Documentary Review: Civil War 360: The Confederacy: Trace Adkins

This is a very poignant presentation of the Civil War from the perspective of the South.  Trace Adkins' great-great grandfather served for the South, and was part of the defense of Vicksburg.  He was one of the 30,000 soldiers surrender to General Ulysses Grant.  Adkins tells other stories from the South.  This includes the presentation of the superiority of the calvary, and the ability of the calvary to attack well behind enemy lines, and bring back supplies.  There is also a presentation of the music of the war.  Maryland, was written as a response to the attacks in Baltimore when civilians were rioting against federal troops.  There is also a section on Jefferson Davis, and his younger wife.
I think the most poignant part of the film was viewing a portrait of General Robert E. Lee.  Adkins points out that there is sadness in his eyes.  Lee was prepared to lead the union, and did not  want Virginia to secede.  However when it did, he decided he could not raise his sword against Virginia.

Documentary Review: The Murder of a President: American Experience (James Garfield)

This PBS WGBH documentary tells the story of James Garfield.  This is a look at the life of James Garfield, and more particularly his murder.  Garfield started in poor circumstances.  His father died when he was young.  His mother gave James her life savings and he enrolled in school.  He stayed in school by working for the school, an after a couple years was so bright he was serving as a teacher.   After school he married Lucretia Rudolf.  He served in the Civil War, and in fact while in the war was elected to congress.  He would serve in congress until he was nominated for the presidency.  He had risen in congress, and had been elected to the senate when he was nominated for the presidency.  His nomination  for the presidency by the Republican convention of was not planned.  In fact he was managing the campaign of John Sherman, and gave a speech at the convention in his support.  However he was selected on the 36th ballot as an alternative to the three candidates, Ulyssis S. Grant, Sherman and James G. Blaine.  Both Sherman and Blaine turned their support to Garfield.  Chester A. Arthur was selected as the vice presidential candidate.  He was important as he was from New York and part of the political machine of New York Senator Roscoe Conkling.
In those days the party did the campaigning, and Garfield did not do much campaigning.  He did reach out to Conkling and gained his support.  New York was key to winning the election.  In the general election General Winfield Scott Hancock ran on the Democratic ticket.   The race was close in the popular count, with less than 10,000 votes separated the candidates, however in the electoral college the difference was much greater.  Garfield took key states of New York and Indiana, while Hancock took the South.
In Garfield's early days as president he worked to make appointments.  James G. Blaine was selected for Secretary of State.  On appointment not made was that of a member of Conkling's political machine to the New York Customs House.  This was a very lucrative position at the time, with considerable power due to the government being financed by tariffs.   Conkling would resign from the Senate in protest, but when he wasn't reelected as he thought, much of his power was lost.
Another person who felt he was deserved appointment was Charles J. Guiteau.  He was an individual with had worked on the periphery of the campaign, and had published a speech in favor of Garfield.  However no appointment was coming.  At this point Guiteau felt God told him to kill Garfield, and then another person would become president.  He expected to be a hero.
Knowing that Garfield was to travel by train to visit his ailing wife who was convalescing in New Jersey, he took a gun to the train station and waited.  Garfield was shot twice, in the arm and in the back.  The bullet in his back lodged in his abdomen, and was never removed.  Worries about germs had been studied, but not applied in this case.  Doctor Willard Bliss took control of his treatment.  he would not hear any criticism of his methods.  Garfield improved for a time, but then infection set in.  Even Alexander Graham Bell was called in to locate the bullet with a new metal detector.  Bell detected the bullet was not where presumed, but Bliss would not hear this.  Garfield's wife had returned from New Jersey to be with her husband.  However in the end, they both traveled back to New Jersey, with tracks laid to the door of their home, where the president could die on the sea shore.  He was shot July 2 and passed away September 19, 1881.
Still after the assassination of President Lincoln, Garfield had no  guard.  In  fact not even Garfield felt a guard was needed.
One of Garfield's passions was to assure the rights of the Black population.  He wanted to work to guarantee them the vote, as well as an education.  Arthur would become president, and would stand up to Conkling and not appoint him to the Customs position in New York.

