hi everybody today we'll be finishing up our discussion of the civil war the months immediately following the battle of antietam and the issuance of lincoln's preliminary emancipation proclamation were not kind to the north and the army of the potomac the new commander of the military effort in the east ambrose e burnside who we see here was determined to display the kind of fighting spirit that his predecessor george b mcclellan so conspicuously lacked in december 1862 with an army of 113 000 men burnside attacked robert e lee's 74 000 man force at fredericksburg virginia unfortunately logistical mishaps delayed the union army advance allowing lee time to organize his defense along a seven mile stretch of hills south and west of the town of fredericksburg this map details the organization of what came to be known as the battle of fredericksburg on the morning of the 13th burnside launched his assault which began with the briefly successful but ultimately failed attempt to [ __ ] the right flank of lee's army where stonewall jackson occupied the hills south of the town the inability of the union forces to penetrate the right flank of the rebel defense foreshadowed much worse to come because burnside's attack on the confederate left never had a chance to succeed the new union commander did demonstrate the fighting spirit expected of him but not the judgment this illustration of the assault on what was known as mary's heights shows what the union troops were up against a half mile stretch of open ground toward the heights where lee's artillery was waiting for them and at the foot of the heights row upon row of riflemen commanded by general james longstreet in an incredible and suicidal act of bravery which moved witnesses on both sides the army of the potomac at burnside's command launched seven attempts to take mary's heights all were tragic horrific failures for his part burnside openly weeping after the last charge said that he himself would lead yet another the next morning his subordinates talked him out of it more than twelve thousand men in blue uniforms laid dead on the field once again the union army had to retreat and defeat and disgrace toward washington while the south breathed a sigh of relief after fredericksburg northern despair became acute harpers weekly cried out that the people were filled with anguish they've borne said the paper silently and grimly imbecility treachery failure privation loss of friends and means almost every suffering which can afflict a brave people but they cannot be expected to suffer that such massacres as this at fredericksburg shall be repeated when lincoln learned of the outcome at fredericksburg he said to an associate if there's a worse place than hell i'm in it morale in the army of the potomac dropped to an all-time low after the catastrophe at fredericksburg burnside offered his resignation which was accepted lincoln then placed joseph hooker who we see here in charge of the army of the potomac hooker was a popular choice at the time he was well liked by the troops and was popular with the public after acquitting himself well at the battle of antietam months earlier hooker built morale back up cleaned up the camps got the troops better food and in general improved the discipline and fighting spirit of the army he boasted that he hoped god would have mercy on the rebels for he would have none that kind of talk worried the president who feared it was a mask covering larger insecurities in hooker he was correct despite having an excellent plan when hooker's one hundred fifteen thousand man army met up with robert e lee's force of sixty thousand at a place called chancellorsville in virginia in may 1863 nothing went right for the army of the potomac beginning with the judgment of its commanding general joe hooker by april 30th the logistical part of hooker's plan was in place this map shows the layout of what became known as the battle of chancellor's bill hooker had forty thousand blue coats facing lee's army still at fredericksburg while his much larger force of seventy thousand had crossed the rappahannock river and was only eight miles from lee's rear at chancellorsville lee had to decide what to do quickly he chose to leave ten thousand troops to defend fredericksburg under the command of general jubal early while he took the remaining 40 000 toward chancellorsville on the morning of may 1st 1863 the union forces pushed out into the clearing just beyond the woods known as the wilderness but when they came into contact with the advanced units of lee's army hooker ordered a retreat back to the cover of the forest his officers protested that such a move would relinquish the initiative to lee handicapping their artillery and diminishing the impact of their superiority in numbers lee sensing that hooker had lost his nerve took a huge risk by dividing again his already split forces sending stonewall jackson and 28 000 men on a massive flanking maneuver around the union right flank all day long on may 2 union pickets sent reports to hooker about a large rebel force moving around his exposed right but he ignored them at 5 30 p.m jackson's men came screaming out of the woods and annihilated hooker's right flank driving it back some two miles before nightfall finally brought the attack to a halt the only fateful blow struck against the confederacy at chancellorsville followed stonewall jackson not satisfied with the results of the late assault rode out himself to scout for a rare night attack as he was returning nervous rebel pickets mistaking him for the enemy opened fire the general was severely wounded the next morning his left arm was amputated he soon contracted pneumonia and within several more days was dead despite the disaster on his right flank hooker on the morning of may 3rd still faced a good