Original subtitles

LINCOLN: I have been shown, in the files of the war

department a statement of the Adjutent-General of

Massachussetts, that you are the mother of five sons who

have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine

which should attempt to beguile you from the greif

of a loss so overhwelming.

But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the

consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic

they died to save.

I pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish

of your berievement and leave you only the cherished memory

of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be

yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice

on the alter of freedom.

NARRATOR: In May of 1863 the two principal armies followed

by the northern press, the eastern army under General

Hooker and the western army under General Grant were

positioning themselves to score

two great Union victories.

For Hooker, that hope turned to utter defeat.

The loss of Jackson was a terrible blow for the south

and certainly and most directly,

for the field operations of the Army of Northern Virginia.

No officer at the time could honestly and effectively

evaluate the emotions of the general staff down to the men

in the ranks at the loss of their world famous battle

commander, but within the next six weeks,

the plan of march would quickly force the men in the

Army of Northern Virginia to finish their lamentations

and move onward.

Lee would be forced to restructure his army on the

eve of the greatest eastern campaign of the war,

the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania and momentous

Battle of Gettysburg.

Another result of the Battle of Chancellorsville was the

resulting lack of confidence many in the northern

leadership, the press, and men in the army had with Hooker.

He seemed to have been seized with fear after he thought

he had Lee trapped.

The veteran units of both armies buried their dead,

wished their wounded the best, and waited for their next

opportunity to strike at their foes,

but for different reasons.

The Army of the Northern Virginia was at its highest

peak of confidence it had had since its creation.

Both the defensive victory at Fredericksburg and the

offensive victory at Chancellorsville had proven

that no matter what circumstances it may be thrown

into, Lee's men felt they could take on and defeat any

general that Lincoln placed in command to come after them.

Once again the Rappahannock separated the armies,

but in June the distances apart were somewhat farther

than in the winter.

Most of Lee's men had been concentrated around Culpepper

where Stuart's cavalry screened the army by picketing

the various fords within eye sight of Yankee patrols.

Union General Hooker was looking to find ways to

initiate a redemption for himself,

and safely strike at Lee.

This was to be inaugurated by the newly organized

Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac

under General Alfred Pleasonton.

This opportunity happened on June 9,

1863 with the frenzied Battle of Brandy Station.

Pleasonton was ordered to hit Stuart and although an

unrealistic objective, he was to perhaps cripple or run off

Stuart's force, opening a clearer road in the upcoming

series of marches against Lee; but at the very least the

Federal troopers would show what they were made of after

two years of getting bullied and bested by Stuart's

troopers, the toast of Lee's army.

The Federal strike force of 11,000 men,

with some infantry supports,

shoved many of the Stuarts brigades around in the early

portions of the fighting.

The Union cavalry came very close to pushing right up on

the Confederate cavalier himself

and taking him prisoner.

Stuart was clearly caught off guard by the branch of service

that the Army of Northern Virginia may have often chuckled

over in the past, the Federal cavalry.

Brandy Station changed that perception.

All types of cavalry fighting took place around the former

Confederate headquarters, stables,

and parade fields.

Regiments charged regiments and fought saber to saber,

some units threw themselves at the enemy delivering salvos of

pistol rounds, and at various instances cavalry dismounted

and used their carbines to slow an opposing force down.

Stuarts veterans did manage to stabilize the damage and the

Federals pulled off.

Regardless of who claimed victory,

the Federal troopers demonstrated their equality

to Stuart's best men.

For the idolized Stuart, he was heavily criticized for his

actions and almost having his corps broken up and dispersed.

It was known to many that Stuart was caught unprepared

and was more concerned with staging shows than keeping

a real eye on Hooker's army.

This lingering effect would leave a stain on Stuart's

image and he would attempt to regain some glory in the

movements into the north.

This attempt would have a subtle but ultimately far

reaching consequence for the tactical decisions made in

operations soon to come in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

From this ominous start of the Gettyburg campaign,

Lee worked on getting his miltary plans approved in

detail in Richmond with President Davis and the myriad

military logistics that needed to be done

in absolute secrecy.

