American History Tellers - Civil War | Bind Up the Nation's Wounds | 7

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

In early 1865, after four long years of bloodshed, the Confederacy was on the brink of defeat. General William Tecumseh Sherman marched his army through South Carolina, where Union soldiers sought vengeance against the secessionist state that started the war. After nine grueling months of siege warfare in Virginia, General Ulysses S. Grant prepared to strike a final blow against Robert E. Lee’s starving, ragged army. Soon, the two commanders would meet at a house in Appomattox, Virginia to finally bring the war to a close.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/historytellersSupport us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's an early morning in February 1865. You're a Union colonel in General Sherman's army, and your regiment has just arrived at a farm outside Columbia, South Carolina. You've been charged with burning or destroying anything that your enemy could use against you. That includes crops and farm equipment. You never imagined you'd be going to war against civilians,

but your experiences in this conflict have hardened you. You stand in front of your men and give your orders. All right, let's divide up. Half of you get started on burning that wheat field over yonder. The rest of you, break any plows or tools you find. You four, come with me to the barn. A woman runs out of the house, frantically tying the sash on her dressing gown. Go away. Leave this farm at once.

She awkwardly runs to you in her slippers. We're not going to hurt you, ma'am, but we need to destroy all your crops and equipment. We can't have you feeding any rebel soldiers and prolonging this horrible war. Now, is this where you keep your animals? You start walking toward the barn, but the woman blocks your path.

How dare you? What gives you the right to attack innocent civilians? What gave your state the right to secede? South Carolina is getting what it deserves. You push past the woman and throw open the barn door. Inside a stall, a startled horse rears up on its hind legs. It's a big, broad-backed palomino, and your regiment could use more packhorses. You swing open the stall gate to usher the horse out of the barn. Easy, girl. You'll do just fine in our army. Across from the horse stall are four cows tied to a post. You wave your soldiers over to them. Boys, take these cows out

back and slaughter them. As they begin untying the cows, the woman runs into the barn, her face red with rage. Leave my animals alone. Ma'am, you need to leave. You Yankees think you can tell me what to do on my land? I've been keeping this place running for nearly four years now, and I'm not about to lose it without a fight. Two of your soldiers grab her by the elbows and drag her out of the barn, while the others lead the cows out the back.

General Lee will get his revenge. General Lee will get what's coming to him. You strike a match and throw it on a stack of hay piled up against the barn wall. Don't do this! I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have my orders. South Carolina must be crushed. You look at her anguished expression as she watches the barn catch fire.

Before the war, it would have melted your heart. But you've lost too many good friends on the battlefield. Now, all you want to do is punish these rebels and end this war, no matter the cost. From the team behind American History Tellers comes a new book, The Hidden History of the White House. Each chapter will bring you inside the fierce power struggles, intimate moments, and shocking scandals that shaped our nation. From the War of 1812 to Watergate. Available now wherever you get your books.

Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly. Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. In February 1865, Union troops led by General William Tecumseh Sherman tore across South Carolina, ravaging farms and spreading fear. Sherman's forces were eager to exact revenge on the state that had been the first to secede from the Union four years earlier, triggering the Civil War.

While Sherman was carving up South Carolina, General Ulysses S. Grant was on the verge of victory in Virginia. Union leaders were preparing to bring the war to a close as the Confederacy struggled for survival. The rebel government could barely feed its own soldiers, and its money was almost worthless. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was the only major force keeping the Confederate War alive. But for many starving rebel soldiers, the cause had become hopeless.

Still, their leaders were determined to keep fighting until the bitter end. This is Episode 7, Bind Up the Nation's Wounds. On December 6, 1864, President Lincoln faced Congress to deliver his annual State of the Union Address. For the first time in his presidency, he stood before the legislators with a sense of optimism. His party had just triumphed in the 1864 elections. And in recent months, Union forces had scored major victories in Georgia and Alabama. Lincoln was confident his nation had the will and capacity to finish the war. In front of Congress, he

declared, We have more men now than we had when the war began. We are gaining strength and may, if need be, maintain the contest indefinitely. Our material resources are now more complete and more abundant than ever. By the end of 1864, the Union military was a well-oiled war machine. The U.S. Navy was the largest in the world, boasting nearly 700 warships. Union soldiers outnumbered Confederates by two to one, and Northern arsenals were turning out more than enough weapons to arm them. Meanwhile, a cloud of gloom hung over the South. In Georgia, General Sherman's march to the sea had left a trail of misery and ruin in his wake. In Nashville, Union forces routed a Confederate attempt to retake Tennessee.

