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General Grant.
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Retain your sidearms, General.
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00:00:18,366 --> 00:00:19,626
You'll go after Lee.
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00:00:19,671 --> 00:00:21,931
You'll go after him
until he's finished.
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00:00:21,978 --> 00:00:23,278
It all depends on you.
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00:00:26,069 --> 00:00:27,679
- Gentlemen.
- Grant may have won
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some victories in the west,
but this is Virginia.
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We'll cross the Rapidan
into the Wilderness.
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His army is twice ours, sir.
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00:00:34,077 --> 00:00:36,297
Well,
we'll just haveto even the odds,
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00:00:36,340 --> 00:00:39,080
catch them before they
getthrough the Wilderness.
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00:00:44,696 --> 00:00:46,046
Scouts say Grant's packing up.
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00:00:46,089 --> 00:00:47,999
Finally retreating, sir.
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No, he's not a retreating man.
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00:00:50,876 --> 00:00:52,696
- We're heading south?
- To Richmond.
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00:00:52,748 --> 00:00:54,878
- Richmond?
- To Richmond.
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00:00:54,924 --> 00:00:56,364
We're headed south!
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00:01:01,365 --> 00:01:06,365
Very few people really know
who Ulysses S. Grant was.
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Today there is this sense
that he's forgotten.
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He's been called so many
things over the years.
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The greatest
general of his time.
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A military genius.
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A bloody butcher.
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A corrupt president.
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A belligerent drunk
who got lucky.
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He didn't get lucky.
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Ulysses S. Grant is
this perfectly average,
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humble individual from a poor,
hardscrabble background.
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With a lot of hard times
and failures in his life.
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But he's got this
dogged determination,
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this bulldog mentality.
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This guy comes from nothing,
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rises to the highest ranks
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of the Union army.
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Fights bloody, terrible battles.
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With indomitable will.
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To save the Union.
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To heal his country.
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To lead the nation towards
justice for everybody.
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He's the unheroic hero
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of our greatest national epic,
the American Civil War.
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It's truly an American story
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not only of patriotism
to the nation
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but for the values of who we are
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and who we aspire to be.
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Fall in!
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The armies were
now ready to move
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for the accomplishment
of a single goal:
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Lee, in the capital of
the Confederacy, Richmond.
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That was the main end to
which all were working.
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When Grant marches off in 1864,
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it's gonna set off
a titanic struggle
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for the end of the war.
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Grant is going to keep
their focus lasered on
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to Robert E. Lee and the
Army of Northern Virginia
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because Grant understood the
destruction of Lee's army
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meant the destruction
of the Confederacy.
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At the beginning
of the campaign,
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Grant mentions to
a correspondent
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who's headed off
to Washington, D.C...
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he says to him,
"If you get through the lines
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"and you make it and you
see President Lincoln,
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"tell him from me
that whatever happens,
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there will be no turning back."
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After the Wilderness,
Grant heads south,
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and it's just sustained combat.
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He just keeps seeing these
opportunities, and he attacks,
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and he attacks, and he attacks.
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And it rains,
and the weather is miserable,
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but they just keep
going for weeks.
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The battles of the Wilderness,
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Spotsylvania, and North Anna,
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bloody and terrible though
they were on our side,
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were even more
damaging to our enemy.
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00:04:09,727 --> 00:04:12,557
In some of the most savage
fighting of the war,
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you see 5 1/2 weeks
of constant movement,
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constant entrenching,
constant fighting
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that ultimately will produce
55,000 Union casualties,
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35,000 Confederate casualties.
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00:04:26,178 --> 00:04:29,658
Now Grant's men are
simply exhausted.
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By the time Grant reaches
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the crucial crossroads
of Cold Harbor,
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these soldiers understand
keenly what's ahead.
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And it's more loss.
It's more rivers of blood.
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If you're a soldier, you think,
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"Our chances aren't good."
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And this is when we have
heartbreaking stories of men
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writing on sheets of paper,
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"Today was the day I was
killed at Cold Harbor,"
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and pinning that to the
inside of their uniforms.
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00:04:54,163 --> 00:04:58,783
But Grant still believes that
Lee's army is almost broken.
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"All I have to do is
push a little bit harder,
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and they will break."
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Company, prepare!
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Keep pressing forward!
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Hold your ground!
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Come on, boys!
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Let's go, let's go, let's go!
Come on!
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Move it! Let's go!
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Go, go, go!
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Let's show them
what Ohio's worth!
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Advance!
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Cold Harbor was a disaster.
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Robert E. Lee's army had
set up crossfire positions.
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They had an enormous advantage,
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and within only
five hours' time,
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Grant's army had sustained
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thousands of casualties
in one morning assault.
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One Union soldier likened
that combat at Cold Harbor
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to a volcanic blast,
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that wasn't war; it was murder.
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Grant is a very
aggressive general,
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and we see that in
several mistakes
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that he makes
throughout the war,
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including Cold Harbor.
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00:07:08,253 --> 00:07:11,393
Some have said Cold Harbor
was the price that the Union
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had to pay to have Grant
as their commander.
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I have always regretted
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the last assault at Cold Harbor.
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No advantage whatever
was gained to compensate
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for the heavy loss we sustained.
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By 1864, people are tired.
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There is no clear winner,
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and there is no
clear end in sight
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for this conflict.
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00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,400
We have over
600,000 people dead,
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00:08:06,442 --> 00:08:10,322
and people are tired of it.
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00:08:10,359 --> 00:08:13,409
The Northern public was
craving some good news.
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00:08:13,449 --> 00:08:15,929
Initially, the morale in
the North had been buoyed
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00:08:15,973 --> 00:08:19,933
by this new decisiveness of
Grant after the Wilderness,
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00:08:19,977 --> 00:08:22,887
and they demanded
a quick victory.
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But by the time Grant
reaches Cold Harbor,
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they were impatient
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as the rivers of
blood continued.
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That's it, General.
One more in a minute, sir.
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General Grant, our readers
are keen to understand
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how you lost so many men
during this campaign.
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Lee had the advantageof
being on the defensive.
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He was entrenched.
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I had to attack his
armywhere it was,
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and I made him pay.
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Cold Harbor, General,
12,000 good Union men dead,
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wounded, and missing.
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00:09:05,066 --> 00:09:08,366
- Do you have a question?
- Was it worth it, sir?
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What did you gain?
146
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General Grant, sir,
if you please?
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General, you haven't
answered my question.
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Hold, please.
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Cold Harbor, 12,000.
What did we gain?
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00:09:27,175 --> 00:09:31,135
We lost a lot of
boys your age...
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fighting to keep this
country together.
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00:09:34,138 --> 00:09:36,138
What have you done
for the Union?
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General Grant, sir,
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if you please?
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They called me a butcher.
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Hold, please.
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I sometimes could
hardly bring myself
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to give an order at battle.
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He wasn't a butcher.
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Many casualties came out
of the overland campaign,
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but it was
fundamentally necessary
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in order to win the war.
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00:10:01,426 --> 00:10:05,646
Robert E. Lee lost
50% of his entire army
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during the exact same duration,
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but is Lee remembered
as a butcher?
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Being in command of a...
of a large effort,
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being the commander is a
pretty unique experience.
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You know, there's no one
in whom you can confide.
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00:10:20,184 --> 00:10:23,544
It's a...it is a lo...it's
lonely at the top, as they say.
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00:10:23,579 --> 00:10:25,579
And the casualties
are going to be tough,
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00:10:25,625 --> 00:10:28,315
and Grant is experiencing
the butcher's bill,
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as they termed it.
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And it takes a great deal of,
again, just sheer fortitude,
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sheer determination
to continue on
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and not let this grind you down.
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What Grant accomplishes after
Cold Harbor is, I think,
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one of his most impressive
feats of the war.
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Grant decides to flank the
Army of Northern Virginia
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and then cross the even
more formidable obstacle
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of the James River.
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00:11:01,835 --> 00:11:03,485
He's trying to keep
the initiative,
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00:11:03,532 --> 00:11:05,622
continue the momentum,
drive the energy,
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00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:08,185
and force Lee to react
to what he's doing.
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00:11:08,232 --> 00:11:10,062
This is one of his
great strengths.
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00:11:11,714 --> 00:11:14,674
It's an incredibly
dangerous maneuver
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00:11:14,717 --> 00:11:19,237
to move an army of that size
across a major body of water,
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especially whenever you're
faced off against an enemy
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as wily as the Gray Fox,
Robert E. Lee.
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And so he finds a way,
secretly, at night,
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to take an army of 115,000
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and disappear.
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And Robert E. Lee misses this.
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He misses the movement
of Grant's army.
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To my dear wife, Julia.
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Since Sunday,
we have been engaged
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in one of the most perilous
movements ever executed
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by a large army,
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00:11:54,714 --> 00:11:56,934
that of withdrawing from
the front of an enemy
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00:11:56,977 --> 00:11:59,367
and moving past his flank,
200
00:11:59,414 --> 00:12:02,684
crossing the James River with
a bridge we have to improvise.
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00:12:04,506 --> 00:12:06,246
U.S. Grant sets out to construct
202
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something that nobody
thought could be constructed:
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00:12:08,771 --> 00:12:10,691
an actual pontoon bridge
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00:12:10,730 --> 00:12:14,730
across a 2,000-foot
span of the James River.
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00:12:14,777 --> 00:12:17,867
The bridge consists
of pontoon boats,
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00:12:17,911 --> 00:12:20,521
rather large boats that
have excellent buoyancy,
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00:12:20,565 --> 00:12:23,255
strung together and
connected by wooden planks.
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00:12:23,307 --> 00:12:24,737
And through these bridges,
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00:12:24,787 --> 00:12:26,267
you could march
not only soldiers
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00:12:26,310 --> 00:12:29,400
but also artillery,
supplies, and whatnot.
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00:12:29,444 --> 00:12:31,194
This is the largest
pontoon bridge
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00:12:31,228 --> 00:12:32,838
built during the entire war.
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00:12:32,882 --> 00:12:35,362
They built it in seven hours.
I mean, think about that.
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00:12:35,406 --> 00:12:38,626
He's gonna cross 100,000
men across the James River,
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00:12:38,670 --> 00:12:42,590
including these
wagons and artillery.
216
00:12:42,631 --> 00:12:45,331
But just think about the
engineering feat that that is.
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00:12:45,373 --> 00:12:47,723
That's remarkable.
218
00:12:47,767 --> 00:12:51,377
And so Grant gets
across the James River,
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00:12:51,422 --> 00:12:54,992
which will put his forces
in assaulting position
220
00:12:55,035 --> 00:12:58,255
onto the crucial rail hub
of Petersburg, Virginia.
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00:13:00,997 --> 00:13:03,037
Petersburg is the logistics hub,
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00:13:03,086 --> 00:13:05,306
the transportation hub.
223
00:13:05,349 --> 00:13:07,179
It's connected to
all the supplies
224
00:13:07,221 --> 00:13:09,141
that can come up from the south.
225
00:13:09,179 --> 00:13:10,789
If Lee is gonna
maintain his army,
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00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:14,753
let alone Richmond, the city,
he needs Petersburg.
227
00:13:14,794 --> 00:13:16,934
So Grant understands this.
228
00:13:16,970 --> 00:13:18,490
And so by threatening
Petersburg,
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00:13:18,536 --> 00:13:21,016
he, in fact, threatens Richmond.
230
00:13:21,061 --> 00:13:23,761
And now we are
talking about a siege.
231
00:13:32,420 --> 00:13:35,420
Colonel Pleasants,
what's this plan of yours?
232
00:13:35,466 --> 00:13:37,726
Our Pennsylvania
boysare coal miners.
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00:13:37,773 --> 00:13:39,693
They can tunnel
rightunderneath their lines.
234
00:13:39,731 --> 00:13:42,871
- How far?
- About 150 yards, sir.
235
00:13:42,909 --> 00:13:45,259
They dig a shaftright
underneath them.
236
00:13:45,302 --> 00:13:49,522
We fill the chamber with powderand
blow those rebs sky-high.
237
00:13:49,567 --> 00:13:51,267
Could it break through
their fortifications?
238
00:13:51,308 --> 00:13:54,178
General, we have no
assurances this will work.
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00:13:54,224 --> 00:13:57,054
- My boys can do it.
- We have to consider...
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00:13:57,097 --> 00:14:00,187
Once the line is broken,
we go in.
241
00:14:00,230 --> 00:14:03,190
We need to move quickly
after the blast.
242
00:14:03,233 --> 00:14:06,323
Have artillery ready
to support the charge.
243
00:14:06,367 --> 00:14:10,407
- How big a hole will it blow?
- No one can say, sir.
244
00:14:10,458 --> 00:14:12,458
But it'll bean
awful lot of powder.
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00:14:25,212 --> 00:14:28,222
Ulysses S. Grant had been
familiar with the use of mines
246
00:14:28,258 --> 00:14:31,828
tunneling under the enemy
positions at Vicksburg.
247
00:14:31,871 --> 00:14:34,131
He tried it several times
with limited success.
248
00:14:40,314 --> 00:14:42,274
The Confederates heard
the Union working.
249
00:14:42,316 --> 00:14:44,926
They feared that there was
a mine tunneling under.
250
00:14:44,971 --> 00:14:46,321
They dug countermines down
251
00:14:46,363 --> 00:14:48,843
to try to drop in
onto the Union troops.
252
00:14:48,888 --> 00:14:50,978
They could never find
it in time, however.
253
00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:53,940
We learned through deserters
that the people believed
254
00:14:53,980 --> 00:14:57,900
very wild rumors about
what was going on.
255
00:14:57,940 --> 00:15:01,640
They said that we had mined
the whole of Petersburg
256
00:15:01,683 --> 00:15:05,733
and they were resting
on a slumbering volcano
257
00:15:05,774 --> 00:15:07,864
and did not know at what moment
258
00:15:07,907 --> 00:15:10,467
they might expect that eruption.
259
00:15:29,145 --> 00:15:32,535
The mine was constructed
and ready to be exploded.
260
00:15:34,716 --> 00:15:36,196
And I wanted to
take the occasion
261
00:15:36,239 --> 00:15:38,589
to carry Petersburg, if I could.
