleasure to meet you.

Hello.

- You're even taller
than they say.

- And better looking.

I hear you had the rebels
here this past summer.

Did you fight them any?

- I had three sons
fighting them.

- They come home?

- Two of them.

- Thank you.

You have done our
country a great service.

- Thank you.

- Gettysburg will
always remain a kind of,

bright moment for Lincoln.

A great victory just when
it was so badly needed.

And when, in the
wake of the battle,

people at Gettysburg
begin planning

for the creation of
a national cemetery

for the fallen Union
soldiers there,

they extended an invitation
to him to participate.

And he agrees.

Now Lincoln very rarely strayed
outside of Washington, DC.

That he would take the
trouble to come to Gettysburg

to speak said a great deal about

how important Gettysburg
was to him as a symbol.

He arrived there
on November 18th.

Already the town was
swollen with crowds.

10 to 15,000 people packed into

this little town of
no more than 2,500.

A great platform had
been constructed.

And the next day,
crowd formed a great

half circle around the platform.

There was music,
there were choirs.

The United States
Marine band played.

And the master of
ceremonies simply said

"The President of
the United States."

- Four score and seven
years ago, our fathers

brought forth on this
continent a new nation.

Conceived in liberty,
and dedicated

to the proposition that
all men are created equal.

(audience applauds)

Now we are engaged
in a great civil war.

Testing whether that
nation, or any nation

so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great
battlefield of that war.

We have come to
dedicate a portion

of that field as a
final resting place.

For those who here
gave their lives

that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate.

We cannot consecrate.

We cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men, living and
dead, who struggled here

have consecrated it far beyond

our poor power to
add or detract.

(audience applauds)

The world will little note,

nor long remember
what we say here.

But it can never forget
what they did here.

(audience applauds)

It is for us the living, rather,

to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work.

Which they who fought here

have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us
to be here dedicated.

To the great task
remaining before us.

That from these
honored dead we take

increased devotion to
that cause for which

they gave their last
full measure of devotion.

We here highly resolve
that these dead

shall not have died in vain!

That this nation, under God,

shall have a new
birth of freedom!

And the government of the
people, by the people,

for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.

(audience applauds)

- It's this tiny little
speech, 272 words,

yet it distilled
all of the truths

that he'd been thinking about,

including the tragic
truth that a great

many brave young
men on both sides

killed each other to make
this a better country.

And the best way to
honor their sacrifice

is to recognize that
democracy, in its purest form,

is for all people no matter
what their background is.

- Lincoln took people
to the past, to 1776,

and the Declaration
of Independence

and its proposition.

Then to the present,
to this great Civil War

that we are engaged
in, testing whether

that nation or any
nation so conceived

and so dedicated
can long endure.

And a proposition that
all men are created equal

irrespective of their
birth, their class,

their nation, their
religion, their language.

Can a nation dedicated
to that proposition

really, really
seriously survive?

And with this crucial phrase
"a new birth of freedom"

he was signaling not only the
emancipation proclamation,

but he seemed to be
confessing a new birth

of something inside of him too.

A little bit like a
religious rebirth.

You see a Lincoln who is
dragging his feet about slavery

at the beginning of his
presidency was in fact

promising not to touch
it where it existed,

and was always disappointing
Frederick Douglas

or white abolitionists, is
now moving pretty quickly.

- Lincoln has changed
the character of the war.

It now becomes an
idea of emancipation.

(dramatic music)

- There were so many people
dying, from being killed

on the battlefield and from
the illnesses that people had,

that there was an aura
of sadness and stress

that Lincoln was under for
the entire time of the war.

- Lincoln is
experiencing the losses

on the southern side of this
equation, in his own family,

because Mary's family
came from the south.

And her people were fighting
on the Confederate side.

Mary's sister Emilie
has lost her husband Ben

whom Lincoln was very close to.

He was in the Confederate
Army, and she comes

to visit Washington
in the winter of 1863.

- [Senator] So where are you
visiting from, Mrs. Helm?

- My daughter and I were
living in Selma, Alabama.

- Alabama?

- Yes.

Her husband was
killed at Chickamauga.

- My condolences.

He was a soldier?

- A Confederate general.

- Well I heard we whipped the
rebels so good at Chickamauga

they went running like
scared little rabbits.

(men chuckling)

- Perhaps they were
following the example

of your brave
federals at Manassas.

- Ah, Mr. President.

I see your sister-in-law
has quite a sharp tongue.

- Well she is tired after all.

- But tell me again why
Robert isn't fighting.

- Because I won't let him.

I value education above
all else, General.

- Todds have suffered a
great deal in this war.

- It's not a war.

It's a rebellion.

I only have the one son.

And he's fighting.

Even if I had 20,
they'd all be out there.

Fighting the rebels.

- Rest assured Senator,
if I had 20 sons

they would all be
opposing yours.

You Yankees talk about
freedom, but take ours.

- You rebs talk freedom,
but you keep slaves.

- Honestly, Mr. President,
I don't know why

you let a woman like
this in your house.

- General Sickles, my wife
and I are quite capable

of choosing our own
guests without any help.

- He's able to see what the war

is doing to the Southern people,

to feel that himself,
in a way that

a lot of people in
the border states did

'cause they had families
that were divided.

So that empathy
that he always feels

for other people's points
of view that's in him

as a child is amplified
in a way by having

to experience Mary's pain
when her sister comes.

It just gives him
an extra dimension

that I think allows
him to understand

what's happening on all
sides of the country.

- And Robert from
the very outset

of the war had wanted to serve.

This was a battle between
Abraham Lincoln and his wife.

She had already
lost a son before

they came to the White House.

After she lost Willie
she was even wilder

because Robert, he was
determined to enlist.

Mary put a stop to it.

Told his father he
could not allow this.

- Lincoln is trying
to balance a lot

of different pieces
of the puzzle.

After Vicksburg,
after Gettysburg,

he's elated to some extent.

He sees that it's
possible that the war

may be able to come to an end.

