excitement actually at that point on both sides because people have anticipated this for so long. some people were itching for a fight. >> they think war is a glorious thing and let's go and do it. >> but in the spring lincoln's overeager young friend from springfield, elmer ellsworth, a short but very dashing commander of a drill team, would go with the lincoln boys to the roof of the white house and look out with a telescope. and over the river they saw a confederate flag flying from the top of a hotel. and ellsworth, for one, was offended. >> ellsworth led a band across the river to tear down the confederate flag. >> as he was walking down the stairs, the owner of the inn took his shotgun and shot him in the chest. he fell down the last few steps, clutching and wrapped in this increasingly blood-soaked flag. lincoln loved this young man, so the war came home really fast for lincoln. >> with the first cannon fired at ft. sumter in april 1861, the country is thrust into civil war. and the fate of the united states and democracy itself are in abraham lincoln's hands. >> when the hostilities start in april of 1861, the united states standing army is less than 2,000 men. but the confederacy doesn't have an army at all. >> the hope on the side of the lincoln administration is they can bring a bunch of troops to washington and display the military power of the united states of america and the confederates will back down. >> the people that are enlisting are just for 90 days. >> there were very few people in the north who thought the war would be more than 90 days. >> july 1861, it is clear that so-called confederate forces are going to find a place to engage american forces who are trying to take back the new confederate capital of richmond. but lincoln makes a strategic mistake at the beginning. >> the general of the army told lincoln, he said, "mr. president, our troops need a lot more training and they're pretty green." >> lincoln's reply was "the other side is green too. you are all green alike." but lincoln was determined it should go ahead. and so off they go into virginia. >> confederate forces are expected to engage the united states army at a town called manassas, not too far from washington. so lots of people from washington took carriages and picnic lunches and went out and settled on the slopes above what clearly was emerging as the field of action to watch the war begin and end in the same day. and in fact in the morning the american army did really well, pushing back these rebels. >> the general in command, irvin mcdowell, nearly succeeds in flanking the confederate forces there. mcdowell's army comes down to a stream known as bull run. it's almost a ladder of watercourses that he would have to cross. but right at that moment, confederate reinforcements come up from the shenandoah valley smack into mcdowell's army, push it back. >> and suddenly the whole northern army flees. total disarray. the officers are not able to keep order. reporters are shot at. the picnickers are uprooted. the blankets and baskets are left. they flee. the south holds the ground and wins the day. the defeated american army has to walk its way back to d.c. bloodstained, sweat-stained, in total humiliation. when lincoln gets the news that the union had lost the battle of bull run, he knows this is a much bigger event than he calculated. >> for the young men who volunteered so early in the war, that was just a completely disorienting and horrifying experience. >> lincoln is criticized for having ordered his troops into battle before they were ready. >> horace greeley, the editor of "the new york tribune," tells lincoln it's over. we've lost. at the end of the day, it has to be said that abraham lincoln was not nearly as savvy a military thinker as he was a political one. >> so what does he do? he sends to the library of congress for books, books about war strategy. he decides to teach himself the job of commander in chief, just as he taught himself shakespeare, just as he taught himself the law. he's the biggest and most successful autodidact in american history. >> but wars are not won from behind a desk. lincoln must find a seasoned general to ensure a union victory. >> after the disaster at bull run, general mcdowell is politely relieved. another general, george mcclellan, is called in from the west to take charge, and new plans are going to be made. george brinton mcclellan, who seemed to be the very apex of a professional soldier. >> he had been a high-ranking member of his class at west point. he had been a successful officer. he seemed to be a boy genius. and mcclellan takes the army that had been so dispirited by the defeat at bull run and whips it into shape and restores the morale of the army, but then he fails to use it. >> lincoln has this great moment where he writes mcclellan a letter and said, if you're not going to be using the army, i might just borrow it. like you'd say that if you're not going to finish that sandwich, maybe i'd just have a bite. >> but mcclellan refuses to share his battle plans, and congress starts to get impatient and newspaper editors start to get impatient. but lincoln puts up with his delay and even puts up with snubs. >> lincoln goes to mcclellan's house in desperation one day. mcclellan is out. lincoln says, i'll wait. he waits and he waits. and mcclellan comes home, hears from his valet that lincoln is waiting, and he goes directly upstairs while lincoln sits in his parlor. and then he sends his servant down to tell lincoln that he is indisposed and going to bed. lincoln just goes back to his carriage, and the secretary says mr. president, how can you stand that kind of disrespect? and he said "i would hold mcclellan's horse if he would bring me victories." >> the