And in the trenches of Petersburg, Virginia, Grant was waging a brutal war of attrition against Lee's starving, outnumbered forces. And throughout the South, food shortages were worse than ever, and the value of the Confederate dollar dropped to less than 2% of its 1861 value. The Union armies had not just won battlefield victories, but had also crippled most of the Confederacy's industrial capacity. They wiped out half of the South's farm machinery and wrecked thousands of miles of railroads. Emancipation impacted the Southern war effort, too. As word spread that Lincoln had declared them free, hundreds of thousands of enslaved laborers walked off their plantations and fled to Union lines. Still, the war was not over yet, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis refused to give in. Lee's Army

of Northern Virginia was the last major Confederate force still standing, and it depended on the Carolinas for food and supplies. Most were shipped through Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's sole remaining Atlantic seaport. But on January 15, 1865, Union forces captured Fort Fisher, which protected Confederate ships sailing in and out of Wilmington. With Wilmington cut off from the sea, the supply shortages only worsened. Nearly all of coastal North Carolina was now in Union hands, and hundreds of soldiers in Lee's army were reaching their breaking point. Imagine it's a cold January night in 1865. You're a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia,

and you're a few miles outside of Petersburg, near a long line of fortifications you've been defending since last summer. You're creeping out of camp, taking care not to make too much noise. You wrap your arms around yourself to ward off the cold as you walk between tents. Your uniform is little more than rags. Your heart pounds as you see someone approaching in the darkness, but you breathe a sigh of relief when you recognize him as Edward, one of your neighbors from North Carolina, and a fellow soldier in your regiment. Edward, what are you doing up? I could ask you the same question. I saw you pass my tent. Where are you going on a night like this? It's freezing. Well, exactly. And there's barely any firewood. I've had enough. I'm going home. You mean you're deserting? Well, why should I stay? It's plain to anyone paying attention that we're fighting a lost cause. You know, you should

come with me. Better to leave now before we all starve. Oh, how could you say that? How can you abandon our struggle? I haven't given up. I'm no coward. You take a letter out of your coat and hold it up. Now see this? This letter from Sally arrived today. She says the union has taken Fort Fisher and she's desperate for me to come home. It's been hard enough on her, running the farm and taking care of the children all by herself. And now she's terrified at the thought of Sherman's army invading. After what they did to Georgia, the Carolinas are next. She says Fort Fisher has fallen? Yeah. So where are we supposed to get rations now? Besides, with things going the way they are, it would be cowardly not to go home.

We have to defend our property, our families from Sherman. I mean, think about your wife. Imagine how she's feeling right now. Edward looks over his shoulder at the line you've been defending for so long, and he turns back to you and nods. Yeah, it's only 100 miles. If we move fast, we could be home in just over a week. So let's go before I change my mind. You clap Edward on the back, and the pair of you take off into the night. You never imagined you'd desert the cause you've

given up so much for, but it's starting to feel like the war is no longer worth the sacrifice. After the fall of Fort Fisher, Lee reported that dozens of soldiers were fleeing the Army of Northern Virginia every night. Some had lost all hope of victory. Others deserted to take care of their struggling families. And in just one month, the Army lost 8% of its force. With defeat looking more and more likely, the Davis administration faced an onslaught of bruising criticism. The Confederate Secretary of War resigned, and some Confederate congressmen even called on Davis to step down so that Robert E. Lee could take over the reins of government. The Charleston Mercury demanded that Lee be given executive power, declaring,

We want no more of Jeff Davis's foolery. We want one atom of brains, one spark of nerve. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Republican-controlled Congress was taking steps to ensure that once the war was won, there would be a lasting peace. Their top priority was officially to end slavery. On January 31st, the House passed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in the U.S. Constitution. Republicans on the House floor wept and threw their hats in the air, and black and white spectators in the galleries broke into cheers. Officials in both capitals were eager to end the bloodshed. Fearing imminent defeat, Confederate leaders made a desperate attempt to negotiate for peace.

