Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20161023

To magazine authors articles on the battle of spotsylvania courthouse. He book a season of slaughter he and i authored on the battle of spotsylvania courthouse and those are available through the emerging civil war website. Chris and i have known each other for 11 years. As i told you last night, we are like john and paul, we fight a little bit, we get along, but we are best friends. I was at his wedding, his reception right here and he met his wife where the projector is set up. Thats the gods honest truth. What one of our friends described as the Rupert Murdoch civil war publishing because hes now becoming a very prolific author. He is going to talk about the battle for the spotsylvania courthouse, particularly the mule shoes and bloody angle. Its my pleasure to introduce to you my friend and coauthor, chris michalski. [applause] firstave to say the symposium i spoke at here, i was whereng and jennifer is Matt Atkinson is, no offense, you are a step down. [laughter] hes really good. Im excited to share the story of spotsylvania. Particularly at the mule shoes, you know what a beautiful landscape it is. One of the best reserved civil war landscapes we have available to us. It is pristine. There are a few monuments out there, but you are seeing what the soldiers saw in 1864 when they first arrived. The tree lines are pretty accurate, the fields are pretty accurate, and then like a swarm of locusts, they transform the landscape so dramatically that the traces are still there today. Program, i will be happy to show you some of those things here at Stevenson Ridge, but i hope i will be able to help you understand some of the traces that exist so that the next time you go out there, you can see for yourself, the story still written on this beautiful landscape. To understand how the armys got here, we pick up where chris left off, or they are fighting in the wilderness for two days and fight to a stalemate to the third and ulysses s. Grant changes the war. Its the turning point of the civil war. Whatever those gettysburg folks tell you, dont pay any attention to that. Nonsense. Up to this point, the armys clash, they withdraw, then they spend a couple of months catching their breath, we reequipping, resupplying and reinforcing. Grant realized if he does that, it gives the confederates the chance to do that. Through no other reasons, then through attrition, he will where the confederacy down. He decides to go west and south, heading toward spotsylvania where he can get the inside road to richmond. He doesnt care about the courthouse itself, he doesnt even care about richmond. He knows if he moves at richmond, lee has to come out and defend the confederate capital and thats where hes going to get him out in the open into battle. Program, you for our off to the far corner, the army is going to head down to spotsylvania in this area here. As grant makes the decision to go left and south, his men realize theres no turning back. They cheer wildly with the wilderness burning around them as they withdraw toward spotsylvania. Cavalry, itsense of delays the union advance. The union is going to send their cavalry to try to flesh them out and they fail. By the time grant gets halfway down the road, he literally finds his troopers spread out on the field sleeping. The army of the potomac literally starts kicking butts. Where is your commander, Phil Sheridan . Nobody knows where Phil Sheridan when sheridan finally comes gallivanting into camp, he is irate because he has the gall to order his own troopers around. Imagine that. They two get into an explosive argument. They have incredible, volcanic tempers and mead dials his back, but it is an act of insubordination. Cane goes to grant and says you believe this guy . He had the gall to say if you give me the orders, i will go in get it myself. Grant, instead of packing his army commander, backs Phil Sheridan. He says sheridan generally knows what he is talking about. Let him do it. Ok. Somewhat flabbergasted, mead cuts the order and lets sheridan right off with 12,000 cavalry members, leaving the army of the potomac lined and half. I want to call that very important fact to your attention. What unfolds over the next two and a half weeks, thousands of union lives are lost because Phil Sheridan has left with the eyes and ears. He tends to get a free pass in history, but he killed thousands of his own men by leaving the army blind and deaf. The union is going to continue to advance down that road toward spotsylvania, the cavalry still blocking them. They are ineffective at washing them out, so infantry is going to have to do the job. The fifth corps is trying to lead the way and they are going to deploy in the line of battle, push forward and drive the cavalry away. If you look at these rows of chairs, it is ridge after ridge after ridge. The confederates ride from one to the next, step backup, delay the advance again and have to get back in the line, race up