Ken Burns: The Civil War Mini

"IN THIS ARMY,

"ONE HOLE IN THE SEAT OF THE BRITCHES

"INDICATES A CAPTAIN,

"TWO HOLES--A LIEUTENANT,

"AND THE SEAT OF THE PANTS ALL OUT

INDICATES THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS A PRIVATE."

THEY BOTH HAD A PARTICULAR WAY OF YELLING.

THE NORTHERN TROOPS MADE A SORT OF HURRAH.

IT WAS CALLED BY ONE SOLDIER,

"THE DEEP, GENEROUS, MANLY SHOUT" OF THE NORTHERN SOLDIER.

THE CONFEDERATES, OF COURSE, HAD WHAT WAS CALLED THE REBEL YELL.

WE DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT SOUNDED LIKE.

ONE NORTHERNER DESCRIBED IT, HE SAID--

HE DESCRIBED IT BY DESCRIBING THE PECULIAR CORKSCREW SENSATION

THAT GOES UP YOUR BACKBONE WHEN YOU HEAR IT,

AND HE SAID, "IF YOU CLAIM YOU'VE HEARD IT

"AND WEREN'T SCARED,

THAT MEANS YOU NEVER HEARD IT."

IT WAS...

IT WAS BASICALLY, I THINK, A SORT OF FOX HUNT YIP

MIXED UP WITH A SORT OF BANSHEE SQUALL.

AND IT WAS USED ON THE ATTACK.

AND AN OLD CONFEDERATE VETERAN AFTER THE WAR

WAS ASKED AT A UDC MEETING IN TENNESSEE SOMEWHERE

TO GIVE THE REBEL YELL.

THE LADIES HAD NEVER HEARD IT.

AND HE SAID, "IT CAN'T BE DONE, EXCEPT AT A RUN,

"AND I COULDN'T DO IT ANYHOW

"WITH A MOUTH FULL OF FALSE TEETH

AND A STOMACH FULL OF FOOD."

SO THEY NEVER GOT TO HEAR WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE.

THE CIVIL WAR WAS FOUGHT IN 10,000 PLACES.

MURFREESBORO, CHAMBERSBURG, DRANESVILLE, AND OPELOUSAS,

APACHE CANYON, ST. AUGUSTINE,

PADUCAH, AND BRANDY STATION,

ON THE RED RIVER, THE RAPPAHANNOCK,

AND THE RAPIDAN,

ACROSS THE SUSQUEHANNA AND THE MONONGAHELA,

FROM MOUNT IDA AND MOUNT OLIVE

TO MOUNT ZION,

FROM NINEVAH AND NICKAJACK GAP

TO NEW BERNE, NEW CARTHAGE,

NEW IBERIA, NEW LISBON,

AND NEW HOPE,

FROM THE YAZOO DELTA

TO THE CHICKASAW BLUFFS.

BY 1863, THE TAIPING REBELLION IN CHINA

HAD ENTERED ITS 13th YEAR.

CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT IN AFGHANISTAN.

IN AMERICA, EDDIE CUTHBERT OF THE PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES

STOLE THE FIRST BASE IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

WAS FOUNDED IN WASHINGTON.

THE ROLLER SKATE WAS PATENTED,

AND HENRY FORD AND WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

WERE BORN.

IN 1863, CONFEDERATE GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON

WOULD BECOME A TERROR TO THE UNION ARMY

AND A LEGEND NORTH AND SOUTH.

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN,

A COLLEGE PROFESSOR FROM MAINE,

WOULD LEAD HIS REGIMENT TO GLORY

ON HILLSIDES IN VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.

IN THE WILDERNESS WEST OF FREDERICKSBURG,

ROBERT E. LEE WOULD DEVISE

ONE OF THE MOST DARING AND BRILLIANT BATTLE PLANS

OF THE WAR...