most surprising thing to me about lincoln is that he didn't lose it all the time. why didn't lincoln just pick up mcclellan, who was one-third his size, and just jam him into a pickle barrel? you think of anybody being under that kind of strain blowing up, exploding, but lincoln keeps stoic, reasoned calm. >> he had an incredibly thick skin. not all of our presidents have been like that. >> lincoln managed to suppress his own ego. he refused to quarrel. he was committed to a cause above and beyond his party and himself in order to win the war. hi, i'm a new customer and i want your best new smartphone deal. well i'm an existing customer and i'd like your best new smartphone deal. oh do ya? actually it's for both new and existing customers. i feel silly. but i do want the fastest 5g network. oh i want the fastest 5g network. are we actually doing this again? it's not complicated. only at&t gives everyone the same great deal. like the samsung galaxy s21 5g for free when you trade in. ♪ and a little bit of chicken fried ♪ ♪ cold beer on a friday night ♪ ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. i've always focused on my career. but when we found out our son had autism, his future became my focus. lavender baths always calmed him. so we turned bath time into a business. ♪ there was a dream ♪ and building it with my son has been my dream job. ♪ ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. at capella university, we know smart comes in many forms. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com -good boy! -so we made flexpath the kind of smart that keeps up with you. with flexpath, you can earn your master's degree in 14 months for $14,000. that's the kind of smart i like. capella university -- don't just learn. learn smarter. you can't plan for your period's... that's the kind of smart i like. what the gush moments. but the right pad can. only always ultra thins have rapiddry technology and, they absorb 40% faster. the gush happens fast. that's why always absorbs faster. as the pressures of war mount on president lincoln, he looks to his young sons for relief and comfort. by the winter of 1862 his oldest, robert, is studying at harvard. but 11-year-old willie and 8-year-old tad have free rein of the white house. ♪ >> the third born, willie, who is their favorite and is the one most like his father, he had his father's temperament, his sense of humor, his build. he carried his head at an angle the way lincoln did. he talked like lincoln. he had lincoln's sharpness of intellect. >> the lincolns were indulgent parents, to say the least. they found their children entertaining and thought other people should too. >> when willie and tad got into the white house, they wreaked havoc. >> it is the first time you've had young children in the white house. it seems as if they were quite rapscallion. they were quite notorious. >> their favorite activity was to find the source of the ropes that united the bells through which in "downton abbey" style you summoned servants. so they found a way to tie and mess them up so if you rang in the east room, you would wind up in the kitchen. they loved messing up the bells. >> it was amazing how much free play they had. >> and to lincoln his children could do no wrong, even if they totally disrupted the office. >> but the first lady was not afforded the same courtesy. >> mary was known as an outspoken first lady, as a very educated woman in her time. so she liked to give her opinion when it was not always welcome. we have examples of lincoln pushing her out the door and locking it so he could continue his meetings. >> mary was enormously and continuously frustrated by her relegation to the traditional sphere of a woman's role in the white house. i think she harbored dreams of being close to the office and maybe even being called upon to give sage advice, but lincoln was exhausted and preoccupied by work and he seldom returned to the family quarters during the course of the day. >> the first lady is not only excluded from political conversations in the white house but also continues to be treated like an outcast by d.c. society. >> remember, mary is from kentucky. her brothers are fighting for the confederacy. >> mary is intending to be a grand hostess at the white house. but the newspapers said she was unsophisticated and rustic. that must have devastated mary, because she is thinking of herself high society and she might have been in springfield, but she finds out the entrenched society in washington doesn't like her and do not consider her up to their caliber. >> that was viewed by the abolitionists and the staunch union women as a disgrace. wasn't she suspicious? >> she is regarded as a traitor, signaling to the confederates, ridiculous stories like that, but it was fairly widely believed. >> her half brother-in-law ben hardin helm was a confederate general who was killed in action, and his widow was sheltered in the white house. the committee on the conduct of the war held an inquiry into the first lady's loyalty. lincoln made a personal appearance to the committee to say she is a bigger abolitionist, more loyal, more pro-union than i am. "as long as it's my house and my family's house, i'll do as i please." >> there was no doubt in her heart about her support of the union, her support of the federal government, her support of her husband as leader of the republican party. >> so she was deeply wounded, as you might expect, by that kind of criticism. >> despite all the accusations, mary is determined to maintain the dignity of the executive office. in february 1862, she plans a ball. >> mary saw it as important to keep the nation going, to meet the expectations of the greatness of the union, the united states. mary thought