The American Civil War (Part Two of Two)
4/12/202659 min
In the decades since the United States declared their independence from Britain, the question of slavery had become increasingly divisive. As the nation expanded, fragile political agreements over the issue failed, and the frontier became a battleground. When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, seven Southern states chose secession from the Union over accepting limits on slavery. War followed. Eventually, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and transformed the war from a fight to preserve the Union into a struggle over freedom itself. But far from being the end of the story, emancipation marked the beginning of a new and far...
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First 90 secondsJohn Hopkins· Host0:01
It is the 18th of July, 1863 on Morris Island outside Charleston, South Carolina. Night presses heavy on the beach outside the city as a Black Union soldier stands in line with the men of the 54th Massachusetts, the first regiment of African American troops raised in the North. Up ahead, Fort Wagner broods on the narrow spit stretching away from the mainland and into the Atlantic, its guns silent for now. Around the soldier, nearly six hundred men wait in near silence, surf to the right of them, marshes to the left. Some were born free in Northern cities. Others were enslaved until not long ago. All now wear the same blue uniform, boots sinking slightly into wet sand. They have been chosen to lead the assault on Fort Wagner, which guards Charleston Harbor, one of the Confederacy's most vital ports. Taking the fort will open the way for Union guns to threaten the city itself, and the 54th is being sent in first, ordered to test the defenses and prove under fire what Black soldiers can really do. Shuffling his feet in the damp sand,