chance for victory lee's forces were still divided and he still dramatically outnumbered them but again he made a critical error in judgment hazel grove was one of the few clearings in the wilderness from which artillery could operate effectively hooker mistook the location for an exposed salient and ordered it abandoned at dawn these rebels quickly moved 50 guns up onto the hill and opened a devastating artillery fire while simultaneously launching repeated infantry assaults on the union positions up and down the lines at chancellorsville hooker himself was stunned by an artillery shell in the fighting but refused to relinquish command in the middle of the morning he finally ordered a full retreat lee took advantage of this opportunity to turn his forces back toward fredericksburg to deal with the much smaller union force that was still there easily defeating them chancellorsville proved to be a worse disaster than fredericksburg had been here we have an illustration from the battle over seventeen thousand union forces were lost president lincoln received the news according to an eyewitness with an ashen face declaring my god my god what will the country say coming on the heels of the other failures and disasters in the eastern theater of the war chancellorsville might have turned out to be a mortal blow to the union cause instead it turned out to be the darkness before the dawn because robert e lee who we see again here now believing his army of northern virginia and he himself to be invincible made the fateful decision for a second time to invade the north his destiny and that of the confederacy as it turned out now led to the rolling green fields of pennsylvania in a little place called gettysburg that we see here in this photograph as it looked in eighteen sixty three before 150 000 union and confederate troops descended upon it for the greatest battle ever fought in the western hemisphere after the debacle at chancellorsville lincoln relieved hooker of his post the new union commander was george gordon mead a bookish and stern disciplinarian who his subordinates referred to as a damned old goggle-eyed snapping turtle here we have a picture of him as a native pennsylvanian when he learned of lee's movements mead was determined to crush the army that dared invade his native state he was quickly in hot pursuit the battle of gettysburg was an ongoing series of escalating engagements fought over the first few days of july 1863 on the first day's action indicated on this map as the forces of both sides began to arrive at the town rebel infantry came under fire from some dismounted union cavalry more units continued to arrive throughout the day until some 27 000 confederates and 23 000 union forces ultimately clashed it was a bitter struggle on the part of the slightly outnumbered union forces to hold on to the high ground at gettysburg which they did still occupying the heights of culps hill and cemetery hill as night fell 9 000 blue and six thousand grey troops were either wounded or killed some of whom we see here but compared to what was coming the first day had been a skirmish overnight more rebel and union forces converged on the small town this map shows the second day's action late in the afternoon on july 2nd lee launched a ferocious assault on the union left left flank at the site of what were known as the big and little round tops for hours the union troops position there desperately fought to retain control of the heights heavy casualties on both sides were suffered as the fighting raged into places with names like the wheat field and devil's den at the foot of the round tops lee even launched another attack on the union right flank at night that tried to take culps hill and cemetery hill as he had at the end of the first day all the rebel offensives were ultimately repulsed the bloodshed of the second day captured in these images from little round top and from the devil's den resulted in no major advantage for either side both armies essentially occupied the same ground they had at the start of the fighting despite his heavy losses lee convinced himself that because of his major assaults on both the union right and left flanks mead must have weakened the middle of his lines he decided that an all-out attack on the union center on the third day would bring him and the army of northern virginia the victory that had thus far eluded him but his opponent general mead saw it coming and was ready when the final day at gettysburg dawned this map shows the last day's action the union guns stacked along the heights of cemetery ridge should have remindedly of fredericksburg and the suffering he inflicted on burnsides ill-fated men in fact when general george pickett led his troops out of the woods across the open field toward the ridge on the third day the union soldiers waiting for them began to chant loud enough for the rebels to hear over and over fredericksburg fredericksburg when pickett's 13 000 man division had advanced far enough the union guns opened fire and according to eyewitnesses a great collective moan went up from the rebel lines only in one spot did pickett's charge end up breaching the walls of the ridge but it was quickly reinforced pickett was horrified as he retreated across the battlefield lee himself rode out to meet him ordering the general to rally what was left of his division in case of a union counter-attack pickett reportedly replied general lee i have no division now he never forgavely years later still telling friends that old man had my division slaughtered on the other side the union forces were jubilant the next day as lee prepared for a retreat they celebrated the best fourth of july of their lives roughly a third of those engaged some fifty thousand men were killed or wounded at gettysburg over the three days