All language subtitles for Grant.S01E03.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD2.0.H.264-CtrlHD

General Grant.

Retain your sidearms, General.

You'll go after Lee.

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

It all depends on you.

- Gentlemen.
- Grant may have won

some victories in the
west, but this is Virginia.

We'll cross the Rapidan
into the Wilderness.

His army is twice ours, sir.

Well, we'll just
haveto even the odds,

catch them before they
getthrough the Wilderness.

Scouts say Grant's packing up.

Finally retreating, sir.

No, he's not a retreating man.

- We're heading south?
- To Richmond.

- Richmond?
- To Richmond.

We're headed south!

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

Today there is this
sense that he's forgotten.

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

The greatest
general of his time.

A military genius.

A bloody butcher.

A corrupt president.

A belligerent drunk
who got lucky.

He didn't get lucky.

Ulysses S. Grant is
this perfectly average,

humble individual from a
poor, hardscrabble background.

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

But he's got this
dogged determination,

this bulldog mentality.

This guy comes from nothing,

rises to the highest ranks

of the Union army.

Fights bloody, terrible battles.

With indomitable will.

To save the Union.

To heal his country.

To lead the nation towards
justice for everybody.

He's the unheroic hero

of our greatest national
epic, the American Civil War.

It's truly an American story

not only of patriotism
to the nation

but for the values of who we are

and who we aspire to be.

Fall in!

The armies were
now ready to move

for the accomplishment
of a single goal:

Lee, in the capital of the
Confederacy, Richmond.

That was the main end
to which all were working.

When Grant marches off in 1864,

it's gonna set off
a titanic struggle

for the end of the war.

Grant is going to keep
their focus lasered on

to Robert E. Lee and the
Army of Northern Virginia

because Grant understood
the destruction of Lee's army

meant the destruction
of the Confederacy.

At the beginning
of the campaign,

Grant mentions
to a correspondent

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

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

"and you make it and
you see President Lincoln,

"tell him from me that
whatever happens,

there will be no turning back."

After the Wilderness,
Grant heads south,

and it's just sustained combat.

He just keeps seeing these
opportunities, and he attacks,

and he attacks, and he attacks.

And it rains, and the
weather is miserable,

but they just keep
going for weeks.

The battles of the Wilderness,

Spotsylvania, and North Anna,

bloody and terrible though
they were on our side,

were even more
damaging to our enemy.

In some of the most
savage fighting of the war,

you see 5 1/2 weeks
of constant movement,

constant entrenching,
constant fighting

that ultimately will produce
55,000 Union casualties,

35,000 Confederate casualties.

Now Grant's men
are simply exhausted.

By the time Grant reaches

the crucial crossroads
of Cold Harbor,

these soldiers understand
keenly what's ahead.

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

If you're a soldier, you think,

"Our chances aren't good."

And this is when we have
heartbreaking stories of men

writing on sheets of paper,

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

and pinning that to the
inside of their uniforms.

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

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

and they will break."

Company, prepare!

Keep pressing forward!

Hold your ground!

Come on, boys!

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

Move it! Let's go!

Go, go, go!

Let's show them
what Ohio's worth!

Advance!

Cold Harbor was a disaster.

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

They had an enormous advantage,

and within only
five hours' time,

Grant's army had sustained

thousands of casualties
in one morning assault.

One Union soldier likened
that combat at Cold Harbor

to a volcanic blast,

that wasn't war; It was murder.

Grant is a very
aggressive general,

and we see that
in several mistakes

that he makes
throughout the war,

including Cold Harbor.

Some have said Cold Harbor
was the price that the Union

had to pay to have
Grant as their commander.

I have always regretted

the last assault at Cold Harbor.

No advantage whatever
was gained to compensate

for the heavy loss we sustained.

By 1864, people are tired.

There is no clear winner,

and there is no
clear end in sight

for this conflict.

We have over
600,000 people dead,

and people are tired of it.

The Northern public was
craving some good news.

Initially, the morale in
the North had been buoyed

by this new decisiveness of
Grant after the Wilderness,

and they demanded
a quick victory.

But by the time Grant
reaches Cold Harbor,

they were impatient

as the rivers of
blood continued.

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

General Grant, our readers
are keen to understand

how you lost so many
men during this campaign.

Lee had the advantageof
being on the defensive.

He was entrenched.

I had to attack his
armywhere it was,

and I made him pay.

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

wounded, and missing.

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

What did you gain?

General Grant,
sir, if you please?

General, you haven't
answered my question.

Hold, please.

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

We lost a lot of boys your age

fighting to keep
this country together.

What have you
done for the Union?

General Grant, sir,

if you please?

They called me a butcher.

Hold, please.

I sometimes could
hardly bring myself

to give an order at battle.

He wasn't a butcher.

Many casualties came out
of the overland campaign,

but it was
fundamentally necessary

in order to win the war.

Robert E. Lee lost
50% of his entire army

during the exact same duration,

but is Lee remembered
as a butcher?

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

being the commander is
a pretty unique experience.

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

It's ait is a loit's lonely
at the top, as they say.

And the casualties
are going to be tough,

and Grant is experiencing
the butcher's bill,

as they termed it.

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

sheer determination
to continue on

and not let this grind you down.

What Grant accomplishes
after Cold Harbor is, I think,

one of his most
impressive feats of the war.

Grant decides to flank the
Army of Northern Virginia

and then cross the even
more formidable obstacle

of the James River.

