All language subtitles for Grant.S01E03.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV_Subtitles01_GalaxyTV - small excellence!.ENG

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[soldiers screaming]

‐ General Grant.

‐ Retain your sidearms,
General.

‐ You'll go after Lee.

You'll go after him
until he's finished.

It all depends on you.

[gunfire]

‐ Gentlemen.
‐ Grant may have won

some victories in the west,
but this is Virginia.

‐ We'll cross the Rapidan
into the Wilderness.

‐ His army is twice ours, sir.

‐ Well, we'll just have
to even the odds,

catch them before they get
through the Wilderness.

♪ ♪

[gunshots]

‐ [screaming]

‐ Scouts say
Grant's packing up.

Finally retreating, sir.

‐ No, he's not
a retreating man.

‐ We're heading south?
‐ To Richmond.

‐ Richmond?
‐ To Richmond.

‐ We're headed south!

[soldiers yelling and cheering]

♪ ♪

‐ Very few people really know
who Ulysses S. Grant was.

‐ Today there is this sense
that he's forgotten.

‐ He's been called
so many things over the years.

‐ The greatest general
of his time.

‐ A military genius.

‐ A bloody butcher.

‐ A corrupt president.

‐ A belligerent drunk
who got lucky.

He didn't get lucky.

‐ Ulysses S. Grant
is this perfectly average,

humble individual from a poor,
hardscrabble background.

‐ With a lot of hard times
and failures in his life.

‐ But he's got
this dogged determination,

this bulldog mentality.

‐ This guy comes from nothing,

rises to the highest ranks

of the Union army.

‐ Fights bloody,
terrible battles.

‐ With indomitable will.

‐ To save the Union.

‐ To heal his country.

‐ To lead the nation
towards justice for everybody.

‐ He's the unheroic hero

of our greatest national epic,
the American Civil War.

‐ It's truly
an American story

not only of patriotism
to the nation

but for the values
of who we are

and who we aspire to be.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]
[marching footsteps]

‐ Fall in!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ The armies were now
ready to move

for the accomplishment
of a single goal:

Lee, in the capital
of the Confederacy, Richmond.

That was the main end
to which all were working.

♪ ♪

‐ When Grant marches off
in 1864,

it's gonna set off
a titanic struggle

for the end of the war.

Grant is going to keep
their focus lasered on

to Robert E. Lee and
the Army of Northern Virginia

because Grant understood
the destruction of Lee's army

meant the destruction
of the Confederacy.

At the beginning
of the campaign,

Grant mentions
to a correspondent

who's headed off
to Washington, D. C.‐‐

he says to him,
"If you get through the lines

"and you make it
and you see President Lincoln,

"tell him from me
that whatever happens,

there will be
no turning back."

♪ ♪

‐ After the Wilderness,
Grant heads south,

and it's just
sustained combat.

He just keeps seeing these
opportunities, and he attacks,

and he attacks,
and he attacks.

And it rains,
and the weather is miserable,

but they just keep going
for weeks.

‐ The battles
of the Wilderness,

Spotsylvania, and North Anna,

bloody and terrible
though they were on our side,

were even more damaging
to our enemy.

‐ In some of the most savage
fighting of the war,

you see 5 1/2 weeks
of constant movement,

constant entrenching,
constant fighting

that ultimately will produce
55,000 Union casualties,

35,000 Confederate casualties.

Now Grant's men
are simply exhausted.

By the time Grant reaches

the crucial crossroads
of Cold Harbor,

these soldiers understand
keenly what's ahead.

And it's more loss.
It's more rivers of blood.

‐ If you're a soldier,
you think,

"Our chances aren't good."

And this is when we have
heartbreaking stories of men

writing on sheets of paper,

"Today was the day
I was killed at Cold Harbor,"

and pinning that to the inside
of their uniforms.

But Grant still believes that
Lee's army is almost broken.

"All I have to do
is push a little bit harder,

and they will break."

‐ Company, prepare!
[artillery firing]

♪ ♪

Keep pressing forward!

Hold your ground!

♪ ♪

Come on, boys!

Let's go, let's go, let's go!
Come on!

Move it!
Let's go!

Go, go, go!

Let's show them
what Ohio's worth!

Advance!

♪ ♪

‐ [panting]

[bullets pinging]

♪ ♪

[soldiers grunting and yelling]

♪ ♪

[gunfire stops]

[insects and birds chirping]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

‐ Cold Harbor was a disaster.

Robert E. Lee's army had
set up crossfire positions.

They had
an enormous advantage,

and within only
five hours' time,

Grant's army had sustained

thousands of casualties
in one morning assault.

‐ One Union soldier likened
that combat at Cold Harbor

to a volcanic blast,

that wasn't war;
it was murder.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant is
a very aggressive general,

and we see that
in several mistakes

that he makes
throughout the war,

including Cold Harbor.

Some have said Cold Harbor
was the price that the Union

had to pay to have Grant
as their commander.

♪ ♪

‐ I have always regretted

the last assault
at Cold Harbor.

♪ ♪

No advantage whatever
was gained to compensate

for the heavy loss
we sustained.

♪ ♪

‐ By 1864, people are tired.

There is no clear winner,

and there is no clear end
in sight

for this conflict.

We have over
600,000 people dead,

and people are tired of it.

‐ The Northern public
was craving some good news.

Initially, the morale
in the North had been buoyed

by this new decisiveness
of Grant after the Wilderness,

and they demanded
a quick victory.

But by the time
Grant reaches Cold Harbor,

they were impatient

as the rivers
of blood continued.

[indistinct chatter]

‐ That's it, General.
One more in a minute, sir.

‐ General Grant, our readers
are keen to understand

how you lost so many men
during this campaign.

‐ Lee had the advantage
of being on the defensive.

He was entrenched.

I had to attack his army
where it was,

and I made him pay.

‐ Cold Harbor, General,
12,000 good Union men dead,

wounded, and missing.

‐ Do you have a question?
‐ Was it worth it, sir?

What did you gain?

‐ General Grant, sir,
if you please?

‐ General, you haven't
answered my question.

‐ Hold, please.

‐ Cold Harbor, 12,000.
What did we gain?

[tense music]

‐ We lost a lot
of boys your age...

fighting to keep
this country together.

What have you done
for the Union?

♪ ♪

‐ General Grant, sir,

if you please?

‐ They called me a butcher.

‐ Hold, please.

‐ I sometimes
could hardly bring myself

to give an order at battle.

♪ ♪

‐ He wasn't a butcher.

Many casualties came out
of the overland campaign,

but it was
fundamentally necessary

in order to win the war.

Robert E. Lee lost 50%
of his entire army

during the exact same
duration,

but is Lee remembered
as a butcher?

‐ Being in command of a‐‐
of a large effort,

being the commander
is a pretty unique experience.

You know, there's no one
in whom you can confide.

It's a‐‐it is a lo‐‐it's lonely
at the top, as they say.

And the casualties
are going to be tough,

and Grant is experiencing
the butcher's bill,

as they termed it.

