Episode 8: War is All Hell Wednesday, Mar 24 2010

1. What was the significance, respectively, of the fall of Savannah, Charleston, and Richmond?

These 3 cities were 3 very important and essential cities to the Confederacy. When even one of their few essential cities were captured by the Union it would affect the land, food, population, and more when only one of these cities are captured because they have so few important cities. Capturing these cities would lead to the eventual Union victory so the falls of Savannah, Charleston, Richmond. The loss of these 3 cities had a major influence in the outcome of the war.

2. What was the importance of the Freedmen’s Bureau?

First the Freedmen’s Bureau was a U.S federal government agency that helped distressed refugees in the war. The Bureau was created by Abraham Lincoln called the Freedman’s Bureau Bill. It was initiated at the end of the Civil. It was important because it was a huge agency in the reconstruction of the U.S helping freed slaves. It lasted for 7 years from 1865 to 1872. The agency spent around $17,000 to help establish homes and bring food to people. They also created around 4,300 schools, 100 hospitals and help find jobs for former slaves. This agency was key in reconstructing the nation by providing housing, food, medical supplies, and even to reunite families. This helped slaves and refugees become normal citizens and were a huge part in restoring the nation

3. Compare and contrast Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with his Second Inaugural Address.

Many think that Abrahams Lincoln’s address on the Battle of Gettysburg was one of the greatest speeches n American history. His speech regarded in two minutes human equality, quoted the Declaration of Independence, and noted that the war wasn’t just a struggle for the Union but a fight for the birth of new freedom. His speech was both motivational and a memorial for the lost at the bloody war at Gettysburg. For his inauguration speech it was a sadder and more serious and spoke of the future and the reconstruction of the nation. He told he would avoid harsh treatment to the South and how the evil of slavery was over. Both have recognition of the death of tall the soldiers in the war. But his inaugural speech was more serious and talked about the rebuilding of the nation and the treatment f the defeated South.

4. What is the theme of each?

 The quick but effective speech of the Battle of Gettysburg was a speech about the loss of the men in the horrible battle it was motivational and trying to improve the tone of the North. It is known to be one of the greatest speeches in American history. He was motivating the North to see this war as a struggle for freedom and should be supported. While this speech was trying to motivate and help the Union to understand the reason the bloodshed was occurring when all said and done his second inaugural speech was telling about the great tragedy of the war and the reconstruction of the nation. He told the people the violence was over and he wanted to finish the mess peacefully. Both these speeches were addressing the future and the past of the war.

5. How do they differ?

Both these speeches by President Abraham Lincoln were different in a few ways. His address on the battle of Gettysburg wasn’t even supposed to be a speech just a few remarks on the war which turned out to be a speech on the reasoning of the bloody war. While instead of addressing the reasoning of the war or the memorial of the men lost he gave speech on how he wanted the rest of the mess to be handled peacefully. He talked about the reconstruction of the nation and that the nation will be restored peacefully. These speeches were meant for different reasons during the war and address different parts.

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Episode 7: Most Hallowed ground Friday, Mar 19 2010

1. Who was nominated by the Democratic Party for president in 1864?

 The democratic nominee running against Abraham Lincoln was the ex general that fought for Lincoln General McClellan was the peace candidate but did not truly believe in his platforms cause. He was known as the cautious general who had let down Lincoln and was stripped and replaced.

 2. Why did Lincoln choose a Democrat for a running mate?

A big reason why President Lincoln chose a War Democrat as his running mate was to try to unite both Republicans and War Democrats. Lincoln knew that he would have a much better chance of winning the election with more votes from the Democratic Party. Andrew Johnson who was his Democratic running mate was a Southerner who was always against slavery which would get a lot of votes in the Democratic Party. Lincoln had to win to keep his position in trying to restore the United States. So Lincoln chose a Democratic running mate to spread the range of voters from both Democratic for Andrew Johnson and Republican for the President Abraham Lincoln. If not for Lincoln’s Democratic partner he could have lost the election.

 3. What did it demonstrate about the Republicans’ faith in Lincoln’s popularity?

 The Republican Party and civilians who were Republicans thought that President Lincoln was going to get blown out and not become reelected. People thought Abraham Lincoln wasn’t handling the war as well as he should and many were losing family and friends and turned the blame on the president. The people needed results saying that the Union could win the war and General Sherman’s march was cruel but got results for the North. People weren’t interested in the war and done with all the deaths so Lincoln more than likely without the help of his Democratic partner and the march of General Sherman he could have lost the election.