of fighting this represented over 20 percent of the union forces but nearly 40 percent of lee's army was lost all southern hopes of invading the north again were over the confederacy could not afford such losses by this point in the war it could no longer easily replace the soldiers it was losing the north faced no such problem as lee retreated toward virginia he did so knowing that his days of taking the offensive were over it would be a purely defensive war moving forward and a desperate one at that so long as the conflict lasted gettysburg proved to be the high water mark of the confederacy the small town of gettysburg itself with a population of not quite two and a half thousand residents is this photograph from the battlefield shows now had to bury many thousands of dead men and horses and care for tens of thousands of wounded soldiers from both sides virtually every home and building had to be converted into a makeshift hospital the signs of the devastation and the smells were still evident when president lincoln traveled to gettysburg to dedicate the soldiers national cemetery in november 1863. declaring that those lost would not be allowed to have died in vain and that the government of the people by the people for the people as he put it would not perish from the earth the famous gettysburg address was so short just a few minutes and to the point that photographers barely had time to get their shutters opened before the president was on his way back to his seat this is the only surviving picture of lincoln at gettysburg despite the wound inflicted on lee's army in pennsylvania the president was once again dismayed at the lack of killer instinct in his commanding general mead had allowed lee to escape and retreat to virginia to fight another day lincoln still could not find an officer with the fighting spirit he needed but out in the western theater of the war such a commander did exist on the 4th of july 1863 ulysses s grant who we see again here forced the surrender of vicksburg on the mississippi after a siege of many months his string of victories in the west convinced lincoln to bring him to washington to take command of all union forces as the new general in chief lincoln conferred on grant the rank of lieutenant general not held since george washington but grant had no intention of sitting behind a desk in the nation's capital plotting strategy he would make his headquarters with the army of the potomac becoming in effect its strategic field commander while general george meade remained its regular tactical commander lincoln at last had a general in charge his strategic ideas accorded with his own he could trust grant to act decisively without the constant prodding necessary with previous commanders for two years lincoln had been trying to get his armies to advance simultaneously on several fronts and now grant worked out such a plan the army of the potomac with about 115 thousand men would attack the sixty four thousand strong army of northern virginia lee's army will be your objective point grant told meade wherever lee goes there you will go also on may 5th and on the 6th 1864 grant met lee for the first time in what became known as the battle of the wilderness depicted in this illustration he lost seventeen thousand men the same number hooker had lost a year earlier in virtually the same spot as the battle of chancellorsville but what was different about grant became apparent in the wake of the fighting at the wilderness rather than ordering a retreat as all previous commanders of the army of the potomac had done after suffering a defeat at the hands of lee's army grant ordered a flanking maneuver to try and get around these forces in other words between them and richmond in a bid to force him into an open battle the union army was not going to retreat ever again as grant wired the president i intend to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer morale in the union ranks skyrocketed when the troops realized for the first time the stuff their new commander was made of as one of them put it grant doesn't scare with a dam this map shows the strategy grant pursued essentially a series of flanking maneuvers trying constantly to get around and between lee and the rebel capital of richmond each time lee anticipated the moves and countered with new entrenchments and defensive lines to stall and delay grant and the union forces major battles were fought at places such as spotsylvania and cold harbor where the union suffered a defeat not unlike fredericksburg seeing seven thousand men mowed down in a matter of minutes it was the one mistake grant admitted publicly he regretted most during the war by the time grant and the union army arrived at petersburg virginia in mid-june 1864 they'd lost 64 000 men lee also had lost half his army between the wilderness and petersburg but what was left of it was now ensconced within miles and miles of heavily fortified earthworks grant reluctantly as he had at vicksburg settled in for a siege he had hoped to avoid next to virginia the most important theater of the conflict in 1864 was georgia where general william tecumseh sherman's 100 000 man army faced josephine johnston's 65 000 confederates grant directed sherman to move against johnston's army to break it up and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources here we have a photograph of sherman with his officer staff his mission in other words was to destroy the south's capacity to make war his initial target was atlanta georgia between may and july 1864 sherman's army inflicted nearly 28 000 casualties on general josephine johnston's confederates while suffering only 25 000 casualties themselves by contrast in the virginia theater while lee's army had lost about 36 000 between the wilderness and petersburg they had