And it takes a great deal of,
again, just sheer fortitude,

sheer determination
to continue on

and not let this
grind you down.

♪ ♪

‐ What Grant accomplishes
after Cold Harbor is, I think,

one of his most impressive
feats of the war.

[dramatic music]

Grant decides to flank
the Army of Northern Virginia

and then cross the even more
formidable obstacle

of the James River.

‐ He's trying to keep
the initiative,

continue the momentum,
drive the energy,

and force Lee to react
to what he's doing.

This is one
of his great strengths.

♪ ♪

‐ It's an incredibly
dangerous maneuver

to move an army of that size
across a major body of water,

especially whenever you're
faced off against an enemy

as wily as the Gray Fox,
Robert E. Lee.

And so he finds a way,
secretly, at night,

to take an army of 115,000

and disappear.

And Robert E. Lee misses this.

He misses the movement
of Grant's army.

‐ To my dear wife, Julia.

Since Sunday,
we have been engaged

in one of the most perilous
movements ever executed

by a large army,

that of withdrawing
from the front of an enemy

and moving past his flank,

crossing the James River with
a bridge we have to improvise.

♪ ♪

‐ U. S. Grant
sets out to construct

something that nobody thought
could be constructed:

an actual pontoon bridge

across a 2,000‐foot span
of the James River.

The bridge consists
of pontoon boats,

rather large boats
that have excellent buoyancy,

strung together and connected
by wooden planks.

And through these bridges,

you could march
not only soldiers

but also artillery,
supplies, and whatnot.

‐ This is the largest
pontoon bridge

built during the entire war.

They built it in seven hours.
I mean, think about that.

He's gonna cross 100,000 men
across the James River,

including these wagons
and artillery.

But just think about the
engineering feat that that is.

That's remarkable.

‐ And so Grant gets across
the James River,

which will put his forces
in assaulting position

onto the crucial rail hub
of Petersburg, Virginia.

♪ ♪

‐ Petersburg
is the logistics hub,

the transportation hub.

It's connected
to all the supplies

that can come up
from the south.

If Lee is gonna
maintain his army,

let alone Richmond, the city,
he needs Petersburg.

So Grant understands this.

And so by threatening
Petersburg,

he, in fact,
threatens Richmond.

And now
we are talking about a siege.

♪ ♪

‐ Colonel Pleasants,
what's this plan of yours?

‐ Our Pennsylvania boys
are coal miners.

They can tunnel right
underneath their lines.

‐ How far?
‐ About 150 yards, sir.

They dig a shaft
right underneath them.

We fill the chamber with powder
and blow those rebs sky‐high.

‐ Could it break through
their fortifications?

‐ General, we have no
assurances this will work.

‐ My boys can do it.
‐ We have to consider‐‐

‐ Once the line is broken,
we go in.

We need to move quickly
after the blast.

Have artillery ready
to support the charge.

How big a hole will it blow?
‐ No one can say, sir.

But it'll be
an awful lot of powder.

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

‐ Ulysses S. Grant had been
familiar with the use of mines

tunneling under the enemy
positions at Vicksburg.

He tried it several times
with limited success.

♪ ♪

The Confederates heard
the Union working.

They feared that there was
a mine tunneling under.

They dug countermines down

to try to drop in
onto the Union troops.

They could never find it
in time, however.

‐ We learned through deserters
that the people believed

very wild rumors
about what was going on.

They said that we had mined
the whole of Petersburg

and they were resting
on a slumbering volcano

and did not know
at what moment

they might expect
that eruption.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ The mine was constructed
and ready to be exploded.

♪ ♪

And I wanted to take
the occasion

to carry Petersburg,
if I could.

♪ ♪

[fuse sizzling]

‐ They packed the mine

underneath
the Confederate trenches

with 8,000 pounds
of explosives

to try to blast a hole into
the Confederate earthworks.

♪ ♪

‐ The fuse starts burning.

They pack sandbags
so the explosion

doesn't come out
toward the Union troops.

‐ Go!
Move, move, move!

‐ Let's go!
‐ Faster, faster!

‐ Go!

♪ ♪

‐ And then the earth
just shook.

[explosion booms]

[soldiers yelling]

It immediately killed
and disintegrated

300 South Carolinians,

blowing a massive hole
in the Confederate line.

‐ And then the Union army

gets ready
to launch frontal assaults.

♪ ♪

‐ Despite all the thought
that went into this attack,

Grant's commanders put the
worst possible guy in command,

a guy named James Ledlie,

known to be a drunk
and a coward,

in command of the attack.

‐ The problem is that instead
of going around

to the rim of the crater,
as initially planned,

James Ledlie
blunders his division

right into the middle
of the crater,

and it becomes
a virtual turkey shoot.

♪ ♪

‐ I expected our troops not
to stop in the crater at all

but to push on
to the top of the hill,

which would have
given us everything.

♪ ♪

‐ And then they send in

the United States
Colored Troop regiments.

♪ ♪

Nothing incited the rage
of a Confederate soldier

like the sight
of an African‐American soldier

wielding a musket
in a blue uniform.

♪ ♪

‐ They just start killing
these guys wholesale.

Many blacks that tried
to surrender

are shot or bayoneted.

And even white Union officers,
realizing that they also have

a death sentence
for leading black troops,

they turn their pistols
on their own soldiers

to try to save themselves.

‐ And so at the crater,

what you have
is a racial massacre.

♪ ♪

A North Carolinian
recalled his delight

at bayoneting these
African‐American soldiers.

♪ ♪

It was an all‐out slaughter.

♪ ♪

‐ They slaughtered us all.

No place to go...

except to die.

♪ ♪

‐ The effort was
a stupendous failure.

It was the saddest affair
I witnessed in the war.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant is really at fault
at Petersburg

in delegating so much

that it interfered
with the execution of the plan.

He tries the experiment
of the crater

because he knows
how important a victory is

during the election year.

‐ 1864 is an election year.

You see Abraham Lincoln

running for reelection
on the Republican ticket.

The Democratic nominee
is George McClellan,

who is running
on a platform of peace.

The Democrats in 1864

want to end the war
as soon as possible.

They are fine with letting
the Confederacy go.

♪ ♪

‐ McClellan was on record
that he was willing

to trade emancipation
for peace.

Grant considered this little
short of outright treason.

‐ People forget that there
was not uniform support

for the Union effort
in the Northern states.

Back in 1863 in New York City,
there were huge draft riots.

There was a lot of unrest
because it didn't seem

as if the Union
was prevailing.

So now Lee's only hope

was that Lincoln
would be defeated.

McClellan would win
and sue for peace.

‐ To have peace on any terms,
the South would demand

the restoration
of their slaves already freed.

They would demand a treaty

which would make the North
slave hunters for the South.

‐ So '64 is a big year.

The war's now no longer just
about preserving the Union.

Now it's become
a war for freedom.

And with the election,
everything's at stake.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

‐ General Grant...

I hold you
in the highest esteem,

but this catastrophe
in the crater...

Every day, I hear from
the press that I'm too timid

or too tyrannical,
too weak or...too tall.