Documentary Review: Lee & Grant

Lee & Grant, History Channel (2011)

This is a made for History Channel Documentary and includes the typical methods of the History Channel for telling the story.  It is narrated by Jonathan Frakes.  They have re-enactors as well as professionals telling the story and offering their opinions.  The re-enacting is very gruesome and very bloody.  However it does a good job of telling the story, up until July 4, 1863.  I guess it concludes that even though the war would continue for a couple years more, it was pretty much done then.  We don’t even get where Grant and Lee confronted each other directly.  I like the story of the childhoods of each of the men.  Grant had a great love for horses, and was only a mediocre student at West Point.  However he did make his mark in the Mexican American War.  I think the stuff about his alcohol usage was over played, but this was the fault of the newspaper media of the time.  Abraham Lincoln was always a Grant supporter because he actually won battles.  During the early part of the war, he was the only general winning battles.  Lee on the other had, could not afford to lose battles, and he did.  It was the Confederate loss at Gettysburg, and the Union victory at Vicksburg upon which the movie concluded that all was down hill for the Confederacy after this point and the fate of the war was decided.  

Documentary Review: Sherman's March to the Sea

This is one of those events in the history of the war which is seen, much as the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan.  For those who were the victim, the action was one of cruelty and barbarity.  However, it is an action which brought about a quicker end of the war, and in so doing, saved many lived.
General William T. Sherman finally won a hard fought campaign for Atlanta.  At fist he fought against General Joseph E. Johnston, but his defensive, and fall back strategy frustrated President Jefferson Davis.  He finally replaced him with General John B. Hood, who was more rash.  He would pay for this rashness, as he used up his strength in attacked the Federal Soldiers south of Atlanta, and had no choice but to withdraw, leaving Atlanta to the Union.
Atlanta was an important rail hub and industrial center for the South.  When Sherman would vacate Atlanta, he would burn the industrial center, the warehouses and cotton.  The result would be a general destruction of the city.
While in Atlanta, Sherman had proposed to General Ulysses Grant that he take his 60,000 men, leave his supply lines, and march to the sea.
Sherman's strategy was to destroy anything which could be useful in helping the South carry out war.  His men also had to forage for food, as the had no supply line.  The men had been issued 20 days rations which they rolled up in their blankets.
Sherman divided his forces into two columns.  This is the part of the campaign which is so infamous.  They would often leave fires as they destroyed cotton and other items which could be used to conduct war.  They also confiscated food as they went.  Sherman responded to complaints about his tactic, "War is cruelty." 
Local militia at several points confront Sherman's forces, however with repeating rifles, and more men, and hardened soldiers, the Confederacy was not able to stop him. Joseph Wheeler commanded and cavalry brigade against Sherman's forces.  However they were to few to make a direct confrontation, except to attacking marauding groups.  The planted torpedoes (land mines) but Sherman countered this by making Confederate prisoners go in front of his men and remove the mines. 
Sherman's forces attracted many African Americans.  They followed his columns, while the men were recruited to help with making roads and bridges.  There is one scene in which one of Sherman's  columns is pressed by the Calvary.  They cross a river over a pontoon bridge.  As soon as they are across, the severe the bridge, leaving a large group of former slaves stranded.  Colonel Jefferson C. Davis (not the Confederate President) had ordered the bridge removed.  He was a known to have negative feelings towards the African Americans, but also the move made sense strategically.  Many tried to cross and were drowned, while only a few made it. 
As Sherman's forces made it closer to the ocean, their situation became more desperate.  There no longer was a sufficient supply of forage, and the men went hungry.  They had to meet supply ships on the coast as quickly as possible.  There were two choices, to go directly to Savannah which was well defended, or to follow the Ogeechee River to the ocean south of Savannah, which was defended by
Fort McCallister.  There had been a previous Union attempt to take the fort, which had failed.  however in this instance, the attack would come from the land side.  The fort had large cannon pointing towards the sea. 
However, there were few defenders, and the fort was overwhelmed in 15 minutes.  Sherman's campaign would be successful.  Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren was waiting o meet them with supplies and came into the harbor as soon as the fort was captured.
From there, they would march north to meet up with General Lee.  They would really punish South Carolina, burning homes generally and being more aggressive in their foraging.  They would also burn Columbia.

