Original subtitles

This program is made possible by:

The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

The Gordon & Carol Beittenmiller Family.

The Shaara Foundation, Brett Bozeman,

Chelsea & David Remington, in honor of Gabor Boritt.

And by...

(somber music)

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(suspenseful music)

Over three days, across these ridges and fields,

through these woods and creeks,

on this ground,

America will live or die.

(dramatic music)

Join us, America's greatest battle,

as you have never seen it before.

The Gettysburg Story.

This film was shot on the Gettysburg battlefield

in close cooperation with the National Park Service.

The places you are about to see are the exact ground

where events occurred that changed

the course of American history.

The United States is destroying itself.

Civil War has torn the nation in two.

North fights South, the American dream is withering.

Now, in June 1863,

two massive armies are on the march,

lurching across hills and fields towards each other.

Soon they will collide, in the greatest battle

ever fought in the Western hemisphere.

The American dream will live, or die, by the outcome,

here, at this crossroads town, Gettysburg.

(military marching music)

The Civil War began two years earlier.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.

He believes in a free country, where all are created equal.

But slavery divides the nation.

Lincoln knows,

"A house divided against itself cannot stand.

"As a nation of free men, we must live through all time,

"or die by suicide."

Lincoln's anti-slavery beliefs

led to 11 Southern states

leaving the union to form the Confederacy.

War erupted.

Now in June 1863, Lincoln's army is losing the war.

Confederate general Robert E. Lee

wins battle after battle.

Lee moves his men into Pennsylvania.

Lee is confident in his mighty army.

"There never were such men in an army before.

"They will go anywhere and do anything if properly led."

His soldiers believe he is invincible.

Lee wants to destroy the Union army on their own ground.

The Confederates will win the war and their independence.

The end of the United States.

(bell tolling)

The Union command is in turmoil.

Lee's legend grows,

while Lincoln looks for a general who can beat him.

On June 28th, Union General George Meade

is awakened at 3 AM.

Lincoln has made him commander

of the largest army of the United States.

Exactly three days later Meade will lead the Union Army

into the greatest battle in American history.

(awed music)

Like many union soldiers, Private Isaac Taylor,

is unhappy with his 5th commanding general in 18 months.

"I shall hope for the best, but I don't like the idea of

"changing commanders on the eve of a battle."

Isaac Taylor and his brother Henry,

are members of the 1st Minnesota Regiment.

Isaac writes in diary,

"General Lee's main force is reported

"to be in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

"We shall probably pay our respects

"to him one of these days."

Lee wants a battle before Meade adjusts to his new command.

Lee orders his army to concentrate near Gettysburg.

10 roads intersecting in Gettysburg

make the town crucial for both armies.

Gettysburg's 2,400 people are in a frenzy

as Rebels draw closer.

Rebels take food, livestock and liquor.

The Confederates capture free blacks

to send into slavery in the South.

Terrorized blacks flee the area.

A free black farmer, Abraham Bryan, lives south of town.

Years earlier, his wife had been kidnapped

and taken south into slavery.

Now Bryan flees his property.

This white farmhouse and barn, on Cemetery Ridge.

On the other side of this ridge, in this small brick house,

Jennie Wade helps with her sister's newborn baby.

Jennie misses her sweetheart, Union soldier Jack Skelly.

"I do wish I could see you once more,

"for I have spent many a sad day since I seen you."

Jennie does not know Jack Skelly

has just been wounded by Rebels.

Nor does Jennie know that Jack has given a message for her

to their childhood friend, Rebel soldier Wesley Culp.

Years earlier, Wesley Culp had left

his family in Gettysburg for work in Virginia.

Now he fights for the Confederacy.

(somber music)

On the last day of June,

Union General John Buford's cavalry rides into Gettysburg.

Locals cheer the Union horse soldiers

coming to protect their town from Rebel invaders.

Buford knows Confederates are near.

He knows the fight is close.

That night, on these ridges,

Buford's men sleep on their carbine rifles.

Their country is on the verge of death by suicide.

(birds chirping)

(horse neighs)

(marching)

(ominous music)

Confederate soldiers march towards Gettysburg.

On the ridges around Gettysburg,

Union cavalry watch and wait.

(water splashing)

A column of Rebel infantry crosses Marsh Creek.

At 7:30 AM, a union soldier rests

a carbine rifle across a fence rail.