- We tend to think
of the Civil War's

decisive areas as in the east,

but the west arguably
was more decisive.

And out of the west rose
one general, Ulysses Grant.

Grant was almost everything
that McClellan wasn't.

He was very, very aggressive.

Grant believed that
you had to pummel

the south into submission
because they had proven

that they were
not gonna give up.

- Out in the Western Theater,
the Army of the Cumberland

will lose at the
battle of Chickamauga.

They'll be driven
back into Chattanooga.

Confederate Army will
advance and cut them off.

To rescue that army,
the responsibility

is given to Ulysses S. Grant.

He will counterattack and
drive the Confederates back,

now opening an invasion
to the deep south.

Grant's ability to
combine the activities

of three armies together
is really the last

metric that Lincoln needs to go

that's the man we
need to run the war.

And he will bring him
east in March of 1864.

To be anointed the first

Lieutenant General
of the regular army.

The first since
George Washington.

- It's Ohio isn't it?

- [Ulysses] Yes sir.

Spent time in Missouri too.

- Oh.

What did your father do?

- He was a tanner,
Mr. President.

He owned a tannery.

Can't say I liked it much.

The smell.

- Yeah, I shot a
turkey as a boy.

I hated it.

I vowed never to do it again.

So you don't care for
the smell of blood,

and I don't like the sight
of it, yet here we are.

You've worked around
animals, you know

as well as anyone
that a quick end

is far better than a
long and painful one.

Some of my generals don't seem

to understand that philosophy.

Now I've been studying
for a while now, General.

Discuss various plans
with how we can stand.

I'd like to start with
a campaign engagement...

- Mr. President, I appreciate

all this, but I
have my own plan.

We have better numbers,
better artillery.

We control ports.

We're also fighting
for the better cause.

What we must do is attack
from these positions.

All at once.

Army of the Potomac will March
on Lee in Central Virginia.

Butler will move on
in from the James.

Sherman will move into
Georgia and Siegel

will work the Shenandoah
cutting off supplies.

- Yes.

Pin them down on all sides.

Anybody who can't do the
skinning will hold the leg.

- I believe that will give
you the quick end you want.

- Well I have heard promises
before from my generals.

- Maybe so sir, but I mean it.

I have no desire for
this war to go on

a minute longer than it has to.

- Well we have that in common.

I have a feeling I won't
be needing these anymore.

- [Barton] Abraham
Lincoln goes through

six generals before he
finds Ulysses S. Grant.

- They're both from the Midwest.

They're both
incredibly practical.

They quickly adapt.

Ulysses S. Grant is a man
who takes responsibilities

and doesn't ask for any
more than he can give.

I think in that sense they see
the world very much the same.

The idea that
somebody is rebelling

and gonna tear the nation apart.

This Grant has no time for.

Neither does Lincoln.

- Lincoln really appreciated

the way Grant thought about war.

To Grant, it wasn't
a gentleman's game.

The point of war was to win.

- [Barton] Grant
attaches himself

to the Army of the Potomac.

And at the beginning
of May, 1864,

they fight a vicious
battle in the wilderness

of Spotsylvania Courthouse
in Northern Virginia

as Grant begins what becomes

known as his Overland campaign.

(dramatic music)

- Sir.

Should I instruct General
Hancock to fall back?

- No.

We're gonna send his corps in
and assault them at the angle.

- All 20,000, sir?

Of course, sir.

I'll let him know.

And Washington is
waiting for any news.

- I don't have news.

- The president
himself is asking, sir.

- Send this.

- Yes sir.

- [Caroline] In the Battle
of Spotsylvania Courthouse,

there was such a
massive bloodletting.

- [Barton] You see
some of the worst

and most deadly fighting
of the American Civil War.

Hand-to-hand combat.

You have utter viciousness
on a level that had

not been previously even
seen in the Eastern Theater.

- What does Grant write?

Are there many casualties?

- There are a great
many casualties.

And writes he proposes
to fight it out

on this line if it
takes all summer.

But he's not gonna come
back until it's done.

(tense music)

- [Barton] 100,000
casualties roughly occurred

in the span of six weeks' time

between the Union and
Confederate armies.

This brings the northern
war effort to its knees.

- The losses that are suffered.

The casualty figures.

He says "If there is a worse
place than Hell, I am in it."

And he wondered
out loud to others.

Whether he would live
very long beyond the war.

Given how much the war
had taken out of him.

- After the Overland
campaign, Wilderness,

Spotsylvania, North
Anna, Cold Harbor.

This is the campaign
in the Eastern Theater

Lincoln hopes will help him
win the election of 1864.

However, as those casually
lists are going home,

voters are seeing
those casualty lists.

And you'd have to ask
yourself is Lincoln

closer or further from
winning the election.

Arguably he's further.

He can't sustain these
kind of casualties.

- [Mary] Grant sent
those men to their death.

- He's the first real
General I've had.

- So many boys, he
just throws them in.

- That's war, Mary.

- Well then there must be
a smarter way to win it.

To achieve a victory than
through cold-blooded murder.

- What are you
trying to tell me?

- I don't blame you.

- Glad to hear it.

- But I am thinking of all
the young men out there.

And of Robert.

- Is Robert gonna be a soldier?

- No.

I know he'll ask you again.

- And what can I tell him?

Other men in Washington
have sons fighting.

- But other women haven't
lost two sons already.

Please don't let him go.

(tense music)

- The pressures that Lincoln

is under in that
period are enormous.

He couldn't sleep at
night, and his only

solace was to be able
to pardon soldiers.

Somehow by being able
to pardon a soldier

who was going to
be killed or hanged

for having run away from battle,

or having fallen
asleep on picket duty,

he would know the
happiness that the pardon

would bring to his
family and it would give

the soldier a second chance
to get his respect back,

go back in the army, and
have served his cause.

- After Cold Harbor Grant
changes his approach.

Crosses over the
James, will threaten

both Richmond and Petersburg.

It will now have to
turn into a siege.

