49.4.120309.3_The Making of a Nation.pdf

1 American History Series No. 113: Sherman Burns Atlanta in March to the Sea In late 1864, Union General William Sherman had two goals. One was to capture the city. The other was to destroy the Confederate army of General Joe Johnston. Transcript of radio broadcast: Thursday, December 03, 2009 Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. In eighteen sixty-four, the battle at Cold Harbor in Virginia ended a month of fighting by the Union Army of the Potomac. The campaign had brought the army almost to the edge of Richmond, the Confederate capital. But General Ulysses Grant had paid a terrible price: more than fifty thousand Union dead and wounded. Confederate losses were much lighter -- about twenty thousand. Grant was beginning to learn an important lesson of the war. The methods of defense had improved much more than the methods of attack. This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant continue the story of the American Civil War. By the autumn of eighteen sixty-four, it appeared that the North would defeat the South in the American Civil War. The southern army needed men and supplies. There was little hope of getting Example of a minie ball VOA Special English 2 enough of either to win. The northern army was stronger and better-equipped. But it, too, had suffered. Much of the death and destruction was the result of new military technology. A new kind of bullet had been invented. It was called the minie ball. It made the gun a much more deadly weapon. Before the minie ball, few soldiers could hit a target more than thirty meters away. With the new bullet, they could hit targets more than one hundred fifty meters away. Soldiers with such weapons could be put into position behind stone or earth walls. Then it was almost impossible to defeat them. Most American generals, however, seemed unable to accept this. They continued to use the old methods of attack t