(gunshot)

Fires.

The first shot of the bloodiest battle

ever fought on American soil.

Gettysburg begins.

(yelling)

The Rebel Third Corps, surprised to find their enemy,

forms into battle lines.

Buford's Union cavalry, quickly outnumbered,

fights to protect Gettysburg's crucial roads.

They desperately need reinforcements.

Buford climbs to view the battle

from this Seminary Cupola.

(cannon fire)

Union General John Reynolds arrives.

Reynolds yells up to Buford, "What's the matter John?"

Buford replies, "There's the Devil to pay."

John Reynolds is widely considered the best Union General.

His troops consider Reynolds a bachelor.

To be a career soldier, a man who

has dedicated his life to the Army.

His soldiers do not know that Reynolds is secretly engaged.

His fiancée, Kate Hewitt, is Catholic.

Reynolds is Protestant.

Crossing lines of faith for love is unacceptable.

They plan to marry after the war is over.

He rides into battle.

Instead of his West Point ring,

he wears a gold band inscribed

with the words "Dear Kate."

Reynolds races to get his men into position,

"Forward men, forward, for God's sake,

"and drive those fellows out of those woods.

"Forward into line, forward double quick."

(gunshot) (thud)

A bullet strikes him in the head.

Dead, instantly, before he hits the ground.

The battle has barely begun,

the Union Army has lost its great general.

Kate Hewitt has lost her great love.

(gunshots)

Both Union and Confederate armies hurry to Gettysburg.

Union commanding General Meade says,

"I am going right at them and will settle

"this thing one way or the other."

(gunshots, yelling)

Lee arrives at Gettysburg.

Lee did not plan to fight here,

he is unhappy his army has engaged.

Surprised by a major force in hostile territory.

But General Lee does not avoid a fight.

"If it is the whole federal force,

"we must fight a battle here."

Troops of both armies pour onto the battlefield.

A Pennsylvania regiment heads into battle.

Barking alongside them is their beloved mascot Sally,

a three-year-old brindle bull terrier.

Sally has served with the regiment since she was a puppy,

when the war began, marching into numerous battles.

Now she barks furiously at Rebels.

(barking)

The vortex of combat grows.

The Rebel Second Corps sweeps down

onto the field from the North,

smashes into the Union line,

forcing the Yankees to retreat.

(bugle sounding)

Chaos.

Union soldiers flee through the town.

(yelling)

Homes and streets turn into a vicious, bloody battlefield.

Civilians hide in their cellars.

The battle rages above them.

The Rebels, yelling wildly, press their advantage.

They want to fully whip the Yankees.

Jennie Wade is at her family's home on the edge of town.

Union soldiers retreat past the house.

Jennie stands in front and gives out water.

Confederates approach. (glass breaking)

The little brick house is caught in the crossfire,

with Jennie inside.

(gunshots)

The fighting ends on July first,

an overwhelming victory for Lee's army.

Again, they've whipped the Yankees,

crushed their lines, captured 4,000 men,

and sent the rest running, and killed their great general.

The Rebels raise their flag in Gettysburg's town square.

They are on the verge of the victory

Lee wants on northern soil.

But it is not a total victory for Robert E. Lee.

Not quite, not yet.

The Union retreats up these slopes of Cemetery Hill.

An officer describes the situation.

"Down the road, to the rear, poured a broad,

"tumultuous stream of panic-stricken men,

"mingled with caissons, horses, ammunition wagons

"and ambulances loaded with wounded.

"Upon this field of wreck and disorder,

"now appeared Hancock."

General Winfield Scott Hancock,

commander of the Union Second Corps.

Known as Hancock the Superb,

the thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac.

Standing six foot one, a long goatee on his chin,

and nearly incapable of speaking without swearing.

Though the Army's newest Corps commander,

Hancock immediately reinvigorates the defeated Federals.

"I think this is the strongest position

"upon which to fight a battle that I ever saw."

(ominous music)

Confederate First Corps Commander James Longstreet

arrives here on Seminary Ridge.

His men call him Old Pete.

He's described as six feet tall,

broad as a door, hairy as a goat.

Lee simply calls Longstreet, My Old Warhorse.

Lee is contemplating his next move.

Longstreet examines this battlefield.

He believes the Union position is strong,

he suggests the Confederates move around

the Union Army and force Meade to attack.

Lee, ever aggressive, does not agree.