exacted nearly twice that number in return this contrast in casualty ratios reflected the different tactics in the two theaters grant and lee both favored attack and all-out battle as a means of destroying the enemy sherman and johnston engaged in a war of maneuver rather than assault the confederate strong defensive positions sherman executed a series of flanking movements that forced johnston repeatedly to fall back to protect his communications only once at kennesaw mountain did sherman order a frontal assault with no more success than grant at cold harbor although johnston retreated toward atlanta as lee did toward richmond such maneuvers in virginia usually occurred after big battles in georgia they occurred without large-scale fighting dissatisfied with johnston's strategy jefferson davis replaced him with general john b hood who did try to attack sherman's army but was defeated with heavy losses three times on a retreat back to the trenches of atlanta where sherman like grant at petersburg settled in for a siege at the end of july 1864. northern war weariness in the summer of 1864 brought on by both grant and sherman's stalled offensives in front of petersburg and atlanta revived the prospects of the peace wing of the democratic party peace sentiment seemed to have gained so much momentum that some republicans despaired of the party's chances in the fall elections the democrats shrewdly chose to nominate former union general george b mcclellan for president here we see a broadside for the democratic ticket in 1864. party leaders recognizing his popularity with the troops while he was their commander expected a large soldier vote for mcclellan lincoln and the republicans emphasizing the preservation of the country not peace at any price temporarily changed their name to the union party and placed the ward democrat from tennessee andrew johnson on the ticket here's a union party banner from the election august proved to be a crucial month because it marked the beginning of a string of union victories that finally brought an end to the unions 1864 summer of discontent and mocked the democrats description of the war as a failure mobile alabama lay at the head of a bay whose entrance 30 miles to the south was protected by three forts a minefield and four gunboats including the huge ironclad tennessee admiral david g farragut who we see again here assembled 14 wooden ships and four iron clads to hammer the forts from the sea while five and a half thousand blue soldiers assaulted them by land on the morning of august fifth the union fleet engaged the forts in a spectacular duel of heavy guns suddenly the leading union ironclad blew up and sank the victim of a mine this brought the fleet to a halt under a punishing fire from the large two largest forts but farragut took his wooden flagship hartford to the head of the line where he gave the order that immortalized him and the annals of the u.s navy damn the torpedoes full speed ahead here we have an illustration of the battle of mobile bay the hartford pushed through the minefield safely the fleet followed and after passing into mobile bay beyond range of the forts the union ships turned their attention to the confederate gunboats and pounded them into submission even the ironclad tennessee her rudder chain shot away and her commander wounded was forced to surrender little over a week later this victory was surpassed when sherman finally captured atlanta at the beginning of september here we have a picture of sherman on his horse just on the outskirts of the city with atlanta's fall lincoln's re-election prospects increased dramatically the end of the war was finally in sight on august 31st and september 1st sherman's troops fought and defeated the confederates just outside atlanta at jonesboro here we have an illustration of the battle general hood the rebel commander for fear of being surrounded was forced to evacuate atlanta on the night of september first the next day sherman's men marched in and occupied the city the news electrified the north as one new yorker put it at the time it is coming at this political crisis the greatest event of the war hood's retreating rebels had set fire to nearly everything of military value in the city before they left but what they forgot sherman's men finished off the general had not forgotten grant's order to do all he could to destroy the south's ability to make war here we have a few illustrations of the burning of atlanta and a couple of real photographs of the damage the first sketch here shows the destruction of munitions factories and public buildings and the next two capture the orange glow enveloping the city that eyewitnesses remarked so much upon at the time the first actual photograph here shows the damage to buildings throughout the town as does this one an image from atlanta's famous peachtree street in the wake of sherman's invasion the general was far from finished but before his men left atlanta there was a presidential election for his soldiers to vote in the 1864 election was a referendum on the war and emancipation no one could be entirely sure what the consequences of a democratic victory would be confederate independence restoration of the union with slavery or something else but the consequences of a republican victory were certain the doom of slavery and the continuation of war until the south surrendered knowing this voters went to the polls on november 8th and re-elected lincoln by a majority of 212 to 21 in the electoral college mcclellan carried only new jersey his home state kentucky and delaware lincoln took 55 percent of the popular vote a considerable increase over his 39 percent four years earlier only one free state mcclellan's new jersey elected a democratic governor in 1864. republicans gained control of all the state