Endurance Without Relief 1

[Music] the siege of petersburg was the longest military campaign of the civil war nine and a half months of combat [Music] 70 000 casualties a landscape devoured by war [Music] the suffering of civilians thousands of u.s colored troops fighting for the freedom of their race [Music] and the titanic clash of two great generals the confederacy's robert e lee and the union's ulysses s grant three years into the civil war grant leads a series of brutal and aggressive attacks on lee's forces for a month their armies clash again and again moving south from the wilderness to cold harbor suffering staggering losses grant seeks to end the war by reaching the confederate capital of richmond while lee remains focused on defending richmond grant's heavy casualties at cold harbor convince him to shift his attack to the heart of lee's supply lines 25 miles south [Music] petersburg petersburg is a critical manufacturing center located at the junction of four railroads and two roads the city funnels badly needed food and supplies to the confederate government and its troops enrichment [Music] a 10-mile defensive line built by slaves and confederate troops surrounds petersburg grant hopes to take petersburg by storm with massive force a 60-mile supply train moves across the broad james river using ferries and a half mile long pontoon bridge anchored by schooners [Music] grant sent 16 000 soldiers to attack from the east defending petersburg is confederate general pgt beauregard outnumbered four to one he sends desperate messages to lee enrichment asking for reinforcements beauregard's line is overrun but union leaders unsure of the number of confederate defenders fail to exploit the weakness and halt the attack beauregard regroups and pulls back closer to the city the south has narrowly averted disaster union troops cursed their leaders for missing an easy victory knowing that they now face a long battle against entrenched southern forces [Music] after four days of battle with only small gains grant decides to dig in for a lengthy siege of the city attempting to sever its supply lines eight miles from the siege lines grant establishes his headquarters and supply base at city point it now becomes the command center for the us army overnight city point becomes one of the busiest ports in the world with hundreds of steamers sailing ships and barges bringing in supplies locomotives and railroad cars are brought by barge from washington they move supplies to the troops now dug in at the front [Music] while city point expands petersburg's supply center collapses labor shortages mismanagement and different rail gauges delay vital supplies constant shelling from siege cannon mortars and field artillery causes soldiers on both sides to dread the shrieking sound of incoming shells that smash their bomb-proof shelters the largest mortar along the lines gains fame the dictator blobs 200-pound shells two and a half miles into confederate fortifications the bombardment causes some civilians to flee the city sometimes the firing would be so near our hearts would stand still expecting every minute to see the enemy rush in the civilians who remain must deal with disease poor sanitation and lack of food with all our starvation we never ate rats mice or mule meat we managed to exist on peas bread and sorghum [Music] to break the entrenched stalemate union soldiers devise a bold plan they dig a 500 foot tunnel directly underneath a confederate strong point [Music] and pack it with 8 000 pounds of gunpowder shortly before dawn the fuse is lit a deep rumbling sound that seemed to rend the very earth in twain startled me from my sleep then a heaving and lifting of the fort and of the hill on which it stood then a monstrous tongue of flame shot fully 200 feet in the air guns were seen half buried the heads or limbs of half-buried men wriggled in the loose earth in the horrific confusion the first wave of union forces plunges into the crater instead of around it and attempts to climb the towering bank on its far side they receive heavy fire from surviving confederate troops in surrounding trenches and seek shelter in the crater now jammed with dazed leaderless soldiers us-colored troops swing around to the north of the crater they capture confederate trenches taking prisoners and flags and give no quarter killing confederate prisoners [Music] but they and other union troops are hopelessly drawn to the action inside the crater the men were dropping thick and fast most of them shot through the head every man that was shot rolled down the steep sides to the bottom and in places they were piled up three and four deep the cries of the wounded pressed down under the dead were piteous in the extreme our comrades had been slaughtered in the most inhumane and brutal manner our black slaves were trampling over their mangled and bleeding forms revenge must have fired every heart and struck every arm with nerves of steel confederate general william mahone fires up his troops on their way to the crater telling them they are the last line of defense protecting their wives homes and the confederacy many are enraged at the site of armed black troops attack with ferocity and give no quarter in one case beating a soldier to death with their ramrods [Music] white union troops fighting alongside black soldiers also face the rebels wrath to save themselves they turn on their fellow soldiers shooting and bayonetting u.s colored troops chippewa and ottawa american indians from company k of the first michigan sharpshooters also