"If the enemy is there tomorrow,

"we must attack him." Lee says.

Says Longstreet, "If the enemy is there in the morning,

"it will be because he is anxious that we should attack him.

"A good reason, in my judgement, for not doing so."

Ultimately, Lee decides,

"We will attack the enemy in the morning,

"as early as practicable."

(somber music)

(marching)

Rebel Wesley Culp marches into Gettysburg,

no one welcomes him.

He comes with a message for his childhood friend,

Jennie Wade, from her sweetheart Jack Skelly.

His brigade is stationed near the Culp family farm.

He has come back to his hometown.

As the enemy.

Battered Union troops lie down

amongst the graves on Cemetery Hill.

Among the missing, is Sally the dog.

Members of her regiment presume she is dead.

But Sally is not dead, she is now behind enemy lines,

guarding the dead and wounded of her regiment.

Union soldier Isaac Taylor writes,

"We hear there has been fighting at Gettysburg today.

"At 8:45 PM, we halt within a few miles of Gettysburg

"and bivouac for the night."

After midnight, General Meade arrives,

confers with his Generals,

and gazes across these fields lit by the full moon.

"Well, we may as well fight it out here,

"just as well as anywhere else."

It is a good, defensible position.

It is his fourth day in command.

(birds chirping)

"Thursday, July 2nd.

"Aroused at three AM, moved towards the battlefield,

"where we arrive at 5:40 AM."

Isaac Taylor of the First Minnesota writes in his diary.

"Order from General read to us, in which he says

"this is to be the great battle of the war,

"and that any soldier leaving the ranks without leave,

"will be instantly put to death."

The Union Army has fallen back to hold

the high ground south of Gettysburg.

Meade orders his line to run from Culp's Hill,

around Cemetery Hill, down Cemetery Ridge,

to Little Round Top.

Lee's confederate line of 75,000 soldiers

stretches nearly twice as long.

It curves through the town and down Seminary Ridge.

Lee plans to attack the left flank,

and then the right flank of the Union Army.

Longstreet is unhappy with Lee's plan

for assaults on the Union left.

He spends much of the day getting his troops into position.

Unhappy too, is Union Third Corps Commander Dan Sickles.

Though a courageous soldier, Dan Sickles has a sordid past.

A corrupt congressman, he murdered his wife's lover.

His political connections, not his military ability,

gain him command of the Third Corps.

The Union left flank is supposed to

extend south on top of this rocky hill.

Little Round Top.

Sickles abandons his assigned position

for one he thinks is stronger,

moving out to the peach orchard and Devil's Den,

leaving the high ground of LIttle Round Top undefended.

At four PM, ready at last, Longstreet sends in

John Bell Hood's division.

In front of his Texas brigade,

General Hood gives the command,

"My brave Texans, forward, and take those heights!"

(men yelling)

(battle music)

"We moved as fast as we could, off went blankets,

"knapsacks, yelling and screaming."

says Texan John West.

"Across an open field, over a marshy branch,

"over a stone fence and up a very rugged and rocky hill.

"Yankee sharpshooters on the higher mountains.

"On we went, yelling, whooping, we rush on the batteries.

(men yelling)

"For God's sake men." pleads the

Union artillery commander in vain,

"Don't let them take my guns away from me."

Up and into these jumbled rocks

of Devil's Den charged the Texans.

(energetic music)

Fighting as chaotic as these giant boulders,

vicious fighting, Rebels overwhelm the Yankees

and capture the position.

The Rebel flag rises atop Devil's Den.

An hour into the fighting,

the Rebels believe they have taken the Union flank.

But rising before them, is Little Round Top.

(ominous music)

(hoofbeats)

Just before the Rebels begin their attack,

Union General Gouverneur Warren

rides up here to Little Round Top.

He is horrified, it is undefended.

If the Rebels take this rocky hill,

they will control the battlefield.

Warren sees thousands of Rebels minutes away.

Warren directs Colonel Strong Vincent's Union brigade

to defend the crest of Little Round Top.

Moment's later, Rebels charge up this slope.

Texan John West, "A mass of rocks and boulders,

"Minié bullets and grapeshot were as thick as Hell."

The Texans pushed within feet of this summit.

(gunshots)

Union Colonel Vincent jumps on a rock,

a bullet strikes him down.

The blue line is bending, breaking.