WHILE 1,000 MILES TO THE WEST,

ULYSSES S. GRANT CONTINUED TO HAMMER AWAY

AT THE REBEL STRONGHOLD AT VICKSBURG.

CONFEDERATE PRIVATE SAM WATKINS

WOULD FIGHT AT MURFREESBORO, SHELBYVILLE,

CHICKAMAUGA, LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, AND MISSIONARY RIDGE,

AND SOMEHOW SURVIVE,

WHILE ELISHA HUNT RHODES

WOULD HAVE THE BEST FOURTH OF JULY OF HIS LIFE.

IN 1863, DESPITE A NORTHERN VICTORY AT ANTIETAM,

DESPITE EMANCIPATION,

DESPITE A CLEAR SUPERIORITY IN MEN AND MATERIEL,

THE UNION SEEMED CLOSE TO FUMBLING ALL IT HAD.

MEANWHILE, FROM VICKSBURG TO CHARLESTON,

THE FRAGILE CONFEDERATE COALITION

WAS COMING APART,

AND YET SOMEHOW THE CONFEDERACY STAYED ALIVE

BY THE DARING AND LUCK AND GENIUS

OF ITS HIGH COMMAND.

BUT THE BIGGEST TESTS WERE COMING THAT SUMMER

WHERE THE MISSISSIPPI TOOK A SHARP TURN AT VICKSBURG

AND AT A SLEEPY CORNER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

"MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE, JANUARY 1, 1863.

"MARTHA, I CAN INFORM YOU

"THAT I HAVE SEEN THE MONKEY SHOW AT LAST,

"AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT NO MORE.

"I NEVER WANT TO GO ON ANOTHER FIGHT ANYMORE, SISTER.

"I WANT TO COME HOME WORSE THAN I EVER DID BEFORE.

THOMAS WARWICK."

"CHARLES COFFIN, BOSTON JOURNAL.

"ALL THE SURROUNDING FORESTS HAD DISAPPEARED,

"BUILT INTO HUTS WITH CHIMNEYS OF STICKS AND MUD

"OR CUT FOR BURNING IN THE STONE FIREPLACES.

"THE SOLDIERS WERE DISCOURAGED.

"THEY KNEW THAT THEY HAD FOUGHT BRAVELY

"BUT THAT THERE HAD BEEN MISMANAGEMENT

AND INEFFICIENT GENERALSHIP."

"FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

"THIS MORNING, WE FOUND OURSELVES COVERED

"WITH SNOW THAT HAD FALLEN DURING THE NIGHT.

"IT IS TOO COLD TO WRITE.

"HOW I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE

"SOME OF THOSE ON TO RICHMOND FELLOWS OUT HERE WITH US.

ELISHA HUNT RHODES."

THE MEN OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

HAD NOT BEEN PAID FOR 6 MONTHS,

AND WHILE ARMY WAREHOUSES AT WASHINGTON BULGED WITH FOOD,

LITTLE OF IT GOT TO THE WINTER CAMP.

"I DO NOT BELIEVE

"I HAVE EVER SEEN GREATER MISERY FROM SICKNESS

"THAN NOW EXISTS IN OUR ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

THOMAS F. PERLY, INSPECTOR GENERAL."

ONE WISCONSIN OFFICER

CALLED THE WINTER CAMP AT FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA,

THE UNION'S VALLEY FORGE.

HUNDREDS DIED FROM SCURVY, DYSENTERY,

TYPHOID, DIPHTHERIA, PNEUMONIA.

THERE WERE EPIDEMICS OF MEASLES, MUMPS,

AND OTHER CHILDHOOD DISEASES.

AND FARM BOYS, CROWDED WITH OTHER MEN

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES,

WERE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE.

DISEASE WAS THE CHIEF KILLER OF THE WAR,

TAKING TWO FOR EVERY ONE WHO DIED OF BATTLE WOUNDS.

"ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THESE TIMES

"WAS THE ARMY COUGH.