262
00:15:45,118 --> 00:15:46,508
They packed the mine
263
00:15:46,554 --> 00:15:48,214
underneath the
Confederate trenches
264
00:15:48,251 --> 00:15:51,991
with 8,000 pounds of explosives
265
00:15:52,038 --> 00:15:55,688
to try to blast a hole into
the Confederate earthworks.
266
00:15:57,869 --> 00:16:01,569
The fuse starts burning.
267
00:16:01,612 --> 00:16:04,052
They pack sandbags
so the explosion
268
00:16:04,093 --> 00:16:06,313
doesn't come out toward
the Union troops.
269
00:16:06,356 --> 00:16:08,486
Go! Move, move, move!
270
00:16:08,532 --> 00:16:10,012
- Let's go!
- Faster, faster!
271
00:16:10,056 --> 00:16:11,796
Go!
272
00:16:14,974 --> 00:16:16,984
And then the earth just shook.
273
00:16:23,112 --> 00:16:24,982
It immediately killed
and disintegrated
274
00:16:25,027 --> 00:16:26,987
300 South Carolinians,
275
00:16:27,029 --> 00:16:30,029
blowing a massive hole
in the Confederate line.
276
00:16:30,076 --> 00:16:31,466
And then the Union army
277
00:16:31,512 --> 00:16:33,952
gets ready to launch
frontal assaults.
278
00:16:36,169 --> 00:16:38,479
Despite all the thought
that went into this attack,
279
00:16:38,519 --> 00:16:41,039
Grant's commanders put the
worst possible guy in command,
280
00:16:41,087 --> 00:16:43,257
a guy named James Ledlie,
281
00:16:43,306 --> 00:16:44,866
known to be a
drunk and a coward,
282
00:16:44,916 --> 00:16:47,616
in command of the attack.
283
00:16:47,658 --> 00:16:50,488
The problem is that
instead of going around
284
00:16:50,531 --> 00:16:54,541
to the rim of the crater,
as initially planned,
285
00:16:54,578 --> 00:16:57,148
James Ledlie
blunders his division
286
00:16:57,190 --> 00:17:00,110
right into the
middle of the crater,
287
00:17:00,149 --> 00:17:03,499
and it becomes a
virtual turkey shoot.
288
00:17:05,372 --> 00:17:08,422
I expected our troops not
to stop in the crater at all
289
00:17:08,462 --> 00:17:11,292
but to push on to
the top of the hill,
290
00:17:11,334 --> 00:17:13,254
which would have
given us everything.
291
00:17:15,860 --> 00:17:17,510
And then they send in
292
00:17:17,558 --> 00:17:19,468
the United States
Colored Troop regiments.
293
00:17:21,910 --> 00:17:24,910
Nothing incited the rage
of a Confederate soldier
294
00:17:24,956 --> 00:17:27,786
like the sight of an
African-American soldier
295
00:17:27,829 --> 00:17:29,869
wielding a musket
in a blue uniform.
296
00:17:33,182 --> 00:17:35,712
They just start killing
these guys wholesale.
297
00:17:35,750 --> 00:17:36,750
Many blacks that
tried to surrender
298
00:17:36,794 --> 00:17:38,584
are shot or bayoneted.
299
00:17:38,622 --> 00:17:42,192
And even white Union officers,
realizing that they also have
300
00:17:42,235 --> 00:17:44,365
a death sentence for
leading black troops,
301
00:17:44,411 --> 00:17:46,411
they turn their pistols
on their own soldiers
302
00:17:46,456 --> 00:17:48,756
to try to save themselves.
303
00:17:48,806 --> 00:17:50,456
And so at the crater,
304
00:17:50,504 --> 00:17:53,034
what you have is
a racial massacre.
305
00:17:55,944 --> 00:17:58,344
A North Carolinian
recalled his delight
306
00:17:58,381 --> 00:18:02,991
at bayoneting these
African-American soldiers.
307
00:18:04,735 --> 00:18:07,995
It was an all-out slaughter.
308
00:18:31,284 --> 00:18:35,034
They slaughtered us all.
309
00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:37,900
No place to go...
310
00:18:37,942 --> 00:18:40,422
except to die.
311
00:18:44,645 --> 00:18:48,865
The effort was a
stupendous failure.
312
00:18:48,910 --> 00:18:53,040
It was the saddest affair
I witnessed in the war.
313
00:18:58,137 --> 00:19:00,227
Grant is really at
fault at Petersburg
314
00:19:00,269 --> 00:19:02,919
in delegating so much
315
00:19:02,967 --> 00:19:07,147
that it interfered with
the execution of the plan.
316
00:19:07,189 --> 00:19:10,149
He tries the experiment
of the crater
317
00:19:10,192 --> 00:19:14,592
because he knows how
important a victory is
318
00:19:14,631 --> 00:19:18,291
during the election year.
319
00:19:18,331 --> 00:19:21,251
1864 is an election year.
320
00:19:21,290 --> 00:19:23,470
You see Abraham Lincoln
321
00:19:23,510 --> 00:19:26,600
running for reelection
on the Republican ticket.
322
00:19:26,643 --> 00:19:28,863
The Democratic nominee
is George McClellan,
323
00:19:28,906 --> 00:19:31,816
who is running on a
platform of peace.
324
00:19:31,866 --> 00:19:34,166
The Democrats in 1864
325
00:19:34,216 --> 00:19:36,256
want to end the war
as soon as possible.
326
00:19:36,305 --> 00:19:38,825
They are fine with letting
the Confederacy go.
327
00:19:40,483 --> 00:19:44,013
McClellan was on record
that he was willing
328
00:19:44,052 --> 00:19:47,142
to trade emancipation for peace.
329
00:19:47,186 --> 00:19:51,576
Grant considered this little
short of outright treason.
330
00:19:51,625 --> 00:19:54,145
People forget that there
was not uniform support
331
00:19:54,193 --> 00:19:57,503
for the Union effort
in the Northern states.
332
00:19:57,544 --> 00:20:02,514
Back in 1863 in New York City,
there were huge draft riots.
333
00:20:02,549 --> 00:20:04,809
There was a lot of unrest
because it didn't seem
334
00:20:04,855 --> 00:20:06,985
as if the Union was prevailing.
335
00:20:07,031 --> 00:20:09,251
So now Lee's only hope
336
00:20:09,295 --> 00:20:11,595
was that Lincoln
would be defeated.
337
00:20:11,645 --> 00:20:14,735
McClellan would win
and sue for peace.
338
00:20:14,778 --> 00:20:17,828
To have peace on any terms,
the South would demand
339
00:20:17,868 --> 00:20:22,048
the restoration of their
slaves already freed.
340
00:20:22,090 --> 00:20:23,790
They would demand a treaty
341
00:20:23,831 --> 00:20:27,921
which would make the North
slave hunters for the South.
342
00:20:27,965 --> 00:20:31,745
So '64 is a big year.
343
00:20:31,795 --> 00:20:35,795
The war's now no longer just
about preserving the Union.
344
00:20:35,843 --> 00:20:38,193
Now it's become a
war for freedom.
345
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:41,147
And with the election,
everything's at stake.
346
00:20:47,115 --> 00:20:49,675
General Grant...
347
00:20:49,726 --> 00:20:52,376
I hold you in the
highest esteem,
348
00:20:52,425 --> 00:20:55,295
but this catastrophe
in the crater...
349
00:21:00,346 --> 00:21:04,046
Every day, I hear from the
press that I'm too timid
350
00:21:04,088 --> 00:21:09,488
or too tyrannical,
too weak or...too tall.
351
00:21:11,182 --> 00:21:13,452
My reelection and the outcome
352
00:21:13,489 --> 00:21:17,359
of this miserable war...
depends on you.
353
00:21:21,105 --> 00:21:24,065
General Sherman is at
the threshold of Atlanta,
354
00:21:24,108 --> 00:21:26,588
and I am at the threshold
of Petersburg...
355
00:21:26,633 --> 00:21:29,033
And I am at the threshold
of losing the presidency.
356
00:21:32,247 --> 00:21:35,857
Mr. President,
you will never hear of me
357
00:21:35,903 --> 00:21:38,123
farther from Richmond
than I am now.
358
00:21:39,907 --> 00:21:43,607
I will fight it outtill the end.
359
00:21:50,744 --> 00:21:53,834
Hold on with a bulldog grip,
360
00:21:53,877 --> 00:21:58,357
and chew and choke
as much as possible.
361
00:22:09,153 --> 00:22:10,813
Grant is working with Lincoln,
362
00:22:10,851 --> 00:22:12,371
very much in concert,
363
00:22:12,418 --> 00:22:14,158
on how they want to
conduct this war.
364
00:22:14,202 --> 00:22:16,512
And we see that in how
Grant plans his campaigns.
365
00:22:16,552 --> 00:22:17,772
He's really, I think,
366
00:22:17,814 --> 00:22:19,514
the first general
that Lincoln had
367
00:22:19,555 --> 00:22:23,815
that had an overall
strategy for the entire war.
368
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:30,910
I mean, this is still a
very fluid war, even by '64.
369
00:22:30,958 --> 00:22:36,358
So the Union needs
some decisive wins.
370
00:22:36,398 --> 00:22:39,488
One of the key prongs
of Grant's strategy
371
00:22:39,532 --> 00:22:43,842
for the reduction of the South
is, of course, to take Atlanta.
372
00:22:46,060 --> 00:22:48,020
If you don't topple Georgia,
373
00:22:48,062 --> 00:22:51,152
which was one of the top
manpower-delivering states
374
00:22:51,195 --> 00:22:52,885
behind the Confederate
war effort,
375
00:22:52,936 --> 00:22:54,626
and you don't topple Atlanta,
376
00:22:54,677 --> 00:22:58,417
which is a hub of
industry for the South,
377
00:22:58,464 --> 00:23:00,424
then it makes it
possible to sustain
378
00:23:00,466 --> 00:23:04,296
the Confederate war effort for
a prolonged period of time.
379
00:23:04,339 --> 00:23:07,649
This is a no-fail mission,
and you give it to the person
380
00:23:07,690 --> 00:23:10,000
who you've developed
a level of trust
381
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,830
and who you know is
hard enough to do it,
382
00:23:12,869 --> 00:23:14,779
smart enough to do it,
383
00:23:14,828 --> 00:23:19,218
and also will do the intent
of what you want them to do
384
00:23:19,267 --> 00:23:24,447
rather than getting off base,
and Sherman is that person.
385
00:23:24,490 --> 00:23:27,540
Send thisto General
Grant at once.
386
00:23:27,580 --> 00:23:31,890
"We are in close proximityand
constantly skirmishing
387
00:23:31,932 --> 00:23:33,372
"but are not yet
ableto penetrate
388
00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:35,632
the city's fortifications."
389
00:23:35,675 --> 00:23:38,155
William Tecumseh
Sherman would lead
390
00:23:38,199 --> 00:23:40,459
the military division
of Mississippi
391
00:23:40,506 --> 00:23:42,116
through northwest Georgia,
392
00:23:42,159 --> 00:23:45,729
targeting the industrial
heart of Georgia at Atlanta:
393
00:23:45,772 --> 00:23:48,692
the machine shops, the mills,
the factories that were
394
00:23:48,731 --> 00:23:52,301
keeping the Confederate
army in the west going.
395
00:23:52,343 --> 00:23:54,563
And it's Grant who, from afar,
396
00:23:54,607 --> 00:23:57,387
is choreographing this effort.
397
00:23:57,436 --> 00:23:59,436
And Grant and Sherman
398
00:23:59,481 --> 00:24:04,011
maintain a constant
communication via telegraph
399
00:24:04,051 --> 00:24:06,231
despite the more
than 1,000 miles
400
00:24:06,270 --> 00:24:07,840
that intervened between them.
401
00:24:07,881 --> 00:24:10,321
"If you can hold
tight as you are now,
402
00:24:10,361 --> 00:24:12,281
you will destroy
most of that army."
403
00:24:16,237 --> 00:24:18,717
"I would never
advisegoing backward."
404
00:24:18,761 --> 00:24:20,981
As Sherman is
approaching Atlanta,
405
00:24:21,024 --> 00:24:23,034
Grant is sort of pushing him
406
00:24:23,070 --> 00:24:25,250
that, "We need to get this done.
407
00:24:25,289 --> 00:24:28,119
We need to take Atlanta
before the election comes."
408
00:24:28,162 --> 00:24:29,472
"I have losta good
many regiments."
409
00:24:30,904 --> 00:24:33,864
Continue sending.
410
00:24:33,907 --> 00:24:36,557
"I might have to circle
Atlanta before I take it,
411
00:24:36,605 --> 00:24:38,865
but I will take it."
412
00:24:52,142 --> 00:24:56,102
We learned that Sherman
had our troops in Atlanta.
413
00:24:56,146 --> 00:25:00,926
The news of his success
set the country aglow.
414
00:25:00,977 --> 00:25:04,497
Sherman drives on Atlanta,
delivering Atlanta,
415
00:25:04,546 --> 00:25:07,636
and effectively, you do have
some aspects of total war.
416
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,290
We are about collapsing the
will of the Confederate people
417
00:25:10,334 --> 00:25:13,084
to realize,
"You are being defeated."
418
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:15,950
The fall of Atlanta
boosts Northern morale.
419
00:25:15,992 --> 00:25:20,522
People now begin to see
that a Union victory is,
420
00:25:20,562 --> 00:25:23,612
while not inevitable,
at least in sight.
421
00:25:23,652 --> 00:25:27,612
And it has an enormous impact
on the election of 1864.
422
00:25:30,790 --> 00:25:33,140
Lincoln would win the election.
423
00:25:33,183 --> 00:25:34,753
What ultimately gave Lincoln
424
00:25:34,794 --> 00:25:37,104
that election on the battlefield
425
00:25:37,144 --> 00:25:41,504
was Sherman's
capture of Atlanta.
426
00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:44,460
This was part of
Grant's grand strategy
427
00:25:44,499 --> 00:25:46,369
for how to bring about
an end to the war.
428
00:25:48,547 --> 00:25:53,377
Grant has a brilliant
strategic plan.
429
00:25:53,421 --> 00:25:57,561
He's going to move multiple
armies simultaneously
430
00:25:57,599 --> 00:26:00,989
to bring about maximum
pressure on the Confederacy
431
00:26:01,037 --> 00:26:03,467
while also holding
down Robert E. Lee's
432
00:26:03,518 --> 00:26:05,998
much-vaunted Army
of Northern Virginia
433
00:26:06,042 --> 00:26:08,392
at Petersburg.
