Park. It is little under an hour. [applause] thank you david. Can everyone hear me ok . We have watched the armys of grant and lee moving across the virginia landscape from the siege of petersburg to the surrendered appomattox courthouse. Now im going to take a detour. We are going to make a sharp turn south, and were going to turn back the clock. South, and were going to turn back the clock. Were going to go back to december of 1864. And we are going to follow this man, general william t sherman. And his progress in what he believes in hopes will be his final campaign of the war. Sherman grant are pursuing the grand strategy that they formulated in march of 1864. In cincinnati, ohio. The idea was to keep the armys in the east and in the west, the confederate armys so busy that they cannot reinforce each other. And i have a repeat fiasco of the battle of chickamauga. The strategy is working. Slowly, but inexorably. While grant keeps lees army bottled up around the trenches of petersbur
Captures atlanta. Thomas crushes the army of tennessee, the confederacys secondlargest field army, and one week later, general sherman completes his march from atlanta to the sea by presenting the city of Savannah Georgia to president Abraham Lincoln as a christmas gift. Now, sherman is looking ahead to his next campaign. He is going to make a march through the carolinas, moving his army group northward to richmond, virginia. There he will join forces with general grant, and together, they will crush lees army and bring the war to a victorious conclusion. Sherman plans to launch his campaign and january of 1865. But torrential winter rain prevents that from happening. He is forced to delay his campaign to the following month. In the meantime, general grant decides to launch a second expedition to capture fort fisher, and close wilmington North Carolina, the last blockade running seaport the confederacy and in effect close the lifeline of the confederacy as it is called. The First Exped
All around you. Yet amid all the tumult and change, there is one thing that wont change and that is character of our men and women who wear the uniform. This is your generations moment. Your mission is necessary and it is noble. The weapons you use will be more powerful and precise than those available to annapolis graduates who came before you, and you will face enemies they never imagined. But what will make your success possible is the same thing that made their success possible the courage and honor and personal integrity that you learned at this academy. Were going to give you the tools youll need to prevail in todays war on terror, and the capabilities youll need to protect us against the dangers that may yet emerge. Now the task is in your hands, and that means it is in the best of hands. Thank you for your courageous decision to serve. Bring honor to the uniform security to our country, and peace to the world. And congratulations to every member of the class of 2005. May god bl
President obama gave the commencement address at the u. S. Coast Guard Academy this past wednesday. On American History tv, we are looking at president ial commencement addresses from a decade ago. You can watch george w. Bushs 2005 address at the Naval Academy tonight at 9 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Each week, american artifacts takes viewers to museums and Historic Sites around the country. On april 9, 1865, general robert e lee met ulysses s. Grant in the village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of Northern Virginia, effectively ending the civil war. Next, we visit the museum of the confederacy in appomattox to see items related to the surrender. We also toured the museum, looking at the wars aftermath. Welcome to the museum of the confederacy appomattox. I am the site director here. For museum has been open for almost three years now. We are an extension of the museum that was originally founded in 1890, opened in 1896 in richmond. We house a lot of the artifacts
Effectively ending the civil war. Next, we visit appomattox to see items related to the surrender. We also toured the museums exhibits. Linda lipscomb welcome Linda Lipscomb welcome to the museum. The museum here has been open for almost three years now. And we are an extension of the museum that was originally founded in 1890, opened in 1896 in richmond, virginia. We house here a lot of the artifacts that were from the confederates. We will tell you about how we got some of those artifacts. Here, we kind of focus on appomattox since we are in this location. One of the things people ask us about is why appomattox . Why did lee come here to surrender . It was not his original intent of course. Lee, on his retreat from petersburg, had been looking for supplies. His goal was to find supplies for his men and turn south to meet with general johnston in north carolina. As he is traveling from petersburg grant had been able to effectively block all the railroad supplies lee has waiting for hi