If he can pin
Robert E. Lee down,

Robert E. Lee who can't maneuver

is not a dangerous
Robert E. Lee.

- Now Lee understands
that he had to do

something to put
pressure on the north.

- [Doug] On June 13th, 1864,
Robert E. Lee unleashed

Major General Jubal Early
up the Shenandoah Valley.

If the Confederates could
threaten Washington DC,

it would force Ulysses S.
Grant to pull Union troops

from their efforts around
Richmond and Petersburg.

- It's a very very scary
moment for the north.

And so Lincoln goes
to Fort Stevens

to inspire not only his
troops, but the north

that was more and
more down on the war.

He really could've been shot.

So for Lincoln to go
up there and actually

expose himself reveals
that old frontier guts.

There was a side of
Lincoln that was fearless.

(gunfire)

- Gentlemen.

Hello boys.

Hello.

- We should be far enough
removed from the rebels.

But we'll start the
battery soon enough.

- Soldier.

- [Soldier] Sir?

- That a Springfield?

- Yes sir.

- 68 caliber?

No, it's the 58
with a rifle barrel.

And it's more accurate
at a distance, sir.

- How accurate?

- You can hit someone
maybe 500 yards, sir.

- That far?

- Yes sir.

(loud explosion)

- For God's sake get down!

- Take off that hat.

(tense music)

(guns firing)

(gun fire)

- Ah!

- Are you okay?

- Mr. President.

- [Advisor] Let's go!

- Come on!

- If you don't come
now I'm gonna order you

an ambulance and
force you outta here.

Please, Mr. President!

- All right, all right!

- Lincoln rides out
to Fort Stevens.

While he is there
Confederate sharpshooters

come from the north and
attack this fortification.

- And bullets were
whizzing by him.

Sanding up as a very tall
target and being possibly shot.

It shows you his
incredible courage.

And that story got out.

And it really inspired
a lot of people

at an extremely low
moment in the war.

- The mood of the
north is really

disconsolate in
the summer of 1864.

Despite the victory in
Gettysburg the year before,

Grant is stuck on
his way to Richmond,

the raid on Washington has
shocked people in the north,

and the Republican
leaders come to Lincoln

and they tell him there's
no way you're gonna

win this election next November.

- There is anti-war sentiment
growing in the north.

Many northern
democrats don't believe

that the war is
worth waging at all

and they certainly aren't on
board with the emancipation.

- [Ted] Henry
Raymond, the chairman

of the Republican National
Committee, goes to see Lincoln.

- Beautiful day.

If the elections
were held today,

you'd be beaten in
nearly every state.

- So these are the glad
tidings that you bring me.

(Henry chuckles)

- There is something you
can do to change the tide.

But you might not like it.

People still believe
the rebels are willing

to negotiate peace with reunion.

The only thing standing in
the way is your emancipation.

- Not true.

Jeff Davis won't
budge on independence

for his Confederacy.

I know that, you know that.

- The people don't.

What if you negotiate that?

Upon restoration of the
Union, war will cease at once.

All remaining questions,

including slavery,
will be resolved later.

- So force Davis to say no.

Then people will see that
emancipation isn't the problem.

- That's the idea.

- Don't think I haven't
thought of that myself.

- Does he always
follow this close?

- Oh, only when I'm with
a suspicious character.

If I turn my back on
the black soldiers now,

I will be damned in
time and eternity.

I understand the political
merits of your idea,

but I will keep my
word come what will.

- Well your word may
cost you the election.

(tense music)

- Henry Raymond says every state

that we need is against you.

You're gonna lose Pennsylvania,

you're gonna lose New York.

You're gonna lose everything.

- There's no way
you're gonna win

the election this
November unless

you are willing to bring
the south to peace talks

on the basis of
restoring the Union alone

and leaving emancipation
for a later time.

- His entire life is now
wrapped up with bringing

this war to a just conclusion.

And the ultimate liberation

of black people
on American soil.

He has climbed a steep
mountain and you can't go down.

All you can do is keep going up.

- Lincoln is getting a lot
of pressure and criticism,

so he calls Frederick
Douglas to the White House.

- The plain truth is that I'm
likely to lose this election.

- Are you so sure?

- The Democrats will
nominate McClellan.

And if he wins, everything
I've done will be undone.

He'll sue for peace and
that'll be the end of the war.

And of emancipation
of your people.

And some people in my
own party would have me

turn my back on emancipation
to win the election.

- Well sir, I can tell you this.

Black soldiers won't fight

if freedom isn't
at the end of it.

- And they shouldn't.

I wouldn't.

Now I want to get as
many slaves as possible

to freedom in the case I lose.

Frankly I was expecting
more to make it

to our lines by now once
the proclamation got out.

- It's a fair bet they
don't know about it.

Masters know how to keep
their slaves in the dark.

- This is exactly
why I sent for you.

I'm asking you organize
a band of scouts.

Something like old
John Brown had in mind.

They could go into rebel states,

encouraged slaves to escape
into our Union lines.

Then we can protect them
once the worst happens.

What do you say?

- Mr. President,
I'm for freedom.

Any way we can get it.

- What came out of that
meeting was Douglas saw

for the first time
Lincoln's hatred of slavery.

- Douglas writes an elaborate
plan about sending an army

of kind of, missionaries
into the deep south.

To spread the word
about emancipation.

Because if a Democrat
wins the presidency

he will cancel the
emancipation proclamation.

- Democratic Party
nominates McClellan.

Good ol' McClellan
comes back to be

his opponent in this election.

And the platform of
the Democratic Party

is really a
compromised platform.

It's almost peace at any price.

- There's more at stake in
this election than there

had been in any other
election up to this point.

- He wanted a second term.

He said he wanted the second
term even more than the first

because it would
be an endorsement

of his administration.

And he could get to finish
the job that he wanted to do.

- And then William
Sherman takes Atlanta.

And suddenly the
northern mood is bouyed.

(loud explosions)

- Sherman broke the
backbone of the deep south.

- The tide turns in
northern public opinion.

