September 12, 2026 • 19 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Abraham Lincoln entered the Civil War with no military experience and no blueprint for putting down a rebellion of eleven states. The Union had more men, more factories, more railroads, and a powerful navy. But none of those advantages guaranteed victory. After the disaster at Bull Run, Lincoln had to build an army almost from scratch, find generals willing to use it, and convince a divided Northern public to endure a war that was already proving longer and bloodier than almost anyone had imagined.
In Episode 29 of our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Hillsdale College professor Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, shares the story of how the most dire struggle America had yet faced unfolded during the first two years of the Civil War.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we return to Our American Stories. Up next, another
installment of our series about us, the Story of America
series with Hillsdale College professor and author of Land of Hope,
Bill McClay. The Civil War was a culmination of many things,
most of all, slavery and the election and of Abraham Lincoln.
(00:31):
Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Take it away, Bill. So that's how the Civil War began.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It was a long road, a century in the making,
and one that in retrospect almost had to happen in
some form or another. Few at the time believed it
would take as long as it took to end or
that the casualties would pile up as high as they did.
(01:00):
But for Lincoln, there was one goal and one goal alone,
the preservation of the Union. That's important to keep in mind.
It was not until well into the nation's bloodiest war
that the ending of slavery itself would become an explicit
Northern objective.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You can see that from.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The elaborate, emphatic professions of Lincoln in the first inaugural address,
that he had no intentions no inclination, as he said,
to change the status of slavery as it had existed.
As the war began, the North had big advantages, no doubt.
The North had more people, 22 million compared to the
(01:43):
South's 9 million, 4 million of which were slaves. The
North had economic power that dwarfed the South, from banking
to manufacturing to shipping and other commerce, and they produced
most of the iron and coal in the country. There
was a huge advantage in the North when it came
to transportation, too. Railroads, ships, even horses. An actual navy.
(02:07):
And a pretty good-sized one at that. So the odds,
at first glance, were clearly stacked against the South. But
there's more to war than material and industrial strength.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
The advantages the South.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Enjoyed were significant, and they were intrinsic advantages rather than extrinsic.
For one thing, victory for the South had a much
easier path. To win, the South merely had to hang
on to their territory. They had to hang on to
their own land, their own homes. They had only to
hold on to what was already theirs. The North had
(02:47):
to fight and win control over huge amounts of hostile territory,
750,000 square miles of territory.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
That's nearly the size of Mexico. And after a win, the.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
North would then have the unenviable task of trying to
get the South to rejoin the Union, forcing it back
into a union that it had rejected.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Most important of all, the North was fighting for an idea,
the idea of the Union.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The South was fighting to defend their homes.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But there were more reasons for Southerners to feel optimistic
for a triumph in this battle.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
One thing the South had on its side was time.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
If the South could simply prolong the war and its
casualties long enough for Northerners to get tired of the
cost of war in human life and financial costs too,
They would just quit the war and let the South
go and continue to trade with their new southern partner.
There was a saying in Afghanistan and some of their
(03:53):
leaders that fleshes this line of thinking out. Asked about
America's superior fighting power and military technology, an Afghan general lamented,
they have the watches, we have the time. BELL RINGS
It was true of the 21st century, and it was
a very large advantage the South enjoyed.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Over the North.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The South also had the hope that one of its
great European trading partners, completely dependent on cotton, might eventually
join the South's side.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, for example, Great Britain.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
The South also had remarkably talented military leaders, arguably the
best in the nations.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And others who'd left the Union Army to join the
Confederacy's cause.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
And the South was filled with young and older men
alike who were used to shooting.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
They were used to shooting squirrels at long distances for
food and fun.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They were great marksmen.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And great marksmen make for a fierce and effective army
of resistance. And that's not all. Lincoln was up against
it at home. He was a new president. His victory
was not a big one. It was crushing in the
(05:16):
northern states. But remember, he did not get a single
electoral vote from the southern state. So his support was
not long, wide, or deep. And he didn't have a
true national army. There had always been this prohibition against
the notion of a standing army.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Going back to the founding.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So Lincoln would have to create a national army, and
he'd have to do it very quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And it wasn't pretty. He called up the state militias.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
They would show up at mustering points dressed up in
their home uniforms, which ranged in colors from red to
black to emerald. One New York regiment even came dressed
in Turkish garb with fez hats. The army, in short,
was visibly a mess. To turn this assembly of men
(06:10):
into a functioning army would take time, skill, and real patience.
