The American Civil War - OverSimplified (Part 2)

0:00 [Narrator] This video was made possible by Honey.

0:02 Stick around to learn how you can save money when you shop online.

0:06 (ominous music) As the Union's struggle to take control in the East continued,

0:11 elsewhere, the war raged on.

0:13 The Confederates attempted an invasion of Kentucky,

0:15 hoping the state as a whole would join them, but they were pushed back.

0:18 The Indian territory saw Native American tribes ally with one side

0:22 or the other in the hopes of securing rights after the war.

0:25 Along the Mississippi, General Ulysses S.

0:27 Grant remained one of the few Union generals scoring major victories.

0:30 With his best pal General Sherman by his side,

0:32 Grant led his armies down the Mississippi

0:34 to the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg.

0:36 Both sides knew that if Vicksburg fell, the Confederacy would be split in two,

0:40 and the Confederates prepared for an intense defense of the city.

0:44 But back in the East,

0:45 Lincoln still wanted somebody to march south and take Richmond.

0:48 Having given General McClellan the boot, he needed a new man in charge.

0:52 All right, Mr.

0:53 President, option one is General Hooker.

0:54 Bit of a nutcase, but a good general.

0:56 Option two, his qualifications are his name is Burnside,

0:59 and he has freakin' dope-ass sideburns.

1:01 Say no more!

1:02 So General Burnside was put in charge of the Army of the Potomac and sent south.

1:06 Lincoln hoped he finally had a general who could succeed.

1:09 Burnside met General Lee at the city of Fredericksburg,

1:12 where he intended to rapidly cross the river and take the city.

1:15 But the Union War Department was too slow in delivering the pontoon bridges,

1:18 and the two sides were forced to camp across from each other,

1:21 close enough to speak.

1:22 Hey, Yankee, ready to get your butt kicked?

1:24 Yeah, right, Rebel.

1:25 God is on our side.

1:27 No way!

1:27 God's on our side!

1:28 Oh, ya think so?

1:30 Well, why don't we ask him?

1:31 Hey God, whose side are you on?

1:33 (lightning zaps) Ow.

1:35 Dude, uncool.

1:36 With over 100,000 men,

1:38 the Union army finally launched their massive attack on the 11th of December.

1:42 But by now, the Confederates had amassed their forces.

1:44 During the battle, wave after wave of brave

1:47 Union men marched headlong into a brutal Confederate onslaught.

1:51 Even the Confederates couldn't believe what they were seeing,

1:53 and in one moment of comradery, a Confederate sergeant,

1:56 unable to take it, reportedly came out

1:58 into the field to tend to the Union wounded.

2:00 Seeing this, the Union troops held their fire.

2:03 Still, Burnside and his forces were soundly

2:05 defeated at Fredericksburg and forced to retreat.

2:08 Lincoln's popularity and Northern morale continued to plummet,

2:11 especially as the winter heading into 1863 was bad.

2:16 The winter camps were rife with disease.

2:18 The food was less than appealing.

2:20 On both sides, men began to leave.

2:22 Hey, where do you think you're going?

2:23 I'm deserting.

2:24 What?!

2:25 Don't you love your country?

2:27 Yes, I do, and I'm trying to get back to it as quick as I can.

2:32 Lincoln, ever the kind and caring man he was,

2:34 spent much of his time pardoning deserters' death sentences.

2:38 Oh my, here's a 17-year-old boy sentenced to be hanged.

2:41 Well, I'd better suspend his sentence or he'll be suspended tomorrow.

2:46 (men groaning) What?

2:48 Try to keep the numbers up, both sides had introduced conscription.

2:51 There was controversy in the North, however,

2:53 since Rich men could simply pay to have someone else fight on their behalf.

2:56 Riots broke out in New York City, with enraged mobs,

2:59 furious at the idea of going to fight for slaves,

3:02 an idea that many of them simply did not support.

3:05 However, after so much pressure,

3:07 the Union had finally begun allowing black men to enlist,

3:10 and these men, knowing what they were fighting for, signed up.

3:14 By the end of the war, nearly 200,000 troops,

3:17 10% of the Union Army, would be black.

3:19 The valor and bravery they showed throughout silencing critics.

3:23 Okay, well that last guy was useless.