that the ball was a cost-saving over more expensive state dinners. and here she was having an open house with ice in the shape of palaces and ships. >> and again, mary was really criticized for it. >> one of the senators had written saying perhaps if you're not aware, there is a war going on. we are, and we're staying home. >> mary is not only criticized for hosting a ball while soldiers die on the battlefields, but also for doing so while her 11-year-old son willie is sick. >> willie had become ill from drinking water in the white house, which has sinks that lead directly to the foul water from the potomac which soldiers use the river as a latrine upstream and animals are dying. >> but as diplomats and dignitaries mingle in the white house parlor, willie's condition worsens. a night meant to instill faith in the greatness of the union quickly descends into tragedy. this looks different. it is. show me. just hit record! see that? you're filming in 8k. that's cinema quality. so... you can pull photos straight from video. impressive. but will it last a whole trip? you'll have battery all day. and then more. this is different. told you. ♪ told you. visible is wireless that doesn't play games. no surprise fees, legit unlimited data for as little as $25 a month. and the best part, it's powered by verizon. but it gets crazier. bring a friend every month and get every month for $5. which is why i brought them. two $5-a-months right here. hey. hey. plus the players of my squad. hey. what's up? then finally my whole livestream. boom! 12 months of $5 wireless. visible, as little as $25 a month or $5 a month when you bring a friend. powered by verizon. wireless that gets better with friends. ♪ over 10 years ago, we made a promise to redefine everything a truck can be. ♪ and while we've made good on that promise by winning back to back to back motor trend truck of the year awards, the work is never done. ♪ in february 1862, willie lincoln, the favorite and most promising of the lincoln boys falls sick with typhoid fever. >> but there's nothing they can do. there's no knowledge of treatment of these diseases. and at the age of 11, after a hideous battle with great pain, he dies. >> and it's a terrible blow to both his parents. >> mary has the breakdown. >> she goes into profound, deep mourning. >> she takes to her room. her room is darkened. she can't bear to see her son tad because tad reminds her of willie . lincoln is also totally devastated. he goes from the death room to his secretary's office. he says "my boy is actually gone. he's actually gone," and he begins to sob and his shoulders are heaving. there's a concern about whether he'll be able to handle the bereavement and handle the ship of state at the same time, and he has to really rouse himself from his own depths to get back in the saddle and run the war. >> only weeks after willie's death, a grieving lincoln launches the peninsula campaign to capture the confederate capital of richmond, virginia. >> general mcclellan leads the campaign, but he was forever timid, forever digging in trenches. ultimately, it's a disaster. he's driven off the peninsula. so the summer of 1862 is wasted. the casualties are huge, and the union is right back where it started. >> and lincoln feels responsible. the burden is on him. >> he would go and make visits to the hospitals. there he would shake hands with soldiers. >> and he was there, extending his hand to confederate soldiers too. some of them would say, "do you know that i'm a reb?" and he would say, "are you so reb you can't take my hand?" he was a master at this kind of empathy and sympathy. >> he lost two sons. he thought of those soldiers as sons of mothers and fathers. >> the level of destruction and the level of the loss of life on top of such a profound loss, the death of willie, it was a terrible strain on him and his predisposition to depression was ignited. and he would refer to if there was a worse place than hell, he was in it. and at times he felt suicidal. >> it's hard to imagine somebody today experiencing as much pain as abraham lincoln and not being hospitalized, like medicated, hospitalized. this guy lost pretty much everybody in his life. >> but the lincolns were not unique. this great loss that struck them, they shared with everybody else in the country. thousands of sons are killed in battle every day. >> so he had to continue somehow. he had to summon the strength to carry on. >> as the weight of the war and personal tragedies compound upon lincoln, both the union and the confederacy hit a financial crossroads. >> wars are incredibly expensive. they have to get weapons. soldiers have to be fed. they have to have uniforms. all of this costs a huge amount of money. >> hoping to cripple confederate funds, lincoln imposes restrictions on southern cotton being shipped to europe. >> the english depended on southern cotton for textiles. they were really dependent on that. >> but the union blockade prevents a lot of those products from coming across the atlantic. >> the confederate states of america offers a new trade deal to france and england in exchange for military and financial support. >> and so there were financial incentives for the british to recognize the confederacy. >> the confederacy thought england would get in on their side. once they did, they would have had access to credit and capital. >> that would be devastating for the union. >> not only would the financial investment help crush the union army, but foreign recognition would also legitimize the confederacy as an autonomous nation and cement america's division internationally. at capella university, we know the world is pretty smart. wicked smart. so we made flexpath smart enough that you can finish the bachelor's degree in business you've started in 18 months for $18,000. that's smart. capella university. don't just learn. learn smarter. ♪ capella university. jackson hewitt knows times have changed... ...both how and where you work. and your taxes could have changed too. let our tax pros work for you and fight for every dollar you deserve. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. 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(laughing) (trumpet playing) someone behind me, come on. pick that up, pick that up, right there, right there. as long as you keep making the internet an amazing place to be, we'll keep bringing you a faster, more secure, and more amazing internet. xfinity. the future of awesome. by the summer of 1862, the civil war has raged for over a year and the union is suffering defeat after crushing defeat. casualties on both sides have reached well over 100,000, and there is no end in sight. >> from the early stages of the war, enslaved people are running away. there are black men rushing to the recruitment offices in the northern states and saying, sign me up. i want to fight against these slave owners, right? but the government turns them away because lincoln is worried about making the war too transformative. he said at many points that if he could save the union without freeing any slaves, he would do so. >> but he is increasingly facing pressure from the radical republicans and the abolitionists in his own party to do something about slavery. >> in his paper, in his public addresses, whenever he got the opportunity, frederick douglass was telling lincoln we're not doing well in this war and you have the opportunity to turn it around, but you're not willing to do it because you are so wedded to protecting these people's property. >> lincoln is fearful that if he takes direct action against slavery, it will alienate many northerners. but by the middle of 1862, lincoln realizes that slavery is the fundamental foundation of southern society. it's slavery that's keeping their armies in the field. and so you want to win, you've got to attack slavery. >> he knows that black people are his last card to play. >> the other enormous thing is england not getting in the war on the south's side. >> there is this pragmatic side of lincoln in terms of thinking the english had already ended slavery. there was a real abolitionist center in england. >> they're trying to sort of ignore the slavery that underpins their trading relationships with the confederacy because they are united in the opposition to slavery. >> lincoln knew if you make slavery a part of the war equation, then it's very difficult for the british to intervene because england can't be perceived as coming to the rescue of a slave empire. so he tells the cabinet, i'm going to issue an emancipation proclamation. secretary of state seward says mr. president, that's going to look like a desperation move. let's wait for a military victory and then issue the emancipation proclamation. and lincoln says seward, you're right. so he takes the emancipation proclamation, files it away and waits for a military victory. >> in august and september 1862, the confederate general robert e. lee invaded maryland. they meet the union army at antietam and engage in the bloodiest one-day encounter in the history of american warfare. more lives are shed than on d-day. >> there are nearly 23,000 casualties on both sides. but after months of demoralizing losses, the union succeeds in halting lee's invasion of maryland. >> lincoln had wanted mcclellan to jump off to a vigorous pursuit of lee. mcclellan didn't. lincoln wanted an explanation. one morning lincoln got up to visit mcclellan's army, and the first thing mcclellan did was to present him with a letter. it was not a letter apologizing or explaining what had happened. it was a letter telling abraham lincoln he must not say anything about emancipating slaves, to make sure that he has a commander of all the armies that he trusts, namely me, george mcclellan. lincoln takes the letter, folds it, puts it back into his coat pocket, goes back to washington and tells his cabinet that he is going to emancipate the slaves. he's also going to effectively take command away from george mcclellan. >> soon after the battle of antietam, lincoln issues what's called the preliminary emancipation proclamation. it's a warning and it basically is saying to the confederate states that on january 1st, 1863, i'm going to declare that slaves in seceded states and places that are in rebellion are now free, but this won't apply to you if you give up arms and decide to come back into the united states between now and then. >> the abolitionists and radicals rejoiced. others lamented and feared. they tried to persuade him to withdraw it, to retract it. he remained steadfast. >> but while emancipation solves lincoln's military problem, it creates a serious social one. >> once enslaved african-americans are freed, the question then is what will be their relationship to the united states? >> at the end of july of 1862, lincoln calls five very prominent african-american men from the local district of columbia community to come to the white house to talk about colonization, which he talked about earlier in his career. >> he says look, you're the reason we have this war. we can never live on an equal footing in this country. why don't you consider my plans for colonization in central america or africa? >> lincoln said, i think white people are so generally prejudiced that you will never find success and happiness here. >> and they leave very disheartened. >> i think a lot of people assume that the guy who freed the slaves liked black people. people assume that lincoln must have been somebody who wanted everybody