0:00:02 > 0:00:04I have crossed the Atlantic,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07to ride the railroads of North America
0:00:07 > 0:00:09with my reliable Appleton's guide.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Published in the late 19th century,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17my Appleton's General Guide to North America
0:00:17 > 0:00:20will direct me to all that's novel,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23beautiful, memorable
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and striking in the United States.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27THEY SHOUT
0:00:27 > 0:00:30As I journey across this vast continent,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the West.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39And how the railroads tied this nation together,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42helping to create the global superstate of today.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11The so-called Mainline of Mid-America
0:01:11 > 0:01:15takes me deeper into the fertile heartland of Illinois -
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Abraham Lincoln country.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21At the time of my guidebook, this was a land of plenty,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24above and below ground.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32I'm continuing towards the south.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34During my time in Illinois,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38my journey has taken me away from the Mississippi
0:01:38 > 0:01:40but I've been running parallel with it,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and the river will feature again in my travels
0:01:43 > 0:01:45before I arrive in Memphis, Tennessee.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49During the years immediately after my guidebook,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51the United States overtook Great Britain
0:01:51 > 0:01:54as the world's largest economy -
0:01:54 > 0:01:56an extraordinary achievement
0:01:56 > 0:01:59in the century since its war of independence.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04I want to discover what fuelled the people and the machines that carried
0:02:04 > 0:02:08America from its political through to its industrial revolutions.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17My rail journey has charted the birth of the industrial Midwest.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21I started in Minneapolis, a 19th-century powerhouse,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25before heading south along the trade route of the Mississippi
0:02:25 > 0:02:28to La Crosse in rural Wisconsin.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Striking out east, I called at Lake Michigan's Milwaukee,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36then headed south to recall rail's golden age in Chicago.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39I'm now travelling south again through Illinois' rich prairies,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42whose produce fed the urban masses,
0:02:42 > 0:02:43before I end my journey
0:02:43 > 0:02:46at the musical utopia of Memphis.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Today I start in Mattoon, Illinois,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52continue to the fruit bowl of Centralia
0:02:52 > 0:02:54and the coalfields at Carbondale,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57before ending back on the great Mississippi
0:02:57 > 0:02:58in Columbus, Kentucky.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Along the way I'll be testing my frontier resolve...
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Abraham Lincoln split rails, and then the United States.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14..unearthing Illinois' elixir of life...
0:03:14 > 0:03:15I'm making apple butter.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18See, all this fruit makes you young and good-looking, Michael.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23..and learning about Civil War tactics.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Grant is a military commander who never made the same mistake twice -
0:03:27 > 0:03:30he understood that war is total war.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32You fight it to win or you don't get in.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I'll be visiting Mattoon, Illinois.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56The guidebook tells me that the Chicago branch
0:03:56 > 0:03:58of the Illinois Central crosses here
0:03:58 > 0:04:00and here are the machine shops,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03roundhouse and car works of the railroad.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06But I'll be heading into the countryside
0:04:06 > 0:04:09to investigate the humble origins of the most divisive,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13most decisive figure in United States history.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31The junction town of Mattoon was born in the 1850s
0:04:31 > 0:04:36and soon flourished as the United States railroad network grew.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Close by, it's possible to glimpse rural Illinois
0:04:47 > 0:04:49as it was before the trains arrived.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56The Lincoln Log Cabin Historical Site recreates a lost way of life
0:04:56 > 0:05:00that shaped the character of one of America's greatest presidents.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06This log cabin is moving.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10It gives a very good idea of the meagre conditions
0:05:10 > 0:05:13of Abraham Lincoln's childhood.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16And you can imagine, no doubt, that he would learn here
0:05:16 > 0:05:19the necessity of hard work and the virtues of self-reliance
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and I understand how that would create a man of principle.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27But few people have written or spoken more beautiful English prose
0:05:27 > 0:05:31than Lincoln. And I wonder how he learnt that craft.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38This is the reconstructed home
0:05:38 > 0:05:41of Abraham Lincoln's father and stepmother,
0:05:41 > 0:05:42Thomas and Sarah Lincoln,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44in its original location.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Matthew Mittelstaedt looks after this historic site.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Matthew.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56- Good morning.- Hi. Michael. Good to see you.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Well, basic living, eh?