And people start to feel
good about the possibilities

of the war and that
it might end soon.

- He realizes that the
prospects for the Northern

victory at that time
were much much greater

than they had been
in the summer.

But still, for Lincoln it
was a very anxious moment.

- If he loses that
election, it would

be much more than
a personal blow.

It would be a calamity
for the country.

And the fear is that
the soldiers have loved

McClellan all along
and will vote for him.

- Still nothing from
Grant at Petersburg.

The siege may take months yet.

- We need something
big out of Grant

if we want to win
this damn election.

I don't like our chances
against McClellan.

People are fickle.

Atlanta's already starting
to fade in their minds.

- I hear my boy Tad
paid you a visit!

With his pet turkey.

- Yes sir, that's right.

Chased that turkey
all over the place.

- Oh I asked him if he'd be
voting alongside you boys.

(soldiers laugh)

- What did Tad say, sir?

Well he said no pa,
he's not of age.

(group laughing)

Thank you boys.

- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you, sir.

- Thank you.

- This is hardly
the time for jokes.

- I'm not joking.

We need to make sure
soldiers like those can vote.

- Sir, just because these
Pennsylvania boys like you,

they live here, of
course they like you.

- They believe in the war.

- Yes, but against McClellan?

- He did build the
Army of the Potomac.

- And now he makes a
mistake betting against it.

Democrats want the war to end

because they say
we can't win it.

- Nobody wants to lose.

Especially the soldier.

- That's why I want as many
of them to vote as possible.

I'd rather lose
with those soldiers

behind me then get
reelected without them.

- I can wire Sheridan
and other generals.

Tell them to allow leave to
any soldiers who want to vote.

- Especially in
the border states.

Make sure that the furloughs
are granted liberty too.

- And if you're wrong?

- They'll never
put us in charge.

Same as white officers?

Go home.

- They might.

What do you think
about that, James?

- We're fighting same as anyone.

No reason why we
shouldn't be commissioned.

- Corporal James!

- Sir!

- You too, Fleetwood and Beaty.

You got orders.

Prepare your men to
attack at daybreak.

- Yes sir!

Come on men!

- Grant has laid
siege to Petersburg.

And Lincoln gives
Grant his orders.

He tells him to go after
Lee and chew and bite

and hold on with a
bulldog grip, he says.

It turns into a major stalemate.

- Grant's armies are
squeezing the Confederacy

and trying to get to Richmond.

- During the
Petersburg campaign,

General Benjamin Butler

is one of the first
generals who started

using black troops to
help in any sort of way

when they were quote
unquote "contraband."

So he decides he's going to put

some of his black
troops front and center.

- Lincoln has developed
a real appreciation

of black people serving
in the Union Army.

He says we will all
remember that there were

some black men
with their bayonets

and their steel-hearted
eyes who helped

mankind to preserve
the Republic.

- All of them understand
it is their opportunity

and their moment to
show themselves as men

worthy of freedom
and citizenship.

Not just for themselves,
but for their families.

And that becomes
the driving force.

- The stakes were
very high because when

the Confederacy encounters
black Union Army soldiers,

they don't want to treat
them as prisoners of war.

They want to treat them
as escaped slave rebels.

And kill them.

Or sell them back into slavery.

(guns firing)

(tense music)

- [Beaty] Do you
ever get scared?

- Leave him be, Beaty.

- Be stupid not to be.

- That's what I'm saying.

I kept thinking
about (indistinct).

What if I get captured?

- That's an easy one.

Don't get captured.

- Calvary ready!

Advance!

(soldiers war cry)

(guns firing)

- They are being mowed down
with artillery and gunfire.

Many of their officers died.

And when their
officers were killed,

the sergeants took over.

- Sergeant Major Christian
Fleetwood would see

the colors go down, he would
grab them and rally his men.

First Sergeant Powhatan Beaty

would take command
of his company.

His knapsack was shot
off, his hat was shot off,

the sole of one of his
shoes was shot off.

Miles James, his arms
mangled by Confederate shot,

loaded and fired his
rifle with one arm.

(Miles screams)

Of the 25 African Americans
that would receive

the Medal of Honor during
the Civil War, 14 of them

were awarded at the Battle
for New Market Heights.

Including Christian Fleetwood,

including Powhatan Beaty,
and including Miles James.

- There will be about
180,000 African American men

free and enslaved who
will join the US Army

representing about
10% of the army.

Lincoln even says
that that added

10% will make the
difference in the war.

- [Doug] After the battle
for New Market Heights,

the Confederates
retreat up the road

and set up another
defensive line.

And as fall of 1864
approaches, Grant continues

to be stalemated outside
of Richmond and Petersburg,

and Lincoln is in
doubt whether or not

he can win the election.

(office chatter) (tense music)

- [John] From Forney
in Philadelphia.

Says we're gonna win by
10,000 in Pennsylvania.

- Forney, he's always excitable.

- This one says Baltimore
goes Republican.

That can only mean
you're winning.

- I'm far from
being certain, John.

I wish I was certain.

(dramatic music)

(chatter)

- Reilly says we'll
have New York.

New York.

And now Indiana.

You can't deny it.

(office celebratory chatter)

- You did it.

- We did it, boys.

- [Office Worker]
Congratulations, Mr. President.

- [Barton] Lincoln is elected
in an electoral landslide.

- And he wins with the twin
goals of Union and emancipation

intact because of his
courage that terrible summer

when he thought he
might lose the election,

but was unwilling to sacrifice

emancipation in order to do so.

It's a great moment.

What has happened over
time is that people's

attitudes toward adding
emancipation as a goal

to the restoration of
the Union has increased.

That's what a leader does,
that's what events do.

That's what movements do.

They change public sentiment.

And the extraordinary
thing is that seven

out of the 10 soldiers
vote for Lincoln.

They know that they may
be extending the war,

they know they may be
sacrificing their lives,

but by then they
believe in the cause,

they believe in Lincoln,
and they're willing to give

their lives for the cause
that they now believe in.

