If no one's said the fun fact yet: General Burnside is the origin of the term "sideburns", and General Hooker... well, he typically had women follow along with his army to help with "morale".
Inaccurate reporting of General Hooker might have popularized the slang of "hooker" for prostitute, but the term predated the Civil War. It is believed to have originated during the early 1800s in the waterfront slum of Corlear's Hook in Manhattan.
an interesting thing to note about the US Civil War is that as the war went on you saw a transformation from line formation fighting to trench warfare, it was basically a mini ww1 by the end. This was added by the advancements in technology as they started with muskets and wooden ships, while ending with repeating rifles and ironclads
Fun fact: Clara Barton is the only female to have been awarded the Medal of Honor for her work in improving the medical field at the time, and would later go on to help form the American Red Cross
2 fun facts: sideburns we’re named after general burnside, and during the battle of Gettysburg, and 80 year old war of 1812 veteran grabbed his Brown Bess musket and joined the union soldiers
@@katieoberst490 Specifically because he believed troops needed regular “stress relief” and so instead of discouraging or simply ignoring the significant contingent of “seamstresses” among his camp followers, actively encouraged them to ply their trade in his camp and for his men to seek them out. The men took to calling them “Hooker’s Girls” or “Hooker Girls” which was shortened to just “Hookers” after a generation or two.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863
@Thevictoryoverhimself Being the great orator Lincoln was, I have a feeling he was confident enough in himself to know despite the short notice of preparedness that he would still be able to deliver a heartfelt speech that captured his emotions. When you're good at something, you can react and adjust a lot easier in the moment.
@@quinnknobbe7119 Hey first of all I want to say I get the meme and the joke and usually I think it’s funny. Please take this as friendly advice. But I don’t think this is an appropriate subject to make light of. The speech was given to dedicate a cemetery were 3500 soldiers on the Union side and 3900 on the Confederate side, died in some of the most horrible ways you can imagine. Lincoln responded with what many consider one of the greatest speeches in the history of the written word. All to honor their ultimate sacrifice fighting to end slavery. Some subjects should be off limits to ridicule. Again this is simply my opinion.
In my opinion, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the finest speech in the English language. It was not haphazard. It was written and re-written on the way to the event. It remains a model of speech writing.
@@MichaelScheele I'm not trying to discredit the skill of speech writing that obviously went into what makes it great, but just pointing out Lincoln's capability to breathe the appropriate amount of life and emotion into the deliverance of the words for such an occasion no matter how short the notice. Speech writing is only part of being a great orator.
Fun fact: In the photo show at 28:23, future American president Teddy Roosevelt can be seen viewing Lincoln's funeral on the building's second floor at the left side.
Wow. That's so unbelievable I had to look it up, but it is true. Apparently they asked Roosevelt's widow who confirmed it. The building belonged to Roosevelt's grandfather, and he, his brother, and what would be his future wife, went to watch from there.
Also a little more details on Grant's tactics. What made his plans brilliant is that, he essentially took away Lee's biggest advantage, which is his flexibility and maneuverability, which helped him win previous battles. As a result Lee was pretty much pinned between Grant's forces and Richmond, essentially forcing him to give up the initiative to Grant and letting Sherman ravage the south unmolested. So even though Lee was holding the line, his army and the confederate states were collapsing
When you realize that a determined offensive movement was all it took to break Lee's "invincibility" myth it makes the decision to hold Richmond at all costs look pretty silly in hindsight.
24:24 you've literally, unintentionally, figured out the naming scheme behind the M4 Sherman!!! The British named the Sherman for that VERY reason!!! XD i actually laughed at the fact that within your joke you've just figured out why that tank was named the "Sherman" 😂
The bayonet charge by the 1st Minnesota on the 1st day of Gettysburg was insane. They were outnumbered 10 to 1 and took 80% casualties. Every officer was killed but they held the flank long enough for reinforcements to stabilize the line. If they hadn't succeeded the Union would have lost the battle and likely the war. Its a story that really doesn't get the recognition it deaerves.
@@hkiller57 no way he’s being appreciated more and more by historians as time passes. Grant advocated for natives, broke up the KKK, and pushed for civil rights way ahead of his time
Col. Chamberlain's defense of Little Round Top is an absolute legend in America, at least among Civil War buffs. His regiment held the extreme left of the Union line, preventing the Confederates from taking the high ground and rolling up the flank. Chamberlain and his roughly 350 men held for over two hours against repeated charges by twice their number, until finally running out of ammunition. Knowing what would happen if he retreated, Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and sweep down the hill. The charge shocked the weary and thirsty rebels, who surrendered in droves. Chamberlain survived several more wounds throughout the war and eventually became a (brevet) major general. He even received the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, during which he received some criticism for saluting the defeated rebels. He later became governor of Maine and was awarded the Medal of Honor. An absolute legend in his time and the very model American.
Here's the thing: Lee was, and continues to be, hailed as one of the greatest military minds in American history. But Grant *still* absolutely crushed him. Lee was on another level. Grant was on a level above that. It's worth noting that Grant was elected our 18th president after the war. Truly a legend.
Grant had way more men. Grant was brave enough to go after Lee and the other southern generals, but ultimately, he just kept throwing more men at the south. The south ran out of men and supplies.
@@tammywilson985 Tactically, Lee was magnificent. But beyond the scope of individual engagements, Lee was not nearly as impressive. Where Union Generals had the edge was that they were strategically minded. Where Confederates like Lee And Forrest pulled off daring, flashy maneuvers to win one battle at a time, Union men like Grant and Sherman were brilliant at big picture thinking and long term planning, far better than most of their southern counterparts. On multiple occasions the Confederates were able to win engagements through tactical superiority, but the victories cost them men and resources they couldn't spare without any appreciable gain. A more strategically minded commander would have retreated, saving his strength for more crucial battles.
i heard from another historian (vlogging through history), its because he studied napoleons tactics. Ironically Ulysses did too, so he knew what lee would do
You can see in Post Civil War America the new idea of what binded us together. It was love and admiration for Lincoln. Even the South mourned him immediately because he spoke of forgiveness against the confederate states while his successor was harsh on them. And now as the country moves toward another civil war you see people start rejecting Lincoln. It’s very interesting
The US Army still teaches Gen Lee's tactics at West Point today. Gen Lee was a genius, sad he was on the wrong side of history or you would most likely hear more about him.
@@nivlacsenoj6264 the person who built West Point’s fortifications went on to lose the third partition of Poland, Tadeusz Kościuszko, but was also a genius military engineer. The person who selected the site of West Point was Benedict Arnold - without whom we would not have a country I would argue, who pulled a reverse Italy and ravaged his own homeland. It’s certainly got unique providence. Then again if you went to West Point they’d teach you the difference between tactics, operations, and strategy.
Lee was an excellent battlefield commander, and succeeded because he could anticipate what the opposing commanders were going to do. Where he fell short, in my opinion, was that he did not grasp the larger picture. He was seeking individual victories in battles in the hope that the north would give up because of the unpopularity of the war. Where Grant was superior was that he was fighting with the larger purpose in mind of destroying the opposing army wherever it was. At the very end of the war, he actually bypassed the city of Richmond, which would have been a large symbolic victory if he had occupied it, and continued to chase after Lee to destroy his army.
Lee was an aristocrat who served in a position of high honor, spending his whole career leading men in the field. This gave him a wealth of knowledge about tactical maneuvers. Grant, by contrast, was a common man who spent his early years in the army as a quartermaster. This gave him a keen appreciation for the vital importance of supply lines and logistics. In the end that difference between the two would prove decisive.
In the movie Gettysburg, during the attack on Little Round Top when Jeff Daniels character, Col. Chamberlin gives the order to "fix bayonets" and the subsequent charge, I get goosebumps... every time. It's such a powerful scene when your emotions are already running high from all the buildup.
@@Frost73268 you failed to mention that they had 250 men and attacked a group of 1200 confederates, with 82% of them becoming casualties in the charge. this is the largest casualty rating in a single day for a surviving military unit in American history.
@@speedy01247 you also failed to mention they fought at the First Battle of Bull Run suffering 20% casualties and at the Battle of Antietam suffering 28% casualties, and many other significant battles during the Civil War.
Total War Warhammer 2 is probably the best IMO (it’s about medieval fantasy war hammer, not 40k), but is a far cry from modern time. I still think it’s a great game but Total War in general is a time sink, and meaningful sessions can last for hours. It’s not really video friendly and is more stream friendly (some campaigns can take weeks to finish) That being said, a simpler strategy game that can finish in one session is Civilization 6. You can finish one game in a stream and it’s very enjoyable and friendly to newcomers into strategy.
@@OriginalHuman just a heads-up in case you didn't know, if you get the first game you'll be able to play on a map that is a mix of both games and has most of the lord's from both. Though in order to have all of the lord's you'll need to get all of the dlc for both games.
@@OriginalHuman Things to watch: Gettysburg, do not watch God's and Generals. John Adams miniseries. The Crossing. Grant miniseries. Best game for you to try at this point would be Ultimate General: Civil War. Its more fine tuned than Total War for Civil War stuff.
Total War: Empire is a great one, as well as TW: Napolean, and, TW: Shogun 2. There is a great Civil War mod for Empire, and, a really good WW1 mod for Napolean.
@@huntersmith6086 It would be amazing if they could do a Battletech Total War though it may be tricky to implement the mechs with. On the upside though, it would be a good chance to finally use the infantry side of Battletech that always gets ignored in the MechWarrior games.
The problem with the Union generals wasn't a lack of skill. It was a lack of aggression. It was the same issue that made Montgomery a so-so commander in WW2. He was far too cautious. Grant was the only one to realize, and, fully exploit the fact that the Union had far superior numbers, and, could afford to take many more casualties than the traitors could.
I recommend amending your language regarding the South. They left the union first then fought the war. They didn't betray the union while being a part of the union. Back off a bit
Fun Maine fact for you: the Union regiment that did the bayonet charge at Gettysburg was the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment and the officer who ordered and lead the charge, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, was awarded the Medal of Honor for that.
You MUST visit Gettysburg when you get the bus finished. I have been to a lot of historical sites but Gettysburg is insane. The National Park Service has purchased much of the land that was fought over and restored many portions of the battlefield to their historical conditions. They have a historical center that is incredible but the best part are the self-guided tours that take you through the events of the battle. If you visit in July you can watch a reenactment of the battle. Normally they have about 5,000 reenactors for the event.
General Doubleday (North) codified the rules of baseball ⚾️. He was a founder of a company that created and sold lifeboats based on his experience in the civil war. Everyone mocked lifeboat idea, until a Dutch ship with lifeboats went down. The whole crew was rescued, put on a new ship and back to business in a matter of weeks.
@@reichtanglevictor1694 From what I remember, General Hooker was known to have interactions with ladies at his military posts, hence where the term Hooker came from.
@@reichtanglevictor1694 so, the ladies of the night if I may say, followed his armies because well you know why, so they came to be called hooker's ladies, so that's that
You should watch the 4 hour long movie Gettysburg it's a great movie, And as you would think it is about the battle of Gettysburg and the events around it.
Filmed with actual civil war reenactors who volunteered their time, knowledge, expertise, and brought their own uniforms and equipment. The movie is great, seeing documentaries about the filming of the movie are also very interesting.