Warren, his neck grazed by a bullet,

desperately orders in more Union soldiers.

Now, Irish immigrant Paddy O'Rourke

leads his men against the Texans.

On these rocks, O'Rourke is killed instantly.

The Union line is barely holding.

(hopeful music)

Around the crest of Little Round Top,

Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine,

hold the extreme left flank of the entire Union Army.

His orders are to hold this ground at all costs.

Racing towards him is the 15th Alabama,

led by Rebel Colonel William Oates.

Minutes after the Maine men take their position,

Oates and his men attack up these slopes.

(gunfire, shouting)

Five times the Alabamians charge,

five times they are driven back.

Chamberlain's union men run low on ammunition.

Desperate, Chamberlain has two choices,

retreat, or charge.

He cannot retreat.

Chamberlain orders, "Bayonet!"

The Maine men charge down at the Rebels.

"We ran like a herd of wild cattle." Said Rebel Oates.

Just barely, the left flank of

the Union Army has been saved.

(somber music)

Longstreet's Confederates continue

attacking the Union lines.

Ready to fight is General William Barksdale of Mississippi,

a fire-eating politician, a slave owner,

who vehemently supports the creation of the Confederacy.

Barksdale's Mississippians aim

for the middle of the Union line.

Sickles' men at the peach orchard.

Barksdale bellows "Onward, brave Mississippians, for glory!"

His brigade of 1400 explodes out of the woods,

their general leading,

across these fields on his white horse.

His silver hair shining in the afternoon sun.

(men shouting)

The two lines crash together at this peach orchard.

The Union lines explode like overripe fruit.

(gunshots)

Union lines are collapsing.

General Sickles tries to gain cover behind this barn.

A cannon shot hits him in the leg.

He is carried from the field, his leg amputated.

One of Hancock's staff says,

"The loss of his leg is a great gain to us,

"whatever it may be to him."

With Sickles gone, the Union Third Corps

crumbles under the Rebel onslaught.

(gunfire)

Barksdale's men race on, overrun the Union position.

Sickles' collapse creates a massive gap in the Union line.

If the Rebels can reach this gap,

they can break the union line and win the battle.

Barksdale's charge, now a mile long,

surges forward, "Advance, advance brave Mississippians.

"One more charge and the day is ours."

Barksdale is hit, right leg, left leg,

and a cannon shot into his chest.

Falls to the ground, a Rebel offers him a drink.

Water leaks out from the wound in the general's chest.

"I am killed," he declares,

"tell my wife and children,

"I died fighting at my post."

(somber music)

(cannonfire)

Past the fallen general, Rebel troops surge forward,

toward the gap in the Union line.

Observing from Cemetery Ridge,

Hancock watches an entire Confederate brigade,

1400 men, pour in toward the massive gap in the Union line.

He looks frantically for a way to plug this gap.

To buy time to bring up reinforcements.

He finds only a single regiment, the First Minnesota.

262 men, among them the brothers Isaac and Henry Taylor.

Hancock rides up to the First Minnesota,

"My god, are these all the troops we have here?"

He points to the flags of the charging Rebels,

now only a few hundred yards away,

and orders their colonel,

"Do you see those colors? Well, capture them!"

Outnumbered four to one, certain death,

the colonel orders,

"Fix bayonets. Forward!"

(trumpeting)

262 Minnesota men charge into over a thousand Confederates.

They pour fire into the rebels.

Stunned by the ferocity of the attack,

the Rebels hesitate, their charge stalls,

maybe five minutes, ten at the most.

But on this day, at this moment,

at this place, it is enough. (trumpeting)

Union reinforcements fill the gap.

The Union center holds.

Of the 262 Minnesotans who make the charge,

only 47 return unscathed.

Isaac Taylor is not one of them.

Henry writes, "I find my dear brother dead,

"a shell struck him on the top of his head

"and passed out through his back, cutting his belt in two.

"The poor fellow did not know what hit him."

He buries his brother, finds a board to mark the grave,

and inscribes on it,

"No useless coffin enclosed his breast.

"Nor in sheet, nor in shroud we bound him,

"but he lay like a warrior taking his rest,

"with his shelter tent around him."

Henry then makes a last entry in his brother Isaac's diary.

"The owner of this diary was killed by a shell

"about sunset July 2nd, 1863.

"His face was toward the enemy."

The Union right flank sits on Culp's Hill,

protecting the vital supply road at its base.