My reelection
and the outcome

of this miserable war...
depends on you.

‐ General Sherman is at
the threshold of Atlanta,

and I am at the threshold
of Petersburg‐‐

‐ And I am at the threshold
of losing the presidency.

♪ ♪

‐ Mr. President,
you will never hear of me

farther from Richmond
than I am now.

♪ ♪

I will fight it out
till the end.

♪ ♪

‐ Hold on with a bulldog grip,

and chew and choke
as much as possible.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant is working
with Lincoln,

very much in concert,

on how they want
to conduct this war.

And we see that in how Grant
plans his campaigns.

He's really, I think,

the first general
that Lincoln had

that had an overall strategy
for the entire war.

♪ ♪

‐ I mean, this is still
a very fluid war, even by '64.

So the Union needs
some decisive wins.

‐ One of the key prongs
of Grant's strategy

for the reduction of the South
is, of course, to take Atlanta.

♪ ♪

‐ If you don't topple Georgia,

which was one of the top
manpower‐delivering states

behind the Confederate
war effort,

and you don't topple Atlanta,

which is a hub of industry
for the South,

then it makes it
possible to sustain

the Confederate war effort
for a prolonged period of time.

‐ This is a no‐fail mission,
and you give it to the person

who you've developed
a level of trust

and who you know
is hard enough to do it,

smart enough to do it,

and also will do the intent
of what you want them to do

rather than getting off base,
and Sherman is that person.

‐ Send this
to General Grant at once.

"We are in close proximity
and constantly skirmishing

"but are not yet able
to penetrate

the city's fortifications."

‐ William Tecumseh Sherman
would lead

the military division
of Mississippi

through northwest Georgia,

targeting the industrial heart
of Georgia at Atlanta:

the machine shops, the mills,
the factories that were

keeping the Confederate army
in the west going.

‐ And it's Grant who,
from afar,

is choreographing this effort.

And Grant and Sherman

maintain a constant
communication via telegraph

despite the more
than 1,000 miles

that intervened between them.

‐ "If you can hold tight
as you are now,

you will destroy
most of that army."

♪ ♪

"I would never advise
going backward."

‐ As Sherman
is approaching Atlanta,

Grant is sort of pushing him

that, "We need
to get this done.

We need to take Atlanta
before the election comes."

‐ "I have lost
a good many regiments."

[explosion]

Continue sending.

"I might have to circle Atlanta
before I take it,

but I will take it."

[soldiers cheering]
♪ ♪

‐ We learned that Sherman
had our troops in Atlanta.

The news of his success
set the country aglow.

‐ Sherman drives on Atlanta,
delivering Atlanta,

and effectively, you do have
some aspects of total war.

We are about collapsing the
will of the Confederate people

to realize,
"You are being defeated."

‐ The fall of Atlanta
boosts Northern morale.

People now begin to see
that a Union victory is,

while not inevitable,
at least in sight.

And it has an enormous impact
on the election of 1864.

♪ ♪

‐ Lincoln would win
the election.

What ultimately gave Lincoln

that election
on the battlefield

was Sherman's capture
of Atlanta.

This was part of Grant's
grand strategy

for how to bring about
an end to the war.

[tense music]

Grant has a brilliant
strategic plan.

He's going to move multiple
armies simultaneously

to bring about maximum
pressure on the Confederacy

while also holding down
Robert E. Lee's

much‐vaunted
Army of Northern Virginia

at Petersburg.

‐ When Grant starts
to settle in at Petersburg,

he sees, "If I put Lee
into a siege, he can't move."

"And a Robert E. Lee
who cannot maneuver

"is a Robert E. Lee that's not
nearly as dangerous.

"So if I pin Lee,

"we'll eat the rest
of the Confederacy

while we stand here and watch
this all take place."

♪ ♪

‐ So Grant decides to move

Phil Sheridan
up the Shenandoah Valley,

threatening
the logistical supply line

of Robert E. Lee's army,

threatening the bread basket
of the Confederacy

that for three years

had supplied
the Army of Northern Virginia.

‐ To General Sheridan:

Do all the damage to railroads
and crops you can.

We want the Shenandoah Valley
to remain a barren waste.

Move quickly with the goal of
destroying all in your path.

‐ After Philip Sheridan

destroys
the Shenandoah Valley,

William Tecumseh Sherman
marches through Georgia.

Grant famously says,

"The Confederacy
is a hollow shell.

I know it, and Sherman
is about to prove it."

‐ To General Sherman:
If you are satisfied

the trip to the seacoast
can be made,

you may make it,

destroying all the railroad
as you think best.

‐ What Sherman is doing
in Georgia

is sending a message
to Lee's army:

"You guys hold out here
in Richmond

"and you hold out here
in Petersburg,

but we're just tearing out
the guts of the Confederacy."

♪ ♪

‐ And meanwhile,
Robert E. Lee's army

is becoming malnourished.

His men are living
in conditions

that are rife for disease.

The biological decline
of his men

is beginning to show
to Robert E. Lee

in a way
that he'd never seen before.

♪ ♪

‐ They are severely worn down,

and they are the ones that
have to defend Petersburg.

♪ ♪

Petersburg
is the logistics hub,

the transportation hub

connected
to five separate railroads

that come into Petersburg
that feed Richmond,

the capital
of the Confederacy.

Robert E. Lee
can't lose Petersburg,

or he loses Richmond.

‐ By April of 1865,
Grant has captured

all of the important railroads

at Petersburg
with the exception of one,

and that's
the Southside Railroad.

And there's
a crucial intersection

that commands control
of the Southside Railroad.

It's known as Five Forks.

[rain pattering,
thunder rumbling]

‐ Everything looked favorable
to the defeat of the enemy

and the capture
of Petersburg and Richmond

if the proper effort was made.

‐ And so Grant will unleash
Phil Sheridan

to get out in front
of Robert E. Lee

and keep him from getting
to that railroad

and those supplies.

[soldiers clamoring]

‐ It's a vicious fight.

At one point, Sheridan, he's
actually on horseback himself

and launches himself
over Confederate attackers,

ordering the men to surrender.

‐ The Confederates
will lose this battle,

and they lose
the Southside Railroad.

‐ And now, finally, we find

Grant is able
to sever those supply lines

that come into Petersburg,
and Robert E. Lee

now has to realize,
"We have to abandon Richmond."

♪ ♪

‐ Richmond was in
the most utter confusion.

The city was on fire,

started by some connected
with the retreating army.

When it was evacuated,
the Confederacy at once

began to crumble
and fade away.

‐ The Confederates
now scramble to the west

to make this desperate attempt
to link up

with Joe Johnston's
Army of Tennessee.

And if they can link up again,
they can prolong the war.

And so it becomes a chase.

‐ Lee's troops were pursued
by our cavalry so hotly

and closely that they threw
away ammunition, clothing,

and almost everything
to lighten their loads.

‐ No sooner has Lee
evacuated his lines

than Grant takes off after him.

Any other Union general would
have marched into Petersburg

and marched into Richmond

with bands playing and great
celebrations and parties

and all kinds of
self‐congratulatory speeches

and reviews and messages
sent back to Washington

about how wonderful it was,

they have now
captured Richmond.