their double quick, redeploy, push the cavalry away and hop on their horses, go to the next row of chairs and delay again. To be inns spotsylvania by 8 a. M. , but it so defensive that it slows their advance, and that gives me the chance to cut his way out of the wilderness, creating his own road through the burning woods and march twice as far to get here where mr. Davidson has blocked the road. Just as the final union push gets to this area on the battlefield known as spindle field, hes she is sitting at the breakfast field when the armies appear and she and her familys flea as the battle raps around her. Realize theyantry are getting pushback. The cavalry are not just lining up in writing away, they are getting pushback because the infantry is filing away to have the first court doubletime on the battlefield. He says run into position because of you dont, billy yank is and confederates are rushing to the spot as the federal fifth corps is deploying and coming up across that field. Inwart puts those men exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Because of this cat and mouse going on, the union advance is discombobulated. Ande is a lot of confusion atthis last push is not division strength but brigade strength because these guys have been getting into line, they are exhausted and confused and mixed up. The first line comes up on the side of the road and they are able to put just enough men at that spot to stop them. Kershaws brigade. The next advance comes up this side of the road and they put confederates right there and it stops them. A third and then fourth wave come across the field with confederates getting just into position, just off time. Has had a few rough days in the wilderness and he knows his commanders eyes are on him, so he has something to prove. He organizes for a concerted effort and pushes them up. In time to stop that advance. So he is really upset, going to try to do it. Helpll get the six core to him out, half the union army, but the confederates rush onto the field, extending their line and moving in this direction, taking advantage of ridge lines to give themselves good photography. Ridgeline curves up and around and forms a large bend. Mule shoesall them because they are horseshoe shape. You are about to have a very bad day, i apologize in advance. Here, aste defense more confederates get into defense, the line forms. The ninth of may comes and its time for both armies to assess their situation and this has created a roadblock. The union army is bottlenecked and the second core got stuck up at todds cameron todd cavern. The ninth cant even get down here because of that bottleneck. Toy are going to swing over the east and come down this direction. Modern courthouse road, and they land here at Stevenson Ridge because they cannot get to the battlefield over here. Helee is looking at this, bold. Es hes got this pretty inconvenient. It is inherently unstable. Lets attend you guys for the moment our Union Soldiers, lined up on the outside. How many of you can be firing at me . How many of you can i fire at . Only one. So they have what is called converging fire. I have what is called the verging fire. He gets weaker while theres concentrates. Unstable because of someone breaks through, they are in the rear of the whole position, so everyone has to pull back and we are subjected to crossfire. Why it is inherently unstable. It formed because you are taking advantage of the ridgeline. There is a piece of high ground here and confederates are worried that if the federal artillery have that spot, they can bombard the confederates, so maybe its a good idea to protect that. As robert e. Lee looks at this, he realizes this is probably bad news. He talks to Richard Jewell and he says i can defend that if you give me enough artillery. O lee says ok they are going to put 30 guns in the tip and lee is going to let the position stand. That is important because what is going to unfold turns richard youll into a scapegoat. But lee says yes, ok. Grant looks at this and understand how inherently vulnerable this position is, so he is going to look at ways to get at it. As he does so, he has an officer called emory upton from new york, fresh out of west point. Attack in the an mule show. If its overall position are a big curve, you are out even further. Boltre like a bulge on the is a you are vulnerable. Only a couple of hundred yards away from janet. Upton wants to run from where janet is and punch through you. Good luck. Dont hit a lady. What he wants to do is different. Instead of a typical line of battle, where you line up half of your guys, he wants to line them up, 12 regiments, little under 5000 men and he is going to punch through and open a whole. He said that you will earn your brigadier star, if you dont, dont come back. High,akes are not very are they . Inon launches this attack the afternoon on may 10 and gets support, hes going to have the fifth corps over here to launch the attack and is going to have a Division Come