Suggestions for tactical/strategy games: 1) world in conflict (online servers are down but you can get it on GOG) 2) XCOM: enemy unknown or XCOM: enemy within
@@TahoesLimit that's exactly what i was thinking. it's not as ridiculously complicated as some of the other RTSs out there and the singleplayer campaign is amazing.
Would love to see him play the original XCOM: UFO Defense. Yes, it's an old game, but it's a thousand times better than the remake, and much, much harder.
Grant was actually supposed to be Lincoln's guest at the play, but he bowed out requesting the chance to spend time with his family. After the assassination he was extremely regretful and believed he might have been able to stop Booth if he'd been there.
A FANTASTIC history lesson for my fellow American here, I love that you dug this so much considering the events that took place are what ultimately propelled us into Superpower status. General Grant and General Lee's conversation is a thing of legend and likely inspiration for the advancement of future American generations yet. WOW, this was awesome to witness my guy I'm absolutely ecstatic that you enjoyed it so much. You definitely get it and I appreciate it so very much.
General Lee is one of the most fascinating historical figures in American history in my opinion. This war broke the man. He was idolized by his men. There is a video called “Robert E Lee in the post-war years (Lecture)” it goes into detail about his career becoming an outstanding educator at Washington College where he helped transform the school into a modern university. The lecture goes into the post war relationship with Grand and Lee as well.
In a time when long speeches were considered by many to be a form of entertainment, the gettysburg address was REALLY short. Here is the entire address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
I watched your video this morning before work and had to remind myself that the alarm isn't optional. I have the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address on the my living room wall as a reminder to myself of what we have done to become the nation we are today. One of the things we have done wrong as a nation is not accept responsibility for the actions of our past and learn from them. Instead we seem to prefer acting as if burying our crimes under the rug is the best way to move forward. I truly hope that Oversimplified covers the Civil Rights movement and the struggles we are still facing today getting individuals to accept that ALL men (and women) are created equal.
To be an American, we put history upside-down. Our civilization is so young and yet old. People have been here for thousands of years and you see it in our culture everywhere. I lived in Europe for years but there is no place like home.
You can be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Grant wrote his memoirs as did Sherman. You can find them free online at Project Gutenberg. I've read both of their memoirs and they are a fascinating read.
There was a man who was born in Gettysburg, year before the war. When the war broke out, he joined the confederate side. He fought at Gettysburg, the very town he grew up in, and he was killed in front of the very house he grew up in.
There are so many lessons to be learned from the civil war, but unfortunately I feel like lately we've been learning all the wrong ones. We're learning lessons of division and condemnation, instead of what Abraham Lincoln would've wanted us to learn, that at the end of the day we're all one people despite our differences. We're all human, we're all human like Ulysses S. Grant, who had a phobia of blood and yet made himself witness to brutal carnage on a daily basis because he believed it was necessary. We're all human, like that confederate soldier (I forget his real name) who left his position during the battle of Fredericksburg to offer aid and kindness to union wounded at the risk of his own life (the union troops could have justifiably assumed he was looting their bodies and shot him, but he did it anyway). We are all human, equally capable of good and evil, regardless of race, or whether we've been misled by a certain ideology. Instead of dividing ourselves and condemning each other, we should aspire to be who Lincoln wanted us to be, to be civil to each other despite our disagreements, to work to understand each other, to compromise where we can and stand firmly but calmly where we cannot, and above all else to work together to bring this country and the world into an ever brighter tomorrow. Instead of doing all of this, we're more divided than we've been since the civil war and I think that's truly, deeply sad. We can be better, I know we can, be who Lincoln and Grant wanted you to be! Anyway, thank y'all for coming to my rant. Hopefully some of you agree with me
@@WhoThoughtThisWasGood Sorry for the late reply. I thought I send it through but apparently, the comment didn't go through 2 months ago. Better late than never, eh?
I suggest Hearts of Iron IV it's a really in-depth game where you have to pick a nation and lead them through World War II. You handle everything from politics to troop production and resources. It takes some work to learn how to play but it's one of my favorite RTS games.
The final battle of the Civil War was in my hometown of Brownsville, Texas (Palmito Ranch). The port of the city had switch hands several times during the war. The Union commander knew the war was almost over but for unknown reasons ordered an attack on the Southerners. In what I think is the greatest irony of the Civil War the final battle was a Confederate victory.
I also live in Brownsville, on Old Port Isabel Road. Especially in summer, I think about all those soldiers in wool uniforms, landing near Port Isabel, and then walking through all the cacti to reach Brownsville, both Northern and Southern troops. They must have thought they were literally marching into Hell.
If this war is something that really interests you, I must recommend the book "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. It's mostly about the battle of Gettysburg, but it's such an awesome read. There's also the movie "Gettysburg" that is an adaptation of the book.
At 28:24 there is a photo of Lincoln's funeral procession in New York. On the left of the screen is a four story building with an open window on the second floor. In that window is a 7 year-old boy watching the procession go by. That 7 year-old boy was Theodore Roosevelt who would become President just 35 years later.
So not mentioning that Lee used to be the commandant of the US military Academy, and knew most of the North’s generals, because he had to assess their readiness for command and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses will help people understand how genius that Lee was. He studied his opponents like a teacher studying how to teach a student.
I live 5 minutes from one of the most influential skirmishes in Arkansas. The cemetery next to my house is also a state park, where 1,793+ soldiers were killed. Most casualties on the union side as a union supply route was ambushed and destroyed sending them back up north into the battle of Pine Bluff. Setting defenses around the court house with cannons and holding until they were pushed back to Little Rock. When you drive through the cemetery every tree begins to look different, the grass grows different than any other place around. There are cabins and water mills throughout the woods and relics from the 1800’s like canons and farming equipment as well as the soldiers graves and unnamed soldiers from both sides buried next to each other.
“Shermans March to the sea” was just brilliant. Albeit cruel to many people probably, it has many similarities to that of the scorched earth policy however in this case the invading army did so to cripple the lands economy and morale.
He then went out West after the war and did the same thing to the Native Americans. It cracks me up how many hold Union generals in high regard during the Civil War but completely ignore that most went out west to slaughter natives afterwards.
It's kind of ironic the circle that warfare took. During the 18th and early 19th century, warfare was "civilized" - armies fought each other and generally took care to prevent civilian deaths and hardship, mainly because what's the point of winning a war if you've just decimated the people you now rule and have destroyed the production capability of the land you now control? But the Civil War and Sherman's "total war" concept changed that, and introduced a concept that prevailed for a hundred years, at least until the end of WW2 and probably further. As society became more and more "civilized", warfare became more and more barbaric with regards to how it treated civilian populations and cities.
Here in Columbia, South Carolina on the capital building we have stars on the sides marking where Sherman’s cannons struck. I’m glad the north one but my state has lost many of its historic buildings because of him.
If you're looking at Total War in particular, the Warhammer ones would be by far the best one at this point in time, in terms of content and mechanics, Just having each race be vastly diverse from one another makes it a good pick, Then consider that all 3 games and dlcs merge together if you own them all, creating the largest total war game in history. It is also the most popular game within the community since it came out. It is a more drawn out game though, definitely more of a stream game. Xcom 2 on the other hand is more squad level tactics, 4-6 soldiers on 10-15 minute missions trying to rise against an alien occupied earth. The customization is the best in the franchise and is often best when you base all your soldiers off of viewers/friends. The modding scene is also really good, have imported armours from everything between MW 2019 SAS to Warhammer 40k.
@@patgray5402 Fantasy has always been more on the goofy side, it's nowhere near as grimdark as 40k. Doesn't stop TWW2 from being the Best total war on the market atm. And price wise, it's a grand strategy game, they're always expensive. If anything, TWW2's on the cheaper end of the spectrum, look at anything paradox and you'll be spending $300-500 on dlc, $200 if you want everything Civilization, Even TW: Rome 2 has more expensive dlc than TWW2's $150.
@@Drakefance5 Less Grim Dark? Yes. Goofy? No. It was still pretty grim dark for a fantasy universe. Beast men breeding through capturing human women for example. And there was nothing goofy about Nurgle or Khorne either.
@@patgray5402 Monty Python Horse Actors, flying Goblins, Rats with Miniguns, Dinosaurs with robot arms and lasers on their backs and they all play american football. It's pretty goofy. Not saying it doesn't have it's dark moments, Just compared to 40k, it's got some silly stuff in there.
If you want a great movie on the period, I recommend Lincoln. It covers the end of the war and the passage of the 13nth amendment. The performances are fantastic and it’s a great depiction of the time.
9:14 speaking of snapping turtles, General George Meade was described by his troops as “ that damned old cockeyed snapping turtle” and was how he got the nickname “Old Snapping Turtle”
If you want something truly emotional, you should watch the History channel 3 part mini-series on Ulysses S. Grant. You get to see just what a first-class human being he is, what an American Hero he is, I cry everytime i watch it
Picket’s Charge, one of the many final attempts to break Union lines was conducted on a massive field open for miles against artillery and Union rifle fire. I have seen the field myself and the field was massive, it expanded far and wide. And as it wasn’t stated this field was completely open, no cover was in the field. Lee retreated so that no further life would be lost in battle after the devastating failed charge. Picket suggested the charge and Lee pretty much allowed it to happen which is one of the reasons why Lee says it was his fault for their defeat. Also fun fact: Only one civilian died in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Napoleon total war’s darthmod. And Empire is a good choice as well! Battles last pretty long and they require some thought every time you get in an engagement.
I've been to gettysburg, Chamberlain, who was an english professor from main, actually convinced numerous deserters to follow him into battle and charge down a small hill called "little round top." they had literally no ammunition, and it was an extremely impressive attack.
Lee got Napoleonitis. He thought he was invincible because he had always won. Also Lee is generally considered the better battlefield general, But he was up against McClellan... Grant did pretty well most of the time. But Grant was much better at the bigger picture. Grant after the war is a fascinating chapter in itself. Also he fought through Virginia against a enemy on home turf behind long and strongly built defenses all the time. Lincoln and Grant knew it was gonna be nasty.
17:50 yes, i used to always pass by where that statue used to stand. Nowadays the property just has a ton of old Confederate battle flags on it (it's just south of Nashville)
Yes, unfortunately slavery is still constitutional as a form of punishment. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, *except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted*, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Hence the for-profit private prisons using inmate labor.. :/
Retired U.S. Marine here. Thanks for sharing your reaction to this! If you want to see a much more in-depth history of the Civil War (9 episodes, 11+ hours), you would probably really enjoy the Ken Burns mini-series The Civil War. It's incredibly powerful, uses a lot of original photos, soldiers' and various civilians' letters, contemporary music, etc., and features a group of outstanding historians. It goes into a lot of detail about the strategy and tactics, the personalities of the leaders and of less senior soldiers (since I was enlisted for nine years and an officer for eleven and retired as a captain, I appreciated the points of view of the troops), and also about the social factors and the effects of technologies like the railroads and telegraph. Ken Burns also did outstanding documentary mini-series on World War II and the Vietnam War. He's done histories on everything from baseball to jazz music to the Dust Bowl in North America during the Great Depression. They're all good, but I think the ones on the Civil War, World War II, and Vietnam are the best. Thanks again for this, and Semper Fidelis!
In the Battle of Gettysburg, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, they guy who led the bayonet charge on the Union left, he held off multiple waves of rebels before he was running low of ammunition, and called in for the bayonet charge that he led personally. As for Picket's Charge, Lee interpreted since most of the battle were held in the flanks, he had the thought that the center was weakened since they would have sent reinforcements to the flanks, but it wasn't the case. Before the charge, the 2 sides were shooting each other with their cannons which is the biggest artillery barrage in American history.
