Transcripts For CSPAN3 Politics Public Policy Today 2014082

Eligible population, dont even meet the basic requirements to get into todays army. 99 of todays recruits have a High School Diploma or equivalent. An era where 79 of High School Students graduate. Thats 21 times lower rate of dropouts than the national average. Overall, todays recruits are healthier, more physically fit than the vast majority of peers and must adhere to zero tolerance policy on drugs and criminal issues. It is actually statistically easy tosh gier to get into coll enlist, not become an officer, but enlist in the army. Life of a soldiers no secret to them. They join knowing they will endure hard times then will endure sacrifice. They will be charged to keep us safe. The few that make the cut to get in, are willing to make that sacrifice, they are not always easy to find. If it was easy to find, we one need an entire command to recruiting. Those that get in, those that make the cut to get in and make the next cut, to get through training and into a unit, they become part of something much greater than themselves. Theyre the ones who have the combination of skills, intelligence, physical ability and the sense of duty to be at part of that 1 of our population that dons a military uniform. The 1 that puts their lives on the lines in defense of our nation, thats the 1 that i want to be a part of. Thats 1 that i am proud to be a part of. So the next time you see that brandnew private or lieutenant with a shiny new know they were among the best in our society had to offer. They have more ability and potential than most of their peers and still chose, they chose to put that uniform on and to accept the sacrifices that come with. They are tomorrows generals and command sergeants majors. They are future of our nation. So just let me close by saying, i thank you for the honor of being here, stand on this hollowed ground with you and remember this chapter and our history and people who lived in it and died in. Have a great day. God bless america. Our benny dix will be give been by reverend rick greenewood with st. Pauls episcopal church. With pastor lyons from gillfold, both churches represented were wartime congregations here in petersburg. But again, this morning, our benny diction, reverend greenwood. May god the earth maker, god the universe creator, god the star thrower, god the tree grower, may god the builder of nations, god the lord of lords, god the king of kings, god the lover of mankind, may god who is our history, god who is our present, god who awaits us in the future, god be with us now. May god the pain bearer, god the one who suffers, god the bloodied sacrifice, god the redeemer, may god the incarnate one, god the one born of woman, god the one who lived as one of us, god the son, may god who is with us, god who looks like us, god who frees us, god bless you now. May god the life giver, god the sanctifier, god the divine breath, god the holy maker, may god the spirit sharer, god the community creator, may the peace revealer god the comforter of all, may god who moves amongst us all, god who whispers divine love, god who lifts us in eternal life, god lead us forward today. May god the earth maker, the pain bearer, the life giver, bless you and keep you now and always. Amen. [ taps playing ] [ taps playing ] back up with closing remark this morning, just from me personally irg want to thank you all for being here with us today on 150th anniversary. Once again, superintendent rogers. I want to be very short and thank you all for coming. Ive learned when its time for things to be over, its time for them to be over. I want to thank ft. Lee. Colonel, great speech, thank you. People dont realize that petersburg used to be a part of ft. Lee, theyre our big brother. So we were actually cut ut of ft. Lee. Created by one union and one confederate soldier. Thank the Postal Service for coming here and presenting a stamp. Thank you. Thank the city of petersburg for working with us. Thank you go and find yourself in history, thanks. Congress on recess, during the month, American History tv airs throughout the week here on cspan 3. Live this afternoon, author and historian anthony pitch will detail his book the burning of washington in which he describe house British Military forces 200 year ago this week set the white house and u. S. Capitol on fire after making their way into the nations capitol. Hosted by the smithsonian associates. See it live today starting at 6 45 eastern. Again here on cspan3. Coming up tonight, a look at civil wars atlanta campaign. In may of 1864, Union General William Sherman marched into georgia with a goal of capturing atlanta. After series of battles throughout the summer and siege of the city, atlanta fell to the union september 2, 1864. Well hear about general shermans march to the sea through georgia, as well as Joseph Johnston who led the confederates in spring and summer of 1964 april look at confederate weapons manufacturing in Central Georgia during and after the fall of atlanta, tonight 8 15 eastern, here on cspan3. Here are some of the highlights for this within. Friday, cspan, prime time, well visit important sites in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. Saturday night at 8 00, highlights from the new York Ideas Forum including cancer biologist andrew hessle. Sunday, q a, congressman Charlie Rangel 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Friday night at 8 00 on cspan2, indepth with writer and religious scholar reza aslan, saturday, 10 00, retired neurosurgeon and columnist, ben carson. Lawrence gold stone on the competition between the Wright Brothers and glenn curtis to be the predominant name in manned flight. American history friday, 8 00 eastern, hollywoods portrayal of slavery, saturday night at 8 00, 200th anniversary of the battle of bladonsburg and