straight down and punch the tip of the mule shoe here. The problem is, hes running late, so he does not launch at 5 00 like hes supposed to. , warren decides to jump off early and thinks he has an opportunity. Comes across these wideopen field. They can certainly defend it. They finally launch at 6 00 with no support on either side. He runs across the field, punches through, splits open the confederate line and nobody knows what to do next. Tactic. Ch an innovative hes a victim of his own success and there are no union reinforcements to flood into this gap was so confederates come rushing to the front. Upton is driven from the field. He will earn his star because grant recognizes the failure was not up to ands fault but his own. Mostf the things i admire about grant is that he is a quick learner. Hes always experimenting and always maneuvering. He looks at this attack and says if upton can break through with do with, what could i 20,000 . , ive got another 20,000 reinforcements ready to take advantage of the breakthrough. It is going to put into motion a plan to use that same idea to punch the confederate position on the nose and have the reinforcements ready. Its going to take him a while to do this. He wants to use the second core to execute this attack. Andmen are way over here shift all the way up and over into position. It is going to take them hours. As they begin their marks, it begins to rain and darkness falls, flooding the streams, turning the roads into muck. Asy soldiers describe this the worst march of their entire career in the army. Nobody is telling them where they are going. One officer says point me in the right direction, that way i dont have to go all the way around the world and post confederates from the rear. Assemble a place called the brown farm. I will let your atlas of the Civil War Service he brown farm. Its really heavy. Dont hurt yourself. As the army is shifting, robert e. Lee starts to read the tea leaves, the intelligence he is getting. Of birds iports having moved off to this direction. In the armys spot for a couple of days, they came to a stalemate and grant moves to the left and the south. Theyve been here in spotsylvania for a couple of days and fought to a stalemate and now there are reports of the federals moving left. What does that put in lees mind . Lee iss on the move, so going to mobilize portions of his army to hit the road and block rant again. The first part of his army he going to move is the artillery. It is raining and turning the roads to muck. The first artillery pieces hes going to pull is this one right here because they are the farthest away from the roads, so he pulls these out to get a head start on grant. Tell. Doesnt you will find out because one of his subordinates, edward allegany johnson, comes and says where is my artillery . You have to go to lee and ask for his artillery twice before sendsnally acquiesces and artillery back. But by that point, things are so far away. It will probably be morning before they get there. This got johnson nervous because he has heard reports of movement out there and he is convinced it is not grant trying to outflank them but it is grant eating ready to attack. If you know much about old allegany, but he did some great work until he got wounded in the foot at the battle of mcdowell and he goes back to richmond to convalesce. The reputation for being a man about town with the ladies. I dont get it, but when he comes back to the army, he has a and his menng stick call him all clubby because of that stick. Hes pacing the line, worried about these reports, convinced something is coming. When he finally goes to bed amigos to bed with his boots on and his cane to his bed, ready to jump up at a moments notice. Indeed, an attack is coming. Federal under Winfield Scott hancock at the brown farm. Thank you very much. Is going to take the model and build up on it. Support, they are going to line up in a traditional line of battle sweeping forward in this direction. The time of the attack is set for 4 00 in the morning, but fog. Ring has conjured up it has been a hot, hot summer in the wilderness. This rain has cooled off and taken the edge off. The fog has made the forest impenetrable. Hancock cannot see and hasnt had time to reconnoiter the land in front of them. No one knows what they are heading into and they cant see it. They just know they are heading into trouble. Some of them are so exhausted that they sleep on their feet. Others fear that they cannot sleep at all. To home on letters the backs of the men in front of them, hoping to have some form of identification should this go terribly awry. When 4 00 comes, hancock gives the order for those men to making them even more nervous and jacking them up even more. At 4 20, dawn is just breaking enough to turn the fog translucent and hancock is going to order his attack forward so he does not lose the element of surprise. Forward,000 men come sweeping through the bogs and the forest toward the confederate