(1 of 2) 1) General Burnside was so unqualified to command the Union Army of the Potomac that he said so himself. For political reasons he continued to serve as a general until his last debacle, the Battle of the Crater in 1864. This battle presaged the WW1 use of underground explosives to destroy enemy trenches. 2) At 5:45, regarding the "nasty" food, two items of food comprised much of the soldiers' diet, at least for the Union: hardtack biscuits and bacon (salted pork). The biscuits were sometimes years old, especially early in the war, and were referred to as "worm castles." They were hard enough to break teeth. If they were lucky the meat would arrive before it became infested with maggots. In Ken Burns's Civil War documentary, there is a quote from a soldier who said they would make the biscuits edible by placing them next to a piece of bad meat to attract the worms and then dunk the biscuits to soften them. 3) Both sides passed conscription laws. Ironically the South did so first, since they claimed to be fighting against government tyranny. 4) When the Union Army began accepting black volunteers in 1863 they were paid less than white soldiers and had to pay for their clothes, unlike the white soldiers. Their net pay was $7 per month, compared to $13 for whites. In 1864 Congress granted them equal pay, retroactively. Also, OverSimplified said the nearly 200,000 black troops comprised 10% of the total (nearly 2 million total). In 1861 the professional, "regular" army had only 16,000 officers and men. Promotion was very slow. When the war began this small force formed the nucleus of both the Union and Confederate armies. Captains and First Lieutenants were breveted (temporary promotion during wartime) to Brigadier or Major General; a few of them, like J.E.B. Stuart, were under the age of 30. One result of this was that many of the opposing generals knew each other, which sometimes gave them an edge. 5) With less than half as many men, the Confederates won the Battle of Chancellorsville, fought in dense woods, by flanking the far end of the Union line. The last corps in line had not sent out pickets (observation posts) to warn of an attack. They panicked and ran toward the next corps, which joined them, and so. The attack might have been an even greater victory but for its having been delayed until near sunset, although coming from the west made them more difficult to see and possible contributed to the panic. Stonewall Jackson had gone ahead of his men in hopes of continuing the rout, but darkness forced him to head back toward the Confederate troops, who were intermixed with Union troops due to the chaos of fighting a mobile battle in dense woods as the sun set. 6) At 9:16, the general jokingly called "Snapping Turtle McGee" by OverSimplified is George Meade. Not the most handsome of men, he was famously described by one soldier as resembling "a damned old goggle-eyed snapping turtle." 7) You asked why the Union Army of the Potomac kept moving south into Virginia. The Union needed to prosecute and win the war, whereas the Confederacy needed only to play defense and hope the North gave up. Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, is just 100 miles (160 km) from the Union capital. The political objective of capturing Richmond preoccupied the North early in the war, but the later commanders like Grant understood that you first destroy the enemy's army, then capture his capital. 8) OverSimplified incorrectly stated the Battle of Gettysburg began June 1. It was fought July 1-3, 1863. There is a historical myth that Confederate troops entered the town to confiscate some shoes from the local shoe factory and the battle was an accident. This story originated in the postwar memoirs of Confederate General Harry Heth. In fact, there were no shoes or shoe factory. Like many battles the location of Gettysburg was not chosen, but rather was dictated by geographic reasons. About 10 roads converged there, and the Union troops occupied the heights south of the town, enabling them to fight on the defensive and suffer fewer casualties. 9) I found an article about Joseph, the guy who was picking beans in the video: emergingcivilwar.com/2018/11/19/civil-war-cooking-harvesting-a-mess-of-beans-during-battle/ In his defense, the Confederates had requisitioned most of the food in town, "paying" for it with worthless Confederate currency. Ironically his wife Sarah is better known for her diary, which was quoted by Ken Burns in his Civil War documentary: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Broadhead 10) Here's a clip from the outstanding, extremely long movie "Gettysburg" reenacting the bayonet charge mentioned at 11:20. ua-cam.com/video/RVguK4OohTU/v-deo.html It was done by only 200-300 soldiers, the remnants of the 20th Maine Regiment of Volunteers. They were out of ammunition, and so could not remain where they were. If they retreated, the Union army would be flanked just like in the previous battle at Chancellorsville. The North would lose the battle and possibly the war. So they fixed bayonets and charged with unloaded rifles. Jeff Daniels plays the commanding officer Joshua Chamberlain, whose life was so extraordinary that a truthful movie about him would seem like Hollywood melodrama. (Postwar he was governor of Maine, president of Bowdoin College, and lived in pain for 50 years after he was wounded so severely it was thought to be mortal. His death was erroneously reported and he was given the only postmortem, it was thought, promotion to general in the history of the Army of the Potomac. He was one of the Union generals who was given the honor of receiving the surrender of flags and weapons of the Army of Northern Virginia. According to Chamberlain's memoirs, as the Confederates were dejectedly laying down their arms, on his own initiative he called his men to attention as a sign of respect, a gesture much appreciated by the Confederates. Unfortunately, this story from Chamberlain's memoirs, published posthumously and after the deaths of nearly all other witnesses, might be an exaggeration.) 11) At 15:12, OverSimplified says the entire town of Gettysburg was turned into a hospital to care for the "scores" of wounded men. Yes, about 1000 score (20,000)! In the 3-day battle the Union suffered 23,000 casualties: more than 3000 killed, more than 14,000 wounded, and more than 5000 captured or missing. Confederate casualties were 23,000-28,000 (I've heard speculation they were even higher). All of the Union wounded and 8000 of the Confederate wounded and captured were left in Gettysburg, at least for a while. There were only 2400 residents of Gettysburg. Also, there were more than 3000 dead horses from the battle. Their corpses were burned in giant pyres, which made the locals violently ill. 12) The nurse Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. 13) The guy who spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address was Edward Everett. He had a distinguished career as a pastor, an orator, president of Harvard, ambassador to the UK, Governor and Senator of Massachusetts, and U.S. Secretary of State. After their speeches Everett wrote to Lincoln "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes." I would recommend also reading Lincoln's magnanimous Second Inaugural Address, given just weeks before the war's end when victory was in sight. Like the Gettysburg Address, it's quite short and contains beautiful prose. Remarkably, Lincoln had one year of formal education. These 2 speeches are engraved on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm 14) At 16:20, the photo on the calendar is of the Korean "K-Pop" band BTS. 15) Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (the guy with the funny statue) is famous for being one of the best cavalry commanders in military history, which is especially remarkable because he had had no military training before the war. He is infamous for being the first "Grand Wizard" of the terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
11:20 If I remember right, that section of the defence was give to the 1st United States Sharpshooter Regiment, and the main reason why they did a bayonet charge was the were either out of ammo or very close to being so.
I'm pretty sure (as many have stated above) it was Joshua Chamberlain leading the 20th Maine--sbd they did fix bayonets because they were out of amunition.
Thank you for giving this a watch and really talking about it man, our country is not perfect - far from and we are at point of contention but I believe we can always be better and make sure this nation is worth preserving for every American and those who wish to become an American, regardless of race, sex and orientation. This nation was developed on the backs of men and women who paid the ultimate price for it to become the superpower it is today, the blood shed on these lands and for these should not be taken light but a sobering reminder of how it came to be and the cost of the freedoms and liberties we hold onto today.
Chamberlain's bayonet charge is absolutely legendary its comparable to works of fiction only found in fantasy books imagine hundreds of men charging at you from downhill with bayonets screaming like maniacs in an era where guns were still in their infancy and you had no way of mowing them down
Referring to your comment of Lee being one of the greatest military minds in history, he actually wasn't that good, all of his success was mostly due to the ineptitude of the northern strategy, gettysburg is widely thought of as the turning point of the whole war, but I really don't see that it was (I grew up in New Oxford pa which is literally only 10 minutes away from gettysburg so I know more about gettysburg than most people) even if Lee would've won that battle (and that's a HUGE if) grant would've still practically decimated the western front and still would've won the battle of Vicksburg, and even if Lee would've gotten to Washington DC, they would've just moved the capital north to either harrisburg, Philadelphia, or lancaster (those are the 3 most likely places) and then Lee would've done all that for literally nothing
As an American who knows a lot about the Civil War, it's so fun to hear a Brit with such a lovely thicccc Mancunian accent learn about our history. Thank you for your service and thank you for your entertaining takes on our history, it's awesome to watch someone intelligent and foreign learn about my country, this is so much fun.
A lil fun fact since you mentioned you currently live in Maine. That Union regiment that saved the army at Gettysburg was the 20th Maine, led by a college professor named Joshua Chamberlain.
You might want to try Vlogging Through History. It's mostly reactions, but it's has videos of the historian who runs it visiting various sites across the US and telling us the history behind the sites.
I can second this. He's got a great channel. And with his reactions, he'll go way deep and provide a lot more details about different things and add different side stories and expand upon what is mentioned. Mr. Terry (History Teacher Reacts) also does a good job on his reactions of providing more detail and interesting side facts.
28:28 if you look at the building on the left with the open middle window one of the kids watching the procession is future President Teddy Roosevelt, he was watching from what I believe is his grandfathers home
Also, I made a mistake on anther video and mentioned the Burning of Savannah as being avoided. This was what I referred to. Savannah wisely surrenders immediately to prevent their city being destroyed by Sherman It was the only city NOT burned by Sherman during his rampage/ campaign (Sherman's March to the Sea).
