WEBVTT - Lincoln: 1864

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<v Speaker 1>And we returned to our American stories. Up next, the

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<v Speaker 1>story about a consequential year and a consequential man. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>the late historian Charles Braslin Flood to tell the story

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<v Speaker 1>of eighteen sixty four and Abraham Lincoln.

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<v Speaker 2>On that New Year's Day of eighteen sixty four, the

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<v Speaker 2>Civil War had been going on for thirty three months,

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<v Speaker 2>on its way to being what is the bloodiest war

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<v Speaker 2>in American history to date. In November of eighteen sixty four,

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<v Speaker 2>there would be a presidential election that was going to

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<v Speaker 2>be a referendum on the war. In hindsight, it's easy

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<v Speaker 2>to say that, of course Lincoln was re elected and

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<v Speaker 2>the North won the war, but there were an endless

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<v Speaker 2>number of times during eighteen sixty four when it did

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<v Speaker 2>not look that way. Please remember that military success or

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<v Speaker 2>failure was inextricably linked with what would be Lincoln's political

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<v Speaker 2>success or failure. Four days before the Baltimore political Convention

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<v Speaker 2>in early June that nominated Lincoln to run for a

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<v Speaker 2>second term, Ulysses S. Grant presided over a military disaster.

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<v Speaker 2>His forces had been taking terrible casualties as they moved

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<v Speaker 2>south against Roberty Lee through the battles of the Wilderness

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<v Speaker 2>and Spotsylvania. Now he started one of the largest attacks

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<v Speaker 2>of the war at a place in Virginia called Cold Harbor.

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<v Speaker 2>Grant had one hundred and eight thousand men and threw

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<v Speaker 2>them straight at Lee, whose fifty nine thousand men were

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<v Speaker 2>well entrenched. In the first hour, and some say even

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<v Speaker 2>within the first twenty minutes, seven thousand of Grant's men

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<v Speaker 2>were killed or wounded. With the Union attack repulsed and

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<v Speaker 2>nothing gained, but the bad news went on for many

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<v Speaker 2>more weeks. At one point Grant had lost more than

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<v Speaker 2>forty thousand men in thirty days, and that figure grew

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<v Speaker 2>to his having lost sixty thousand men in forty five days,

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<v Speaker 2>sixty thousand men dead and wounded to advance sixty miles.

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<v Speaker 2>Also during that time, Juwbile Early once again erupted from

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<v Speaker 2>the Shenandoah Valley. He led a massive raid that brought

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<v Speaker 2>a force of twelve thousand men right to the edge

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<v Speaker 2>of Washington's fortifications, five miles from the White House. Lincoln

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<v Speaker 2>and Mary went out to Fort Stephens, the focal point

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<v Speaker 2>of the attack. At one moment, the Confederate advance came

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<v Speaker 2>to within one hundred and ten yards of the fort. Foolishly, Lincoln,

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<v Speaker 2>wearing a stovepipe hat that made him a target seven

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<v Speaker 2>feet high, climbed right up on the parapet in the open.

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<v Speaker 2>Some Confederate snipers positioned a few hundred yards away started

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<v Speaker 2>firing at him, missing him but wounding with a ricochet

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<v Speaker 2>an officer who was standing just below the parapet. It's

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<v Speaker 2>worth mentioning that this is the only time that an

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<v Speaker 2>American president has been under enemy fire while serving in office.

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<v Speaker 2>All of this news frightful Union casualties throughout northern Virginia

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<v Speaker 2>and Confederate striking at the Capitol, was coupled with bad

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<v Speaker 2>news from Georgia. As William To comes to Sherman slowly

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<v Speaker 2>struggled towards Atlanta on the Southern Front. That coincided with

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<v Speaker 2>half true rumors of peace feelers going back and forth

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<v Speaker 2>between North and South. The Northern public was increasingly confused

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<v Speaker 2>and disappointed in Lincoln and his administration. Much of the

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<v Speaker 2>press was coming out against Lincoln. Even his own advisers

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<v Speaker 2>were warning him that the tide is turning against us.

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<v Speaker 2>The Union's economy was intertwined with all this speculation and

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<v Speaker 2>gold in New York City indicated fears that the North

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<v Speaker 2>financial structure might collapse. The national debt was at its highest,

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<v Speaker 2>the public credit was at its lowest, and the Treasury

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<v Speaker 2>was running out of money paying for a war that

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<v Speaker 2>appeared to be at a stalemate. In foreign business dealings

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<v Speaker 2>involving valuations of the dollar, it dropped to a new

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<v Speaker 2>wartime low of thirty seven cents. Prosperous Republicans who wanted

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<v Speaker 2>Lincoln to be reelected were nonetheless getting rid of Greenback's

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<v Speaker 2>by buying land. They were doing that on the theory

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<v Speaker 2>that land would still have value even if the Democrats

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<v Speaker 2>were elected, and his decided to repudiate federal government securities

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<v Speaker 2>right down to leaving the dollar worthless. On August twenty third,

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<v Speaker 2>Lincoln involved himself in an extraordinary act that demonstrated his

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<v Speaker 2>belief that he would lose the election. When the members

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<v Speaker 2>of his cabinet assembled for one of their Tuesday afternoon meetings,

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<v Speaker 2>they found Lincoln asking each of them to sign without

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<v Speaker 2>knowing what it said the back of a folded over

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<v Speaker 2>and sealed document, what Lincoln had written that morning, what

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<v Speaker 2>they could not see, and what he was asking him

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<v Speaker 2>to endorse. Sight unseen by placing their signatures on It

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<v Speaker 2>was this statement this morning, as for some days past,

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<v Speaker 2>it seems exceedingly unlikely that this administration will be re elected.