legislatures lost in 1862 and won an extraordinary 145 of the 185 seats in the next house of representatives the senate would have a 42 to 10 republican majority here we see the new york times front page from november 9th reporting the news of lincoln's triumph one remarkable fact about the 1864 election was that it took place at all no other country before world war ii held general elections in the middle of a war the american experiment of holding an election during a civil war whose result would determine the nation's future is unique in history yet no one in 1864 proposed to postpone the election as lincoln himself explained we cannot have free government without elections and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us the outcome said lincoln after his re-election proved that as he put it a people's government can sustain a national election even in the midst of a great civil war equally remarkable was the soldier vote in 1864. no other society had tried the experiment of letting its fighting men vote in an election that might decide whether they were to continue fighting although mcclellan's name still evoked enthusiasm among many officers and soldiers few wished to vote for a party that declared the war of failure lincoln won an amazing 78 of the soldier vote in 1864. even in the army of the potomac only 29 percent of the men voted for mcclellan on november 15th sherman's army over 60 000 strong left atlanta the general was headed for the atlantic coast and the city of savannah it was the start of his legendary march to the sea this map details the route he took for over three weeks the army covered 10 miles a day burning and pillaging a 50-mile wide path of destruction all the way to the ocean by december 10th sherman was on the outskirts of savannah and rather than face capture the 10 000 rebels defending it evacuated the town on december 21st in a typically jaunty gesture sherman telegraphed lincoln i beg to present you as a christmas gift the city of savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and also about 25 000 bales of cotton published in northern newspapers on christmas eve this telegram set off another wave of celebrations across the north by february 1865 sherman's 60 000 troops were ready to bring the scourge of war to south carolina in a campaign more devastating than their march from atlanta to the sea sherman's intent was to smash his way through the carolinas destroying all war resources in his path and spreading demoralization among the populace as he moved up on lee's rear to catch the army of northern virginia in a vice between his army and grants sherman fainted one wing of his army toward charleston and the other toured augusta the confederates sent reinforcements to both cities but sherman pushed straight northward cutting the railroad between the two cities without going near either with its communications to the interior cut off charleston surrendered on february 18th the union officer who formally received the surrender was the colonel of a black regiment his men were the first to take possession of the proud city where some of them had been slaves they marched in singing john brown's body while charleston's black population cheered queen city of the south the taproot of secession charleston's fall was the most dramatic sign of the confederacy's collapse the disappointment is to me extremely bitter wrote jefferson davis here's a photograph of the ruins of charleston after sherman's men were done with it in northern eyes the state of south carolina deserved special punishment for its fire-eating role in bringing about the war sherman reported that the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon south carolina i almost tremble at her fate but feel that she deserves all that's in store for her sherman's orders in the palmetto state were the same as in georgia seize or destroy all forage and property of military value but leave civilian property alone the troops respected these orders even less than they had in georgia and sherman did little to restrain them the pillaging private put it succinctly here is where treason began and by god here's where it shall end the greatest outrage charged against sherman was the burning of the state capital colombia union soldiers entered the city on february 17th and by the next morning half the city was in ashes here are a couple of photos of what it looked like when his famous march to the sea and up the atlantic coast was over sherman's troops left behind them 425 miles of desolation that would never again support a rebel army in 1861 many foreign observers had considered the confederacy unconquerable because its large area poor roads and rugged terrain would defeat an invader just as russia's vast distances had defeated napoleon but contrary to predictions the south was not only invaded and conquered it was destroyed by 1865 the union forces had penetrated every corner of half a million square miles of the confederacy a territory as large as france spain and west germany combined these forces wiped out two-thirds of the assessed value of southern wealth two-fifths of the south's livestock and one-quarter of her white men between the ages of 20 and 40. more than half the farm machinery was ruined and the damage to railroads and industries was almost immeasurable while total northern wealth increased by 50 percent from 1860 to 1870 southern wealth decreased by 60 percent these figures testify to the capacity of a modernizing society to overcome the barriers of distance and terrain in history's first truly modern war in march and april 1865 while sherman continued making his way northward toward virginia grant and the army of the potomac finally brought robert e lee's rebel army to bay although a westerner grant was sensitive to the eastern army's