0:05:59 > 0:06:02It is. But, really, it's a simple home
0:06:02 > 0:06:06but it was a home that was familiar to a number of Americans
0:06:06 > 0:06:08in addition to Abraham Lincoln.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Abraham Lincoln had left home
0:06:14 > 0:06:18by the time that Thomas and Sarah finally settled here.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20But they continued to live the frontier lifestyle
0:06:20 > 0:06:22that he had known as a boy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Children had to work in those days.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27They did. Children worked very hard.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31They were part of the economy of the farm and of the home.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33Children were taught to work very young.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Girls were learning to sew and to stitch and to cook just beside
0:06:37 > 0:06:41their mother. Boys were learning to take care of the livestock,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43filling up the firebox, bringing the water in from the well.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Splitting rails, of course.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Abraham Lincoln is known as the Rail-Splitter in his later years
0:06:48 > 0:06:52as a politician. But that was a very common chore on the farm.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Made out of felled trees with pioneers' sweat,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00split-rail fencing marked boundaries and penned in livestock.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05My image of Lincoln is tall and gangly and,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07of course, rather cerebral.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Was he good at splitting rails?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11He was. Everyone understood splitting rails
0:07:11 > 0:07:14and so being the Rail-Splitter candidate in 1860,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18they understood that to be a hard worker, a honest man.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21And so they utilised that imagery...
0:07:21 > 0:07:23to further his campaign.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26The man who writes the Gettysburg Address -
0:07:26 > 0:07:30where do you think he got that power with the English language from?
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Abraham Lincoln loved to read.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35You know, he started as a young boy reading from the Bible
0:07:35 > 0:07:37but then he went on to read poetry.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40And Lincoln liked to think of himself as a poet anyway.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44The Gettysburg Address actually begins in a very biblical way, doesn't it?
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- "Four score and seven years ago..." - It does indeed.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Lincoln left his father's farm aged 22
0:07:50 > 0:07:54and found work as a boatman and a shop clerk.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Self-taught, he became a successful attorney
0:07:57 > 0:07:59before moving into politics.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03To find out how life on the frontier shaped the great man,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07I'm attempting to get to grips with his rustic daily slog.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13- So this is what all the good fences around here were made of?- Yes, sir.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Abraham Lincoln split rails, and then the United States.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31I'm teased that a seasoned rail-splitter
0:08:31 > 0:08:35could get through about 700 of these logs a day.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Ah! Tough work.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Yes, it is.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I can see why you'd want to sit in the Oval Office after this.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Doing well.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Thank you, Mark.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08- Yay!- Well, you did pretty well.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12About 699 to go.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15About another 2,000 to finish up fixing the fence over there.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I'm your man, Mark. Don't worry. Have faith.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26When Lincoln's nephew visited him in Washington
0:09:26 > 0:09:29at the height of the Civil War in 1864,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32he commented that if his uncle hadn't been
0:09:32 > 0:09:36brought up to maul rails, he would never have withstood
0:09:36 > 0:09:38the rigours of the White House.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40I believe him.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53I'm picking up my rail journey to delve deeper into the countryside,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57for a sweeter taste of Illinois' agricultural heritage.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07HORN BLARES
0:10:12 > 0:10:15My next stop will be Centralia, Illinois.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18The guidebook tells me we've entered the great fruit-growing region
0:10:18 > 0:10:20of central Illinois.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25"For many miles, the railroad traverses a country of prolific orchards.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30"Vast quantities of peaches are shipped annually to Chicago."
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Fruit brought zest to an otherwise unhealthy city.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37I owe that insight to my APPLE-ton.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50Centralia lies at the midpoint of the Illinois Central's rail route.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04BELL RINGS
0:11:04 > 0:11:07I'm struck by an unexpected landmark.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09This is a carillon,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12an instrument that sounds through bells in a tower.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16It had its European heyday over 300 years ago
0:11:16 > 0:11:19but became popular in America in the 20th century.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Sorry to interrupt you.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27I was frankly surprised to find a carillon in the United States.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Are there many in the USA?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Oh, yes. There are around 180 in the States.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Where does the carillon originate?
0:11:34 > 0:11:39The carillon comes originally from the Netherlands and Belgium.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41- And where are you from? - I am from the Netherlands.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And how long have you been working here?