He's trying to
keep the initiative,

continue the momentum,
drive the energy,

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

This is one of his
great strengths.

It's an incredibly
dangerous maneuver

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

especially whenever you're
faced off against an enemy

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

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

to take an army of 115,000

and disappear.

And Robert E. Lee misses this.

He misses the
movement of Grant's army.

To my dear wife, Julia.

Since Sunday, we
have been engaged

in one of the most perilous
movements ever executed

by a large army,

that of withdrawing from
the front of an enemy

and moving past his flank,

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

U.S. Grant sets out to construct

something that nobody
thought could be constructed:

An actual pontoon bridge

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

The bridge consists
of pontoon boats,

rather large boats that
have excellent buoyancy,

strung together and
connected by wooden planks.

And through these bridges,

you could march
not only soldiers

but also artillery,
supplies, and whatnot.

This is the largest
pontoon bridge

built during the entire war.

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

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

including these
wagons and artillery.

But just think about the
engineering feat that that is.

That's remarkable.

And so Grant gets
across the James River,

which will put his forces
in assaulting position

onto the crucial rail hub
of Petersburg, Virginia.

Petersburg is the logistics hub,

the transportation hub.

It's connected
to all the supplies

that can come up from the south.

If Lee is gonna
maintain his army,

let alone Richmond, the
city, he needs Petersburg.

So Grant understands this.

And so by
threatening Petersburg,

he, in fact, threatens Richmond.

And now we are
talking about a siege.

Colonel Pleasants,
what's this plan of yours?

Our Pennsylvania
boysare coal miners.

They can tunnel
rightunderneath their lines.

- How far?
- About 150 yards, sir.

They dig a shaftright
underneath them.

We fill the chamber with
powderand blow those rebs sky-high.

Could it break through
their fortifications?

General, we have no
assurances this will work.

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

Once the line is
broken, we go in.

We need to move
quickly after the blast.

Have artillery ready
to support the charge.

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

But it'll bean
awful lot of powder.

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

tunneling under the enemy
positions at Vicksburg.

He tried it several times
with limited success.

The Confederates
heard the Union working.

They feared that there
was a mine tunneling under.

They dug countermines down

to try to drop in onto
the Union troops.

They could never
find it in time, however.

We learned through deserters
that the people believed

very wild rumors about
what was going on.

They said that we had
mined the whole of Petersburg

and they were resting
on a slumbering volcano

and did not know at what moment

they might expect that eruption.

The mine was constructed
and ready to be exploded.

And I wanted to
take the occasion

to carry Petersburg, if I could.

They packed the mine

underneath the
Confederate trenches

with 8,000 pounds of explosives

to try to blast a hole into
the Confederate earthworks.

The fuse starts burning.

They pack sandbags
so the explosion

doesn't come out
toward the Union troops.

Go! Move, move, move!

- Let's go!
- Faster, faster!

Go!

And then the earth just shook.

It immediately killed
and disintegrated

300 South Carolinians,

blowing a massive hole
in the Confederate line.

And then the Union army

gets ready to launch
frontal assaults.

Despite all the thought
that went into this attack,

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

a guy named James Ledlie,

known to be a
drunk and a coward,

in command of the attack.

The problem is that
instead of going around

to the rim of the crater,
as initially planned,

James Ledlie
blunders his division

right into the
middle of the crater,

and it becomes a
virtual turkey shoot.

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

but to push on to
the top of the hill,

which would have
given us everything.

And then they send in

the United States
Colored Troop regiments.

Nothing incited the rage
of a Confederate soldier

like the sight of an
African-American soldier

wielding a musket
in a blue uniform.

They just start killing
these guys wholesale.

Many blacks that
tried to surrender

are shot or bayoneted.

And even white Union officers,
realizing that they also have

a death sentence for
leading black troops,

they turn their pistols
on their own soldiers

to try to save themselves.

And so at the crater,

what you have is
a racial massacre.

A North Carolinian
recalled his delight

at bayoneting these
African-American soldiers.

It was an all-out slaughter.

They slaughtered us all.

No place to go

except to die.

The effort was a
stupendous failure.

It was the saddest affair
I witnessed in the war.

Grant is really at
fault at Petersburg

in delegating so much

that it interfered with
the execution of the plan.

He tries the
experiment of the crater

because he knows
how important a victory is

during the election year.

1864 is an election year.

You see Abraham Lincoln

running for reelection
on the Republican ticket.

The Democratic nominee
is George McClellan,

who is running on
a platform of peace.

The Democrats in 1864

want to end the war
as soon as possible.

They are fine with letting
the Confederacy go.

McClellan was on
record that he was willing

to trade emancipation for peace.

Grant considered this little
short of outright treason.

People forget that there
was not uniform support

for the Union effort
in the Northern states.

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

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

as if the Union was prevailing.

So now Lee's only hope

was that Lincoln
would be defeated.

McClellan would win
and sue for peace.

To have peace on any
terms, the South would demand

the restoration of their
slaves already freed.

They would demand a treaty

which would make the North
slave hunters for the South.

So '64 is a big year.

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

Now it's become
a war for freedom.

And with the election,
everything's at stake.

General Grant...

I hold you in the
highest esteem,

but this catastrophe
in the crater...

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

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

My reelection and the outcome

of this miserable
war... depends on you.

General Sherman is at
the threshold of Atlanta,

and I am at the
threshold of Petersburg...

And I am at the threshold
of losing the presidency.

Mr. President, you
will never hear of me

farther from Richmond
than I am now.