 4. Why was Lincoln pressured to drop emancipation as a condition for peace with the South?

The reason why he was pressured to drop the Emancipation Proclamation was because many Northerners didn’t care about it and it wouldn’t improve the situation with the war because the emancipation was against the South. Also with out dropping the emancipation Abraham Lincoln had a very unlikely chance to be reelected by the North. He still disagreed with the movement to remove emancipation though his presidency was at risk. Abraham Lincoln had around 130,000 African Americans fighting for him when he made the decision and would have betrayed all those soldiers dying for the Unions cause.

 5. What other factors were hurting Lincoln’s chances for re-election?
Factors that was hurting Lincoln in his chances for reelection was that he would not betray the African Americans and not drop the Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Northern slaves

 6. What implications can be drawn from Lincoln’s landslide victory?

Since Lincoln has been the supporter of the war and is trying to make sure the union can be reunited from his landslide victory I can infer that there is more war to come. Also the voters must have questioned the leadership of McClellan and not have trusted him enough to overcome Lincoln. Also from Lincoln being reelected there will be no changes that would have occurred with the election of General McClellan. From the continuation of the war and the cruel but strong push by General Sherman the Northern people started to see the president as more of a leader which led to his landslide victory. From the continuation of the war also means more death and casualties from the war.

 7. What were conditions like at Andersonville Prison?
Andersonville Prison was the largest Confederate military prison in the Civil War. Around 12,913 of the Union prisoners died out of the 45,000. They died from starvation, disease, malnutrition, and more. The prisoners were practically skeletons covered with filth and vomit. To live prisoners stole food, cloths and belongings and killed to get the resources. A big group in the prison that killed fellow inmates was the Andersonville Raiders. People died and were killed by each other in the prison to live in the harsh environment and to many the prison was hell.

 8. Why are there prisoners taken during wartime?
Prisoners were taken during wartime to either hold for ransom, to take away soldiers without killing them so they can’t fight, and to show the soldiers harshness for being the enemy. Also to torture and abuse them the South needed a good location to keep the soldiers so the North will not free them.

 9. What obligations do captors have to their prisoners?

 The obligators definitely when facing your own country should be a little humane. To prove their point and support their cause they should be harsh but not deadly. They need to feed them and give them all necessary materials to keep them alive and at least a little bit healthy but still scared. When killing and torturing that is over the limit you need to scare them not kill them. Put them to work just don’t be cruel for ransom or hostage or whatever reason you need to in prison them.

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Episode 6 Valley of the Shadow of Death Thursday, Mar 11 2010

1. How did supplies reach troops during the Civil War?

 Supplies  were a very controversial matter in the Civil War. A method of supplies was supply train that carried cargo to the soldiers. Many soldiers on both sides were desperate and lived off the land stole supplies from towns and farmers and killed livestock for food. Soldiers forcefully took food from innocent people for their lack of food. Each side had huge battles for each others supplies and food. The winning side too the supplies and the loser was either dead or lost supplies.

 2. What types of supplies would troops need in order to fight a war?

 You need to have the amount of weapons needed to outgun the other side if possible. Other than guns you need food and little necccesities to give the soldiers the needed supplies to still be humane. Things like equipment like jackets helmets ammo for guns pockets boots every piece of clothing needed to help keep the soldier alive and healthy to fight. They also need vehicles if possible. Like trucks and other equipment to help fight the enemy if those kind of vehicles are available. Things like food, equipment like cloths and needed padding for troops and weapons with enough ammo are all needed supplies for troops at war.

3. How did the Union blockades affect the flow of supplies into the South?

The blockades deeply affected the amount of supplies in the south. It made the range of supplies that came from any part of the north unavailable and started to isolate the South giving them less resources for supplies. The North blockaded with modern vehicles. They blockaded the South from Texas and blockaded some coasts around the south. This cut off lots of their resources that came from the areas that are barricaded. With less supply resources it deeply hurt the South.

4. The Civil War often split families apart. Where do you think one’s loyalty should lie with one’s family or one’s country?

Ones loyalty should lie with ones country but should not split apart ones family on the issue. You should never betray your family it is wrong to not fight for your country but it is worse in my opinion to fight against your own family. If you must help your country don’t become a soldier maybe un-violently help your country, it is wrong when you are in a battle and you’re trying to kill your sibling.