And you may remember that this was the great task
in the Revolutionary War of George Washington. How to create
a continental army that would hold together, that would be
effective in battle, that would be disciplined, that wouldn't desert
at the first opportunity.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Lincoln faced this challenge as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And Lincoln knew that he'd have to get some early
wins in this new war.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Because if he had.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
A string of early losses, people would lose confidence in
the Union's ability to achieve its objectives. And there was
a sentiment, a feeling, that this war wasn't going to
last very long. It was very deeply ingrained in the
North because of the superiority advantages that were baked.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Into the cake.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Lincoln believed When he signed up his first volunteers, it
was for a 90-day enlistment, hoping that some decisive wins,
especially a strike on the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia,
which was only 90 miles from Washington, that that would
end things.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
How hard could that be? Well, that question was answered quickly, abruptly, rudely.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And rather decisively by the first major land battle at
Bull Run, not far from the nation's capital. The force
of 37,000 Union soldiers was humiliated by a southern force
led by General Jackson, Stonewall Jackson. The northern troops were outflanked, outfought, outmaneuvered,
outclassed entirely. They came racing home along with some onlookers
(07:55):
and picnickers, observers who thought it might be fun.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
To watch a real-life battle in action.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
They would be disabused of such a silly and trivial
notion very quickly, as the North was also disabused of
the idea this war would be easy and quick. At
the same time, the General-in-Chief, Winfield Scott, a hero of
(08:24):
the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, but a
man who was 74 years old and not in particularly
good health, Winfield Scott put together a grand plan of
action known as the Anaconda Plan, named after the huge
South American snake that squeezes its prey to death. That
was the Union's plan, use its superior navy to blockade
(08:45):
the southern ports, which would have the two-fold negative effect
of not letting much-needed imports into the region, and the
economy of the South depended on imports, and it depended
on exports. The Anaconda squeezed the economic engine out of
the South, cotton, by not letting the South's biggest export
out of the country.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
It was a great strategy on paper, but there was
only one problem. It took too long.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you've been listening to Hillsdale College Professor Bill McClay
tell one heck of a story about the Civil War,
its start a century in the making. But as Professor
McClay said, almost inevitable. Civil War still happening all over
the world, but this one, our Civil War, one of
the most catastrophic of all time. We continue the story
(09:38):
with Bill McClay, the story of America's Civil War, here
on Our American Stories. you And we return to Our
(10:10):
American Stories and with the latest installment of our Story
of America series with Professor Bill McClay, author of Land
of Hope. When we left off, Lincoln had developed a
plan with General Winfield Scott to embargo and end the
ongoing rebellion in the South with his Anaconda Plan. Let's
return to the story.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Winfield Scott put together a grand plan of action known
as the Anaconda Plan. It was a great strategy on paper,
but there was.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Only one problem. It took too long.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Embargoes take time. Blockades take time. And time was not
on Lincoln's side. So he replaced the aging Scott with
the first of his many generals, with General George McClellan,
(11:03):
whose task was to advance the war and take the
battle to the south with speed and decisive victories.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But McClellan soon disappointed Lincoln, too.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
He was a stiff and snobby man, a West Pointer,
who believed in thorough preparation and training of his troops,
and as a result delayed any move on Virginia until
March of 1862, what must.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Have felt like an eternity for Lincoln.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
It didn't help matters that the arrogant McClellan had open
contempt for Lincoln's intellect and talents. Eventually, McClellan was ready
to take on the objective of seizing Richmond.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And came up with a very good plan to do it.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Instead of a direct southern march through the tough terrain
of northern Virginia, McClellan would move his army of 120,000
down the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay, south to
the piece of land between the James and York Rivers,
where Jamestown and Yorktown were, and then proceed from the
(12:06):
southeast up to Richmond.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
McClellan's opening salvo went well.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
His army was within 25 miles of Richmond, but that
early success was squandered due to McClellan's endless fussing and hesitancy,
which all but lost any military momentum. Into that vacuum
came General Lee of the Confederacy, who, through a series
of brilliant tactical moves, beat back McClellan's advances, all of
(12:34):
which ended in a Union retreat. War is tricky, and
soon Lee would suffer from precisely the opposite problem of McClellan's.