- And a lot of that
comes from the fact

that he had met these guys
and talked to these guys.

I don't know that we've
ever had someone leading

our nation that had the
depth of skill that he has.

Call it political savvy,
call it statesmanship,

call it just plain common sense.

Whatever it is, Lincoln has it.

And part of that is to show

his commonness
with the soldiers.

Show them that he's one of them.

- After the election,
Sherman is really

making swift progress
as he and his army

march across the
south to the sea.

- [Caroline] And it's there
that Lincoln really sees

that the end of the
war must be upon them.

- And he worries that
if the war is over,

the emancipation proclamation,
which is an executive order,

may no longer be valid
because he's using

military necessity as
his cover for doing it.

And that's when he
begins to champion

the 13th amendment to
end slavery forever.

- We need to start thinking
about after this ends.

- Are you talking to him or me?

(Lincoln laughs)

- [Painter] Mr. President,
you must remain still.

- Yes, of course.

I'm gonna revisit the amendment.

- We won seats in the House.

You have a better chance
now than ever before.

- I will need to
sway a few Democrats.

- Why not wait until
the rebellion is over.

- [Painter] Mr. President.

- My apologies.

An amendment to the Constitution

winds the whole thing up.

It's done forever.

We'll need at least
five to go our way.

- You'll need to offer
them something real.

- Perhaps I have a longer
reach than you realize.

(tense music)

- Lincoln believed that
the founding fathers

had meant for slavery
to end, but that they

didn't believe that they
could just end it overnight.

That it was like a cancer.

So widespread you
might not be able

to cut it out without
damaging the patient,

but you can find
ways to contain it.

But by this time he's not asking

for the consent of the people.

He's not asking
for colonization.

He's not asking for
anything gradual.

- Lincoln knew that saying
now the war is over,

you guys go back, be
slaves, was a nonstarter.

That the emancipation
proclamation

was a fit and
necessary war measure,

but when the war was over it
was no longer a legal measure.

- And this is why you
need the 13th amendment.

You have to change
the Constitution.

- You've got almost
four million people

who are enslaved, and there
was nothing to prevent

southerners from
re-establishing slavery

in the south unless this
13th amendment was issued.

He realized that something had

to be done that was permanent.

And so he is determined
that this amendment

is going to pass Congress.

And it does.

- He came to recognize
the inconsistency

that a nation conceived in
liberty would have slavery.

- To the extent that America
has any kind of standing

in the world now is in
part the consequence

of people knowing about
Lincoln and his views

on slavery and his
views on freedom.

He has evolved in his thinking.

And it's the war
that has done it.

- By the time the 13th
amendment came along,

the war was dragging on and on.

More Americans died in
that war than in any other.

Both sides.

And a lot had happened to him

and to the whole
country by that time.

He's seen the death,
he's experienced extreme

personal loss early in the
war with the death of Willie.

All of this has moved him.

And he's carried the
weight of a nation on him.

(dramatic music)

- All these people
wiped out by the war.

He must write letters
consoling those

who had lost members
of families, fathers,

brothers, and all of
this grinds him down.

You see it in his face.

The hollows of his cheeks
sink more deeply in.

He said at one point that
there was a tired spot

in him that no amount
of rest could touch.

- Those photographs
are haunting.

Etched on his face
is a testimony,

a record of the stress
that he endured.

Every president ages
during their presidency,

but nothing like Lincoln

three or four years
after he assumes office.

It gives you a sense of the
burden that he was carrying.

- How can any human being accept

the casualties
that were piling up

and take personal responsibility

without resigning
or killing yourself

over this tragedy,
unless you could find

a higher power that
was instrumental

in causing the war
to go on for so long.

And Lincoln writes a
memo to himself that has

become known as a Meditation
on the Divine Will.

If God wills that this contest
continue, it will continue.

It must be divine providence
forcing us to have

this bitter confrontation over
the future of our country.

But Lincoln never
joined a church.

He was not a believer
in organized religion.

- As he prepared for the
second inaugural address,

he wanted to make clear to
everybody that he, Lincoln,

understood that the war had
been a war to free the slaves.

And not just a war
to save the Union.

And he wanted to make sure
that everybody understood

that slavery was done
forever in the country.

- Fellow countrymen.

Four years ago, all
thoughts were anxiously

directed to an
impending civil war.

All dreaded it.

All sought to avert it.

Neither party, expected
for the war, the magnitude

or the duration, which
it has already attained.

Both read the same bible.

And pray to the same God.

And each invokes his
aid against the other.

- And Douglas was
there in the front row

listening to Lincoln's
inaugural address.

There's a great photograph.

It shows Lincoln at the
lectern, Douglas with his

big hair, that's how
you can recognize him,

and in the balcony
is John Wilkes Booth.

- If God wills it, it continue.

Until all the wealth
piled by the bondsman's

250 years of unrequited
toil shall be sunk!

And until every drop of
blood drawn with the lash

shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword!

- What you see in
the second inaugural

is not a certainty of victory.

But a certainty of the
rightness of the struggle.

An almost biblical,
righteous, prophetic

vision of why this
struggle was necessary.

- As was said 3,000 years ago.

So still it must be said.

The judgments of
the Lord are true

and righteous altogether.

- His consciousness of
something bigger than himself

and the need to recognize
that a form of pain

had existed in America
for generations before

he came along and it would
not instantly be solved.

- It's a statement of the
need to rewire the country.

To change its moral axis.

He's now telling a new story.

About what America should be.

Who are we?

What do we believe in?

- With malice toward none.

With charity for all.

With firmness in the right.

As God gives us
to see the right!

Let us strive on to
finish the work we are in.

To bind up the nation's wounds.

To care for him who shall
have borne the battle.

And for his widow.

And his orphan.

To do all which may achieve

and cherish a just
and lasting peace.

Among ourselves.

And with all nations!

(audience applauds)

(dramatic music swells)

(crowd chatter) (tense music)

- Thank you.

I appreciate that.

- Where do you
think you're going?

- In there like anybody else.