to be together, who saw us all as one people, and it's not true. it just turns out that a great way to put down the rebellion is to yank the enslaved africans out from under his enemies, hoping they would go back to africa. >> when that meeting happens in 1862, it's tremendously controversial. it gets a huge amount of national attention. >> frederick douglass is outraged. he says, "mr. lincoln, don't you get it yet? slaves are not the cause of the war. slavery is the cause of the war." >> but lincoln is not there yet. >> the country is on edge as the deadline for lincoln's emancipation threat approaches. it is unclear what the terms and details of the decree will be. the future and the freedom of millions of americans lie in the balance. >> african-americans were waiting to see if lincoln was really going to follow through. >> as the clock ticked down on december 31st, 1862, you can convey the tension. the abolitionists and the activists held watch meetings. >> there were groups of enslaved people by candlelight waiting for the strike of midnight, knowing that in that moment, that we could be free. ♪ ♪ ♪like an echo in the forest♪ [singing in korean] ♪another day will return♪ [singing in korean] ♪like nothing ever happened♪ hi, i'm a new customer ♪ ♪ and i want your best new ♪lsmartphone deal. happened♪ well i'm an existing customer and i'd like your best new smartphone deal. oh do ya? actually it's for both new and existing customers. i feel silly. but i do want the fastest 5g network. oh i want the fastest 5g network. are we actually doing this again? 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yeah! you get it, you do it, you send it back. i get it, i do it, i send it back. you get it, you do it, you send it back. yeah, i got it. you got it! ♪ ♪ humana. a more human way to healthcare. in the 100 days that pass after lincoln issues the preliminary emancipation proclamation, not one confederate state lays down arms and rejoins the union. so as promised, on january 1st, 1863, abraham lincoln declares all slaves living in rebel territory free. >> lincoln spent the morning on january 1st, 1863 shaking the hands of people on a receiving line. after doing that, he went back to his office and his hand was shaking from the exertion of spending the entire day shaking hands, but he didn't want his signature to appear tremulous. he didn't want anyone to think that he had any doubts about what he was doing. so he calmed his hand before he signed the document. in that moment, the war becomes a war to abolish slavery . >> the emancipation proclamation allows for black men to serve in the army and makes plain that any enslaved person in the states that are in rebellion are free people. >> it also ended any possibility of european interference in the war. british public opinion would never have tolerated aid to the south at that point. >> this is a presidential proclamation that says the civil war could not be won without freeing enslaved people, and that's profoundly significant. >> black people are elated. they are ecstatic. although black people were freeing themselves before the proclamation was issued, now you have the president of the united states telling you, you are free to leave. they took that and left in droves. >> but the emancipation proclamation is probably the most misunderstood important document in american history. people say lincoln freed all the slaves with a stroke of his pen. no, that is not correct. the emancipation proclamation did not apply to about three-quarters of a million slaves. in the four slave states in the union, the border states, he says we're not making war against delaware and maryland and kentucky and missouri. this is a strictly practical war measure. secretary of the treasury chase, who was an abolitionist, says, you know, lincoln, there is no moral sentiment in here. it doesn't talk about the rights of mankind. so lincoln adds this act believed to be an act of justice but based on military necessity. that's why it's being issued, to win the war. >> you think of him as a great emancipator, but the way he did it and why he did it, pretty grubby reasons. but politics is a grubby business, and he's a politician. >> it is a very practical move. it's a calculated move. i don't want to say it's a cynical move, but it's a move of necessity. >> i would have preferred that lincoln issue the proclamation out of a moral obligation. i certainly grew up believing that that's what he had done. it was very difficult to discover that it was out of military necessity, but i still don't think that we can underestimate the importance of the proclamation. >> there is a view that the proclamation was merely military, and i think to think that is to be indifferent to lincoln's whole anti-slavery life. you can't accomplish moral goals without a political opportunity. >> someone else might have been so idealogically committed to white supremacy that they wouldn't have made those moves. he saw a political reason to do an extraordinary thing, and he did it. >> and while president lincoln issues history-making decrees, mary lincoln's stance on freedom and equality continues to evolve as well. >> mary todd lincoln is able to >> mary todd lincoln is able to form a meaningful relationship with elizabeth cacly, a former slave. she's a dressmaker so she outfits her in elaborate dresses but also a confidant. >> she learns a lot about free black life in washington from elizabeth cackly. >> she was active in washington, d.c.'s african-american community. she with a number of african-american women found a relief association, a society of women who raise money, collect food, clothing, try to find shelter for people who were escaping slavery and coming into washington, d.c. >> and