I will fight it outtill the end.

Hold on with a bulldog grip,

and chew and choke
as much as possible.

Grant is working with Lincoln,

very much in concert,

on how they want
to conduct this war.

And we see that in how
Grant plans his campaigns.

He's really, I think,

the first general
that Lincoln had

that had an overall
strategy for the entire war.

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

So the Union needs
some decisive wins.

One of the key prongs
of Grant's strategy

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

If you don't topple Georgia,

which was one of the top
manpower-delivering states

behind the
Confederate war effort,

and you don't topple Atlanta,

which is a hub of
industry for the South,

then it makes it
possible to sustain

the Confederate war effort
for a prolonged period of time.

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

who you've developed
a level of trust

and who you know is
hard enough to do it,

smart enough to do it,

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

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

Send thisto General
Grant at once.

"We are in close proximityand
constantly skirmishing

"but are not yet
ableto penetrate

the city's fortifications."

William Tecumseh
Sherman would lead

the military division
of Mississippi

through northwest Georgia,

targeting the industrial
heart of Georgia at Atlanta:

The machine shops, the
mills, the factories that were

keeping the Confederate
army in the west going.

And it's Grant who, from afar,

is choreographing this effort.

And Grant and Sherman

maintain a constant
communication via telegraph

despite the more
than 1,000 miles

that intervened between them.

"If you can hold
tight as you are now,

you will destroy
most of that army."

"I would never
advisegoing backward."

As Sherman is
approaching Atlanta,

Grant is sort of pushing him

that, "We need to get this done.

We need to take Atlanta
before the election comes."

"I have losta good
many regiments."

Continue sending.

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

but I will take it."

We learned that Sherman
had our troops in Atlanta.

The news of his success
set the country aglow.

Sherman drives on
Atlanta, delivering Atlanta,

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

We are about collapsing the
will of the Confederate people

to realize, "You
are being defeated."

The fall of Atlanta
boosts Northern morale.

People now begin to
see that a Union victory is,

while not inevitable,
at least in sight.

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

Lincoln would win the election.

What ultimately gave Lincoln

that election on the battlefield

was Sherman's
capture of Atlanta.

This was part of
Grant's grand strategy

for how to bring about
an end to the war.

Grant has a brilliant
strategic plan.

He's going to move multiple
armies simultaneously

to bring about maximum
pressure on the Confederacy

while also holding
down Robert E. Lee's

much-vaunted Army
of Northern Virginia

at Petersburg.

When Grant starts to
settle in at Petersburg,

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

"And a Robert E. Lee
who cannot maneuver

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

"So if I pin Lee,

"we'll eat the rest
of the Confederacy

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

So Grant decides to move

Phil Sheridan up the
Shenandoah Valley,

threatening the
logistical supply line

of Robert E. Lee's army,

threatening the bread
basket of the Confederacy

that for three years

had supplied the Army
of Northern Virginia.

To General Sheridan:

Do all the damage to
railroads and crops you can.

We want the Shenandoah
Valley to remain a barren waste.

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

After Philip Sheridan

destroys the Shenandoah Valley,

William Tecumseh Sherman
marches through Georgia.

Grant famously says,

"The Confederacy
is a hollow shell.

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

To General Sherman:
If you are satisfied

the trip to the
seacoast can be made,

you may make it,

destroying all the
railroad as you think best.

What Sherman is doing in Georgia

is sending a message
to Lee's army:

"You guys hold out
here in Richmond

"and you hold out
here in Petersburg,

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

And meanwhile,
Robert E. Lee's army

is becoming malnourished.

His men are living in conditions

that are rife for disease.

The biological
decline of his men

is beginning to
show to Robert E. Lee

in a way that he'd
never seen before.

They are severely worn down,

and they are the ones that
have to defend Petersburg.

Petersburg is the logistics hub,

the transportation hub

connected to five
separate railroads

that come into Petersburg
that feed Richmond,

the capital of the Confederacy.

Robert E. Lee can't
lose Petersburg,

or he loses Richmond.

By April of 1865,
Grant has captured

all of the important railroads

at Petersburg with
the exception of one,

and that's the
Southside Railroad.

And there's a
crucial intersection

that commands control
of the Southside Railroad.

It's known as Five Forks.

Everything looked favorable
to the defeat of the enemy

and the capture of
Petersburg and Richmond

if the proper effort was made.

And so Grant will
unleash Phil Sheridan

to get out in front
of Robert E. Lee

and keep him from
getting to that railroad

and those supplies.

It's a vicious fight.

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

and launches himself
over Confederate attackers,

ordering the men to surrender.

The Confederates
will lose this battle,

and they lose the
Southside Railroad.

And now, finally, we find

Grant is able to sever
those supply lines

that come into Petersburg,
and Robert E. Lee

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

Richmond was in the
most utter confusion.

The city was on fire,

started by some connected
with the retreating army.

When it was evacuated,
the Confederacy at once

began to crumble and fade away.

The Confederates now
scramble to the west

to make this desperate
attempt to link up

with Joe Johnston's
Army of Tennessee.

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

And so it becomes a chase.

Lee's troops were pursued
by our cavalry so hotly

and closely that they threw
away ammunition, clothing,

and almost everything
to lighten their loads.

No sooner has Lee
evacuated his lines

than Grant takes off after him.

Any other Union general would
have marched into Petersburg

and marched into Richmond

with bands playing and
great celebrations and parties

and all kinds of
self-congratulatory speeches

and reviews and messages
sent back to Washington

about how wonderful it was,

they have now captured Richmond.

