American History Tellers - Civil War | Emancipation | 3

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

The Civil War began as an effort to hold the country together. Few Northern soldiers marched into battle to end slavery. But tens of thousands of enslaved men, women, and children took matters into their own hands, using the chaos of the war to free themselves from bondage. Their action forced a gradual shift in Union war policy.After a bloody, hard-fought victory over Confederate forces at Antietam, Abraham Lincoln decided the time had come for what was once unthinkable: a proclamation that would end slavery for good.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/historytellersPlease support us by supporting our sponsors!There was a publishing issue when this episode was originally released which we quickly resolved. If you are hearing the incorrect audio, here are some things to try:1. If the episode is downloaded to your app, delete it and re-download2. Try listening in another podcast app, preferably on a different device if you have one available3. Try listening to the episode on our websiteIf you need more assistance, feel free to contact us at help.wondery.comSee 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 the early hours of May 13th, 1862. You're in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, on board the CSS Planter, a heavily armored steamer for transporting cotton. You're an enslaved man, and you've been working as a pilot on the planter since last fall. The white officers have disembarked for the night for a party, and that leaves just you and seven other enslaved crewmates on board.

You've just gathered them on the main deck. Listen up, everyone. Tonight, I'm going to seek freedom. Your crewmates stare at you in stunned silence. Now, before you say anything, just hear me out. I've been thinking about it for months, and I have a plan. I want to commandeer the ship and sail out of the harbor. I'm going to pick up my wife and children, and then I'm going to head straight for the Union blockade. I'll surrender the planter to Union sailors. Now who's with me? The ship's cook shakes his head in disbelief. Come on now. You'll be caught for sure. Of course, it's going to be risky, but we've got to take this chance.

I figure we have three hours before the captain and the others get back. That gives us just enough time. You know what they do to runaways. Let alone runaways who steal a whole ship. You'll be whipped to the bone or worse. I have no intention of being taken alive. I plan to use whatever guns are on board to fight. This is madness. I won to use whatever guns are on board to fight. This is madness.

I won't be any part of it, and anyone with any sense better follow me. The cook walks toward the gangplank. Two other crewmates exchange glances and follow him. All right. Are the rest of you in? The four remaining men nod fiercely. You pull the captain's confederate jacket off a hook and put it on over your shirt. To complete the disguise, you don his straw hat, tilting it low over your eyes to shield your face. You stand in the pilot house just as the captain does, hoping that from the shore no one will notice the color of your skin. You there, raise the South Carolina and Confederate flags. Once we reach the Union fleet, we'll exchange them for a white flag of truce.

Your crewmate starts raising the flags. Anchor away. Be as quiet as you can. As your men raise anchor, you walk toward the pilot house to take the wheel. Say a silent prayer that your risky venture will end in your freedom. You know that if you fail, it will mean certain death. twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once the facade falls away. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Our history, Your story. Under the cover of darkness on May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls and a crew of fellow enslaved men commandeered an armored Confederate cotton steamer and sailed out of Charleston Harbor. They picked up their families and headed toward the Union blockade. And once they reached the U.S. Navy fleet, Smalls surrendered. With one daring escape, Smalls, his family, and his crew won their freedom. Smalls was just one of tens of thousands of enslaved men, women, and children who freed themselves during the Civil War. But even as the war raged, most enslaved people were still trapped in bondage. Few Northerners marched into battle to fight for emancipation.

And the United States was waging a war to preserve the Union, not to end slavery. But some enslaved Americans took matters into their own hands, determined to secure their own freedom. Their actions forced Union policy to evolve. And soon, the war became something few ever imagined it would, a struggle to end slavery for good. This is Episode 3, Emancipation. From the start, enslaved Americans were determined to make the Civil War a battle for their own liberty. Across the South, enslaved men and women pushed back against the Confederate war effort. They defied orders, slowed down their work, and organized strikes, doing everything in their power to rebel against their owners and damage the Confederate economy.

