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AMERICA : THE LAST BEST HOPE CHAPTER 10 A New Birth of Freedom (1863-1865) Presidential Terms Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 “...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” -Abraham Lincoln TEACHER The chapter opens with the pivotal battle of Gettysburg. Bennett presents this battle as the “high-water mark” of the Confederacy. There in Pennsylvania the Union broke General Robert E. Lee’s campaign in the North, and the tide of the war turned. It was Lee’s last foray outside of the South. Bennett sets up the battle by noting that the absence of J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry left General Lee “blind” at Gettysburg. Teachers may need to explain the role of the cavalry in determining the location and strength of enemy armies. The battle itself turned on several events, including Colonel Chamberlain and his men from Maine holding Little Round Top and Lee’s critical blunder in ordering Pickett’s Charge. Reading Bennett’s description can help students feel the terror and visualize the futility of Pickett’s men marching across an open field for three quarters of a mile at Union soldiers fully protected behind rock walls. Here, and throughout the chapter, the author notes staggering numbers of casualties for each battle. Students often confuse the term casualties with fatalities. Teachers should make clear that casualties included dead, wounded, captured, and missing. Bennett points out that Robert E. Lee despised slavery and initially spoke against secession. Students can be challenged to consider why Lee and so many others in this situation chose loyalty to their state over their nation. Do Americans today have anywhere near such loyalty to their states? If not, why not? Clearly we became a different country after the Civil War. Historians have noted that before the Civil War it was common to say, “The United States are.” Now, we say, “The United States is,” even though this is grammatically incorrect. What does this say about our view of states and nation? In the wake of Gettysburg, Bennett points out Lincoln’s keen ability to think strategically, understanding that capturing key locations (such as the Confederate capital) would not crush the rebellion. Instead, he knew the North must defeat the Confederate army. Generals like Meade did not seem to understand this, as evidenced by Meade’s failure to crush Lee’s army as it retreated from Gettysburg. Bennett’s analysis of Lee’s strategy is also critical for students to understand. He points out that Lee read all the northern newspapers. He hoped that a major victory over the Union in the North would break northern morale, increase “war weariness” and force the AMERICA : THE LAST BEST HOPE TEACHER Union to sue for peace and accept Confederate independence. This strategy is as much political as military. Other U.S. enemies in other wars have also utilized this approach (Vietnam and Iraq come to mind). Students can discuss the challenge democracies face in waging war, where support from the population is critical and political leaders must stand for election. Soon after victory at Gettysburg, the Union was shaken by the shocking draft riots in New York City, which Bennett calls the worst in our history. These riots reflect deep bitterness about the draft, especially the provision at that time that enabled wealthy conscripts to pay $300.00 for an exemption. Cries of “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” rang in both the North and South (where owners of more than twenty slaves were exempted from military service to remain home and oversee their “property”). Students can discuss the call of some analysts in our own day to bring back the draft. Teachers may need to help students make the connection between these draft riots and the accompanying brutal attacks on African-Americans in New York. Racism ran deep in many parts of the North and rioters were unjustly blaming blacks for the war that had taken on the cause of emancipation. Just four months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln traveled there and gave the most important speech in American history. Bennett includes the address, which can be read by classes to more fully understand Lincoln’s vision of the conflict. Bennett states that these few words make plain the meaning of the war and the idea of America. That Lincoln could be so conciliatory while experiencing such personal pain is one mark of his greatness. Students should take the author’s recommendation and view pictures of Lincoln in 1860 and then in 1865 to visibly see the toll of that pain. Bennett makes clear that Lincoln saw all victims of the war as Americans. This is illuminated in the story Bennett relates about Lincoln seeing members of his own family killed while fighting for the Confederacy. Mary Lincoln had two half-brothers killed fighting for the South, as well as the victim mentioned by the author – General Ben Helm, husband of her half-sister Emile. The Union victory at Gettysburg was paired with General Ulysses S. Grant’s victory at Vicksburg. The latter triumph gave the North control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half. Bennett describes Grant as a general who would fight in a way previous Union generals would not. He was willing to, using Lincoln’s phrase, “face the arithmetic.” Students can reflect on the sober meaning of this phrase. What would it be like, as a general, to send thousands of