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<v Speaker 2>Then it will be my duty to so cooperate with

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<v Speaker 2>the President elect as to save the Union between the

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<v Speaker 2>election and the inauguration. And though he was pledging himself

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<v Speaker 2>and his cabinet to make an orderly transition to what

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<v Speaker 2>he thought was going to be McClellan and a democratic administration.

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<v Speaker 2>So if anybody tells you that by eighteen sixty four

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<v Speaker 2>Union victory or Lincoln's reelection was in the bag, I

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<v Speaker 2>would respectfully refer them to Lincoln's own estimate of the situation.

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<v Speaker 2>He remained determined to do everything he could. He backed

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<v Speaker 2>Grant and his other generals to the hilt, but speaking

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<v Speaker 2>to a radical Republican, he told the man, you think

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know, I am going to be beaten what

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<v Speaker 2>I do, and unless some great change takes place, badly beaten.

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<v Speaker 2>A week after Lincoln said that, Sherman set a telegram

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<v Speaker 2>north that read Atlanta is ours and fairly won. Everything

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<v Speaker 2>changed there. It was the news bringing the hope that

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<v Speaker 2>so many in the North had lost even the most

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<v Speaker 2>ardent Confederates saw this as the enormous strategic victory that

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<v Speaker 2>the Union had won. Atlanta, the south second most important

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<v Speaker 2>city after Richmond, dead center in what had been Confederate territory,

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<v Speaker 2>had fallen. There were still nine weeks until the election,

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<v Speaker 2>but everything began to go Lincoln's way. He was re

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<v Speaker 2>elected in an electoral college landslide, not so decisive in

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<v Speaker 2>the popular vote, which came in with Lincoln winning by

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<v Speaker 2>four hundred thousand out of four million cast. There was

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<v Speaker 2>yet another exceedingly important factor in play, and I have

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<v Speaker 2>to say that a number of studies I think have

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<v Speaker 2>not given this quite enough attention. That was the military vote.

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<v Speaker 2>Here you had close to a million young men from

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<v Speaker 2>families of different political persuasions. Many of these soldiers were

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<v Speaker 2>being shot at every day. No one could be sure

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<v Speaker 2>that they would vote to continue a war in which

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<v Speaker 2>so many of their comrades were being killed and maimed.

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<v Speaker 2>It's worth noting that in the military vote, ballots cast

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<v Speaker 2>by soldiers who knew they were continuing, they were voting

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<v Speaker 2>to continue risking their lives. He triumphed by three to one,

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<v Speaker 2>and on Christmas Day of eighteen sixty four, Lincoln read

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<v Speaker 2>another telegram from Sherman which said, I beg to present

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<v Speaker 2>you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition,

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<v Speaker 2>and also about twenty five thousand bales of cotton. So

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<v Speaker 2>as eighteen sixty four ended, the war was at last

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<v Speaker 2>winding down in thirteen more weeks Roberty Lee, which surrendered

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<v Speaker 2>a grant at Appomatox Courthouse. Seventeen days after that, Lee's

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<v Speaker 2>West Point classmate Joseph E. Johnston, which surrendered the Confederacy's

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<v Speaker 2>other sizable forces to Sherman in North Carolina. Between those

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<v Speaker 2>two surrenders, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in Washington

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<v Speaker 2>on April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five. At the end of

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<v Speaker 2>my book, I look ahead to those events of eighteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty five, but my detailed treatment ends where it began,

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<v Speaker 2>with the White House New Year's Day reception of eighteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty five. And here again is the essential Lincoln, the

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<v Speaker 2>ultimate politician who nevertheless transcended the political strife, the indispensable

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<v Speaker 2>man who appeared in our nation's convulsive hour, the resolute

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<v Speaker 2>figure who proved that character is destiny. At this reception,

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<v Speaker 2>a nurse who served with the Union Army, Ada Smith,

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<v Speaker 2>had come by herself to the White House to pass

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<v Speaker 2>through the long receiving line and wish the President well.

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<v Speaker 2>As she came through the door, she recognized a crippled

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<v Speaker 2>lieutenant named Gosper, who had lost a leg and was

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<v Speaker 2>hobbling forward on crutches as he made his way to

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<v Speaker 2>the East Room in the fighting around Petersburg earlier in

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<v Speaker 2>the year. Ada had been his nurse when he was

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<v Speaker 2>brought in with his right leg shot off, and they

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<v Speaker 2>became friends during the time she cared for him. They

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<v Speaker 2>greeted each other and joined the line of hundreds that

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<v Speaker 2>wound around the East room, waiting to shake hands with Lincoln,

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<v Speaker 2>who had married beside him. From where he stood, Lincoln

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<v Speaker 2>saw Gosper. He broke away from his place and came

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<v Speaker 2>striding from the other side of the big East Room

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<v Speaker 2>to greet him. He took Gosper's hand, and what Ada

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<v Speaker 2>remembered as and I quote a voice unforgettable, said God

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<v Speaker 2>bless you, my boy. As they left, Gosper said to her,

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<v Speaker 2>I'd lose another leg for.

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<v Speaker 1>A man like that, and a special thanks to Charles

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<v Speaker 1>Braslin flood this audios from the US National Archives, and

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<v Speaker 1>we thanked them for it. The story of eighteen sixty four,

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<v Speaker 1>a consequential time for our nation when we were perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>never more divided, and how Abraham Lincoln rose to the occasion.

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<v Speaker 1>That story here on our American Stories