position. Those of you who have been out there, there is a farm lane that runs where you are at a diagonal away from this position. Confederates have some skirmishers out there as their advance eyes and ears. It is a sunken farmland that a fortify even more. They have a good, strong position out there. By the time they come sweeping out onto that farmland, they think they have captured the main confederate line and are under orders to advance silently. When they grabbed the position, they are so excited they yell has off and give away their position. This alerts the confederates in the trenches. About one third of them are in the line. A third of them are sleeping, and another third are huddled against their campfires, trying to hunker down against the rain. The skirmishers come running up in the wake of that active, there are yankees coming and everyone floods into the trenches. There will be blood enough for supper, one confederate said. By the end of the day, there was blood enough for all. Havingerals, heaven given away their position, Flood Forward as the confederates launch their first volley. They were aiming at that ingeline and they swept down a large swale that cuts across the field, so the confederate fire goes over their heads and they advance, sweeping forward like a big left hook, smashing through right between the two of you, peeling open a gap in the line. They are so successful, they get all the way down here toward where james lanes men are. They are good fighters and dependable, but they have been plagued by the shadow of having killed Stonewall Jackson a year earlier. They are putting up a defense against ambrose burnside. There having to do a two front defense, but lanes men hold. Meanwhile, they sweep across the field and come up, hit at the tip and begin sweeping in this direction. Their attack is so overwhelming that they literally wipe confederate units off the map. Some of the most storied, hard fighting veterans in the army, gone. The stonewall brigade, gone. James walker, stonewall jim to down in efforts to stem the tide, but nothing can stop the federals as they finally get down to where upton had his breakthrough two days earlier. There, they are finally stopped by the men of junius daniels. Daniels is shot through the bowels and will die. His men will hold. But now, robert e. Lee has a whole in his line half a mile wide. These federals are filtering in to the interior with 20,000 more getting ready to flood into the gap and here is where lee arrives to the battlefield with his army on the brink of an island nation. They have to figure out what they can do. Hes going off like a teapot on the boil, cussing, swearing and sputtering. Continue to stream past him in panic. A calm picture of composure rises up and says how do you propose to control your men if you cannot control yourself . He gives him a timeout. [laughter] instead, he is going to turn to , john his subordinates brown gordon, and aggressive lawyer from georgia. Hes ready to go. Hes like send me in coach. Lee is going to lead gordons men to drive up in this direction to plug the gap the men wont go. They start yelling lead to the rear. We will not go forward unless general lee goes to the rear. Lee starts to visibly get upset and he is in full cheerleader mode. These men are virginians, they are georgians. They will never fail you. Some poor corporal has to call him to the rear while gordon connects and begins to plug the gap. They hunker down and build works and will trade potshots back and forth with confederates on the east side of the line. Things over here go a little differently. Field,g across this weve got Stephen Shore who gets shot down and his second in command will have to drive the federals out and push them up. Parens alabamians will get said then that. They know its a suicide mission. Says imays he either coming back alive or a dead brigadier. He came back a dead brigadier. Connect and drive the federals out. Nathaniel harrisons mississippians will drive the federals out, continuing to flood the gap. Monument ironically resembles a coffin and plug the gap and continues to drive up a 20,000ill even as reinforcements begin flooding forward and they get down into that swale that i talk about at all the bullets fly into the air , so instead of coming straight across into the gap, they let it even ashem to this spot san miguel ands men are driving toward them. That particular angle in the bend,a third team degree he comes the center of the maelstrom. They have to fight their way up to that spot as the six core comes pouring into that same area. Soldiers will later call that area health half acre or gold off the, the place of scorn. The saturnalia of blood. The panoply of horror. Today, most of us remember it as the bloody angle, where men were not as men, but demons. Hours, they will fight handtohand in the pouring rain, shooting each other, stabbing each other with bayonets am using the rifles as clubs, throwing them like spears, using camp