Buoyed by confidence, maybe too much confidence, Lee decided to
attack the North in Pennsylvania and Maryland, a bold thing
to do as the South's advantaged. was fighting a defensive war,
(12:58):
and yet this was going on offense in a big way,
hoping that it would show potential European supporters reasons why
they ought to join the South's cause.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
The South was strong enough to prevail.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well, it turned out to be a bigger gamble with
far more risk than Lee could have imagined. It turns
out General McClellan's intelligence unit secured Lee's battle plan. secret
orders that gave the Union troops a huge advantage. It
(13:36):
was a big advantage, but once again McClellan failed to
act decisively, giving Lee time to gather his forces.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
The two armies would meet.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
At Antietam Creek in Maryland on September 17, 1862. Nearly
22,000 men were killed or wounded that day, making it
the single bloodiest day of a very bloody war. There
(14:06):
were no winners or losers in this battle. Essentially, it
was a tie, a wash. Lincoln was not pleased with
McClellan's performance. McClellan was removed and replaced with a more
decisive and aggressive general. General Ambrose burned the side As
tough as Antietam was for the North, and it was tough,
it may have been tougher on the South. Their ability
(14:29):
to attract support from nations around the world had been hindered.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Lincoln saw an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
He'd always been pondering ways to weaken the institution of slavery.
Though never a self-described abolitionist, he's always known what slavery
was and spoke often about what it was, an unqualified evil.
Now he was getting pressure from abolitionist groups and Republicans
to do something. Lincoln understood that a move in this
(14:57):
direction would be appealing to world powers and gain their support,
while simultaneously ending any real chance of outside support by
foreign powers of the Confederacy's cause.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It was a two-for-one deal in the end. So what
held Lincoln back from moving earlier on this sideline?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Well, it turns out slavery was protected by the Constitution itself.
Lincoln had said this many times. He even addressed it
in his campaign at his inaugural address. It was not
a mere trifle. Lincoln had a near-religious view of the Constitution.
It was the North Star, along with the Declaration of Independence,
by which he was guided. Lincoln understood the very strength
(15:45):
and future of the Union depended on devotion to the Constitution.
He knew that if he were to use his executive
power to end slavery, he would have to do it
in a way that was also in accord with and
compliant with the Constitution. And Lincoln had other issues to
grapple with, very practical ones, tactical, political problems. For one thing,
(16:08):
he wanted to keep the border states like Missouri and Kentucky,
slave states that had not joined the Confederacy, he wanted
to keep them out of the Confederacy. and knew that
any bold or sudden move to end slavery might well
have the effect of pushing those border states into the
arms of the Confederacy, which would be a disaster for
(16:31):
the Union's prosecution of the war. Add to this the
fact that Lincoln wasn't certain that a majority of Northerners
would be for abolition. Lincoln was not only a statesman,
but a master politician. And he understood that it was
always perilous to get too far ahead of public sentiment
(16:54):
and opinion. Weighing all of these things, Lincoln decided in
July of 1862 that the government should adopt a strong
anti-slavery position, one that could be justified on military and
diplomatic ground. He knew that freed slaves could and would
fight in the war on the Union side, which would
(17:15):
be a good thing. for the Union militarily. He also
knew that abolition would bring support from the foreign capitals
of the world, a huge diplomatic victory for the Union.
As a Constitution man, Lincoln would have vastly preferred for
the Confederate states to abolish slavery on their own, but
(17:36):
that didn't happen, wasn't likely to happen, and Lincoln was
now prepared to use the power of his office, his
power as Commander-in-Chief under the Constitution, explicitly by the Constitution itself.
Use that power to begin the process of ending slavery.
(17:59):
Discussions with his cabinet about such a bold.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Move met with mixed reactions.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Some feared absolute chaos in the South, foreign intervention, precisely
what Lincoln did not want. Others, like Secretary of State
William Seward, thought it was a good idea.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
But thought the timing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Better to wait until a big victory, or two, before
announcing such a thing. Lincoln actually followed Seward's advice. It
was a mere five days after Antietam on September 22, 1862,
that Lincoln made public the first part of what has
come to be called the Emancipation Proclamation.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery. and a terrific piece of storytelling,
as always, by Professor Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope.