- Come on.

- What are you...

- Douglas!

Is there a problem?

- No, Mr. President.

- I saw you in the crowd today.

I'm anxious to
hear your thoughts.

- I thought it was
a sacred effort.

- Make sure to
tell your readers.

- I might do that.

But you should
know, Mr. Lincoln.

I won't let up.

You'll be hearing a lot from me.

- Well I figured as much.

- Mr. President.

- Yes.

- Congratulations.

- Oh I appreciate
that very much.

Have you been met my
friend Frederick Douglas?

- It's not a friendship.

It's mostly adversarial
for most of the war.

Douglas certainly didn't
like the way Lincoln behaved

in terms of what he
saw as his slowness,

but he did have
respect for the man.

- I think Lincoln's vision
that America could be

for anyone who was
willing to love her

and give it a chance
should be open to anybody.

He predominantly meant
that as white people

at the beginning of the war,
but by the end of the war

he had a very different
point of view.

I think no one
was more surprised

by Lincoln's transformation
as Douglas was.

- Frederick wanted the
Civil War to be a crusade

to rid the country of this
evil institution of slavery.

And I think by the time
you get to Lincoln's

second inaugural address
you can hear in his words

a lot of what Frederick
Douglas had been fighting for.

And Frederick Douglass's
influence over Lincoln.

We can credit Frederick
Douglas and the abolitionists

for pushing Lincoln
and not accepting

his gradual ideas about
how slavery should end.

- Lincoln said don't
call me a liberator.

It was the anti-slavery movement

and the Union soldiers
that did it all.

- [Doug] In March of 1865,

Lee's army is trapped
in Petersburg.

Sherman's now eating the
innards out of the Confederacy.

- There are food shortages.

The Confederate Army
and the civilians

of the south were starving.

- In the final weeks of the
Civil War, Grant invites

Lincoln to his headquarters
near City Point, Virginia.

He's in constant
communication with Grant

and his son Robert
is on Grant's staff.

And he wants to see Robert.

- Robert, Lincoln's
older son, from the very

outset of the war
had wanted to serve.

In the early weeks of 1865
Robert's wishes prevailed

and Lincoln not only
allowed him to enlist,

he assigned him to the
staff of Ulysses S. Grant.

- And so Lincoln
goes on a boat trip.

He's the commander in chief
of the entire military

in the final weeks of
a very difficult war,

and he leaves the
White House to live

on an ordinary
boat at City Point.

He really loved it.

He was happy to get
away from Washington.

I think it might've reminded
him of his teenage years

as a flat boat builder
and pilot and those

long trips down the
Mississippi river.

And it's important
to Lincoln to get

near the front lines in Virginia

in the final weeks
of the Civil War.

- You look good.

It suits you.

- I'm glad you convinced mother.

- It wasn't easy.

- General Grant.

- We'll head over
to Patrick Station

and you can review
the prisoners.

- Is it mostly rebels?

- Mostly.

Lee's running out of options.

- Yeah.

- Mr. President.

(tense music)

- When Lincoln comes to
meet Grant at City Point

Sherman comes up and they have

a meeting aboard
The River Queen.

And it's there that
Lincoln really sees

that the end of the
war must be upon them.

- I must thank you for
your heroic efforts.

I am much obliged to you both.

- Thank you, Mr. President.

But the war is not over.

- Lee can retreat
to the Carolinas.

Maybe join forces with Johnston
and stage another attack.

- Can't we avoid this?

- [Sherman] No.

- There will be
at least one more

bloody battle before
the war can end.

- When it's over I want peace.

I have no interest in
retaliation or retribution.

The rebels will be
returned home unharmed.

- That's assuming
they go peacefully.

Sir, I have seen these people.

I have been watching
them in Atlanta,

Columbia, Fayetteville,
they are angry.

Rightfully so, they
have been shamed.

They have been
starved, their land

has been looted,
their cotton burned.

Who do you think they're
gonna blame for all of this?

- You let them alone.

You let them have their
horses to plow with.

And their guns to
shoot crows with.

I want no one punished.

We want those people
to return to the Union.

And to submit to the laws.

There's been enough bloodshed.

- [Caroline] Lincoln's
not willing to have

anything less than
emancipation and complete

dissolution of the
Confederate armies.

- Well what about the
Confederate officials?

Let them go into
exile, Lincoln says.

We don't want trials,
we don't want hangings.

We want to reconstruct
the country and we want it

to be done on the
basis of some peace.

And some generosity.

A new country is about
to take shape here.

A country without slavery.

- He's certain that
slavery should end.

And he does everything
in his power

to make sure that happens

with the passage of
the 13th amendment.

But he is not quite ready to
pull the trigger on equality.

That he is not willing to do.

Because he knows that that,
at a time when there's

been so much loss,
to pull that trigger

may be too much,
so he starts saying

let them up easy, is
what he tells Grant.

And that becomes the
mantra, let them up easy.

- We've already fought the war.

We've already determined
that secession is not legal.

To continue to punish the south

is to continue to look back.

And not to look forward.

- But that letting
them up easy translated

to no real accountability
for these actions.

- On the 2nd of April,
the Union Army drives

Confederate forces out of
Richmond and Petersburg.

If ever there was a hope
for the Confederacy to have

its independence, it
couldn't give up its capital.

That was the ultimate
signal in warfare

of that day that your
country was lost.

- The Confederates are forced

to evacuate Richmond
and flee westward.

Lincoln determines to walk
the streets of Richmond.

And I'm gonna walk
through these streets

because the President
of the United States

can walk through
the streets safely

of a city of the United States.

It's all one country again.

- But there are
buildings on fire,

there's the sound of
guns off in the distance.

It's extremely dangerous.

And people begin to
figure out who he is

and it's a chilling
moment because it is

a group of people he
means a great deal to.

It is African Americans
who have lived

their entire lives in
Richmond as enslaved people.

And they are no longer enslaved.

And they gather around him,

thanking him with
intense emotion.

And Lincoln said I'm so
happy to see all of you.

