THE MAKING OF A NATION - The American Civil War: Final Surre

THE MAKING OF A NATION - The American Civil War: Final Surrender¹ of the Confederate Army
By Frank² Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, June 23, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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As we reported in our last few programs, President Abraham Lincoln did not live to see the final surrender of the armies of the Confederacy. However, before he was murdered on April fourteenth, eighteen-sixty-five, the war was really over. The surrender of Robert E. Lee, early in April, brought an end to four years of bloody³ fighting. Several other Confederate armies were still in the field. But they were too small and too weak to continue the fight.

VOICE TWO:

One army was in North Carolina, commanded by General Joe Johnston. Five days after Lee's surrender, Johnston asked for a meeting with General William Sherman, the Commander of Union forces in North Carolina.

Sherman met with Johnston a few days later. He offered him the same surrender terms that General Lee had accepted. He said the Confederates must give up their weapons and promise to fight no more. Then they would be free to return to their homes.

Johnston said he could not accept these terms. Johnston said he had the power to surrender all the Confederate armies everywhere in the south he said he would do so if Sherman agreed on a political settlement.

VOICE ONE:

The two generals met again the next day. Sherman listened as Johnston explained his demands. Most of them, Sherman accepted. He believed that President Lincoln wanted to help the south as much as possible. He had heard Lincoln say that he wanted to make it easy for the southern states to return to the Union.

When the agreement was completed, Sherman sent it immediately to Washington for approval⁴ by the new president, Andrew Johnson. The agreement seemed to give the south everything it wanted.

VOICE TWO:

Instead of surrendering⁵ to Sherman, the Confederate Armies would break up. The soldiers would return to their homes, taking their weapons with them. They would sign a promise not to fight again and to obey state and federal⁶ laws.

In exchange for this, Sherman said the president would recognize state governments in the south which promised to support the Constitution. He said federal courts would be established in the south again. And he said the president -- as well as he could -- would protect the political rights promised to all people by the Constitution of the United States and the state constitutions.

And Sherman said the United States government would not interfere⁷ with any of the southern people, if they remained peaceful and obeyed the laws.

VOICE ONE:

President Johnson held a cabinet⁸ meeting to discuss the agreement Sherman had signed. War Secretary Stanton and the other members of the cabinet were violently opposed to it. They said Sherman had no power to make any kind of political settlement.

President Johnson rejected the agreement. He said Johnston's army must surrender within forty-eight hours...or be destroyed. He said the surrender terms could be no better than those given General Lee.

VOICE TWO:

Johnston decided¹⁰ to surrender. On April twenty-sixth, his army laid down its weapons. One by one, the remaining armies surrendered¹¹. The soldiers began returning home.

Many of them were bitter. They wanted to continue to fight. They spoke¹² of guerrilla war against the Yankees. But most of the Confederate commanders opposed this. Many, like cavalry¹³ General Nathan Bedford Forrest, urged their men to accept defeat.

Said Forrest in a farewell speech to his men:

"It is a clear fact that we are beaten. We would be foolish to try to fight further. The government which we tried to establish is at an end. Civil War -- such as you have just passed through -- naturally causes feelings of bitterness and hatred¹⁴. We must put these feelings aside. Whatever your responsibilities may be, meet them like men. You have been good soldiers. You can be good citizens."

VOICE ONE:

Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled south after the fall of his government. He hoped to get across the Mississippi River. He believed that he could form a new Confederate army. If this failed, he planned to escape to Mexico.

President Lincoln had hoped that Davis would escape. He felt that punishing Davis would only create more bitterness and make reconstruction¹⁵ -- the rebuilding of the south -- more difficult. But President Johnson did not share Lincoln's feelings. He believed Davis had a part in the plot to kill Lincoln. He said Davis must be captured¹⁷.

On May tenth, Union forces found the Confederate president's camp in southern Georgia. They seized him and took him to Fort⁹ Monroe, Virginia. He remained there for many months under close guard. His trial was never held. And finally, in eighteen sixty-seven, he was freed.

VOICE TWO:

Late in May, one hundred fifty thousand Union soldiers, representing every one of the Union armies, came to Washington. They came to take part in a big parade -- a victory march through the city.

For two days, the soldiers marched past the White House. Many of the marching men had fought at Bull¹⁸ Run, at Fredericksburg, Antietam, Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Appomattox. Sherman's western army was there from battles at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Atlanta.

The soldiers marched proudly past the president and other government leaders.

VOICE ONE:

All along the way, from the Capitol building to the White House, were huge crowds of cheering people. Hour after hour, the soldiers passed. Never had the city seen such a celebration. Each group of soldiers had its band and carried its own battle flags. Some proudly carried flags that had been torn in fierce fighting.

Finally, late on the second day, the final group of soldiers passed the White House. The grand parade was over. The battle flags were put away, and the marching bands fell silent. The war was ended. Now, men could look about them and count the cost of the war.

VOICE TWO:

Four years of bloody fighting had saved the Union of states. The northern victory had settled for all time the question of whether states could leave the Union. And it had put to rest the great problem of slavery, which had troubled the nation for so many years.