3:25 Let's try this Hooker fellow.

3:26 General Joseph Hooker was put in charge of the Army of the Potomac,

3:30 and once again, Lincoln ordered him to move south and take Richmond.

3:33 Hooker met Lee at the battle of Chancellorsville,

3:35 where Hooker had over twice the men Lee did.

3:38 Lee was forced to defy all military

3:40 convention and split his smaller force into two.

3:42 Lee had absolutely no chance of winning, and Lee won.

3:46 It was his masterpiece.

3:48 Lee did suffer one significant loss during the battle, though.

3:51 As his right-hand man, Stonewall Jackson,

3:53 was riding back to the Confederate lines at night,

3:55 the nervous Confederate troops, unable to recognize him, opened fire.

4:00 (rifle firing) You boys done goofed up.

4:02 Jackson died eight days later.

4:05 As for Lincoln, he couldn't believe it.

4:07 It was yet another loss, and Northern support continued to waver.

4:12 While the Union kept on struggling in the East,

4:14 out West, Unconditional Surrender Grant was making moves as always.

4:18 In an attempt to take Vicksburg on the Mississippi,

4:20 he made a series of risky and bold movements.

4:23 He sent a cavalry raid, and feigned Sherman north to confuse the enemy.

4:26 Then, aided by a fleet of ironclads on the river,

4:29 he raced his army south to cross the Mississippi.

4:31 Aware that the terrain to the north was restrictive,

4:34 instead, he strategically moved northeast,

4:36 hitting Vicksburg's supply line and defending

4:38 his rear from Confederate armies in Jackson.

4:40 Once he reached Vicksburg, the Confederate defense became hardened,

4:43 and Grant was forced to settle in for a month-long siege,

4:46 during which time, he got rather bored.

4:49 Despite not taking the city, Lincoln loved it,

4:51 and encouraged Grant to hold firm.

4:54 It would only be a matter of time before the Mississippi was in Union hands.

4:58 Around this time, the people in the west of Virginia,

5:00 who had remained loyal to the Union throughout,

5:02 finally broke away to form their own state.

5:05 They could have named it anything in the world,

5:07 but the creative minds at the time came up with the ingenious West Virginia.

5:11 Back in Washington, Lincoln once again wanted a new general to take command.

5:15 Oh my goodness.

5:16 Why do all these 19th century generals look so bust?

5:19 Look, we got Sleepy Eyes Joe here.

5:21 That's Princess Leia with a mustache.

5:23 E.T., phone the doctor!

5:25 Fine.

5:25 Why don't we give Snapping Turtle McGee here a shot?

5:27 So General Snapping Turtle McGee was put in charge of the Army of the Potomac,

5:31 and it was a crucial time for the Union,

5:33 because once again, the Confederates decided to go on the attack.

5:37 So far, they had done exceedingly well militarily,

5:40 but as the war kept going, the Confederate economy was crumbling.

5:43 Riots broke out in the streets of Richmond as the price of bread skyrocketed.

5:47 Supplies were dwindling.

5:49 Jefferson Davis wanted to send men west to rescue Vicksburg,

5:52 but General Lee knew the longer the war lasted,

5:54 the worse their chances got, and he still hoped if he could just threaten DC,

5:58 the already demoralized North would surrender.

6:01 So in June, 1863, with the momentum behind him,

6:04 General Lee once again entered the North,

6:07 fighting his way through Maryland and into Pennsylvania.

6:09 General Meade set out to meet him for what

6:12 would be the most significant battle of the entire war.

6:15 If the Confederates won, DC could fall.

6:17 If the Union won, it would be a turning point,

6:20 as the Confederates would run out of steam,

6:22 and the small town that was to get caught up in the crossfire of the largest

6:26 battle in American history was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

6:30 On June 1st, units from each army encountered

6:33 one another and skirmished through the town itself.

6:35 The townspeople were forced to take refuge.

6:38 Except for one man, who reportedly ran outside for a strange reason.

6:41 Joseph, what are you doing?

6:43 I'm not gonna let them take my beans!

6:46 How many times do I have to tell you, they're not here for your beans!

6:51 By the second day, over 100,000 men stretched for miles across the battlefield.