Not Grant.

One of ours, sir.

A messengerfrom General Sheridan

who made it through their lines.

Soldier.

Good job, soldier.

Sheridan wants meto
come to him at Jetersville.

Says he can finish Lee.

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

General, you're the commander.

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

Grant is managing more people

than anyone else in
the world at this moment.

And then he gets a message
from Phil Sheridan saying,

"I think we can capture

or destroy the
Confederate army now."

As the commander
of all those armies,

sometimes your
presence is simply needed.

No matter how tired he was,

no matter how far
away Sheridan was,

Grant was gonna get there.

I then started with
a few of my staff

going directly
through the woods.

The night being dark,
our progress was slow.

Sometimes I had great difficulty

in getting through the lines.

We've got Lee in a box, General.

We should be protectingour
position at Richmond,

not chasing Lee.

We can't let him slip.

I can capture his
whole damn army!

Holding Richmond
won't end this war.

Destroying Lee's army will.

- Go after him.
- Yes, sir.

It now became

a life-and-death
struggle for Lee

to get south to his provisions.

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

The armies finally
met on Sailor's Creek.

The enemy's loss was very heavy.

Lee's army was
rapidly crumbling.

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

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

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

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

by attacks from his rear.

He is out of options.

Robert E. Lee sees the men

streaming from the
battlefield in chaos,

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

"My God, has the
army dissolved?"

7,000 of his men
were made prisoners.

I knew that the men who
had fought so gallantly

and so long for the cause
which they believed in

had lost hope.

Come on, keep moving!

Grant knows
Lee's out of options,

and he is counting on Lee

to be chivalrous
and end the war.

To General R.E. Lee:

The result of the last
week must convince you

of the hopelessness
of further resistance.

I regard it as my duty
to shift from myself

the responsibility of any
further effusion of blood...

By asking of you the
surrender of that portion

of the Confederate States Army

known as the Army
of Northern Virginia.

Lee realizes that
the game is over,

and so he sends a
message to Grant:

"If we could discuss matters

"as you had
previously indicated,

I would be happy
to meet with you."

When Lee talks
about having to go

and capitulate to
Grant, Lee says,

"I would rather go
die a thousand deaths

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

But he asks for the cease-fire

to talk about
terms of surrender.

A messenger came up to Grant

and gave him the
letter from Lee saying,

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

And so he went to
Appomattox to meet Lee.

It all ends at the Wilbur
McLean farmhouse.

Robert E. Lee stands
in his best uniform.

Lee dreads having to do this.

Dismount!

General Lee.

General Grant.

Perhaps you remember,

we met once back
in the Mexican War.

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

I was with the Fourth Regiment.

It was a long time ago.

Please.

As they sit there in that room,

it's truly a remarkable scene.

You capture this whole
nature of the changing character

of war in that farmhouse.

You have Robert E. Lee,

immaculately dressed
with his sash and his sword,

a patrician of the
Virginia caste society,

the son of a
Revolutionary War general,

a single commander
commanding as if he were

a 16th-century prince

representing the
last of the old wars.

Meanwhile, you
have Ulysses S. Grant,

representing the
first of the new.

Grant has been riding overland.

His boots are mud-spattered.

He's the son of a tanner,

a poor, humble,
hardscrabble background.

He sits now at the
top of this meritocracy

surrounded by a
very capable staff.

And he has an American
Indian on his staff,

Eli Parker, a brigadier general,

a Seneca Indian
that's gonna write out

the terms of surrender.

General Grant

we should write terms now.

General Parker.

At least there's onereal
American in this room.

We're all Americans here, sir.

Your terms are generous.

They'll have a good
effect on my men.

Good.

And I must ask you in return

that you ask the
rest of your armies

lay down their arms.

They'll listen to you,

and this war can end quickly
without further suffering.

That's not up to me.

That's up to my president.

There's only one president now.

I felt like anything rather
than rejoicing at the downfall

of a foe who had fought
so long and valiantly

and had suffered
so much for a cause,

though that cause
was, I believe,

one of the worst for
which a people ever fought.

Grant and Lincoln
wanted, at all costs,

to prevent a kind
of guerilla warfare,

which is why Grant
gave the terms

that he did to Lee
at Appomattox.

The surrender terms
are relatively lenient.

Officers can keep
their sidearms.

Men with horses
can keep their horses

so that they might go
back and plant crops.

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

Grant really tried to honor
what Lincoln asked for.

Let him up easy. Let
these men go home.

Just lay down your
guns, and just go home.

Grant actually went a
little bit further than Lincoln

might have wanted him to.

He paroled the Southern
army, Lee's army.

And that meant Lee himself
would be free from arrest.

Very significantly,
Grant did not allow

his soldiers to in any
way gloat or celebrate.

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

of these defeated
Confederate soldiers.

And I think the fact that
Grant had experienced

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

and tact in dealing with these

defeated Confederate
soldiers at Appomattox.

So you can see that
there's this yearning

to be brothers again.

There were shared memories
and shared experiences

that these men had
had, and these are people

who had belonged
to the same nation

and that would again.

When news of the
surrender of Lee's army

gets back to Washington,
Lincoln is so thrilled.

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

Lincoln comes out and gives
them an impromptu speech.

Now, fellow citizens, give
three good, hearty cheers

for General Grant and
all under his command.

Grant stands in the front rank

of great Americans of all time.

He was the man
who saved the Union.