Not Grant.

[indistinct chatter]

‐ One of ours, sir.

A messenger
from General Sheridan

who made it
through their lines.

‐ Soldier.

Good job, soldier.

♪ ♪

Sheridan wants me
to come to him at Jetersville.

Says he can finish Lee.

We'll go right away.
I'll take the advance troops.

‐ General,
you're the commander.

You've gotta stay‐‐
‐ We'll go right away.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant is managing
more people

than anyone else
in the world at this moment.

And then he gets a message
from Phil Sheridan saying,

"I think we can capture

or destroy
the Confederate army now."

As the commander
of all those armies,

sometimes your presence
is simply needed.

No matter how tired he was,

no matter how far away
Sheridan was,

Grant was gonna get there.

‐ I then started
with a few of my staff

going directly
through the woods.

The night being dark,
our progress was slow.

Sometimes I had
great difficulty

in getting through the lines.

♪ ♪

‐ We've got Lee
in a box, General.

‐ We should be protecting
our position at Richmond,

not chasing Lee.

‐ We can't let him slip.

I can capture
his whole damn army!

‐ Holding Richmond
won't end this war.

Destroying Lee's army will.

Go after him.
‐ Yes, sir.

‐ It now became

a life‐and‐death struggle
for Lee

to get south
to his provisions.

We wanted to get ahead of Lee
and cut him off.

♪ ♪
♪ ♪

‐ The armies finally met
on Sailor's Creek.

♪ ♪

The enemy's loss
was very heavy.

♪ ♪

Lee's army
was rapidly crumbling.

♪ ♪

‐ The final battle between
Grant's army and Robert E. Lee

comes at Sailor's Creek,
April 6, 1865.

‐ Lee's army haven't eaten
for five days.

He's had 2/3 of his force
whittled away

by attacks from his rear.

He is out of options.

‐ Robert E. Lee sees the men

streaming from
the battlefield in chaos,

and Lee turns, and he says
to one of his staff officers,

"My God,
has the army dissolved?"

♪ ♪

‐ 7,000 of his men
were made prisoners.

I knew that the men
who had fought so gallantly

and so long for the cause
which they believed in

had lost hope.

‐ Come on, keep moving!

♪ ♪

‐ Grant knows
Lee's out of options,

and he is counting on Lee

to be chivalrous
and end the war.

♪ ♪

‐ To General R.E. Lee:

The result of the last week
must convince you

of the hopelessness
of further resistance.

I regard it as my duty
to shift from myself

the responsibility of any
further effusion of blood...

♪ ♪

By asking of you
the surrender of that portion

of the Confederate States Army

known as
the Army of Northern Virginia.

♪ ♪

‐ Lee realizes
that the game is over,

and so he sends
a message to Grant:

"If we could discuss matters

"as you had previously
indicated,

I would be happy
to meet with you."

‐ When Lee talks
about having to go

and capitulate to Grant,
Lee says,

"I would rather go die
a thousand deaths

than go do
what I'm about to do."

But he asks for the cease‐fire

to talk about
terms of surrender.

‐ A messenger
came up to Grant

and gave him the letter
from Lee saying,

"Can you meet me at the McLean
house in Appomattox?'

And so he went to Appomattox
to meet Lee.

♪ ♪

‐ It all ends at the
Wilbur McLean farmhouse.

♪ ♪

Robert E. Lee
stands in his best uniform.

♪ ♪

Lee dreads having to do this.

♪ ♪

‐ Dismount!

[galloping hoofbeats]

♪ ♪

[horse whinnies]

♪ ♪

[door clicks open]

♪ ♪

‐ General Lee.

‐ General Grant.

‐ Perhaps you remember,

we met once
back in the Mexican War.

‐ Yes, I'm sure you're right.
I don't quite recall.

‐ I was with
the Fourth Regiment.

‐ It was a long time ago.

♪ ♪

‐ Please.

♪ ♪

‐ As they sit there
in that room,

it's truly a remarkable scene.

You capture this whole nature
of the changing character

of war in that farmhouse.

You have Robert E. Lee,

immaculately dressed
with his sash and his sword,

a patrician
of the Virginia caste society,

the son of
a Revolutionary War general,

a single commander
commanding as if he were

a 16th‐century prince

representing the last
of the old wars.

♪ ♪

Meanwhile, you have
Ulysses S. Grant,

representing the first
of the new.

Grant has been
riding overland.

His boots are mud‐spattered.

He's the son of a tanner,

a poor, humble,
hardscrabble background.

He sits now at the top
of this meritocracy

surrounded by
a very capable staff.

And he has an American Indian
on his staff,

Eli Parker,
a brigadier general,

a Seneca Indian
that's gonna write out

the terms of surrender.

♪ ♪

‐ General Grant...

we should write terms now.

♪ ♪

‐ General Parker.

♪ ♪

‐ At least there's one
real American in this room.

♪ ♪

‐ We're all Americans
here, sir.

♪ ♪

‐ Your terms are generous.

They'll have
a good effect on my men.

‐ Good.

♪ ♪

And I must ask you in return

that you ask the rest
of your armies

lay down their arms.

They'll listen to you,

and this war can end quickly
without further suffering.

‐ That's not up to me.

That's up to my president.

♪ ♪

‐ There's only
one president now.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ I felt like anything rather
than rejoicing at the downfall

of a foe who had fought
so long and valiantly

and had suffered so much
for a cause,

though that cause was,
I believe,

one of the worst for which
a people ever fought.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant and Lincoln wanted,
at all costs,

to prevent a kind
of guerilla warfare,

which is why Grant
gave the terms

that he did to Lee
at Appomattox.

‐ The surrender terms
are relatively lenient.

Officers can keep
their sidearms.

Men with horses
can keep their horses

so that they might go back
and plant crops.

This is an idea of,
"How do we win the peace?"

‐ Grant really tried to honor
what Lincoln asked for.

Let him up easy.
Let these men go home.

Just lay down your guns,
and just go home.

‐ Grant actually went a little
bit further than Lincoln

might have wanted him to.

He paroled the Southern army,
Lee's army.

And that meant Lee himself
would be free from arrest.

♪ ♪

‐ Very significantly,
Grant did not allow

his soldiers to in any way
gloat or celebrate.

He felt that that would simply
be rubbing salt into the wounds

of these defeated
Confederate soldiers.

And I think the fact
that Grant had experienced

so much failure in his own life
gave him a special sensitivity

and tact in dealing with these

defeated Confederate soldiers
at Appomattox.

So you can see
that there's this yearning

to be brothers again.

There were shared memories
and shared experiences

that these men had had,
and these are people

who had belonged
to the same nation

and that would again.

[cheers and applause]

‐ When news of the surrender
of Lee's army

gets back to Washington,
Lincoln is so thrilled.

A crowd of well‐wishers comes
with bands to serenade him.

Lincoln comes out and gives
them an impromptu speech.

‐ Now, fellow citizens,
give three good, hearty cheers

for General Grant
and all under his command.