And as time went on, they took advantage of the instability of war to seek their freedom. On May 23, 1861, just a month into the war, three enslaved men named Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker, and James Townsend slipped across Confederate lines. They had been pressed into service to build a Confederate artillery battery in Hampton Roads, Virginia. When they learned that their owner, a Confederate colonel, planned to send them further south to build fortifications in North Carolina, they took a chance to escape, rowing across the James River to enter Union lines at Fort Monroe.

The men had declared themselves free, but they presented Fort Monroe's commanding general with an impossible dilemma. Imagine it's May 24, 1861. You're the commander of Union forces at Fort Monroe, Virginia. You're riding out of the fort to meet with a rebel officer who's just arrived on horseback carrying a white flag of truce. You find him waiting outside the gates of the fort, guarded by one of your aides. What's this about? The officer gives you a curt nod. He has a silver beard and a ramrod posture, the picture of a southern cavalier. My name is Major John Batop Carey of the 115th Virginia. I have an urgent matter to discuss with

you, General. All right, but make it quick, please. I'm here on behalf of Colonel Charles Mallory. I've been informed that three of Mallory's slaves have escaped within your lines. What do you plan to do with these men? You sigh. You've been up half the night wrestling with this very question. But as you look at Major Carey, gazing at you arrogantly from his horse, the answer suddenly becomes clear. Well, I intend to hold them. Carey, gazing at you arrogantly from his horse, the answer suddenly becomes clear. Well, I intend to hold them. Carey looks taken aback. General, you must know the Constitution requires that fugitive slaves be returned to their masters. That's true, but Virginia has

seceded from the Union. I'm under no constitutional obligation to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims to be. You cannot be serious. Oh, I'm pretty serious. The slaves told me that they were put to work constructing a Confederate battery aimed at this fort. You say these men are the colonel's property? Well, yes, of course they are. Well, under military law, I have the right to seize any enemy property being used for hostile purposes. I have as much a right to seize them as I would a shipment of rifles or swords, so I will hold these men as contraband of war. The Confederate officer sits up straighter on his horse, glaring at you. You stare right back. You insufferable Yankee. Taking our property just as everyone said you would. We'll settle this on the field of battle. Oh, I look forward to it. The man rides off in anger. You turn back

to your quarters, feeling a bit pleased with yourself. But you know this is only a small victory, and you have a suspicion your superiors in Washington might not agree with your decision. On May 24, 1861, Union Major General Benjamin Butler refused to return three enslaved men to their owner, a Confederate colonel. Butler insisted the men were contraband of war, and that he had as much right to seize them as he did to confiscate enemy materiel. Soon, newspapers popularized the term contraband for enslaved people who escaped to Union lines. And word of Butler's decision quickly got out. Two days later, eight more men arrived at Fort Monroe in search of their freedom.

The following day, there were 47 new arrivals. Not just young men, but entire families, women, babies, and elderly people. The events at Fort Monroe sparked a national debate over emancipation. The Union had not gone to war to end slavery. Few Union troops were interested in fighting for black freedom. And most Northerners took up arms to save the Union from destruction from a treasonous rebellion. From the beginning, Union soldiers were forbidden to interfere with slavery. But there was a vocal minority of abolitionists in the North that felt differently. Many among them, realizing that moral arguments alone would not persuade many to their cause, argued that emancipation should be pursued as a military necessity.

Enslaved people made up half of the South's labor force. They grew the crops, toiled in munition plants, hauled supplies, and built fortifications. Freeing them would deprive the Confederate war machine of its manpower. Frederick Douglass declared, The very stomach of this rebellion is the slave. Why in the name of all that is national does our government allow its enemies this powerful advantage? Democrats in the North almost universally opposed emancipation. Most Republicans wanted to see slavery end, but disagreed on how to do it. Radical Republicans believed abolition should be an official objective