434
00:26:08,436 --> 00:26:10,306
When Grant starts to
settle in at Petersburg,
435
00:26:10,351 --> 00:26:13,661
he sees, "If I put Lee into
a siege, he can't move."
436
00:26:13,702 --> 00:26:15,662
"And a Robert E. Lee
who cannot maneuver
437
00:26:15,704 --> 00:26:17,794
"is a Robert E. Lee that's
not nearly as dangerous.
438
00:26:17,837 --> 00:26:20,137
"So if I pin Lee,
439
00:26:20,187 --> 00:26:22,017
"we'll eat the rest
of the Confederacy
440
00:26:22,058 --> 00:26:24,538
while we stand here and
watch this all take place."
441
00:26:28,108 --> 00:26:30,328
So Grant decides to move
442
00:26:30,371 --> 00:26:32,811
Phil Sheridan up the
Shenandoah Valley,
443
00:26:32,852 --> 00:26:34,422
threatening the
logistical supply line
444
00:26:34,462 --> 00:26:36,032
of Robert E. Lee's army,
445
00:26:36,072 --> 00:26:37,642
threatening the bread
basket of the Confederacy
446
00:26:37,683 --> 00:26:39,163
that for three years
447
00:26:39,206 --> 00:26:41,246
had supplied the Army
of Northern Virginia.
448
00:26:41,295 --> 00:26:44,035
To General Sheridan:
449
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,870
Do all the damage to
railroads and crops you can.
450
00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:52,610
We want the Shenandoah Valley
to remain a barren waste.
451
00:26:52,654 --> 00:26:57,224
Move quickly with the goal of
destroying all in your path.
452
00:26:57,267 --> 00:26:58,917
After Philip Sheridan
453
00:26:58,965 --> 00:27:00,835
destroys the Shenandoah Valley,
454
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,710
William Tecumseh Sherman
marches through Georgia.
455
00:27:03,752 --> 00:27:05,282
Grant famously says,
456
00:27:05,319 --> 00:27:07,359
"The Confederacy
is a hollow shell.
457
00:27:07,408 --> 00:27:10,108
I know it, and Sherman
is about to prove it."
458
00:27:10,150 --> 00:27:13,070
To General Sherman:
If you are satisfied
459
00:27:13,109 --> 00:27:15,239
the trip to the
seacoast can be made,
460
00:27:15,285 --> 00:27:17,365
you may make it,
461
00:27:17,418 --> 00:27:20,678
destroying all the
railroad as you think best.
462
00:27:20,726 --> 00:27:23,726
What Sherman is doing in Georgia
463
00:27:23,772 --> 00:27:26,602
is sending a message
to Lee's army:
464
00:27:26,645 --> 00:27:28,815
"You guys hold out
here in Richmond
465
00:27:28,864 --> 00:27:31,084
"and you hold out
here in Petersburg,
466
00:27:31,127 --> 00:27:32,957
but we're just tearing out
the guts of the Confederacy."
467
00:27:40,136 --> 00:27:42,566
And meanwhile,
Robert E. Lee's army
468
00:27:42,617 --> 00:27:44,917
is becoming malnourished.
469
00:27:44,967 --> 00:27:47,007
His men are living in conditions
470
00:27:47,056 --> 00:27:50,796
that are rife for disease.
471
00:27:50,843 --> 00:27:54,763
The biological
decline of his men
472
00:27:54,803 --> 00:27:56,813
is beginning to show
to Robert E. Lee
473
00:27:56,849 --> 00:27:58,939
in a way that he'd
never seen before.
474
00:28:02,419 --> 00:28:05,679
They are severely worn down,
475
00:28:05,727 --> 00:28:08,637
and they are the ones that
have to defend Petersburg.
476
00:28:12,908 --> 00:28:14,868
Petersburg is the logistics hub,
477
00:28:14,910 --> 00:28:16,610
the transportation hub
478
00:28:16,651 --> 00:28:19,261
connected to five
separate railroads
479
00:28:19,306 --> 00:28:22,046
that come into Petersburg
that feed Richmond,
480
00:28:22,091 --> 00:28:24,401
the capital of the Confederacy.
481
00:28:24,441 --> 00:28:26,441
Robert E. Lee can't
lose Petersburg,
482
00:28:26,487 --> 00:28:28,707
or he loses Richmond.
483
00:28:28,750 --> 00:28:31,620
By April of 1865,
Grant has captured
484
00:28:31,666 --> 00:28:33,576
all of the important railroads
485
00:28:33,624 --> 00:28:35,764
at Petersburg with
the exception of one,
486
00:28:35,801 --> 00:28:38,591
and that's the
Southside Railroad.
487
00:28:38,629 --> 00:28:40,499
And there's a
crucial intersection
488
00:28:40,544 --> 00:28:43,334
that commands control of
the Southside Railroad.
489
00:28:43,373 --> 00:28:45,853
It's known as Five Forks.
490
00:28:51,904 --> 00:28:54,954
Everything looked favorable
to the defeat of the enemy
491
00:28:54,994 --> 00:28:58,784
and the capture of
Petersburg and Richmond
492
00:28:58,824 --> 00:29:03,054
if the proper effort was made.
493
00:29:03,089 --> 00:29:05,349
And so Grant will
unleash Phil Sheridan
494
00:29:05,395 --> 00:29:07,175
to get out in front
of Robert E. Lee
495
00:29:07,223 --> 00:29:09,183
and keep him from
getting to that railroad
496
00:29:09,225 --> 00:29:10,705
and those supplies.
497
00:29:13,577 --> 00:29:16,927
It's a vicious fight.
498
00:29:16,972 --> 00:29:21,062
At one point, Sheridan, he's
actually on horseback himself
499
00:29:21,107 --> 00:29:24,677
and launches himself over
Confederate attackers,
500
00:29:24,719 --> 00:29:27,329
ordering the men to surrender.
501
00:29:27,374 --> 00:29:31,514
The Confederates will
lose this battle,
502
00:29:31,552 --> 00:29:34,692
and they lose the
Southside Railroad.
503
00:29:34,729 --> 00:29:36,509
And now, finally, we find
504
00:29:36,557 --> 00:29:38,727
Grant is able to sever
those supply lines
505
00:29:38,777 --> 00:29:41,167
that come into Petersburg,
and Robert E. Lee
506
00:29:41,214 --> 00:29:44,044
now has to realize,
"We have to abandon Richmond."
507
00:29:46,262 --> 00:29:50,092
Richmond was in the
most utter confusion.
508
00:29:50,136 --> 00:29:52,226
The city was on fire,
509
00:29:52,268 --> 00:29:56,528
started by some connected
with the retreating army.
510
00:29:56,577 --> 00:29:59,317
When it was evacuated,
the Confederacy at once
511
00:29:59,362 --> 00:30:03,022
began to crumble and fade away.
512
00:30:03,062 --> 00:30:06,202
The Confederates now
scramble to the west
513
00:30:06,239 --> 00:30:08,549
to make this desperate
attempt to link up
514
00:30:08,589 --> 00:30:11,289
with Joe Johnston's
Army of Tennessee.
515
00:30:11,331 --> 00:30:14,201
And if they can link up again,
they can prolong the war.
516
00:30:14,247 --> 00:30:16,767
And so it becomes a chase.
517
00:30:16,815 --> 00:30:20,035
Lee's troops were pursued
by our cavalry so hotly
518
00:30:20,079 --> 00:30:24,129
and closely that they threw
away ammunition, clothing,
519
00:30:24,170 --> 00:30:27,000
and almost everything
to lighten their loads.
520
00:30:27,042 --> 00:30:29,482
No sooner has Lee
evacuated his lines
521
00:30:29,523 --> 00:30:31,483
than Grant takes off after him.
522
00:30:31,525 --> 00:30:35,005
Any other Union general would
have marched into Petersburg
523
00:30:35,050 --> 00:30:36,840
and marched into Richmond
524
00:30:36,878 --> 00:30:39,788
with bands playing and great
celebrations and parties
525
00:30:39,838 --> 00:30:42,448
and all kinds of
self-congratulatory speeches
526
00:30:42,492 --> 00:30:44,762
and reviews and messages
sent back to Washington
527
00:30:44,799 --> 00:30:46,449
about how wonderful it was,
528
00:30:46,496 --> 00:30:47,886
they have now captured Richmond.
529
00:30:49,021 --> 00:30:50,461
Not Grant.
530
00:30:55,810 --> 00:30:57,680
One of ours, sir.
531
00:30:57,725 --> 00:30:59,725
A messengerfrom General Sheridan
532
00:30:59,770 --> 00:31:01,290
who made it through their lines.
533
00:31:01,337 --> 00:31:02,377
Soldier.
534
00:31:13,523 --> 00:31:14,523
Good job, soldier.
535
00:31:22,010 --> 00:31:25,100
Sheridan wants meto come
to him at Jetersville.
536
00:31:25,144 --> 00:31:27,364
Says he can finish Lee.
537
00:31:27,407 --> 00:31:30,057
We'll go right away.
I'll take the advance troops.
538
00:31:30,105 --> 00:31:31,585
General, you're the commander.
539
00:31:31,628 --> 00:31:33,278
- You've gotta stay...
- We'll go right away.
540
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,160
Grant is managing more people
541
00:31:40,202 --> 00:31:42,862
than anyone else in the
world at this moment.
542
00:31:42,901 --> 00:31:45,431
And then he gets a message
from Phil Sheridan saying,
543
00:31:45,468 --> 00:31:47,118
"I think we can capture
544
00:31:47,166 --> 00:31:49,646
or destroy the
Confederate army now."
545
00:31:49,690 --> 00:31:51,650
As the commander of
all those armies,
546
00:31:51,692 --> 00:31:54,002
sometimes your presence
is simply needed.
547
00:31:54,042 --> 00:31:55,522
No matter how tired he was,
548
00:31:55,565 --> 00:31:57,565
no matter how far
away Sheridan was,
549
00:31:57,611 --> 00:31:59,441
Grant was gonna get there.
550
00:31:59,482 --> 00:32:01,702
I then started with
a few of my staff
551
00:32:01,745 --> 00:32:03,785
going directly
through the woods.
552
00:32:03,834 --> 00:32:07,144
The night being dark,
our progress was slow.
553
00:32:07,186 --> 00:32:08,796
Sometimes I had great difficulty
554
00:32:08,839 --> 00:32:10,889
in getting through the lines.
555
00:32:12,191 --> 00:32:14,451
We've got Lee in a box, General.
556
00:32:14,497 --> 00:32:15,797
We should be protectingour
position at Richmond,
557
00:32:15,846 --> 00:32:17,146
not chasing Lee.
558
00:32:17,196 --> 00:32:18,496
We can't let him slip.
559
00:32:18,545 --> 00:32:21,105
I can capture his
whole damn army!
560
00:32:21,156 --> 00:32:24,116
Holding Richmond
won't end this war.
561
00:32:24,159 --> 00:32:27,419
Destroying Lee's army will.
562
00:32:27,467 --> 00:32:30,857
- Go after him.
- Yes, sir.
563
00:32:30,905 --> 00:32:32,115
It now became
564
00:32:32,167 --> 00:32:33,997
a life-and-death
struggle for Lee
565
00:32:34,039 --> 00:32:36,959
to get south to his provisions.
566
00:32:36,998 --> 00:32:40,998
We wanted to get ahead
of Lee and cut him off.
567
00:32:57,236 --> 00:33:00,536
The armies finally
met on Sailor's Creek.
568
00:33:03,503 --> 00:33:06,073
The enemy's loss was very heavy.
569
00:33:08,899 --> 00:33:12,289
Lee's army was
rapidly crumbling.
570
00:33:16,037 --> 00:33:22,567
The final battle between
Grant's army and Robert E. Lee
571
00:33:22,609 --> 00:33:28,619
comes at Sailor's Creek,
April 6, 1865.
572
00:33:28,658 --> 00:33:31,138
Lee's army haven't
eaten for five days.
573
00:33:31,183 --> 00:33:33,623
He's had 2/3 of his
force whittled away
574
00:33:33,663 --> 00:33:36,193
by attacks from his rear.
575
00:33:36,231 --> 00:33:38,711
He is out of options.
576
00:33:38,755 --> 00:33:40,975
Robert E. Lee sees the men
577
00:33:41,019 --> 00:33:45,329
streaming from the
battlefield in chaos,
578
00:33:45,371 --> 00:33:49,031
and Lee turns, and he says
to one of his staff officers,
579
00:33:49,070 --> 00:33:51,680
"My God,
has the army dissolved?"
580
00:33:54,467 --> 00:33:58,727
7,000 of his men
were made prisoners.
581
00:33:58,775 --> 00:34:01,905
I knew that the men who
had fought so gallantly
582
00:34:01,952 --> 00:34:05,652
and so long for the cause
which they believed in
583
00:34:05,695 --> 00:34:06,995
had lost hope.
584
00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:08,435
Come on, keep moving!
585
00:34:10,700 --> 00:34:13,050
Grant knows Lee's
out of options,
586
00:34:13,094 --> 00:34:15,714
and he is counting on Lee
587
00:34:15,749 --> 00:34:19,009
to be chivalrous
and end the war.
588
00:34:21,755 --> 00:34:24,275
To General R.E. Lee:
589
00:34:24,323 --> 00:34:27,373
The result of the last
week must convince you
590
00:34:27,413 --> 00:34:30,893
of the hopelessness
of further resistance.
591
00:34:30,938 --> 00:34:34,028
I regard it as my duty
to shift from myself
592
00:34:34,072 --> 00:34:37,342
the responsibility of any
further effusion of blood...
593
00:34:39,947 --> 00:34:42,647
By asking of you the
surrender of that portion
594
00:34:42,689 --> 00:34:45,429
of the Confederate States Army
595
00:34:45,474 --> 00:34:48,304
known as the Army of
Northern Virginia.
596
00:34:50,436 --> 00:34:55,266
Lee realizes that
the game is over,
597
00:34:55,310 --> 00:34:57,140
and so he sends a
message to Grant:
598
00:34:57,182 --> 00:35:00,012
"If we could discuss matters
599
00:35:00,054 --> 00:35:01,664
"as you had
previously indicated,
600
00:35:01,708 --> 00:35:04,538
I would be happy
to meet with you."