Book Review: Fields of Fury: The American Civil War, James. M. McPherson

Fields of Fury: The American Civil War, James. M. McPherson, Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2002.

This book is written by the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for “Battle Cry of Freedom.”  This book takes much of the information from that book, and combines it with many pictures, to tell the story of the Civil War.  It is mostly a chronological telling of the story, but also has other information.  It has a good explanation of the Anaconda Plan, which became the strategy of the North—to surround the South, cut it off and then squeeze the advantage.  There are chapters which dealt with paying for the war, brother fighting against brother, and slavery.  There are chapters comparing President Lincoln and President Davis.  There is another chapter comparing General Lee and general Grant.  This book adds some good insight into the Civil War.  One thing I didn’t know was that the Battle of Chickamauga was the battle with the second most casualties in war.  The South almost over rode the North in that battle, but the Rock of Chickamauga, General George H. Thomas was able to fill the breach. 

Documentary Review: Civil War by Ken Burns 8, War is all Hell

This movie begins with Sherman's march to the sea.  Sherman said, "I can make this march, and I will make Georgia howl!" General Sherman and his troops cut a wide swath marching from Atlanta to Savannah, with little resistance, Sherman's troops scavenged for provender, and ate as well as they ever had, off of the Georgia farm land.  They also reaped havoc as the went.  The heated the railroad rails, and twisted them in to a fashion that became known as Sherman's neckties.  They burned mansions, as well as crops.  They destroyed anything which could in some way have been used by the armies of the Confederacy.  This march also of course freed the men held at Anderson Prison.  Not a pretty site as men were skin and bones. 
Of course after reaching Savannah all was not over.  The then did the same thing, but to a more harsh degree as the traveled north through South Carolina.  South Carolina was the first state to secede, and where the war started, and so deserving of the greater punishment.
In the mean time, Grant continued to lengthen his line around Petersburg.  The Confederacy suffered desertion, and low morale, and eventually their line was too thin and inviting a break, which happened.  After which it was a race to see if Grant could surround Lee's army and cut it off and force surrender.  This eventually happened at Appomattox, and Lee asked for terms and the surrender was negotiated.  The official surrender took place with General John B. Gordon, Gordon and his troops surrendering to General Joshua Chamberlain. 

Documentary Review: Civil War Episode Six: Valley of the Shadow of Death

This episode introduces us to the generals, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.  Grant comes to Washington, and meets President Lincoln at a ball.  In the mean time General Lee has had the ability to predict what the opposing general is going to do.  He has this canny knack with Grant as well, however Grant's idea is to keep on the offensive.  The first engage at the Wilderness (close to Chancellorsville and in fact their are unburied bones on the battlefield.)  The most harrowing thing about this battle is the area was very dry.  The canister set fire to the kindling.  The wounded had no way to escape this fire, and many were burned alive, their screams reaching the men on both sides.  Not pleasant.
Instead of retreating as all the other generals had done, Grant continued forward, around his left flank.  He did this time and again, driving Lee towards Richmond; The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, New Market, and Cold Harbor.  The one time Lee missed predicting Grants next move was before the siege of Petersburg.  Lee had though Grant would attack directly at Richmond, but instead went around Richmond and tried to take the rail junction south of the city.  It was only by providence that enough Confederates were able to arrive, which lead to the long siege from June to April of the next year. 
Before turning to the Western theater, the movie talked about the hospital system.  Union Hospitals totaled 350 at the end of the war, up from a handful.  The Confederacy had 150 hospitals.  Dorothea Dix or Dragon Dix as she was called, was the head of nursing, working without pay.  Dorothea Dix is known as the founder of my profession, social work.  Early in the war she wanted the nurses to be plain, to dress plainly, and have no interest in the men.  However, as the war progressed, she just wanted nurses.  Walt Whitman served in the hospitals, dressing wounds, reading poetry. 
As for they Western theater, the Union drove towards Atlanta.  For the most part Sherman moved around the flanks, avoiding frontal attacks, except for at Kennesaw Mountain, where he felt the Confederates ere too thin, but the Confederates were dug in and the Union suffered significant loss.