pride thus he was anxious to finish the war before sherman's army came up on lee's rear and took credit for the final victory grant's greatest worry was that he would wake up one morning to find that lee's army had slipped away during the night to join forces with general josephine johnston in north carolina this was precisely what lee intended to do before pulling out of the trenches however he gambled on one last assault against grant's right east of petersburg to compel him to shorten his encircling lines by sending reinforcements from the left in the pre-dawn darkness of march 25th sham confederate deserters who'd been fraternizing with union pickets suddenly seized the surprise yankees and spearheaded an attack that captured fort stedman an earthwork in the union line rebel brigades poured through the gap and soon occupied nearly a mile of union trenches but they could not hold them in the face of inflating artillery fire and an infantry counter-attack by mid-morning the rebels had been driven back with the loss of 4 800 men grant who we see again here now sees the initiative he sent two infantry corps and 12 000 cavalry troops to flank the confederate right tear up the last open railroad into petersburg and block lee's escape route to the southwest at a road junction called five forks general phil sheridan's cavalry and the fifth corps on april 1st struck 10 000 confederates in front and flank and routed them inflicting more than 5 000 casualties at a cost of only 1 000 to themselves when grant learned of sheridan's success he ordered an assault all along the petersburg lines at dawn the next day which we see depicted here in this illustration the remaining confederates put up a desperate struggle falling back from one line of trenches to the next during a long and bloody day that cost the union four thousand killed and wounded grant hoped to trap lee's army in petersburg but during the night the rebels escaped across the appomattox river and retreated westward meanwhile the confederate government and all troops in the area evacuated richmond after blowing up bridges factories and arsenals and burning all tobacco and government property that could not be removed by dawn on april 3rd richmond was a blazing inferno here we have an illustration of the fires and some photographs of the devastation in richmond while the rebel capital burned lee's remaining army of 35 000 was trying to escape from 80 000 union forces who were in hot pursuit sheridan's cavalry and two infantry corps raced parallel to the fleeing confederates on their left to prevent lee from turning southward while two other infantry corps stayed on the rear picking up hundreds of exhausted rebel stragglers on april 6 at sailors creek near farmville grant's forces cut off and captured seven thousand confederates after a battle on which the union lost only twelve hundred men on april eighth sheridan got in front of what was left of lee's army and captured two train loads of rations at appomattox station a hundred miles west of petersburg when a final confederate attempt to break through the encircling ring on the morning of april 9 revealed two blue infantry corps in line behind the cavalry lee finally realized that the game was up one of his artillery officers suggested that the army scatter to the woods and carry on the war as gorillas but lee would have none of it no he said there's nothing left for me to do but to go and see general grant and i would rather die a thousand deaths but goey did to the house of wilmer mclean in the village of appomattox courthouse ironically mclean had owned a house near manassas virginia in 1861 that had been used as a confederate headquarters during the first battle of bull run now he would witness the final act of the war in his living room the only general in american history to capture three separate armies at fort donelson vicksburg and now appomattox grant proposed generous terms that paroled lee's whole army and allowed them to take their horses and even their sidearms home with them here we have a painting of the famous surrender at appomattox as news of the surrender spread through union camps on april 9th the soldiers began to celebrate as if all the 4th of july in history had been rolled into one the air is black with hats and boots coats knapsacks shirts and even cartridge boxes wrote one veteran who tried to describe the scene they fall on each other's necks and laugh and cry by turns huge lumbering bearded men embrace and kiss like school girls then dance and sing and shout stand on their heads and play leapfrog with each other as the telegraph flashed the news of lee's surrender through the north which was just recovering from its celebration of the fall of richmond new and wilder jubilations broke out the rejoicing however suddenly turned to grief is once more the telegraph clicked out momentous news but this time news of terrible grave import the assassination of abraham lincoln on april 14th the care worn 56 year old president had relaxed by attending a comedy at ford's theater in washington in the middle of the play john wilkes booth gained entrance to lincoln's box and shot him in the head just behind the right ear this sketch from the time captured the scene jumping down to the stage where he broke his leg booth reportedly shouted the virginia state motto sick semper tyrannus thus always to tyrants and managed to hobble out a rear door of the theater where he made good his escape on horseback before anyone could apprehend him the son and brother of famous actors while a mediocre actor himself the 26 year old booth was a frustrated unstable egotist thirsting for fame he'd plotted for months to kidnap lincoln and hold him hostage for concessions to the confederacy to help in his mad scheme he recruited several allies from