6:55 Lee took the initiative, deciding to hit the enemy's flanks,

6:58 and he came very close to breaking through the Union's disorganized left,

7:02 but Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain ordered a desperate bayonet charge,

7:05 smashing into the Confederates and forcing them back.

7:08 The Union forces held across the line.

7:11 On the final day, Lee believed the Union army had fortified its flanks,

7:14 so we decided to finish them off with one massive central assault.

7:18 The Confederates rushed at the Union lines during General Pickett's charge,

7:21 and this time, it was the Union's turn to unleash hell.

7:24 Meade had correctly guessed Lee's strategy,

7:27 and the Confederates were decimated, forced to turn and flee.

7:31 A devastated General Lee called out to his fleeing and wounded men,

7:35 telling them it was his fault.

7:37 And after holding for a counterattack that never came,

7:39 he ordered a retreat back into Virginia.

7:42 The North had just managed to score a massive victory,

7:45 and one they desperately needed.

7:48 And if that wasn't enough, in the West,

7:50 after a month-long siege, Vicksburg finally fell.

7:53 The North now held the Mississippi, and better yet, it was the 4th of July.

7:58 With control of the Mississippi, Union forces moved into Arkansas and Tennessee.

8:02 Tennessee in particular saw heavy fighting with Union General Rosecrans

8:05 masterfully pushing Braxton Bragg's Army of the Tennessee out of Tennessee.

8:10 He suffered a major setback, however, at the bloody battle of Chickamauga,

8:13 and ended up under a Confederate siege at Chattanooga.

8:16 At one point during the siege,

8:18 a temporary truce was declared so that wounded men could be recovered.

8:21 And often in the Civil War, during these small truces,

8:24 men from both sides would meet in the middle to trade things like tobacco,

8:27 coffee, and maybe even honey.

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9:23 Now, where was I?

9:25 Oh yeah, Vicksburg, 4th of July, and the siege of Chattanooga.

9:29 Thankfully, General Grant, now in charge of all western Union armies,

9:32 showed up and karate-kicked Bragg right back into Georgia, like this.

9:37 (Bragg thumping) With Sherman and Hooker,

9:38 Grant took on Confederate positions in the mountains around the city,

9:41 including the famous Battle Above the Clouds and Mission Ridge.

9:45 Grant continued to be Lincoln's number one guy.

9:47 With these victories, Lincoln hoped the war was finally turning.

9:51 Back in Gettysburg, the entire town had been turned

9:54 into a hospital to care for the scores of wounded men.

9:57 Throughout the war, on both sides,

9:58 women such as Clara Barton rose to the occasion,

10:01 doing crucial work on the home front and volunteering

10:04 as nurses for those who had given their lives.

10:07 A new national cemetery was to be established at Gettysburg,

10:10 and Abraham Lincoln traveled out to attend the opening ceremony.

10:13 At the event, the main speaker spoke for two hours.

10:16 Then Abraham Lincoln was called forward to give some brief appropriate remarks.

10:21 In just two minutes, he masterfully and poignantly iterated America's national

10:26 purpose and the need to continue the fight.

10:29 The Gettysburg Address would become one

10:30 of the most famous speeches in American history.

10:33 While they were now making progress,

10:35 the North still couldn't find a decisive victory in the East,

10:38 and that was bad news for Lincoln,

10:40 because his presidency was now in its fourth year.

10:42 In 1864, there was an election coming.

10:45 The Confederates knew this too,

10:47 and with little hope left of being able to threaten the North militarily,

10:50 they believed their last shot at victory may be in the election.

10:53 Since Lincoln, emancipation, and the war itself weren't exactly popular,

10:57 people in the North were sick of war and wanted to put it behind them.

11:01 Robert E.

11:01 Lee hoped that if he could just hold out and continue to inflict more defeats,

11:05 the people of the North would vote Lincoln out and replace

11:08 him with a Southern sympathizer who may be willing to negotiate.

11:11 Lincoln knew now he desperately needed a victory.

11:14 Now, I know what you're thinking.

11:15 "But OverSimplified, if Lincoln loves General Grant so much,

11:19 then why doesn't he put him in charge of the campaign in the East?" Well,

11:22 guess what, loyal subscriber?

11:23 You've hit the nail on the head.

11:26 You're bold, Grant.

11:27 I'll grant you that.

