All language subtitles for The UnXplained s07e11 Secrets of the Civil War.eng

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Supernatural beings

haunting
blood-stained battlefields.

Mysterious spies infiltrating
the inner sanctum of power.

And treasure hunters
seeking a legendary fortune

in gold.

From 1861 to 1865,

the United States of America
found itself

in a deadly conflict-

a four-year struggle that
forged heroes, freed millions,

and would forever be known
as the Civil War.

While history often focuses
on the polarizing politics

and the bloody battles
of this tumultuous era,

there are also many fascinating
and shocking stories

to be found of the people
and places that played a role

in the War Between the States.

From rumors of lost treasure

and haunted battlefields,

to mysterious premonitions
and secret societies,

could these intriguing tales
shed new light

on America's darkest days?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

? ?

This historic landmark
was built in 1829

to protect Charleston Harbor
against naval attacks.

Every year, hundreds
of thousands of people visit

this old sea fort
to walk in the footsteps

of some truly remarkable
American history.

Because on April 12, 1861,

it was here
that the first shots were fired

during the American Civil War.

The Civil War is perhaps
the most important thing

that ever happened
in the history of this country.

It's often referred to
as "The Brothers' War,"

not just because you had
Americans from the South

fighting Americans
from the North,

but within families,
there was division.

You had sons growing up

in the same household
with the same parents,

and one takes the side
of the North,

and the other takes the side
of the South.

There were between two and three
million men who were serving.

The expectation was

that it would only be
for a few months.

-(gunfire)
-But the war actually lasted

from April of 1861

to April 1865.

MARTIN K.A. MORGAN:
During the conflict,

the Confederate States
of America

attempted to dominate
the United States military

on the field of battle.

By the time
that the war ends in 1865,

over 600,000 Americans
have lost their lives

as a result of combat
during the American Civil War.

That is a total number
that is greater

than any other conflict
we have ever fought.

So, more Americans die
fighting the American Civil War

than die fighting
the Second World War.

We should be comforted
by the idea

that we're so far away
from this conflict

and that nothing
to equal the terror

of the American Civil War
has happened

to the American people since.

SHATNER: The Civil War saw
over 10,000 battles

and military engagements
fought in 19 states,

between the Union army
of the North

and the Confederate Army
of the South.

And today, the most visited

of these former battlegrounds is
in rural Pennsylvania

at the site of the conflict's
bloodiest battle.

(soldiers yelling)

SHATNER:
1863.

For the first three days
of July,

intense fighting

would leave
51,000 Americans wounded,

captured, missing or killed

at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The battlefield here
at Gettysburg

looks very much
like it did in 1863.

Here we are on the face
of Little Round Top.

This was a scene
of mass confusion.

The ridge in the distance
is Seminary Ridge.

The attacking Confederates
came across these rocks.

This was bloody,
hand-to-hand fighting,

Confederates coming
up the cliff.

It was just an amazing scene
of bullets,

cannonballs, exploding shells.

The horror here was astounding.

My great-great grandfather was
in the extreme right flank

of the Confederate attack here,

and he had served
through the war.

The fact that I have stood here
where my ancestors fought

and seen the battle
in my mind's eye-

that was undescribable to me.

It's really a part
of who I am spiritually.

SHATNER:
Gettysburg is not only a place

of spiritual reflection,
but for many,

it's also a place filled
with restless spirits.

Many have wondered,
is Gettysburg haunted

by the tens of thousands
of soldiers that died here?

ALLISON:
This is definitely not only hallowed ground,

but haunted ground.

People actually see
spectral soldiers.

-(weapons firing)
-They hear musket fire.

They hear phantom artillery fire
to this day.

There are so many accounts
by so many people

of their experiences here,

that it simply
cannot be discounted.

I was a park ranger
at Gettysburg

for six years in the '70s.

Having studied this
for 40, 50 years,

I would have to say,
without a doubt,

Gettysburg is one of
the most haunted places

probably in the world.

What happened in Gettysburg
stayed in Gettysburg.

The ghosts of the soldiers
who died- they're here.

And most everybody feels it
in one way or another.

SHATNER:
According to Mark Nesbitt,

the highest concentration
of otherworldly reports come

from an area on the battlefield
that is called "Devil's Den."

NESBITT:
Right now, we're in Devil's Den,

one of the more
recognizable places

on the battlefield
of Gettysburg.