"IT IS ALMOST A LITERAL FACT

"THAT WHEN 100,000 MEN BEGAN TO STIR AT REVEILLE,

"THE SOUND OF THEIR COUGHING

WOULD DROWN OUT THAT OF THE BEATING DRUMS."

"THE NEWSPAPERS SAY THE ARMY

"IS EAGER FOR ANOTHER FIGHT.

"IT IS FALSE.

"THEY ARE HEARTILY SICK OF BATTLES

THAT PRODUCE NO RESULTS."

"I DON'T THINK I HAVE RECEIVED HALF OF MY LETTERS.

"IT CANNOT BE POSSIBLE THAT ONE IS MY QUOTA

"IN OVER 3 WEEKS FROM HOME.

"I'VE WRITTEN CONSTANTLY FROM EVERY PLACE

"WHERE WE HAVE STOPPED LONG ENOUGH TO WRITE

"AND COULD MAIL A LETTER.

EDWARD HASTINGS RIPLEY."

200 MEN DESERTED EVERY DAY.

BY LATE JANUARY, ¼ OF THE UNION ARMY

WAS ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE.

ADDED TO THE MEN'S MISERY

WERE MEMORIES OF THE BATTLE THEY HAD FOUGHT

ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK AT FREDERICKSBURG IN DECEMBER.

AT FREDERICKSBURG, THERE WAS A... AN EXCHANGE

ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

ONE OF THEM HOLLERED, "HEY, REB,"

AND THEY SAID, "YEAH?"

"WHEN ARE YOU FELLAS GOING TO COME OVER?"

THEY SAID, "WHEN WE GET GOOD AND READY.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

AND THEY SAID, "WANT FREDERICKSBURG."

"DON'T YOU WISH, YOU MAY GET IT!"

AND THINGS LIKE THAT.

THERE WERE A LOT OF THOSE EXCHANGES.

A LINE OF HILLS OVERLOOKED FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA,

A KEY CONFEDERATE TRANSPORTATION LINK

MIDWAY BETWEEN RICHMOND AND WASHINGTON.

UNION GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE'S PLAN

HAD BEEN TO CROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK BY PONTOON,

OCCUPY THE TOWN,

THEN TAKE THE THINLY DEFENDED HEIGHTS.

BOLD ACTION DID NOT COME NATURALLY TO AMBROSE BURNSIDE,

THOUGH HE HAD LED HIS MEN TO FREDERICKSBURG

DETERMINED TO DISPLAY

THE FIGHTING SPIRIT HIS PREDECESSOR GEORGE McCLELLAN

HAD SO CONSPICUOUSLY LACKED.

BUT NOW THE WAR DEPARTMENT FAILED HIM,

AND 17 DAYS PASSED

WAITING FOR PONTOON BRIDGES TO ARRIVE.

BY THE TIME THE BRIDGE WAS IN PLACE,

LEE HAD 75,000 MEN WAITING IN THE HILLS.

STONEWALL JACKSON WAS ON THE RIGHT,

JAMES LONGSTREET ON THE LEFT

ALONG A BLUFF CALLED MARYE'S HEIGHTS.

FROM THE TOP OF THE HEIGHTS,

LEE COULD JUST SEE CHATHAM MANSION

ACROSS THE RIVER ON THE UNION SIDE,

WHERE 30 YEARS BEFORE

HE HAD COURTED HIS WIFE MARY CUSTIS.

IT WAS NOW BURNSIDE'S HEADQUARTERS.

ON DECEMBER 11,

UNION GUNS BEGAN SHELLING FREDERICKSBURG,

SETTING MUCH OF THE TOWN ON FIRE.

THEN THE TROOPS STARTED ACROSS THE RIVER.

SOME WONDERED WHY THE CONFEDERATES

DID NOT MAKE IT HARDER FOR THEM TO CROSS.

"THEY WANT TO GET US IN," ONE PRIVATE SAID.

"GETTING OUT WON'T BE QUITE SO SMART AND EASY."