of the war and pushed to emancipate enslaved people by any means necessary. Conservative Republicans disagreed. They hoped for the eventual demise of slavery, but wanted to leave it up to individual states to end the practice voluntarily. Most Republicans, however, were moderates, and that included President Abraham Lincoln. He hated slavery, but did not share the view of the radical wing of his party that ending slavery should be the aim of the war. His overriding goal was to preserve the Union, and he hoped to defeat the Confederacy while avoiding the thorny issue of emancipation. But as time wore on, the actions of enslaved people on the ground forced his hand. With more men and women escaping slavery and seeking refuge at Fort Monroe,

the administration reluctantly approved Butler's contraband policy. Lincoln knew that the Constitution did protect slavery. But he also recognized the Confederates had forfeited their constitutional rights by seceding from the Union. By that logic, the Union could confiscate their property as a legitimate act of war. By July, nearly a thousand escaped slaves, or contrabands, had fled to the fort. Butler's actions had pushed Congress to clarify Union policy, too. On August 6, 1861, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Confiscation Act.

This law allowed Union officers to seize runaway slaves if they had been directly employed in the Confederate war effort. But the law was only a small step. It covered laborers working in forts, docks, armories, and entrenchments, but not the men and women growing food to feed soldiers. And it did not set anyone free. It simply stripped slave owners of their claims to their property. But even this limited measure alarmed many Democrats and border state congressmen. Their opposition to the law signaled to Lincoln that any moves to secure Black freedom, however small, would divide the North. Then, on August 30, Union General John C. Fremont went even further than Benjamin Butler.

Fremont commanded Union soldiers in the border state of Missouri. To intimidate local Confederate sympathizers, Fremont ordered the emancipation of all Missouri slaves whose owners refused to swear loyalty to the Union. Lincoln quickly revoked the order. He feared further alienating Democrats and was desperate to maintain the loyalty of border states where slavery was still legal. But by rescinding Fremont's proclamation, Lincoln damaged his popularity among many Republicans. One prominent Connecticut Republican criticized Lincoln's caution, declaring, Damn the border states! A thousand Lincolns cannot stop the people from fighting slavery.

But Lincoln remained firm that his sole priority was preserving the Union, not ending slavery. In his annual message to Congress in December 1861, he declared, I have been anxious and careful that the war shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle over the end of slavery. But while politicians in Washington debated the fate of slavery, thousands more men and women continued escaping bondage. Large numbers of white Southerners had left their plantations behind to join the Confederate Army. Enslaved persons seized the opportunity to flee. When they arrived at Union army camps, they often provided valuable intelligence about the South to Union commanders,

and many so-called contrabands became paid laborers for the Union army. By 1862, a growing number of Republican politicians became convinced that slavery could not be separated from the larger effort to save the Union. That spring, several anti-slavery bills made their way through Congress. In March, Republican lawmakers passed an article of war forbidding officers from returning escaped slaves to their owners. Then in April, Congress outlawed slavery in Washington, D.C., ending decades of bondage in the nation's capital and freeing 3,000 people.

That spring, General George McClellan was leading the Army of the Potomac in a slow and timid march up the Virginia Peninsula. He was hoping to capture Richmond and bring an end to the war, but at the end of June, the Peninsula Campaign collapsed in the fierce and bloody Seven Days Battles. Costly defeat was a turning point. It was clear that the war would last much longer than anyone had hoped. Many Northerners realized that harsher measures would be necessary to deprive the Confederacy of its labor force.

They moved forward with a new determination to punish Southern slave owners, erode their power, and remake the Southern social order. On July 2nd, Lincoln called for 300,000 new volunteer soldiers. Each state was given a quota. Congress then authorized a militia draft for states that failed to meet their volunteer quotas. Two weeks later, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which was much more aggressive than the first. It declared all slaves who escaped their rebel masters to be free. A moderate Republican declared that the time for kid-glove warfare had passed. But these changes in Union policy angered General McClellan. He was a staunch Democrat who opposed abolition. On July 8th, Lincoln visited McClellan at the Army's camp on the James River. McClellan