‐ Grant stands
in the front rank

of great Americans
of all time.

He was the man
who saved the Union.

‐ Grant is one of the greatest
military strategists

that the United States
has produced.

It is his strategy implemented
and pushed forward

to its conclusion
that wins the war.

[cheers and applause]

‐ The news of Appomattox

is immediately reported
across the country.

There was a jubilant feeling,
at least in the‐‐in the North,

and a great feeling of relief.

‐ There's such this feeling
of celebration

throughout the North:

the fireworks
that are being set off,

people in the streets
celebrating,

the bunting that's being
put up all across

Washington and New York
and elsewhere,

and ministers across the North
begin preparing sermons

to talk about
the rebirth of the nation.

[triumphant music]

[marching band music playing,
fireworks popping]

♪ ♪

‐ I'm relieved we didn't
go to the theater tonight,

and the children will be
so happy to see you, finally.

‐ It's been a long time.
‐ Mm.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Do you know that man?

♪ ♪

‐ I don't care for such looks.

[thumping]

Driver!

♪ ♪

‐ On the night of April 14th,

the Lincolns had invited
the Grants

to attend Ford's Theatre
with them.

But they were instead planning
to visit their children.

While the Grants were
en route to the train,

a man on horseback
galloped up,

tried to thrust his head in
as if to see who was there.

Always afterwards,
Julia Dent Grant believed

that man had been
John Wilkes Booth.

[laughter and applause]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

‐ General Grant.

‐ What is it?

‐ These are for you, sir.

‐ Excuse me, gentlemen.

♪ ♪

‐ What is it, Ulys?

‐ I have to return
to Washington.

♪ ♪

President Lincoln
has been shot.

♪ ♪

He won't survive.

♪ ♪

‐ John Wilkes Booth
had gathered a small band

of conspirators

because Booth planned
not only to murder Lincoln

but to murder
Vice President Andrew Johnson,

Secretary of State Seward,
and General Ulysses S. Grant.

He planned to decapitate
the entire

United States government,
if he could do it.

[woman screams]

♪ ♪

‐ I did not know
what it meant.

Here was the rebellion
put down in the field

and starting up
in the gutters.

Now we had to fight it
as assassination.

‐ Grant gets back
in Washington

by 10:00 the next day,

and Andrew Johnson
is already being sworn in

as president
of the United States.

What a different world
Ulysses Grant has returned to.

[hoofbeats clopping]

♪ ♪

‐ The joy that I had witnessed
among the people in the street

and in public places
in Washington

had been turned to grief.

The city was in reality
a city of mourning.

‐ Lee surrenders to Grant
on April 9th,

and only a week later,

on Good Friday,
Lincoln is assassinated.

And a city that had been
so full of hope

and joy and messages of peace

is immediately
brought to mourning.

And the churches that had been
decorated for Easter Sunday,

full of their lilies
and other symbols of peace,

are now draped in mourning.

Only days after coming back
from Appomattox

and being this great,
victorious general,

now Grant is tasked
with planning the funeral

of a man who had been
not only his president

but also had become
a dear friend.

‐ To know Lincoln personally
was to love and respect him

for his great qualities
of heart and head.

His death was
the greatest possible

calamity to the country

and especially
to the people of the South.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

‐ After the war,
the South is devastated.

What was all of their wealth
has largely been wiped out.

Lincoln gets killed.

Now who's gonna provide
that stability?

Who is gonna be the one man
who can provide that stable,

guiding hand on the nation?

[dramatic music]

‐ When the war ends,

Ulysses S. Grant
is still general in chief.

And this becomes
extremely significant

because there's nobody who has
a more comprehensive view

of what's going on
in the South

in the years after
the Civil War than Grant.

‐ And so in 1865,
Grant's duties,

his responsibilities
as general of the armies,

was to run
the largest civil project

ever the federal government
had taken on,

known as Reconstruction.

♪ ♪

Reconstruction, fundamentally,
was military occupation.

And it was organized around
five military districts

within the American South.

[tense music]

‐ Reconstruction
was three things.

It was to rebuild
infrastructure in the South.

It was to help transition
newly freed people

and what freedom
could look like for them,

most of whom
are completely illiterate,

who have no property,
who have no prospects,

but who have desire.

And it was to restructure
legal systems

to help protect
newly freed people

and to address this idea
of equality for everyone.

‐ But I don't think anyone
recognized the true magnitude

of what Reconstruction was
going to look like in America,

the level and number
of challenges

of problems that could
potentially emerge

from the end
of the American Civil War.

[dramatic music]

‐ The success
of the Union army

doesn't mean a return
to the status quo.

It means the Union restored
without slavery.

And so the most egregious part
of Union victory

for former Confederates
is emancipation.

And so they push back on it
from the very beginning.

They push back in legal ways
called the Black Codes.

♪ ♪

‐ They create a series
of actions

that will mirror
the conditions of slavery.

And so throughout the 1860s,
in major cities,

conflicts would erupt between
former Confederate soldiers

and free African‐Americans.

‐ You see this conflict
in New Orleans in 1866.

African‐Americans and a handful
of white Republicans

are trying to write a new
constitution for the state

that would recognize
African‐American voting

and civil rights.

[crowd clamoring]

What happens is, a local
newspaper whips up a frenzy.

Ex‐Confederates gather,
trying to stop them.

It was an absolute powder keg.

♪ ♪

‐ We stand here today
as free men,

but that's just the beginning.

We have to stand up
for our rights.

We have to fight‐‐
[gunshots]

[people yelling]

[gunshots, people yelling]
♪ ♪

‐ Come on!
Out the back!

♪ ♪

‐ I just got a telegraph
from General Sheridan.

This outrage in New Orleans
must be punished.

I simply can't allow‐‐

‐ General, we don't know
if the freed men provoked this.

It was a riot.

‐ This is an atrocity.

♪ ♪

Sheridan is there.

‐ They're gettin' away!

‐ And the way he tells it,
this is a massacre.

[men grunting]
[gunshot]

[laughter]

[gunshot]

[gunshot]
‐ Don't let him get away!

[laughter]

Hold him, boys!

♪ ♪

[gunshot]

♪ ♪

‐ It's my duty
to protect the people.

♪ ♪

‐ Try telling that
to President Johnson.

♪ ♪

‐ Instead, I wish
I could speak with Lincoln.

♪ ♪

We could declare martial law.

‐ Sir‐‐
‐ It won't be popular,

but I don't want another war.

♪ ♪

We can't have another war.

♪ ♪

‐ So in 1866,
Grant receives reports

from his commanders
throughout the South,

and it becomes quite evident
that there are hundreds

if not thousands of so‐called
outrages of African‐Americans

being killed in horrific,
barbarious ways.

‐ Grant is constantly
compiling statistics

for President Andrew Johnson

in terms of the scale
of violence

going on against the 4 million
former slaves in the South,

and Johnson refuses
to believe it.

♪ ♪

‐ Andrew Johnson is able
to emerge as a figure

who is a friend
of the Confederacy

who will not
implement Reconstruction

with the great force
of the federal government.