burning of washington. Sun 8 00 p. M. , former white house chiefs of staff discuss how president s make decisions. Fine our Television Schedule one week in advance at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us 2026263400 or email United States, commen commentscspan. Org. Follow us on twitter. Next a look at role of the u. S. Colored troops in the battle of the crater during the siege of petersburg. After weeks of tunneling on july 30th, 1864, union forces blew up a mine underneath the confederate lines to create a gap in the defenses. Emmanuel dabny of Petersburg National battlefield discusses why the attack ultimately failed and why the u. S. Colored troops were unjustly blamed. This is just under an hour. Good morning. I will prewarn you, today you will hear language that we find repulsive. Im not going to cut it out because it makes us quiver. Well get started. On june 12th, 1864, after failing to defeat robert e. Lees army of northern virginia, Lieutenant General ulysses s. Grant accompanying Major General george g. Meades army of the potomac and a portion of the army of the james, pulled away from the fortifications at cold harbor and began the Movement Toward petersburg. Some troops to the bermuda 100 region north of peterburg to begin the attack on the city the following day of june 15th. Petersburg in 1860 had been virginias second largest city. With a population 18,266 folks. Since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as cockade city because they wore them on their hats. Four railroads radiated from the city by 1860. The Petersburg Railroad which ran south to weldon, north carolina. The richmond in petersburg, obviously connecting those two places. The south side which ran from city point, modern day hopewell, virginia, through petersburg, to lynchburg. And the norfolk and petersburg. In addition to petersburgs railroads, the city possessed four cotton factories, three flour mills, four iron foundries and three planing mills. These operations, tapped into a discussion were just having about the importance of places, are going to be cranking out supplies and food for the confederacy throughout the war. In addition to that industrial activity, the confederacy operated several wartime plants within or near the city, still functioning in the summer of 1864. Including lead works, artificial bids to obtain gun powder. And a wagon works. A wartime blockade, getting back to the interests in the blockade, had created even greater importance for the Petersburg Railroad because at weldon, a separate railroad company, weldon in wilmington, operated connecting petersburg with europeanran goods through the blockade there at wilmington. Grant wanted i should have clicked a while ago. Heres petersburg. Grant wanted to cut off richmonds communication and transportation of goods from and through petersburg, and, of course, destroy lees army. June 15th to the 18th, before lee even really fully arrived at petersburg, union troops assaulted the city but failed to capture it. Siege operation began. And along one part of the line, the men in Major General burnsides ninth corps was less than 400 feet from the confederate earthworks. In the midst of the summer of 1864s drought and heatwave was the constant sharp shooting and construction of earthworks and a plan had developed to break this campaign before it lasted much longer. As early as june 21st, Lieutenant Colonel henry pleasant 48th infantry, thought mining the confederate position, alternately called pegrams battery was a possibility. He later noted greatest enthusiasm for the project was his Division Commander Brigadier General Robert Potter and his core commander, Ambrose Burnside. 48th pennsylvania infantry began excavating the mine on the 25th of june, for whatever reason people remember it started at 12 00 noon. So if youre a detailoriented person, they left it for us. The work was performed night and day, seven days a week. Even in the intense summer heat which often exceeded 105 degrees. The concerns about ventilating the mine were addressed and represented in the images here. Fresh air entered an eight inch square wooden duct circulated through creating fire was created which would send the bad air out through a chimney shaft. Canvas door was placed over the entrance to keep fresh air in and keep, allow miners to get in and out of the shaft. As laborers extended the mine, so, too, with the wooden duct system would be extended and by the 17th of july, the mine will reach the 510. 8 feet that pleasants had first proposed. Two galleries are going to be extended which was represented in this image at the top. Underneath the confederate position in which the gun powder is supposed to be packed. While the 48th pennsylvania infantry dug the mine, Ambrose Burnside crafted a battle plan. Three weeks ahead of the assault, he informed Edward Ferrero, you see there, Commanding Division of u. S. Color troops of his plan to use those men first. Burnside expected 12,000 pounds of gun powder to explode somewhere around daybreak or at least by 5 00 a. M. Then the black soldiers would be massed in double columns all ready to pass through the gap in the enemys line. Lead regiment of the brigade was to be perpendicular to the confederate line and execute this by maneuvering to the north, the right of the explosion site, and the brigade on the left was to do the same but in reverse. The remaining regiments were to move as quickly as possible to the crest in front as rapidly as possible, as burnside wrote. Then the white troops of burnsides corps and others would soon follow. Ferrero was directed to drill his enthusiastic troops but not veterans for this attack. However, this is an issue we still dont know all the details of, were the u. S. Color troops trained, were they not trained . Depends on who you ask. Captain Robert Beacham of the 