Tony Silber
Appearances
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
That was their thing. They craved capturing Washington because they knew what the stakes were. They knew what was on the line and the strategic value of Washington was
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
I think what they didn't do was respond quickly enough, which is paradoxical, because they were much better prepared to do it. They had this organized army in Charleston. They had a president who was prior secretary of war, who was a West Point graduate, who had all the advantages.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And Lincoln, on the other hand, was not only had no executive experience at all, but certainly no military experience. I think that the bottom line is that the Confederates were moving troops north during those days, but they didn't move fast enough. And we have the Northern State Militias to thank for that.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Auf der einen Seite ist es wie tiefe, tiefe Hostilität und dann eine Conclusion, dass nur eine Sache, dass es nur ein Ergebnis gibt, das ist die Krieg. Das ist im Süden. Und im Norden, die Staatsbürger und die Menschen waren, um es anders zu sagen, die Ambivalenz der vorherigen 30, 40 Jahre wurde gewaschen. Es wurde gewaschen durch eine Tidewelle. Es wurde ein unifiedes Land im Norden.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
John Dix, der Präsident der Treasury war, ein sehr prominenter Amerikaner damals, I think Governor of New York said, the North rose as one man, right? And then, you know, other observers said, well, anybody who saw the reaction in the North would recognize that the strong beating heart of this nation, and I'm paraphrasing, was not going to go down without a bitter, bloody, long fight.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Massachusetts and New York were fully ready. Rhode Island, population 140,000 in 1861, was somewhat ready, thanks to their very rich governor, who funded a lot of it himself. Pennsylvania should have been ready, being the closest northern state to Washington, D.C., but Pennsylvania was disastrously unready.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Everybody else, they just recognized reality and pushed the requisition dates back to late May.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, that was the New York 7th Regiment. It was a fascinating story. It probably has its roots in the war of 1812, but it became, just to back up for one minute, in the North, military organizations, militias became extravagant. The state governments wouldn't fund them, didn't want to fund them.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
They were looked upon by the rest of the societies in the North as extraneous, farcical, unnecessary, social clubs for men. But that was the overview. But there were some militia organizations in the North, especially in the big cities, die sehr aktiv im Norden waren, während der 1840er und 1850er-Jahre, sehr oft Rituale aufzunehmen.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Es klingt sehr seltsam, aber in den alten Tagen war die Regierung nicht geeignet, die lokale, staatliche, federale Regierung war nicht geeignet, um mit diesen sozialen Konflikten und Tiefen zu handeln, die sich ständig aufheben. Sie hielten also auf den staatlichen Militärs, die sie mit Weasel-Force aufsetzten.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So the New York 7th had its roots in that kind of background, but it essentially was a social club for very rich, very connected New York City men. And it took its job seriously and was ready to roll. It had 990 something men in April of 1861, far more than any other regiment.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
The New York City Regiments and the Boston ones had to man up, staff up, recruit to get double their size during that month. But 7th New York was ready. General Scott wanted the 7th New York. Yeah, it was probably the most respected military organization in the world at that point.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Absolutely, yeah. As I mentioned, the North Rose is one man. There are some incredible anecdotes, some of which I included in the book. where all the varied political observations and positions and opinions were just negated, right? And they were ready to fight.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, Virginia was the source of the original sense of unity in the United States between North and South. Virginia was an industrial state, well, more industrialized, I should say, than the agricultural cotton-based South of Gulf states. Virginia hatte eine militärische Industriebasis. Es hatte die fünfte größte Bevölkerung in den Vereinigten Staaten.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Obwohl, wenn man inslavierte Leute betrachtet, waren sie vollständig eine Drittel der Virginia-Population. So, there was a long period of ambivalence in Virginia. I think Virginia was, you know, if you started in March of 1861, when Lincoln was inaugurated, Virginia was essentially Unionist. Part of the reason for that is because the area, the mountainous area that's now known as West Virginia,