‐ Grant is
increasingly frustrated

and furious that Johnson
is trying to impede

any sort of military
intervention in the South.

But I think we underestimate

how politically savvy
Grant was.

‐ Grant is an interesting man
as a political figure.

He doesn't seek out
the nomination

for the presidency ever,

but he doesn't turn down
the nomination

for the presidency either.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Because of the Civil War

and because
of Grant's heroism‐‐

and at Appomattox,

Grant becomes the hero
not only in the North

but in the South
for his fairness

to the defeated
Confederate troops‐‐

Grant enjoyed
a certain status

and sort of levitated

above the level
of American politics.

‐ And not unlike Washington,

that Washington was
the father of the country

and Grant was the savior
of the country

is something that is
on many people's minds.

‐ And of course, at that time,
it was considered unseemly

for a candidate to openly
campaign for president,

and that was
just fine with Grant.

And rather than campaigning,

he's kind of swept
into the presidency.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Grant wins the 1868 election

in an electoral
college landslide,

but his presidency
would be the presidency

that had the responsibility
of securing political rights

for African‐Americans.

He had an enormous
responsibility

and an incredibly
difficult one,

because there were
so many people,

both in the South
and in the North,

who were opposed
to those ideas.

But he was given
the difficult task, not once,

but twice, of doing this,

winning the war
and then winning the peace.

‐ In here, Mr. President.

[stirring orchestral music]

♪ ♪

‐ The country having
just emerged

from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it

for settlement
in the next four years

which preceding
administrations

have never had to deal with.

In meeting these,
it is desirable

that they should be
approached calmly,

without prejudice, hate,
or sectional pride.

♪ ♪

I ask patient forbearance,
one toward another,

throughout the land
and a determined effort

on the part
of every citizen

to do his share towards
cementing a happy Union.

♪ ♪
♪ ♪

‐ I feel the responsibilities
of the position

but accept them without fear.

And I bring to it
a desire and determination

to fill it
to the best of my ability.

‐ When Ulysses Grant
is inaugurated as president,

he has what amounts to
a colossal mess on his hands.

He has not only Reconstruction,

but he has a botched attempt
at beginning Reconstruction

under Andrew Johnson
that he has to overcome.

And that's going to create
a formidable agenda

for him to deal with
as president.

♪ ♪

Reconstruction meant
the reintroduction

of the Confederate states
back into the American Union,

which sounds pretty simple,

but you've got to have
some way

of reintegrating
the Southern economy

with the rest
of the national economy.

Then you have to think about
what you're going to do

with the freed slaves.

The 13th Amendment
abolishes slavery,

but what does it do
beyond that?

‐ When Grant becomes president
of the United States,

he is absolutely committed
to the aims of Reconstruction.

He is committed to making
America fully just,

fully equal for black people
and white people.

He is committed to this in his
own simple and elegant way.

‐ So it's very important
to remember that Grant

is the first American president

to govern after
the 14th Amendment

that guarantees equal rights
before the law

and, most importantly,
after the 15th Amendment,

which gives black men
the right to vote.

After the passage
of the 15th Amendment,

African‐American men began to
vote in extraordinary numbers.

‐ Americans are finally
who they say they are.

All men are truly
created equal.

I think this utterly
is reflected of Grant

and what he believes
this nation is

and what it should
aspire to be.

[stirring music]

‐ So now we have 3.5 million
people from Mississippi

to Louisiana to South Carolina

voting themselves and the
candidates of their choosing.

‐ African‐Americans
in most Southern states

were elected for the first
time to Washington, D. C.,

as senators
and as congressmen

but on a state level as well.

And all these things,
this incredible

biracial experiment,
was happening.

‐ And the changes that they
make are extraordinary.

They establish free public
education for every child.

They establish systems
that make it easier

for people to vote and to
be able to acquire land.

‐ It's a period of possibility
in American history.

It was not just
a political project.

It was also a social project.

And you see the building
of schools,

the building of banks.

You see more people
are learning to read

among African‐American
communities than ever before.

‐ You probably had more
political progress

for black people than you
actually had in the North.

You know, not just because
there were more black people

but because of what was
happening was so revolutionary.

‐ There is a profoundly
progressive agenda

moving the arc towards justice
for everybody.

And then it falls apart.

[dramatic music]

‐ The Ku Klux Klan
very quickly grows

to become a paramilitary
insurgency

in which armed
Confederate veterans

will turn to violent tactics.

♪ ♪

‐ There were thousands
of blacks

who were killed for registering
and daring to‐‐to vote,

and black voting
would drop off to near zero.

‐ In many counties throughout
the ex‐Confederate South,

the Ku Klux Klan
is really controlling

the levers of power,

and they are meting out their
brand of vigilante justice.

[chains clink]

♪ ♪

‐ Mr. President.

♪ ♪

You're thinking like
a politician, not a general.

‐ Well, there's more than
one way to get things done.

‐ But these Ku Kluxers' minds
won't be changed by words.

You of all people know that.

‐ Yes, and I know the misery
that the use of force leads to.

‐ That misery is all on
my people's heads right now.

Should we just wait,
be patient?

‐ No.
That wouldn't be fair.

♪ ♪

You will see the general
in me soon enough.

♪ ♪

‐ Frederick Douglass,
he understands

Grant's huge popularity
among the people,

and he wants to help Grant

be that next great
American leader

in the vein
of a George Washington.

‐ But the question is,
what exactly can he do

about the activities
of the Klan?

Because this is,
after all, a state matter.

What Congress does
is to equip Grant

with the Ku Klux Klan Act.

‐ Grant felt so strongly
about the KKK Act

that he actually marched up
to Capitol Hill

with his entire cabinet
to lobby for it.

This was a very powerful
and sweeping act.

‐ It allows Grant
to declare martial law

and send federal troops
in directly to intervene.

♪ ♪

‐ I've been there,
seen it myself, Mr. President.

The Ku Kluxers
are all over those towns.

They're farmers,
sheriffs, politicians.

‐ You served in the war,
didn't you?

‐ Yes, sir.
Missouri.

‐ And you faced your share
of rebel guerillas there.

How'd you deal with them?

‐ Well, sir, we had to find
the enemy any way we could.

We used informants, spies.

‐ Exactly.
‐ We had to gather information,

identities, find out
who the leaders were.

‐ And that's what you're gonna
do now against the Klan.

After you learn who your
targets are, you'll strike.

And I don't care if they're
doctors or farmers or lawyers.

You arrest them and try them.

‐ Yes, sir.

‐ You're gonna root them out,
Merrill,

no matter what it takes.

‐ You can count on me,
Mr. President.

♪ ♪

[horses neighing]

‐ And so in 1871,
several companies

of the Seventh Cavalry
are sent into South Carolina,

where, under
Major Lewis Merrill,

they actually go out and begin
arresting large numbers

of Klan members
to bring them to justice.

‐ It took a lot of

counterintelligence
operations,

of getting to know who
the political leaders were,

getting to know who
the Klan leaders were‐‐

a difficult thing to do,

but ultimately, Grant
is going to be successful

at defeating the Klan.