601
00:35:04,580 --> 00:35:06,190
When Lee talks
about having to go
602
00:35:06,234 --> 00:35:08,064
and capitulate to Grant,
Lee says,
603
00:35:08,106 --> 00:35:10,846
"I would rather go
die a thousand deaths
604
00:35:10,891 --> 00:35:13,371
than go do what
I'm about to do."
605
00:35:13,415 --> 00:35:14,585
But he asks for the cease-fire
606
00:35:14,634 --> 00:35:17,164
to talk about
terms of surrender.
607
00:35:17,202 --> 00:35:19,552
A messenger came up to Grant
608
00:35:19,595 --> 00:35:21,945
and gave him the
letter from Lee saying,
609
00:35:21,989 --> 00:35:25,729
"Can you meet me at the
McLean house in Appomattox?'
610
00:35:25,775 --> 00:35:30,125
And so he went to
Appomattox to meet Lee.
611
00:35:32,260 --> 00:35:35,220
It all ends at the
Wilbur McLean farmhouse.
612
00:35:38,266 --> 00:35:40,876
Robert E. Lee stands
in his best uniform.
613
00:35:43,663 --> 00:35:45,883
Lee dreads having to do this.
614
00:35:46,927 --> 00:35:48,017
Dismount!
615
00:36:54,516 --> 00:36:57,256
General Lee.
616
00:36:57,302 --> 00:36:58,872
General Grant.
617
00:37:00,348 --> 00:37:02,608
Perhaps you remember,
618
00:37:02,655 --> 00:37:05,435
we met once back
in the Mexican War.
619
00:37:07,355 --> 00:37:11,925
Yes, I'm sure you're right.
I don't quite recall.
620
00:37:11,968 --> 00:37:14,748
I was with the Fourth Regiment.
621
00:37:16,146 --> 00:37:18,846
It was a long time ago.
622
00:37:22,065 --> 00:37:23,805
Please.
623
00:37:36,906 --> 00:37:39,466
As they sit there in that room,
624
00:37:39,518 --> 00:37:42,558
it's truly a remarkable scene.
625
00:37:42,608 --> 00:37:44,698
You capture this whole nature
of the changing character
626
00:37:44,740 --> 00:37:47,920
of war in that farmhouse.
627
00:37:47,961 --> 00:37:50,051
You have Robert E. Lee,
628
00:37:50,093 --> 00:37:53,183
immaculately dressed with
his sash and his sword,
629
00:37:53,227 --> 00:37:56,057
a patrician of the
Virginia caste society,
630
00:37:56,099 --> 00:37:58,489
the son of a
Revolutionary War general,
631
00:37:58,537 --> 00:38:01,237
a single commander
commanding as if he were
632
00:38:01,279 --> 00:38:03,319
a 16th-century prince
633
00:38:03,368 --> 00:38:05,368
representing the
last of the old wars.
634
00:38:07,241 --> 00:38:09,551
Meanwhile,
you have Ulysses S. Grant,
635
00:38:09,591 --> 00:38:11,811
representing the
first of the new.
636
00:38:11,854 --> 00:38:13,734
Grant has been riding overland.
637
00:38:13,769 --> 00:38:15,339
His boots are mud-spattered.
638
00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:17,080
He's the son of a tanner,
639
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,080
a poor, humble,
hardscrabble background.
640
00:38:20,123 --> 00:38:23,213
He sits now at the top
of this meritocracy
641
00:38:23,257 --> 00:38:26,607
surrounded by a
very capable staff.
642
00:38:26,652 --> 00:38:29,742
And he has an American
Indian on his staff,
643
00:38:29,785 --> 00:38:32,475
Eli Parker, a brigadier general,
644
00:38:32,527 --> 00:38:34,397
a Seneca Indian
that's gonna write out
645
00:38:34,442 --> 00:38:36,052
the terms of surrender.
646
00:38:39,186 --> 00:38:41,926
General Grant...
647
00:38:41,971 --> 00:38:44,411
we should write terms now.
648
00:38:47,368 --> 00:38:49,068
General Parker.
649
00:39:14,003 --> 00:39:16,923
At least there's onereal
American in this room.
650
00:39:19,095 --> 00:39:21,785
We're all Americans here, sir.
651
00:39:54,914 --> 00:39:58,004
Your terms are generous.
652
00:39:58,047 --> 00:40:00,217
They'll have a good
effect on my men.
653
00:40:01,224 --> 00:40:02,404
Good.
654
00:40:04,619 --> 00:40:06,749
And I must ask you in return
655
00:40:06,795 --> 00:40:08,615
that you ask the
rest of your armies
656
00:40:08,667 --> 00:40:10,357
lay down their arms.
657
00:40:10,408 --> 00:40:12,188
They'll listen to you,
658
00:40:12,235 --> 00:40:15,275
and this war can end quickly
without further suffering.
659
00:40:15,325 --> 00:40:18,235
That's not up to me.
660
00:40:18,285 --> 00:40:20,195
That's up to my president.
661
00:40:24,726 --> 00:40:26,896
There's only one president now.
662
00:40:45,399 --> 00:40:48,489
I felt like anything rather
than rejoicing at the downfall
663
00:40:48,533 --> 00:40:52,153
of a foe who had fought
so long and valiantly
664
00:40:52,188 --> 00:40:55,368
and had suffered so
much for a cause,
665
00:40:55,409 --> 00:40:57,499
though that cause was,
I believe,
666
00:40:57,542 --> 00:41:01,072
one of the worst for which
a people ever fought.
667
00:41:04,070 --> 00:41:06,200
Grant and Lincoln wanted,
at all costs,
668
00:41:06,246 --> 00:41:09,076
to prevent a kind
of guerilla warfare,
669
00:41:09,118 --> 00:41:10,988
which is why Grant
gave the terms
670
00:41:11,033 --> 00:41:14,863
that he did to
Lee at Appomattox.
671
00:41:14,907 --> 00:41:17,387
The surrender terms
are relatively lenient.
672
00:41:17,431 --> 00:41:19,521
Officers can keep
their sidearms.
673
00:41:19,564 --> 00:41:22,224
Men with horses can
keep their horses
674
00:41:22,262 --> 00:41:24,262
so that they might go
back and plant crops.
675
00:41:24,307 --> 00:41:28,087
This is an idea of,
"How do we win the peace?"
676
00:41:28,137 --> 00:41:31,397
Grant really tried to honor
what Lincoln asked for.
677
00:41:31,445 --> 00:41:34,485
Let him up easy.
Let these men go home.
678
00:41:34,535 --> 00:41:38,365
Just lay down your guns,
and just go home.
679
00:41:38,408 --> 00:41:42,238
Grant actually went a little
bit further than Lincoln
680
00:41:42,282 --> 00:41:45,152
might have wanted him to.
681
00:41:45,198 --> 00:41:48,938
He paroled the Southern army,
Lee's army.
682
00:41:48,984 --> 00:41:53,904
And that meant Lee himself
would be free from arrest.
683
00:41:56,514 --> 00:41:59,474
Very significantly,
Grant did not allow
684
00:41:59,517 --> 00:42:02,687
his soldiers to in any
way gloat or celebrate.
685
00:42:02,737 --> 00:42:06,697
He felt that that would simply
be rubbing salt into the wounds
686
00:42:06,741 --> 00:42:08,741
of these defeated
Confederate soldiers.
687
00:42:08,787 --> 00:42:11,567
And I think the fact that
Grant had experienced
688
00:42:11,616 --> 00:42:15,836
so much failure in his own life
gave him a special sensitivity
689
00:42:15,881 --> 00:42:18,581
and tact in dealing with these
690
00:42:18,623 --> 00:42:22,503
defeated Confederate
soldiers at Appomattox.
691
00:42:22,540 --> 00:42:25,800
So you can see that
there's this yearning
692
00:42:25,847 --> 00:42:28,977
to be brothers again.
693
00:42:29,024 --> 00:42:31,814
There were shared memories
and shared experiences
694
00:42:31,853 --> 00:42:35,123
that these men had had,
and these are people
695
00:42:35,161 --> 00:42:37,861
who had belonged
to the same nation
696
00:42:37,903 --> 00:42:39,383
and that would again.
697
00:42:42,081 --> 00:42:44,521
When news of the
surrender of Lee's army
698
00:42:44,562 --> 00:42:49,042
gets back to Washington,
Lincoln is so thrilled.
699
00:42:49,088 --> 00:42:53,608
A crowd of well-wishers comes
with bands to serenade him.
700
00:42:53,658 --> 00:42:57,268
Lincoln comes out and gives
them an impromptu speech.
701
00:42:57,313 --> 00:43:01,673
Now, fellow citizens,
give three good, hearty cheers
702
00:43:01,709 --> 00:43:06,539
for General Grant and
all under his command.
703
00:43:06,584 --> 00:43:08,374
Grant stands in the front rank
704
00:43:08,411 --> 00:43:11,151
of great Americans of all time.
705
00:43:11,197 --> 00:43:15,027
He was the man who
saved the Union.
706
00:43:15,070 --> 00:43:17,550
Grant is one of the greatest
military strategists
707
00:43:17,595 --> 00:43:20,685
that the United
States has produced.
708
00:43:20,728 --> 00:43:23,778
It is his strategy
implemented and pushed forward
709
00:43:23,818 --> 00:43:26,598
to its conclusion
that wins the war.
710
00:43:29,650 --> 00:43:31,610
The news of Appomattox
711
00:43:31,652 --> 00:43:34,922
is immediately reported
across the country.
712
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,490
There was a jubilant feeling,
at least in the...in the North,
713
00:43:38,528 --> 00:43:43,658
and a great feeling of relief.
714
00:43:43,708 --> 00:43:46,618
There's such this
feeling of celebration
715
00:43:46,667 --> 00:43:48,407
throughout the North:
716
00:43:48,451 --> 00:43:50,801
the fireworks that
are being set off,
717
00:43:50,845 --> 00:43:53,015
people in the
streets celebrating,
718
00:43:53,065 --> 00:43:56,545
the bunting that's
being put up all across
719
00:43:56,590 --> 00:43:59,420
Washington and New
York and elsewhere,
720
00:43:59,462 --> 00:44:02,902
and ministers across the
North begin preparing sermons
721
00:44:02,944 --> 00:44:05,604
to talk about the
rebirth of the nation.
722
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,660
I'm relieved we didn't go
to the theater tonight,
723
00:44:22,703 --> 00:44:26,583
and the children will be so
happy to see you, finally.
724
00:44:26,620 --> 00:44:29,320
- It's been a long time.
- Mm.
725
00:44:42,462 --> 00:44:44,772
Do you know that man?
726
00:44:47,859 --> 00:44:50,079
I don't care for such looks.
727
00:44:52,254 --> 00:44:53,824
Driver!
728
00:44:55,562 --> 00:44:57,302
On the night of April 14th,
729
00:44:57,346 --> 00:44:58,736
the Lincolns had
invited the Grants
730
00:44:58,783 --> 00:45:01,833
to attend Ford's
Theatre with them.
731
00:45:01,873 --> 00:45:06,363
But they were instead planning
to visit their children.
732
00:45:06,399 --> 00:45:09,319
While the Grants were
en route to the train,
733
00:45:09,358 --> 00:45:11,878
a man on horseback galloped up,
734
00:45:11,926 --> 00:45:14,796
tried to thrust his head in
as if to see who was there.
735
00:45:14,842 --> 00:45:18,322
Always afterwards,
Julia Dent Grant believed
736
00:45:18,367 --> 00:45:20,497
that man had been
John Wilkes Booth.
737
00:45:45,568 --> 00:45:47,658
General Grant.
738
00:45:47,701 --> 00:45:50,401
What is it?
739
00:45:50,443 --> 00:45:52,143
These are for you, sir.
740
00:45:54,490 --> 00:45:56,010
Excuse me, gentlemen.
741
00:46:10,898 --> 00:46:14,468
What is it, Ulys?
742
00:46:14,510 --> 00:46:16,770
I have to return to Washington.
743
00:46:19,341 --> 00:46:21,691
President Lincoln has been shot.
744
00:46:23,650 --> 00:46:25,430
He won't survive.
745
00:46:36,097 --> 00:46:39,097
John Wilkes Booth had
gathered a small band
746
00:46:39,144 --> 00:46:41,234
of conspirators
747
00:46:41,276 --> 00:46:44,496
because Booth planned not
only to murder Lincoln
748
00:46:44,540 --> 00:46:47,460
but to murder Vice
President Andrew Johnson,
749
00:46:47,500 --> 00:46:52,680
Secretary of State Seward,
and General Ulysses S. Grant.
750
00:46:52,722 --> 00:46:54,252
He planned to
decapitate the entire
751
00:46:54,289 --> 00:46:56,069
United States government,
if he could do it.
752
00:47:03,472 --> 00:47:06,872
I did not know what it meant.
753
00:47:06,911 --> 00:47:08,871
Here was the rebellion
put down in the field
754
00:47:08,913 --> 00:47:11,613
and starting up in the gutters.
755
00:47:11,654 --> 00:47:15,444
Now we had to fight
it as assassination.
756
00:47:15,484 --> 00:47:17,014
Grant gets back in Washington
757
00:47:17,051 --> 00:47:19,711
by 10:00 the next day,
758
00:47:19,749 --> 00:47:22,879
and Andrew Johnson is
already being sworn in
759
00:47:22,927 --> 00:47:26,497
as president of
the United States.
760
00:47:26,539 --> 00:47:31,149
What a different world
Ulysses Grant has returned to.
761
00:47:39,944 --> 00:47:43,474
The joy that I had witnessed
among the people in the street
762
00:47:43,512 --> 00:47:45,952
and in public
places in Washington
763
00:47:45,993 --> 00:47:48,653
had been turned to grief.
764
00:47:48,691 --> 00:47:52,911
The city was in reality
a city of mourning.
765
00:47:52,957 --> 00:47:55,477
Lee surrenders to
Grant on April 9th,
766
00:47:55,524 --> 00:47:57,484
and only a week later,
767
00:47:57,526 --> 00:48:00,566
on Good Friday,
Lincoln is assassinated.
768
00:48:00,616 --> 00:48:04,706
And a city that had
been so full of hope
769
00:48:04,751 --> 00:48:07,541
and joy and messages of peace
770
00:48:07,580 --> 00:48:10,630
is immediately
brought to mourning.