On February 3rd, three Confederate representatives met with Lincoln aboard a Union steamer anchored at Hampton Roads, Virginia. But after four hours of fruitless talks, the meeting adjourned with no plan for peace. Southerners would accept nothing short of Confederate independence, while Lincoln refused anything other than the restoration of the Union and the end of slavery. It was clear that only victory on the battlefield could end the war. Down in South Carolina, General Sherman was doing everything in his power to finish the job. On February 1st, his 60,000-man army left Savannah, Georgia, and began marching up the coast into South Carolina. They planned to destroy all the war resources they came across, then trap Lee's army from the rear, pinning the rebels between their army and Grant's.

But more than anything, Sherman's troops were eager to punish the state they blamed for starting this costly war. An Ohio private vowed, We will let South Carolina know that it isn't so sweet to secede as she thought it would be. Another declared, Here is where treason began, and by God, here is where it shall end. So there in South Carolina, the Union Army's destruction was far more brutal than it had been in Georgia. Wherever Sherman's men marched, houses were plundered and burned. One woman later recalled, the soldiers would sometimes stop to tell me they were sorry for the women and children, but South Carolina must be destroyed. For the veteran Union soldiers, the trek through South Carolina was grueling.

The troops had to cross nine major rivers and wade through icy streams swollen by the wettest winter in 20 years. They crossed swamps swarming with alligators and poisonous snakes. Sherman later affirmed, The march to the sea seems to have captured everyone's attention, whereas it was child's play compared with South Carolina. Even Sherman's old rival, Confederate General Joseph Johnson, was impressed, declaring about Sherman's men, There had been no such an army in existence since the days of Julius Caesar. And as Sherman's army trekked north, he kept the enemy confused about their target.

He sent several divisions marching toward Augusta, Georgia, and several others in the direction of Charleston. But his true destination was South Carolina's capital, Columbia. On the morning of February 17th, Union troops entered that city. That night, fires rapidly consumed Columbia, which was packed with wooden buildings and highly flammable bales of cotton. The destruction sparked a lingering debate about who started the fires. Sherman believed that retreating rebel cavalry had set the cotton bales on fire and that high winds spread the blaze. Southerners said the fires were purposely set by Sherman's men. Others claimed the fires were accidental.

Whatever the cause, Sherman and his soldiers worked through the night to put out the fires, but one-third of the capital was destroyed in the blaze. On February 20th, three days after capturing it, the army marched out of the charred city and continued their trek north. With Columbia now in Union hands, Sherman planned to head to Virginia to help Grant wipe out Lee's army. Southerners feared the war would soon be lost. So, in a desperate move to delay the inevitable, many urged the Confederacy to arm enslaved men. A bill to enlist black soldiers made its way through the Confederate Congress. Even Robert E. Lee came out in favor of the idea, writing, I think the measure not only expedient, but necessary. A leading Richmond newspaper declared,

The country will not venture to deny General Lee anything he may ask for. And with Lee's influence tipping the boats in the Confederate Congress, the measure narrowly passed. Two companies of enslaved black soldiers were quickly organized in Richmond, but not quick enough to see action. The war was entering its final stages. A thick fog hung over Washington, D.C. on the morning of March 4, 1865, as Lincoln took the oath of office. He then delivered his second inaugural address, widely considered to be his greatest speech. Lincoln reflected on the causes of the war, affirming that both the North and the South were to blame for America's original sin of slavery.

His address framed the bloody war as a shared penance for that sin. He described the conflict as a divine punishment, warning that it may continue until every drop of blood drawn with a lash shall be paid by another drawn with a sword. And even though the war was rapidly nearing its end, Lincoln did not claim victory. Rather, he struck a powerful message of reconciliation, declaring, With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and

cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. But despite the charitable tone in his speech, Lincoln's intentions in policy and on the battlefield were unmistakable. Lincoln would not stop fighting until the South was completely defeated and slavery was destroyed. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multi-million dollar fraud. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical

moments that define their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe. But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead. Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. For more than two centuries, the White House has been the stage for some of the most dramatic