hatchets, rocks, this, anything that you can. A seething, bubbling, roaring hell of hate and murder, one soldier said. 20 straight hours and this fight has been going on for 22 straight hours of the most intense personal hatred you can imagine, up close and ugly. They were slippery with rain and blood. Men wounded, getting trampled into the chat into the trenches, to injured to pull themselves out. Men getting sucked into the mud or being unable to do anything but suffer and be trampled. And firing ap rifle, throwing it like a spear passhen someone will another loaded rifle and tell them to do it again until they are shot down. Then someone else jumps up and takes their place and lee continues to feed men into this fight because he is trying to save the life of his army. , so he iso buy time going to trade lives were time. Hes going to seal off this old but in order to do it, hes going to keep sending men into the meat grinder. About 3 a. M. , they get word the line is finished. No word is given for these men to retreat and they slipped back into this final position. They make a final push to catch confederatesle of there. Them had gotten back just in time, but the rest of in this line and opened fire, discouraging any sort of pursuit and the federals go back to hunker down as don begins lighten the drizzling sky. They find out that this is unprecedented in their experience. One Union Soldier talks about being able to walk to hancocks headquarters without ever touching the ground, a carpet of dead bodies out there. Some 9000 federal casualties compared to some 8000 confederate casualties. But these men dont even look like men anymore they are so shot up. One and a driver describes the looking likehere jellyfish. One likens the body to a sponge. They have two scoop the corpses into stretchers to evacuate them. They have to pull bodies out of the mud. And the fighting isnt over at spotsylvania. It will go on for another week as grant continues to find ways to break through these lines once and for all. Maneuverhift, he will and attack across the ground on the 18th of may, but this last line is so impregnable that they can just get within rifle range. The federal position is so daunting. And we will look at that as part of the great defensive. That is what grant realized that she cant get at least in spotsylvania and will begin plans to pull away. The federals. That. Will stop that. , a year 8000 men earlier when Stonewall Jackson lunch that. He had 28,000 men. Where are those 20,000 men . That, grant waits for any shenanigans and will begin to pull out on the night of the 20th. To pick up that story, come back next year and we will tell you that one. The landscape they leave behind is devastating. Today, youut there will hear the insects in the trees. If you are lucky, you will feel a breeze. You could always use one of those. It is beautiful and pristine. Just as it was when they were fighting. Theirte you to go visit and stand in that spot, listen to those birds and feel the breeze. Think about those men, the men who suffered and died and sacrificed there. They would be glad you have come there to remember them. Thank you. [applause] any questions . One right over here. I have heard tell of a napoleonic war tactic that was popular with the french revolution armies, especially the napoleonic armies. You should direct this question to chris because he has the expertise. Does the assault formation compared to the traditional french assault columns . They are a little more compact than you would see. Thank you for throwing me under the bus, chris. Waterlooned it to whatever they tried to make that one last final assault. What hes trying to do is punches way through with that first line and the second and third line would be the fighting tactics. Thats going to take it to a whole new level. The key to remember is technology is vastly different. Because in the pulley on it times, they give themselves strength but when you mash yourself like that, you make yourself a huge target for highly accurate weaponry. Now instead of marching, it is a sprint. It is a sprint, get over here, then you can cap your rifle and start shooting. It has a lot to do with speed and technology. I threw chris under the bus because he spent a lot of time on napoleonic tactics. Afternoon of may 12, 1864, in your opinion, or inside doesnt stop to see what going on, does he have enough men to punch through the confederate line . That is a great question. I call it spotsylvanias forgotten front. Thatides in on the ninth has the opportunity to burst all the way through and doesnt. A lot of confederates talk about how if he acted aggressively, theres nothing that could have stopped him. Hes ineffectual because he is tepid in his advance. He wants his launches the week attack and uses Stevenson Ridge. Then, he refocuses and tries to attack in another bulge over here. Not enough men, not enough enough, not enough, not enough. Not on the 12th he could have broken through, lee is looking saying im going