0:11:45 > 0:11:47I've been working here... This is my very first day.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49- Your very first day? - My very first day.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52HORN BLARES I hear a locomotive.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53- Yes.- And that gives me an idea.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Do you have a train piece you can play for me?
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Absolutely. I was thinking about Chattanooga Choo Choo.
0:12:02 > 0:12:03Take it away, Roy.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08BELLS PLAY CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO
0:12:38 > 0:12:43I've made my way east, out into Centralia's green belt.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50My guide claims that this region enjoyed great prosperity from its fruit.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53I'm joining the apple harvest with historian John Shaw.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02John, when did they start planting fruit around Centralia?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05The first settler came here in 1817,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and one of the first acts was to plant an apple or two.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11That would have been just for his own consumption, I suppose?
0:13:11 > 0:13:16- Yes.- My guidebook mentions vast quantities of peaches
0:13:16 > 0:13:17going to Chicago.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21So what made the difference? What enabled them to go commercial?
0:13:22 > 0:13:25The railroad was the thing that made it all possible.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28They could take their fruit to Centralia, put it on a train
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and have it in Chicago the next day or sometimes in two days.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Later, as the markets developed more,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37they started growing strawberries and peaches and raspberries -
0:13:37 > 0:13:38all sorts of fruit in this area.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Now, I would have thought that strawberries, raspberries and so on...
0:13:45 > 0:13:48..need to be kept very fresh, don't they, on the journey?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50That was the big problem when they first started -
0:13:50 > 0:13:53they would try to ship strawberries directly from the fields
0:13:53 > 0:13:56and that did not work for strawberries.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00And then in 1866, at Cobden, about 70 miles south of here,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04a man by the name of Parker Earle developed a system.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07He built boxes that would hold 100lb of ice
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and 200 quarts of strawberries.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Just a year after Parker Earle's pioneering ice chests,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20the first refrigerated rail car was patented.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Known as reefers, by the 1880s,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27these cars were supplying much-needed variety
0:14:27 > 0:14:31to the monotonous diet of pioneers and industrial workers.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37This orchard belongs to the Schwartz family
0:14:37 > 0:14:42who have been cultivating a variety of fruits here since the 1950s.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49- I'm Michael.- Michael. Tom. - And what are you doing in that pot?
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I'm making apple butter.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54And you call it apple butter because you would spread it on bread?
0:14:54 > 0:14:57You'd spread it on bread. It's apples that's been cooked down.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59You can cook as long as eight or nine hours.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Is it very traditional, Tom?
0:15:01 > 0:15:02Yes. Very.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04But do you think it goes back to the days of Abraham Lincoln,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08- all the way back there, do you think?- I'm sure that's why he looked so good.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11- See, all this fruit makes you young and good-looking, Michael. - MICHAEL CHUCKLES
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Mm, wow!
0:15:14 > 0:15:17- Look at that!- Nice and thick.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- Cooked down just right.- Mm!
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Oh, it's fabulous. And it's really nice when it's still warm, isn't it?
0:15:23 > 0:15:26- Oh, it's still warm. Oh, yeah.- Mm!
0:15:27 > 0:15:30This farm is a family affair.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33On the production line, Tom's brother takes charge of packing.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37But he welcomes an extra pair of hands,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39and it's a pleasure to help out.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44How long have you been pouring apple butter?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47- 50 years.- And so this is typical, is it?
0:15:47 > 0:15:49- You get the family together like this?- Oh, yeah.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Nobody else'll put up with us.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55There we go, sir.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01You're getting better. I tell you what -
0:16:01 > 0:16:03he's on probation but I guess he'll work out.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05You're hired!
0:16:11 > 0:16:15As night draws in, I'm returning to the railroad station
0:16:15 > 0:16:18to board the last train of the day.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41My next stop will be the appropriately named Carbondale.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46Appleton's says that the principal business of the area is coal mining,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50about a dozen companies being in active operation.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Coal was needed by the steel mills, by the factories of Chicago
0:16:54 > 0:16:56and by the railroads.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01All right, ladies and gentlemen, the next and final station stop
0:17:01 > 0:17:03will be Carbondale.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37Early morning. I'm making my way to explore the commodity that was
0:17:37 > 0:17:39essential to America's railroads.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44- Hello, Rosemary.- Hello, how are you?