Grant is one of the
greatest military strategists

that the United
States has produced.

It is his strategy implemented
and pushed forward

to its conclusion
that wins the war.

The news of Appomattox

is immediately reported
across the country.

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

and a great feeling of relief.

There's such this
feeling of celebration

throughout the North:

The fireworks that
are being set off,

people in the
streets celebrating,

the bunting that's
being put up all across

Washington and New
York and elsewhere,

and ministers across the
North begin preparing sermons

to talk about the
rebirth of the nation.

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

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

It's been a long time.

Do you know that man?

I don't care for such looks.

Driver!

On the night of April 14th,

the Lincolns had
invited the Grants

to attend Ford's
Theatre with them.

But they were instead
planning to visit their children.

While the Grants were
en route to the train,

a man on horseback galloped up,

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

Always afterwards,
Julia Dent Grant believed

that man had been
John Wilkes Booth.

General Grant.

What is it?

These are for you, sir.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

What is it, Ulys?

I have to return to Washington.

President Lincoln has been shot.

He won't survive.

John Wilkes Booth had
gathered a small band

of conspirators

because Booth planned
not only to murder Lincoln

but to murder Vice
President Andrew Johnson,

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

He planned to
decapitate the entire.

United States government,
if he could do it.

I did not know what it meant.

Here was the rebellion
put down in the field

and starting up in the gutters.

Now we had to fight
it as assassination.

Grant gets back in Washington

by 10:00 the next day,

and Andrew Johnson
is already being sworn in

as president of
the United States.

What a different world
Ulysses Grant has returned to.

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

and in public
places in Washington

had been turned to grief.

The city was in reality
a city of mourning.

Lee surrenders to
Grant on April 9th,

and only a week later,

on Good Friday,
Lincoln is assassinated.

And a city that had
been so full of hope

and joy and messages of peace

is immediately
brought to mourning.

And the churches that had
been decorated for Easter Sunday,

full of their lilies and
other symbols of peace,

are now draped in mourning.

Only days after coming
back from Appomattox

and being this great,
victorious general,

now Grant is tasked
with planning the funeral

of a man who had been
not only his president

but also had
become a dear friend.

To know Lincoln personally
was to love and respect him

for his great qualities
of heart and head.

His death was the
greatest possible

calamity to the country

and especially to the
people of the South.

After the war, the
South is devastated.

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

Lincoln gets killed.

Now who's gonna
provide that stability?

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

guiding hand on the nation?

When the war ends,

Ulysses S. Grant is
still general in chief.

And this becomes
extremely significant

because there's nobody who
has a more comprehensive view

of what's going on in the South

in the years after the
Civil War than Grant.

And so in 1865, Grant's duties,

his responsibilities as
general of the armies,

was to run the
largest civil project

ever the federal
government had taken on,

known as Reconstruction.

Reconstruction, fundamentally,
was military occupation.

And it was organized
around five military districts

within the American South.

Reconstruction was three things.

It was to rebuild
infrastructure in the South.

It was to help transition
newly freed people

and what freedom
could look like for them,

most of whom are
completely illiterate,

who have no property,
who have no prospects,

but who have desire.

And it was to
restructure legal systems

to help protect
newly freed people

and to address this idea
of equality for everyone.

But I don't think anyone
recognized the true magnitude

of what Reconstruction was
going to look like in America,

the level and
number of challenges

of problems that could
potentially emerge

from the end of the
American Civil War.

The success of the Union army

doesn't mean a
return to the status quo.

It means the Union
restored without slavery.

And so the most egregious
part of Union victory

for former Confederates
is emancipation.

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

They push back in legal
ways called the Black Codes.

They create a series of actions

that will mirror the
conditions of slavery.

And so throughout the
1860s, in major cities,

conflicts would erupt between
former Confederate soldiers

and free African-Americans.

You see this conflict
in New Orleans in 1866.

African-Americans and a
handful of white Republicans

are trying to write a new
constitution for the state

that would recognize
African-American voting

and civil rights.

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

Ex-Confederates
gather, trying to stop them.

It was an absolute powder keg.

We stand here today as free men,

but that's just the beginning.

We have to stand
up for our rights.

We have to fight...

Come on! Out the back!

I just got a telegraph
from General Sheridan.

This outrage in New
Orleans must be punished.

I simply can't allow...

General, we don't knowif
the freed men provoked this.

It was a riot.

This is an atrocity.

Sheridan is there.

They're gettin' away!

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

Don't let him get away!

Hold him, boys!

It's my duty to
protect the people.

Try telling that to
President Johnson.

Instead, I wish I could
speak with Lincoln.

We could declare martial law.

- Sir...
- It won't be popular,

but I don't want another war.

We can't have another war.

So in 1866, Grant
receives reports

from his commanders
throughout the South,

and it becomes quite
evident that there are hundreds

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

being killed in horrific,
barbarious ways.

Grant is constantly
compiling statistics

for President Andrew Johnson

in terms of the
scale of violence

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

and Johnson
refuses to believe it.

Andrew Johnson is
able to emerge as a figure

who is a friend of
the Confederacy

who will not implement
Reconstruction

with the great force of
the federal government.

Grant is increasingly frustrated

and furious that Johnson
is trying to impede

any sort of military
intervention in the South.

But I think we underestimate

how politically savvy Grant was.

Grant is an interesting
man as a political figure.

He doesn't seek
out the nomination

for the presidency ever,

but he doesn't turn
down the nomination

for the presidency either.

Because of the Civil War

and because of
Grant's heroism...