On this hill is General George "Pop" Greene.

62 years old, Pop Greene is the oldest

general fighting in the Union Army.

Going against his superior commander's wishes,

Pop Greene ordered his men to build entrenchments.

General Meade, to strengthen the Union left flank,

has pulled most of his troops from Culp's Hill,

weakening the Union right flank.

Sensing the Union weakness,

the Confederate Second Corps attacks.

Rebels, North Carolinians and Louisiana Tigers,

storm up these slopes of Cemetery Hill.

(men yelling)

At these cannons, brutal hand-to-hand combat.

At the same time, Rebels cross Rock Creek,

and attack up the slopes at Culp's Hill.

Pop Greene has only his 1,400 men

to hold off 5,000 rebels.

(gunfire)

In darkness, from behind the entrenchments,

Yankees fire down on the Rebels.

They drive the Confederates back, but are attacked again.

Greene's men run low on ammunition, but they hold.

The Union maintains control

over both Cemetery and Culp's Hills.

Night falls on the bloodiest day

of the bloodiest battle in American history.

Lee has lost 9,000 men.

Meade, 11,000.

But, just barely, the Union line remains intact.

Says Meade,

"It is alright now, it is alright now."

The battlefield is dark, fireflies glow,

lanterns of the stretcher-bearers

bob back-and-forth across the landscape.

Groans of thousands of dying men

rise from across these fields.

A young woman's bread waits to be baked,

while her childhood friend

hold a message for her in enemy lines.

A Union general's body lies lifeless,

still wearing the ring of his secret fiancée.

A little dog hovers over her fallen comrades.

A brother from Minnesota lies dead in the swampy swale,

a few yards from a Mississippian general.

In this wheat field is a Confederate officer from Georgia.

"It was a moonlight night.

"One of our soldiers out between the lines began to sing.

"Considering the occasion and the audience,

"I have never heard music like that.

"In the still air and moonlight of that night,

"there were thousands of desperately wounded men

"lying on the ground within easy hearing of the singer,

"who's fine voice rang out like a flute

"and echoed up and down the valley.

"Both armies could hear the words."

(haunting singing)

In the night, the Confederates last fresh troops,

Pickett's division arrive on the field.

They take up positions on Seminary Ridge.

Among them is General Lewis Armistead,

a Virginian, a career military man from a military family.

Decades earlier, Armistead became best friends

with a young Winfield Scott Hancock.

When the Civil War started, Armistead fought for Virginia,

Hancock for the Union.

Before they parted, Armistead told Hancock,

that if he ever harms him, "May God strike me dead."

(crickets chirping)

Now, barely one mile away, in the night,

Hancock is in Meade's headquarters.

They learn that Lee has only one fresh division left.

Hancock turns to Meade, raises his fist and shouts,

"General, we have got them nicked!"

Meade and his generals agree unanimously,

they will stay at Gettysburg and await Lee's attack.

Meade expects Lee to hit the Union center.

He is sure General Lee will not back down from this fight.

Meade telegraphs President Lincoln,

"The enemy attacked me about 4:00 PM this day,

"and after one of the severest contests of the war,

"was repulsed at all points.

"I shall remain in my present position tomorrow."

Abraham Lincoln will wait to see

what will happen on July 3rd,

one day before the nation celebrates its 87th birthday.

Before dawn, General Lee and General Longstreet

ride out to examine the battlefield.

Lee's plan remains unchanged,

he will attack the Union position.

Lee wants his great victory.

Longstreet pleads,

"General, I have been a soldier all my life.

"I have been with soldiers engaged in fights,

"by couples, by squads, companies,

"regiments, divisions and armies,

"and should know as well as anyone what soldiers can do.

"It is my opinion that no 15,000 men

"ever arrayed for battle can take that position."

Lee responds, "The enemy is there,

"and I will strike him there."

(somber music)

Near Culp's Hill, Wesley Culp joins a skirmish line,

nears Rock Creek,

he's hit, not far from his old swimming hole,

he falls dead near the base of

the hill bearing his family name.

He will never deliver Jack Skelly's message for Jennie Wade.

A short distance away, in this little brick house,

Jennie is already awake.

Outside firing begins again.

She kneads dough, recites the bible,

"The lord is my light and my salvation.

"Whom shall I fear, though war should rise against me,

"in this will I be confident."