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House now in hardcover or digital edition, wherever you get your books. By March 1865, Grant's Army of the Potomac and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had spent nine grueling months locked in trench warfare in Virginia. The two armies faced each other along a front that now stretched for 37 miles. At stake was Petersburg, a major railroad junction 25 miles south of Richmond. Supplies from across the south traveled through Petersburg to reach Richmond, making it key to the survival of the Confederate capital. If Grant's forces could take Petersburg, they could capture Richmond next and end the war. Both sides had built elaborate fortifications. And in these vast mazes of trenches, tunnels, and forts,

the soldiers endured the monotony of siege warfare. Long stretches of boredom were interrupted only by occasional skirmishes and sniper fire. Grant's army had spent the nine months wearing the Confederates down, launching offensives to encircle Petersburg and cut supply lines. But in late March, Grant saw an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. He didn't want to wait for Sherman's troops, who weren't expected to arrive in Virginia until late April. Instead, he began to gather 50,000 men to seize Lee's last remaining supply lines. He told General Philip Sheridan, head of his cavalry, I mean to end the business here.

Lee, meanwhile, was hatching a plan of his own. He wanted to move his army south to join the remnants of Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina. It would mean the loss of Richmond, but Lee knew he was running out of time to find a way out of Petersburg. His badly outnumbered ranks were growing weaker every day. To escape the trenches, Lee decided his best option was to go on the offensive. He would launch a surprise assault on the eastern side of Grant's line at Fort Stedman. Before sunrise on March 25th, Lee's troops charged toward the Union fort and captured it with little resistance. But Union soldiers launched a counterattack, forcing the rebels to retreat. Lee lost 5,000 men, leaving him with just 50,000

soldiers to oppose Grant's 120,000. And now it was Grant's turn to strike. He was ready to crush Lee by destroying the South Side Railroad, the last line into Petersburg. On April 1st, Sheridan's cavalry joined an infantry corps in smashing Lee's right flank, opening access to the railroad. The next day, April 2nd, Grant ordered an all-out assault and broke through the Confederate lines, taking not only the South Side Railroad, but the whole city. Grant had won Petersburg, but Lee and his shrunken army managed to escape. At 11 a.m. that morning, Jefferson Davis was worshiping in his pew at St. Paul's Church in Richmond. In the middle of the services, a messenger entered the church, walked down the aisle, and handed Davis a telegram. It was a message from Lee urging Davis to evacuate Richmond

that night. Davis's face turned pale as he rose and walked out of the church without a word. Anxious whispers rippled through the congregation, and before long, the news swept through the city. Grant's forces were on their way, and panicked Richmond residents rushed to pack up their belongings and flee the Capitol before it was too late. Imagine it's 11 o'clock on the night of April 2nd, 1865 in Richmond, Virginia. You're an aide to President Jefferson Davis, and you're at the train station with him and various cabinet secretaries and their clerks. The station is in chaos. Panicked people are desperately trying to buy their way onto the waiting train. Your group is pushing chaos. Panicked people are desperately trying to buy their way onto the waiting train. Your group is pushing through the crowds too. You know that if the train doesn't leave soon, there's a chance it could be intercepted by the advancing Union army.

But Davis keeps stalling. Mr. President, you've already delayed three hours. We're just waiting for your signal to leave. Now there's still a chance Lee will send news of a reversal on the field. This whole evacuation could turn out to be unnecessary. You look up to see a family struggling to climb on top of one of the boxcars, already covered in fleeing residents. You watch in horror as a woman is pushed off and tumbles down into the crowd below. Sir, please. The crowd's getting rowdy. But Davis ignores you. He turns away to address one of his slaves. Robert, make sure Mrs. Davis' carriage is put on board the train. And then go back to the house and collect the silverware. As the man nods and runs off, Davis pulls a handkerchief to wipe his brow.

Well, this is sad business. It's happened just as I said it would. Lee's line was stretched until it was broken. When they put up a good fight, no army on Earth could have withstood the siege better. The war is far from finished, but still, we need to get the government out of Richmond. We're running out of time. Above the crowd, you can see smoke rising in the night sky. Storehouses are burning in the distance. And for a moment, Davis just stares up at the smoke, looking lost as the crowd swarms around him.

Please, Mr. President, I don't think any more news is coming from General Lee. It is time to go. A look of deep despair shadows the President's face, and he gives you a solemn nod. You are right. I'll give the conductor my orders. Davis turns to climb up the train. As a porter makes room in the crowd for your group, you turn around and take one last look at the site of your fallen city. You told Davis the war isn't finished, but you both know your words are hollow. It's only a matter of days before Lee will be forced to surrender.