You are as free as air.

Liberty is your birthright.

Now please use it and enjoy it.

- Now the Confederate
forces are on the retreat.

The Union Army of
the Potomac has been

in siege now for almost
nine or 10 months.

And yet with the drop of a hat,

this now professional army,
they go into the pursuit.

- This is a relentless campaign.

There's very little sleep.

A lot of night marches.

They are not getting
rations on either side.

And the day after the
battle of Sailor's Creek

Lee's army has been
badly destroyed.

Several of his generals,
including one of his sons,

has been taken prisoner of war.

- That was kinda the
end of Lee's army

in terms of its fighting
capacity and fighting force.

- We don't have exact
records of how often

Lincoln visits
hospitals, but there was

no shortage of
hospitals to visit.

We live with the
Civil War's wounds

and the wounds it
inflicts on its people.

Decades upon decades afterwards.

What a price we paid.

And all of the weight of that.

Is daily the accompaniment

that walks beside
Abraham Lincoln.

- Be of good cheer, boys.

We're at the beginning
of the end at last.

How do you do?

God bless you.

How do you do?

Oh, surgeon told me about you.

Said you were quite
brave on that field.

I appreciate you very much.

- He was making that
connection with the soldiers,

and somehow then they felt
that he felt their pain.

He understood what they
were going through.

And he believed in them.

And his belief in
them then confirmed

their belief in themselves.

- May I read with you?

God bless you.

- How are you feeling today?

- I fought for Virginia.

- Oh that's fine.

You uh, you a farmer?

That's how I grew up.

I often wonder how
we got to this place.

If I had it my way, this war
would've never commenced.

God bless you.

- This thing's
gonna be over soon.

And I'd liked to be able to say

I shook your hand
when I had the chance.

- Well of course.

The pleasure is all mine.

God bless you.

- Mr. President?

- Yes.

- It's Secretary Seward.

- He's been in an accident.

- How does he fare?

- Secretary Stanton
requests your presence

in Washington right away.

- Of course.

Thank you.

Mother.

We must go.

Thank you boys.

God bless you.

We will never forget you.

- Father.

Mr. Lincoln's here.

- Thank you, Fred.

You're back from Stedman.

- Grant is close.

He's close to the finish.

- I hope I live to see it.

- Doctor says he
expects a full recovery.

- Then why'd you
come so quickly?

- You've been so
concerned about my safety.

You should've been
concerned about your own.

- Who could've predicted
that my carriage

would be more dangerous
than your enemies?

- From General Grant.

- "General Lee
surrendered the army

"of Northern Virginia
this afternoon."

- [Edwin] It's over.

(dramatic music swells)

- Now, finally,
we save the Union.

Surrender's come.

Been a lot of blood,
toil, sweat and tears.

He was relieved.

Greatly relieved.

- On the morning of
April 9th Lee's army

was just west of a small village

called Appomattox Court House.

And Lee thought that he only had

Union cavalry in front of him.

And they actually
launched a battle

on the morning of April 9th,

and the Confederates are
essentially surrounded.

And so Lee will send a
note to Grant acknowledging

that the time has come
to surrender his army.

- When he asks Grant
what would be your terms

of surrender, Grant
has an answer.

Because Grant and Lincoln,

they've already
talked it through.

Officers can keep
their sidearms.

And because Confederates
brought their own

horses to service
and they would have

to go back and
start their farms,

they were allowed to
keep their animals.

These were lenient
surrender terms.

This was the beginning of
the winning of the peace.

- Even though Lee's was only
one of the Confederate armies,

it was the single biggest
and most dangerous

of those armies, and when
Lee surrenders that army

everyone knows it's over.

Peace is finally
within our grasp.

And that's the headlines
of the newspapers.

Peace.

Peace at last.

(church bells ringing)

- [Doris] April 9th, 1865.

Finally the Civil
War comes to an end.

Cannons are firing,
church bells are ringing,

people are celebrating
in the streets.

- Absolute jubilation
pervades through the north.

You can imagine the opposite
reaction in the south.

But Lincoln himself
is absolutely giddy.

Mary Todd will talk about how he

just seems so free
all of a sudden.

How this burden has been lifted.

- He's really looking
forward to the hope

that the Union can be restored

on a new basis, a
different basis.

Slavery will be gone.

We're gonna have
to rethink things,

we're gonna have to think anew,

but not to look
back with revenge,

not to look back
with resentment,

not to punish the
people, but rather

to bring them along
to a new Union.

- While slavery,
yes, was abolished

and that's a wonderful
thing, it did not deal

with the parent issue of
slavery which is racism.

And we're still dealing with
racism in America today.

- He has not fully
begun to contemplate

what all of this looks
like when it's done,

but he's beginning
to draw the voices

that he needs to help him
figure out what that is.

- You could be putting
this government

in the hands of the enemy.

- I agree.

Who's to say they won't
conspire against us?

- All rebel organizations

should be treated
as null and void.

The only way their
government should be restored

is under federal authority,
military authority.

- Well if we treat
them like insurgents

they will act like insurgents.

- Exactly.

- What about their leaders?

- You let them go.

You frighten them
out of the country.

You open the gates,
let down the bars.

- What if they don't go?

The fate of emancipation
would be left in their hands.

It's too risky.

- The states should follow
the example of Louisiana.

Abolish slavery.

Establish schools.

We were never fighting to
exterminate half this country.

We were fighting to
keep it together.

To prove that we
can live together.

Why should that be
any different now?

- He's trying to create
a pathway for peace.

He's trying to create a
pathway that that will mean

ending a war that doesn't
devolve into guerrilla warfare.

- You recognize the
need for healing.

And so his plan
for reconstruction

was a fairly lenient plan.

- He envisions a nation
of where it was easy

for the Confederacy
to come back,

and that the retribution
would not be great.

Basically say you
reject succession,

you're back into the nation.

- Secretary Stanton had drawn
up some new preliminary plans

looking towards the
reconstruction process,

and it would be handled through

the military rather
than through Congress.