The fighting here
gradually grew

into some
of the most savage fighting

of the battle, and hence,
of the American Civil War.

From 4:00 p.m. on July 2

to 4:00 p.m. on July 3, 1863,

at Gettysburg
was the bloodiest 24 hours

in American history.

These granite boulders
formed tunnels and passageways

through these great rocks
in Devil's Den.

Soldiers had
to fight through these.

This area is very much
like a maze.

There are great cracks
in these boulders.

Wounded men fell into them,

and then, after the battle,
when the burials were going on,

there's no place to dig a grave,

so, sadly, a number
of these men were just tossed

into these crevices
between the giant rocks.

And so it's no surprise

that this is one of the most
haunted spots in America.

(wind whistling)

Perhaps the most frightening
story I ever heard

about Gettysburg took place here
in Devil's Den.

Two women were up
on these rocks.

And they were hopping
across one of these cracks.

And one woman stepped over,
and all of a sudden,

her leg got caught.

And she looked down,
and there was a hand

that had come up
and grabbed her leg.

And she screamed
and pulled away.

And when they went over
to look down in the crevice,

no one was there.

SHATNER:
Why is there such a high concentration

of haunting reports
at Devil's Den?

Some believe it could trace back

to the most chilling photograph
ever taken at Gettysburg.

JEFF BELANGER:
The Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter photograph

was taken at Devil's Den.

It's one
of the most famous photos

from the whole
of the Civil War.

You see this dead body,
and you see a rifle.

And it is a powerful,
powerful photo.

It's also staged.

The photographer,
Alexander Gardner,

moved the body,
he had positioned the head,

so the face was a little bit
more toward the camera,

he had set the rifle
in a certain place,

because he was trying
to tell a story.

That fallen sharpshooter
haunts Gettysburg.

I can't recall any other time

when, um, soldiers were...
were actually posed.

Here's a young man,
obviously young, killed.

They're desecrating his memory.

So, if there is
a perturbed spirit

at Devil's Den,

no doubt it's this young man

who was dragged back and forth
and posed

just to make a photographer
some money.

SHATNER: Could the desecration
of this unidentified soldier

be connected to paranormal
activity reported in Gettysburg?

It's an intriguing thought.

But there are other
Civil War mysteries

that may be much easier
to unravel,

like the legends of lost gold
just waiting to be found.

SHATNER:
Treasure hunter Brian Cerniglia

scours farms, fields

and former battlegrounds
of the American Civil War

searching for lost pieces

of 19th-century history.

Here we have
a six-pound cannonball.

SHATNER:
Brian and others have managed

to find all kinds
of historic Civil War artifacts,

from simple buttons and buckles

to objects of remarkable value.

I've been hunting for Civil War
relics almost my entire life.

The passion for history
and the search

for the unknown
constantly drives me

to pick up a metal detector
and get out and explore.

We stumble across
quite a bit of relics

from the Civil War era.

Of course, the favorite
of everybody is the coins.

So, here's just a small example

of all the different types
of coins that can be found

when you're out treasure-hunting
for Civil War relics.

And this coin is actually
made out of silver.

Large coins like this were
how the soldiers got paid.

This could have been
in the pocket

of a Civil War soldier.

SHATNER:
The prospect of finding a stash

of Civil War coins is
every treasure hunter's dream,

but just how much silver and
gold might still be out there,

waiting to be found?

There are real mysteries
of Civil War treasure,

because we know quite a lot

of gold and silver was used
during the war.

Quite a lot of payrolls were
going out during the Civil War.

And a lot of it went missing.

-(men shouting)
-A great example of that

at the end of the Civil War

is when it's clear that
the Union is coming to Richmond.

It was really the end
for the South.

The Confederate government
leaves Richmond,

and they call it
"evacuation day."

Confederate President
Jefferson Davis left Richmond

with a train
that had the entirety

of what was remaining
of the Confederate Treasury,

millions in gold and silver.

And six weeks later,
when he's captured,

he's got essentially
a few dollars in his pocket,

and in between, we don't know
what happened to all that money.

And that's not the only case

during the entire
American Civil War

where large dollar amounts
went missing.

And we don't know
where that money went.

SHATNER:
The tales of missing fortunes

have motivated
many history sleuths

to try and piece clues together
to find lost loot.