handed the President a memo detailing his thoughts on the question of emancipation. He insisted, it should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the southern people. Neither confiscation of property nor forcible abolition of slavery should be contemplated. But for Lincoln, the carnage of the seven days' battles was the final straw. Later that month, he wrote, Our enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail, still come back into the Union unhurt. He abandoned his original vision of a limited war, moving closer to the radical wing of his party. He had also become convinced that the only way to save the Union

and guard it from future threats was to bring the institution of slavery to an end. Still, Lincoln's hope was to dismantle slavery gradually. On July 12, he invited border state congressmen to the White House. He urged them to embrace his plan for a gradual, compensated emancipation in their states. The government would reimburse slave owners for their lost property and not force them to give up all their slaves at once. But the lawmakers rejected his proposal. Two-thirds of them signed a manifesto telling Lincoln that even a plan of gradual emancipation would create too radical a change in our social system. Faced with this obstinance, Lincoln finally saw that compromise would get him nowhere. He had to be done trying to appease the border states and northern Democrats.

Ten days later, he met with his cabinet and told them he wanted to issue an Emancipation Proclamation. Nearly every cabinet member approved, including Secretary of State William Seward. But Seward convinced Lincoln to wait. He argued that they needed a major northern victory on the battlefield before they can issue a proclamation, so it would not look like a desperate measure from a position of weakness. Lincoln agreed, postponing his announcement until news came of a Union victory on the battlefields. But Lincoln would have to wait much longer than he anticipated. And when he finally got his victory, it would come at a terrible cost.

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You can binge Incoming exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. In August 1862, Robert E. Lee's forces were riding high following their victory in the Seven Days Battles. After stopping McClellan's Army of the Potomac from taking Richmond, they went on the move, marching north. Earlier that summer, Lincoln had appointed Major General John Pope to command the new Army of Virginia. He gave Pope the task of taking pressure off McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Pope had led successful campaigns in the war's Western theater, and after arriving in Virginia, he boasted to his troops,

I come to you out of the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies. On August 28th, Pope's confidence was tested, as he led Union forces against General Robert E. Lee's army in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the same ground where the war's first major battle was fought the previous summer. And there, once again, Lee's Southern forces inflicted a crushing defeat. Making matters worse, McClellan refused to send troops to Pope's aid, insisting they were needed in Washington to defend the capital. He callously told Lincoln that he would leave Pope to get out of his scrape himself. After the battle, Lincoln dismissed Pope from his command. He was also furious with McClellan,

complaining to his private secretary that the general wanted Pope to fail, but he knew he had few better options. Union soldiers worshipped McClellan. Lincoln feared that removing him would damage morale and discipline and spark a backlash among Democrats on the home front. But it wasn't just domestic politics that worried Lincoln. In Richmond, Lee and Jefferson Davis hoped another decisive Southern victory might finally convince Britain and France to recognize the Confederacy and perhaps even intervene on its behalf. They also aimed to give a boost to anti-war Union Democrats

in the upcoming Northern midterm elections, hoping to change the balance of power in Congress. So fresh off his victory at Bull Run, Lee decided it was time for bold action. He resolved to invade the North. He planned to march his soldiers across the Potomac River into Maryland and attack the Union in its own territory for the first time. On September 4, 1862, Lee's soldiers marched into Maryland. The men were short on food and

supplies and worn down from months of hard fighting. They subsisted on green corn and unripe apples foraged from the countryside. Many marched barefoot, their feet bruised and bloodied from hobbling on stone roads. But their recent victory at Bull Run kept morale high. Entering the city of Frederick on September 6th, the soldiers sang the pro-Confederate anthem, Maryland, my Maryland. They expected an enthusiastic welcome from residents in the border states. But Frederick was firmly pro-Union.