(2 of 2) 16) Regarding the changes Grant made when he was put in charge: Most of the Union generals early in the war were fighting it the way they thought Europeans had fought wars in the 1700s. You take plenty of time maneuvering your army into just the right position, have one "glorious" battle where you drive the enemy from the field, capture his battle flags, and the war is over. (The first soldiers who volunteered for the Union did so for only 90 days, which contributed to the Union fighting the First Battle of Bull Run before they were ready.) This was misremembering at least some history, because the Napoleonic Wars lasted about 15 years. But Grant and Sherman understood that the Civil War was a modern, "total" war. You continuously engage the enemy, and the side which runs out of men and supplies first loses the war. 17) In 1864 Lincoln won nearly 92% of the electoral vote but the popular vote 55%-45%. A margin of 10% in the popular vote is relatively large. 18) You are correct about the loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment. The important portion of it reads "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." For roughly 100 years after its passage, it was common throughout the U.S. for states and counties to have laws which explicitly targeted blacks for arrest on "crimes" such as vagrancy (just passing through a town was vagrancy if a black man didn't have a job in that town). Aside from racial hysteria, the rationale for such "Black Code" laws was to provide free manual labor for farms, road crews, and various businesses. Like most abominations concerning blacks, this was a nationwide practice but concentrated in the South. 19) Regarding General Sherman's "March to the Sea," he once said "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." 20) Regarding South Carolina having been the first state to secede from the Union: I don't know how many public figures opposed it, but one who was willing was 71-year-old former state Attorney General James Petigru, who after the unanimous vote to secede famously said "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum." 21) OverSimplified said 60,000 Confederate soldiers deserted during the Siege of Petersburg. It's a testament to the commitment to the Confederate cause that any remained. Nearly 10 months of sweltering or freezing in primitive bunkers, no winter clothes, no shoes, very little food. When the siege ended and mobile war resumed one week before the surrender, the Confederate soldiers were on the verge of starvation. Many just collapsed on the side of the road and died or waited to be captured. 22) It could be argued that Grant's 1864-65 campaign against Lee was his least impressive. He won by sheer force of numbers and logistics. There were some egregious errors made by his subordinate generals, and he was responsible for ordering a horrific frontal assault, at a point in the war when they all should have know better, during the Battle of Cold Harbor. I have heard speculation that they are too high, but the accepted casualty numbers are that there were nearly 7,000 Union casualties (dead, wounded, and captured) after less than an hour, and by some accounts most were lost in as little as 10 minutes. Think of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, but without machine guns. 23) Grant wasn't hung over when he learned Lee had agreed to surrender. He claimed he had a severe headache which vanished instantly. 24) Wilmer McLean, in whose house the surrender was signed, reportedly said after the war that "the war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor." Maybe, but it sounds to me like something a newspaperman would have invented. 25) At 26:48, General Johnston surrendered to Sherman. From Johnston's Wikipedia page: "Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the man to whom he surrendered. He would not allow criticism of Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently, and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. During the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect, although the weather was cold and rainy. Someone concerned for his health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied, 'If I were in his place, and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat.' He did catch a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia and Johnston died 10 days later." He was age 84. 26) A few months before John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln, Booth's brother Edwin saved Lincoln's son Robert from serious injury or death at a train station. Edwin Booth was a world-renown Shakespearean actor. 27) It was reported that immediately after Lincoln died, his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, whispered "now he belongs to the ages," or possibly "angels." Again, it sounds to me like something later invented. 28) Earlier this year the U.S. made "Juneteenth" a federal holiday. Like many older and white Americans I had not known of this holiday until recently. It began in Texas after the Civil War and spread among African-Americans. From Wikipedia: "Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery." 29) The 14th and 15th Constitutional Amendments, ratified in the late 1860s, grant citizenship and voting privileges to African-Americans. Unfortunately, until the 1960s we pretended these amendments did not exist. 30) The period after the Civil War was known as Reconstruction (1865-1877). I do not want to generalize about southerners today, but this period perhaps created more ill feelings than the war itself. As you can imagine the South was desperately poor, and some lost their land to northerners called "carpetbaggers." This engendered understandable ill will. But the biggest problem was that despite losing the war they remained as committed as ever to white supremacy. Of course, white supremacy was believed nationwide, but it was most severe in the South. Even today, it is perceived to be worst in the South, although migration from elsewhere in the country and the changing attitudes of the young continue to reduce it, I hope. 31) I get tears in my eyes every time I watch the last few seconds about Lincoln's legacy.
Chamberlain gets a lot of focus on the second day of Gettysburg, but what is rarely taught anymore is about the 1st Minnesota. After the blunder that was Sickle's advance and destruction, there was a gap that the Confederates were moving to push through and split the army. Corp commander John Hancock rode out to this empty area and found the 1st Minnesota, a regiment of some 260 men. Seeing the confederates advancing in a force of around three thousand, color bearers at the front, Hancock told the officer of the 1st Minnesota "Take those flags". The 1st Minnesota charged in to the fight and punched it out severely outnumbered till Union reinforcements could arrive and bolster the line. Over 200 of the 1st Minnesota were casualties in the first 5 minutes, some 47 managed to rally around Hancock after the fight. What was left of the shattered unit was pulled back in reserve where on the third day as Pickett's charge broke through one of the places along the line the 1st Minnesota had been reinforced with a few companies of men and was again called on to charge into the line and fight the confederates back. They suffered 82% casualties on their charge to halt the confederates, a casualty rate that is the highest in any US military force to this day
I also love in Fredericksburg mentioned in the video! We have a statue dedicated to the soldier who went out to help Union wounded. It’s really humbling
9:28 Original Human: "why...would they constantly go south...why wouldn't they not try different tactics because obviously (these were not working.)." World War One Generals: Hold my beer!
Fun fact the most commerce how many Confederate done during the war was British Enfield flintlock musket during the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan US soldiers found warehouses full them
Interesting/kinda morbid facts General grant often wondered if Lincoln would have been assassinated if he had accepted the offer to go to the play. That was a guilt he Carried to his death 2. For the same reason, the General with Lincoln went insane due to the perceived failure to save Lincoln. 3. When Lee surrendered, he told grant his men were starving, Grant then told his men to give their rations to Lee's men. Lee respected Grant, and would argue with people who had anything bad to say against Grant in his presence.
A few cool facts to add: 1. Although fighting ended in May, the last collection of slaves would not be freed until June 19th. This day is now a national holiday, Juneteenth. 2. General Lee's plantation was known as Arlington. As part of his retribution, Arlington would be converted into a military cemetery for those who died in the Civil War. Arlington National Cemetery was in fact Lee's plantation. 3. Although Sherman and his men freed all the slaves they came across on their march to the sea, they were not necessarily kind to them. Several slaves were left disorientated, confused, did not receive food or medical attention that soldiers did, and were sometimes used as fodder for identifying booby traps. 4. Although Pennsylvania had a large array of farm land that would have benefited from slave labor, Pennsylvania was a state founded by Quakers. Quakers were staunchly abolitionist and had been since the state was founded. This is why several underground railroad houses were located in Pennsylvania. A simple religious belief is why Pennsylvania is firmly considered a northern state. 5. Speaking of religion, John Brown's raid would have been wholly insignificant if he did not use his platform right before execution to denote the hypocrisy of those who consider themselves religious, like those in the South, who were not avidly anti-slavery. This speech was far more significant than his raid as Brown made several points those defending slavery could not easily rebuke.
26:42 Lee and his team actually went in and spoke about the weather for 2 hours because he did not want to address his surrender. Then when Grant got impatient Lee finally got it out.
You probably won’t see this, but here’s the Gettysburg address in its entirety “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863
The video briefly mentions Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He was in charge of Union forces at Gettysburg on a hill called Little Round Top on the left side of the Union line. Confederate forces almost overran their position, which would have been disastrous for the Union, since they'd have had a clear shot at most of the battlefield from up there. Chamberlain's men were almost out of ammunition when he ordered them to fix bayonets. He then had the left end of his line charge down the hill, pivoting like a door on a hinge, while the his other men stayed in place. The Confederates were caught in a pincer movement, and the ones that didn't flee threw down their weapons and surrendered. The Union could have lost the Battle of Gettysburg if not for Chamberlain's actions. Pickett's Charge, which happened on the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, was Lee's biggest mistake. He sent soldiers across three quarters of a mile of open field with no cover into rifle and artillery fire. The Union soldiers were firing from behind a rock wall. Some Confederate soldiers did manage to breach the wall before they were either killed or pushed back. The spot where they breached the wall came to be known as "the high water mark of the Confederacy," like the high water mark of a flood that has receded. It really was all downhill for the Confederacy from that point onwards. Historians have speculated ever since as to how a brilliant general like Lee could have made such a blunder. One theory is that he was convinced by his earlier successes in battle that there were no limits to what he could ask his forces to do. That funny statue was of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a guy who wasn't so funny. His cavalry engaged in an atrocity at the Battle of Fort Pillow, where they killed the black soldiers who were opposing them rather than accept their surrender. After the war, Forrest became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (I hope the mention of this organization doesn't get this comment blocked). The vote in the 1864 election wasn't as much of a landslide as the video makes it seem. The electoral college vote is not the same as the popular vote. Lincoln actually won about 55% of the popular vote, but in doing so he carried 22 of the 25 states whose votes were counted. The bit with Wilmer McLean really did happen. His house was shelled in the First Battle of Bull Run, which was the first major battle of the war (the Battle of Fort Sumter was earlier, but there were no casualties). McLean moved his family to Appomattox Court House, and four years later McLean's house served as the spot where Lee formally surrendered to Grant. After this, McLean would say, "The Civil War started in my front yard and ended in my front parlor." The 13th amendment reads: "Section 1 Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2 Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." "Sherman's an absolute tank." Well, they did name the tank after him. You can find the text of the Gettysburg Address with a Google search. It really is a masterpiece of rhetoric. Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address is at least as good, and can also be found easily.
If no one's said the fun fact yet: General Burnside is the origin of the term "sideburns", and General Hooker... well, he typically had women follow along with his army to help with "morale".
Interesting!
Inaccurate reporting of General Hooker might have popularized the slang of "hooker" for prostitute, but the term predated the Civil War. It is believed to have originated during the early 1800s in the waterfront slum of Corlear's Hook in Manhattan.
now that’s motivation. i wonder what happened when they won?
I know I was there
Yup, known as “Hookers girls” and now it’s just shortened to hookers.
an interesting thing to note about the US Civil War is that as the war went on you saw a transformation from line formation fighting to trench warfare, it was basically a mini ww1 by the end. This was added by the advancements in technology as they started with muskets and wooden ships, while ending with repeating rifles and ironclads
and One more First MG would Appear in this Wear too
@@Copy-x2k Gatling Machine Gun, not deployed in major quantities.
Yup the civil war had a big influence in how ww1 would be fought
and the union charged and charged....and was destroyed grant started the overland battles with 122,000 men
almost half would be dead by the end
Only cavalrymen had repeating rifles. Infantry still had rifles.
Fun fact: Clara Barton is the only female to have been awarded the Medal of Honor for her work in improving the medical field at the time, and would later go on to help form the American Red Cross
One of the most important organizations in our history.
2 fun facts: sideburns we’re named after general burnside, and during the battle of Gettysburg, and 80 year old war of 1812 veteran grabbed his Brown Bess musket and joined the union soldiers
Thanks. I'm gonna use the sideburns one lol
It's also been confirmed that Theodore Roosevelt is an the picture of Lincons funeral precession (in the window in the left center)
Third fun fact: General Hooker is why we sometimes call prostitutes "hookers"
Wait that’s how they got the name for sideburns? I am FLOORED LOL
@@katieoberst490 Specifically because he believed troops needed regular “stress relief” and so instead of discouraging or simply ignoring the significant contingent of “seamstresses” among his camp followers, actively encouraged them to ply their trade in his camp and for his men to seek them out. The men took to calling them “Hooker’s Girls” or “Hooker Girls” which was shortened to just “Hookers” after a generation or two.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
You forgot the last line.
"Anyway, here's Wonderwall."
@Thevictoryoverhimself Being the great orator Lincoln was, I have a feeling he was confident enough in himself to know despite the short notice of preparedness that he would still be able to deliver a heartfelt speech that captured his emotions. When you're good at something, you can react and adjust a lot easier in the moment.
@@quinnknobbe7119 Hey first of all I want to say I get the meme and the joke and usually I think it’s funny. Please take this as friendly advice. But I don’t think this is an appropriate subject to make light of. The speech was given to dedicate a cemetery were 3500 soldiers on the Union side and 3900 on the Confederate side, died in some of the most horrible ways you can imagine. Lincoln responded with what many consider one of the greatest speeches in the history of the written word. All to honor their ultimate sacrifice fighting to end slavery. Some subjects should be off limits to ridicule. Again this is simply my opinion.
In my opinion, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the finest speech in the English language.
It was not haphazard. It was written and re-written on the way to the event. It remains a model of speech writing.
@@MichaelScheele I'm not trying to discredit the skill of speech writing that obviously went into what makes it great, but just pointing out Lincoln's capability to breathe the appropriate amount of life and emotion into the deliverance of the words for such an occasion no matter how short the notice. Speech writing is only part of being a great orator.
Fun fact: In the photo show at 28:23, future American president Teddy Roosevelt can be seen viewing Lincoln's funeral on the building's second floor at the left side.