One of the most sought-after
hidden fortunes is said

to have belonged
to a Confederate colonel

named John Singleton Mosby,
also known as "The Gray Ghost."

GEIGER:
John Singleton Mosby

is a really interesting
character in the war.

He's with the 43rd
Virginia Cavalry,

but his unit, which comes
to be called "Mosby's Rangers,"

their specialty was to just
pop up, you know, ten miles

behind the lines
where no one was expecting it.

They'd grab sentries,
or they would steal things.

And so he almost becomes
like a boogeyman.

DENNIS E. FRYE:
John Mosby- he was known

as "the Gray Ghost,"
because the ghost would appear,

and the ghost would vanish.

He would strike railroad lines

that were carrying supplies
to the army.

He would attack messengers
and couriers

so that communication
would be broken up.

And then,
if they needed to hide,

Mosby's men would disappear

in that part of Virginia,
to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Once you were in the mountain,
the enemy was not going

to follow you there.

SHATNER:
Mosby was also rumored

to have cleverly made
a stash

of gold, silver
and jewels disappear

from a federal building
in Fairfax, Virginia.

It is said
that on March 9, 1863,

the Gray Ghost snuck
behind enemy lines

and robbed
the Fairfax Courthouse,

making off with a fortune
that, if found today,

would be worth
six million dollars.

FRYE:
Mosby's men go right to Fairfax Courthouse.

Mosby sends parties out
to capture horses

and officers associated
with the Union army.

But then he discovers something.

$350,000 dollars' worth
of loot there,

stored in Fairfax County
at the courthouse.

So, the story goes,
he decides to bury it.

And so, in the darkness,
somewhere in Virginia

between Fairfax Courthouse
and Centreville,

there Mosby buries the loot.

CHUCK MAURO:
Mosby found $350,000 dollars' worth of gold,

silver and family heirlooms

that had been taken
by the Union soldiers

from Southern homes.

And as they left,
the legend states

that Mosby buried
the gold and silver

between two pine trees
that he marked with an "X"

with his knife.

And only he and his sergeant
knew the location.

GEIGER:
Mosby's treasure was never recovered,

but there is a story
that, on his deathbed,

he said something
to the effect of,

"There's a fortune
in the hills of Virginia,"

to suggest that maybe
it had been left behind.

So people ever since

have been looking for trees
with Xs carved in them,

trying to find Mosby's treasure.

SHATNER:
Could the Gray Ghost's fabled lost treasure

really be hiding
in a Virginia forest?

While it could be easy to
dismiss the story as pure myth,

remarkably,
a very real Civil War treasure

has recently been discovered.

MORGAN:
In the summer of 2023, on his property,

a farmer in Kentucky

made a pretty interesting
discovery.

This man looks down in the dirt

of the recently plowed field
and sees some gold coins.

By the time
he's done rooting around

in the recently plowed field,

he's pulled out over 800 coins,

over 700 of which are gold.

These coins are all minted

in the years
before the Civil War

and during the Civil War,
up until 1863.

And here we are in 2023,

and a man has just found
this mother lode of coins

that date to the era
of the Civil War.

It's a significant find.

SHATNER:
The massive cache of riches

is estimated to be worth
more than two million dollars,

and is a priceless incentive
to relic hunters

to continue their search
for treasures of the Civil War.

Growing up
and exploring Virginia,

I find myself
retracing the paths,

the steps those soldiers
would have taken,

searching for any trinkets
or treasures

they may have dropped
along the way.

I was out detecting one day
and stumbled upon

this small pocketknife,
which doesn't look like much,

but given the context
and the story of General Mosby

marking the treasure
with his knife,

I thought to myself,
"Maybe, just maybe,

this could be the knife."

Unfortunately, the knife
was all that was there,

but it gives me the thought
that possibly, maybe,

treasure could be buried nearby.

There is always the possibility

that John Mosby's treasure
is still out there,

and that I could be
the one to find it.

Will the Gray Ghost's treasure
ever be found?

(inhales)

I guess it depends
on whether anyone can locate

those two pine trees,
if even they're still standing.

But sometimes
the most intriguing secrets

are hiding in plain sight.

For instance, there's the story

of a prominent
Southern socialite

who controlled a spy ring

inside the headquarters

of the Confederate States
of America.