5. Trace Sherman’s advance through the South. Which major cities lay in his path? Some major cities that lay in his path were

•  Chattanooga
• Atlanta
•  Savanna
•  New Hope
• Macon
•  Milledgeville
•  Bentonville

6. Why do some southerners, even today, consider him the greatest villain of the war?

He was relentless in his terrible famous march through the southern states. His soldiers went out of control and started burning and destroying everything in the South they saw. He left a trail of burned buildings and killed livestock. His beliefs were he thought the entire South and everything they did should be stopped and destroyed and anyone supporting should be hurt. He hurt many innocent people and was cruel he may of shortened the war but he caused more hatred. Whoever fought the war with decency would never forgive him for his cruel slaughtering.

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Episode 5 The Universe at War Friday, Mar 5 2010

1. Why was the Battle of Gettysburg such an important northern victory? There were many reasons why this battle was such a tremendous victory for the North. First this was the first battle in the north and was a free state. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the war and took 3 days to conclude. Also this was the first major battle that the South’s General Lee lost by using his old battle strategy. This battle also was a turning point in the outcome of the war. The South’s economy was depleting and with this loss it changed the wars outcome.

 2. How did Lincoln view the victory? Abraham Lincoln viewed this victory as a battle with to many casualties. There were 51,000 Americans dead in one battle. He later gave a speech on the war giving a speech that was a push to keep the sprits up in the North and the men who died in this battle will not die in vain.

3. Who took responsibility for the Confederate defeat? General Robert E. Lee totally took the blame for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg saying he told his men he asked to much out of his soldiers. Lee totally blamed himself saying he used an outdated strategy and a down the center attack which in his opinion cause unnecessary casualties. He wanted to resign and asked the Confederate president if he could resign but Jefferson Davis declined the resignation.

4. In what ways did women contribute to the war effort? Women in the war were doctors disguised soldiers, and even spies. Examples were women like Sarah Edmonds who enlisted under the name of Franklin Thompson. Women actually served as doctors as well in the war. Like Mary Edwards Walker was with the Union and treated the wounded from Fredericksburg.

5. How do women participate in war today? In the war today women are equal to men in every way. They can be a medic a caption they can be promoted as much as a man can. Today women are judged by their personality and performance the same exact as men. Women don’t do more or do less they can be anything men can be from a soldier to a medic.

6. Have their roles changed? Yes extremely, in the Civil War they were treated unequal to men and dint have nearly the same rights men had. Women couldn’t be a medic with out controversy, they couldn’t be a soldier unless they disguised them selves as men, and were treated differently by everyone in the Civil War. Today we don’t judge soldiers and doctors by their gender we now judge them by their performance. Today people are much more equal in war situations than in the past wars.

7. What issues did the Civil War feminists address? Women addressed their equal rights compared to men. While they were keeping their houses clean and making resources for men in the war they pushed even more for the right to vote participate and the war and more. They used the Civil War as an example for a reason to give women equal rights. The Shakers during the Civil War had been called the first conscientious objectors.

8. What does conscientious objector mean? The definition conscientious objector is someone who refuses to serve in the armed forces on grounds of conscience. This in other words is someone who will not willingly serve in the military or any armed forces because of the person’s conscience. There were groups called the Quakers and the Shakers who were very large groups who refused to fight in the war for religious reasons and were mistreated for their unwillingness to bear arms.

9. If the US issued a draft tomorrow, would you consider yourself a conscientious objector? Yes, because first off i only agree with drafting people for battle is a last resort and in my opinion is the worst and should be last option to obtain more soldiers. If it was a first resort and the military just wanted more men even though none have been harshly depleted, then I would most definitely be a conscientious objector.

 10. Would it make a difference what the war was about? If the war was for the survival of man kid or a type of war that could determine our fate quickly then yes I would change from a conscientious objector. If that case it would be necessary because drafting should be used if the country or whatever is in a situation where they are desperate. But in other cases I still disagree because drafting like I said before is a last resort and if not in desperation don’t use the draft. So if the war was about something that isn’t desperate or in a situation that could determine the people in the country everywhere I disagree with drafting.

11. Is war morally right at certain times and morally wrong at others? Yes, in my opinion if you’re at war and your side has tried every way possible to have peace and solve the problem then it might have to be necessary to go to war as ugly as it is. Also if the war could determine your fate deeply of your nation then yes to protect yourself from the enemy you have to go to war. If the war is started by lack of negotiation and you didn’t try with all your power to work out your agreement you are killing innocent lives over an problem you possibly could of resolved. Also if it is over a miner problem and many people are dying for a small resource or land growth war is morally wrong and is unnecessary.

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