Checks out, his birthday was the 27th of October of 1858, so he would be around 7 years of age when Lincoln had his funeral.
Wow. That's so unbelievable I had to look it up, but it is true. Apparently they asked Roosevelt's widow who confirmed it. The building belonged to Roosevelt's grandfather, and he, his brother, and what would be his future wife, went to watch from there.
Also a little more details on Grant's tactics. What made his plans brilliant is that, he essentially took away Lee's biggest advantage, which is his flexibility and maneuverability, which helped him win previous battles. As a result Lee was pretty much pinned between Grant's forces and Richmond, essentially forcing him to give up the initiative to Grant and letting Sherman ravage the south unmolested. So even though Lee was holding the line, his army and the confederate states were collapsing
When you realize that a determined offensive movement was all it took to break Lee's "invincibility" myth it makes the decision to hold Richmond at all costs look pretty silly in hindsight.
24:24 you've literally, unintentionally, figured out the naming scheme behind the M4 Sherman!!! The British named the Sherman for that VERY reason!!! XD i actually laughed at the fact that within your joke you've just figured out why that tank was named the "Sherman" 😂
Was it actually?!? That’s hilarious haha!
@@OriginalHuman it is very much true. The Sherman tank was named after General Sherman.
The Sherman wasn't British
@@za.monolit the joke first coined by the british is about how "fiery" the tank was. Hence the joke
@@OriginalHuman yeah. And probably same for Grant and Lee. There’s a M3 Lee and the British variant M3 Grant
The bayonet charge by the 1st Minnesota on the 1st day of Gettysburg was insane. They were outnumbered 10 to 1 and took 80% casualties. Every officer was killed but they held the flank long enough for reinforcements to stabilize the line. If they hadn't succeeded the Union would have lost the battle and likely the war. Its a story that really doesn't get the recognition it deaerves.
And they were still there in pickiets charge
Minnesota people built different
Ulysses S. Grant was definitely one of the greatest generals the USA ever had.
Grant's Tomb is the largest mausoleum in North America.
Could be argued that he was one of the best presidents too. Sucks his cabinet was corrupt though
@@DarjeelingEnjoyer i mean not really,he was a great general but a bottom tier president
@@hkiller57 no way he’s being appreciated more and more by historians as time passes. Grant advocated for natives, broke up the KKK, and pushed for civil rights way ahead of his time
@@kennylee6499 yeah hes one of those that historians skipped over a lot but now more and more of his kindness is coming out
@@hkiller57 Grant fought harder for African Americans as President than pretty much anyone else up until LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.
Fun fact: many US tanks in ww2 were named after Civil War Generals like, m4 Sherman, m3 Grant, m3 Lee, m36 Jackson, m5 Stuart, etc.
And after WW2 there was the Patton tank, named after general George Patton of WW2.
@@dexterityisbetterthanstren8961 yep. It continues to this day with the abrams and bradly being named after Generals.
@@maszellz i need a flame thrower tanks named Sherman
Col. Chamberlain's defense of Little Round Top is an absolute legend in America, at least among Civil War buffs. His regiment held the extreme left of the Union line, preventing the Confederates from taking the high ground and rolling up the flank. Chamberlain and his roughly 350 men held for over two hours against repeated charges by twice their number, until finally running out of ammunition. Knowing what would happen if he retreated, Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and sweep down the hill. The charge shocked the weary and thirsty rebels, who surrendered in droves.
Chamberlain survived several more wounds throughout the war and eventually became a (brevet) major general. He even received the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, during which he received some criticism for saluting the defeated rebels. He later became governor of Maine and was awarded the Medal of Honor. An absolute legend in his time and the very model American.
Here's the thing: Lee was, and continues to be, hailed as one of the greatest military minds in American history.
But Grant *still* absolutely crushed him. Lee was on another level. Grant was on a level above that. It's worth noting that Grant was elected our 18th president after the war. Truly a legend.
Grant had way more men. Grant was brave enough to go after Lee and the other southern generals, but ultimately, he just kept throwing more men at the south. The south ran out of men and supplies.
Grant really was a badass. Never gave up and saved the Union.
@@tammywilson985 Tactically, Lee was magnificent. But beyond the scope of individual engagements, Lee was not nearly as impressive. Where Union Generals had the edge was that they were strategically minded. Where Confederates like Lee And Forrest pulled off daring, flashy maneuvers to win one battle at a time, Union men like Grant and Sherman were brilliant at big picture thinking and long term planning, far better than most of their southern counterparts. On multiple occasions the Confederates were able to win engagements through tactical superiority, but the victories cost them men and resources they couldn't spare without any appreciable gain. A more strategically minded commander would have retreated, saving his strength for more crucial battles.
i heard from another historian (vlogging through history), its because he studied napoleons tactics. Ironically Ulysses did too, so he knew what lee would do
You can see in Post Civil War America the new idea of what binded us together. It was love and admiration for Lincoln. Even the South mourned him immediately because he spoke of forgiveness against the confederate states while his successor was harsh on them. And now as the country moves toward another civil war you see people start rejecting Lincoln. It’s very interesting
Hopefully it doesn't come to that. We should learn from our mistakes.
Sherman was the original doomguy. He ripped and tore until it was done.
Burnin Sherman.
The US Army still teaches Gen Lee's tactics at West Point today. Gen Lee was a genius, sad he was on the wrong side of history or you would most likely hear more about him.
Why are they teaching loser tactics no wonder we can’t win wars
JK
Grants victory at Vicksburg was better than anything Lee did the whole war.
@@danielrichwine2268 Also George H Thomas is underrated he played a pretty significant part in the Chickamauga campaign.
@@danielrichwine2268 I wouldn’t say it that drastically. Grant was great but Lee was kicking ass, with a half ass army and shity weapons.
@@nivlacsenoj6264 the person who built West Point’s fortifications went on to lose the third partition of Poland, Tadeusz Kościuszko, but was also a genius military engineer. The person who selected the site of West Point was Benedict Arnold - without whom we would not have a country I would argue, who pulled a reverse Italy and ravaged his own homeland.
It’s certainly got unique providence. Then again if you went to West Point they’d teach you the difference between tactics, operations, and strategy.
Lee was an excellent battlefield commander, and succeeded because he could anticipate what the opposing commanders were going to do. Where he fell short, in my opinion, was that he did not grasp the larger picture. He was seeking individual victories in battles in the hope that the north would give up because of the unpopularity of the war.
Where Grant was superior was that he was fighting with the larger purpose in mind of destroying the opposing army wherever it was. At the very end of the war, he actually bypassed the city of Richmond, which would have been a large symbolic victory if he had occupied it, and continued to chase after Lee to destroy his army.
Lee was an aristocrat who served in a position of high honor, spending his whole career leading men in the field. This gave him a wealth of knowledge about tactical maneuvers. Grant, by contrast, was a common man who spent his early years in the army as a quartermaster. This gave him a keen appreciation for the vital importance of supply lines and logistics. In the end that difference between the two would prove decisive.
In short: Lee was the superior tactician, but Grant was the superior strategist.
@@MarsJenkar Well said.
In the movie Gettysburg, during the attack on Little Round Top when Jeff Daniels character, Col. Chamberlin gives the order to "fix bayonets" and the subsequent charge, I get goosebumps... every time. It's such a powerful scene when your emotions are already running high from all the buildup.
Was gonna mention that and that he was in charge of the 20th Maine Volunteer Regiment
They didn't mention that the bayonet charge was the Maine volunteers. As a Mainer OH should be offended, as little Maine saved the day!
True as a someone from Maine we spent a lot of time learning about Joshua Chamberlain leading the 20th Maine.
They also didn't mention the bayonet charge by the 1st Minnesota which was just as important as the 20th Maine's charge
@@Frost73268 you failed to mention that they had 250 men and attacked a group of 1200 confederates, with 82% of them becoming casualties in the charge. this is the largest casualty rating in a single day for a surviving military unit in American history.
@@speedy01247 you also failed to mention they fought at the First Battle of Bull Run suffering 20% casualties and at the Battle of Antietam suffering 28% casualties, and many other significant battles during the Civil War.
They didn’t mention it because this is a video about the Civil War oversimplified. If they put in every detail it wouldn’t be oversimplified anymore 😜
Total War Warhammer 2 is probably the best IMO (it’s about medieval fantasy war hammer, not 40k), but is a far cry from modern time. I still think it’s a great game but Total War in general is a time sink, and meaningful sessions can last for hours. It’s not really video friendly and is more stream friendly (some campaigns can take weeks to finish) That being said, a simpler strategy game that can finish in one session is Civilization 6. You can finish one game in a stream and it’s very enjoyable and friendly to newcomers into strategy.
I think I already own Total war Warhammer 2 so I think it’s a good one to start with!
I dont if he interest playing total war rome 2
@@OriginalHuman just a heads-up in case you didn't know, if you get the first game you'll be able to play on a map that is a mix of both games and has most of the lord's from both. Though in order to have all of the lord's you'll need to get all of the dlc for both games.
There are two styles of campaigns in TTWH2: Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires but you need to own the first Warhammer to play that one.
@@OriginalHuman Things to watch: Gettysburg, do not watch God's and Generals. John Adams miniseries. The Crossing. Grant miniseries. Best game for you to try at this point would be Ultimate General: Civil War. Its more fine tuned than Total War for Civil War stuff.
Total War: Empire is a great one, as well as TW: Napolean, and, TW: Shogun 2. There is a great Civil War mod for Empire, and, a really good WW1 mod for Napolean.
Ultimate general civil war and ultimate admiral age of sail are good too
TW empire is one of my favorites
Warhammer is also good if you want something fictional
Total war rocks. Well most of them anyway.
@@huntersmith6086 It would be amazing if they could do a Battletech Total War though it may be tricky to implement the mechs with. On the upside though, it would be a good chance to finally use the infantry side of Battletech that always gets ignored in the MechWarrior games.
The problem with the Union generals wasn't a lack of skill. It was a lack of aggression. It was the same issue that made Montgomery a so-so commander in WW2. He was far too cautious. Grant was the only one to realize, and, fully exploit the fact that the Union had far superior numbers, and, could afford to take many more casualties than the traitors could.
Traitors... That's a bit sour isn't it?
@@MidnightBreezeIWP no
@@MidnightBreezeIWP It's the literal definition of treason.
@@MidnightBreezeIWP fighting to keep slavery so meh
I recommend amending your language regarding the South. They left the union first then fought the war. They didn't betray the union while being a part of the union. Back off a bit
Fun Maine fact for you: the Union regiment that did the bayonet charge at Gettysburg was the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment and the officer who ordered and lead the charge, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, was awarded the Medal of Honor for that.
You MUST visit Gettysburg when you get the bus finished. I have been to a lot of historical sites but Gettysburg is insane. The National Park Service has purchased much of the land that was fought over and restored many portions of the battlefield to their historical conditions. They have a historical center that is incredible but the best part are the self-guided tours that take you through the events of the battle. If you visit in July you can watch a reenactment of the battle. Normally they have about 5,000 reenactors for the event.
General Doubleday (North) codified the rules of baseball ⚾️. He was a founder of a company that created and sold lifeboats based on his experience in the civil war. Everyone mocked lifeboat idea, until a Dutch ship with lifeboats went down. The whole crew was rescued, put on a new ship and back to business in a matter of weeks.