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
was not a slave holding center. And so they did not have this stake in slavery. And I should just make an interjection here that the war was fundamentally about slavery. And this period and the research I found just underscores it. But so the governor, John Letcher, was essentially a secessionist. And he formed a secession convention early in 1861, I think January, when he was reinaugurated.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
You know, the idea being to, you know, assess the impact of a regional president, regional being quote unquote, and decide what Virginia had to do. So this thing dragged on for a couple of months, you know, not really moving anywhere. But after Sumter and even more so after the call for 75,000 troops, the sentiment changed dramatically and they voted in secret. Ja, genau.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Correct. It's very hard for us to imagine. I mean, here I am in D.C., I live in Connecticut, and Ich habe die Amtrak am anderen Tag gedreht und wir haben eine Internetverbindung, wir haben Text, wir haben ein Handy, wir haben all diese Dinge, Newspaper. Sie hatten nicht all das. Sie hielten auf dem Telegraph, sie hielten auf den Straßen.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Die Newspaper würden zwei oder drei Tage später da sein, richtig? It's very hard to imagine for us today that Washington, D.C. was incommunicado. It could not be contacted by somebody in New York or by somebody in Harrisburg. Completely cut off. The railroad bridges burned. Telegraph wires cut. It was hard for people to get through. The trains ultimately stopped.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, I mean, it's just in the dark, isolated, marooned.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, Baltimore was a fundamentally secessionist city. And it's complicated to explain, because Baltimore was also... There was a description of Baltimore as the northernmost southern city and the southernmost northern city. So in the sense of...
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
In den Norden, in Bezug auf seine nördlichen Charakteristiken, war 25 Prozent der Bevölkerung in Baltimore ausländisch geboren, meistens Irische und Deutsche, die die großen Migranten dieser Ära waren. And it was an industrial city. It was a shipping city, transportation city.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And so based on that, you'd think that Baltimore would be aligned more with Philadelphia, you know, or New York City or Boston. But it wasn't, because it was also a slave-holding state. And they aligned emotionally and mostly politically with what they called their sister states, the other slave-holding states. But so by the period that you're describing, Baltimore is... It's a frenzy.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
It's out of control. And for days, you know, the first half of those 12 days, it rose and rose and rose and it was a cauldron ready to explode. So when federal troops started coming through, it did explode.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Das ist ein sehr gefährliches Moment. Und so beginnt es am 18. März, wenn diese Pennsylvania-Truppen, unbearmt, ununiformiert, komplett unbereit zu kämpfen, Washington besiegt. John Hay nannte sie den unerlittenen Patriotismus, der in Washington aus Pennsylvania ragt. So they come through and they're with a couple of companies of US federal troops. So they march.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And back in those days, the railroads, you got off your railroad line from the north and they had to cross the city to pick up the one from the south. In some ways, it's similar to Penn Station versus Grand Central Station in New York today. So these troops have to cross the city. This is the A-Team. This is the Pennsylvanians. And, you know, they're harassed. They're taunted.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Some of them are attacked. One in particular is a 65-year-old African-American man. Er war Teil der Firma. Er wurde angegriffen und Nick Biddle war sein Name. Und er wurde in vielen Fällen, die Leute in seiner Firma beschrieben ihn als den ersten. Das erste Mal, als Blut in einer schmerzhaften Situation in der Civil War gedrängt wurde. So that was on the Thursday.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