SHATNER: Evidence of this Southern
city's strategic importance

during the Civil War
can still be found.

There is the Tredegar
Iron Works,

where over half the cannons

used by the Southern states
were made;

the Chimborazo Hospital,

which treated over
76,000 injured soldiers;

and the White House
of the Confederacy,

the South's base of operations.

In 1861, Richmond becomes
the capital of the Confederacy,

and then basically,
all the government

is gonna flood to it

and massively increase
the population.

So, Richmond becomes the center
of Confederate legislation,

but also the center
of moving food and weapons

and war materials
to all the theaters of war.

It will have Confederate
government departments,

so a war department,
a navy department,

all the stuff that comes
with trying to run a government

is grafted onto Richmond.

SHATNER:
In addition to President Jefferson Davis,

other key figures

like Vice President
Alexander Stephens

and General Robert E. Lee,

the supreme commander
of the Confederate Army,

all made Richmond their home.

As local residents
of status and wealth

began to socialize with the men

who were tasked
with saving the South,

an unlikely spy was secretly
plotting to defeat them.

Her name was Elizabeth Van Lew.

HALL:
Elizabeth Van Lew was from a wealthy family.

She was born and raised
in Richmond, Virginia.

Throughout the 1840s and 1850s,

she's vocally advocating
for abolition of slavery,

which is a fairly
dangerous thing to do

in Richmond, Virginia,
of the 1840s and 1850s.

When war came,
Elizabeth Van Lew ended up

leading an espionage network

to collect
military information-

information
that would be of value-

and transmit it successfully
to the United States Army.

So, the Van Lew spy ring
is the story of

the most successful spy network
of the Civil War.

MORGAN:
The consequences for spying were severe.

You could be sentenced to death
if you were found

to be guilty of spying
in Richmond.

But she helped
to get information out

about the Confederate government
and the Confederate military

at a time when
the U.S. really needed

valuable,
actionable intelligence.

So it says a lot
about the people

who were willing to do this

because they were willing
to gamble with their lives.

SHATNER:
With the ever-present threat

of being caught
and punished by death,

how did an established
Southern belle

become the most successful
spymaster of the Civil War?

Well, some believe
it was because she employed

secret agents that could
easily hide in plain sight

among Richmond's
Confederate leadership.

Van Lew recruited
African Americans as spies.

Van Lew understood
Southern culture

because she was a part of it.

She understood how they thought,
how they viewed Black people.

And so, she understood

that if she sent
Black people out to spy,

that they could be
very successful,

because no one would ever expect

that they had the intelligence
or the courage

to carry any of her plans out.

And she realized that if
she was going to be successful,

if she was going
to aid the Union,

she would have
to use Black people

to help her in that endeavor.

And she brought them
into this whole thing.

But we're still trying
to find out

the extent to which
African Americans were involved

in intelligence gathering
during the Civil War.

We can't always put
a name to these people,

because their operations
were clandestine.

SHATNER:
The identities of Elizabeth Van Lew's spies

remain largely a mystery.

But remarkably,
there is evidence to suggest

that she was able to place
an African American spy

inside the most important
Confederate residence

in all of Richmond,

the home of the Confederate
president himself,

Jefferson Davis.

In 1911,

Harper's Monthly Magazine
published a story,

and that story detailed
that Elizabeth Van Lew

had been a spy in Richmond
during the Civil War

on behalf of the United States.

And it said
that an African American woman

had been placed in the home
of Jefferson Davis as a spy.

It named that woman
as Mary Elizabeth Bowser.

And that story from 1911
has been kind of repeated

and re-repeated and embellished
for a hundred-plus years.

The person that we certainly
celebrate more than anyone else

is Mary Elizabeth Bowser.

She was a young woman
who grew up

in the Van Lew household.

Historians have grappled
in recent years

with her true identity,
because she used

a variety of aliases
during her life.

And it makes sense,

because if she's engaging
in espionage,

she doesn't want anyone
to know her true identity.

So, it's been very difficult,
as a consequence,

for historians
to really trace her life.

Historians would love to know

if she was actually in
the Confederate White House,

and what she actually
discovered while there

and how that might have
impacted the war,

but we just don't have
that information.

SHATNER: Did an African American
spy named Mary Elizabeth Bowser

really infiltrate
the Confederate White House?

While the mystery lives on,

we do know that
Elizabeth Van Lew's spy ring

proved hugely successful.