Jennie says, "If there is anyone in this house

"that is to be killed today, I hope it is me."

(gunshot)

A bullet pierces the door, enters into Jennie's back,

through her heart. (thuds)

Her blood stains the floorboards.

Dough and flour still between her fingers.

In her apron pocket is her house key, her purse,

and a photograph of her sweetheart, Jack Skelly.

Nine days later, at a Rebel hospital,

wounded Jack Skelly dies.

All three friends, dead.

Lee believes Meade has reinforced

his flanks and weakened his center.

A successful attack will split the Federals in two.

Artillery will soften the Union line,

infantry will break through the

Union center at this clump of trees.

(ominous music)

Temperatures near 90 degrees,

humid, hottest of the entire battle.

At 1:07 PM, two Confederate cannons fire.

(cannons booming)

Immediately, 140 cannon open fire on the Yankee line.

80 Union cannon respond.

It is the greatest artillery bombardment

ever on this continent.

The booming is heard 40 miles away.

To a local woman, it was as if Heaven and Earth collide.

(cannonfire)

In these woods, Confederates form for the assault.

Among them is General Lewis Armistead.

He lies under Yankee cannonfire.

"Lie still, boys, there's no safe place here."

he tells his men.

Armistead knows that when the cannons stop,

he will lead his men across these

fields to attack the Union line.

He knows defending this ridge

is his best friend, Winfield Hancock.

On this ridge, Union soldiers take cover

from exploding shells the best they can.

In the midst of this terror,

a figure rides his horse along the Union line.

Hancock the Superb.

Mounted, Hancock is a clear target.

An aide pleads for Hancock to dismount.

Hancock responds, "There are times when a

"corps commander's life does not count."

Longstreet rides his horse, Hero,

slowly along the Confederate lines

as shells slam into the ridge.

He knows what is coming, perhaps better than anyone else.

He is not happy, but his duty is to inspire his men.

After two hours, Confederate ammunition runs low.

Firing halts, fields filled with smoke.

Now it is deadly silent.

Both sides know what will come next.

George Pickett, perfumed curled hair, is ready for glory.

Pickett finds Longstreet sitting on a snake rail fence.

Pickett asks Longstreet, "General, shall I advance?"

Longstreet turns his face away, and does not answer.

Pickett repeats the question.

Finally, Longstreet's head falls in a silent nod.

Pickett salutes and says,

"I shall lead my division forward, sir."

(marching music)

(trumpeting)

Pickett gives the order.

General Armistead steps to the front of his brigade,

raises his sword, "Virginians, Virginians.

"For your lands, for your homes,

"for your sweethearts, for your wives,

"for Virginia, forward march!"

(flutes playing)

General Lee watches his Confederate soldiers march past.

Smoke fills these fields, a breeze blows,

The smoke dissipates, revealing perhaps the

greatest sight in America military history.

13,000 Confederate soldiers emerge in battle formation.

(ominous music)

"Here they come." (guns cock)

shout Union troops along these stone walls.

The splendor lasts a moment.

Union cannons open fire, tearing through scores of men.

But the Rebels reform their lines,

and keep coming across these fields.

They keep coming.

(cannonfire)

13,000 confederates move out from the woods,

almost half cross this road in battle formation.

Now thousands of Union troops open fire.

Rebel ranks, disintegrating, push onward

towards the Union lines, 300 yards away.

A Mississippian describes the charge,

"Pressing onward, our line was melting away,

"reduced to a mere skeleton.

"Still, on it pushed with a determination.

"Immediately before us was a small framed house."

The home of Abraham Bryan,

a free black who fled to avoid being kidnapped

by Rebels and sent into slavery.

Now, here on his property,

Union soldiers battle Confederate soldiers,

fighting for the birth of a nation,

supporting the enslavement of his race.

(gunfire)

Hancock is hit, he shouts,

"Don't let me bleed to death!

"Get something around it quick!"

On the ground, he demands reports on the fight.

But now, the Union must fight without Hancock the Superb.

From this road to the copse of trees is 300 yards.

The Rebels push on, the Union fire furiously.

General Lewis Armistead places

his hat on the tip of his sword,

lifts it overhead, shouts to his men,

"Come forward Virginians, come on boys,

"we must give them the cold steel.

"Who will follow me?"

The Rebels surge over this stone wall.

The Union line collapses back.

Both sides firing at point-blank range.