Davis approved and because this was a more bold move than

the impulsive 1862 invasion, Lee wanted more men and to

take as many men as could be afforded to leave posts around

Richmond, Petersburg, and coastal Carolina.

Lee would assemble over 70,000 men and would have the biggest

army he would ever have at his disposal.

But, this army had new commanders,

some new units, and marched northward in a state

of supreme confidence.

The Army of Northern Virginia was well armed,

well uniformed, and rather well rested on the eve of this

march, unlike the previous Maryland campaign.

The Army of the Potomac under Hooker did not realize it at

the time but they quickly lost several days on Lee's army

marching northward, and once again Hooker seemed to prove

he was ineffective at coping with Lee's genius.

With the leadership at Washington not believing in

Hooker and the ranks and file not trusting him,

the relieving of Hooker was assured.

In a letter dispatched to Hooker, Halleck wrote:

HALLECK: Your application to be relieved

from your present command is received.

As you were appointed to this command by the President,

I have no power to relieve you.

Your dispatch has been duly referred for Executive action.

NARRATOR: But, Lincoln needed a proven leader in command of

the army about to fight its first battle

on Pennsylvanian soil.

The choices were various and by this point in the career of

the Army of the Potomac, there were issues of seniority,

competence, and who the men would follow.

Ultimately the choice would become Major General George

Meade, commander of the 5th Corps.

Meade was an old regular officer with a solid

reputation as a field leader on the division

and corps command.

More than that, he was a Pennsylvanian and was

generally respected by his fellow officers.

General Meade, at his headquarters just outside

Frederick, was awakened from his well deserved sleep on

June 28th, and was notified of his new post.

He wrote in a letter to his wife:

MEADE: At 3 A.M. I was aroused from my sleep

by an officer from Washington entering my tent,

saying he had to give me trouble.

At first I thought it was to either relieve or arrest me...

he then handed me a communication to read;

which I found was an order relieving Hooker of command

and assigning me to it.

NARRATOR: Meade was officially placed in command of the Army of

the Potomac on June 28th, what would be three days before

the Battle of Gettysburg.

By the 30th, the two armies had bumped into each other in

Pennsylvania, mostly along the border between Emmitsburg,

Maryland, and the Pennsylvania towns of Fairfield

and Gettysburg.

It was the Union cavalry that probed Lee's infantry,

and because Stuart was still away from Lee and not

screening the infantry, Pleasonton's troopers were

doing what Stuart should have done for Lee.

General John Buford could have let the Confederates enter

the town, as some of Ewell's men had already done a few

days before, and just watched from the flanks.

The veteran Indian fighter decided to occupy and picket

the western approaches to town and in the morning,

initiate a fight with whatever was thrown his way.

The crack of carbine in the early morning hours

of July 1st, 1863 was delivered by Lt. Marcellus Jones,

an officer of the picket along the Chambersburg Pike

a few miles west of town.

That shot was delivered into Confederate General Heth's

Division moving in strength up the road,

obviously attempting to bully General Buford's men

out of the way.

Many men in Lee's army had no idea that the Army of the

Potomac had caught up to them and thought that the blue

coated uniforms around Gettysburg would have belonged

to militia and home guard units.

Heth's Division, led by General Archer's Alabama and

Tennessee Brigade, along with General Joseph Davis'

Mississippi and North Carolina Brigade,

slowly pushed Buford's dismounted cavalry back.

During this fight, the lead elements of the infantry of

the Army of the Potomac under General John Reynolds,

moved up the several miles from their advance position

between Emmitsburg and Gettysburg.

The infantry moved pass the Lutheran Theological Seminary

and relieved the Union troopers not too soon before

they may have been driven off.

The leading elements belonged to General Cutler's Brigade of

Pennsylvania and New York troops and the vaunted and

well known unit of westerners often referred to as either

the "Iron Brigade" or "Black Hat Brigade,

the later in reference to their distinctive black army hats.