0:17:44 > 0:17:46- Good to see you.- Good to see you.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48- Where are we headed? - We are headed to the mine.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Rosemary Feurer is a professor of history at Northern Illinois University.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Rosemary, here we are in this tremendous opencast mine
0:18:03 > 0:18:08here in southern Illinois. When did they first mine coal in this state?
0:18:08 > 0:18:11The first coal mines were in the 1830s but, really,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14it starts getting its traction with the railroads.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16The railroads needed coal for steam
0:18:16 > 0:18:19and they needed to use it for transportation,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22but then industrialisation was highly dependent upon coal.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26The 19th-century American coal industry
0:18:26 > 0:18:29relied heavily on immigrant labour.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33British miners were highly prized for their experience
0:18:33 > 0:18:35of dangerous deep-shaft mining.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39This skilled workforce that was needed - was it well paid?
0:18:39 > 0:18:42At first, yes. But, over time,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44employers kept bringing in more and more immigrants
0:18:44 > 0:18:45and they kept mechanising.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51By the 1880s, coal had overtaken wood
0:18:51 > 0:18:54to become the country's largest source of energy.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57But by then, coal miners' wages had fallen.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Miners battled against their employers
0:19:00 > 0:19:02for better pay and conditions.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08The British workers brought traditions of unionism
0:19:08 > 0:19:13to the state of Illinois. They formed the first miners' union in the country in the 1860s.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18The conflicts came because this was a very anti-union culture,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21as far as the mine owners were concerned.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23So where did that all lead?
0:19:23 > 0:19:26There were a series of very bloody struggles
0:19:26 > 0:19:30in which dozens of workers were killed in the state of Illinois,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33and it's because that's what it took to form a union in this state.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36From the 1890s to the 1920s,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38all of Illinois became unionised
0:19:38 > 0:19:41and that meant that they could govern what the wages were.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43They could say eight hours or nothing.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47So it was a real power for the unions.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Today, mechanisation has transformed the industry.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02But coal is in the veins of the people of Illinois.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09- Hello, Sue.- Hi, Michael.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11- How are you?- Lovely to see you.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12What a pleasure, what a privilege.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16I've arranged to meet Sue in her family's cafe,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20where they commemorate the community's mining heritage.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Sue, what is your connection with mining?
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Both sides of my family - the Elwoods,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35who came from Newcastle-on-Tyne, and the Littles,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39who came from the border area of Scotland and England -
0:20:39 > 0:20:42came here, ended up working in the coal mine.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45Who is this in this photograph?
0:20:45 > 0:20:49This is my husband's father.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51He's 14 years old.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52They didn't go to school.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54They worked.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Is your dad on this wall?
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Back there.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00That's Bud Little.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04How did your dad feel about working underground, given the dangers?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07My dad loved it.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11And if you ever talk to a soldier who'd been in combat,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14you'd get the same feeling.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17It was, everybody was a group.
0:21:17 > 0:21:18They helped each other.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23They protected each other's back, they worked together.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25My dad loved it.
0:21:27 > 0:21:28Don't ask me why.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Have you ever been in a mine?
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Yeah, there you go.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34I have. I agree with you.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37- I don't understand it.- I don't understand it but he loved it.
0:21:43 > 0:21:44It's time to leave Illinois,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47but the rails don't take me where I'm going.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50So I've arranged a lift in a fine Corvette.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Hey, Jimmy. I'm Michael. Good to see you.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08I'm heading over the Mississippi to the state of Kentucky,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11which my Appleton's tells me had a crucial role
0:22:11 > 0:22:12in the American Civil War.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19So, what are the qualities of Kentucky, do you think?
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Well, we have a lot of farming.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- Real small communities. - And what are the people like?
0:22:25 > 0:22:26Oh, very nice.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28All watch after one another.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29A lot of respect.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32The men still open the doors for the women.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36- And the women don't object?- No.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52- Safe journey.- You too.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Bye-bye.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05It was starting in 1860 that Lincoln, the Rail-Splitter,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07split the Union.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11He opposed any territorial expansion of slavery.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14And on his election as president,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17a majority of slave-owning states broke from the Union
0:23:17 > 0:23:19to form the Confederate States of America.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24This quiet spot played a pivotal role
0:23:24 > 0:23:27in the bloody conflict that followed.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31"Columbus, Kentucky," says the book,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33"is situated on the slope of a high bluff,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37"commanding the Mississippi for about five miles.