In fact,
her clandestine operations

even garnered praise

from the commander
of the Union army,

General Ulysses S. Grant.

HALL:
Ulysses Grant said about Elizabeth Van Lew,

"You provided me with
the most valuable information

I received from Richmond
during the war."

That's pretty high praise.

Similarly, George Sharpe,
head of military intelligence,

said that Elizabeth Van Lew
was all that was left

of the power of the U.S.
government in Richmond.

So, the people
that are most positioned

to say whether or not
this was valuable

unequivocally said how valuable
the Richmond spy network was.

The courage shown
by Elizabeth Van Lew

and the African Americans

who participated
in the Richmond spy ring

must have outweighed the fear

they felt conducting
such a dangerous mission.

But there's another mystery

that's frightening
for a very different reason.

It involves
a grotesque monster said to roam

one of the Civil War's
bloodiest battlefields.

SHATNER:
Overlooking the winding Tennessee River,

this picturesque site
spans 9,000 acres

across the border
of Tennessee and Georgia.

In 1863, this was the site
of the second bloodiest battle

of the Civil War
after Gettysburg.

It's the Battle of Chickamauga.

BELANGER:
The Battle of Chickamauga took place in Tennessee

a few months after
the Battle of Gettysburg.

And the carnage was awful.

Confederate General John Gordon

would write in his book
about the battle

that he had heard
that the word "Chickamauga"

translates to "river of blood."

He got the translation wrong,

but he got the spirit
of it right.

It was the river of death.

SHATNER:
More than 100,000 soldiers

met at the Battle
of Chickamauga,

and 34,000 were either
killed or injured.

In addition
to this river of death,

according to local legend,

soldiers on
the Chickamauga battlefield

saw an even more
disturbing sight,

a terrifying creature
picking through the corpses

that has come to be known
as Old Green Eyes.

RUSSELL:
Old Green Eyes

is a very difficult story
to pinpoint

because there are so many
variations of the legend.

One of the prevailing theories
is that he is possibly a demon

that has come to feed
on that negativity.

And so, in Chickamauga,
with such a large loss of life

that was protracted
over several days,

that may have
attracted the interest

of something that's malevolent.

Old Green Eyes has been
described as a predatory cat.

He's been described
as a small goblin-like creature.

He's also been described
as a soldier

who possibly lost his head
to a cannonball

during the battle...

...and he is out
searching for it.

The one thing that's consistent
is they always described him

as having glowing green eyes.

NESBITT:
The legend is that soldiers

would see this indistinct shape
out in front of them.

As it got closer, they would see

these piercing green eyes
staring at them.

But of course,
we're not 100% sure

about any of this.

Is Old Green Eyes a real thing?

Is this a hallucination?

That I don't know.
That's-that's the mystery.

But we do know
that the savagery was real

and it was an awful thing
to witness.

The men, they didn't have a term

called post-traumatic
stress syndrome,

but no doubt,
they all went home with it.

SHATNER:
Is the legend of Old Green Eyes

based on a real
flesh-and-blood monster,

or is it a story meant
to describe the madness of war?

Clues might be found
in Indigenous folklore

that is surprisingly similar

to the stories
of the horrific creature.

In Native American lore,
there are several places

where there are mounds
that they believe are protected

by entities and spirits,

much like what Old Green Eyes
would be described as.

In the middle
of the Chickamauga battlefield

stands Snodgrass Hill,

and it's about 900 foot tall
at elevation.

It is possible that that mound
had some spiritual significance

to Native Americans
who lived in that area,

because during the battle,

it was where Green Eyes
is seen the most.

Strange stories of creatures,
monsters and ghosts

have been around for millennia,

and they cross all cultures.

So it's quite possible
that Native Americans

had some belief in something
in this region,

and that after the battle,

they sort of got mixed
and merged together.

We're trying to put a name on
something we don't understand.

SHATNER: While it's hard to pinpoint
the true origin of this legend,

and it's easy to dismiss
the idea of a monster

with glowing green eyes,

to this day, locals claim
they've seen the beast.

One of the earlier ones
that I researched

was about a young man who was
on his way to pick up a date.

He lived in Tennessee
and he was driving down

into Georgia to pick her up.

And on the way through,
it was a foggy night.

And in the distance,
he noticed an oncoming car

had green headlights.