11:28 I'm promoting you to general-in-chief, and I ain't taking you for granted.

11:32 Now, I want you to go defeat Lee.

11:34 Grant me my wish!

11:35 Please stop.

11:36 So Grant was put in charge, and he came up with a new plan.

11:39 He wanted to press the Confederates on all fronts.

11:41 With General Banks to capture Mobile,

11:43 Alabama, General Sherman moving south to Atlanta,

11:46 and Grant joining the Army of the Potomac as they advanced through Virginia,

11:49 in May, 1864, that plan went into action.

11:53 Sherman steadily advanced on Atlanta,

11:55 facing off against the smaller Confederate army under General Joseph E.

11:58 Johnston.

11:59 In addition, a cruel yet highly skilled cavalry general,

12:02 and winner of the funniest Confederate statue award,

12:04 Nathan Bedford Forrest, was also nearby,

12:06 doing his best to threaten Sherman's advance.

12:08 But in a series of battles, Sherman dominated,

12:11 and pushed Johnson back to the city,

12:13 but he was held just outside of Atlanta itself, and was forced to lay siege.

12:18 Meanwhile, the main show was happening to the east in Virginia.

12:21 The Union's top general was finally about to face off against the Confederacy's.

12:25 Lincoln hoped Grant would bring something new to the Eastern theater,

12:28 and bring something new he did.

12:30 As Grant began moving south,

12:32 Lee still regularly outmaneuvered him and inflicted heavy casualties,

12:35 hoping to demoralize the North as much as he could.

12:38 But here's what set Grant apart from others.

12:40 He knew Lee was running out of men, and that the North by comparison had plenty.

12:44 Grant would throw his forces at Lee, and even when Lee repelled them, Grant,

12:48 rather than pulling back,

12:49 would give the order to keep moving forward and flank Lee, again and again.

12:54 In under six weeks, 80,000 men would be killed, wounded, or missing.

12:59 In DC, Grant was criticized for being a butcher.

13:01 At the Battle of the Wilderness,

13:03 the Union casualties were so heavy that Grant reportedly began to weep.

13:07 But still, Grant could replace his losses.

13:09 Lee couldn't, and he was being pushed all the way back to Richmond.

13:13 Lee knew once he got there, he'd be under siege.

13:16 Then it would only be a matter of time.

13:18 Close to Richmond, Grant again suffered horrific

13:21 casualties in a miscalculated assault at Cold Harbor.

13:24 Then, trying to be a tricksty trickster, instead of moving on Richmond directly,

13:27 Grant moved towards Petersburg to fight

13:30 the Confederate capital and cut its supply line.

13:32 But just like Sherman, Grant was halted outside of the city,

13:35 and he too was forced to settle in for a siege.

13:38 Two identical sieges would not be good enough for Lincoln's re-election.

13:42 The people of the North saw the casualties Grant had been taking,

13:45 and they weren't happy.

13:46 To make matters worse, Lee had sent Jubal Early north to threaten DC,

13:50 with the hope of forcing Grant to withdraw troops from Richmond.

13:53 Early was repelled on the outskirts of the city,

13:55 with President Lincoln even attending as an observer.

13:57 But the North had been given a fright.

13:59 So with the war currently in a stalemate,

14:01 who was to be Lincoln's opponent in the critical 1864 election?

14:05 Who would the Democrats choose?

14:07 Guess what, baby?

14:09 I'm back!

14:09 That's right, General George B.

14:12 McClellan would run for president against Abraham Lincoln.

14:15 My fellow countrymen, if you elect me, I, the great General George McClellan,

14:20 will fearlessly and valiantly win the war, unlike this douchebag.

14:24 Many Democrats, however, including McClellan's running mate,

14:27 wanted to end the war.

14:28 So it's possible McClellan may have ended up

14:31 fearlessly and valiantly making peace with the Confederates,

14:33 which is exactly what they were hoping for.

14:36 With the war in a stalemate and Lincoln still not popular,

14:38 it looked like McClellan would win,

14:40 and the Confederacy may have a chance at surviving after all.

14:43 Lincoln himself said that without some kind of major victory,

14:46 it seemed "exceedingly probable that this administration

14:49 will not be re-elected." Well,

14:51 fret not, Abe, because if it's a major victory you want,

14:54 it's a major victory you'll get.