pretty soon mary is donating ask asking her husband to donate to the cause of sheltering free enslaved people. >> and mary lincoln allowed elizabeth cackly to use her name publicly when she went around raising the money for the association. >> there's a way in which mary todd lincoln could commiserate with, bond with, a freed woman of color on an equal plane. so i think that she's just more complex than really people cut her out to be. >> as mary lincoln and elizabeth cackly work to find a place for free african-americans in washington, d.c., abraham lincoln works to navigate their place on the battlefield. at capella university, we know smart comes in many forms. -good boy! -so we made flexpath the kind of smart that keeps up with you. with flexpath, you can earn your master's degree in 14 months for $14,000. that's 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friends. on january 1st, 1863, abraham lincoln issues the emancipation proclamation which not only frees enslaved african-americans in rebel states, but also invites them to join the union army. >> lincoln had been opposed to this. he had said time and again that the sight of black men in arms would turn those who are for us against us. but he changed his mind. >> lincoln realizes, you needed every soldier you could get. and the reservoir of black manpower couldn't be ignored anymore. >> that change is critical. and it shows the evolution of lincoln in terms of his thinking. an evolution that is going to continue on throughout the rest of the war. >> a majority of black men who served in the union army were actually people who had been enslaved at one time. they think that now they're going to get some kind of recognition of their status as men. but what they find is not what they had anticipated. >> they were certainly not treated equally. they served only in segregated units under white officers. they received less pay than white soldiers. >> they had old worn-out muskets. they were put into the hottest, most dangerous places in the south, infected with mosquitos and like, on the grounds that since they were black, it wouldn't bother them. >> lincoln thought if they weren't immediately being placed on an equal level with whites, that would make whites more willing to accept blacks in the army. >> frederick douglass, who had been a real thorn in lincoln's side, he goes to the white house to complain. and despite their adversarial relationship, when lincoln found out that douglass was present, lincoln invited him in while other white men waited. it's something that douglass always appreciated. >> there have been times in this country where a president would open the door and sit down with someone who has been kicking his butt on the public stage. >> frederick douglass begged him to pay black troops what white troops were paid. >> douglass was there to complain that black men were not having the same kinds of rights the other soldiers were. lincoln said to him, these things will happen, but it's going to take time. >> frederick douglass comes out of that meeting not entirely satisfied with lincoln's response, but he says to the black population, look, despite this discrimination, this is our chance to prove ourselves. >> at the end of the war, we will have earned citizenship. >> they stay, they fight. because they're fighting not just for freedom today, but freedom for their children and their grandchildren in generations to come. >> armed black soldiers on their battlefields elicit an explosive reaction from the south. >> one of the things that's actually kind of ironic is that white southerners by seceding make it possible for lincoln to eman's wait enslaved people. lincoln said, i have no interest in attacking slavery where it legally exists, i don't think i'm legally allowed to. but when they become enemies in war, they create the legal justification for emancipation. so they played themselves, for lack of a better phrase. >> many white southerners, they had long feared a force that would make it possible for enslaved people to rise up against their slave owners. either to claim their own freedom, or in the worst fears, to exact retribution. >> the confederates respond saying, okay, fine, if we're going to see black men carrying weapons against us, we will consider that as a symbol of the north's complicity in slave rebellion. we're going to take all your black people every time we find them . and so robert e. lee decides to try this bold assault by coming up the valley and coming around in maryland and up to gettysburg, pennsylvania, straight into the north. and as arrests advance into gettysburg, there is a warning for free blacks to protect themselves. >> confederates were taking freed black people from houses and communities along their marching route in an effort to reenslave them. >> this was pretty brutal and pretty outrageous and beyond the law of war. so lee is marching into pennsylvania. and the north is pretty panicky. the buildup was enormous. >> as lee's march to gettysburg continues to rain terror, the union anxiously awaits the confrontation that lies ahead. and lincoln's union army prepares for what will be the bloodiest battle in the deadliest war in american history. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you're watching cnn. i'm robyn curnow. just ahead, urging caution. the u.s. makes progress vaccinated americans, but officials warn it is far too early to let your guard down. plus thousands of protesters turn out to pay tribute to a woman killed in london. a national reckoning on violence against women that's now raising concerns about policing tactics. harrowing claims about children detained at the u.s./mexico border, unable to shower for days or even reach out to their parents