The first infantry volley of the battle was appropriately

shot by the 56th Pennsylvania on a place just beyond

an unfinished railroad cut.

The Federals along the cut repulsed Davis and the Iron

Brigade slammed into Archer's Brigade in the woods.

This close in fighting would also see the death of the man

who was suggested to take command of the Army of the

Potomac, Major General John F. Reynolds,

commander of the 1st Corps and the army's left wing.

The 11th Corps held as long as the 1st Corps did but they

were being pressed hard and on the flanks,

but despite that would often times charge

into the Confederates.

One soldier, Sidney J. Richardson of the 21st

Georgia Infantry wrote home of his respect

for the men on the 11th Corps front:

RICHARDSON: ...one yankee regiment charged us,

but we all fell down behind a fence,

and received the charge first before they got to us...

I think they fight harder in their own country then they do

in Virginia, I'd rather to fight them in Virginia than

here, for we had to leave a great many of our wounded in

the hands of the Yankees.

NARRATOR: The end was slowly coming for the Federals,

where many companies and regiments

were just ceasing to exist.

The 24th Michigan Infantry was the cornerstone of the defense

in McPherson's Woods and their service exemplifies the

courage of the Federal defenders.

One soldier, Corporal Orson B. Curtis wrote of one of several

defenses his regiments put up on July 1:

CURTIS: A fifth line of battle where he [Colonel Morrow]

planted the colors.

On this new line, while waving his sword over his head to

rally the men, Captain O'Donnell was instantly

killed, and Lt. Grace received two wounds,

both of which were mortal.

Gradually contesting every foot of ground,

step by step, frequently almost surrounded,

through and out the woods and over the open field,

what was now left of the 24th had been forced back to the

friendly rail fence barricade just west of the seminary.

NARRATOR: In the end the 24th Michigan sustained 399 losses

of 496 men engaged and would retreat from the Seminary with

only 26 men around the colors.

The line at the Seminary was flanked on the left by portions

of General McGowan's matchless South Carolina Brigade

and about the same time of day Early's Division

of Ewell's Corps flanked the right of the 11th Corps.

The stream of men started to move back through Gettysburg.

Regiments on the field that could still form a line often

did not want to quit the action.

One Federal surgeon, James Fulton of the 143rd

Pennsylvania Infantry, wrote of an incident where he

encountered some members of the 11th Corps

about this time of retreat:

FULTON: I tried to get these poor fellows,

11th Corps men, to go on and make their escape to our

lines, they being on the retreat.

But I could not get them to move,

and many were taken prisoners that night who could easily

have made their escape.

They had, however, done good work;

for had the 11th Corps not come up and supported the

right of the 1st Corps in that first day's fight,

when General Gordon was trying to get around our right flank,

the left being slowly turned all day towards the right...

but in helping us the 11th Corps suffered severely.

NARRATOR: The Federal soldiers soon found themselves moving

rearward, some units in order and some squads of men and

individuals making themselves generals

and issuing their own commands.

When they emerged from the southern end of town they

found General Hancock, commander of the 2nd Corps,

who was sent ahead to assume command of the defense of the

heights beyond the town and organize the troops

coming upon the field.

Also there, and somewhat displeased that Hancock

commanded the field, was Howard,

who assisted in placing troops on the heights of Cemetery

Hill, Culp's Hill, and Cemetery Ridge.

It was organized chaos but the calmness of Hancock

reassured the men.

Meade was moving with the trailing elements of the army

and would arrive on the field later that evening.

The first day of fighting ended with a Confederate

victory, but the bloodletting was unimagineable.

The 1st and 11th Corps took approximately 10,000

collective casualties in killed, wounded, and missing.

A great many of the Confederate regiments fought

on July 2 and July 3 so determining their exact

casualties on the day is difficult,

but some units were torn to shreds.

The 26th North Carolina lost almost 600 men in their fight

against the Iron Brigade.

Whereas officers in the Army of the Potomac would show

quick and prompt boldness in their command and control,

their enemies were for the first time... timid.

