In Part IV of the American Civil War the nation reels from the cost of the conflict. The Battle of Antietam takes its toll as the nation's bloodiest single day of combat - ever. The Battle of Gettysburg becomes the country's most costly single battle, still to this day. The Union army control is given to Ulysses S. Grant who battles Robert E. Lee through the Overland Campaign, inching closer to Richmond where the life of the Confederate States of America seems to be waning. 

Topics and events discussed in this episode:

The Battle of Antietam, The Battle of Gettysburg, The Wilderness Campaign, Spotsylvania, The Mule Shoe, General Robert E. Lee's decision to join the Confederate States of America, The promotion to commander of Union armies given to Ulysses S. Grant, The Overland Campaign.

Sources Used:

Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Vintage Books, 2000.

Winik, Jay. April 1865 the month that saved America. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2008.

Blight, David W. Race and reunion: the Civil War in American memory. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.

Fellman, Michael, Lesley J. Gordon, and Daniel E. Sutherland. This terrible war: the Civil War and its aftermath. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008.

Coski, John M. The Confederate battle flag: Americas most embattled emblem. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006.

Taylor, Michael W. The Cry is War, War, War. Dayton, OH: Morningside Press, 1994.

Geer, Walter. Campaigns of the Civil War. Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 2009.

Chernow, Ron. Grant. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2017. Pgs 289-311, and 366-447.