washington's underworld of drifters rebel spies and confederate deserters the fall of richmond and lee's surrender ruined the kidnapping venture so booth decided instead to murder lincoln vice president andrew johnson and secretary of state william seward the accomplice assigned to assassinate johnson lost his nerve seward suffered serious stabbing wounds but survived on april 26 union troops finally tracked down booth and shot him to death in a burning barn in virginia a military court convicted eight accomplices of collusion in the assassination four were hanged and the rest were sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor on april 15 1865 andrew johnson took the oath as president of a nation in shock and mourning people wept in the streets for the martyred lincoln general grant wept openly during the funeral services in the white house on april 19th millions stood silently along the tracks as a nine-car train carried lincoln's body the thousand miles from washington back home to springfield illinois here we have some photographs the first shows the funeral procession through the streets of washington dc and hear the scene outside of new york city's city hall where thousands waited for a chance to walk past the president's body laying in state in an open coffin which we see here the final photograph shows the lincoln funeral procession down new york's famous broadway avenue in a nation with an abiding religious heritage the murder of the president on good friday seemed to be more than a coincidence for black people especially lincoln's death at the moment of victory over slavery made of him a christ-like figure the event clothed with new meaning the last verse of julia ward house battle him of the republic as he died to make men holy let us die to make men free anger as well as sorrow marked the northern mood in the weeks after the assassination there were bitter cries of vengeance not only against the assassination conspirators but against all confederate leaders who were considered to be ultimately responsible for the death not only of lincoln but also of the 360 000 union soldiers who'd been killed in the war but such cries were contrary to the moving proration of lincoln's second inaugural address where he had declared with malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right let us strive to bind up the nation's wounds and to achieve a just and a lasting peace during the weeks after lincoln's death while andrew johnson was trying to get accustomed to his new office and several confederate armies were still in the field secretary of war edwin m stanton was the government's strong man here we have a photograph of him brusque and excitable stanton feared that the assassination was part of a rebel plot to overthrow the government under his orders hundreds of confederate sympathizers were arrested those implicated in the assassination were harshly treated and their legal rights all but ignored in the midst of these events came news of the surrender of joseph general joseph johnston's rebel army to sherman who negotiated a surrender agreement with johnston on april 26 that duplicated the terms between lee and grant at appomattox everyone in washington stanton most of all was under great pressure during the weeks after the assassination although leeds surrendered jefferson davis and his cabinet remained at large at every stop davis exhorted his people to fight on even after johnston surrendered davis spoke of moving the government to the trans-mississippi states and carrying on the war to the union government it appeared that guerrilla warfare might go on for years turning the south into another ireland but most southerners had had more than enough in alabama on may 4th general richard taylor surrendered the remaining rebel forces east of the mississippi union cavalry captured jefferson davis and his entourage in georgia on may 10th on may 26 general edmund kirby smith surrendered the trans-mississippi army these events of may brightened the skies in washington the problems of peace still lay ahead but the war was over two feared consequences of the civil war did not materialize first there was no bloodbath of vengeance no confederates were tried for treason jefferson davis was imprisoned without trial for two years but then released to live a quiet life and write his memoirs this absence of reprisals was almost unique in the history of rebellions especially those waged on the scale of this one second the army did not become a power in american life to be sure every elected president until 1904 save one grover cleveland had fought in the union army and owed his political success at least in part to his war record but none of them not even grant was a military president all except grant were civilians who had sprung to arms in the crisis of 1861 and returned to civilian life as quickly in 1865. before they went home however the army of the potomac and sherman's army held a grand review in washington on may 23rd and 24th here we have a series of illustrations and images from the event for two days the armed might of the republic marched in a giant parade down pennsylvania avenue before thousands of cheering spectators as sherman's long striding westerners came swinging by on the second day some people in the stands began to sing john brown's body soldiers picked it up and soon thousands of voices were thundering the great marching song of the union armies in a city once trod by slaves but no more nothing probably could have testified more appropriately to the revolution in american society that the civil war brought about okay so that does it for the civil war all we have left to talk about now is the period known as reconstruction that followed it from 1865 to 1877 and that's where we'll finish up next time for our final lecture