23rd usct, recalled one drill between june 22nd and july 29th and there was, as he said, Nothing Specific to this particular battle maneuver. But they were, as he said, most common in simple maneuvers. Others recall specialized training, like colonel bates commanding the u. S. Color troops who remember time after time did my regiment go through the imaginary advance, turn to the left, and advance along the line of the works. Every officer and every private knew his place and what he was expected to do. And so in short, ill say we dont know if they were trained or not. What we do know is the confederates figure out whats going on with the union mining activity just five days after the federals have started. This man is to, on confederate side, to be praised for lucky guessing. And of course, many of you in this audience, your attention to gettysburg, know Edward Porter alexander. Hes inspecting the lines on at elliott salient on june 30th. Hes expecting to see the seize operations of 19th century warfare taking place, trying to extend union lines, get them closer to the confederates, but hes not noticing that. He notices, however, theres intense sharp shooting coming into this position and he thinks seriously that the enemy isnt going to come, as he said, above ground, but they were coming under ground. They were mining us, he later wrote. I always say on my tours, its important to know that this isnt farmer joes son, probably wouldnt have guessed this. Alexander is a graduate of west point, third in his class of 38. And so he knew this sort of world of siege operations which could include mines. Alexander reported his suspicions to headquarters, southern countermining began in several places but they were not in elliots salient area go deep enough below ground to collapse the union mine. In addition to countermining, confederates are busy constructing another single line of earthwork behind the position. Just because of the intense amount of sharp shooting and artillery fire, the confederates had it was later stated practically honeycombed the area in between this new cavalier trench and the back of elliots salient with bombproofs. What they didnt know is this would soon enough create an obstacle for the federals. Whats planned beyond the cavalier trenches, alexanders orders to move up more artillery. Its going to be in a horseshoeshaped ring around this region and the confederates are going to have 30 cannon and 5 mortars to use against any Union Infantry attack in that particular area. The plan developed by burnside began unraveling almost as soon as Army Headquarters got the plan. July 27th, 8,000 pounds of gun powder arrived instead of the 12,000, as meades engineer has decided that thats all that theyll need. A single fuse arrived in segments, 10 to 15 feet in length, which required multiple splicing. The plans for the attack which burnside had proposed were changed by general meade. On the morning of july 28th, meade and burnside had a showdown about the battle plan. Meade stated, at a military court of inquiry a few days after the battle, that black soldiers were just too green for this attack. Later that year, grant testified to congress, Congressional Committee investigating the crater. General meade said if we put the color troops in front, we had only that one division, and it should prove a failure. It would then be said, and very properly, that we were shoving these people ahead to get killed because we did not care anything about them. But that could not be said if we put white troops in front. Since burnside protested this lastminute change, meade stated he wouldnt talk with grant about it and its important to understand that technically burnside outranks meade. Been a contentious sort of thing since burnside had arrived back east in the spring. And so grant outranks both of them, he can decide. Once he hears the plan which he only will hear from meade, so meade really represents what his opinion is and gives kind of the postscript version of what burnside feels, and grant agrees with meade. However, neither general bothered to inform burnside of this until july 29th at 11 00 a. M. When meade and another Union General appeared at burnsides headquarters. Burnside still wants the plan that he had to go forth, and he is going to ask meade, cannot this be changed . And meade says, no, the orders final. Besides the use of the u. S. Color troops, meade objected to the maneuvers that burnside wished to perform. Meade simply wanted the men to go up promptly and take the crest. Problem with that not very detailed order is it doesnt take into account the other confederate troops that are to the north of the explosion site, and i should point out that the objective here is to take the high ground at landford cemetery, which is to the north a few hundred yards of elliots salient. So meade in this other Union General leave burnside to figure out what hes going to do. Calls forth these eligible Division Commanders now and that will include Orlando Willcox in the center there, james ledlie on the left, and Robert Potter on the right. Despite burnsides later realization he should have probably selected willcox and potter, he felt like they divisions had been very used up, so he selects james ledlie. Ledlie, some as you know, has a fondness for alcohol, and its been exhibited most kind of notably at the battle of north hannah river, late in may of 1864 and again on june 17th. During the day and night of july 29th, final preparations made that include moving 110 federal cannon and 54 mortars across a twomile front to be used right after the explosion takes place and try to, of course, pin down confederates as the attack moves forward. White troops move into their position. Of course, now in front, ferreros troops are going to be in the back of this attacking column. Colonel pleasants will go in