14:56 Atlanta had been under siege by General Sherman for just over a month.

15:00 After a number of battles around the city,

15:01 Sherman sent a force south to sever the city's supply line,

15:04 and Confederate General Hood was forced to abandon it.

15:07 Atlanta, one of the Confederacy's most important cities,

15:10 had fallen into Union hands.

15:12 For many, it was clear that the Confederacy's defeat was now inevitable,

15:16 and the war would soon be over.

15:18 When the final results came in, Lincoln

15:20 had won with an Electoral College landslide,

15:22 with the troops in particular voting overwhelmingly for Lincoln,

15:25 which must have been touching for their commander-in-chief.

15:28 Hey man, looks like you lost.

15:30 No hard feelings?

15:31 I didn't lose, I merely failed to win!

15:34 In January, Lincoln involved himself heavily in ensuring

15:37 the 13th Amendment made it through Congress.

15:39 In a narrow and historic vote, the amendment passed.

15:43 Slavery would now be constitutionally banished throughout the nation.

15:47 Black men and women, watching the vote from the galleries,

15:49 knew the work had only just begun.

15:52 A couple months later, at his second inauguration,

15:54 with victory right around the corner, he didn't celebrate, he didn't gloat.

15:58 Instead, he emphasized the need for reunification and binding up wounds.

16:02 To him, Americans, North or South, were to again be compatriots.

16:08 However, listening to Lincoln speak that day was

16:11 a man who had no interest in reunification.

16:13 John Wilkes Booth, an actor living in DC, was also a deep Southern sympathizer,

16:18 and as the war turned against the Confederacy, depressed and full of hate,

16:22 he was already plotting his revenge on the man he held responsible.

16:26 With further Confederate losses,

16:28 it was pretty clear at this point who would win,

16:30 but still, Jefferson Davis showed no sign of giving in.

16:33 The North were frustrated to see the conflict being dragged out.

16:37 Why waste more lives?

16:39 In Atlanta, General Sherman believed he had

16:41 the key to forcing the Confederacy's hand.

16:43 He had an unusually modern concept that an army

16:46 could only survive with the support of the people.

16:48 Strike at the people, and the army collapses.

16:51 Sherman decided to do something unprecedented.

16:53 He would remove his 62,000 men from their supply

16:56 line and March through the heartland of the Confederacy,

16:58 where they would live off the land.

17:00 There, they would wreak havoc.

17:02 As they marched, they tore up railroads,

17:04 burned farms, and destroyed communication lines.

17:06 They also liberated thousands of slaves.

17:09 The damage done was estimated at $1.4 billion.

17:13 The tactics were cruel, but to Sherman,

17:15 it was better than losing yet more men in battle.

17:18 In December, he reached Savannah, Georgia, but he wasn't done yet.

17:22 Next he turned north to inflict his punishment

17:24 on the first state to secede, South Carolina.

17:28 As he moved, he came ever closer to General Lee's army,

17:30 still holding out at Petersburg.

17:33 The siege of Petersburg had lasted for 292 days.

17:36 60,000 of Lee's men had deserted.

17:38 Numerous Union attempts to break through had failed.

17:41 But when the breakthrough finally came, it came quick.

17:44 On April 2nd, a Union assault

17:46 finally pushed the Confederates from their defenses.

17:48 Hey man, there's no need to evacuate, right?

17:50 You'll rescue us like last time, right?

17:53 Sorry.

17:53 Can't hear you.

17:54 (car engine revving) Lee narrowly escaped the city,

17:56 hoping he'd be able to meet up with General Johnson and continue the fight.

18:00 Grant chased him down.

18:01 Richmond was evacuated, and Jefferson Davis went on the run.

18:05 As they left, the Confederates set fire to military buildings,

18:08 but the flames burned out of control,

18:10 and as the Union troops arrived, they became firefighters.

18:13 A couple of days later, Abraham Lincoln visited the war-torn city.

18:17 Grant caught up to Lee at Appomattox Court House, where he trapped his forces.

18:21 It was here, on April 9th, 1865, that Lee saw no point in continuing.

18:27 Sir?

18:28 Listen, bub, I drank a bit too much last night,

18:30 and now I'm hanging like a fruit bat on a hot day.

18:32 So whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it.

