D. C. Next, marc leepson takes us on a tour of battlefields to tell the story of the battle of monocacy, where the confederates were delayed by union forces in their approach to the capital, and the battle of fort stevens, where general early probed the defenses of the heavily fortified city before deciding to turn back. After will list wilderness, you had petersburg surrounded. His idea, his plan was to choke robert e lee and force them to come out and fight what he thought would be the battle that would end the war. We knew this as well. Lee came up with a plan of his own witches he took an entire core of troops and he took them outside the defenses of washington on a bold plan, a fourpart plan that he hoped would mess up general grants grand plan to end the war. The first plan with the kick the forces out of the shenandoah valley. Lees biggest problem was supplied, including food and most of the food came from the shenandoah valley. These forces under general hunter had taken over j
At this point in the war, he was the commander of the unions middle atlantic department, which was basically his job was he was military governor of baltimore. It wasnt a very plum assignment. Well, reading the same intelligence that the union high command got and didnt do anything about, wallace did something. The other thing that helped him here was that the head of the b. N. O. Railroad, a man named john garrett, he had his network of intelligence who were the station masters all along the b. O. Railroad. They are heading your way. So wallace picked up on this and on his own, dont forget he was in hot water with grant and halllock, no orders, he gathered up 2800 men, about all he could get, and came down to the western most point of his jurisdiction, which was right here, and he set up on the eastern bank on the monacacy river. Lou wallace, after the war, became a novelist and he wrote the second most popular novel of the 19th century, which was benhur and also wrote an 800page memo
President will say, mary would not make a very good soldier, as she swooned. So while the president has been under fire, a man has been shot near him, and by 4 00, the 6th corps is ready to take the offensive. And they will move out from in front of fort stevens, moving across the ground that slopes down to where walter reid is now, beyond battleground cemetery, where 40odd men of the Union Soldiers who were killed here are buried and the union troops and the confederates pulled back. Lincoln will not take his eye off the big picture. Tuesday is the 12th. On the 14th, he is back out at the taking care of business. So he is going to do, and i want you to play another little tune there, because hes going to sign a bill calling for 500,000 more men. And theres one of the tunes in that, we are coming father abraham, 500,000 more. So hes showing his commitment to continuing the war. Hes also curtailed negotiations carried out through on the same day with mr. Blair, through frank blair, and
We will close the benediction, but we do hope each of you will come over and join us. Just across the street youll get some instructions. Its the moment to join us for the first fine of the civil war here in the District Of Columbia since 1864, 150 years ago today. Fire a canon, yes. Please welcome again reverend louis as he leads us through the benediction. Please stand. Now lord we ask for our blessings that as we leave this place, that the street fellowship of the Holy Communion will rest, rule and abide with us now and forever more and all gods people said amen. American history tv in primetime continues wednesday with the civil war battle of the crater, which took place during the siege of petersburg, virginia, on july 30th, 1864. The battle failed with heavy losses for union troops. At 8 00 p. M. , the National Parks service commemorates the 150th anniversary of the battle and honors the role of u. S. Color troops. At 9 20, emanuele dabny discusses how the attack failed and why u
Men took up their stand against the confederate troops, who came straight down that way from where the tracks are, and this is where they held them. This is the actual junction. It says frederick junction, but its known as the monacacy junction then. The old train station was right behind us over here. And, in fact, these are the tracks that the troops came down from baltimore. Anyway, after their vermonters finally couldnt take it anymore, they fled down the tracks, around the bentd, and the old railroad bridge over there, the ones they had to flee for their lives over while they were being shot at by the confederates. What you see in the back behind me, which has been restored by the National Park service to the way it looked the day of the battle in 1864, this was the portion of the battle of monacacy, and what youre hearing is interstate 270 in the background, but what was here then was cornfields and wheatfields and they were crisscrossed by farm fences. It was not an ideal place