Lee was on the field the night of July 1 with most of his army.

Ewell and Hill bore the brunt of the first day's fighting,

with Hill's men taking the lion's share of the casualties.

Longstreet's Corps was mostly stacked up between

Chambersburg and Gettysburg, but would be marching through

the early hours of July 2 to get on the field ready for action.

The men of both armies knew the next day would bring on

the main bout of fighting.

The fighting on July 2 would demonstrate just how good

these two armies were at fighting and methodically

killing each other.

For the civilians who remained in Gettysburg,

their homes were becoming hospitals and there were dead

men and horses in the streets and yards.

But some tried to just go on and help the wounded

when possible.

Most of the first part of the day was spent in skirmishing

and probing each others lines.

Lee wanted to attack with his whole force and that depended

on Longstreet's men coming up the pike.

Due to some errors in marching and unforgivable delays,

Longstreet's Corps, designed to launch the attack,

was delayed.

This delay allowed the Army of the Potomac to get more troops

into line and fix its positions.

For the Army of Northern Virginia and General Lee,

the plan was clear - hit both the flanks with simultaneous

vigor if possible.

Ewell would hit the heights of Culp's Hill and Cemetery

Hill, the right flank of Meade's army and Longstreet

would slam into the left flank by the Round Tops.

A.P. Hill's Corps, still smarting from its wounds

the day before would hold the center.

As remembered by the civilians of Gettysburg,

4pm and the crash of artillery signaled the start

of the attack.

Longstreet's assault would move right to left with a

front of nearly a mile.

One of the leading units in those attacks was the famous

Texas Brigade in General Hood's Division.

This brigade was renown for its ferocity in the attack,

earned at places like Gaines Mill,

2nd Manassas, and the cornfield at Sharpsburg,

and now in front of them was the 3rd Corps of the Army of

the Potomac occupying strong positions at the Devil's Den

and behind them, Little Round Top and Big Round Top.

Once the Texas Brigade was ordered to advance,

they eagerly stepped off into the fight.

Soldier J.B. Polley of the 4th Texas wrote of that moment:

POLLEY: We moved quietly forward down the steep decline,

gaining impetus as we reached the more level ground below.

The enemy had already opened fire on us,

but we did not stop to return it,

"Forward, Double Quick!"

rang out, and then Texas turned loose.

Across the valley and over the little stream that ran out

through it, they swept, every man for himself.

The first man down was my right file man,

William Langley, a noble, brave boy with a minie ball

straight through his brain.

I caught him as he fell against me,

and laid him down, dead.

NARRATOR: This attack by Hood's men smashed into the

3rd Corps, the fighting along the heights getting close and

much apart from the traditional linear tactics

of the time.

Units moved around boulders and trees and the fighting

became much like Indian fighting that many of the

Texans were familiar with.

The defenders of the 3rd Corps could not hold their left

flank around those heights and a call for reinforcements

was sent out.

The 5th Corps would be on the way but Sickles men would have

to sell out to by that time.

The action around the Texans at Devils Den and the

Wheatfield moved quickly as other troops attacked past the

Rose Farm and Peach Orchard.

Sickles men were doing exactly what the 1st Corps did the day

before, trading lives for time.

The artillery of the Army of the Potomac supported the

infantry with reckless abandon.

This combat was no better described than by a staff

officer surveying the fighting.

Lt. Adolfo Cavada, a Pennsylvanian of Cuban origins,

wrote of the Confederate attacks

and his own troops heroic defense:

CAVADA: A copious shower of shell and

canister from the enemy was followed up by a diabolical

cheer and yell, and "here they come" rang along our line.

At this moment my horse was shot in the leg

and pranced around frantically.

Our batteries opened , our troops rose to their feet,

the crash of artillery and the tearing rattle of our musketry

was staggering and added to the noise of our side.

The advancing roar and cheer of the enemies masses,

coming on like devils incarnate.

NARRATOR: These attacks at the Peach Orchard were led by

General William Barksdale's Brigade of Mississippians,

whose men pierced the Federal center there.

