Shaping America
Final Script
TITLE:Lesson 23: Home Fronts
PREPARED FOR:Dallas TeleLearning
WRITER:Gretchen Dyer
PRODUCER:Julia Dyer
DRAFT:Final
DATE:December 1, 2000
Editing Script Lesson 23-3: Home Fronts 11/06/00 1
VisualAudio
FADE IN:
Introduction (1 min.)- wartime images of hungry, tattered civilians in South; illustrations or cartoons of Northern Democrats opposing war; images of slaves and/or northern blacks
As the Civil War entered its second year. People in both the North and the South began to question what they were fighting for.
But for blacks there was never a doubt. Freedom was at stake.
- image of Robert Smalls; Charleston harbor
- image of Frederick Douglass
“War for the destruction of liberty must be met with war for the destruction of slavery.”
Segment 1
Emancipation / transitional music up
- images of runaway slaves
Beginning in 1861, runaway slaves began to seek refuge by the thousands behind Union lines.
- image of Gen. Benjamin Butler; contrabands
- images of contrabands in Union camps
- cont’d above; image of U.S. Grant
I am using them as teamsters, hospital attendants, company cooks and so forth, thus saving soldiers to carry the musket. I don’t know what is to become of these poor people in the end, but it weakens the enemy to take them from them.”
- image of Lincoln; political cartoons
President Lincoln’s initial policy toward the slaves was ambivalent.
- image of Lincoln writing at desk (?)
My paramount object in the struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”
- James McPherson on camera
At first, because he was concerned about maintaining the loyalty of the border slave states - Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri particularly, and because he wanted to have the support of the northern Democrats for this war effort, Lincoln was very careful to define this war as a war only to preserve the Union and not a war against slavery.
But as time went on and as the war moved into its second year in 1862, Lincoln came under increasingpressure from several fronts - from the antislaverywing of his own party, from black leaders in the North, from the recognition that European powers saw no distinction between the Union and the Confederacy on the issue of slavery.
And Lincoln also became increasingly convinced that the black population, the slave population, was an important factor in the strength of one side or the other in the war.
- cont’d above; image of Lincoln
“We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.”
- newspaper headlines; original document
On September 22, 1862, after a close Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for all slaves in the areas of rebellion.
- James Oliver Horton on camera; London Times cartoon re Lincoln freeing slaves where he did not have power
Now the Emancipation Proclamation was a very clever document that walked this very fine line. One,it did not free the slaves. It applied only to slaves in areas then under the control of those in rebellion against the United States.
The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the states that never left the Union. But let me tell you what it did do. It said to European nations, this war is a holy war for freedom. It focused the war on the slave issue and it forced the south into the position of being recognized as that section that was fighting specifically to preserve the institution of slavery.
- newspaper editorials; images of black men (with weapons)
The Emancipation Proclamation intensified pressure on the government from abolitionists, free blacks in the North and freed slaves in the South to permit blacks to serve in the Union army.
- images of white officers and soldiers
- images of contrabands working in Union camps
- James McPherson on camera
Once Lincoln made the decision for emancipation and based that decision in part on the equation of military manpower, that is, proclaiming emancipationwill take so much labor power away from the Confederacy and add it to the Union side, and the logical extension of that was to mobilize able-bodied male ex-slaves to fight on the Union sides.
- photos of black soldiers
- Gary Gallagher on camera; images of black troops; fighting at Port Hudson or Port Wagner
Easily the most famous of the black units in the United States Army during the Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts. It was a regiment made up largely of free black men from various northern states…some former slaves, but not predominantly former slaves. They had their most famous action against Battery Wagner or Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1863.
They suffered very high casualties there. Theircolonel, Robert Gould Shaw from Massachusetts, was killed, was buried with the dead black men from his unit, and that resonated with people in the North, especially who believed in emancipation. It showed that black men could be courageous under fire. This was an especially striking example of a black unit doing well under fire.
- image of Gen. U.S. Grant
“By arming the Negro we have added a powerful ally.”
- James Oliver Horton on camera
Very early on, the South, outraged by the fact that the North would employ black soldiers to fight against them, said that if we capture these black soldiers, we will not treat them like prisoners of war. We will enslave them or we’ll kill them, and we’ll do similar kinds of things to their white officers.
- images of black soldiers in New Orleans
For southern citizens in Union occupied territory, the arming of former slaves added insult to injury.
- images of New Orleans
Our citizens, who had been accustomed to meet and treat the negroes only as respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked to encounter them in towns and villages, and on the public roads, by scores and hundreds and thousands wearing Federal uniforms, and bearing bright muskets and gleaming bayonets.”
- images of black soldiers in uniform
Black soldiers not only had to fight against the South to conquer slavery, they had to fight against Northern prejudice for the right to be paid and treated as ordinary soldiers.
- James Oliver Horton on camera
African Americans who joined this early military effort were upset about a number of things. One, they didn’t like the fact that they couldn’t be commissioned officers. Two, they weren’t paid the same as white troops at comparable ranks. Can you imagine? Lesser pay, restricted rank, facing more horrendousconsequences.
- images of black troops
Empowered by a growing sense of equality, some units refused to accept less pay than white soldiers. Others worked to change the army’s policy against black officers.
- cont’d above
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”
Segment 2
The War at Home in the North
/ music up
- images of Northern farms, factories, etc.
The Civil War affected every sector of Northern society.
- images of women at work in factories and on farms in North
- images of agricultural and industrial implements
- images of abundance—farm produce, factory goods
- VOC Gary Gallagher
The North faced the challenge, economically, in the war of waging a massive war while also supplying all the consumer goods that the northern public would want and it proved perfectly capable of doing that, and with virtually no government interference in the economy. It’s really an amazing performance on the part of the northern economy.