Many local farmers and millers refused to feed or supply the ragged army. In the meantime, McClellan marched his Army of the Potomac 50 miles northwest from Washington, reaching Frederick on September 12th. He had been charged by Lincoln to win the northern victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The stakes were high. And the next day, McClellan had a stroke of luck. Two Union soldiers walking through an abandoned Confederate campsite came across a copy of Lee's battle plans wrapped around a packet of cigars. The orders revealed how Lee planned to divide up his army. McClellan recognized he had an opportunity to defeat the scattered Confederate forces

before they could reunite. He proclaimed, Here is a paper for which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home. But instead of pressing his advantage, McClellan again delayed. He once more mistakenly believed Lee's troops outnumbered his own. And while he wavered, Lee discovered his plans had been lost and consolidated his forces. On September 15, 1862, Lee deployed 30,000 soldiers along a four-mile front behind Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It was a strategic choice. The creek was in a hilly area blanketed with tall cornfields and rock outcroppings that could provide cover,

and the deep, fast-moving water of the creek could only be crossed at three bridges. Meanwhile, the Army of the Potomac began arriving at Antietam Creek II, a mile east of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. 30,000 rebel soldiers would face 60,000 Union troops, and another 15,000 Union men waited just a few miles away. With a major battle imminent, a volunteer nurse named Clara Barton raced to reach the front lines. When the war began, Barton was working as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, but she was already an experienced caregiver. As a child, she had spent two years nursing her

older brother back to health after a farm accident. And once war broke out and wounded soldiers began flooding the capital, Barton had rushed to their side, nursing dozens of men. Now, as Lee and McClellan's armies slowly converged on Antietam, Barton realized that the Army Medical Department was unprepared for what lay ahead. She took matters into her own hands, successfully lobbing the Army to let her bring her own supplies to field hospitals on the front. But she got stalled behind a 10-mile line of Union supply wagons. She waited until the wagons stopped for the night, then urged her drivers to push past

them. Barton finally reached Antietam on the night of September 16th. She later wrote, It was a miserable night. There was a sense of impending doom. The next day, the Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17. As the sun rose over a cloudless sky, Union General Joseph Hooker pressed his men forward through the woods. They soon reached a vast cornfield, where they could see the glint of Confederate bayonets through the stalks of corn. The Union men launched their assault on Lee's left flank. They fought with a fury, refusing to suffer the shame of yet another defeat. Confederates fought back just as fiercely, repelling one Union advance after another.

Control of the cornfield changed hands more than a dozen times. The sound of bursting shells and whizzing bullets filled the air. Soldiers' faces were stained black from frantically biting off powder cartridges to reload their muskets, and soon the cornfield was splattered red with the blood of thousands. In Hooker's official report of the battle, he wrote, every stalk of corn was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before. After five hours, 12,000 soldiers lay dead or wounded. Three generals on each side were killed, and another dozen were injured.

Army doctors at the scene were overwhelmed by the carnage. Imagine it's midday on September 17, 1862. You're at a farmhouse near Antietam Creek, on the northern edge of a large cornfield where soldiers have been fighting all day. You've set up a medical station at the farmhouse, and you're desperately trying to treat the wounded. You've been a U.S. Army doctor for over 20 years, but you've never seen so much bloodshed in all your life. On the porch, four men are laid out on tables. One clutches a bullet wound in his arm and looks up at you hopefully. I'm sorry, I can't operate until I find more bandages. You'll lose too much blood.

I've used every scrap of fabric I can find. Damn it! You rush to the side of another man who's breathing heavily. His white shirt is soaked red. You grab a handful of corn husks and press them against his wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding. You can see the fear in the man's eyes, so you lie to him. Hold on, soldier. You're going to be just fine.

Just then, a wagon rolls up to the farmhouse, carrying two men and a woman. As the wagon comes to a stop, the woman jumps down and approaches you quickly, straightening her bonnet. Hello, Doctor. Claire Barden. My goodness. Are things as bad as that? She points to the corn husks in your hand. We ran out of bandages hours ago. Had to improvise. No one was prepared for all of this. Well, that's why I'm here.

