Download End of Civil War Anniversary

End of Civil War Anniversary
Scott: This afternoon at 3:15, bells across America will ring in cities north and
south as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.
Keith Kocinski takes us back in time for a deeper look.
Keith: The boom of cannons, the shuffle of feet. American men stand shoulder to
shoulder and fire at their enemies, but the enemy is a fellow American.
That was the Civil War, the bloodiest war on American soil, pitting the North
against the South, and brother against brother.
These men gathered recently to pay tribute and reenact the Battle of Bentonville,
considered one of the last major battles of the Civil War.
It was a Confederate led offensive and the largest Civil War battle in North
Carolina. But by the end it just came down to numbers. Union troops
outnumbered Confederate troops three to one.
Sean Flaherty: Watching them charge out of the woods definitely sends fear
down your spine. I felt that today.
Erik Chappell: It’s pretty real. The sounds are exactly the same as they would’ve
been. The sounds, the smells, every sense, except that people aren’t actually
dying.
Keith: More than three million Americans fought in the Civil War, and more than
600,000 thousand men died, nearly 2 percent of the population.
But what caused the Civil War has been debated for years. Was it a fight to
preserve states’ rights or keep slavery?
Starting in the 1500’s, America brought over Africans, against their will, to work
as slaves. Millions of slaves were transported on ships, but many didn’t survive
the long trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of those that did ended up on big
plantations in the South.
Years before the fighting broke out of the Civil War, tension had been growing
between the North and the South. Histories say the states were divided by their
different views about government power, expanding to the West, and slavery.
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, and because of his anti-slavery
views, many Southerners felt they no longer belonged in the United States.
Seven Southern states seceded, or broke off, to form their own nation, the
Confederate States of America.
Lincoln tried to keep the country united, but on April 12, 1861 the New
Confederate Army fired shots at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, setting off the
Civil War. Then four more states seceded to join the South.
At first, Lincoln maintained that the war was about restoring the country, not
about slavery.
Then came the Battle of Antietam.
The Battle of Antietam was fought here in Maryland on September 17, 1862. It
was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, and the first major battle of
the Civil War to be fought in the North.
The North claimed victory and Lincoln announced that he was going to free
slaves in the Confederate rebellion states within 100 days.
On January 1 in 1863, Lincoln declared “that all persons held as slaves” within
the rebel states “shall be free.” The famous Emancipation Proclamation recast
the Civil War as a fight against slavery.
Reginald Washington: This is one of the great documents of human history and it
ranks right up with the Declaration of Independence as historical significance for
the U.S.
Keith: Lincoln also opened the door for blacks to join the Northern Union forces.
An estimated 180,000 African- Americans went on to serve in the Army, while
another 19,000 served in the Navy.
Washington: They fought gallantly, by all accounts, to free not only the former
slaves but to free America.
Keith: Another turning point of the war was the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
It was the closest the South came to victory, and the North to defeat.
The sacrifices at the Battle of Gettysburg inspired Lincoln to give his famous
Gettysburg Address. In just 272 words, he paid tribute to the soldiers who lost
their lives.
Scott Hartwig: Most Americans today believe we stand for equality, liberty,
freedom for all; and we didn’t all stand for that through a part of our history.
That’s what Lincoln talks about in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln is talking
about who we are as a nation.
Keith: President Lincoln wrote it was important that “these dead shall not have
died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
The war raged on for two more years until on April 9, 1865 the South surrendered
to the North, bringing to a close four years of fighting.
The states then ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, officially freeing
all four million slaves and ending slavery in America.
No matter the side, 150 years later, the men who fought have not been forgotten.
Erik: It is a great experience to be able to take part to honor those men who
fought and died in a very important turning point in our history.
Sean: Who knows some of those guys could’ve made a difference. It’s sad to see
cause an entire generation was crippled and you never know what could’ve came
of it.
Keith: Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.