18:35 General Lee says he wants to surrender.

18:37 Hot diggity dog!

18:38 Grant and Lee met in the home of a nearby farm family,

18:41 owned by a man who had tried his best

18:43 to escape the Civil War years earlier, Wilmer McLean.

18:47 All right, can we all just hurry up and get this over with?

18:50 (vacuum roaring) Martha!

18:52 Not now!

18:54 I'm cleaning!

18:55 Do you want us to get rats?

18:57 [Narrator] Grant and Lee, after years of war,

18:59 now spoke respectfully to one another.

19:01 When Lee left, his face filled with emotion,

19:04 Grant's men began to cheer, but Grant ordered them to stop.

19:08 He knew that now was the time for reconciliation.

19:11 Just over two weeks later, General Johnson would surrender to Sherman,

19:15 ending the war for 89,000 Confederate soldiers

19:17 in the largest surrender of the war.

19:19 Not every Confederate state had surrendered, but the war was as good as over.

19:24 Across the North, church bells rang out and celebrations erupted.

19:28 In Washington, Lincoln gave a speech from the White House to a jubilant crowd,

19:32 in which, among various things,

19:33 he expressed his support for black voting rights.

19:36 Lincoln had seen the nation through its deepest crisis.

19:39 The presidency had visibly aged him.

19:42 He had lost over 20 pounds.

19:44 He said, "Sometimes,

19:44 I think I am the tiredest man on Earth." I'm not sure tiredest is a word,

19:49 but geez, the man's exhausted.

19:50 Cut him some slack.

19:52 On a carriage ride with Mary,

19:53 Lincoln clearly was looking forward to being a president in a time of peace.

19:57 He was apparently very cheerful, surprising his wife,

19:59 and he told her that between the war and the loss of their son,

20:02 they'd both been very miserable.

20:04 Now it was time to be happy.

20:06 On the evening of April 14th,

20:08 Lincoln attended a play with his wife and some friends at Ford's Theater.

20:11 It was a comedy, and the president appeared to be enjoying it very much.

20:15 In a nearby bar, John Wilkes Booth swallowed two glasses of brandy.

20:20 He slipped quietly into the president's booth,

20:23 and awaited for the audience's laughter to rise.

20:25 (crowd laughing) The president was shot in the back of the head.

20:32 Booth fled the city.

20:34 Soldiers carried Lincoln to a boarding house across the street.

20:38 There, doctors declared there was nothing they could do.

20:41 Surrounded by his heartbroken wife, son, and members of cabinet,

20:46 at 7:22 the next morning, President Lincoln passed away.

20:50 Never before had a president been murdered.

20:53 A shocked nation mourned as a 12-day funeral procession

20:57 carried Lincoln back to his home in Springfield, Illinois.

21:00 On April 26th, Union cavalry found John Wilkes Booth

21:03 in a barn in Virginia, where he was shot.

21:06 Not long after, Confederate President Jefferson

21:09 Davis was also tracked down and arrested.

21:11 Imprisoned for two years, he was eventually released.

21:14 The North didn't want to put him on trial for fear

21:17 the jury may rule that Southern secession had in fact been legal.

21:21 To ensure reconciliation,

21:22 other Confederate generals and politicians were allowed

21:25 to re-enter life in the now restored Union.

21:28 Scattered fighting continued into May,

21:30 when the last Confederate forces in Texas disintegrated.

21:33 The southern states came under northern

21:35 military occupation to prevent any further rebellion,

21:38 and a very difficult era of reconstruction began.

21:41 Over 3 million Americans had fought, brother against brother.

21:46 The Civil War remains the bloodiest conflict in US history,

21:50 but the Union had been preserved.

21:52 You could say the real winners were those who were to never again be slaves.

21:56 Further amendments passed by Congress gave black

21:59 individuals the right to citizenship and to vote.

22:02 Significant progress had been made.

22:05 However, entering into the 20th century,

22:07 it was clear the fight for equality would continue.

22:12 In modern America, the man who fought to preserve the nation and never

22:16 gave up in the darkest of times stands as a symbol of honesty,

22:20 empathy, humility, perseverance, and courage.

22:24 A continuous reminder of what has forged America

22:27 and what it should ever strive to be.

22:30 (gentle music)