To your shock, she holds up a basket of bandages. I've come to help. As she moves toward the wounded soldiers, you grip her arm. Just a minute, miss. The sight of all this blood might be a bit much for you. She shrugs you off. Stop wasting time. We have work to do. She rolls up her sleeves and turns back to the men waiting in the wagon.

Unload the wagon and bring the supplies up to the porch. Then you can start collecting more wounded men from the battlefield. I'll take over with this young man. You remove the bloodied corn husks from the soldiers' wounds as Barton gets to work bandaging them. For the first time all morning, you have hope that the soldiers you're treating might actually live to see another day. Army doctors were unprepared for the scale of the slaughter they faced at Antietam. Some were reduced to dressing wounds with corn husks, until Clara Barton arrived at noon with a wagonload of bandages and other supplies, ready to assist surgeons and comfort the wounded.

Later on, as Barton gave one injured man a drink of water, she felt something brush her sleeve. She looked down to discover a bullet had grazed her arm and killed the man she was helping. Barton continued nursing the wounded for days, until she finally collapsed from exhaustion and typhoid fever. But she would soon return to the field as one of thousands of women who volunteered as nurses during the war. Her services earned her the nickname Angel of the Battlefield, and years later, she would go on to found the American Red Cross. The battle at the cornfield ended in a stalemate, but it was just the first of three phases of the fighting that day at Antietam. A mile to the south, another battle was raging in a sunken country road,

worn down by years of wagon traffic. More than 2,000 Confederates hid in the road, firing on approaching Union soldiers. But soon those Union soldiers encircled the Confederates and trapped them. The country road soon filled up with dead bodies. It would forever be known as Bloody Lane. The center of Lee's army was broken, and the Confederates fell back. But Union forces did not push forward, and they lost their advantage. That afternoon, a third and final assault took place at a stone bridge over Antietam Creek. After three hours of fighting, Union forces finally took the bridge. But then Confederate reinforcements

from Harper's Ferry arrived and pushed the Federal troops back. Late that afternoon, both sides laid down their weapons and regrouped. As dusk fell, the weary armies reckoned with the bloodbath surrounding them. Bodies littered the battlefields. It was the end of the single bloodiest day

in American military history. Nearly 6,000 men lay dead or dying. Another 17,000 were wounded. It was more than all of the casualties of the entire Revolutionary War. The high death toll was rooted in the combination of old-fashioned tactics and modern weapons. Soldiers still marched shoulder to shoulder in long, parallel battle lines. But they fired rifles that could be shot with greater accuracy than weapons used in previous wars.

And fighting at Antietam was close range. Most soldiers were within 100 yards of each other. And in a time before antibiotics and sterile surgery, soldiers were far more likely to die of their wounds, contributing to the growing pile of bodies, even as skirmishes continued near Antietam on September 18th. But Confederate General Lee realized that McClellan was not launching any further attacks, so he withdrew his forces back across the Potomac into Virginia. The Battle of Antietam proved that Union soldiers could withstand

a Confederate assault in the eastern theater and prevent them from invading the north. It was the strategic victory that Lincoln needed to finally pursue emancipation and radically change the nature of the war. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it.

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Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler's passion project 250 years ago to the Barbie movie today? Who created that bottle of red Sriracha with a green top that's permanently living in your fridge? Did you know that the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA? We'll explore all that and more in The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy. This is Nick. This is Jack. And we've covered over a thousand episodes of pop business news stories on our daily podcast. We've identified the most viral

products of all time and their wild origin stories that you had no idea about. From the Levi's 501 jeans to Legos. Come for the products you're obsessed with. Stay for the business insights that are going to blow up your group chat. Jack, Nintendo, Super Mario Brothers, best-selling video game of all time. How'd they do it? Nintendo never fires anyone, ever. Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Five days after the smoke cleared at Antietam, Lincoln gathered his cabinet.