But the costs were great. More than six hundred thousand men of the north and south lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands more were wounded. Many had lost their arms or legs.

VOICE ONE:

The war cost the north almost three-and-one-half thousand million dollars. It was almost as costly¹⁹ to the Confederates. Most of the war was fought in the southern states. And most of the war damage was there.

Hundreds of cities and towns suffered damage. Some -- like Atlanta -- were completely destroyed by Union forces. The damage outside the populated areas was almost as great. Union armies had marched across the south leaving behind them widespread destruction²⁰. Farm houses and buildings had been burned; animals and crops seized or destroyed.

VOICE TWO:

Transport in the south was especially hard hit. Union soldiers had destroyed most of the railroads²¹. The few Confederate trains that escaped capture¹⁶ were worn out from heavy use. River boats had been destroyed. And roads and bridges were in terrible condition.

The south had no money to rebuild. Businessmen and rich landowners had put their money in Confederate bonds²²...now completely worthless²³. Confederate war debts would never be paid.

There was also the question of the four million former slaves. They were free now. But few could take care of themselves. They needed jobs and training.

VOICE ONE:

The people of the south faced a difficult future. They had been defeated in battle. Their economy was destroyed. In many areas, there was little food and the people were hungry. Farmers could not plant crops, because they had no seed and no animals to break the ground. There was no money for rebuilding.

To add to all these problems, radical²⁴ Republicans²⁵ in Washington were demanding severe punishment for the south. Instead of offering aid, they demanded that the government sell the property of southerners to pay Union war debts.

VOICE TWO:

President Andrew Johnson, himself a southerner from Tennessee, oppposed the radical plans. He had his own program of reconstruction for the south.

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VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Leo Scully and Maurice Joyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

1 surrender   

v.投降，自首；屈服；交出，放弃

参考例句：

• He preferred to die rather than surrender to the enemy.他宁死也不愿向敌人投降。
• Liu Hulan would rather die than surrender before the enemy.刘胡兰在敌人面前宁死不屈。

2 frank   

adj.坦白的，直率的，真诚的

参考例句：

• A frank discussion can help to clear the air.坦率的谈论有助于消除隔阂。
• She is frank and outgoing.她很爽朗。

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 approval   

n.赞成，同意；批准，认可

参考例句：

• The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
• The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。

5 surrendering   

v.投降( surrender的现在分词 )；放弃，抛弃

参考例句：

• The enemy is surrendering all along the line. 敌军全部投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Peace was signed at Frankfort surrendering the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to the Germans. 和平协议在法兰克福签署，阿尔萨斯和洛林。拱手让给德国。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

6 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 cabinet   

n.内阁，内阁会议；(带玻璃门存物品的)橱柜

参考例句：

• I keep my collection of old china in the cabinet.我把古瓷器收藏品存放在橱子里。
• He had held many important offices in the French cabinet.他在法国内阁中任过许多重要职务。

9 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 surrendered   

n.电子放单；Telex releasedv.投降( surrender的过去式和过去分词 )；放弃，抛弃

参考例句：

• The bandit chief surrendered himself to despair and took his own life. 匪首在绝望中自杀了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She gradually surrendered her dream of becoming an actress. 她渐渐放弃了当演员的梦想。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

14 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

15 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

16 capture   

vt.捕获，俘获；占领，夺得；n.抓住，捕获

参考例句：

• The company is out to capture the European market.这家公司希望占据欧洲市场。
• With the capture of the escaped tiger,everyone felt relieved.逃出来的老虎被捕获后，大家都松了一口气。

17 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

18 bull   

n.公牛，买进证券投机图利者，看涨的人

参考例句：

• It's only a hair off a bull's back to them.这对他们来说，不过九牛一毛。
• Many dogs closed around the bull.很多狗渐渐地把那只牛围了起来。

19 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

20 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

21 railroads   

n.铁路，铁道( railroad的名词复数 )；铁路系统v.铁路，铁道( railroad的第三人称单数 )；铁路系统

参考例句：

• Water transportation was outmoded by railroads and good pikes. 水上运输已因铁路和良好的税道而变得过时了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A severe snowstorm blocked up railroads. 一场暴风雪使铁路中断。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 bonds   

镣铐，监禁； [常作复数]结合（力）( bond的名词复数 )； 结合物； 联系； 连接

参考例句：

• He paid the pill by cashing in some bonds. 他把一些证券兑换成现金付账。
• They are eager to buy their government bonds. 他们热心购买公债。

23 worthless   

adj.无价值的，无用的，可鄙的

参考例句：

• Don't read worthless books.不要读没有用的书。
• He was worthless as a painter.他作为画家一事无成。

24 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

25 republicans   

拥护共和政体者，共和主义者( republican的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Republicans got shellacked in the elections. 共和党在选举中一败涂地。
• The latest poll gives the Republicans a 5％ lead. 最近的民意调查结果表明共和党领先了五个百分点。