The Mississippians were tornadoes wrecking the Federal

lines along the Emmitsburg Road.

The combat was close, too,

ranges usually less than 50 yards.

Sickles himself was removed from the field,

seriously wounded, but his troops retreated and made

stand after stand, fighting and pulling back.

It was brilliant fighting on both sides

and the casualties mounted.

The question was, how long could the Confederates keep on

with the same intensity on that hot, July day?

When Colonel Strong Vincent's Brigade and other troops

rushed to the Round Tops, the Texas Brigade and the Alabama

troops astride them could make little headway.

General Hood was down wounded, too,

which may have slowed the coordination

of taking the heights.

Counterattacks coming across the northern face of the

Little Round Top showed that there was seemingly endless

supports arriving behind Union lines,

but there was no way to know where from and how many.

Once again, valuable intelligence was lacking

because Stuart was not on the field.

Portions of Hill's Corps, which were to go in after

Longstreet's men, started to make headway on the ground in

front of Cemetery Ridge, but coordination in the chain of

command faltered, and the attack slowed to a halt.

Federal troops, often directed by General Hancock himself,

counterattacked, most notably the 1st Minnesota Infantry,

which charged into a Confederate brigade and lost

over 80% of its men.

Each unit fought like their nation's life depended on it,

and they took the steam out of the attack.

The action would shift to Culp's Hill where the fighting

would be even closer and desperate amongst the

fortified positions that the 12th Corps built there since

the early morning hours.

But, unlike the fighting south of town,

this fight would be of a much smaller scale

in a confined space.

The 7th Indiana Infantry was the first unit posted on

Culp's Hill, and that by Hancock's direct order the

night of July 1, and then later that night

more troops joined them.

Paul Truitt, a sergeant in Company K,

7th Indiana Infantry wrote of the defense there:

TRUITT: At 3 O'Clock in the morning the 12th Corps came

and joined us on our right.

Greene's Brigade of the 12th Corps,

composed of New York troops, joined us.

We fought on that line the second and third days.

The rebels charged on this line of troops repeatedly,

and at times they came over the breastworks,

but our men stayed right there and fought the rebels

to a finish.

We had a better location than they and were better protected.

We had a cross fire on the rebels and we could help our

New York boys stand the johnnies off.

Those New York troops did as hard fighting as I ever saw

men do... I walked over to Culp's Hill to see what we

and the New York boys did to the johnnies.

The ground was literally covered with dead men.

They were piled up on each other four and five deep;

one couldn't walk without stepping on the dead bodies.

The trees in front were shot down by our minie balls.

NARRATOR: It was fighting that would ultimately repeat itself

on July 3.

But the fighting shifted on the night of July 2

to east Cemetery Hill.

There the Louisiana Brigade of General Harry Hays,

the "Tigers" as they were called,

charged upon the artillery atop the hill,

fought hand to hand and in the darkness were counterattacked

by elements of the 2nd Corps.

While that was being enacted, Colonel Isaac Avery,

commanding the North Carolina Brigade on right of the

Tigers, was stricken and mortally wounded.

He found his last moments occupied by having an aide

assist him in scribbling a note,

"tell father I died with my face to the enemy."

That sad affair ended with the repulse of the night attack

and nothing more would occur until the climatic events

of July 3.

The Confederates hammered both flanks of the Army of the

Potomac, and with equal resolve the blue coats held

the line, inflicting ghastly casualties

upon Lee's veterans.

Meade held a council of war late the night of July 2 and

the Corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac agreed to

hold the line rather than pull out

under the cover of darkness.

Meade let it be known that he thought Lee tried both flanks

and failed and thought that if there were another attack in

the morning it would directed at the center,

thought to be possibly the weakest position of the

Army of the Potomac.

For Lee, he turned to Longstreet,

his "War Horse" and for the leadership to orchestrate and

attack Meade's center.

At about 1pm, Longstreet had all his forces organized for a

bold strike against the center.