Apparently sideburns were named after Burnside. And as for General Hooker, well you know
why? How did hooker came from that
@@reichtanglevictor1694 From what I remember, General Hooker was known to have interactions with ladies at his military posts, hence where the term Hooker came from.
@@reichtanglevictor1694 so, the ladies of the night if I may say, followed his armies because well you know why, so they came to be called hooker's ladies, so that's that
@@reichtanglevictor1694 No joke, the term “hooker” was popularized because his camps had outbreaks of syphilis... from all the whores.
"Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics." show its Importance
It's the least exciting but most important aspect of warfare.
Grand and Lee knew each other from the Mexican american war so them meeting for the final surrender was also personal to an extent.
You should watch the 4 hour long movie Gettysburg it's a great movie, And as you would think it is about the battle of Gettysburg and the events around it.
A great movie filmed on location in Gettysburg
Filmed with actual civil war reenactors who volunteered their time, knowledge, expertise, and brought their own uniforms and equipment. The movie is great, seeing documentaries about the filming of the movie are also very interesting.
Suggestions for tactical/strategy games:
1) world in conflict (online servers are down but you can get it on GOG)
2) XCOM: enemy unknown or XCOM: enemy within
World in Conflict would be such a DOPE playthrough. And a good introduction into Strategy gaming for him
@@TahoesLimit that's exactly what i was thinking. it's not as ridiculously complicated as some of the other RTSs out there and the singleplayer campaign is amazing.
Would love to see him play the original XCOM: UFO Defense. Yes, it's an old game, but it's a thousand times better than the remake, and much, much harder.
World in conflict would be great. Is it not on steam anymore?
Grant was actually supposed to be Lincoln's guest at the play, but he bowed out requesting the chance to spend time with his family. After the assassination he was extremely regretful and believed he might have been able to stop Booth if he'd been there.
A FANTASTIC history lesson for my fellow American here, I love that you dug this so much considering the events that took place are what ultimately propelled us into Superpower status. General Grant and General Lee's conversation is a thing of legend and likely inspiration for the advancement of future American generations yet. WOW, this was awesome to witness my guy I'm absolutely ecstatic that you enjoyed it so much. You definitely get it and I appreciate it so very much.
"Sherman is an tank." it made me chuckle.
General Lee is one of the most fascinating historical figures in American history in my opinion. This war broke the man. He was idolized by his men. There is a video called “Robert E Lee in the post-war years (Lecture)” it goes into detail about his career becoming an outstanding educator at Washington College where he helped transform the school into a modern university. The lecture goes into the post war relationship with Grand and Lee as well.
In a time when long speeches were considered by many to be a form of entertainment, the gettysburg address was REALLY short. Here is the entire address:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
I watched your video this morning before work and had to remind myself that the alarm isn't optional. I have the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address on the my living room wall as a reminder to myself of what we have done to become the nation we are today. One of the things we have done wrong as a nation is not accept responsibility for the actions of our past and learn from them. Instead we seem to prefer acting as if burying our crimes under the rug is the best way to move forward. I truly hope that Oversimplified covers the Civil Rights movement and the struggles we are still facing today getting individuals to accept that ALL men (and women) are created equal.
You never fail to entertain us, keep up all the good work!
To be an American, we put history upside-down. Our civilization is so young and yet old. People have been here for thousands of years and you see it in our culture everywhere. I lived in Europe for years but there is no place like home.
You can be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Grant wrote his memoirs as did Sherman. You can find them free online at Project Gutenberg. I've read both of their memoirs and they are a fascinating read.
There was a man who was born in Gettysburg, year before the war. When the war broke out, he joined the confederate side. He fought at Gettysburg, the very town he grew up in, and he was killed in front of the very house he grew up in.
There are so many lessons to be learned from the civil war, but unfortunately I feel like lately we've been learning all the wrong ones. We're learning lessons of division and condemnation, instead of what Abraham Lincoln would've wanted us to learn, that at the end of the day we're all one people despite our differences. We're all human, we're all human like Ulysses S. Grant, who had a phobia of blood and yet made himself witness to brutal carnage on a daily basis because he believed it was necessary. We're all human, like that confederate soldier (I forget his real name) who left his position during the battle of Fredericksburg to offer aid and kindness to union wounded at the risk of his own life (the union troops could have justifiably assumed he was looting their bodies and shot him, but he did it anyway). We are all human, equally capable of good and evil, regardless of race, or whether we've been misled by a certain ideology. Instead of dividing ourselves and condemning each other, we should aspire to be who Lincoln wanted us to be, to be civil to each other despite our disagreements, to work to understand each other, to compromise where we can and stand firmly but calmly where we cannot, and above all else to work together to bring this country and the world into an ever brighter tomorrow. Instead of doing all of this, we're more divided than we've been since the civil war and I think that's truly, deeply sad. We can be better, I know we can, be who Lincoln and Grant wanted you to be!
Anyway, thank y'all for coming to my rant. Hopefully some of you agree with me
Easy Royal. Just stumbled across your channel. Nice work, Interesting to look though your old bit to now an see how it’s evolved. 🤜🤛
And now Lincoln has a kickass statue, while Boothe has a little headstone Patriots leave pennies on to mock him.
Wait really? Thats fucking hilarious where is it?
@@WhoThoughtThisWasGood ua-cam.com/video/ZOPegyKaydI/v-deo.html
@@randomcenturion7264 amazing thanks.
@@WhoThoughtThisWasGood Sorry for the late reply. I thought I send it through but apparently, the comment didn't go through 2 months ago. Better late than never, eh?
@@randomcenturion7264 youtube messes with comments posted that have links. It probably just took them 2 months to let it post.
11:18 Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was an American college professor from Maine who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army.
i was just finishing part 2 and you upload this hell yeah!!!
Thanks!
I suggest Hearts of Iron IV it's a really in-depth game where you have to pick a nation and lead them through World War II. You handle everything from politics to troop production and resources. It takes some work to learn how to play but it's one of my favorite RTS games.
The final battle of the Civil War was in my hometown of Brownsville, Texas (Palmito Ranch). The port of the city had switch hands several times during the war. The Union commander knew the war was almost over but for unknown reasons ordered an attack on the Southerners. In what I think is the greatest irony of the Civil War the final battle was a Confederate victory.
I also live in Brownsville, on Old Port Isabel Road. Especially in summer, I think about all those soldiers in wool uniforms, landing near Port Isabel, and then walking through all the cacti to reach Brownsville, both Northern and Southern troops. They must have thought they were literally marching into Hell.
If this war is something that really interests you, I must recommend the book "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. It's mostly about the battle of Gettysburg, but it's such an awesome read. There's also the movie "Gettysburg" that is an adaptation of the book.
At 28:24 there is a photo of Lincoln's funeral procession in New York. On the left of the screen is a four story building with an open window on the second floor. In that window is a 7 year-old boy watching the procession go by. That 7 year-old boy was Theodore Roosevelt who would become President just 35 years later.
I just bought Total war Empire and Napoleon just a few days ago, really great games! But I know we'll enjoy whatever you play
So not mentioning that Lee used to be the commandant of the US military Academy, and knew most of the North’s generals, because he had to assess their readiness for command and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses will help people understand how genius that Lee was. He studied his opponents like a teacher studying how to teach a student.
28:26 In one of the windows you can see future president Theo Roosevelt as a child
I live 5 minutes from one of the most influential skirmishes in Arkansas. The cemetery next to my house is also a state park, where 1,793+ soldiers were killed. Most casualties on the union side as a union supply route was ambushed and destroyed sending them back up north into the battle of Pine Bluff. Setting defenses around the court house with cannons and holding until they were pushed back to Little Rock. When you drive through the cemetery every tree begins to look different, the grass grows different than any other place around. There are cabins and water mills throughout the woods and relics from the 1800’s like canons and farming equipment as well as the soldiers graves and unnamed soldiers from both sides buried next to each other.
“Shermans March to the sea” was just brilliant. Albeit cruel to many people probably, it has many similarities to that of the scorched earth policy however in this case the invading army did so to cripple the lands economy and morale.
He then went out West after the war and did the same thing to the Native Americans. It cracks me up how many hold Union generals in high regard during the Civil War but completely ignore that most went out west to slaughter natives afterwards.
@@mightymouse447 Yes high regard in the Civil War conflict. Afterward not so much.
@@mightymouse447 This comment only held his tactics in high regards calm yourself there.
It's kind of ironic the circle that warfare took. During the 18th and early 19th century, warfare was "civilized" - armies fought each other and generally took care to prevent civilian deaths and hardship, mainly because what's the point of winning a war if you've just decimated the people you now rule and have destroyed the production capability of the land you now control?
But the Civil War and Sherman's "total war" concept changed that, and introduced a concept that prevailed for a hundred years, at least until the end of WW2 and probably further. As society became more and more "civilized", warfare became more and more barbaric with regards to how it treated civilian populations and cities.
Here in Columbia, South Carolina on the capital building we have stars on the sides marking where Sherman’s cannons struck. I’m glad the north one but my state has lost many of its historic buildings because of him.
If you're looking at Total War in particular, the Warhammer ones would be by far the best one at this point in time, in terms of content and mechanics, Just having each race be vastly diverse from one another makes it a good pick, Then consider that all 3 games and dlcs merge together if you own them all, creating the largest total war game in history. It is also the most popular game within the community since it came out. It is a more drawn out game though, definitely more of a stream game.
Xcom 2 on the other hand is more squad level tactics, 4-6 soldiers on 10-15 minute missions trying to rise against an alien occupied earth. The customization is the best in the franchise and is often best when you base all your soldiers off of viewers/friends. The modding scene is also really good, have imported armours from everything between MW 2019 SAS to Warhammer 40k.
Warhammer total war is too cartoony compared to the lore. And you have to pay like $300 just to get access to all the content.
@@patgray5402 Fantasy has always been more on the goofy side, it's nowhere near as grimdark as 40k. Doesn't stop TWW2 from being the Best total war on the market atm.
And price wise, it's a grand strategy game, they're always expensive. If anything, TWW2's on the cheaper end of the spectrum, look at anything paradox and you'll be spending $300-500 on dlc, $200 if you want everything Civilization, Even TW: Rome 2 has more expensive dlc than TWW2's $150.
@@Drakefance5 Less Grim Dark? Yes. Goofy? No. It was still pretty grim dark for a fantasy universe. Beast men breeding through capturing human women for example. And there was nothing goofy about Nurgle or Khorne either.
@@patgray5402 Monty Python Horse Actors, flying Goblins, Rats with Miniguns, Dinosaurs with robot arms and lasers on their backs and they all play american football. It's pretty goofy. Not saying it doesn't have it's dark moments, Just compared to 40k, it's got some silly stuff in there.
@@Drakefance5 Church organ tanks are pretty silly bro.
17:48 That statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest is quite real! It's located in Nashville, Tennessee: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest_Statue
If you want a great movie on the period, I recommend Lincoln. It covers the end of the war and the passage of the 13nth amendment. The performances are fantastic and it’s a great depiction of the time.
Another good one is "Glory".
9:14 speaking of snapping turtles, General George Meade was described by his troops as “ that damned old cockeyed snapping turtle” and was how he got the nickname “Old Snapping Turtle”
If you want something truly emotional, you should watch the History channel 3 part mini-series on Ulysses S. Grant. You get to see just what a first-class human being he is, what an American Hero he is, I cry everytime i watch it
Picket’s Charge, one of the many final attempts to break Union lines was conducted on a massive field open for miles against artillery and Union rifle fire. I have seen the field myself and the field was massive, it expanded far and wide. And as it wasn’t stated this field was completely open, no cover was in the field. Lee retreated so that no further life would be lost in battle after the devastating failed charge. Picket suggested the charge and Lee pretty much allowed it to happen which is one of the reasons why Lee says it was his fault for their defeat.