And at Appomattox,

Grant becomes the
hero not only in the North

but in the South
for his fairness

to the defeated
Confederate troops...

Grant enjoyed a certain status

and sort of levitated

above the level of
American politics.

And not unlike Washington,

that Washington was
the father of the country

and Grant was the
savior of the country

is something that is on
many people's minds.

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

for a candidate to openly
campaign for president,

and that was just
fine with Grant.

And rather than campaigning,

he's kind of swept
into the presidency.

Grant wins the 1868 election

in an electoral
college landslide,

but his presidency
would be the presidency

that had the responsibility
of securing political rights

for African-Americans.

He had an enormous
responsibility

and an incredibly difficult one,

because there were
so many people,

both in the South
and in the North,

who were opposed to those ideas.

But he was given the
difficult task, not once,

but twice, of doing this,

winning the war and
then winning the peace.

In here, Mr. President.

The country having just emerged

from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it

for settlement in
the next four years

which preceding administrations

have never had to deal with.

In meeting these,
it is desirable

that they should be
approached calmly,

without prejudice,
hate, or sectional pride.

I ask patient forbearance,
one toward another,

throughout the land
and a determined effort

on the part of every citizen

to do his share towards
cementing a happy Union.

I feel the responsibilities
of the position

but accept them without fear.

And I bring to it a
desire and determination

to fill it to the
best of my ability.

When Ulysses Grant is
inaugurated as president,

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

He has not only Reconstruction,

but he has a botched attempt
at beginning Reconstruction

under Andrew Johnson
that he has to overcome.

And that's going to
create a formidable agenda

for him to deal
with as president.

Reconstruction meant
the reintroduction

of the Confederate states
back into the American Union,

which sounds pretty simple,

but you've got to have some way

of reintegrating the
Southern economy

with the rest of the
national economy.

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

with the freed slaves.

The 13th Amendment
abolishes slavery,

but what does it do beyond that?

When Grant becomes
president of the United States,

he is absolutely committed
to the aims of Reconstruction.

He is committed to
making America fully just,

fully equal for black
people and white people.

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

So it's very important
to remember that Grant

is the first American president

to govern after the
14th Amendment

that guarantees equal
rights before the law

and, most importantly,
after the 15th Amendment,

which gives black
men the right to vote.

After the passage of
the 15th Amendment,

African-American men began
to vote in extraordinary numbers.

Americans are finally
who they say they are.

All men are truly created equal.

I think this utterly
is reflected of Grant

and what he
believes this nation is

and what it should aspire to be.

So now we have 3.5 million
people from Mississippi

to Louisiana to South Carolina

voting themselves and the
candidates of their choosing.

African-Americans in
most Southern states

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

as senators and as congressmen

but on a state level as well.

And all these
things, this incredible

biracial experiment,
was happening.

And the changes that they
make are extraordinary.

They establish free public
education for every child.

They establish systems
that make it easier

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

It's a period of possibility
in American history.

It was not just a
political project.

It was also a social project.

And you see the
building of schools,

the building of banks.

You see more people
are learning to read

among African-American
communities than ever before.

You probably had
more political progress

for black people than you
actually had in the North.

You know, not just because
there were more black people

but because of what was
happening was so revolutionary.

There is a profoundly
progressive agenda

moving the arc towards
justice for everybody.

And then it falls apart.

The Ku Klux Klan
very quickly grows

to become a
paramilitary insurgency

in which armed
Confederate veterans

will turn to violent tactics.

There were thousands of blacks

who were killed for
registering and daring toto vote,

and black voting would
drop off to near zero.

In many counties throughout
the ex-Confederate South,

the Ku Klux Klan
is really controlling

the levers of power,

and they are meting out
their brand of vigilante justice.

Mr. President.

You're thinking likea
politician, not a general.

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

But these Ku Kluxers'
mindswon't be changed by words.

You of all people know that.

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

That misery is all onmy
people's heads right now.

Should we just wait, be patient?

No. That wouldn't be fair.

You will see the general
in me soon enough.

Frederick Douglass,
he understands.

Grant's huge popularity
among the people,

and he wants to help Grant

be that next great
American leader

in the vein of a
George Washington.

But the question is,
what exactly can he do

about the activities
of the Klan?

Because this is, after
all, a state matter.

What Congress
does is to equip Grant

with the Ku Klux Klan Act.

Grant felt so strongly
about the KKK Act

that he actually
marched up to Capitol Hill

with his entire
cabinet to lobby for it.

This was a very powerful
and sweeping act.

It allows Grant to
declare martial law

and send federal troops
in directly to intervene.

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

The Ku Kluxersare
all over those towns.

They're farmers,
sheriffs, politicians.

You served in the
war, didn't you?

Yes, sir.Missouri.

And you faced your share
of rebel guerillas there.

How'd you deal with them?

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

We used informants, spies.

- Exactly.
- We had to gather information,

identities, find outwho
the leaders were.

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

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

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

You arrest them and try them.

Yes, sir.

You're gonna root
them out, Merrill,

no matter what it takes.

You can count on
me, Mr. President.

And so in 1871,
several companies

of the Seventh Cavalry
are sent into South Carolina,

where, under
Major Lewis Merrill,

they actually go out and
begin arresting large numbers

of Klan members to
bring them to justice.

It took a lot of

counterintelligence operations,

of getting to know who
the political leaders were,

getting to know who
the Klan leaders were...

A difficult thing to do,

but ultimately, Grant is
going to be successful

at defeating the Klan.