‐ For all practical purposes,
by 1872,

the operations
of the Ku Klux Klan

had been pretty successfully
suppressed,

and it is one of
the significant achievements

of Grant's administration.

‐ I think fighting
and defeating

the Klan is a big deal.

And so that Grant defeats
the first wave of the Klan is,

I think, something that people

have not paid
enough attention to.

‐ And so the 1871 Klan Acts
made it safe enough

for African‐Americans
to vote in the South.

♪ ♪

But there was pushback,

and there was pushback
in large part

because many people believed
that Grant was overextending

his hand with the Klan Acts.

Many white Northerners,

including a fair number
of Union soldiers,

are never on board
with occupying the South.

They say, "If this can happen
in the South,

why can't it happen
in the North?"

‐ And the country's also aware
of the great cost

of this military occupation,

the great cost
of Reconstruction.

And quite frankly, they've
grown weary of Reconstruction.

‐ Grant is well aware
that public opinion

goes strongly against
the use of federal troops

just being sent in whenever
there's some kind of emergency

and martial law
being declared.

In other words, he could wreck

the entire
Reconstruction project

if he reaches for the
martial law weapon too much.

‐ I thought I could
run the government

of the United States as I did
the staff of my army.

It was my mistake,

and it led me
into other mistakes.

♪ ♪
♪ ♪

‐ What's this?
‐ Requests, Mr. President.

Suggestions for
cabinet appointments.

Businessmen
want to meet with you.

Another report of violence
in the South.

Sherman wants troops in the
west to contain the Indians.

One of the Indians,
a chief named Red Cloud,

wants to come to Washington
to meet you.

‐ When Grant is president,
he's dealing with a host

of issues with the
Transcontinental Railroad,

certainly with
Native Americans.

He makes a pledge of leniency

and goodwill
toward Native Americans

which ultimately
doesn't pan out.

And we're moving
into the period when industry

and capitalism
are coming to the forefront.

‐ The economy in the North,
in particular, had expanded

tremendously during the war.

So you have‐‐
during Grant's presidency,

you have the beginnings
of the rise of big business.

At the same time,
there's an enormous expansion

of the federal government,

and there is much more
opportunity

for government corruption
than before.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant himself
was not corrupt.

Ironically, his presidential
administration goes down as one

that is remembered
as being corrupt.

‐ Grant thinks everybody
has a good heart,

everybody has as good
a heart as he does.

‐ Grant has a blind loyalty
to people,

and some of the people that
he appointed were corrupt.

‐ You see that fierce loyalty
with his secretary,

Orville Babcock.

Babcock was involved
with the Whisky Ring,

which was
government officials

working with
whiskey distributors

and dealers to embezzle money

to the tune
of $1 1/2 million a year,

and it was a major,
major scandal.

But Grant's loyalty
was so strong,

he vouched for Babcock.

‐ There was an innocence
about Grant,

and because he was not
deceitful himself,

he had a lot of difficulty
seeing that in other people.

And everyone who knew Grant was
mystified by his gullibility.

♪ ♪

‐ Corruption increasingly
becomes a problem

as bribes become
more evident.

And so there is a cultural
shift that's going on.

♪ ♪

‐ Voters take their
frustrations to the polls

in the midterm elections
in 1874,

and they put
a Democratic majority,

for the first time
since the Civil War,

into the House
of Representatives.

Once there's
a Democratic majority

in the House
of Representatives,

Grant finds himself crippled

in all of these
Reconstruction measures.

‐ The notion
that his administration

is full of corruption
leads people to doubt

and to pull back
from supporting him,

especially when it comes
to Reconstruction.

But Grant remained popular,

and he certainly remained
popular with Union veterans.

[cheers and applause]

‐ Good to see you, sir.
‐ Thank you.

‐ You're too good
to your country.

Good men.
Good men and true.

‐ Thank you, sir.
‐ It's nice to meet you, sir.

‐ Pleased to meet you,
President Grant.

I fought with General Thomas
over in Chattanooga.

‐ I won't forget you, soldier.

‐ Thank you, sir.
Thank you.

‐ Excuse me, gentlemen.
‐ General.

[cheers and applause]

‐ In September 1875,

Grant gets an appeal from

Governor Adelbert Ames
of Mississippi,

and Ames says that there's
already so much violence

ahead of
the November elections.

And so he asks Grant
to send down federal troops.

‐ There's a real pushback

to any more intervention
in the South.

Many white Northerners
say enough is enough.

There's a notion
that corruption abounds

in the federal government,
and there's no longer

a real willingness
of white Northerners to say,

"More needs to be done
for African‐Americans."

‐ So now Grant has to weigh
what intervention in the South

will mean at the polls

in Northern states
for Republicans.

Do you sacrifice
the Republican Party,

and the only party
that's supporting

and defending African‐American
voting rights,

or do you capitulate
to this terrorism

on the ground in the South?

‐ It was duty on one side and
party obligation on the other.

Between the two, I hesitated.

If a mistake was made,

it was one of the head
and not of the heart.

♪ ♪

Tell the governor
of Mississippi

that I won't be sending troops.

♪ ♪

I should not have yielded.

It requires no prophet
to foresee that the results

of the war would be
in large measure lost.

♪ ♪

‐ And so after Grant
leaves office,

Reconstruction
is effectively over.

♪ ♪

‐ Grant is not the one
who abandoned Reconstruction.

The American people
abandoned Reconstruction,

and he just couldn't
rally them back in

because of the swirl
of things around him.

And the abandonment

was also an abandonment
of the ideals behind it,

which was really equality
for everyone.

And when that was abandoned,

the remnants
of this white supremacy

was able to reemerge.

The subjugation
of black people

was allowed
to reassert itself unchecked.

♪ ♪

It will take another 100 years

of people pushing
against status quo

before we can even get to
a point where we get Congress

to actually enforce the
amendments of Reconstruction.

♪ ♪

‐ But Grant's presidency,
in many ways,

was a heroic presidency.

All of these things
that he accomplished,

he didn't accomplish because

he was pursuing fame
or money or power.

All these things
that he accomplished

were just in the course
of doing his patriotic duty.

‐ He was probably
the most respected man

and maybe the only who could
have led at those times,

and look what he does.

He starts
the Justice Department.

Then he battles
the Ku Klux Klan.

He passes the 15th Amendment.

Under his watch,
the nation advances,

and he does not just one
but two terms.

And yet ultimately,
I don't really think

he was a political animal
in any sense.

‐ Personally,
I was weary of office.

I never wanted
to get out of a place

as much
as I did the presidency.

‐ Grant felt, especially
in his second term,

he felt that was in jail
every single day.

In fact, he used that
in a letter:

"I'm breaking out of jail."

♪ ♪

He couldn't wait to leave,
and he planned to travel.

He loved to travel.
He loved to be on the move.

And he and Julia
spent two years

traveling around the world.

He went to India.

He went to China.
He went to Japan.

‐ And in every country
where he goes,

he's received
by tremendous crowds.