His forces consisted of Pickett's Division,

fresh and ready to go, Pettigrew's Divison - formerly

Heth's who was recovering from his wound of July 1,

whose troops were completely battered,

and then a supporting force of two North Carolina Brigades

commanded by General Isaac Trimble,

who finally found a command.

All told the force numbered approximately 12,000 men.

The signal guns may have been fired around 1pm,

but that is often debated as everyone seemed to record a

slightly different time, but sometime between 1pm and 2pm

the attack commenced.

The artilleryman who was tasked with coordinating the

bombardment prior to the attack was E.P. Alexander,

a sturdy and true West Pointer,

and a genius of artillery tactics.

Alexander wrote of the beginning of the most famous

attack of the war:

ALEXANDER: So I wrote another note to Pickett and sent it

at 1:35 - ten minutes after the first note.

"For God's sake come quick. The 18 guns are gone.

Come quick or I cannot support you."

I sent two written and one verbal message to that effect,

for I was afraid of their losing time in their little

preliminaries, and I wanted to get them inspired to disregard

everything but getting there... on getting the first

one, Pickett rode to Longstreet,

who was near by and showed it.

Longstreet read it and made no comment,

Pickett said, "General, shall I advance?"

...Picket paused a few seconds and saluted,

and said, "I am going to move forward, sir."

NARRATOR: Longstreet was actually frozen with

disapproval, as he believed the attack would fail and did

respectfully suggest that to Lee;

but at this moment his order was not needed.

Every officer, especially the gallant Pickett,

knew what needed to be done.

Pickett rode to his men and got the brigades moving forward.

Garnett and Kemper would be in front,

with Armistead in support.

Everyone in the command staff knew he was attacking his old

pre-war army friend, Hancock.

Armistead told his men to remember their homes,

families, and Virginia.

Pickett was on the right flank of the attack and Pettigrew on

the left with Trimble in support.

They were ordered to a converging point,

or a concentration point on the Federal lines,

near a copse of trees adjacent to an abrupt angle

in a nearby stonewall.

That is where they would hopefully pierce the lines of

the Army of the Potomac.

It was a wide open field and almost a mile across.

The artillery of both sides pounded each other

for quite some time.

In Pickett's Division alone, hundreds of men were knocked

out of the ranks before they even cleared their own lines.

The battle lines were a miles across but Pettigrew and

Pickett had to concentrate and connect their men and that

took place just before the Emmitsburg Road.

Before that time, dozens of Federal batteries

pounded the attackers.

When the troops reached the road they found themselves in

musket range of the infantry behind slight fortifications

ahead of them.

That last 200 yards to Federal lines was one that none of

those Confederates wanted to cross, but cross they did.

Some of them raided themselves high over the turnpike fence

only to be cut down, and the remnants of Garnett's Brigade

surged towards to the "angle" near the Copse of Trees.

Kemper bogged down behind the Codori Farmyards

just south of the Angle.

His men were getting flanked by General Stannard's

9-months Vermont Brigade.

Armistead rushed his men up to the road and tried to get his

men along to help Garnett.

At some point in the fight thereafter,

the ailing general, who was mounted,

moved up close to the Angle and a blast of canister

obliterated the Virginian.

His horse trotted back towards Armistead's men.

Not too far from this, Kemper was also shot down,

but not before some of his men had briefly pierced the

Federal lines south of the Copse of Trees.

Those men, as remembered by survivors of the battle,

raised the rebel yell and took several steps forward when

Captain Andrew Cowan's New York Battery unleashed 6

cannons of double cannister at about 30-40 feet.

The Virginians vanished into a pinkish-red mist.

That left Armistead to accomplish the objective.

Not knowing that the attack was crumbling,

Armistead came up towards the Angle with a good number of

his men and some remnants of Garnett's Brigade.

With about 200-300 men he was conspicuous with his hat atop

his sword, he called on the men to follow him,

and reminded them that "home was just over those hills."

Some of Pickett's men also got a prize for a good shot as

General Hancock was shot from his horse,

and like Kemper, seriously wounded.

Men were falling fast on both sides.