Civil War: Episode Five: The Universe of Battle (1863)

This series was presented in 1990 on PBS.  The fifth episode tells the story of Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chikamauga, and Chattanooga.  It also talks of some of the women's programs, and the involvement of African Americans in the war.  It ends with Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address.  This presentation does a very good job of the three day battle at Gettysburg.  The Confederate had things mostly their way the first day, and they were so close to breaking the confederates and both flanks.  The story of Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine is beautifully done.  It is good to understand the import of the battle on the flank, and how timely was the defense of Little round Top.
And then the third day, Lee's biggest mistake of the war in Pickett's Charge.  It was across too wide a distance, into the face of too many canon and too many rifles.  It was doomed from the start, and those who actually made it to the Union line were killed or captured.  Lee took responsibility, and offered his resignation, which was not accepted.
The war in the West saw Union success, with the surrender of Vicksburg after a long siege, and then pushing back the Confederates in Tennessee.  It is also proper that the show focused on the conributions of women.  Did you know Clara Barton was less that 5 feet tall.  The societies that contributed to the war effort, and medical supplies were vital. 
Ten percent of the Union troops by the end of the war were African American.  That represents ten percent of the total, while the Black population in the North was only one percent.  85 percent of those who could serve, actually served in the war.  In a very real sense, the African American population fought for their own freedom, and for that of their people.
The recitation of Lincoln's two-minute speech which he gave at Gettysburg highlights this film. 
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
Those are beautiful words, words that inspire even to this day.

Myths of the Battle of Shiloh

This is the summary of an article about the battle of Shiloh by Timothy B. Smith.  The entire article is here:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/shiloh/shiloh-history-articles/battle-of-shiloh-shattering.html
The basic story of Shiloh is that the Confederates surprised the Union forces, pushed them back, and then only through the heroism of Benjamin Prentiss and his division saved Grant's army at the sunken road and the Hornet's Nest.  Even so Grant was pushed back, but the untimely death of Albert Sidney Johnston, the blunders of his predecessor and the timely arrival of Union reinforcements in the person of General Buell was Grant kept from complete destruction.  This article makes the following points:
1. The Union was not totally surprised by the Confederate Attack.  However they were surprised as to the number of Confederates involved, and the Union leaders were convinced the big battle would not take place shortly.  Colonel Everett Peabody, against orders (orders were not to precipitate and engagement) sent reconnaissance forward and found the Confederate skirmishers less than a mile to his front.  This was April 5, and resulted in the start of the battle which began in earnest the next day. 
2. General Benjamin Prentiss is credited with being the hero of Shiloh.  However he was not alone.  However, of the generals at the sunken road, he was the only who survived and was able to tell his story.  By the time the were pushed back to the sunken road in front of the "hornet's nest" most of Prentiss' were out of action by this time.  It was General W.H.L. Wallace and his men responsible for most of the defense.  However Wallace was killed.
3.  The arrival of General Don Carlos Buell saved Grant's army.  Each of the generals described this differently, Buell saying he saved the day, while Grant insisted he had the situation well at hand.  At any rate on a small part of Buell's forces arrived.  Grants forces were well entrenched, and close to Pittsburg Landing were protected by fun boats on the river.
4.  Beuregard's decision to call off the attacks is why the North won.  This too is likely not true.  As mentioned, Union forces were well situated, and had the protection of the gun boats.  In fact the next morning attacks continued, but were not successful. 
5.  The South would have won had Johnston lived.  This again does not appear to be true.  The Confederates were undermanned, and did not have the big cannon of the gunboats.
6.  The sunken road was sunken.  In fact there was not sunken road, but a trail only.  It was only called this many years later.  However, the area in front of the "sunken" road was known as the Hornet's Nest because of the great bloodshed.  Grant said the bodies were so thick a person could walk across the field, stepping from body to body without ever having to touch the ground.