For all practical
purposes, by 1872,

the operations of
the Ku Klux Klan

had been pretty
successfully suppressed,

and it is one of the
significant achievements

of Grant's administration.

I think fighting and defeating

the Klan is a big deal.

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

I think, something that people

have not paid
enough attention to.

And so the 1871 Klan
Acts made it safe enough

for African-Americans
to vote in the South.

But there was pushback,

and there was
pushback in large part

because many people believed
that Grant was overextending

his hand with the Klan Acts.

Many white Northerners,

including a fair number
of Union soldiers,

are never on board
with occupying the South.

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

why can't it happen
in the North?"

And the country's also
aware of the great cost

of this military occupation,

the great cost of
Reconstruction.

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

Grant is well aware
that public opinion

goes strongly against
the use of federal troops

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

and martial law being declared.

In other words, he could wreck

the entire
Reconstruction project

if he reaches for the martial
law weapon too much.

I thought I could
run the government

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

It was my mistake,

and it led me into
other mistakes.

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

Suggestions
forcabinet appointments.

Businessmenwant
to meet with you.

Another report of
violencein the South.

Sherman wants troops in
thewest to contain the Indians.

One of the Indians, a
chief named Red Cloud,

wants to come to
Washingtonto meet you.

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

of issues with the
Transcontinental Railroad,

certainly with Native Americans.

He makes a pledge of leniency

and goodwill toward
Native Americans

which ultimately
doesn't pan out.

And we're moving into
the period when industry

and capitalism are
coming to the forefront.

The economy in the North,
in particular, had expanded

tremendously during the war.

So you have... during
Grant's presidency,

you have the beginnings
of the rise of big business.

At the same time, there's
an enormous expansion

of the federal government,

and there is much
more opportunity

for government
corruption than before.

Grant himself was not corrupt.

Ironically, his presidential
administration goes down as one

that is remembered
as being corrupt.

Grant thinks everybody
has a good heart,

everybody has as
good a heart as he does.

Grant has a blind
loyalty to people,

and some of the people that
he appointed were corrupt.

You see that fierce
loyalty with his secretary,

Orville Babcock.

Babcock was involved
with the Whisky Ring,

which was government officials

working with
whiskey distributors

and dealers to embezzle money

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

and it was a major,
major scandal.

But Grant's loyalty
was so strong,

he vouched for Babcock.

There was an
innocence about Grant,

and because he was
not deceitful himself,

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

And everyone who knew Grant
was mystified by his gullibility.

Corruption increasingly
becomes a problem

as bribes become more evident.

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

Voters take their
frustrations to the polls

in the midterm
elections in 1874,

and they put a
Democratic majority,

for the first time
since the Civil War,

into the House of
Representatives.

Once there's a
Democratic majority

in the House of Representatives,

Grant finds himself crippled

in all of these
Reconstruction measures.

The notion that
his administration

is full of corruption
leads people to doubt

and to pull back
from supporting him,

especially when it
comes to Reconstruction.

But Grant remained popular,

and he certainly remained
popular with Union veterans.

- Good to see you, sir.
- Thank you.

You're too good to your country.

Good men. Good men and true.

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

Pleased to meet
you, President Grant.

I fought with General
Thomasover in Chattanooga.

I won't forget you, soldier.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

- Excuse me, gentlemen.
- General.

In September 1875,

Grant gets an appeal from.

Governor Adelbert
Ames of Mississippi,

and Ames says that there's
already so much violence

ahead of the November elections.

And so he asks Grant to
send down federal troops.

There's a real pushback

to any more
intervention in the South.

Many white Northerners
say enough is enough.

There's a notion that
corruption abounds

in the federal government,
and there's no longer

a real willingness of
white Northerners to say,

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

So now Grant has to weigh
what intervention in the South

will mean at the polls

in Northern states
for Republicans.

Do you sacrifice
the Republican Party,

and the only party
that's supporting

and defending
African-American voting rights,

or do you capitulate
to this terrorism

on the ground in the South?

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

Between the two, I hesitated.

If a mistake was made,

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

Tell the governor of Mississippi

that I won't be sending troops.

I should not have yielded.

It requires no prophet
to foresee that the results

of the war would be
in large measure lost.

And so after
Grant leaves office,

Reconstruction
is effectively over.

Grant is not the one who
abandoned Reconstruction.

The American people
abandoned Reconstruction,

and he just couldn't
rally them back in

because of the swirl
of things around him.

And the abandonment

was also an abandonment
of the ideals behind it,

which was really
equality for everyone.

And when that was abandoned,

the remnants of
this white supremacy

was able to reemerge.

The subjugation of black people

was allowed to
reassert itself unchecked.

It will take another 100 years

of people pushing
against status quo

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

to actually enforce the
amendments of Reconstruction.

But Grant's presidency,
in many ways,

was a heroic presidency.

All of these things
that he accomplished,

he didn't accomplish because

he was pursuing fame
or money or power.

All these things
that he accomplished

were just in the course
of doing his patriotic duty.

He was probably the
most respected man

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

and look what he does.

He starts the
Justice Department.

Then he battles
the Ku Klux Klan.

He passes the 15th Amendment.

Under his watch,
the nation advances,

and he does not just
one but two terms.

And yet ultimately,
I don't really think

he was a political
animal in any sense.

Personally, I was
weary of office.

I never wanted to
get out of a place

as much as I did the presidency.

Grant felt, especially
in his second term,

he felt that was in
jail every single day.