He told them the time had come to issue an Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863. He was finally ready to bring the issue of slavery squarely to the center of the struggle. Newspapers across the nation soon published the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It was Lincoln's public warning that unless Confederate states return to the Union by New Year's Day just three months away, their slaves shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. The proclamation marked a dramatic shift in the purpose of the war. Lincoln told a colleague that once it took effect, the character of the war will be changed. It will be one of subjugation. The old South is to be destroyed and replaced by new propositions and ideas. More than a year into fighting, most soldiers in the U.S. Army were

now prepared to destroy slavery if it meant sapping the Confederacy of its strength and finally ending the rebellion. But their leader, General McClellan, was horrified by the news of the proclamation. He told his wife, I could not make up my mind to fight for such an accursed doctrine. Still, McClellan continued to do his duty, hoping that Americans would voice their opposition at the polls in November. McClellan was a Democrat, and his party hoped to use public opposition to emancipation as a political wedge in the 1862 midterms. The New York Democratic Platform branded the Emancipation Proclamation as a proposal for the butchery of women and children,

for scenes of lust and rapine, and of arson and murder. Even many Republicans were wary of the war, which had already gone on longer than most had predicted. One Republican admitted, After a year and a half of trial and pouring out of blood and treasure, and the maiming and death of thousands, we have made no sensible progress in putting down the rebellion. And this war-weariness led the Democrats to do well on Election Day,

capturing the New York governorship and picking up a net gain of 34 congressional seats. Still, Republicans retained control of the House, and picked up five seats in the Senate, and retained the vast majority of the governorships and state legislatures. But if there were any doubts that Lincoln would continue down the path of emancipation in the face of rising Democratic opposition, he soon put those concerns to rest. On December 1st, Lincoln took to the floor of Congress and gave a powerful address, urging his fellow citizens to take up the great task of abolishing slavery. He declared, The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest

generation. We know how to save the Union. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free. So as planned, on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. The language of the document was dry and legalistic. Lincoln was not trying to make a moral argument. Instead, he framed emancipation as a necessary wartime measure, one to weaken the Confederacy by robbing it of its most critical resource. The scope of the proclamation was limited, too. It freed slaves in Confederate states in rebellion against the United States, but left slavery untouched in loyal border states. It would also be up to Union troops

moving through the South to give the proclamation teeth. As the war continued, enslaved people were freed only with the advance of Union armies. But the proclamation changed the stakes of the war. In the South, it triggered widespread outrage. White Southerners saw it as proof that their warnings about Lincoln had been right all along. On January 5th, Jefferson Davis gave a speech in Richmond that declared, They say they mean to preserve the Union. Can they preserve the Union by destroying the social existence of a portion of the South? By striking at everything which is dear to man? But in the North, black men and women and their white allies

packed churches and town halls to celebrate the news. Since the war began, black Northerners had tried to enlist in the Union Army. Some individual officers had begun to recruit Black men into their ranks, but it was only after the Emancipation Proclamation that Black soldiers and sailors were officially accepted into Union forces. And soon, Black men rushed to join the Union ranks, enlisting in segregated all-Black units. Massachusetts was the first to respond to the new policy. In March, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment was formed. It would become the war's most famous Black regiment, its members celebrated for their courage in battle. But Black recruitment was not

limited to the North. Lincoln hoped that recruiting former slaves to fight battles in the South would have a powerful effect on Confederate morale. In Marsh, he wrote, The bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled Black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once. And that spring, Union officers traveled deep into the heart of the South to persuade Black men to take up arms. Imagine it's April 1863.

You're working on a small plantation near Lake Providence, Louisiana. It's been nearly two years since your owner abandoned the plantation and went away to war. You and your fellow slaves have stayed behind and continued to work the land, planting crops for yourselves. You rake dirt over seeds you've just dropped in the ground, relishing the feeling that your time and your crops are your own. As you take a moment to wipe the sweat off your brow, you spot a white man in a pristine blue uniform riding up on a horse.