found themselves in the crater's desperate landscape they showed great coolness some of them were mortally wounded and clustering together they covered their heads with their blouses chanted a death song and died [Music] by the end four thousand union soldiers are dead wounded or captured the south suffers roughly sixteen hundred casualties but gains a victory it is the saddest affair i have witnessed in the war a stupendous failure hoping to regain momentum and extend his line grant faints an attack north toward richmond then sends his forces to capture the weldon railroad this leaves lee with only the boyton plank road and the south side railroad to supply his men with rations low major general wade hampton proposes a daring raid behind union lines he swoops upon the federal troops and returns with more than 2 000 head of cattle the feat becomes known as the beefsteak raid and briefly boosts confederate morale pickets taunt their union counterparts bragging about their steak dinners but there has been no strategic gain [Music] grant again attacks lee simultaneously at richmond and petersburg trying to break his defenses the clash at petersburg occurs at peebles farm and though grant gains valuable ground lee still holds both cities i think it cannot be long now before the tug will come which if it does not secure the prize will put us where the end will be in sight [Music] as the cold of winter sets in it is now a war of attrition lee and his troops have sparse rations and are now barely hanging on the insufficiency of food and non-payment of troops have more to do with the dissatisfaction among the troops than anything else the ration is too small for men who have to undergo so much exposure and labor is ours all were suffering from reduced rations and scant clothing exposed to battle cold hail and sleet union troops at the front lines receive train loads of food and equipment streaming in from the wharves of city point [Music] but for both sides trench warfare on this scale strains the endurance of men it was endurance without relief sleeplessness without exhilaration inactivity without rest constant apprehension requiring ceaseless watching not the least of the evils encountered was the unavoidable stench from the latrine in a bold and desperate offensive lee amasses nearly a quarter of his army in an attempt to break through grant's petersburg defenses at union fort stedman there seemed to be but one thing that we could do fight to stand still was death after initial success lee's forces are overpowered he loses almost 2 000 of his dwindling forces grant knows that lee's forces are spread thin he attacks at jones farm and gains valuable ground for a final assault on petersburg with the union in firm control president lincoln has arrived at city point he reviews captured confederate soldiers from the battle but despairs at the sight of wounded and dead and declares that he has seen enough of the horrors of war on his boat the river queen president lincoln lays the framework for healing the nation's wounds let them once surrender and reach their homes let them have their horses to plow with and if you like they're guns to shoot crows with give them the most liberal and honorable terms with victory close at hand grant now fears lee and his troops will slip away i was afraid every morning that i would awake from my sleep to hear that lee had gone and the war might be prolonged another year grant orders in advance on the south side railroad by a road junction known as five forks knowing it is his last lifeline for supplies from the south lee orders his men to hold five forks at all hazards but it is to no avail with the next day's morning light grant orders a wide frontal charge the south side railroad is taken and lee's defenses crumble at fort gregg just 300 confederate troops valiantly hold back 5 000 union troops buying time for their comrades to escape 256 of the 300 men die [Music] the remaining confederates now seek only escape as we pass the houses in the city the women peeped out and said to us sadly goodbye rebels we never expect to see you again in richmond confederate president jefferson davis reads a telegram from lee please give all orders you find necessary to evacuate the capitol union troops find petersburg abandoned by april 3rd grant sets off in hot pursuit of lee's forces that same day richmond falls u.s colored troops are among the union forces marching into petersburg in richmond lee hopes to regroup and resupply his forces but a final engagement at appomattox courthouse forces his surrender on april 9th [Music] the victorious and the defeated show the strain of more than nine months of deprivation and trench warfare [Music] the war is finally over but it has taken a dreadful toll poplar grove national cemetery is built near petersburg to bury and commemorate the union dead blanford cemetery becomes the burial ground and mourning place for the confederate dead [Music] i wondered who the man was who lay beneath [Music] where his home was [Music] whether his mother was still alive away perhaps in some far-off part of the world wondering what had become of her boy and she had not heard from him for so long but still hoping that one day he would return to gladden her heart in declining years here he lay alas sleeping his long sleep among the unknown dead [Music] hey hmm [Music] you

Channel: Petersburg NB

Views: 1,061

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: -PWxQdg_1PQ

Length: 19min 18sec (1158 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 18 2020