In fact, he used
that in a letter:

"I'm breaking out of jail."

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

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

And he and Julia spent two years

traveling around the world.

He went to India.

He went to China.
He went to Japan.

And in every country
where he goes,

he's received by
tremendous crowds.

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

would pour into the streets.

So clearly, after
Abraham Lincoln,

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

When Grant returns
to the United States

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

Presidents had no
pension at the time,

and his son Ulysses Jr.

Had gotten involved
in Wall Street.

So Grant and his son
started a partnership for a firm

with a man named Ferdinand Ward,

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

The principal members
are given allowances

of $3,000 a month.

There's just money rolling in.

Father... we need to speak.

What is it?

Ward is gone.

He's taken the money.

Everything's lost... everything.

And it turned out
that Ferdinand Ward

was the Bernie
Madoff of his day.

The whole thing was
a big Ponzi scheme.

Grant woke up one
morning only to discover

that he was worth exactly $80

and Julia was
worth exactly $130.

He was wiped out.

All his children were wiped out.

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

I must speak with you.

Of course. What is it?

This morning, I
was a wealthy man.

And now I've lost everything.

So what brings the
famousMark Twain to my parlor?

General

a reason for my visit.

I hear you've agreed
to write your memoirs

for "The Century" magazine.

They've made me an offer.

And what royalty have
they promised you?

10%.

General, they are treating you

as if you were a
private in an army

nobody ever heard of.

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

I have committedto
"Century's" publisher,

and I can't go back on my word.

Let me publish your memoirs.

I promise, you'll leave
your family well off

and the nation
richer for your story.

In 1884, Ulysses S. Grant,

Civil War general
and two-term president

of the United States, was
now faced with poverty.

And Sam Clemens, better
known as Mark Twain,

arrived at his home to
see if he could help Grant

by having him write his memoirs

and leave a lasting legacy
of how he saw the war

and how he saw one of
the most pivotal moments

in American history.

So eventually, Grant
did go with Twain's offer

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

But during the summer
before he started writing,

he bites into a peach,
and he says that somehow

something stung him
from the peach in his throat

and he can't
figure out what it is.

He sees a doctor,
and at that point,

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

So he realizes that it's fatal.

What is to be my fate?

Will I have to lay awake again?

Making it a study
how to get a breath

is about as much
as I could stand

to go through another night.

Grant wrote the memoirs
under horrific conditions.

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

it was like drinking a
glass of molten lead.

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

writing the memoirs.

And he literally willed
himself to stay alive.

And it's the final
battle of his life,

the battle to outrace
his terminal cancer

in order to finish his memoirs

and rescue his family
from bankruptcy.

But as everything
else in his life,

he did not let it defeat him.

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

These volumes are dedicated
to the American soldier

and sailor, U.S. Grant, 1885.

He dies three days
after writing the last page,

and Twain realizes at once
that what Grant has written

is a monument in
American literature.

My family is American and
has been for generations.

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

is hugely important
and hugely powerful.

It earns over half a
million dollars for Julia,

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

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

I think something
people tend to forget now

is that Grant, at his death,

was arguably the most
famous American in the world.

The response to his
death was amazing.

The national funeral which
took place in New York City

that day began with bells
ringing all over the country,

North and South.

It was just a national
outpouring of grief for him.

In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt

suggested that Grant,
Lincoln, and Washington

loomed as the three great
heroes of American history.

So even as late as
the turn of the century,

he's part of this
heroic firmament.

And then in the
decades that follow,

that diminishes rapidly.

What happened was
that the history of the war

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

who exercise a powerful sway.

It's often called
the Lost Cause.

The Lost Cause narrative

is really an effort
of the South to say,

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

So they changed the narrative.

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

And so that narrative

has become the
predominant narrative,

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

is the role of Grant.

There were three separate
attacks on his legacy.

Grant is known by
many as the butcher.

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

Everything else
gets stripped away,

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

and he was an alcoholic
and a failed president.

And the Lost Cause
casts Grant as the villain

and Lee as the hero.

So once the memory
of that generation

that venerated him
passed on, he was forgotten.

And so Confederates
lost the Civil War,

but they certainly
won the war of myth.

And Grant was on the
wrong side of that myth.

Shall I read one to you?

This one's froma
Confederate soldier.

Ulys?

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

"when a boy, laid down
his armsat Appomattox

"and pledged
allegianceto the Union

to express his
warmestsympathy..."

For you and your suffering.

I have watched your movements

from the hour you gave
me my horse and sword

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

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

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

I weep that so brave,

so magnanimous a soul
must suffer as you do.

There's something, like,
really beautiful and American

in his whole story.

He just comes from nothing.

From the hardscrabble background

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

who rises to the
highest level of power,

becomes the greatest
general of his time.

Against all odds, against
incredible obstacles,

he became the winning
general of the Civil War.

He was the commander
of the victorious army

that led to the emancipation
of 4 million people.

Grant is the unheroic hero

of our greatest national epic,

the Civil War and
Reconstruction.

He was committed

to making America
fully just, fully equal.

Grant was the first
civil rights president.

It's as improbable a rise

as any other figure
in American history.

- Indomitable will.
- Dogged determination.

- Moral vision.
- He's a fighter.

It's truly an American story

of not only patriotism
to the nation

but for the values,

who we are and
who we aspire to be.

One of my superstitions
has always been,

when I started to go
anywhere or to do anything,

never to turn back or stop

until the thing intended
was accomplished.