It would be an
executive function

rather than a
legislative function

so that the full control
of the peace process

would remain in the
president's hands.

- He envisioned the President
of the United States

appointing some governors
who would figure out

some way to test who was loyal.

Then they would ask Congress

to readmit them to the Union.

- The white southerners
were so devoted

to the racial hierarchy
that they pushed back

against reconstruction
from the very beginning.

- People like Stanton
and others were outraged

that there would be
no real accountability

for the carnage
wrought by the south.

Aside from them
losing their slaves

and he didn't feel
like that was enough.

- But remember that
Lincoln also said,

in what turned out to
be his final speech,

that the time had come to extend

the right to vote to
African Americans.

Particularly, he
said, the educated

and those who had
fought in the army.

It was the first time
that an American president

had ever called
for black suffrage.

It was so radical a
concept at that moment

that someone in the
audience, John Wilkes Booth,

turn to one of his Confederates
and said that means

negro equality and he
didn't use the word negro.

That's the last speech
he'll ever make.

- April 14th, Lincoln
woke up in a great mood.

Feeling probably more cheerful

than he'd felt ever in his life.

He went on a carriage
ride with Mary.

And then they get back
to the White House

and there's a group
of his friends

who are there and
they're just leaving,

but he says no stay,
I want to talk to you.

And they kept
talking and they were

telling stories and he's
reading funny things.

He no longer needs to
escape to go to the theater,

but at 8 o'clock that night

they tell him you have to go.

It has been in the
newspaper that morning

that he would be at
the theater that night.

And now he had to keep his word

to the people who might
come to the theater

thinking that he would be there.

- It's been a perfect day.

Do you ever think
about where we started?

We've been so miserable.

- Well we both deserve
to be more cheerful.

- I'd like to travel.

Europe perhaps.

Or even California.

- I've always wanted
to see the holy land.

The great cities of Europe.

- Let's stay here tonight.

We don't have to go
to the theater do we?

- I'd much rather stay.

But we'd better go.

Word's out I'll be there.

I won't be the one to
disappoint the people.

(dramatic music)

- [Delivery Man] I got
medicine for Secretary Seward.

- [Frederick] My father's
not seeing any visitors.

He's resting.

(violent struggle)

(ominous music)

- Little do they know,
John Wilkes Booth

had planned a triple
conspiracy to lop off

the entire head
of the government.

The only thing that
saved Seward's life

was that his jaw was
wired from the carriage

accident so it didn't
cut the artery.

- [Actor] Yeah, you both
look tickled to death!

Now some gals and
mothers would go away

from a fella when
they found that out,

but you done found a
fortune, Miss Gussy.

- [Actress] My love,
you had better go!

- [Actor] You crave
affection, you do.

Now I'm no fortune,

but I'm filling over
with affections.

Which I'm ready to
pour out all over you

like apple sauce
over roast pork.

- [Older Actress]
Mr. Trenchard, you will please

recollect you are
addressing my daughter.

And in my presence!

- [Actor] Yes, I'm
offering her my heart

and hand just as she wants them.

With nothing in them.

- [Older Actress]
Augusta, do you agree?

- [Actress] Yes, ma.

What a nasty beast!

- [Older Actress] I am
aware, Mr. Trenchard,

you are not used to the
manners of good society.

And that alone will
excuse the impertinence

of which you have
been found guilty.

- [Actor] Don't know the
manners of good society, eh?

Well I guess I know enough

to turn you inside out, old gal.

(audience laughing
and applauding)

(loud gunshot)

- Just think of it.

For Lincoln, finally
this punishing war

has come to an end.

And he's able to feel
a sense of the country

is gonna go forward,
I've done my part

as a leader, and he
only has five days

to appreciate that
before he's killed.

It drives me crazy.

- No American president
had been killed in office.

And the shock of the
assassination was profound.

It just unleashed a tremendous
outpouring of grief.

His coffin was carried
by a new railroad car

that had just been
built for his use

and was called
The United States.

(train horn blowing)

If there was a chance
to see the funeral train

on the way back to Springfield,

everybody wanted to be there.

And city after city
there were crowds

like Americans had
never seen before.

- People connected to him.

They know where he came from,
how hard that fight was.

They saw a man
who was a good man

who became a great president.

- Lincoln's biography
is a tale of America.

At a time when it is
not yet fully made.

The roughness and the
self-made aspects of it.

The ambition and the hunger.

He's the living
proof that Americans

can rise from
poverty to triumph.

The promise of the
American dream.

Which is that all
men should have

an equal chance in
the race of life.

- He reminded Americans of
something they were forgetting.

That the Declaration
of Independence

is a special piece of paper.

It obligates us to
respect the human rights

of all Americans
and of all people.

- That's the journey
that he takes

by the time he is assassinated
at Ford's Theater.

He has moved to a much higher
calling, understanding,

and belief in terms
of what the nation

could and should
be despite his own

prejudices and concerns
when he starts.

- From a contemporary
lens, I think it's entirely

right and fair to look at
some of Lincoln's writings

and say he was limited
and constrained

by his times in ways
that are disappointing.

And then I can also say
yeah, but look what he did.

That was really important.

And took courage and took skill.

He was not just ahead of
his time in terms of vision,

but helped to drag the
country in a new direction.

- He dared to change the
rationale for the Civil War

from preserving the
Union to removing

the greatest stain of
American democracy.

Slavery.

- Lincoln's legacy was to
show us that democracies

can survive severe
contests within.

And they shall not
perish from the earth.

Lincoln had hoped that he could

accomplish something
worthy so that

he would be remembered
after he died.

It was that hope
that had powered him

through his dismal
childhood, his string

of political failures,
and the darkest days

of the war that his
story would be told.

It will be told for
generations to come.

- America has to live up to
the work that Lincoln started.

- [Lincoln] In giving
freedom to the slave,

we assure freedom to the free.

Honorable alike in what we
give and what we preserve.

We shall nobly save,
or meanly lose,

the last best hope of earth.