0:23:37 > 0:23:38"At the outbreak of the Civil War,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41"it was strongly fortified by the Confederates,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45"who regarded it as the northern key to the mouth of the Mississippi."
0:23:45 > 0:23:50The river was the artery, the aorta of the South,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55and the Union intended to convert it into a meandering rift that would
0:23:55 > 0:23:57tear the Confederacy apart.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13History professor Berry Craig has joined me
0:24:13 > 0:24:15at this former Confederate fort
0:24:15 > 0:24:18to chart the course of the Mississippi campaign.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Well, it's obvious from where we are and the guidebook emphasises it
0:24:23 > 0:24:26that we're at a strategic point from the point of view of the river.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Did it have other strategic elements?
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Oh, yes. A railroad came in here.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35The Mobile and Ohio Railroad which, of course, would supply an army.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39It's a very, very strategic place, that when the Confederates come in,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42they heavily fortify this place with artillery.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Now, if you look down the river,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48they first had long-range guns that could reach way down the river.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51If you happened to come through those guns,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53they had mid-range guns next.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57If you didn't get this close to Columbus as we are here,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01the short-range guns come in. It's a murderous field of fire.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05General Ulysses S Grant on the Union side
0:25:05 > 0:25:08knew that control of the Mississippi was critical.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12A bold assault on impregnable Columbus
0:25:12 > 0:25:16was his first test on the Civil War battlefield.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18What is the Union strategy?
0:25:18 > 0:25:24Grant comes on 7th November 1861 to probe the Columbus outer defences
0:25:24 > 0:25:27at Belmont, Missouri, which is just over there.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Well, at this point, the Confederates send reinforcements
0:25:30 > 0:25:33across the river, Grant find himself surrounded.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Now, Grant's troops think, what's the logical thing to do?
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Surrender. Grant said, "Oh, no.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43"We fought our way in, we'll fight our way out."
0:25:43 > 0:25:44And he did.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Having battled back to safety,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Grant revised the Union strategy.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52He encircled Columbus by conquering nearby forts,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56until Confederate commanders were left so vulnerable
0:25:56 > 0:25:59that they relinquished their prize stronghold.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04The Union river campaign drove south and pushed northwards
0:26:04 > 0:26:07from the Gulf of Mexico to seize New Orleans.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12In the summer of 1863, the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15brought the mighty river under Union control
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and split the Confederacy east and west in two.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24What role does this play in the career of General Ulysses S Grant?
0:26:25 > 0:26:29I think it very much illustrates the kind of commander he is.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Grant is a military commander who never made the same mistake twice.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35He understood that war is total war.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38You fight it to win or you don't get in.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Grant was made commander of all Union armies in 1864.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Five years later, he became the 18th President of the United States.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54What do historians say of the significance of the battle here?
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Some historians think that the North won the Civil War
0:26:57 > 0:26:59right here in this part of the country.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05It took four years and cost 600,000 lives,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07but the eventual triumph of Union forces
0:27:07 > 0:27:11ended the Confederate secession, and abolished slavery.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24Abraham Lincoln was raised in a place of toil and resilience.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27But he witnessed a new industrial America,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30fuelled by coal and driven by railroads.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34There was just one thing about the United States that was not modern -
0:27:34 > 0:27:35slavery,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38an economic system that had been abolished by competitors
0:27:38 > 0:27:40like Great Britain.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43The Civil War would resolve whether,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46as Lincoln was to put it later at Gettysburg,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48a nation dedicated to the proposition
0:27:48 > 0:27:52that all men are created equal could endure.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02'Next time, I ride the perilous Mississippi...'
0:28:03 > 0:28:06How safe was it to travel on the steamboats?
0:28:06 > 0:28:08It was extremely hazardous.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11There was great danger.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Sinking from boiler explosions, from fire.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16'..get my ducks in a row...'
0:28:19 > 0:28:21- There they go. Don't let them get away!- Oh!
0:28:21 > 0:28:26I think this is the bizarrest thing I've ever been involved in.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28'..and dive deep into the Blues.'
0:28:28 > 0:28:31HE PLAYS A BLUES RIFF