On the Friday, the 6th Massachusetts has a decision. They're on an overnight Thursday to Friday. They're in Pennsylvania. And they have to decide whether to take the train through Baltimore or maybe take some other route. They decide to go through Baltimore. They stop at a separate train station coming from Philadelphia. And they also have to cross the city.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
The plan being that the railroads cooperate on a shuttle and then haul the train cars across the city on four-storm tracks.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
In der Zwischenzeit, glaube ich, waren vier von diesen sechs Unternehmen in Massachusetts verletzt in der Fiasco, ob sie die Fahrzeuge über Bight Horse fuhren oder über die Strecke marschieren. Also sind diese Truppen am Philadelphia-Station ausgeschlossen und sie müssen über 240 Männern marschieren. Und es ist schrecklich.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Vier Massachusetts-Soldaten wurden damals getötet und mehr als 100 wundern. Ja. And, you know, maybe as many as, well, you know, there'd be a number of Baltimoreans killed that day is uncertain, but the newspapers reported it as 12.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
This is like a really colorful and long story. They leave New York on the 19th, along with the 8th Massachusetts Regiment, travel separately to Philadelphia. The 8th Massachusetts is led by a colonel named Timothy Monroe, but he's a non-entity. The real decision maker on the Massachusetts side is Benjamin Butler, who's a well-known name in the Civil War.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So they travel separately to get to Philadelphia. Butler hesitates. The New York 7th gets to Philadelphia maybe 8 hours later. They're very anxious to get to Washington, D.C. But the railroad operator, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore Railroad, decides that it's not safe. They conclude that the bridges have been burned and that you can't get through the city without massive bloodshed.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So they come up with an alternative route. They could take a ferry boat down to Annapolis. And there's a spur line in Annapolis where they can take a train to connect to the main line into D.C., But it doesn't work that well. It doesn't work that easily. First of all, when Butler gets there first to Annapolis and promptly the ferry boat that he's on runs aground.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So he's stranded with 700 plus men on that ferry boat down the harbor of Annapolis. 24 hours later, the New York 7th gets there. They'd spend three or four days jockeying back and forth with the governor of Maryland and with each other, the New York 7th and the Massachusetts 8th. And an unbelievable waste of time. And then they finally decide to go forward together.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And that stirrer line is torn up completely. So they do this sort of forced 24-hour march together. Wow.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Ja, absolut. Und es ist eine der Dinge, die mich missbraucht, dass die Leute das nicht erkennen. Ich meine, die Leute sagen oft, dass Washington in 18... nach dem Krieg von Bull Run im Juli 1861 oder während Jubiläumserkennung in Maryland 1864. Aber die Wahrheit ist, die Stadt war nicht vulnerable während dieser Zeit. Es war gut verteidigt. Es hatte eine Reihe von Pforten, die es umbrachten.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Aber es war vulnerable im April 1861. And people don't recognize that that was at stake. And yes, you're right. A secession of Maryland or an abandonment of Washington, D.C. would have triggered a whole bunch of other things. And it came very close. That secession almost happened. It really almost happened. And as you say, the British had already warned the United States that they might have to
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
The amount of times that this country has walked the line, a tightrope, I should say, is extraordinary. And yet we wake up every morning these days, you know, with this sort of
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
What I would leave the listener with is that this was a consequential moment. This was much more pivotal than we acknowledge or accept today. I was very fortunate to be able to write about it. There's probably hundreds of thousands or 100,000 plus books written about the Civil War. There's probably more American Civil War books out there than anything other than the Bible.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So that I found an area of the Civil War that was relatively uncovered and got to just dig into that was a lot of fun. William Seward said, there's always just enough virtue, but only just enough virtue in the Republic to save it.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.6. im Kino am Olympiasee. Sagt man am Olympiasee? Oder im Olympiasee?