771
00:48:10,670 --> 00:48:14,330
And the churches that had been
decorated for Easter Sunday,
772
00:48:14,369 --> 00:48:18,109
full of their lilies and
other symbols of peace,
773
00:48:18,156 --> 00:48:21,156
are now draped in mourning.
774
00:48:21,202 --> 00:48:24,162
Only days after coming
back from Appomattox
775
00:48:24,205 --> 00:48:26,285
and being this great,
victorious general,
776
00:48:26,338 --> 00:48:29,168
now Grant is tasked with
planning the funeral
777
00:48:29,210 --> 00:48:31,870
of a man who had been
not only his president
778
00:48:31,909 --> 00:48:35,959
but also had become
a dear friend.
779
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:39,570
To know Lincoln personally
was to love and respect him
780
00:48:39,612 --> 00:48:42,922
for his great qualities
of heart and head.
781
00:48:42,963 --> 00:48:44,923
His death was the
greatest possible
782
00:48:44,965 --> 00:48:47,135
calamity to the country
783
00:48:47,185 --> 00:48:49,965
and especially to the
people of the South.
784
00:48:56,934 --> 00:48:59,334
After the war,
the South is devastated.
785
00:48:59,371 --> 00:49:02,901
What was all of their wealth
has largely been wiped out.
786
00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:04,290
Lincoln gets killed.
787
00:49:04,332 --> 00:49:07,072
Now who's gonna
provide that stability?
788
00:49:07,118 --> 00:49:09,768
Who is gonna be the one man
who can provide that stable,
789
00:49:09,816 --> 00:49:11,766
guiding hand on the nation?
790
00:49:13,776 --> 00:49:15,686
When the war ends,
791
00:49:15,735 --> 00:49:17,995
Ulysses S. Grant is
still general in chief.
792
00:49:18,042 --> 00:49:20,742
And this becomes
extremely significant
793
00:49:20,783 --> 00:49:25,963
because there's nobody who
has a more comprehensive view
794
00:49:26,006 --> 00:49:28,006
of what's going on in the South
795
00:49:28,052 --> 00:49:30,882
in the years after the
Civil War than Grant.
796
00:49:30,924 --> 00:49:35,064
And so in 1865, Grant's duties,
797
00:49:35,102 --> 00:49:38,152
his responsibilities as
general of the armies,
798
00:49:38,192 --> 00:49:41,022
was to run the
largest civil project
799
00:49:41,065 --> 00:49:43,065
ever the federal
government had taken on,
800
00:49:43,110 --> 00:49:45,550
known as Reconstruction.
801
00:49:49,551 --> 00:49:53,951
Reconstruction, fundamentally,
was military occupation.
802
00:49:53,991 --> 00:49:56,601
And it was organized around
five military districts
803
00:49:56,645 --> 00:49:58,465
within the American South.
804
00:50:02,477 --> 00:50:05,827
Reconstruction was three things.
805
00:50:05,872 --> 00:50:08,442
It was to rebuild
infrastructure in the South.
806
00:50:08,483 --> 00:50:13,273
It was to help transition
newly freed people
807
00:50:13,314 --> 00:50:15,664
and what freedom could
look like for them,
808
00:50:15,708 --> 00:50:18,798
most of whom are
completely illiterate,
809
00:50:18,841 --> 00:50:22,541
who have no property,
who have no prospects,
810
00:50:22,584 --> 00:50:24,634
but who have desire.
811
00:50:24,673 --> 00:50:27,073
And it was to
restructure legal systems
812
00:50:27,111 --> 00:50:30,111
to help protect
newly freed people
813
00:50:30,157 --> 00:50:36,027
and to address this idea
of equality for everyone.
814
00:50:36,076 --> 00:50:42,336
But I don't think anyone
recognized the true magnitude
815
00:50:42,387 --> 00:50:46,997
of what Reconstruction was
going to look like in America,
816
00:50:47,044 --> 00:50:50,094
the level and
number of challenges
817
00:50:50,134 --> 00:50:53,014
of problems that could
potentially emerge
818
00:50:53,050 --> 00:50:55,010
from the end of the
American Civil War.
819
00:50:58,185 --> 00:51:00,665
The success of the Union army
820
00:51:00,709 --> 00:51:03,149
doesn't mean a return
to the status quo.
821
00:51:03,190 --> 00:51:07,110
It means the Union
restored without slavery.
822
00:51:07,151 --> 00:51:12,031
And so the most egregious
part of Union victory
823
00:51:12,069 --> 00:51:15,509
for former Confederates
is emancipation.
824
00:51:15,550 --> 00:51:18,080
And so they push back on
it from the very beginning.
825
00:51:18,118 --> 00:51:21,118
They push back in legal
ways called the Black Codes.
826
00:51:23,297 --> 00:51:26,127
They create a series of actions
827
00:51:26,170 --> 00:51:30,440
that will mirror the
conditions of slavery.
828
00:51:30,478 --> 00:51:34,568
And so throughout the 1860s,
in major cities,
829
00:51:34,613 --> 00:51:38,183
conflicts would erupt between
former Confederate soldiers
830
00:51:38,225 --> 00:51:42,525
and free African-Americans.
831
00:51:42,577 --> 00:51:47,927
You see this conflict
in New Orleans in 1866.
832
00:51:47,974 --> 00:51:51,024
African-Americans and a
handful of white Republicans
833
00:51:51,064 --> 00:51:53,764
are trying to write a new
constitution for the state
834
00:51:53,806 --> 00:51:56,416
that would recognize
African-American voting
835
00:51:56,461 --> 00:51:57,641
and civil rights.
836
00:51:59,768 --> 00:52:03,208
What happens is, a local
newspaper whips up a frenzy.
837
00:52:03,250 --> 00:52:06,040
Ex-Confederates gather,
trying to stop them.
838
00:52:06,079 --> 00:52:07,779
It was an absolute powder keg.
839
00:52:10,388 --> 00:52:12,648
We stand here today as free men,
840
00:52:12,694 --> 00:52:15,004
but that's just the beginning.
841
00:52:15,044 --> 00:52:16,964
We have to stand
up for our rights.
842
00:52:17,003 --> 00:52:19,093
We have to fight...
843
00:52:38,024 --> 00:52:40,724
Come on! Out the back!
844
00:52:45,553 --> 00:52:48,083
I just got a telegraph
from General Sheridan.
845
00:52:48,121 --> 00:52:51,261
This outrage in New
Orleans must be punished.
846
00:52:51,298 --> 00:52:52,908
I simply can't allow...
847
00:52:52,952 --> 00:52:54,692
General, we don't knowif
the freed men provoked this.
848
00:52:54,736 --> 00:52:56,166
It was a riot.
849
00:52:56,216 --> 00:52:57,606
This is an atrocity.
850
00:53:00,307 --> 00:53:01,607
Sheridan is there.
851
00:53:01,656 --> 00:53:03,216
They're gettin' away!
852
00:53:03,267 --> 00:53:05,047
And the way he tells it,
this is a massacre.
853
00:53:12,101 --> 00:53:13,891
Don't let him get away!
854
00:53:15,322 --> 00:53:16,502
Hold him, boys!
855
00:53:23,939 --> 00:53:26,159
It's my duty to
protect the people.
856
00:53:28,857 --> 00:53:31,597
Try telling that to
President Johnson.
857
00:53:35,603 --> 00:53:37,433
Instead, I wish I could
speak with Lincoln.
858
00:53:41,218 --> 00:53:42,918
We could declare martial law.
859
00:53:42,958 --> 00:53:44,828
- Sir...
- It won't be popular,
860
00:53:44,873 --> 00:53:46,963
but I don't want another war.
861
00:53:49,704 --> 00:53:51,624
We can't have another war.
862
00:53:56,972 --> 00:54:01,062
So in 1866,
Grant receives reports
863
00:54:01,107 --> 00:54:03,457
from his commanders
throughout the South,
864
00:54:03,501 --> 00:54:07,161
and it becomes quite evident
that there are hundreds
865
00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:10,550
if not thousands of so-called
outrages of African-Americans
866
00:54:10,595 --> 00:54:15,075
being killed in horrific,
barbarious ways.
867
00:54:15,121 --> 00:54:19,261
Grant is constantly
compiling statistics
868
00:54:19,299 --> 00:54:20,779
for President Andrew Johnson
869
00:54:20,822 --> 00:54:22,742
in terms of the
scale of violence
870
00:54:22,781 --> 00:54:26,391
going on against the 4 million
former slaves in the South,
871
00:54:26,437 --> 00:54:28,827
and Johnson refuses
to believe it.
872
00:54:30,876 --> 00:54:35,046
Andrew Johnson is able
to emerge as a figure
873
00:54:35,097 --> 00:54:37,487
who is a friend
of the Confederacy
874
00:54:37,535 --> 00:54:39,575
who will not implement
Reconstruction
875
00:54:39,624 --> 00:54:41,714
with the great force of
the federal government.
876
00:54:41,756 --> 00:54:44,716
Grant is increasingly frustrated
877
00:54:44,759 --> 00:54:48,419
and furious that Johnson
is trying to impede
878
00:54:48,459 --> 00:54:51,239
any sort of military
intervention in the South.
879
00:54:51,288 --> 00:54:53,158
But I think we underestimate
880
00:54:53,202 --> 00:54:56,992
how politically savvy Grant was.
881
00:54:57,032 --> 00:54:59,862
Grant is an interesting
man as a political figure.
882
00:54:59,905 --> 00:55:01,945
He doesn't seek
out the nomination
883
00:55:01,994 --> 00:55:03,954
for the presidency ever,
884
00:55:03,996 --> 00:55:05,606
but he doesn't turn
down the nomination
885
00:55:05,650 --> 00:55:07,780
for the presidency either.
886
00:55:10,307 --> 00:55:12,567
Because of the Civil War
887
00:55:12,613 --> 00:55:13,963
and because of
Grant's heroism...
888
00:55:14,006 --> 00:55:15,356
and at Appomattox,
889
00:55:15,399 --> 00:55:17,879
Grant becomes the hero
not only in the North
890
00:55:17,923 --> 00:55:19,883
but in the South
for his fairness
891
00:55:19,925 --> 00:55:22,225
to the defeated
Confederate troops...
892
00:55:22,275 --> 00:55:24,095
Grant enjoyed a certain status
893
00:55:24,146 --> 00:55:25,706
and sort of levitated
894
00:55:25,757 --> 00:55:28,627
above the level of
American politics.
895
00:55:28,673 --> 00:55:30,893
And not unlike Washington,
896
00:55:30,936 --> 00:55:33,586
that Washington was the
father of the country
897
00:55:33,634 --> 00:55:36,464
and Grant was the
savior of the country
898
00:55:36,507 --> 00:55:39,377
is something that is
on many people's minds.
899
00:55:39,423 --> 00:55:43,213
And of course, at that time,
it was considered unseemly
900
00:55:43,252 --> 00:55:45,822
for a candidate to openly
campaign for president,
901
00:55:45,864 --> 00:55:48,694
and that was just
fine with Grant.
902
00:55:48,736 --> 00:55:50,086
And rather than campaigning,
903
00:55:50,129 --> 00:55:53,439
he's kind of swept
into the presidency.
904
00:55:54,699 --> 00:55:57,049
Grant wins the 1868 election
905
00:55:57,092 --> 00:56:00,272
in an electoral
college landslide,
906
00:56:00,313 --> 00:56:03,063
but his presidency
would be the presidency
907
00:56:03,098 --> 00:56:05,968
that had the responsibility
of securing political rights
908
00:56:06,014 --> 00:56:07,934
for African-Americans.
909
00:56:07,973 --> 00:56:09,933
He had an enormous
responsibility
910
00:56:09,975 --> 00:56:11,405
and an incredibly difficult one,
911
00:56:11,455 --> 00:56:13,495
because there were
so many people,
912
00:56:13,544 --> 00:56:15,554
both in the South
and in the North,
913
00:56:15,589 --> 00:56:17,679
who were opposed to those ideas.
914
00:56:17,722 --> 00:56:21,032
But he was given the
difficult task, not once,
915
00:56:21,073 --> 00:56:23,603
but twice, of doing this,
916
00:56:23,641 --> 00:56:27,431
winning the war and
then winning the peace.
917
00:56:27,471 --> 00:56:29,471
In here, Mr. President.
918
00:56:42,311 --> 00:56:44,101
The country having just emerged
919
00:56:44,139 --> 00:56:49,539
from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it
920
00:56:49,580 --> 00:56:52,930
for settlement in
the next four years
921
00:56:52,974 --> 00:56:54,634
which preceding administrations
922
00:56:54,672 --> 00:56:58,282
have never had to deal with.
923
00:56:58,327 --> 00:57:01,977
In meeting these,
it is desirable
924
00:57:02,027 --> 00:57:04,637
that they should be
approached calmly,
925
00:57:04,682 --> 00:57:09,212
without prejudice, hate,
or sectional pride.
926
00:57:11,689 --> 00:57:16,219
I ask patient forbearance,
one toward another,
927
00:57:16,258 --> 00:57:19,478
throughout the land
and a determined effort
928
00:57:19,523 --> 00:57:21,533
on the part of every citizen
929
00:57:21,568 --> 00:57:26,048
to do his share towards
cementing a happy Union.
930
00:57:38,585 --> 00:57:41,145
I feel the responsibilities
of the position
931
00:57:41,196 --> 00:57:43,496
but accept them without fear.
932
00:57:43,547 --> 00:57:46,587
And I bring to it a
desire and determination
933
00:57:46,637 --> 00:57:50,547
to fill it to the
best of my ability.
934
00:57:50,597 --> 00:57:53,337
When Ulysses Grant is
inaugurated as president,
935
00:57:53,382 --> 00:57:58,172
he has what amounts to a
colossal mess on his hands.
936
00:57:58,213 --> 00:57:59,913
He has not only Reconstruction,
937
00:57:59,954 --> 00:58:02,874
but he has a botched attempt
at beginning Reconstruction
938
00:58:02,914 --> 00:58:07,574
under Andrew Johnson
that he has to overcome.
939
00:58:07,614 --> 00:58:10,924
And that's going to
create a formidable agenda
940
00:58:10,965 --> 00:58:12,525
for him to deal
with as president.