Also fun fact: Only one civilian died in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Napoleon total war’s darthmod. And Empire is a good choice as well! Battles last pretty long and they require some thought every time you get in an engagement.
I've been to gettysburg, Chamberlain, who was an english professor from main, actually convinced numerous deserters to follow him into battle and charge down a small hill called "little round top." they had literally no ammunition, and it was an extremely impressive attack.
30:40 No he’s second #1 is Washington
Lee got Napoleonitis. He thought he was invincible because he had always won. Also Lee is generally considered the better battlefield general, But he was up against McClellan... Grant did pretty well most of the time. But Grant was much better at the bigger picture.
Grant after the war is a fascinating chapter in itself.
Also he fought through Virginia against a enemy on home turf behind long and strongly built defenses all the time. Lincoln and Grant knew it was gonna be nasty.
You should play hearts of iron 4
Hell yes.
17:50 yes, i used to always pass by where that statue used to stand. Nowadays the property just has a ton of old Confederate battle flags on it (it's just south of Nashville)
Yes, unfortunately slavery is still constitutional as a form of punishment. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, *except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted*, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Hence the for-profit private prisons using inmate labor.. :/
Retired U.S. Marine here. Thanks for sharing your reaction to this!
If you want to see a much more in-depth history of the Civil War (9 episodes, 11+ hours), you would probably really enjoy the Ken Burns mini-series The Civil War. It's incredibly powerful, uses a lot of original photos, soldiers' and various civilians' letters, contemporary music, etc., and features a group of outstanding historians. It goes into a lot of detail about the strategy and tactics, the personalities of the leaders and of less senior soldiers (since I was enlisted for nine years and an officer for eleven and retired as a captain, I appreciated the points of view of the troops), and also about the social factors and the effects of technologies like the railroads and telegraph.
Ken Burns also did outstanding documentary mini-series on World War II and the Vietnam War. He's done histories on everything from baseball to jazz music to the Dust Bowl in North America during the Great Depression. They're all good, but I think the ones on the Civil War, World War II, and Vietnam are the best.
Thanks again for this, and Semper Fidelis!
In the Battle of Gettysburg, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, they guy who led the bayonet charge on the Union left, he held off multiple waves of rebels before he was running low of ammunition, and called in for the bayonet charge that he led personally.
As for Picket's Charge, Lee interpreted since most of the battle were held in the flanks, he had the thought that the center was weakened since they would have sent reinforcements to the flanks, but it wasn't the case. Before the charge, the 2 sides were shooting each other with their cannons which is the biggest artillery barrage in American history.
Lawrence wasn’t a general but everything else you said is correct. Lol
@@beckserker1662 Yeah, my mistake
im sick right now and this video made me feel better, thanks luke!
(1 of 2)
1) General Burnside was so unqualified to command the Union Army of the Potomac that he said so himself. For political reasons he continued to serve as a general until his last debacle, the Battle of the Crater in 1864. This battle presaged the WW1 use of underground explosives to destroy enemy trenches.
2) At 5:45, regarding the "nasty" food, two items of food comprised much of the soldiers' diet, at least for the Union: hardtack biscuits and bacon (salted pork). The biscuits were sometimes years old, especially early in the war, and were referred to as "worm castles." They were hard enough to break teeth. If they were lucky the meat would arrive before it became infested with maggots. In Ken Burns's Civil War documentary, there is a quote from a soldier who said they would make the biscuits edible by placing them next to a piece of bad meat to attract the worms and then dunk the biscuits to soften them.
3) Both sides passed conscription laws. Ironically the South did so first, since they claimed to be fighting against government tyranny.
4) When the Union Army began accepting black volunteers in 1863 they were paid less than white soldiers and had to pay for their clothes, unlike the white soldiers. Their net pay was $7 per month, compared to $13 for whites. In 1864 Congress granted them equal pay, retroactively. Also, OverSimplified said the nearly 200,000 black troops comprised 10% of the total (nearly 2 million total). In 1861 the professional, "regular" army had only 16,000 officers and men. Promotion was very slow. When the war began this small force formed the nucleus of both the Union and Confederate armies. Captains and First Lieutenants were breveted (temporary promotion during wartime) to Brigadier or Major General; a few of them, like J.E.B. Stuart, were under the age of 30. One result of this was that many of the opposing generals knew each other, which sometimes gave them an edge.
5) With less than half as many men, the Confederates won the Battle of Chancellorsville, fought in dense woods, by flanking the far end of the Union line. The last corps in line had not sent out pickets (observation posts) to warn of an attack. They panicked and ran toward the next corps, which joined them, and so. The attack might have been an even greater victory but for its having been delayed until near sunset, although coming from the west made them more difficult to see and possible contributed to the panic. Stonewall Jackson had gone ahead of his men in hopes of continuing the rout, but darkness forced him to head back toward the Confederate troops, who were intermixed with Union troops due to the chaos of fighting a mobile battle in dense woods as the sun set.
6) At 9:16, the general jokingly called "Snapping Turtle McGee" by OverSimplified is George Meade. Not the most handsome of men, he was famously described by one soldier as resembling "a damned old goggle-eyed snapping turtle."
7) You asked why the Union Army of the Potomac kept moving south into Virginia. The Union needed to prosecute and win the war, whereas the Confederacy needed only to play defense and hope the North gave up. Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, is just 100 miles (160 km) from the Union capital. The political objective of capturing Richmond preoccupied the North early in the war, but the later commanders like Grant understood that you first destroy the enemy's army, then capture his capital.
8) OverSimplified incorrectly stated the Battle of Gettysburg began June 1. It was fought July 1-3, 1863. There is a historical myth that Confederate troops entered the town to confiscate some shoes from the local shoe factory and the battle was an accident. This story originated in the postwar memoirs of Confederate General Harry Heth. In fact, there were no shoes or shoe factory. Like many battles the location of Gettysburg was not chosen, but rather was dictated by geographic reasons. About 10 roads converged there, and the Union troops occupied the heights south of the town, enabling them to fight on the defensive and suffer fewer casualties.
9) I found an article about Joseph, the guy who was picking beans in the video:
emergingcivilwar.com/2018/11/19/civil-war-cooking-harvesting-a-mess-of-beans-during-battle/
In his defense, the Confederates had requisitioned most of the food in town, "paying" for it with worthless Confederate currency. Ironically his wife Sarah is better known for her diary, which was quoted by Ken Burns in his Civil War documentary:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Broadhead
10) Here's a clip from the outstanding, extremely long movie "Gettysburg" reenacting the bayonet charge mentioned at 11:20.
ua-cam.com/video/RVguK4OohTU/v-deo.html
It was done by only 200-300 soldiers, the remnants of the 20th Maine Regiment of Volunteers. They were out of ammunition, and so could not remain where they were. If they retreated, the Union army would be flanked just like in the previous battle at Chancellorsville. The North would lose the battle and possibly the war. So they fixed bayonets and charged with unloaded rifles. Jeff Daniels plays the commanding officer Joshua Chamberlain, whose life was so extraordinary that a truthful movie about him would seem like Hollywood melodrama. (Postwar he was governor of Maine, president of Bowdoin College, and lived in pain for 50 years after he was wounded so severely it was thought to be mortal. His death was erroneously reported and he was given the only postmortem, it was thought, promotion to general in the history of the Army of the Potomac. He was one of the Union generals who was given the honor of receiving the surrender of flags and weapons of the Army of Northern Virginia. According to Chamberlain's memoirs, as the Confederates were dejectedly laying down their arms, on his own initiative he called his men to attention as a sign of respect, a gesture much appreciated by the Confederates. Unfortunately, this story from Chamberlain's memoirs, published posthumously and after the deaths of nearly all other witnesses, might be an exaggeration.)
11) At 15:12, OverSimplified says the entire town of Gettysburg was turned into a hospital to care for the "scores" of wounded men. Yes, about 1000 score (20,000)! In the 3-day battle the Union suffered 23,000 casualties: more than 3000 killed, more than 14,000 wounded, and more than 5000 captured or missing. Confederate casualties were 23,000-28,000 (I've heard speculation they were even higher). All of the Union wounded and 8000 of the Confederate wounded and captured were left in Gettysburg, at least for a while. There were only 2400 residents of Gettysburg. Also, there were more than 3000 dead horses from the battle. Their corpses were burned in giant pyres, which made the locals violently ill.
12) The nurse Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881.
13) The guy who spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address was Edward Everett. He had a distinguished career as a pastor, an orator, president of Harvard, ambassador to the UK, Governor and Senator of Massachusetts, and U.S. Secretary of State. After their speeches Everett wrote to Lincoln "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes." I would recommend also reading Lincoln's magnanimous Second Inaugural Address, given just weeks before the war's end when victory was in sight. Like the Gettysburg Address, it's quite short and contains beautiful prose. Remarkably, Lincoln had one year of formal education. These 2 speeches are engraved on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm
14) At 16:20, the photo on the calendar is of the Korean "K-Pop" band BTS.
15) Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (the guy with the funny statue) is famous for being one of the best cavalry commanders in military history, which is especially remarkable because he had had no military training before the war. He is infamous for being the first "Grand Wizard" of the terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
11:20 If I remember right, that section of the defence was give to the 1st United States Sharpshooter Regiment, and the main reason why they did a bayonet charge was the were either out of ammo or very close to being so.
I'm pretty sure (as many have stated above) it was Joshua Chamberlain leading the 20th Maine--sbd they did fix bayonets because they were out of amunition.
Thank you for giving this a watch and really talking about it man, our country is not perfect - far from and we are at point of contention but I believe we can always be better and make sure this nation is worth preserving for every American and those who wish to become an American, regardless of race, sex and orientation.
This nation was developed on the backs of men and women who paid the ultimate price for it to become the superpower it is today, the blood shed on these lands and for these should not be taken light but a sobering reminder of how it came to be and the cost of the freedoms and liberties we hold onto today.
Chamberlain's bayonet charge is absolutely legendary
its comparable to works of fiction only found in fantasy books
imagine hundreds of men charging at you from downhill with bayonets screaming like maniacs in an era where guns were still in their infancy and you had no way of mowing them down
“Sherman’s an absolute tank” even I had to eyyy alongside 😂
Referring to your comment of Lee being one of the greatest military minds in history, he actually wasn't that good, all of his success was mostly due to the ineptitude of the northern strategy, gettysburg is widely thought of as the turning point of the whole war, but I really don't see that it was (I grew up in New Oxford pa which is literally only 10 minutes away from gettysburg so I know more about gettysburg than most people) even if Lee would've won that battle (and that's a HUGE if) grant would've still practically decimated the western front and still would've won the battle of Vicksburg, and even if Lee would've gotten to Washington DC, they would've just moved the capital north to either harrisburg, Philadelphia, or lancaster (those are the 3 most likely places) and then Lee would've done all that for literally nothing
As an American who knows a lot about the Civil War, it's so fun to hear a Brit with such a lovely thicccc Mancunian accent learn about our history. Thank you for your service and thank you for your entertaining takes on our history, it's awesome to watch someone intelligent and foreign learn about my country, this is so much fun.