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.06. im Kino am Olympiasee in Zusammenarbeit mit unserem Partner Backmarket eine Live-Show, unser allererstes Open Air.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Nein, es war eigentlich das Gegenteil. D.C. wurde überhaupt nicht verteidigt. Es wurde kaum verteidigt. Es gab vielleicht 1.100, 1.200 lokale Militär, viele von denen waren nicht leidenschaftlich. Und es gab keine USA-Armee zu sprechen. Es gab wahrscheinlich ein bisschen mehr als 16.000 Männer in der US-Armee. Ich sage Männer deliberat.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
They were mostly scattered west of the Mississippi on the frontier. So the city was unbelievably vulnerable. As you say, it was a slave-holding city and it was deep within hostile territory, what became hostile territory, right? Maryland was surrounded on three sides and Virginia on the other.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
As to why the Confederates didn't march in, I mean, that's the question that's probably been debated over the last 160 or so years. You know, there's a few reasons that I outlined in the book, but it is something that continues to be an open question and discussed.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.06. im Kino am Olympiasee in Zusammenarbeit mit unserem Partner Backmarket eine Live-Show, unser allererstes Open Air.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Lincoln was only on the job as president for seven weeks. And I think there was a reluctance on the part of Americans north, mostly north, but some south, that it would ever come to blows. I think the sentiment in the government, William Seward, Secretary of State and Lincoln and others, was that Just let tensions cool, temperatures come down and things will be alright.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
But more than that, it goes back to the founding of the country and the founders expressed in the Federalist Papers and elsewhere, you know, were very adamantly opposed to a standing army. They thought it could come to no good. So instead, the states all had their own independent armies. Today it's the National Guard, so there is some similarity.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
But the law was, when the country is threatened, call up the National Guard.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, that's also a great comparison, because the Confederates started with the secession. Well, during the secession winter, the Confederates, one state after another, seceded, starting, I think, on December 20th by South Carolina. But they all fancied themselves, declared themselves... Es ist ein faszinierendes...
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Yeah, well, there was the US Census, which helped describe all kinds of things like ethnicity, total population, population of enslaved people, free African Americans, you know, a variety of things. So you start with that. Dann kommt die Anekdote. Als ich in meiner Forschung war, habe ich gelernt, dass es eine unglaubliche Tröte von primären Informationen gibt.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Ich meine, die Leute schreiben und schreiben und schreiben. Absolut erstaunlich. Die Berichte selbst waren wirklich gut, um den Tag-zu-Tag-Leib in 1861 zu präsentieren. Das ist einer der Dinge, die ich in diesem Buch machen wollte, ist, die Leute auf die Szene zu stellen. Und wenn du den Kontrast zwischen der US-Armee heute und
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Der Gedanke einer nationalen, unifizierten Regierung, heute gegen damals, ist wirklich beeindruckend. Und ich denke, es ist schwer für die Amerikaner zu vorstellen, im Grunde nicht eine Armee zu haben, heute, richtig? Ich meine, in den letzten 80 Jahren, seit der Zweiten Weltkrieg, gab es eine enorme militärische Institution. Also wird es schwer für die Amerikaner, heute zu denken.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
But to your point about D.C., you know, just unbelievable amount of information about it that you can write, you know, super colorful stuff. So, you know, what it comes down to is there was a permanent population. It was Southern, right? Southern sympathizers, Virginians, people who ended up migrating north and then stayed there.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And then there was the transient population, the political population, and that was mostly, in many ways it was Northerners. And so there was a real tension between those people and the sort of semi-aristocratic affluent Southerners.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
The US government, the military chain of command, General Wimptill Scott, Lincoln and his people became increasingly convinced that an attack was going to occur. I think North and South, the newspapers, the popular opinion, the conversation was all around an attack on D.C.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
It really is a remarkable thing because today in our own imaginations it's very hard to conceive that the national capital would be deep within hostile territory and undefended.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Aber ja, alle, während dieser zwölf Tage, war der universelle Konsens, dass der erste Ort der Kriege in Washington wäre, in oder um Washington, vielleicht in Baltimore, richtig? Wieder und wieder hörst du diese Phrase, drück den Theater der Kriege auf den Susquehanna-River. Also ja, ich meine, alle... Und das ist das andere.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.6. im Kino am Olympiasee. Sagt man am Olympiasee? Oder im Olympiasee?
