2005-2-9
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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In July, eighteen-sixty-one, Union soldiers of the north and
Confederate soldiers of the south fought the first major battle in
America's Civil War. They clashed at Manassas, or Bull Run,
Virginia...less than fifty kilometers from Washington.
The Union soldiers fought furiously. But two large Confederate
forces broke the Union attack.
I'm Kay Gallant. Today, Harry Monroe and I will tell about some
of the other early battles of the Civil War.
VOICE TWO:
Northerners had expected to win the battle of Bull Run. They
believed the Confederacy would fall if the Union won a big military
victory early in the war. Now, however, there was great fear that
southern soldiers would seize Washington. The Union needed to build
and train an army quickly.
President Abraham Lincoln named
General George McClellan to do this. McClellan was thirty-four years
old.
The young general had two important tasks. He must defend
Washington from attack. And he must build an army to strike at enemy
forces in Virginia. McClellan wasted no time. He put thousands of
troops into position around the city. And he built forty-eight
forts.
After this rush of activity, however, little more happened for a
long time. McClellan told his wife: "I shall take my own time to
make an army that will be sure of success. As soon as I feel my army
is well-organized and well-trained and strong enough, I will force
the rebels to a battle."
McClellan kept making excuses for why he would not move against
the enemy. His excuses became a continuing source of trouble for
President Lincoln. The public, the press, and politicians all
demanded that McClellan do something. They wanted to win the
war...and win it right away.
VOICE ONE:
McClellan commanded the biggest army in the Union, the Army of
the Potomac. But it was not the only army. Others were battling
Confederate forces in the west.
The Confederates had moved up through Tennessee into the border
state of Kentucky. They built forts and other defensive positions
across the southern part of the state. They also blocked as many
railroads and rivers as they could.
Their job was to keep Union forces
from invading the south through Kentucky. One of the Union Generals
in the area was Ulysses Grant.
Grant had served in the army for twenty years. He had fought in
America's war against Mexico and had won honors for his bravery.
When that war ended, he was sent to an army base far from his wife
and children. He did not like being without them. And he did not
like being an officer in peace time.
Grant began to drink too much alcohol. He began to be a problem.
In eighteen-fifty-four, he was asked to leave the army. When the
Civil War started, Grant organized a group of unpaid soldiers in
Illinois. With the help of a member of Congress, he was named a
General.
All of the other Union Generals knew Ulysses Grant. Few had any
faith in his abilities. They were sure he would always fail.
VOICE TWO:
Grant, however, had faith in himself and his men. He believed he
could force Confederate soldiers to withdraw from both Kentucky and
Tennessee. Then he would be free to march directly into the deep
south -- Mississippi.
Two Confederate forts stood in Grant's way. They were in
Tennessee, close to the Kentucky border.
United States navy gunboats captured the first, Fort Henry, on
the Tennessee River. That fort was easy to attack and not
well-defended. The fighting was over by the time Grant and his men
got there.
The second, Fort Donelson, was nearby on the Cumberland River. It
was stronger and defended by twenty thousand soldiers. Grant
surrounded the fort and let the navy gunboats shell it. The fighting
there lasted several days.
VOICE ONE:
At one point, the Confederates tried to break out of the fort and
escape. They opened a hole in the Union line and began to retreat.
Suddenly, however, their commanding officer decided it would be
wrong to retreat. He ordered them back to the fort.
After that, there was no choice. The Confederates would have to
surrender.
The commanding officer sent a message to General Grant. "What
were the terms of surrender?" Grant's answer was simple. "No terms
except unconditional and immediate surrender."
The Confederates gave up Fort Donelson. Grant took
fourteen-thousand prisoners.
It was the greatest Union victory since the start of the war.
Ulysses Grant was a hero. Newspapers called him "Unconditional
Surrender" Grant.
VOICE TWO:
After the Union victory at Fort Donelson, Confederate forces
withdrew from Tennessee. They moved farther south and began to
re-group at Corinth, Mississippi.
Confederate Generals hoped to build one big army to stop Ulysses
Grant. They would have to move fast. Grant was marching toward
Corinth with forty thousand men. Another thirty-five thousand, under
the command of Don Buell, were to meet him on the way.
Grant arrived in the area first. He waited for Buell thirty
kilometers from Corinth, near a small country meeting hall called
Shiloh Church.
Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston was waiting, too. He
had more than forty thousand men, about the same as Grant. And he
was expecting another twenty thousand. But when he learned that
grant was nearby, he decided not to wait. He would attack
immediately.
VOICE ONE:
Johnston did not know it, but his attack came as a surprise to
the Union army. Union officers had refused to believe reports that
Johnston was on the move. They said his army was not strong enough
to attack.
Union troops did not prepare defensive positions. They had no
protection when the battle began.
The fighting at Shiloh was the bitterest of the war. It was not
one battle, but many. Groups of men fought each other all across the
wide battlefield. From a distance, they shot at each other. Close
up, they cut each other with knives. The earth became red with
blood. The dead and wounded soon lay everywhere.
At first, the Confederates pushed Grant's army back. They had
only to break through one more line...and victory would be theirs.
But in the thick of the struggle, General Johnston was shot in the
leg. The bullet cut through an artery. Johnston bled to death before
help arrived. Any hope for a southern victory at Shiloh died with
him.
By the time the fighting began again the next day, General Buell
had arrived to help Grant. The Confederate army retreated. The Union
army let it go.
VOICE TWO:
Shiloh. The word itself came to mean death and destruction.
The battle of Shiloh had brought home to the American people --
both of the north and south -- the horror of war. It was the first
time so many men -- one hundred thousand -- had fought against each
other in the western world. It was the American people's first real
taste of the bloodiness of modern warfare.
As one soldier who fought there said: "It was too shocking, too
horrible. I hope to God that I may never see such things again."
The north won the battle of Shiloh. But it paid a very high price
for victory. More than thirteen thousand union soldiers were killed,
wounded, or missing. On the Confederate side, more than ten thousand
soldiers were killed or wounded.
The north celebrated the news of its victory. But joy quickly
turned to anger when the public learned of the heavy losses. People
blamed General Grant. They demanded that President Lincoln dismiss
him.
Lincoln thought of the two men who were now his top military
commanders: McClellan and Grant. They were so different. McClellan
organized an army....and then did nothing. Grant organized an
army...and moved.
Lincoln said of Grant: "I cannot do without this man. He fights."
(PAUSE)
We will continue our story of the Civil War next week.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry
Monroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.