And when that happens, the Confederacy will be over. On the night of April 2nd, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet set fire to important military documents and prepared to flee the city. They gathered what they could, including the remaining gold and silver left in the Confederate treasury. Davis planned to relocate the Confederate government to the town of Danville, 140 miles away. And while the cabinet was making plans to flee the Capitol, the Richmond City Council convened an emergency session. They decided to destroy all the liquor in Richmond to maintain order and prevent rioting. But that plan backfired. When police smashed barrels and let the liquor flow through the streets, residents simply scooped it up in their hats and boots. By nightfall, drunken mobs had taken over the city.

Confederate soldiers who remained set fire to Richmond's tobacco warehouses to prevent them from falling into northern hands. Looters started smaller fires. Regardless of their source, the flames quickly spread, turning Richmond into a raging inferno. Out on the James River, soldiers packed ironclad ships with munitions and set them ablaze. The ships exploded, shattering windows all across the capital. The next morning, Union troops marched into a smoldering city. More of Richmond had been reduced to ashes than Atlanta or Columbia. The Northerners quickly got to work putting out the fires and trying to restore order. And among the first Union troops to arrive in Richmond were black soldiers.

At the head of one unit marched Army Chaplain Garland White, who had fled slavery just before the war. Standing before a large crowd, White gave a speech proclaiming freedom for all mankind. A few hours later, he was reunited with his mother, whom he had not seen in 20 years. Lincoln had just met with Grant in Petersburg when he heard the news of Richmond's fall, and standing with a Union admiral on a ship in the James River, he declared, Thank God I have lived to see this. It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horror dream for four years, and now the nightmare is gone. I want to see Richmond.

The admiral agreed to escort the president to the fallen enemy capital, and on April 4th, he arrived and sat down at the desk of Jefferson Davis, just 40 hours after Davis had vacated it. Lincoln walked the streets while crowds of freed black men and women flocked to see him. When one man sank to his knees in front of Lincoln, he said, don't kneel to me. That is not right. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will enjoy hereafter. Richmond was conquered, but General Lee's troops were still hanging on. The Army of Northern Virginia had been reduced

to just 35,000 starving men. They trudged westward on a desperate search for rations. On April 7th, five days after Richmond's fall, Grant sent Lee a note under a flag of truce calling on him to surrender. But the next day, Lee offered a vague proposal for a restoration of peace. But Grant had no authority to negotiate peace. He only had the authority to demand Lee's unconditional surrender. So when he received Lee's response, Grant declared, it looks as if Lee means to fight.

On April 9th, Grant's troops cornered Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, 90 miles west of Petersburg. Lee knew it was over, saying, there is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths. He sent a note offering to surrender. After four long years of grinding battle and bloodshed, the war was finally over, and the Union had won. Lee and Grant met at a house owned by a

grocer named William McLean. In April 1861, McLean was living in Manassas when a shell fire during the Battle of Bull Run crashed through his kitchen roof. McLean moved to the more remote village of Appomattox to escape the fighting, only to have the final act of the war play out in his parlor. Lee stood before Grant in full dress uniform, his boots polished and his sword gleaming. Grant wore his usual muddy trousers

as he dictated generous terms of surrender. He decided to take his cue from the tone of reconciliation in Lincoln's inaugural address and told Lee that his men were free to go home. They could take all of their horses, weapons, and personal possessions with them. He also granted them immunity from being prosecuted for treason. When the formalities were over, Grant introduced Lee to his military secretary, Colonel Ely Parker. Parker was a Seneca Indian. Lee shook hands with him and said, I'm glad to see one real American here. Staring at the defeated rebel

commander, Parker replied, we are all Americans. As news of the surrender spread through the Union camps, soldiers began firing celebratory salutes, but Grant ordered them to stop, declaring, the rebels are our countrymen again. He soon sent three days of food rations to Lee's hungry soldiers. An official surrender ceremony took place three days later. Lee's troops stacked their rifles and folded up their battle flags. Across the north, church bells rang, cannons blew, and people poured into the streets to celebrate victory after four years of anguish. Lincoln was thrilled to see the survival of the republic he had fought so hard to preserve.