The bravest of Pickett's men kept moving and over the

stone wall with Armistead.

This surge broke the Federal lines,

with Virginians being joined by some elements of the right

flank of Pettigrew's force, Tennessee troops

from Archer's Brigade.

The spot was in front of Lt. Alonzo Cushing's

United States Artillery battery.

Cushing had already fallen, killed by several shots,

one of which went through his mouth as he was giving his

last command.

It was upon Cushing's artillery that Armistead

poised and directed his men.

It was there that he was shot down, mortally wounded.

By this point, the attack had completely fallen apart.

Most regiments were busted up into squads or clusters of men

protecting their colors, or helping their wounded.

Trimble was shot down in these final moments,

just as there was a universal falling back

of all the troops.

This retreat was nothing more than these clusters of men

planning what would be better -

surrender or risk death on the retreat.

Pickett's survivors, those that were not killed,

wounded, or captured, moved past General Lee

near the Confederate lines.

The commanding general told them it was his fault and they

had done their work nobly.

At first Lee tried to react with due propriety as the

military situation would call for.

Lee told Pickett that he should reform his Division to

which Pickett reminded Lee that it no longer existed.

He was not far from the truth.

There would only be several hundred men that would reform

and they did not stop retreating until the got a few

miles from the battlefield.

From the lines of the Army of the Potomac came a chant of

"Fredericksburg" from some of those regiments in the 2nd

Corps that got wrecked in a similar fashion attacking the

Stone wall there.

The combined casualties of both sides were approximately

51,000 men, or of the approximately 160,000 men

that entered the battle, a brutal number to comprehend.

But, the campaign was not over,

Lee offered a defensive battle from his own men dug in

through the 4th of July.

Some skirmishing was conducted throughout the next day,

but Lee got his men going back towards the Potomac.

The retreat began with moving a 17 mile long ambulance wagon

train in motion on a far track away from possible Federal

attacks, then through the mountains Lee's army limped

along, often with downpours of rain,

making the plodding through the mud even more miserable.

Eventually Lee's men would get to the area around

Williamsport, Maryland and there found the Potomac

swollen and impassable.

Lee's men would be harassed by Federal cavalry the entire

way, with Kilpatrick nipping on his army's heels all the

while, The feelings of many of the army may have been summed

up by Colonel David Aiken of the 7th

South Carolina Infantry.

Aiken was not completely downcast by the defeat but

offered this explanation to his wife. He wrote:

AIKEN: By tomorrow night our wagons may be across,

and if the enemy does not attack us,

I think, or rather hope, we will take up our line of march

for Virginia soil.

This would be cheering news to this army.

I don't think General Lee or anyone else will ever get back

into Maryland again.

I never want to try it over certain.

NARRATOR: By the time most of Lee's men had gotten back into

Virginia, the news of events happening in Mississippi had

reached the army.

Vicksburg, the strong bastion along the Mississippi River,

had fallen.

Vicksburg was a product of western soldiering and

campaigning where wide sweeping movements often

culminated in a battle a hundred miles

from a previous engagement.

The distances seem to have been greater,

and in the early phases of the war in the west -

controlling the river ways.

There was no doubt at the time that Grant was the right man

for the job in the west.

His victories in 1862, Fort's Henry and Donaldson,

and then Shiloh, launched Grant's career and along with

some other subordinates, such as General William T.

Sherman, would offer a tandem stronger perhaps

than Lee and Jackson.

That cooperation was needed to crack the "Gibraltar"

of Vicksburg that everyone all the way up to President

Jefferson Davis knew was the "nail-head" that kept

the two sides of the river together.

If the city was taken, it would surely give the entirety

of the waterway control to the Federal army and navy.

The first actions against it would come in December when

Sherman took his command, split from Grant's,

and with those 32,000 men came in from the south.

Grant with 40,000 men would come in from the north,

or the direction of Holly Springs,

the Federal base of operations.

By the start of the April campaign against Vicksburg

Grant's Army of the Tennessee would consist

of approximately 75,000 men.