- newspaper headlines, political cartoons
To prosecute the war effectively the federal government was forced to develop new ways to sustain and finance the war effort.
This brought about sweeping changes in Northern society and the economy. It also solidified the federal government’s power, weakening the power of the individual states in the process.
- cartoons, editorials re income tax, conscription
In August of 1861, the government enacted the first federal income tax in American history. A year and a half later, it passed a national conscription act. These changes did not take place without dissent.
- images of conscripts, draft offices, illustrations or cartoons re draft
“No party has ever insulted the intelligence of the people, with falsehoods and deceptions, as persistingly and as barefacedly as the Republican Party. The Draft officer and the Tax collector are, however, realities with which the people are fast becoming acquainted and in whom they can believe.”
- Map 23-1a, showing location of Franklin County
Franklin County lay just north of the Mason and Dixon Line, but in many ways it was typical of the wartime North.
- Will Thomas on camera
Business during the war was booming in Franklin County. The railroads were running. The banks were open. Factories were producing materials for the war effort on government contracts and on private contracts. Franklin County was a very prosperous, successful commercial place as well as agricultural place.
ACTOR (VO): William Heyser, Franklin Co. diarist
“Our town is greatly changed by the events of the war. Business is so good, our small town is taking on a city appearance of activity.”
- Map 23-1b, highlighting Shenandoah Valley and showing path of Lee’s invasion
For most Northern citizens, the war was experienced from a distance. But Franklin County lay at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, directly in the path of Lee’s invasion of the North.
- images of Franklin County town, contraband slaves in wagons (?)
“At eight o'clock a number of contrabands entered our town, fleeing from Martinsburg. Upon asking one of them as to their plight, said the Rebels are not far behind. Suddenly about two hundred more wagons, horses, mules and contrabands all came pouring down the street in full flight, some of them hollering “The Rebels are behind us!” Such a sight I have never seen.
NARRATOR
In the second half of June, 1863, Franklin County got a taste of war on its own territory as thousands of Rebels came through on their way to battle.
- Cormany diary and/or vignette of desk and journal.
“While I am writing, thousands are passing—such a rough, dirty, ragged, rowdyish set one does not often see. Generals Lee and Longstreet passed through today. A body would think the whole South had broke loose and are coming into Pennsylvania. It makes me feel too badly to see to so many men and cannon going through knowing that they have come to kill our men.”
- images of Northern women during the war.
For women on the home front the worst agony of war was waiting to know whether their fathers, husbands and brothers had survived.
- image of woman writing in her diary
- images of battle
“The cannonading was most terrific… and was interspersed with musketry and charge yells and everything that goes to making up the indescribable battle of the best men on Earth, seemingly in the Fight to the Finish.
- image of woman writing at desk
“I almost fear to hear the result in who was killed and who was wounded…still I want to know.”
- images of battle aftermath—dead bodies, horses, etc.
“Crossing the battlefield…Cemetery Hill, the Great Wheatfield Farm, Seminary Ridge, and other places where dead men, horses, smashed artillery were strewn in utter confusion, the Blue and the Grey mixed…the scene simply beggars description…
- image of woman working at home
“Little Willie Wampler came running as fast as he could to tell me a soldier had come to see me and sure enough when I got to the door Mr. Cormany just rode up. I was so very glad to see him that I scarcely knew how to act.”
ACTOR (VO): Samuel Cormany
“To attempt to describe my joy and feelings at meeting and greeting my dear little family must prove a failure. We spent the evening very sweetly and pleasantly, but only we had a few too many inquiring callers.”
Segment 3
The War at Home in the South
/ music up
- images of emaciated civilians
Citizens of the Confederacy experienced the war very differently from those of the Union.
- images of Southern women sewing shirts by hand, making shoes, etc.
- images of Union ships
- newspaper headlines, illustrations
- image of Mary Chestnut, intercut with image of blockade runner
“An iron steamer has run the blockade at Savannah. We raise our wilted heads like flowers after a shower.”
- EXPERT HISTORIAN on camera
The main challenge, economically, to the Confederacy was to convert from an overwhelmingly agricultural economy, which it had been throughout the antebellum years, into an economy that could fight a modern war. The Confederacy did amazing things inthe ways, in the areas of producing armaments, producing uniforms, and so forth. But the Confederate economy did not prove capable as the northern economy did of producing all the consumer goods and all the war-related goods necessary during the war years.
There are tremendous shortages on the Confederate home front that the Northern home front does not have to contend with.
- images of Confederate refugees
The Confederate home front was also frequently the battlefront. Wherever the Yankees went, Confederate citizens fled, creating a large refugee population that clogged the roads and filled towns and cities further south with homeless, needy people.
- images of refugees; towns ablaze, etc.
“It’s a heartrending scene. Women searching for their babies along the road where they had been lost; others sitting in the dust and crying and wringing their hands. All the talk was of burning homes, houses knocked to pieces by balls, famine, murder, desolation.”
- image of Jeff Davis and Confederate government
As in the North, the Confederate government faced serious political problems.
- Gary Gallagher on camera/intercut with newspaper editorials, cartoons re Confederate gov’t
I think the greatest political challenge facing the Confederacy was trying to rally a society allegedly, at least, devoted to state rights to fight a war that demanded enormous centralization of power if the war were going to be fought successfully.
Strong state rights advocates bridled at the notion of a powerful central government. They said it was against everything that the Confederacy allegedly stood for and there was enormous opposition.
The Confederate government levied all kinds of national taxes. It forced men into uniform through the first conscription act in United States history, it imposed a tax in kind to take crops from people, a percentage of crops when Confederate money became essentially worthless.