But he was already focused on the future, making plans to bring the southern states back into the Union and secure lasting freedoms for Black Americans. On April 11th, Lincoln stood on the White House balcony and gave an address on healing and reconstruction. He also declared his support for limited voting rights for black men. But standing in the crowd was a young actor named John Wilkes Booth. Booth was rabidly pro-slavery and a sympathizer for the Southern cause. As Lincoln spoke about giving the black man the vote, Booth turned to a friend and hissed through clenched teeth,

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Richard Bandler revolutionized the world of self-help all thanks to an approach he developed called neurolinguistic programming. Even though NLP worked for some, its methods have been criticized for being dangerous in the wrong hands. Throw in Richard's dark past as a cocaine addict and murder suspect, and you can't help but wonder what his true intentions were. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once the facade falls away.

We recently dove into the story of the godfather of modern mental manipulation, Richard Bandler, whose methods inspired some of the most toxic and criminal self-help movements of the last two decades. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Scamfluencers and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid and Kill List early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening. On the night of April 14th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was watching a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. There, he became one of the last casualties of the war. Actor John Wilkes Booth slipped into

the president's box, pointed a pistol at the back of Lincoln's head, and pulled the trigger. After lying unconscious all night, Lincoln died the following morning. As he took his last breath, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton reportedly whispered, Now he belongs to the ages. News of Lincoln's assassination sparked outrage and grief across the North and among the newly freed slaves of the South. His death made him a martyr, a man who had sacrificed everything to save the Union and rid it of slavery. On April 19th, Lincoln laid in state at the White House,

where even the battle-hardened Grant wept openly over his coffin. His body then traveled by train to 14 cities. An estimated 25 million grief-stricken Americans turned out to pay their respects to the fallen president before his coffin arrived at its final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln did not live to see the war's final chapter. Over the next two months, the remaining Confederate armies surrendered, one after the other. Jefferson Davis officially dissolved the Confederate government on May 5th. He fled south, but Union cavalry captured him in Georgia five days later. Davis was falsely

accused of complicity in Lincoln's assassination and imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he would remain for the next two years. He was also indicted for treason, but was never tried, because federal officials feared he might successfully convince a jury that secession was legal. His wife worked hard to win his freedom, and he would eventually be released on bail, worth $1 million in today's money. In late May, the victorious armies of the North paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in a cathartic and celebratory grand review. Soon thereafter, nearly 1 million Union troops were mustered out of service. Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Confederate soldiers straggled home to an uncertain future. In most Southern states, black men and women were celebrating their newfound

freedom. But in Texas, on the far western edge of the Confederacy, it was a different story. There, 250,000 people remained enslaved. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact in Texas because there were few Union troops there to enforce it. That finally began to change in June as federal soldiers fanned out across the state to spread the news that the Confederacy had fallen. Imagine it's June 19th, 1865, the middle of a blazing hot day in the port city of Galveston, Texas. You've been working on the wharf since dawn, packing crates of cotton in the summertime heat under the watchful eyes of your master.

You're desperate for some water and some lunch, but you won't be allowed to break for another hour. As you hammer another crate closed, you see your friend Jack approaching with a huge grin on his face. Jack, what are you doing here? Did you give your master the slip? I have no master. Not anymore. Jack bounces up and down on his heels. You can almost feel the joy radiating from his body. What are you talking about? You won't believe the news. Northern soldiers have come through town. They said the war is over and the slaves

are free. You look over his shoulder and lock eyes with your master, who's standing on a cargo ship and giving you a stern gaze. Be quiet and stop attracting attention. Don't worry about that. There's a U.S. Army general in town. He read an order aloud, said there's now absolute equality in the rights of former masters and slaves. Said we can work for wages. Equality between masters and slaves? You must be dreaming. It's about time. We should have been free two years ago.

You look away at the sound of other men and women cheering and celebrating in front of a warehouse. The full meaning of it starts to dawn on you. It can't be over just like that, can it? Slave owners are going to do everything they can to keep us from being free. They can try. The general brought 2,000 soldiers with him.

The arm is taken over. They'll make sure they follow the law. Come on, let's get out of here. With a wary look up to your master, you drop your hammer to the ground and follow your friend to join the celebrations. You don't know what the future holds for you now, but you're determined to claim the freedom that's finally yours by law, no matter what new challenges may lie ahead.