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Wenn wir über diese Zeit zurückgehen, ist es einfach für uns zu erinnern, dass das Ergebnis das war. Aber das war nicht wirklich so, wie es damals war. Jeder auf beiden Seiten antizipierte auf einen Kampf. Und die Anrufe, Washington zu erzeugen, in April of 1861 were extraordinary.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
All Confederates from all levels of government, including the United States Supreme Court Justice, were urging Jefferson Davis to attack Washington. What 12 days do you refer to in the title? As you pointed out, I start with the Sunday, the 14th, and continue through the 25th, the Thursday, which is when the New York 7th Regiment arrived in D.C. and essentially saved it.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
It's really a dramatic moment. John Nicolay and John Hay, Lincoln's Secretary, described it as an epoch, which is like, that's striking. And yet that epoch is not considered really at all now. And I wonder why that is. And sometimes I think it's, well,
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
We tend to focus on the major battles, or we tend to focus on the technological and social changes that came out of the Civil War, and not on this period, which was really consequential and in many ways pivotal.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Absolutely. And it increased. Like on the Sunday in March of 1861, after the inauguration, the city was packt mit Jobseekern. Es war die erste russische Republikanische Administration und es gab viele, viele, viele Jobs, die gefüllt wurden und viele Leute wollten diese Jobs. Also waren die Hotels mit Leuten, die White House teamte mit Leuten, die Jobs suchten.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Aber in den zweiten sechs oder so von diesen zwölf Tagen, als es viel klarer wurde, dass ein Kampf passieren könnte, begannen die Leute zu fliehen. Also ich denke, am Sonntag, das wäre der 21., hat der Train stoppt. It had been that there were like four trains plus a freight train that came into DC every day and departed. And there were no trains. So people couldn't get out.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
So before that, you know, the two or three days before that, the trains were packed. Everybody's trying to get out. It was a panic. It was chaos. It was very much like Ich glaube, es ist eine entsprechende Metapher in manchen Fällen, dass es die falsche Zeit war.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Ich meine, es war einfach so, dass die Leute fliehen waren, all ihre Belohnungen und Fahrräder und Räder und nur um aus der Stadt zu kommen.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
I think the Confederacy was at that point was very much focused on adding territory, adding states, adding strength. And so in that context, Maryland became unbelievably important. And so I think Jefferson Davis most likely was, he's president of the Confederacy, he was most likely interested in an opportunistic approach. So I think he wanted Virginia and Maryland to team up.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
And get Virginia to secede, which it came very close to. And then once that Maryland secession is secured, D.C. is not a plausible place to keep the federal government. And not only that, it became much more likely in that event that the British would recognize the Confederate States. And that would change the entire tone of the war, the entire tenor, maybe even end it.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.06. im Kino am Olympiasee. Sagt man am Olympiasee? Oder im Olympiasee?
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Oh, das wär geil, so eine Tretbootshow. Und wir spielen am 12.06. am Kino im Olympiasee.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
Und wir spielen am 12.06. im Kino am Olympiasee in Zusammenarbeit mit unserem Partner Backmarket eine Liveshow, unser allererstes Open Air.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
It was on April 29th in a message to the Confederate Congress. It's interesting that that quote is what we all remember Jefferson Davis by and the political posture of the Confederacy. During those 12 days prior to that, it was anything but all we want is to be left alone. It's remarkable. I probably tracked Yes. If the border states join them. Right. And you can get on that list.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
North Carolina Governor, South Carolina Governor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Don Campbell, Railroad Executives. Davis himself to the Governor of Virginia said, sustain Baltimore, if practicable, we will reinforce you. Don Bankhead Magruder, who was a fairly prominent U.S. Army Captain, I think is what his name was.
American History Hit
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
later became a Confederate General, said, give me 5,000 men and if I don't take Washington, you may take not only my sword, but my life. The Secretary of War of the Confederacy said, I would prophesize that the flag, which now flaunts the breeze here in Montgomery, will float over the old dome at Washington before the 1st of May. I could go, I have another half a dozen quotes right here.