941
00:58:15,666 --> 00:58:18,056
Reconstruction meant
the reintroduction
942
00:58:18,103 --> 00:58:23,203
of the Confederate states
back into the American Union,
943
00:58:23,238 --> 00:58:25,108
which sounds pretty simple,
944
00:58:25,153 --> 00:58:27,593
but you've got to have some way
945
00:58:27,634 --> 00:58:30,994
of reintegrating
the Southern economy
946
00:58:31,029 --> 00:58:32,939
with the rest of the
national economy.
947
00:58:32,987 --> 00:58:36,897
Then you have to think about
what you're going to do
948
00:58:36,948 --> 00:58:38,518
with the freed slaves.
949
00:58:38,558 --> 00:58:41,298
The 13th Amendment
abolishes slavery,
950
00:58:41,343 --> 00:58:44,523
but what does it do beyond that?
951
00:58:44,564 --> 00:58:46,574
When Grant becomes president
of the United States,
952
00:58:46,610 --> 00:58:50,790
he is absolutely committed to
the aims of Reconstruction.
953
00:58:50,831 --> 00:58:55,181
He is committed to making
America fully just,
954
00:58:55,227 --> 00:58:59,667
fully equal for black
people and white people.
955
00:58:59,710 --> 00:59:05,890
He is committed to this in his
own simple and elegant way.
956
00:59:05,933 --> 00:59:07,723
So it's very important
to remember that Grant
957
00:59:07,761 --> 00:59:10,241
is the first American president
958
00:59:10,285 --> 00:59:12,545
to govern after
the 14th Amendment
959
00:59:12,592 --> 00:59:16,072
that guarantees equal
rights before the law
960
00:59:16,117 --> 00:59:19,207
and, most importantly,
after the 15th Amendment,
961
00:59:19,251 --> 00:59:23,041
which gives black men
the right to vote.
962
00:59:23,081 --> 00:59:25,741
After the passage of
the 15th Amendment,
963
00:59:25,779 --> 00:59:30,039
African-American men began to
vote in extraordinary numbers.
964
00:59:30,088 --> 00:59:31,998
Americans are finally
who they say they are.
965
00:59:32,046 --> 00:59:34,216
All men are truly created equal.
966
00:59:34,266 --> 00:59:36,486
I think this utterly
is reflected of Grant
967
00:59:36,529 --> 00:59:38,139
and what he believes
this nation is
968
00:59:38,183 --> 00:59:39,883
and what it should aspire to be.
969
00:59:42,230 --> 00:59:45,630
So now we have 3.5 million
people from Mississippi
970
00:59:45,669 --> 00:59:48,669
to Louisiana to South Carolina
971
00:59:48,715 --> 00:59:52,325
voting themselves and the
candidates of their choosing.
972
00:59:52,371 --> 00:59:55,551
African-Americans in
most Southern states
973
00:59:55,592 --> 00:59:59,642
were elected for the first
time to Washington, D.C.,
974
00:59:59,683 --> 01:00:02,603
as senators and as congressmen
975
01:00:02,642 --> 01:00:04,642
but on a state level as well.
976
01:00:04,688 --> 01:00:07,388
And all these things,
this incredible
977
01:00:07,429 --> 01:00:09,999
biracial experiment,
was happening.
978
01:00:10,041 --> 01:00:14,261
And the changes that they
make are extraordinary.
979
01:00:14,306 --> 01:00:18,876
They establish free public
education for every child.
980
01:00:18,919 --> 01:00:21,139
They establish systems
that make it easier
981
01:00:21,182 --> 01:00:24,752
for people to vote and to
be able to acquire land.
982
01:00:24,795 --> 01:00:28,535
It's a period of possibility
in American history.
983
01:00:28,581 --> 01:00:29,761
It was not just a
political project.
984
01:00:29,800 --> 01:00:32,060
It was also a social project.
985
01:00:32,106 --> 01:00:35,106
And you see the
building of schools,
986
01:00:35,153 --> 01:00:37,073
the building of banks.
987
01:00:37,111 --> 01:00:39,421
You see more people
are learning to read
988
01:00:39,461 --> 01:00:42,601
among African-American
communities than ever before.
989
01:00:42,639 --> 01:00:44,249
You probably had more
political progress
990
01:00:44,292 --> 01:00:46,772
for black people than you
actually had in the North.
991
01:00:46,817 --> 01:00:49,167
You know, not just because
there were more black people
992
01:00:49,210 --> 01:00:52,470
but because of what was
happening was so revolutionary.
993
01:00:52,518 --> 01:00:57,958
There is a profoundly
progressive agenda
994
01:00:58,002 --> 01:01:02,752
moving the arc towards
justice for everybody.
995
01:01:02,789 --> 01:01:05,619
And then it falls apart.
996
01:01:09,013 --> 01:01:12,413
The Ku Klux Klan
very quickly grows
997
01:01:12,451 --> 01:01:15,721
to become a
paramilitary insurgency
998
01:01:15,759 --> 01:01:18,409
in which armed
Confederate veterans
999
01:01:18,457 --> 01:01:20,887
will turn to violent tactics.
1000
01:01:23,070 --> 01:01:24,940
There were thousands of blacks
1001
01:01:24,985 --> 01:01:29,765
who were killed for registering
and daring to...to vote,
1002
01:01:29,816 --> 01:01:33,246
and black voting would
drop off to near zero.
1003
01:01:33,298 --> 01:01:36,338
In many counties throughout
the ex-Confederate South,
1004
01:01:36,388 --> 01:01:38,868
the Ku Klux Klan is
really controlling
1005
01:01:38,912 --> 01:01:41,742
the levers of power,
1006
01:01:41,785 --> 01:01:46,005
and they are meting out their
brand of vigilante justice.
1007
01:02:05,025 --> 01:02:06,635
Mr. President.
1008
01:02:10,204 --> 01:02:13,694
You're thinking likea
politician, not a general.
1009
01:02:13,730 --> 01:02:16,820
Well, there's more than
one way to get things done.
1010
01:02:16,863 --> 01:02:22,353
But these Ku Kluxers'
mindswon't be changed by words.
1011
01:02:22,390 --> 01:02:24,830
You of all people know that.
1012
01:02:24,871 --> 01:02:29,791
Yes, and I know the misery
that the use of force leads to.
1013
01:02:29,833 --> 01:02:34,143
That misery is all onmy
people's heads right now.
1014
01:02:34,185 --> 01:02:38,795
Should we just wait,be patient?
1015
01:02:38,842 --> 01:02:42,502
No. That wouldn't be fair.
1016
01:02:44,848 --> 01:02:47,548
You will see the general
in me soon enough.
1017
01:02:51,855 --> 01:02:54,375
Frederick Douglass,
he understands
1018
01:02:54,422 --> 01:02:57,862
Grant's huge popularity
among the people,
1019
01:02:57,904 --> 01:03:01,604
and he wants to help Grant
1020
01:03:01,647 --> 01:03:06,127
be that next great
American leader
1021
01:03:06,173 --> 01:03:10,833
in the vein of a
George Washington.
1022
01:03:10,874 --> 01:03:14,054
But the question is,
what exactly can he do
1023
01:03:14,094 --> 01:03:15,704
about the activities
of the Klan?
1024
01:03:15,748 --> 01:03:18,838
Because this is,
after all, a state matter.
1025
01:03:18,882 --> 01:03:20,972
What Congress does
is to equip Grant
1026
01:03:21,014 --> 01:03:23,934
with the Ku Klux Klan Act.
1027
01:03:23,974 --> 01:03:27,934
Grant felt so strongly
about the KKK Act
1028
01:03:27,978 --> 01:03:30,418
that he actually marched
up to Capitol Hill
1029
01:03:30,458 --> 01:03:33,418
with his entire cabinet
to lobby for it.
1030
01:03:33,461 --> 01:03:37,291
This was a very powerful
and sweeping act.
1031
01:03:37,335 --> 01:03:40,555
It allows Grant to
declare martial law
1032
01:03:40,599 --> 01:03:43,379
and send federal troops
in directly to intervene.
1033
01:03:50,565 --> 01:03:53,865
I've been there,
seen it myself, Mr. President.
1034
01:03:53,917 --> 01:03:57,397
The Ku Kluxersare
all over those towns.
1035
01:03:57,442 --> 01:04:03,582
They're farmers,
sheriffs, politicians.
1036
01:04:03,622 --> 01:04:05,362
You served in the war,
didn't you?
1037
01:04:05,406 --> 01:04:07,706
Yes, sir.Missouri.
1038
01:04:07,756 --> 01:04:10,496
And you faced your share
of rebel guerillas there.
1039
01:04:10,542 --> 01:04:12,282
How'd you deal with them?
1040
01:04:12,326 --> 01:04:16,026
Well, sir, we had to findthe
enemy any way we could.
1041
01:04:16,069 --> 01:04:19,119
We used informants, spies.
1042
01:04:19,159 --> 01:04:21,769
- Exactly.
- We had to gather information,
1043
01:04:21,814 --> 01:04:25,864
identities,
find outwho the leaders were.
1044
01:04:25,905 --> 01:04:30,945
And that's what you're gonna
do now against the Klan.
1045
01:04:30,997 --> 01:04:35,997
After you learn who your
targets are, you'll strike.
1046
01:04:36,046 --> 01:04:41,306
And I don't care if they're
doctors or farmers or lawyers.
1047
01:04:41,355 --> 01:04:43,745
You arrest them and try them.
1048
01:04:43,792 --> 01:04:45,582
Yes, sir.
1049
01:04:45,620 --> 01:04:48,100
You're gonna root them out,
Merrill,
1050
01:04:48,145 --> 01:04:49,755
no matter what it takes.
1051
01:04:49,798 --> 01:04:52,108
You can count on me,
Mr. President.
1052
01:05:00,287 --> 01:05:03,937
And so in 1871,
several companies
1053
01:05:03,987 --> 01:05:08,167
of the Seventh Cavalry are
sent into South Carolina,
1054
01:05:08,208 --> 01:05:10,858
where,
under Major Lewis Merrill,
1055
01:05:10,907 --> 01:05:14,817
they actually go out and
begin arresting large numbers
1056
01:05:14,867 --> 01:05:17,437
of Klan members to
bring them to justice.
1057
01:05:17,478 --> 01:05:19,518
It took a lot of
1058
01:05:19,567 --> 01:05:21,047
counterintelligence operations,
1059
01:05:21,091 --> 01:05:23,271
of getting to know who the
political leaders were,
1060
01:05:23,310 --> 01:05:25,660
getting to know who the
Klan leaders were...
1061
01:05:25,704 --> 01:05:27,454
a difficult thing to do,
1062
01:05:27,488 --> 01:05:30,358
but ultimately,
Grant is going to be successful
1063
01:05:30,404 --> 01:05:33,194
at defeating the Klan.
1064
01:05:33,233 --> 01:05:36,193
For all practical purposes,
by 1872,
1065
01:05:36,236 --> 01:05:38,106
the operations of
the Ku Klux Klan
1066
01:05:38,151 --> 01:05:40,501
had been pretty
successfully suppressed,
1067
01:05:40,545 --> 01:05:43,065
and it is one of the
significant achievements
1068
01:05:43,113 --> 01:05:46,333
of Grant's administration.
1069
01:05:46,377 --> 01:05:47,897
I think fighting and defeating
1070
01:05:47,944 --> 01:05:49,864
the Klan is a big deal.
1071
01:05:49,902 --> 01:05:52,252
And so that Grant defeats the
first wave of the Klan is,
1072
01:05:52,296 --> 01:05:53,686
I think, something that people
1073
01:05:53,732 --> 01:05:56,602
have not paid
enough attention to.
1074
01:05:56,648 --> 01:06:02,438
And so the 1871 Klan
Acts made it safe enough
1075
01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:04,700
for African-Americans
to vote in the South.
1076
01:06:07,006 --> 01:06:08,656
But there was pushback,
1077
01:06:08,703 --> 01:06:11,143
and there was
pushback in large part
1078
01:06:11,184 --> 01:06:15,324
because many people believed
that Grant was overextending
1079
01:06:15,362 --> 01:06:18,842
his hand with the Klan Acts.
1080
01:06:18,887 --> 01:06:21,057
Many white Northerners,
1081
01:06:21,107 --> 01:06:25,237
including a fair number
of Union soldiers,
1082
01:06:25,285 --> 01:06:28,545
are never on board with
occupying the South.
1083
01:06:28,593 --> 01:06:30,643
They say, "If this can
happen in the South,
1084
01:06:30,682 --> 01:06:33,472
why can't it happen
in the North?"
1085
01:06:33,511 --> 01:06:36,861
And the country's also
aware of the great cost
1086
01:06:36,905 --> 01:06:38,855
of this military occupation,
1087
01:06:38,907 --> 01:06:41,777
the great cost of
Reconstruction.
1088
01:06:41,823 --> 01:06:45,833
And quite frankly, they've
grown weary of Reconstruction.
1089
01:06:45,871 --> 01:06:49,091
Grant is well aware
that public opinion
1090
01:06:49,135 --> 01:06:52,655
goes strongly against
the use of federal troops
1091
01:06:52,704 --> 01:06:55,144
just being sent in whenever
there's some kind of emergency
1092
01:06:55,185 --> 01:06:57,535
and martial law being declared.
1093
01:06:57,578 --> 01:06:59,618
In other words, he could wreck
1094
01:06:59,667 --> 01:07:01,627
the entire
Reconstruction project
1095
01:07:01,669 --> 01:07:06,149
if he reaches for the
martial law weapon too much.
1096
01:07:06,196 --> 01:07:08,146
I thought I could
run the government
1097
01:07:08,198 --> 01:07:11,158
of the United States as I
did the staff of my army.
1098
01:07:11,201 --> 01:07:13,771
It was my mistake,
1099
01:07:13,812 --> 01:07:15,772
and it led me into
other mistakes.
1100
01:07:29,523 --> 01:07:31,963
- What's this?
- Requests, Mr. President.
1101
01:07:32,004 --> 01:07:34,534
Suggestions forcabinet
appointments.
1102
01:07:34,572 --> 01:07:36,232
Businessmenwant
to meet with you.
1103
01:07:36,269 --> 01:07:38,969
Another report of
violencein the South.
1104
01:07:39,011 --> 01:07:42,751
Sherman wants troops in
thewest to contain the Indians.
1105
01:07:42,797 --> 01:07:46,577
One of the Indians,
a chief named Red Cloud,
1106
01:07:46,627 --> 01:07:48,627
wants to come to
Washingtonto meet you.