And as he got closer,

he noticed that they weren't
headlights at all,

but glowing green eyes,

and they appeared
to be running towards him.

This, of course, startles him,

and he wrecks his car
off to the side of the road.

It's a very strange occurrence.
Very odd.

BELANGER:
Every legend is real to some extent.

So if people are seeing things
and then giving it that label,

like Old Green Eyes,
that was real to them.

A story can't endure
and stick around

if it's not getting reinforced
by other people

having an experience.

So, in that regard,
yeah, it's absolutely real.

Did the terrible carnage
on the Chickamauga battlefield

attract the attention
of a bloodthirsty monster?

Or was the legend
of Old Green Eyes

created to try to make sense
of the horrors of war?

Whatever the case,
there's another

chilling Civil War mystery,

one of deadly premonitions,
not from a battlefield

but from the mind
of Abraham Lincoln himself.

SHATNER:
In the oval-shaped parlor known as the Red Room,

where America's first ladies
traditionally held receptions

for visiting dignitaries,

President Abraham Lincoln's wife
Mary Todd Lincoln

welcomes guests
for an unusual event.

The group is holding a s�ance

to contact
the Lincolns' dead son.

In February 1862,
the Lincolns lost

their favorite son,
Willie Lincoln,

and that was a very dark time
for the Lincoln family.

And Abraham and Mary Lincoln

fell into
an extraordinarily deep grief.

They had lost another son
earlier in their lives,

but this one really hit hard.

BELANGER:
During the Lincoln presidency,

Mary Todd Lincoln was holding
s�ances in the White House.

She was so distraught,

so she would bring in mediums

to try to communicate
with his spirit.

And we know President Lincoln
attended at least one of them,

because he paid a bit

of a political price
in the newspapers

that said,
"What's this president doing

consulting with
mediums and psychics"

and things like that.

SHATNER:
Despite the flak President Lincoln received,

the notion of spiritualism,

the belief that the dead
could communicate

with the living
via psychic mediums,

was actually on the rise
during the Civil War,

and Lincoln himself
was no exception.

MORGAN:
During the Civil War,

this is an, a time period
when people

all over the world believe
in this "spiritualist idea"

of communicating with the dead.

And over the course
of the Civil War,

there are intense casualties
on the battlefield.

So, people are having s�ances

to speak
to their long-lost dead.

BELANGER:
I think President Lincoln was probably more

spiritually in tune than most,

especially considering
the pressure he was under.

His son died
while he was in the White House.

His nation's at war with itself.

Tens of thousands of people
dying on both sides,

you're desperately trying
to hold this country together.

It's now your charge,
you're the president.

And, of course,
he paid the ultimate price

for the office.

SHATNER:
Just five days

after the South's surrender
ends the Civil War,

President Abraham Lincoln
and his wife

attend a play at Ford's Theatre.

And as the show
is about to begin,

a gunshot rings out.

Lincoln slumps forward
in his seat, mortally wounded

by an assassin named
John Wilkes Booth.

DAVID KEEHN:
John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer

and a very famous actor.

That night, he went in,

secretly went outside
the president's box,

uh, opened the door,
he had a derringer,

rushed in and shot
the president in the head.

GEIGER:
When John Wilkes Booth assassinates Lincoln,

he jumps down,
he catches his leg in a bunting,

but he yells
"Sic semper tyrannis,"

which means
"thus always to tyrants."

So, it's personal for him.

He hates Abraham Lincoln.

And there were people
who thought of Lincoln

as a tyrant.

SHATNER:
While Lincoln's assassination is well-known,

in the wake
of this tragic event,

Lincoln's biographer
and friend Ward Hill Lamon

claims that Lincoln had told him
of a terrible dream he had

just three days
before his murder.

WHITE: Ward Hill Lamon was
Lincoln's self-appointed bodyguard.

They were very close
to one another.

In 1872,

Lamon published
a biography of Lincoln.

And according to Lamon,

Lincoln had a dream
that he was in the White House,

and Lincoln heard all sorts
of weeping and wailing.

And in his dream,

he made his way
through the White House

and went downstairs
into the East Room,

and when he got there,
he saw a catafalque

with a corpse on it
being guarded by a soldier.

And Lincoln went up
to the soldier and said,

"Who is dead
in the White House?"

and the soldier replied,
"The president.