On June 19, 1865, 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, carrying the news that the war was over, the Union had won, and slavery was abolished. Each year thereafter, Black Texans celebrated the day they came to call Juneteenth as a date of their emancipation. And over the decades, Juneteenth celebrations spread to African-American communities across the country. Today, it is a federally recognized holiday. The destruction of slavery and the preservation of the Union came at a heavy cost. The Civil War was the most traumatic event ever experienced by a generation of Americans.

At least 620,000 lost their lives in the conflict. Some estimates put the number as high as 750,000. It amounted to 2% of the population, equivalent to 6 million fatalities today. Another half a million were wounded or maimed, forced to bear the pain and scars of battle for the rest of their lives. As Southern soldiers made their way home, they entered a region radically different from the one they had left behind. The war wrecked the Southern economy. Factories, farms, and railroads were in ruins.

The conflict wiped out two-thirds of southern wealth, and that included the market value of millions of enslaved people who had once been counted as property and had served for generations as the foundation of the South's plantation economy. In the years after the Union's victory, political and economic power shifted from the South to the North. The growth in Northern industry and the expansion of the federal government's authority soon paved the way for America's transformation into a global economic powerhouse. Yet even as the guns fell silent, new challenges arose as the United States embarked on the agonizing struggle to

rebuild. In the decade after the war, Americans confronted the daunting task of reunifying a divided nation, rebuilding the southern economy, and extending citizenship to millions of formerly enslaved people. Black Americans gained new rights under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. In the South, those rights were enforced by federal troops who occupied the region during a period that came to be known as Reconstruction. For 12 years, Black Americans throughout the South and the whole country voted, gained education and employment, acquired land, and seized political power. Sixteen Black men served in Congress,

and more than 600 were elected to state legislatures. But after 1877, union troops withdrew from the South, and white Southerners moved quickly to restore their supremacy. State and local lawmakers enacted Jim Crow laws to segregate and disenfranchise black people. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Black communities as the federal government retreated from the project of racial equality. At the same time, many white Southerners struggled to make sense of their ultimate defeat. Almost as soon as the war ended, some began to romanticize the Old South and distort the nature of the conflict. As early as 1866, Richmond newspaper editor Edward Pollard

published a book justifying the Confederate war effort entitled The Lost Cause, a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates. The book's title struck a chord, and the myth of the Lost Cause took hold. It was a deliberate movement to rewrite history, using books and public monuments to cast the Confederacy as a noble and tragic endeavor for Southern honor and heritage, rather than an effort to preserve and expand slavery. Advocates of the lost cause argued that slavery was a benevolent

institution and that enslaved people were happy with their status. They also insisted that secession had nothing to do with slavery and that Southerners were simply fighting to defend their soil from government tyranny. Many Northerners even came to accept this mythology in the interest of national reconciliation, and the lost cause held a powerful grip on the American imagination for decades to come. Before the Civil War, Americans referred to their country as these United States. After the war, they referred to it as the United States, a singular noun, one united country. The question of whether the United States could survive as a single, indivisible nation had been resolved. The nation had emerged through the long, bloody nightmare of the Civil War unbroken.

But the war also resolved the fundamental paradox of a republic founded both on personal freedom and widespread human bondage. At long last, slavery was destroyed, and four million black Americans could finally seek their rights. But the insidious legacy of slavery could not be erased so easily, and the fight for true liberty and true equality for all continues to this day. The Civil War was the ultimate test of American democracy, but it would not be the last. Even now, 160 years later, it serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of the American experiment and the forces that both unite us and divide us.

From Wondery, this is Episode 7 of The Civil War from American History Tellers. On the next episode, I speak with Kadada Williams, Wayne State History Professor and host of the podcast Seizing Freedom. We'll be talking about the African American experience during the Civil War. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Behrens. Music by Lindsey Graham. Voice

acting by Ace Anderson and Cat Peoples. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton, edited by Dorian Marina. Our managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Our coordinating producer is Matt Gant. Senior producer is Andy Herman. And executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marsha Louis for Wondery. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List,

a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger. And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app

or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad free right now by joining wandry plus check out exhibit c in the wandry app for all your true crime listening