1107
01:07:48,673 --> 01:07:51,853
When Grant is president,
he's dealing with a host
1108
01:07:51,893 --> 01:07:55,813
of issues with the
Transcontinental Railroad,
1109
01:07:55,854 --> 01:07:57,074
certainly with Native Americans.
1110
01:07:57,116 --> 01:07:59,506
He makes a pledge of leniency
1111
01:07:59,553 --> 01:08:01,643
and goodwill toward
Native Americans
1112
01:08:01,686 --> 01:08:05,076
which ultimately
doesn't pan out.
1113
01:08:05,124 --> 01:08:08,304
And we're moving into
the period when industry
1114
01:08:08,345 --> 01:08:13,215
and capitalism are
coming to the forefront.
1115
01:08:13,263 --> 01:08:15,923
The economy in the North,
in particular, had expanded
1116
01:08:15,961 --> 01:08:18,491
tremendously during the war.
1117
01:08:18,529 --> 01:08:20,659
So you have...
during Grant's presidency,
1118
01:08:20,705 --> 01:08:23,615
you have the beginnings of
the rise of big business.
1119
01:08:23,664 --> 01:08:26,674
At the same time,
there's an enormous expansion
1120
01:08:26,711 --> 01:08:28,321
of the federal government,
1121
01:08:28,365 --> 01:08:30,755
and there is much
more opportunity
1122
01:08:30,802 --> 01:08:33,762
for government
corruption than before.
1123
01:08:36,634 --> 01:08:40,384
Grant himself was not corrupt.
1124
01:08:40,420 --> 01:08:43,160
Ironically, his presidential
administration goes down as one
1125
01:08:43,206 --> 01:08:46,556
that is remembered
as being corrupt.
1126
01:08:46,600 --> 01:08:49,560
Grant thinks everybody
has a good heart,
1127
01:08:49,603 --> 01:08:52,393
everybody has as good
a heart as he does.
1128
01:08:52,432 --> 01:08:55,572
Grant has a blind
loyalty to people,
1129
01:08:55,609 --> 01:08:59,959
and some of the people that
he appointed were corrupt.
1130
01:09:00,005 --> 01:09:03,615
You see that fierce
loyalty with his secretary,
1131
01:09:03,661 --> 01:09:05,361
Orville Babcock.
1132
01:09:05,402 --> 01:09:08,712
Babcock was involved
with the Whisky Ring,
1133
01:09:08,753 --> 01:09:10,283
which was government officials
1134
01:09:10,320 --> 01:09:13,190
working with
whiskey distributors
1135
01:09:13,236 --> 01:09:15,886
and dealers to embezzle money
1136
01:09:15,934 --> 01:09:18,814
to the tune of $1
1/2 million a year,
1137
01:09:18,850 --> 01:09:21,070
and it was a major,
major scandal.
1138
01:09:21,113 --> 01:09:23,253
But Grant's loyalty
was so strong,
1139
01:09:23,289 --> 01:09:26,419
he vouched for Babcock.
1140
01:09:26,466 --> 01:09:28,556
There was an
innocence about Grant,
1141
01:09:28,599 --> 01:09:31,949
and because he was
not deceitful himself,
1142
01:09:31,993 --> 01:09:36,083
he had a lot of difficulty
seeing that in other people.
1143
01:09:36,128 --> 01:09:42,218
And everyone who knew Grant was
mystified by his gullibility.
1144
01:09:44,528 --> 01:09:47,228
Corruption increasingly
becomes a problem
1145
01:09:47,270 --> 01:09:50,450
as bribes become more evident.
1146
01:09:50,490 --> 01:09:53,320
And so there is a cultural
shift that's going on.
1147
01:09:55,843 --> 01:09:58,593
Voters take their
frustrations to the polls
1148
01:09:58,629 --> 01:10:01,149
in the midterm
elections in 1874,
1149
01:10:01,197 --> 01:10:03,457
and they put a
Democratic majority,
1150
01:10:03,503 --> 01:10:05,773
for the first time
since the Civil War,
1151
01:10:05,810 --> 01:10:08,030
into the House of
Representatives.
1152
01:10:08,073 --> 01:10:09,473
Once there's a
Democratic majority
1153
01:10:09,509 --> 01:10:10,859
in the House of Representatives,
1154
01:10:10,902 --> 01:10:12,992
Grant finds himself crippled
1155
01:10:13,034 --> 01:10:17,604
in all of these
Reconstruction measures.
1156
01:10:17,648 --> 01:10:19,868
The notion that
his administration
1157
01:10:19,911 --> 01:10:24,181
is full of corruption
leads people to doubt
1158
01:10:24,220 --> 01:10:26,350
and to pull back
from supporting him,
1159
01:10:26,396 --> 01:10:29,266
especially when it
comes to Reconstruction.
1160
01:10:29,312 --> 01:10:31,052
But Grant remained popular,
1161
01:10:31,096 --> 01:10:34,396
and he certainly remained
popular with Union veterans.
1162
01:10:36,623 --> 01:10:38,543
- Good to see you, sir.
- Thank you.
1163
01:10:38,582 --> 01:10:40,152
You're too good to your country.
1164
01:10:40,192 --> 01:10:42,242
Good men. Good men and true.
1165
01:10:42,281 --> 01:10:44,151
- Thank you, sir.
- It's nice to meet you, sir.
1166
01:10:44,196 --> 01:10:45,976
Pleased to meet you,
President Grant.
1167
01:10:46,024 --> 01:10:49,204
I fought with General
Thomasover in Chattanooga.
1168
01:10:49,245 --> 01:10:50,935
I won't forget you, soldier.
1169
01:10:50,985 --> 01:10:53,945
Thank you, sir.Thank you.
1170
01:10:53,988 --> 01:10:56,248
- Excuse me, gentlemen.
- General.
1171
01:11:03,998 --> 01:11:06,088
In September 1875,
1172
01:11:06,131 --> 01:11:08,091
Grant gets an appeal from
1173
01:11:08,133 --> 01:11:10,223
Governor Adelbert
Ames of Mississippi,
1174
01:11:10,266 --> 01:11:13,616
and Ames says that there's
already so much violence
1175
01:11:13,660 --> 01:11:15,750
ahead of the November elections.
1176
01:11:15,793 --> 01:11:19,233
And so he asks Grant to
send down federal troops.
1177
01:11:19,275 --> 01:11:21,275
There's a real pushback
1178
01:11:21,320 --> 01:11:23,980
to any more intervention
in the South.
1179
01:11:24,018 --> 01:11:27,238
Many white Northerners
say enough is enough.
1180
01:11:27,283 --> 01:11:29,293
There's a notion that
corruption abounds
1181
01:11:29,328 --> 01:11:32,848
in the federal government,
and there's no longer
1182
01:11:32,897 --> 01:11:36,197
a real willingness of
white Northerners to say,
1183
01:11:36,248 --> 01:11:39,818
"More needs to be done
for African-Americans."
1184
01:11:39,860 --> 01:11:44,390
So now Grant has to weigh
what intervention in the South
1185
01:11:44,430 --> 01:11:46,040
will mean at the polls
1186
01:11:46,084 --> 01:11:49,354
in Northern states
for Republicans.
1187
01:11:49,392 --> 01:11:51,612
Do you sacrifice the
Republican Party,
1188
01:11:51,655 --> 01:11:53,125
and the only party
that's supporting
1189
01:11:53,178 --> 01:11:55,878
and defending African-American
voting rights,
1190
01:11:55,920 --> 01:11:58,710
or do you capitulate
to this terrorism
1191
01:11:58,749 --> 01:12:01,359
on the ground in the South?
1192
01:12:01,404 --> 01:12:05,154
It was duty on one side and
party obligation on the other.
1193
01:12:05,190 --> 01:12:07,450
Between the two, I hesitated.
1194
01:12:07,497 --> 01:12:09,717
If a mistake was made,
1195
01:12:09,760 --> 01:12:13,330
it was one of the head
and not of the heart.
1196
01:12:18,377 --> 01:12:19,417
Tell the governor of Mississippi
1197
01:12:19,465 --> 01:12:21,245
that I won't be sending troops.
1198
01:12:26,777 --> 01:12:30,297
I should not have yielded.
1199
01:12:30,346 --> 01:12:33,646
It requires no prophet to
foresee that the results
1200
01:12:33,697 --> 01:12:38,267
of the war would be
in large measure lost.
1201
01:12:43,097 --> 01:12:46,357
And so after Grant
leaves office,
1202
01:12:46,405 --> 01:12:50,755
Reconstruction is
effectively over.
1203
01:12:56,763 --> 01:13:00,553
Grant is not the one who
abandoned Reconstruction.
1204
01:13:00,593 --> 01:13:02,163
The American people
abandoned Reconstruction,
1205
01:13:02,203 --> 01:13:03,863
and he just couldn't
rally them back in
1206
01:13:03,901 --> 01:13:06,211
because of the swirl
of things around him.
1207
01:13:06,251 --> 01:13:08,301
And the abandonment
1208
01:13:08,340 --> 01:13:11,300
was also an abandonment
of the ideals behind it,
1209
01:13:11,343 --> 01:13:16,353
which was really
equality for everyone.
1210
01:13:16,392 --> 01:13:18,662
And when that was abandoned,
1211
01:13:18,698 --> 01:13:22,438
the remnants of
this white supremacy
1212
01:13:22,485 --> 01:13:25,395
was able to reemerge.
1213
01:13:25,444 --> 01:13:27,234
The subjugation of black people
1214
01:13:27,272 --> 01:13:30,452
was allowed to reassert
itself unchecked.
1215
01:13:32,756 --> 01:13:36,716
It will take another 100 years
1216
01:13:36,760 --> 01:13:43,200
of people pushing
against status quo
1217
01:13:43,244 --> 01:13:47,214
before we can even get to a
point where we get Congress
1218
01:13:47,248 --> 01:13:51,728
to actually enforce the
amendments of Reconstruction.
1219
01:13:56,432 --> 01:13:58,702
But Grant's presidency,
in many ways,
1220
01:13:58,738 --> 01:14:01,698
was a heroic presidency.
1221
01:14:01,741 --> 01:14:03,221
All of these things
that he accomplished,
1222
01:14:03,264 --> 01:14:05,014
he didn't accomplish because
1223
01:14:05,049 --> 01:14:09,009
he was pursuing fame
or money or power.
1224
01:14:09,053 --> 01:14:10,843
All these things
that he accomplished
1225
01:14:10,881 --> 01:14:15,061
were just in the course of
doing his patriotic duty.
1226
01:14:15,102 --> 01:14:16,932
He was probably the
most respected man
1227
01:14:16,974 --> 01:14:19,284
and maybe the only who could
have led at those times,
1228
01:14:19,324 --> 01:14:21,154
and look what he does.
1229
01:14:21,195 --> 01:14:22,495
He starts the
Justice Department.
1230
01:14:22,545 --> 01:14:24,105
Then he battles
the Ku Klux Klan.
1231
01:14:24,155 --> 01:14:26,845
He passes the 15th Amendment.
1232
01:14:26,897 --> 01:14:29,547
Under his watch,
the nation advances,
1233
01:14:29,595 --> 01:14:32,285
and he does not just
one but two terms.
1234
01:14:32,337 --> 01:14:34,557
And yet ultimately,
I don't really think
1235
01:14:34,600 --> 01:14:38,040
he was a political
animal in any sense.
1236
01:14:38,082 --> 01:14:41,352
Personally,
I was weary of office.
1237
01:14:41,389 --> 01:14:43,169
I never wanted to
get out of a place
1238
01:14:43,217 --> 01:14:46,437
as much as I did the presidency.
1239
01:14:46,482 --> 01:14:50,182
Grant felt,
especially in his second term,
1240
01:14:50,224 --> 01:14:52,534
he felt that was in
jail every single day.
1241
01:14:52,575 --> 01:14:54,355
In fact,
he used that in a letter:
1242
01:14:54,402 --> 01:14:55,622
"I'm breaking out of jail."
1243
01:14:58,537 --> 01:15:00,667
He couldn't wait to leave,
and he planned to travel.
1244
01:15:00,713 --> 01:15:04,333
He loved to travel.
He loved to be on the move.
1245
01:15:04,369 --> 01:15:06,279
And he and Julia spent two years
1246
01:15:06,327 --> 01:15:09,027
traveling around the world.
1247
01:15:09,069 --> 01:15:10,979
He went to India.
1248
01:15:11,028 --> 01:15:14,988
He went to China.
He went to Japan.
1249
01:15:15,032 --> 01:15:17,562
And in every country
where he goes,
1250
01:15:17,600 --> 01:15:20,300
he's received by
tremendous crowds.
1251
01:15:22,648 --> 01:15:26,648
So routinely,
100,000, 200,000, 250,000 people
1252
01:15:26,696 --> 01:15:29,346
would pour into the streets.
1253
01:15:29,394 --> 01:15:31,834
So clearly,
after Abraham Lincoln,
1254
01:15:31,875 --> 01:15:37,965
the one name that the world
knew was Ulysses S. Grant.
1255
01:15:38,011 --> 01:15:39,881
When Grant returns
to the United States
1256
01:15:39,926 --> 01:15:45,666
after his two-year world tour,
he is looking for an income.
1257
01:15:45,715 --> 01:15:47,405
Presidents had no
pension at the time,
1258
01:15:47,455 --> 01:15:49,885
and his son Ulysses Jr.
1259
01:15:49,936 --> 01:15:51,896
had gotten involved
in Wall Street.
1260
01:15:51,938 --> 01:15:55,728
So Grant and his son started
a partnership for a firm
1261
01:15:55,768 --> 01:15:58,028
with a man named Ferdinand Ward,
1262
01:15:58,075 --> 01:16:01,375
an up-and-coming phenom
in the Wall Street market.
1263
01:16:01,426 --> 01:16:03,726
The principal members
are given allowances
1264
01:16:03,776 --> 01:16:05,556
of $3,000 a month.
1265
01:16:05,604 --> 01:16:08,654
There's just money rolling in.
1266
01:16:29,019 --> 01:16:32,629
Father... we need to speak.
1267
01:16:35,678 --> 01:16:37,158
What is it?
1268
01:16:40,639 --> 01:16:42,639
Ward is gone.