[cheers and applause]

So routinely, 100,000,
200,000, 250,000 people

would pour into the streets.

So clearly,
after Abraham Lincoln,

the one name that the world
knew was Ulysses S. Grant.

‐ When Grant returns
to the United States

after his two‐year world tour,
he is looking for an income.

Presidents had no pension
at the time,

and his son Ulysses Jr.

had gotten involved
in Wall Street.

So Grant and his son started
a partnership for a firm

with a man
named Ferdinand Ward,

an up‐and‐coming phenom
in the Wall Street market.

The principal members
are given allowances

of $3,000 a month.

There's just money rolling in.

[door creaking]

♪ ♪

‐ Father...
we need to speak.

♪ ♪

‐ What is it?

♪ ♪

‐ Ward is gone.

♪ ♪

He's taken the money.

Everything's lost...
everything.

♪ ♪

‐ And it turned out
that Ferdinand Ward

was the Bernie Madoff
of his day.

The whole thing
was a big Ponzi scheme.

Grant woke up one morning
only to discover

that he was worth exactly $80

and Julia was worth
exactly $130.

He was wiped out.

All his children
were wiped out.

♪ ♪

‐ What's the matter, Ulys?
You look ill.

♪ ♪

‐ I must speak with you.

‐ Of course.
What is it?

‐ This morning,
I was a wealthy man.

♪ ♪

And now I've lost everything.

♪ ♪
♪ ♪

‐ So what brings the famous
Mark Twain to my parlor?

‐ General...

a reason for my visit.

I hear you've agreed
to write your memoirs

for "The Century" magazine.

‐ They've made me an offer.

‐ And what royalty
have they promised you?

‐ 10%.

‐ General,
they are treating you

as if you were a private
in an army

nobody ever heard of.

Let me make you a better offer.
‐ But you're too late, Clemens.

I have committed
to "Century's" publisher,

and I can't go back on my word.

‐ Let me publish your memoirs.

I promise, you'll leave
your family well off

and the nation richer
for your story.

♪ ♪

‐ In 1884, Ulysses S. Grant,

Civil War general
and two‐term president

of the United States,
was now faced with poverty.

And Sam Clemens,
better known as Mark Twain,

arrived at his home
to see if he could help Grant

by having him
write his memoirs

and leave a lasting legacy
of how he saw the war

and how he saw one
of the most pivotal moments

in American history.

So eventually, Grant
did go with Twain's offer

to make money for his family
to save them from poverty.

♪ ♪

‐ But during the summer
before he started writing,

he bites into a peach,
and he says that somehow

something stung him
from the peach in his throat

and he can't figure out
what it is.

He sees a doctor,
and at that point,

they realize that it's cancer
and that they can't operate.

So he realizes
that it's fatal.

♪ ♪

‐ What is to be my fate?

Will I have
to lay awake again?

Making it a study
how to get a breath

is about as much
as I could stand

to go through another night.

‐ Grant wrote the memoirs
under horrific conditions.

He said that every time
he drank a glass of water,

it was like drinking
a glass of molten lead.

This was a truly heroic effort
of Grant in agonizing pain,

writing the memoirs.

And he literally willed
himself to stay alive.

‐ And it's the final battle
of his life,

the battle to outrace
his terminal cancer

in order to finish his memoirs

and rescue his family
from bankruptcy.

‐ But as everything else
in his life,

he did not let it defeat him.

In the end, he would prevail,
and he would finish the book.

‐ These volumes are dedicated
to the American soldier

and sailor,
U. S. Grant, 1885.

[somber music]

‐ He dies three days
after writing the last page,

and Twain realizes at once
that what Grant has written

is a monument
in American literature.

‐ My family is American
and has been for generations.

In all its branches, direct...
‐ This memoir

is hugely important
and hugely powerful.

It earns over half
a million dollars for Julia,

which, of course, in today's
money, would be much more.

It's very successful,
and people read it everywhere.

I think something people
tend to forget now

is that Grant, at his death,

was arguably the most famous
American in the world.

‐ The response to his death
was amazing.

The national funeral which
took place in New York City

that day began with bells
ringing all over the country,

North and South.

It was just a national
outpouring of grief for him.

♪ ♪

‐ In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt

suggested that Grant, Lincoln,
and Washington

loomed as the three great
heroes of American history.

So even as late
as the turn of the century,

he's part
of this heroic firmament.

And then in the decades
that follow,

that diminishes rapidly.

[dramatic music]

‐ What happened was that
the history of the war

came to be written by a lot
of pro‐Southern historians

who exercise a powerful sway.

It's often called
the Lost Cause.

‐ The Lost Cause narrative

is really an effort
of the South to say,

"How did we sacrifice so much
for a cause so bad as slavery?"

So they changed the narrative.

"No, no, it was about state's
rights and independence."

And so that narrative

has become
the predominant narrative,

and I think a part of it
that gets buried in there

is the role of Grant.

‐ There were three separate
attacks on his legacy.

Grant is known by many
as the butcher.

Grant is known as the drunk.
Grant is known as the corrupt.

‐ Everything else
gets stripped away,

and you've got the guy
that won the Civil War

and he was an alcoholic
and a failed president.

‐ And the Lost Cause
casts Grant as the villain

and Lee as the hero.

So once the memory
of that generation

that venerated him passed on,
he was forgotten.

‐ And so Confederates
lost the Civil War,

but they certainly won
the war of myth.

And Grant was on the wrong side
of that myth.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

[thunder rumbling]

‐ Shall I read one to you?

This one's from
a Confederate soldier.

Ulys?

"Dear General Grant,
I hope you will allow one who,

"when a boy, laid down his arms
at Appomattox

"and pledged allegiance
to the Union

to express his warmest
sympathy..."

‐ For you
and your suffering.

I have watched
your movements

from the hour you gave me
my horse and sword

and told me to go home
and assist in making a crop.

I have been proud to see
the nation do you honor.

And now, dear General,
in the hour of your pain,

I weep that so brave,

so magnanimous a soul
must suffer as you do.

♪ ♪

[light music]

‐ There's something, like,
really beautiful and American

in his whole story.

He just comes from nothing.

‐ From the
hardscrabble background

who's had a lot of hard times
and failures in his life,

who rises to the highest
level of power,

becomes the greatest general
of his time.

‐ Against all odds,
against incredible obstacles,

he became the winning general
of the Civil War.

‐ He was the commander
of the victorious army

that led to the emancipation
of 4 million people.

‐ Grant is the unheroic hero

of our greatest national epic,

the Civil War
and Reconstruction.

‐ He was committed

to making America
fully just, fully equal.

‐ Grant was the first
civil rights president.

‐ It's as improbable a rise

as any other figure
in American history.

‐ Indomitable will.
‐ Dogged determination.

‐ Moral vision.
‐ He's a fighter.

‐ It's truly an American story

of not only patriotism
to the nation

but for the values,

who we are
and who we aspire to be.

‐ One of my superstitions
has always been,

when I started to go anywhere
or to do anything,

never to turn back or stop

until the thing intended
was accomplished.

♪ ♪