And you're hearing one heck of a story about the
beginning of the Civil War, right up to the Emancipation Proclamation,
and Lincoln's difficulty with weaving this all together and just
(19:03):
trying to do one thing and one thing alone, and
that's hold the Union together, and by almost any means necessary.
And my goodness, his ability to fire bad generals may
be one of his great talents, The story of the
Civil War, the story of so much more, part of
our Story of America series here on Our American Stories.
And we return to Our American Stories. Up next, another
installment of our series about us, the Story of America
series with Hillsdale College professor and author of Land of Hope,
Bill McClay. The Civil War was a culmination of many things,
most of all, slavery and the election and of Abraham Lincoln.
(00:31):
Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Take it away, Bill. So that's how the Civil War began.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It was a long road, a century in the making,
and one that in retrospect almost had to happen in
some form or another. Few at the time believed it
would take as long as it took to end or
that the casualties would pile up as high as they did.
(01:00):
But for Lincoln, there was one goal and one goal alone,
the preservation of the Union. That's important to keep in mind.
It was not until well into the nation's bloodiest war
that the ending of slavery itself would become an explicit
Northern objective.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You can see that from.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The elaborate, emphatic professions of Lincoln in the first inaugural address,
that he had no intentions no inclination, as he said,
to change the status of slavery as it had existed.
As the war began, the North had big advantages, no doubt.
The North had more people, 22 million compared to the
(01:43):
South's 9 million, 4 million of which were slaves. The
North had economic power that dwarfed the South, from banking
to manufacturing to shipping and other commerce, and they produced
most of the iron and coal in the country. There
was a huge advantage in the North when it came
to transportation, too. Railroads, ships, even horses. An actual navy.
(02:07):
And a pretty good-sized one at that. So the odds,
at first glance, were clearly stacked against the South. But
there's more to war than material and industrial strength.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
The advantages the South.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Enjoyed were significant, and they were intrinsic advantages rather than extrinsic.
For one thing, victory for the South had a much
easier path. To win, the South merely had to hang
on to their territory. They had to hang on to
their own land, their own homes. They had only to
hold on to what was already theirs. The North had
(02:47):
to fight and win control over huge amounts of hostile territory,
750,000 square miles of territory.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
That's nearly the size of Mexico. And after a win, the.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
North would then have the unenviable task of trying to
get the South to rejoin the Union, forcing it back
into a union that it had rejected.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Most important of all, the North was fighting for an idea,
the idea of the Union.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The South was fighting to defend their homes.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But there were more reasons for Southerners to feel optimistic
for a triumph in this battle.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
One thing the South had on its side was time.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
If the South could simply prolong the war and its
casualties long enough for Northerners to get tired of the
cost of war in human life and financial costs too,
They would just quit the war and let the South
go and continue to trade with their new southern partner.
There was a saying in Afghanistan and some of their
(03:53):
leaders that fleshes this line of thinking out. Asked about
America's superior fighting power and military technology, an Afghan general lamented,
they have the watches, we have the time. BELL RINGS
It was true of the 21st century, and it was
a very large advantage the South enjoyed.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Over the North.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The South also had the hope that one of its
great European trading partners, completely dependent on cotton, might eventually
join the South's side.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, for example, Great Britain.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
The South also had remarkably talented military leaders, arguably the
best in the nations.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And others who'd left the Union Army to join the
Confederacy's cause.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
And the South was filled with young and older men
alike who were used to shooting.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
They were used to shooting squirrels at long distances for
food and fun.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They were great marksmen.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And great marksmen make for a fierce and effective army
of resistance. And that's not all. Lincoln was up against
it at home. He was a new president. His victory
was not a big one. It was crushing in the
(05:16):
northern states. But remember, he did not get a single
electoral vote from the southern state. So his support was
not long, wide, or deep. And he didn't have a
true national army. There had always been this prohibition against
the notion of a standing army.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Going back to the founding.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So Lincoln would have to create a national army, and
he'd have to do it very quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And it wasn't pretty. He called up the state militias.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
They would show up at mustering points dressed up in
their home uniforms, which ranged in colors from red to
black to emerald. One New York regiment even came dressed
in Turkish garb with fez hats. The army, in short,
was visibly a mess. To turn this assembly of men
(06:10):
into a functioning army would take time, skill, and real patience.