Good morning. My name is Lieutenant Stevens. Looks like you've got a good crop started there. Just put in some squash. Hoping they'll be up by summer. If you're here to see the master, he's not here. I'm here to see you. I'm recruiting strong black men like yourself for a new regiment here in Louisiana. Put down that rake and come and join me. Enlist with our armies fighting on the Mississippi. Now you realize who the man is. He's a Union officer. You've heard rumors of Union soldiers coming through plantations further north, liberating slaves and pressing them into service as soldiers.

But you're suspicious of any white man, from the north or south. Sorry, sir. My life is here. I've got work to tend to. But haven't you heard? You're free. You're not tied to this land anymore. Sure, I've heard. But where am I supposed to go? Why not come join us?

I'm afraid I have no interest in laboring for another white man. You misunderstand me. I'm not looking for laborers. I'm looking for recruits. There's been a change in policy. I need the manpower, and I'll train you to fight. The rebels won't know what hit them when they see black men bearing arms. It will be like their nightmares came true. It will sap their will to go on. There's something in the officer's eyes you don't trust.

You have a sneaking suspicion he's not telling you something. I'm sorry, sir, but I'm no fighter. And I'm not interested in risking my life. The lieutenant looks at you with a confused expression. But this is your chance to fight for the Stars and Stripes and strike a blow against slavery. Stars and Stripes? What has the Union ever done for us slaves here in Louisiana? If the rebels win, your master will be back on this plantation, maybe even before you can harvest those vegetables

you're planting. I'm giving you a chance to fight for your own freedom, to avenge the men who enslaved you and your family. You lean against your rake and think of your master, who sold your mother away from you when you were just a child. You imagine the look on his face if he saw you take arms against the Confederacy, and that image brings a grim smile to your face. We'll be fighting on Mississippi, you say? Yes, just a few miles from here. If you grew up around here, your knowledge of the area could be a great asset to us.

Yeah, I know the area. All right. Sign me up. Tell me what I have to do. The lieutenant smiles. Follow me. You drop your rake on the ground and walk to the barn to saddle up your mule. You don't relish the idea of soldiering, but you've shaked off your sense of doubt.

Now determined to finally win a lasting freedom. In March 1863, the Secretary of War sent Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to the lower Mississippi Valley. Thomas enlisted white officers in recruiting black men from contraband camps

and abandoned plantations. Some officers were abolitionists. Others were motivated by self-interest. Thomas promised promotions and increased pay to officers who raised black regiments. Regardless of the motives, eventually 70 black regiments were formed, and many black soldiers went on to serve in campaigns along the Mississippi River later that year. But black Union soldiers were segregated, paid less, and often relegated to labor as opposed to fighting. And they faced harsher consequences if captured. Confederate regiments were brutal in their treatment of Black prisoners of war, sometimes executing Black soldiers and officers on the spot. Despite the hardships they faced,

more than 180,000 Black men would ultimately fight for the Union. By the war's end, black soldiers, known as United States Colored Troops, made up 10% of the Union Army. No black soldiers fought in the Confederate Army, but rebel officers did force enslaved men into labor battalions. And emancipation did more than just swell the Union ranks with black soldiers. It gave the North the moral high ground and dashed any hopes that Great Britain might recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation. After emancipation, British abolitionists held mass meetings supporting the Union. By then, the British cotton industry had found new suppliers in Egypt and India and no longer needed the southern plantations. The British government was more reluctant than ever to intervene on the South's behalf.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation transformed the Civil War into a righteous crusade to end slavery and overthrow the centuries-old Southern Social Order. But on the ground, it did not make the war any less brutal or bloody. And behind the lines, the war was taking a heavy toll on civilians, too. In both the North and South, people from all walks of life grappled with uncertainty, sacrifice, and social turmoil. Turmoil that would sometimes erupt into violence.

From Wondery, this is Episode 3 of The Civil War from American History Tellers. On the next episode, a mob of hungry and desperate women launch a riot in Richmond, attacking stores and warehouses. And the U.S. Congress passes the first federal draft law, sparking days of deadly violence in New York City. 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 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 Peeples.rens. Music by Lindsey Graham. Voice acting by Ace Anderson and Cat Peeples. 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 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.