Threw up 4 times still gotta watch this guy made my day
A lil fun fact since you mentioned you currently live in Maine. That Union regiment that saved the army at Gettysburg was the 20th Maine, led by a college professor named Joshua Chamberlain.
You might want to try Vlogging Through History. It's mostly reactions, but it's has videos of the historian who runs it visiting various sites across the US and telling us the history behind the sites.
I can second this. He's got a great channel. And with his reactions, he'll go way deep and provide a lot more details about different things and add different side stories and expand upon what is mentioned.
Mr. Terry (History Teacher Reacts) also does a good job on his reactions of providing more detail and interesting side facts.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got emotional towards the end. I agree, what a video!
28:28 if you look at the building on the left with the open middle window one of the kids watching the procession is future President Teddy Roosevelt, he was watching from what I believe is his grandfathers home
Those men at gettysburg who made the bayonet charge to hold the flank were Mainers! Specifically the 20th Maine, led by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
Also, I made a mistake on anther video and mentioned the Burning of Savannah as being avoided. This was what I referred to. Savannah wisely surrenders immediately to prevent their city being destroyed by Sherman It was the only city NOT burned by Sherman during his rampage/ campaign (Sherman's March to the Sea).
24:23 i get it general Sherman / Sherman Tank. fun fact: Sherman Tank are named after General Sherman.
ngl i was expecting a sponsor with the “This video is brought to you by” bit
(2 of 2)
16) Regarding the changes Grant made when he was put in charge: Most of the Union generals early in the war were fighting it the way they thought Europeans had fought wars in the 1700s. You take plenty of time maneuvering your army into just the right position, have one "glorious" battle where you drive the enemy from the field, capture his battle flags, and the war is over. (The first soldiers who volunteered for the Union did so for only 90 days, which contributed to the Union fighting the First Battle of Bull Run before they were ready.) This was misremembering at least some history, because the Napoleonic Wars lasted about 15 years. But Grant and Sherman understood that the Civil War was a modern, "total" war. You continuously engage the enemy, and the side which runs out of men and supplies first loses the war.
17) In 1864 Lincoln won nearly 92% of the electoral vote but the popular vote 55%-45%. A margin of 10% in the popular vote is relatively large.
18) You are correct about the loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment. The important portion of it reads "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." For roughly 100 years after its passage, it was common throughout the U.S. for states and counties to have laws which explicitly targeted blacks for arrest on "crimes" such as vagrancy (just passing through a town was vagrancy if a black man didn't have a job in that town). Aside from racial hysteria, the rationale for such "Black Code" laws was to provide free manual labor for farms, road crews, and various businesses. Like most abominations concerning blacks, this was a nationwide practice but concentrated in the South.
19) Regarding General Sherman's "March to the Sea," he once said "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."
20) Regarding South Carolina having been the first state to secede from the Union: I don't know how many public figures opposed it, but one who was willing was 71-year-old former state Attorney General James Petigru, who after the unanimous vote to secede famously said "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum."
21) OverSimplified said 60,000 Confederate soldiers deserted during the Siege of Petersburg. It's a testament to the commitment to the Confederate cause that any remained. Nearly 10 months of sweltering or freezing in primitive bunkers, no winter clothes, no shoes, very little food. When the siege ended and mobile war resumed one week before the surrender, the Confederate soldiers were on the verge of starvation. Many just collapsed on the side of the road and died or waited to be captured.
22) It could be argued that Grant's 1864-65 campaign against Lee was his least impressive. He won by sheer force of numbers and logistics. There were some egregious errors made by his subordinate generals, and he was responsible for ordering a horrific frontal assault, at a point in the war when they all should have know better, during the Battle of Cold Harbor. I have heard speculation that they are too high, but the accepted casualty numbers are that there were nearly 7,000 Union casualties (dead, wounded, and captured) after less than an hour, and by some accounts most were lost in as little as 10 minutes. Think of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, but without machine guns.
23) Grant wasn't hung over when he learned Lee had agreed to surrender. He claimed he had a severe headache which vanished instantly.
24) Wilmer McLean, in whose house the surrender was signed, reportedly said after the war that "the war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor." Maybe, but it sounds to me like something a newspaperman would have invented.
25) At 26:48, General Johnston surrendered to Sherman. From Johnston's Wikipedia page: "Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the man to whom he surrendered. He would not allow criticism of Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently, and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. During the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect, although the weather was cold and rainy. Someone concerned for his health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied, 'If I were in his place, and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat.' He did catch a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia and Johnston died 10 days later." He was age 84.
26) A few months before John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln, Booth's brother Edwin saved Lincoln's son Robert from serious injury or death at a train station. Edwin Booth was a world-renown Shakespearean actor.
27) It was reported that immediately after Lincoln died, his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, whispered "now he belongs to the ages," or possibly "angels." Again, it sounds to me like something later invented.
28) Earlier this year the U.S. made "Juneteenth" a federal holiday. Like many older and white Americans I had not known of this holiday until recently. It began in Texas after the Civil War and spread among African-Americans. From Wikipedia: "Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery."
29) The 14th and 15th Constitutional Amendments, ratified in the late 1860s, grant citizenship and voting privileges to African-Americans. Unfortunately, until the 1960s we pretended these amendments did not exist.
30) The period after the Civil War was known as Reconstruction (1865-1877). I do not want to generalize about southerners today, but this period perhaps created more ill feelings than the war itself. As you can imagine the South was desperately poor, and some lost their land to northerners called "carpetbaggers." This engendered understandable ill will. But the biggest problem was that despite losing the war they remained as committed as ever to white supremacy. Of course, white supremacy was believed nationwide, but it was most severe in the South. Even today, it is perceived to be worst in the South, although migration from elsewhere in the country and the changing attitudes of the young continue to reduce it, I hope.
31) I get tears in my eyes every time I watch the last few seconds about Lincoln's legacy.
Sherman’s March to the sea is the most chad move in American history
Oh HELL YEAH man, that’s cool AF
You WILL be vlogging the WHOLE trip for us lol
Chamberlain gets a lot of focus on the second day of Gettysburg, but what is rarely taught anymore is about the 1st Minnesota. After the blunder that was Sickle's advance and destruction, there was a gap that the Confederates were moving to push through and split the army. Corp commander John Hancock rode out to this empty area and found the 1st Minnesota, a regiment of some 260 men. Seeing the confederates advancing in a force of around three thousand, color bearers at the front, Hancock told the officer of the 1st Minnesota "Take those flags". The 1st Minnesota charged in to the fight and punched it out severely outnumbered till Union reinforcements could arrive and bolster the line. Over 200 of the 1st Minnesota were casualties in the first 5 minutes, some 47 managed to rally around Hancock after the fight. What was left of the shattered unit was pulled back in reserve where on the third day as Pickett's charge broke through one of the places along the line the 1st Minnesota had been reinforced with a few companies of men and was again called on to charge into the line and fight the confederates back.
They suffered 82% casualties on their charge to halt the confederates, a casualty rate that is the highest in any US military force to this day
I also love in Fredericksburg mentioned in the video! We have a statue dedicated to the soldier who went out to help Union wounded. It’s really humbling
9:28 Original Human: "why...would they constantly go south...why wouldn't they not try different tactics because obviously (these were not working.)."
World War One Generals: Hold my beer!
Fun fact the most commerce how many Confederate done during the war was British Enfield flintlock musket during the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan US soldiers found warehouses full them
Interesting/kinda morbid facts
General grant often wondered if Lincoln would have been assassinated if he had accepted the offer to go to the play. That was a guilt he Carried to his death
2. For the same reason, the General with Lincoln went insane due to the perceived failure to save Lincoln.
3. When Lee surrendered, he told grant his men were starving, Grant then told his men to give their rations to Lee's men. Lee respected Grant, and would argue with people who had anything bad to say against Grant in his presence.
A few cool facts to add:
1. Although fighting ended in May, the last collection of slaves would not be freed until June 19th. This day is now a national holiday, Juneteenth.
2. General Lee's plantation was known as Arlington. As part of his retribution, Arlington would be converted into a military cemetery for those who died in the Civil War. Arlington National Cemetery was in fact Lee's plantation.
3. Although Sherman and his men freed all the slaves they came across on their march to the sea, they were not necessarily kind to them. Several slaves were left disorientated, confused, did not receive food or medical attention that soldiers did, and were sometimes used as fodder for identifying booby traps.
4. Although Pennsylvania had a large array of farm land that would have benefited from slave labor, Pennsylvania was a state founded by Quakers. Quakers were staunchly abolitionist and had been since the state was founded. This is why several underground railroad houses were located in Pennsylvania. A simple religious belief is why Pennsylvania is firmly considered a northern state.
5. Speaking of religion, John Brown's raid would have been wholly insignificant if he did not use his platform right before execution to denote the hypocrisy of those who consider themselves religious, like those in the South, who were not avidly anti-slavery. This speech was far more significant than his raid as Brown made several points those defending slavery could not easily rebuke.
26:42 Lee and his team actually went in and spoke about the weather for 2 hours because he did not want to address his surrender. Then when Grant got impatient Lee finally got it out.
You probably won’t see this, but here’s the Gettysburg address in its entirety “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
The video briefly mentions Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He was in charge of Union forces at Gettysburg on a hill called Little Round Top on the left side of the Union line. Confederate forces almost overran their position, which would have been disastrous for the Union, since they'd have had a clear shot at most of the battlefield from up there. Chamberlain's men were almost out of ammunition when he ordered them to fix bayonets. He then had the left end of his line charge down the hill, pivoting like a door on a hinge, while the his other men stayed in place. The Confederates were caught in a pincer movement, and the ones that didn't flee threw down their weapons and surrendered. The Union could have lost the Battle of Gettysburg if not for Chamberlain's actions.
Pickett's Charge, which happened on the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, was Lee's biggest mistake. He sent soldiers across three quarters of a mile of open field with no cover into rifle and artillery fire. The Union soldiers were firing from behind a rock wall. Some Confederate soldiers did manage to breach the wall before they were either killed or pushed back. The spot where they breached the wall came to be known as "the high water mark of the Confederacy," like the high water mark of a flood that has receded. It really was all downhill for the Confederacy from that point onwards. Historians have speculated ever since as to how a brilliant general like Lee could have made such a blunder. One theory is that he was convinced by his earlier successes in battle that there were no limits to what he could ask his forces to do.
That funny statue was of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a guy who wasn't so funny. His cavalry engaged in an atrocity at the Battle of Fort Pillow, where they killed the black soldiers who were opposing them rather than accept their surrender. After the war, Forrest became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (I hope the mention of this organization doesn't get this comment blocked).
The vote in the 1864 election wasn't as much of a landslide as the video makes it seem. The electoral college vote is not the same as the popular vote. Lincoln actually won about 55% of the popular vote, but in doing so he carried 22 of the 25 states whose votes were counted.
The bit with Wilmer McLean really did happen. His house was shelled in the First Battle of Bull Run, which was the first major battle of the war (the Battle of Fort Sumter was earlier, but there were no casualties). McLean moved his family to Appomattox Court House, and four years later McLean's house served as the spot where Lee formally surrendered to Grant. After this, McLean would say, "The Civil War started in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."
The 13th amendment reads:
"Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
"Sherman's an absolute tank." Well, they did name the tank after him.
You can find the text of the Gettysburg Address with a Google search. It really is a masterpiece of rhetoric. Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address is at least as good, and can also be found easily.