He's been shot by an assassin."

And according to Lamon,

Lincoln told this story to Mary
and to several other people,

and that Lincoln
looked very disturbed

by the dream he had had.

SHATNER:
Did President Abraham Lincoln

have a premonition
of his own death?

It's a question
that has intrigued historians

for over 150 years.

MORGAN:
Did Lincoln actually have a premonition,

or was this simply what

the exhausted and stressed mind

produced in moments
of unconscious sleep?

By the time
you get to April 1865,

Lincoln's exhaustion is total.

Think of all of the deaths
on the battlefield

that must have just
sort of bounced around

in his consciousness

before he drifted off
to sleep each night.

And a troubled person,

their troubles will be reflected
in their dreams.

BELANGER: I don't know if
Lincoln was psychic or clairvoyant,

but the night
Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre,

there was a-a story about how

he always said good night
to one of his guards.

It was always "good night."

But that night,
he said "goodbye."

And maybe he knew. Did he know
it would be that night?

When we can't get answers,
mysteries are born.

SHATNER:
Members of a mysterious secret society wait

for Abraham Lincoln to pass
through the city by train.

Their goal is to murder
the newly-elected president

before he ascends to
the highest office in the land.

While this secret plot
was ultimately discovered

and prevented by legendary
detective Allan Pinkerton,

it revealed the existence
of a shadowy organization

known as the Knights
of the Golden Circle.

The Knights of the Golden Circle
was a secret society

that was born in the mid-1850s

by a man named George Bickley.

The Knights of the Golden Circle
was a secret society

with 25,000 or 50,000 members.

The Knights' secrecy
was composed of rituals,

but the rituals were kept oral.

So what they were saying
was really never disclosed.

There was passwords needed
to get into Knights meetings.

And because of the secrecy,
it's very hard to decipher

what the Knights
actually did and didn't do.

MORGAN: The Knights of the Golden
Circle wanted to create a new world,

a new country designated
the "Golden Circle,"

and that is the Southern states
stretching all the way

around Mexico
and circling the Caribbean,

where slavery would be enshrined
as a part of the constitution.

And so
Lincoln became an annoyance

that they had to deal with.

WHITE: The Knights of the Golden
Circle operated largely in the North,

and they were seen
as a secret traitorous society

that may have wanted to
overthrow the Union from within.

When Lincoln
was assassinated in 1865,

Americans at the time

believed that the Knights
of the Golden Circle

may have been behind
the assassination conspiracy.

SHATNER:
While we know the Knights of the Golden Circle

plotted to kill Abraham Lincoln
in 1861, many have wondered,

was the assassination
of Lincoln in 1865

also the work
of this secret society?

There was an 1865 wood print

that says,
"theory, practice, effect."

And under the "theory,"
it shows George Bickley,

who was the head of the Knights
of the Golden Circle.

Under "practice," it shows Booth

as having been the one
that assassinated Lincoln

and the "effect"
was Lincoln's assassination.

So I believe
that the wood panel alleges

some connection between

the Knights, Booth
and the Lincoln assassination.

So, that's one
of the mysteries involved here.

Was that really true?

SHATNER:
Was a secret society the hidden hand

behind one of the most
infamous assassinations

in American history?

We may never know.

But like so many stories
from the Civil War,

solving each mystery
may be as complicated

as the history
of the United States itself.

MORGAN: The Civil War continues
to capture our imagination

because the conflict
remains incredibly important

to the overall broader narrative
of the American experience.

And there are still
going to be mysteries

that need to be solved

because, in many respects,

we are still living
in the shadow

of the American Civil War.

MEDFORD:
There's so much

still that we don't know
that we're trying to unpack

about the Civil War.

There will always be questions.

We will never know
all of the answers,

but we have to get as close
to the truth as we can.

The idea that a secret society
with radical plans

may be responsible

for the tragic assassination
of President Lincoln

just goes to show us
that, even today,

160 years after
the last shots were fired,

there are still
many mysteries yet to be solved

about the American Civil War.

Whether it's spy rings
or premonitions

or even monstrous creatures,

historians, researchers
and treasure hunters

will continue to explore
the fascinating stories

of millions of Americans
who experienced

the bloodiest days
to ever occur on U.S. soil.

These tales continue
to be a source of curiosity

and fascination,

and may forever remain...

...unexplained.

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