And you may remember that this was the great task
in the Revolutionary War of George Washington. How to create
a continental army that would hold together, that would be
effective in battle, that would be disciplined, that wouldn't desert
at the first opportunity.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Lincoln faced this challenge as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And Lincoln knew that he'd have to get some early
wins in this new war.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Because if he had.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
A string of early losses, people would lose confidence in
the Union's ability to achieve its objectives. And there was
a sentiment, a feeling, that this war wasn't going to
last very long. It was very deeply ingrained in the
North because of the superiority advantages that were baked.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Into the cake.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Lincoln believed When he signed up his first volunteers, it
was for a 90-day enlistment, hoping that some decisive wins,
especially a strike on the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia,
which was only 90 miles from Washington, that that would
end things.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
How hard could that be? Well, that question was answered quickly, abruptly, rudely.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And rather decisively by the first major land battle at
Bull Run, not far from the nation's capital. The force
of 37,000 Union soldiers was humiliated by a southern force
led by General Jackson, Stonewall Jackson. The northern troops were outflanked, outfought, outmaneuvered,
outclassed entirely. They came racing home along with some onlookers
(07:55):
and picnickers, observers who thought it might be fun.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
To watch a real-life battle in action.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
They would be disabused of such a silly and trivial
notion very quickly, as the North was also disabused of
the idea this war would be easy and quick. At
the same time, the General-in-Chief, Winfield Scott, a hero of
(08:24):
the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, but a
man who was 74 years old and not in particularly
good health, Winfield Scott put together a grand plan of
action known as the Anaconda Plan, named after the huge
South American snake that squeezes its prey to death. That
was the Union's plan, use its superior navy to blockade
(08:45):
the southern ports, which would have the two-fold negative effect
of not letting much-needed imports into the region, and the
economy of the South depended on imports, and it depended
on exports. The Anaconda squeezed the economic engine out of
the South, cotton, by not letting the South's biggest export
out of the country.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
It was a great strategy on paper, but there was
only one problem. It took too long.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you've been listening to Hillsdale College Professor Bill McClay
tell one heck of a story about the Civil War,
its start a century in the making. But as Professor
McClay said, almost inevitable. Civil War still happening all over
the world, but this one, our Civil War, one of
the most catastrophic of all time. We continue the story
(09:38):
with Bill McClay, the story of America's Civil War, here
on Our American Stories. you And we return to Our
(10:10):
American Stories and with the latest installment of our Story
of America series with Professor Bill McClay, author of Land
of Hope. When we left off, Lincoln had developed a
plan with General Winfield Scott to embargo and end the
ongoing rebellion in the South with his Anaconda Plan. Let's
return to the story.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Winfield Scott put together a grand plan of action known
as the Anaconda Plan. It was a great strategy on paper,
but there was.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Only one problem. It took too long.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Embargoes take time. Blockades take time. And time was not
on Lincoln's side. So he replaced the aging Scott with
the first of his many generals, with General George McClellan,
(11:03):
whose task was to advance the war and take the
battle to the south with speed and decisive victories.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But McClellan soon disappointed Lincoln, too.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
He was a stiff and snobby man, a West Pointer,
who believed in thorough preparation and training of his troops,
and as a result delayed any move on Virginia until
March of 1862, what must.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Have felt like an eternity for Lincoln.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
It didn't help matters that the arrogant McClellan had open
contempt for Lincoln's intellect and talents. Eventually, McClellan was ready
to take on the objective of seizing Richmond.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And came up with a very good plan to do it.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Instead of a direct southern march through the tough terrain
of northern Virginia, McClellan would move his army of 120,000
down the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay, south to
the piece of land between the James and York Rivers,
where Jamestown and Yorktown were, and then proceed from the
(12:06):
southeast up to Richmond.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
McClellan's opening salvo went well.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
His army was within 25 miles of Richmond, but that
early success was squandered due to McClellan's endless fussing and hesitancy,
which all but lost any military momentum. Into that vacuum
came General Lee of the Confederacy, who, through a series
of brilliant tactical moves, beat back McClellan's advances, all of
(12:34):
which ended in a Union retreat. War is tricky, and
soon Lee would suffer from precisely the opposite problem of McClellan's.
