Confederados III

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Lead: After the Civil War many Southern diehards, instead of submitting to federal occupation, migrated to Brazil.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the spring of 1972, then Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter made an official visit to Brazil. One of the most interesting parts of his tour was the City of Americana, with a modern population of 160,000. There Mr. Carter was greeted by descendants of the town founders, Confederates who came south after the U.S. Civil War. He gave a speech at a cemetery where American, Brazilian, and Confederate flags were displayed prominently.

The original immigration came during 1867-1868. They settled on large tracts of land provided cheaply by the Brazilian government, aware that their success might provoke an even larger wave of Southerners, perhaps as much as 100,000. By 1870 it was clear that no such mass movement would occur. Most of those remaining in the South, like Robert E. Lee, were fitfully accommodating themselves to the changes in the New South and denounced any suggestion of departure.

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Confederados II

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Lead: Horrified at the prospect of defeat, emancipated slaves, economic devastation, and Yankee occupation, in the years following the Civil War some Southerners emigrated to Mexico, to the Caribbean, and to South America.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: While most leaders such as Robert E. Lee counseled gracious acceptance of defeat and accommodation to the New South, others were bitter and determined to leave. They were animated by the sentiments expressed in a song popular among whites in the South in the years following the war, a verse of which reads:

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Confederados I

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Lead: As the dreams of an independent Confederacy crumbled under the relentless assault of the Federal war machine, people North and South began to imagine what life would be like in a Southland humbled by defeat.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Union leaders given to mercy and forgiveness like Abraham Lincoln were prepared to accept the Southerners as if they had never been away. Lincoln, the long-suffering leader of a victorious cause, just might have been able to pull it off. He wanted to quickly restore the South to full participation in the life of the Republic with as little damage as possible beyond that directly associated with the military campaigns.

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Battle of Cold Harbor II

PermalinkToday's AMIT,
Lead: In the spring of 1864 the Federal Army of the Potomac sped across the Virginia heartland in a series of battles followed by flanking maneuvers designed to envelop the rebel army and capture Richmond. Robert E. Lee stopped it at Cold Harbor.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Abraham Lincoln believed he had at last found a general would fight in Ulyssses S. Grant. Lincoln made him the top commander of the Federal armies, and in 1864 he set out to do what none of his predecessors had been able to do. In the Overland Campaign he pressed the northern army south ever closer to Richmond. All during May and June, at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Yellow Tavern, North Anna and Haw’s Shop, Grant and Lee dueled for advantage in the race for the Confederate Capital, both sides enduring heavy casualties.

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Battle of Cold Harbor I

PermalinkToday's AMIT,
Lead: At Cold Harbor in summer 1864, the Federal Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant threw itself against almost impregnable Confederate lines. It was a terrible mistake.

Intro. : A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Grant was newly installed as Chief General of the Federal Armies and as the campaigning season opened in 1864 he accompanied the Army of the Potomac, which was officially lead by George Meade. No one doubted, however, that it was Grant who was in charge and driving the Army before him. It was a well-trod path. Over and over in the previous three years Federal armies had crossed into Virginia to engage the Confederates with the intent to defeat them and take Richmond. Each time Robert E. Lee, with clever tactics, more highly skilled subordinates, grimly determined troops, and the artful use of maneuver, cavalry and artillery had taken the measure of the Yankees and beat them regularly. The Federals would then retreat, lick their wounds, regroup, and under another commander, President Lincoln having replaced the previous one, would have at it again, with the same result.

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House Divided: Collapse of the Confederacy V

PermalinkToday's AMIT, , , ,
Lead: One hundred and fifty years ago the Republic was facing its greatest crisis. This continuing series examines the American Civil War. It is "A House Divided."

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: With the prospects of Confederate defeat around Petersburg increasing with each passing day, in spring 1865 Robert E Lee planned for a last campaign. He would give up the Capital at Richmond, extract his army, march south, connect with Joseph Johnston in North Carolina, defeat William Sherman, and with the last remaining serious Confederate army, deal Grant such a resounding blow that the North would be forced to seriously treat for peace. It was a daring plan and, of course, it failed.

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House Divided: Collapse of the Confederacy IV

PermalinkToday's AMIT, , , ,
Lead: One hundred and fifty years ago the Republic was facing its greatest crisis. This continuing series examines the American Civil War. It is "A House Divided."

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Robert E. Lee had known it would come to this. He told Jubal Early that a siege was disastrous and would doom his army to defeat. His lines were paper thin around Petersburg and every day Yankee strength proved increasingly irresistible. Yet in the weeks of early spring 1865, he dreamed of a breakout, of joining Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and of a last campaign, first against Sherman, and then against Grant, whom he hoped he could give the slip.

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House Divided: Collapse of the Confederacy III

PermalinkToday's AMIT, , , ,
Lead: One hundred and fifty years ago the Republic was facing its greatest crisis. This continuing series examines the American Civil War. It is "A House Divided."

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the end it was a matter of choice. Either it would be independence or freedom for the slaves. The rehearsed arguments across the South echoed the bitter national debates of the 1850s. Slavery was morally beneficial for both master and slave. Senator Hunter said, “what did we go to war for, if not to protect our property?” Howell Cobb of Georgia fumed, “if slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong. The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution.”

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