His primary opponent, General John Pemberton,

a Pennsylvanian loyal to his new home in the south,

commanded approximately 44,000 men of the Army of Mississippi.

General Joseph Johnston, the senior field commander in the

campaign, attempted to coordinate with Pemberton and

to Johnston's dismay, Pemberton failed to accomplish anything.

With additional victories against the forces of

Pemberton at Champions Hill and then Big Black River on

May 16 and 17, respectively, Grant seemed to be leading

an unstoppable force.

His men eventually bullied Pemberton's men back into

their fortifications at Vicksburg.

This set the stage for the first assaults

on the defenses there.

Johnston wanted Pemberton to save the army over the city,

but Pemberton refused and planned to make the price of

taking the city too high for Grant.

On May 22, elements from Grant's army tested the

defenses of Vicksburg.

This type of attack was exactly what the defenders

wanted, and the Confederate defenders inflicted 3,200

casualties in a matter of a few hours.

It convinced Grant that he would lay on a siege

against Pemberton.

Rear-Admiral David Dixon Porter would join in on the

investment of the city with his gunboats,

designed for using mortars and arching shot and shell as

Vicksburg sat atop a bluff.

The men in the ranks were not unused to digging in and

getting dirty, but this settled down style of military

activity would be well remembered by the men in blue.

One soldier, Lucius Barber of the 15th Illinois Infantry,

carefully recalled the development of his engineering

skills on the Vicksburg lines.

It would be typical of the vast majority of Grant's men.

He wrote:

BARBER: One day General Grant rode along the line and told the

boys he had plenty of ammunition and not to be afraid to use it.

This was the signal for firing.

Some of the boys expended over 200 rounds that day.

The rebs lay in their trenches,

whilst like mice, not daring to show their heads.

Some evenings we would crawl to the top of the hill near

camp and watch the gunboats shell the city.

From the instant the shell left the gun,

we could trace its progress through the air.

...the terrified inhabitants sought safety in caves from

these terrible engines of death.

A practical engineer could so time the fuse to explode the

shell whenever he wished.

NARRATOR: There were weeks and weeks of skirmishing,

constant sharpshooting, and occasional a pitched sortie

against a position just to test its strength.

Ultimately, it would be the continued strain on the

population, the reduced rations of the troops,

and the knowledge that the Union army was only getting

stronger that made the garrison begin to wonder how

this siege could possibly end with anything other

than a surrender.

For the 4,000 or more residents still within the

city, they certainly would have been under similar

thoughts but they were civilians and did not sign up

to be shot at.

With no relief coming and the people in the city resorting

to eating rats and horses, Pemberton waited only until

the first days of July to begin entertaining the thought

of meeting with "U.S. Grant" to discuss terms for surrender.

The 4th of July was a momentous day in American

history to both northerners and southerners,

but on that day in 1863 General John Pemberton made a

decision that would profoundly shake southern morale and

alter the course of the war in the west.

Pemberton decided to surrender Vicksburg and give it to Grant

and to the Army of the Tennessee.

The Army of Mississippi surrendered approximately

30,000 men and 172 artillery pieces of all sorts,

especially dozens of siege guns.

The news of both Gettysburg and Vicksburg was spread

throughout the north.

Church bells in the cities from Chicago to Boston and all

points of the Union rang out.

The eastern and western armies had both won momentous fields

against the Confederate armies.

It was a turning point in the conflict,

or at least it gave the northern leadership and

population renewed fervor to prosecute the war.

And in the south the words Gettysburg and Vicksburg were

uttered in sad hushed expressions...

LINCOLN: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought

forth on this continent, a new nation,

conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,

testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and

so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,

as a final resting place for those who here gave their

lives that that nation might live.

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

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not

consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground.

The brave men, living and dead,

who struggled here, have consecrated it,

far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say

here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather,

to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who

fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task

remaining before us - that from these honored dead we

take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave

the last full measure of devotion - that we here

highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -

that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of

freedom - and that government of the people,

by the people, for the people,

shall not perish from the earth."