The Rebels pierce the Union line,

Armistead reaches for the cannon in front of him.

Will the line hold?

Will the Rebels take this ridge, this battle, this war?

Destroy this nation? The end of these United States?

(ominous music)

No.

The Union troops surge back, pushing against the Rebels.

(shouting, gunfire)

Armistead is hit, he falls here.

The few Rebels who break the Union line,

maybe 250, are casualties,

killed, wounded, or captured.

This is as close to breaking the Union position

that the Rebels will get on July 3rd.

The high-water mark of the Confederacy.

Never again will the Confederacy

come so close to winning the Civil War,

as they do here, at this moment,

on this day, July 3rd, 1863,

Gettysburg.

(solemn music)

The fight is over.

Armistead lies wounded here,

a Union officer attends to him.

Armistead asks to see General Hancock.

He's told that Hancock is seriously wounded.

Armistead replies,

"I am sorry, he is a grand man."

Armistead dies shortly after.

Hancock lies wounded just yards away,

but unaware he will never see his old friend again.

General Meade reaches the crest of this ridge.

He asks a Union officer, "How is it going here?"

The officer responds,

"I believe the enemy has been repulsed."

Surprised, Meade asks, "What?

"Is the assault entirely repulsed?"

"It is, sir."

Meade says simply, "Thank God."

(applause)

Meade rides along this entire Union

battle line to tremendous cheers.

A band plays "Hail to the Chief."

Meade quiets the celebration.

Across the field, Lee hears the cheers.

For a moment, he thinks, he hopes,

that these are his men cheering.

"I thought it might be our people."

It is not his men.

Rebels retreat, back across this great field.

No longer in battle lines,

but walking, running, crawling.

Thousands more lie upon this field.

Of the 13,000 men who begin this charge,

barely half will return.

Robert E. Lee rides out on his gray horse, Traveller.

Lee is a great general.

This may be his greatest moment as a man.

He rides among his devastated troops,

men who had marched across this open, merciless field,

because he said it could be done.

He tells them, "This has been a sad day for us.

"A sad day. All this has been my fault.

"It is I who have lost this fight."

(solemn music)

The battle ends, Lee's defeated army retreats.

Meade's exhausted army is slow to pursue.

The Rebels escape to Virginia to fight again,

the war will continue.

In Gettysburg, on the Fourth of July, 1863,

no toasts are offered, no fireworks,

no parades, no services.

Buildings fill with wounded,

piles of limbs dripping blood.

The dying, the dead.

The land itself seems to wail.

Horror, Hell on Earth.

Dead men barely covered in shallow graves,

close to 10,000.

Gettysburg is the greatest

man-made disaster in American history.

It is now historic ground.

Land is purchased on Cemetery Hill

to create a new soldier's national cemetery.

This is the place where Abraham Lincoln must come

and explain why this war must go on.

Lincoln is invited for the November 19th cemetery dedication

asked to deliver a few appropriate remarks.

(train chugging)

Lincoln's train from Washington arrives

at Gettysburg the day before the dedication.

At the Wills house in the town square,

he finishes his speech.

In November 1863, the cemetery is barren,

a muddy field of freshly-dug graves, almost no trees.

Winter is nearing, the crowd covers this hill.

(crowd murmuring)

Lincoln stands up, he speaks,

"Four score and seven years ago,

"our fathers brought forth on this continent,

"a new nation, conceived in liberty,

"and dedicated to the proposition

"that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great Civil War,

"testing whether that nation, or any nation,

"so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

"We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

"We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,

"as a final resting place for those who here

"gave their lives that that nation might live.

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

"But, in a larger sense,

"we cannot dedicate,

"we cannot consecrate,

"we cannot hallow this ground.

"The brave men, living and dead,

"who struggled here have consecrated it,

"far above our poor power to add or detract.

"The world will little note,

"nor long remember what we say here,

"but it can never forget what they did here.

"It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here

"to the unfinished work which they who fought here

"have thus far so nobly advanced.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated

"to the great task remaining before us,

"that from these honored dead,

"we take increased devotion to that cause

"for which they gave the last

"full measure of devotion.

"that we here highly resolve that these dead

"shall not have died in vain,

"that this nation, under God,

"shall have a new birth of freedom,

"and that government of the people,

"by the people, for the people,

"shall not perish from the Earth."

(somber music)

(haunting singing)

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