men to certain death in an attempt to win a war of attrition? Grant could do this because of the northern manpower AMERICA : THE LAST BEST HOPE TEACHER advantage. Lee could not use such tactics. Does this make Grant a hero or a “butcher,” as some in the North called him? Regardless, the casualties faced in the Wilderness Campaign were horrific. Photo 1: The Mclean House in Appomattox, Virginia where the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia took place. (National Archives) Karl von Clausewitz famously called war an extension of politics, but by other means. Bennett makes clear that Lincoln faced political, as well as military pressures. In the North, he was attacked on two fronts. Radical Republicans wanted a harder, more punitive war that would destroy the South and fully free the slaves. The “Copperheads” among the Democrats denounced the Emancipation Proclamation and raised racist alarms about the possibility of racial equality. In the midst of this heated political environment, Lincoln defended the Emancipation Proclamation (as seen in the Lincoln letter included in the text) and moved forward in bringing free African-Americans into the army. These tens of thousands of fresh troops would help turn the tide in the war and their heroism (as seen dramatically in the story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment) would, as Frederick Douglass predicted, give African-Americans a claim to full citizenship in the republic. The year 1864 initially looked like the year Lincoln would lose the presidency. But as Bennett explains, key military victories changed northern opinion and sparked optimism that the war could be won. Bennett’s note that some have argued that Lincoln could have cancelled elections in the midst of this national crisis should be of interest to students. On what basis did Lincoln not take this action? Are there any circumstances where this might be justified? The author argues that no president had ever exercised the amount of power Lincoln wielded. Other wartime presidents have followed suit. Are there parallels to be drawn to our modern “War on Terrorism?” Is an extension of presidential power necessary in times of national emergency? Another topic that will be worthy of class discussion is General William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” that took place during Lincoln’s campaign for reelection. Students should explore the concept of “total war,” and can discuss the morality of taking the war to civilians as a way of breaking the spirit of the Confederacy. Is this a legitimate exercise of the military? Was this same principle at work during the allied bombings of German and Japanese cities in World War II? Teachers might also point out that Sherman is credited with the statement, “War is hell.” How does that sentiment relate to the question of total war? As the South’s prospects for victory disappeared, Bennett notes that southern military and political leaders considered arming slaves and granting them AMERICA : THE LAST BEST HOPE TEACHER freedom in return for defending the Confederacy. This did not occur, but students can discuss how even the discussion of this possibility shows the desperation of the South, and how the very idea makes no sense in light of the South’s years of defending of slavery on the basis of black inferiority. Lincoln did win reelection in 1864 and in 1865 delivered what Bennett calls “the greatest inaugural address in American history.” Classes should closely analyze the words from that address included in the text. Clearly, the president, who at the outset of the war said its only purpose was to save the Union, now fully embraced the goal of ending slavery forever. Also clear from Lincoln’s words are his vision for a reconstruction of the nation that would avoid vengeance and bring reconciliation as quickly as possible. This lack of vengeance is also seen dramatically in Bennett’s description of Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox. Grant’s compassion toward his fallen enemy is remarkable. He told his troops that these men in gray were once again “our countrymen.” Students can discuss how rare this attitude is at the conclusion of a war – especially a war like the Civil War that had killed over 600,000 Americans (that would be equivalent to a death toll of between five and six million Americans today). How can students explain such generosity by the victorious side? Also of note is Lee’s unwillingness to continue the fight by taking his army “to the hills” to regroup and launch a guerrilla campaign. Had he done so, the war might have dragged on for years. Bennett briefly mentions the horror of such guerrilla warfare in Missouri. This little known aspect of the war might merit further research for interested students. The chapter ends with the assassination of Lincoln, one of the most traumatic events in our history. The murder came just days after the joy the North felt hearing news of Lee’s surrender. Bennett notes that members of the plot also targeted Vice President Johnson, but that the attack did not occur. Teachers should add that an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth did attack and stab Secretary of State William Seward, but he survived and continued to serve. The nation was now in the hands of a new president, a man seemingly ill equipped to lead the country through the difficult process of reconstruction. We can only speculate on how things might have been different had Lincoln lived.