Buoyed by confidence, maybe too much confidence, Lee decided to
attack the North in Pennsylvania and Maryland, a bold thing
to do as the South's advantaged. was fighting a defensive war,
(12:58):
and yet this was going on offense in a big way,
hoping that it would show potential European supporters reasons why
they ought to join the South's cause.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
The South was strong enough to prevail.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well, it turned out to be a bigger gamble with
far more risk than Lee could have imagined. It turns
out General McClellan's intelligence unit secured Lee's battle plan. secret
orders that gave the Union troops a huge advantage. It
(13:36):
was a big advantage, but once again McClellan failed to
act decisively, giving Lee time to gather his forces.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
The two armies would meet.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
At Antietam Creek in Maryland on September 17, 1862. Nearly
22,000 men were killed or wounded that day, making it
the single bloodiest day of a very bloody war. There
(14:06):
were no winners or losers in this battle. Essentially, it
was a tie, a wash. Lincoln was not pleased with
McClellan's performance. McClellan was removed and replaced with a more
decisive and aggressive general. General Ambrose burned the side As
tough as Antietam was for the North, and it was tough,
it may have been tougher on the South. Their ability
(14:29):
to attract support from nations around the world had been hindered.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Lincoln saw an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
He'd always been pondering ways to weaken the institution of slavery.
Though never a self-described abolitionist, he's always known what slavery
was and spoke often about what it was, an unqualified evil.
Now he was getting pressure from abolitionist groups and Republicans
to do something. Lincoln understood that a move in this
(14:57):
direction would be appealing to world powers and gain their support,
while simultaneously ending any real chance of outside support by
foreign powers of the Confederacy's cause.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It was a two-for-one deal in the end. So what
held Lincoln back from moving earlier on this sideline?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Well, it turns out slavery was protected by the Constitution itself.
Lincoln had said this many times. He even addressed it
in his campaign at his inaugural address. It was not
a mere trifle. Lincoln had a near-religious view of the Constitution.
It was the North Star, along with the Declaration of Independence,
by which he was guided. Lincoln understood the very strength
(15:45):
and future of the Union depended on devotion to the Constitution.
He knew that if he were to use his executive
power to end slavery, he would have to do it
in a way that was also in accord with and
compliant with the Constitution. And Lincoln had other issues to
grapple with, very practical ones, tactical, political problems. For one thing,
(16:08):
he wanted to keep the border states like Missouri and Kentucky,
slave states that had not joined the Confederacy, he wanted
to keep them out of the Confederacy. and knew that
any bold or sudden move to end slavery might well
have the effect of pushing those border states into the
arms of the Confederacy, which would be a disaster for
(16:31):
the Union's prosecution of the war. Add to this the
fact that Lincoln wasn't certain that a majority of Northerners
would be for abolition. Lincoln was not only a statesman,
but a master politician. And he understood that it was
always perilous to get too far ahead of public sentiment
(16:54):
and opinion. Weighing all of these things, Lincoln decided in
July of 1862 that the government should adopt a strong
anti-slavery position, one that could be justified on military and
diplomatic ground. He knew that freed slaves could and would
fight in the war on the Union side, which would
(17:15):
be a good thing. for the Union militarily. He also
knew that abolition would bring support from the foreign capitals
of the world, a huge diplomatic victory for the Union.
As a Constitution man, Lincoln would have vastly preferred for
the Confederate states to abolish slavery on their own, but
(17:36):
that didn't happen, wasn't likely to happen, and Lincoln was
now prepared to use the power of his office, his
power as Commander-in-Chief under the Constitution, explicitly by the Constitution itself.
Use that power to begin the process of ending slavery.
(17:59):
Discussions with his cabinet about such a bold.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Move met with mixed reactions.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Some feared absolute chaos in the South, foreign intervention, precisely
what Lincoln did not want. Others, like Secretary of State
William Seward, thought it was a good idea.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
But thought the timing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Better to wait until a big victory, or two, before
announcing such a thing. Lincoln actually followed Seward's advice. It
was a mere five days after Antietam on September 22, 1862,
that Lincoln made public the first part of what has
come to be called the Emancipation Proclamation.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery. and a terrific piece of storytelling,
as always, by Professor Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope.
And you're hearing one heck of a story about the
beginning of the Civil War, right up to the Emancipation Proclamation,
and Lincoln's difficulty with weaving this all together and just
(19:03):
trying to do one thing and one thing alone, and
that's hold the Union together, and by almost any means necessary.
And my goodness, his ability to fire bad generals may
be one of his great talents, The story of the
Civil War, the story of so much more, part of
our Story of America series here on Our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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