1269
01:16:43,990 --> 01:16:46,910
He's taken the money.
1270
01:16:46,950 --> 01:16:50,650
Everything's lost... everything.
1271
01:16:57,874 --> 01:16:59,444
And it turned out
that Ferdinand Ward
1272
01:16:59,484 --> 01:17:01,704
was the Bernie
Madoff of his day.
1273
01:17:01,747 --> 01:17:03,707
The whole thing was
a big Ponzi scheme.
1274
01:17:03,749 --> 01:17:06,269
Grant woke up one
morning only to discover
1275
01:17:06,317 --> 01:17:08,487
that he was worth exactly $80
1276
01:17:08,536 --> 01:17:11,016
and Julia was
worth exactly $130.
1277
01:17:11,061 --> 01:17:12,371
He was wiped out.
1278
01:17:12,410 --> 01:17:14,410
All his children were wiped out.
1279
01:17:20,940 --> 01:17:22,900
What's the matter, Ulys?
You look ill.
1280
01:17:26,380 --> 01:17:28,470
I must speak with you.
1281
01:17:28,513 --> 01:17:32,523
Of course. What is it?
1282
01:17:32,560 --> 01:17:34,780
This morning,
I was a wealthy man.
1283
01:17:37,217 --> 01:17:39,477
And now I've lost everything.
1284
01:17:50,753 --> 01:17:56,543
So what brings the famousMark
Twain to my parlor?
1285
01:17:56,584 --> 01:18:00,594
General...
1286
01:18:00,632 --> 01:18:04,642
a reason for my visit.
1287
01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:06,770
I hear you've agreed
to write your memoirs
1288
01:18:06,812 --> 01:18:09,772
for "The Century" magazine.
1289
01:18:09,815 --> 01:18:11,855
They've made me an offer.
1290
01:18:11,904 --> 01:18:14,654
And what royalty have
they promised you?
1291
01:18:14,690 --> 01:18:16,950
10%.
1292
01:18:16,996 --> 01:18:18,816
General, they are treating you
1293
01:18:18,868 --> 01:18:20,648
as if you were a
private in an army
1294
01:18:20,696 --> 01:18:22,696
nobody ever heard of.
1295
01:18:22,741 --> 01:18:26,091
- Let me make you a better offer.
- But you're too late, Clemens.
1296
01:18:26,136 --> 01:18:30,486
I have committedto
"Century's" publisher,
1297
01:18:30,531 --> 01:18:33,751
and I can't go back on my word.
1298
01:18:33,796 --> 01:18:36,406
Let me publish your memoirs.
1299
01:18:36,450 --> 01:18:40,060
I promise, you'll leave
your family well off
1300
01:18:40,106 --> 01:18:43,276
and the nation richer
for your story.
1301
01:18:46,591 --> 01:18:49,511
In 1884, Ulysses S. Grant,
1302
01:18:49,550 --> 01:18:51,990
Civil War general and
two-term president
1303
01:18:52,031 --> 01:18:57,341
of the United States,
was now faced with poverty.
1304
01:18:57,384 --> 01:19:00,434
And Sam Clemens,
better known as Mark Twain,
1305
01:19:00,474 --> 01:19:03,784
arrived at his home to
see if he could help Grant
1306
01:19:03,826 --> 01:19:05,826
by having him write his memoirs
1307
01:19:05,871 --> 01:19:10,661
and leave a lasting legacy
of how he saw the war
1308
01:19:10,702 --> 01:19:12,752
and how he saw one of
the most pivotal moments
1309
01:19:12,791 --> 01:19:14,361
in American history.
1310
01:19:14,401 --> 01:19:17,271
So eventually,
Grant did go with Twain's offer
1311
01:19:17,317 --> 01:19:20,487
to make money for his family
to save them from poverty.
1312
01:19:23,062 --> 01:19:25,462
But during the summer
before he started writing,
1313
01:19:25,499 --> 01:19:28,939
he bites into a peach,
and he says that somehow
1314
01:19:28,981 --> 01:19:31,981
something stung him from
the peach in his throat
1315
01:19:32,028 --> 01:19:33,678
and he can't figure
out what it is.
1316
01:19:33,725 --> 01:19:36,415
He sees a doctor,
and at that point,
1317
01:19:36,467 --> 01:19:40,507
they realize that it's cancer
and that they can't operate.
1318
01:19:40,558 --> 01:19:44,738
So he realizes that it's fatal.
1319
01:19:46,433 --> 01:19:48,743
What is to be my fate?
1320
01:19:48,784 --> 01:19:52,404
Will I have to lay awake again?
1321
01:19:52,439 --> 01:19:55,919
Making it a study
how to get a breath
1322
01:19:55,965 --> 01:19:58,175
is about as much
as I could stand
1323
01:19:58,228 --> 01:20:01,748
to go through another night.
1324
01:20:01,797 --> 01:20:04,837
Grant wrote the memoirs
under horrific conditions.
1325
01:20:04,887 --> 01:20:08,587
He said that every time
he drank a glass of water,
1326
01:20:08,629 --> 01:20:12,629
it was like drinking a
glass of molten lead.
1327
01:20:12,677 --> 01:20:17,157
This was a truly heroic effort
of Grant in agonizing pain,
1328
01:20:17,203 --> 01:20:19,033
writing the memoirs.
1329
01:20:19,075 --> 01:20:22,205
And he literally willed
himself to stay alive.
1330
01:20:22,252 --> 01:20:24,042
And it's the final
battle of his life,
1331
01:20:24,080 --> 01:20:27,610
the battle to outrace
his terminal cancer
1332
01:20:27,648 --> 01:20:29,348
in order to finish his memoirs
1333
01:20:29,389 --> 01:20:32,439
and rescue his family
from bankruptcy.
1334
01:20:32,479 --> 01:20:34,829
But as everything
else in his life,
1335
01:20:34,873 --> 01:20:37,883
he did not let it defeat him.
1336
01:20:37,920 --> 01:20:42,840
In the end, he would prevail,
and he would finish the book.
1337
01:20:42,881 --> 01:20:46,231
These volumes are dedicated
to the American soldier
1338
01:20:46,276 --> 01:20:51,846
and sailor, U.S. Grant, 1885.
1339
01:20:55,024 --> 01:21:01,164
He dies three days after
writing the last page,
1340
01:21:01,204 --> 01:21:05,474
and Twain realizes at once
that what Grant has written
1341
01:21:05,512 --> 01:21:10,522
is a monument in
American literature.
1342
01:21:10,561 --> 01:21:15,571
My family is American and
has been for generations.
1343
01:21:15,609 --> 01:21:18,179
- In all its branches, direct...
- This memoir
1344
01:21:18,221 --> 01:21:21,011
is hugely important
and hugely powerful.
1345
01:21:21,050 --> 01:21:24,620
It earns over half a
million dollars for Julia,
1346
01:21:24,662 --> 01:21:27,672
which, of course, in today's
money, would be much more.
1347
01:21:27,708 --> 01:21:30,448
It's very successful,
and people read it everywhere.
1348
01:21:30,494 --> 01:21:33,244
I think something people
tend to forget now
1349
01:21:33,279 --> 01:21:36,149
is that Grant, at his death,
1350
01:21:36,195 --> 01:21:40,805
was arguably the most famous
American in the world.
1351
01:21:40,852 --> 01:21:43,902
The response to his
death was amazing.
1352
01:21:43,942 --> 01:21:47,692
The national funeral which
took place in New York City
1353
01:21:47,728 --> 01:21:51,518
that day began with bells
ringing all over the country,
1354
01:21:51,558 --> 01:21:53,208
North and South.
1355
01:21:53,256 --> 01:21:56,816
It was just a national
outpouring of grief for him.
1356
01:22:07,009 --> 01:22:09,189
In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt
1357
01:22:09,228 --> 01:22:11,928
suggested that Grant,
Lincoln, and Washington
1358
01:22:11,970 --> 01:22:15,580
loomed as the three great
heroes of American history.
1359
01:22:15,626 --> 01:22:18,316
So even as late as the
turn of the century,
1360
01:22:18,368 --> 01:22:21,328
he's part of this
heroic firmament.
1361
01:22:23,329 --> 01:22:25,549
And then in the
decades that follow,
1362
01:22:25,592 --> 01:22:29,162
that diminishes rapidly.
1363
01:22:31,468 --> 01:22:35,298
What happened was that
the history of the war
1364
01:22:35,341 --> 01:22:39,561
came to be written by a lot
of pro-Southern historians
1365
01:22:39,606 --> 01:22:41,776
who exercise a powerful sway.
1366
01:22:41,826 --> 01:22:44,436
It's often called
the Lost Cause.
1367
01:22:44,481 --> 01:22:46,221
The Lost Cause narrative
1368
01:22:46,265 --> 01:22:49,005
is really an effort
of the South to say,
1369
01:22:49,051 --> 01:22:51,881
"How did we sacrifice so much
for a cause so bad as slavery?"
1370
01:22:51,923 --> 01:22:53,753
So they changed the narrative.
1371
01:22:53,794 --> 01:22:55,804
"No, no, it was about state's
rights and independence."
1372
01:22:55,840 --> 01:22:57,840
And so that narrative
1373
01:22:57,885 --> 01:22:59,885
has become the
predominant narrative,
1374
01:22:59,931 --> 01:23:01,801
and I think a part of it
that gets buried in there
1375
01:23:01,846 --> 01:23:03,976
is the role of Grant.
1376
01:23:04,022 --> 01:23:08,902
There were three separate
attacks on his legacy.
1377
01:23:08,940 --> 01:23:11,810
Grant is known by
many as the butcher.
1378
01:23:11,856 --> 01:23:16,206
Grant is known as the drunk.
Grant is known as the corrupt.
1379
01:23:16,252 --> 01:23:17,992
Everything else
gets stripped away,
1380
01:23:18,036 --> 01:23:20,076
and you've got the guy
that won the Civil War
1381
01:23:20,125 --> 01:23:22,385
and he was an alcoholic
and a failed president.
1382
01:23:22,432 --> 01:23:27,352
And the Lost Cause casts
Grant as the villain
1383
01:23:27,393 --> 01:23:29,873
and Lee as the hero.
1384
01:23:29,917 --> 01:23:32,917
So once the memory
of that generation
1385
01:23:32,964 --> 01:23:38,104
that venerated him passed on,
he was forgotten.
1386
01:23:38,143 --> 01:23:40,363
And so Confederates
lost the Civil War,
1387
01:23:40,406 --> 01:23:42,756
but they certainly
won the war of myth.
1388
01:23:42,800 --> 01:23:45,060
And Grant was on the
wrong side of that myth.
1389
01:24:00,513 --> 01:24:02,433
Shall I read one to you?
1390
01:24:07,912 --> 01:24:09,612
This one's froma
Confederate soldier.
1391
01:24:12,264 --> 01:24:13,874
Ulys?
1392
01:24:19,532 --> 01:24:24,102
"Dear General Grant,
I hope you will allow one who,
1393
01:24:24,146 --> 01:24:26,886
"when a boy,
laid down his armsat Appomattox
1394
01:24:26,931 --> 01:24:29,111
"and pledged
allegianceto the Union
1395
01:24:29,151 --> 01:24:31,411
to express his
warmestsympathy..."
1396
01:24:31,457 --> 01:24:33,757
For you and your suffering.
1397
01:24:33,807 --> 01:24:35,327
I have watched your movements
1398
01:24:35,374 --> 01:24:39,034
from the hour you gave
me my horse and sword
1399
01:24:39,074 --> 01:24:43,694
and told me to go home and
assist in making a crop.
1400
01:24:43,730 --> 01:24:47,690
I have been proud to see
the nation do you honor.
1401
01:24:47,734 --> 01:24:52,964
And now, dear General,
in the hour of your pain,
1402
01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:55,260
I weep that so brave,
1403
01:24:55,307 --> 01:25:00,397
so magnanimous a soul
must suffer as you do.
1404
01:25:13,020 --> 01:25:17,110
There's something, like,
really beautiful and American
1405
01:25:17,155 --> 01:25:18,635
in his whole story.
1406
01:25:18,678 --> 01:25:20,988
He just comes from nothing.
1407
01:25:21,028 --> 01:25:23,288
From the hardscrabble background
1408
01:25:23,335 --> 01:25:27,025
who's had a lot of hard times
and failures in his life,
1409
01:25:27,078 --> 01:25:29,778
who rises to the
highest level of power,
1410
01:25:29,820 --> 01:25:33,390
becomes the greatest
general of his time.
1411
01:25:33,432 --> 01:25:37,222
Against all odds,
against incredible obstacles,
1412
01:25:37,262 --> 01:25:40,612
he became the winning
general of the Civil War.
1413
01:25:40,657 --> 01:25:44,097
He was the commander
of the victorious army
1414
01:25:44,139 --> 01:25:46,789
that led to the emancipation
of 4 million people.
1415
01:25:46,837 --> 01:25:50,967
Grant is the unheroic hero
1416
01:25:51,015 --> 01:25:53,925
of our greatest national epic,
1417
01:25:53,974 --> 01:25:57,634
the Civil War and
Reconstruction.
1418
01:25:57,674 --> 01:25:59,374
He was committed
1419
01:25:59,415 --> 01:26:03,455
to making America fully just,
fully equal.
1420
01:26:03,506 --> 01:26:06,986
Grant was the first
civil rights president.
1421
01:26:07,031 --> 01:26:08,771
It's as improbable a rise
1422
01:26:08,815 --> 01:26:11,815
as any other figure
in American history.
1423
01:26:11,862 --> 01:26:15,042
- Indomitable will.
- Dogged determination.
1424
01:26:15,082 --> 01:26:17,562
- Moral vision.
- He's a fighter.
1425
01:26:17,607 --> 01:26:19,297
It's truly an American story
1426
01:26:19,348 --> 01:26:21,958
of not only patriotism
to the nation
1427
01:26:22,002 --> 01:26:23,402
but for the values,
1428
01:26:23,439 --> 01:26:26,749
who we are and who
we aspire to be.
1429
01:26:26,790 --> 01:26:29,660
One of my superstitions
has always been,
1430
01:26:29,706 --> 01:26:32,926
when I started to go
anywhere or to do anything,
1431
01:26:32,970 --> 01:26:36,190
never to turn back or stop
1432
01:26:36,234 --> 01:26:39,324
until the thing intended
was accomplished.
111802
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