to launch my own attack to ease the pressure over here. Does that answer your question . What is emory uptons role after that initial attack . Does or pull for refitting . After this rake through, they are going to get shifted around to several positions and be pulled back. Hes going to try to capture myers hill. See it fromite here, but if you did come you would see a radio tower on the far side of the road. Uptons men will successfully capture that in there will be some back and forth involved. It provides a great union but strategically does not break things up. Up and will go on to a highly successful career and be an influential tactician. He will write a manual that will become the standard bible but he has an unfortunate personal life, has problems with his wife, and was sparked by a brain tumor and will eventually commit suicide. A very promising young man who goes on to an unfortunate end. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, i appreciate it. [applause] you are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspan history. Week, American History tvs railamerica brings you archival films that divide context for todays Public Affairs issues. He saw occasional cars go by on the rough roads, but these mechanical contraptions were for city people, not for him. Grooming his old reliable horse and waited. Suddenly, one day, it appeared. It was called the model t. It had a four cylinder engine and a planetary gear that defied the laws of science. On roughtake a beating country roads and get you there. Built forarmers car, a farmer. There was only one thing wrong with it. It cost 850. Millions of citizens looked at the model t and licked their chops. There it was the car of their dreams, but they could not afford it. Back in detroit, henry ford wondered how he could bring the price of the model t down to her everyone could buy it. He figured the more cars he made and sold, the cheaper he could sell each one. He went to work on this idea. And not our framer was built from the up on stationary wooden horses. There is a different crew for each car in the same crew stayed on the car until it was finished. That meant duplication of effort and a lot of time wasted. So, they tried moving the men from car to car. Each man had a special job to do and as soon as he finished it, he moved on to the next car and did the same thing there. That was better, but it still took 12 and a half hours to assemble each model t. Whileford watched for a and had an inspiration. Instead of moving the men passed the car, why not move the cars passed the men . On one hot august morning, they tried it that way. A husky young fellow put a rope over his shoulder and henry ford called lets go and that that very moment, as the workmen begin to fasten the parts onto the slowly moving car, the Assembly Line was born, a technique that was to revolutionize mass production all over the world. Once they found the idea would work, they began to improve it and refine it. They rolled the chassis down the single line of track, pushing it from crew to crew. More expertly became, the faster the cars came off the Assembly Line and the price of the multibegan to drop. They tried the same idea on all of various parts of the car and became what were called subassemblies. Each man on the line became a specialist. He did one thing and did it perfectly and passed the work along to the next man. Minute by minute, production was winning the battle against wasted time and wasted effort. Parts were fed to the workmanlike remedy slide so they would not have to stop and wait for new parts. Put the parts on moving conveyor belt. This was a great step forward because now they could regulate the flow of work and keep it moving at a constant rate of speed. The cars began coming off the Assembly Line at the rate of one every 40 seconds. And what henry ford has foreseen happened, driving the price of the model t down from 850 to 300. Now, everyone could have one. Tonight at 9 p. M. Eastern on life as an undocumented immigrant my true story as an undocumented immigrant who became a wall street executive. S girl, a child not having your parents with you and only seeing them every few months, first of all, you feel like they are strangers to you because when i would see my parents, they would come bearing lots of presents and it was summer vacation, so it was a very different experience than having parents with you every single day. After words go to book tv for the schedule. , historian lori stokes addresses five myths about the new england puritans that have given the religious group a negative reputation. The Boston Public Library posted this one hour and 10 minute event. Hello, everyone. Im happy to be here. I hope you can hear me. Im pretty loud on my own but i also have a microphone. Im glad to be opening up this dayure series for charter 2016. I think so often, the bane of the historian is your special , when youlove so much mention it to other people, they dont know who they were or what