The civil war nearly destroyed the great experiment known as the United States of America. But might there have been even more at stake than we know? Could it be that the preservation of the Union was ensured by extraterrestrial beings? Ancient Aliens: Aliens and the Civil War s9e9, History 2014
A hot July afternoon 1863 the height of the American Civil War: pro-slavery Confederate forces of the South launched an assault on the Unionists of the North at Gettysburg known as Pickett’s charge. Unsolved History: Gettysburg: Pickett’s Charge, Discovery 2002
Pickett’s charge: a battle that reversed the tide of the Civil War. ibid.
1,200 Confederate men died at Pickett’s charge, another 4,500 were wounded and captured. ibid.
Why then was this suicidal attack ordered in the first place? The answer may lie in the personality of the man who made the ultimate decisions: General Robert E Lee. ibid.
Elizabeth van Lew was one of the most daring and important women spies in the American Civil War, and one of the bravest women in American history … a spymaster behind enemy lines. History’s Ultimate Spies s1e6: Elizabeth van Lew, 2015
She had a Quaker education which instilled in her a strong belief that slavery was wrong and should be abolished. ibid.
‘A one-woman campaign basically to free every slave she can’ ibid. Ross Andrews
She established a highly effective intelligence network. ibid.
In 1863 as our nation struggles through a third year of Civil War, New York erupts in civil insurrection. The deadliest riots in American history. As an angry mob faces police and federal troops blood flows in the streets and the city teeters on the brink of revolution. The turmoil is fuelled by fiery politics and racial tension. In Search of History s1e8: The Civil War Draft Riots, History 1996
Violent protest against conscription throws New York City into chaos. ibid.
The streets of New York are often battlefields. ibid.
The problem is the city’s dependence on trade with the southern states. ibid.
For the first time the federal government will draft men into the army. It’s a controversial measure. ibid.
The American Civil War: It’s gone down in history as a battle to liberate the slaves in the south and reunite the nation. But is that really true? American History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley II
Conflicting accounts of the Civil War continue to divide the nation to this day. History is a murky business. ibid.
11 southern states broke away from the United States and set out to create a confederacy. ibid.
‘In 1858 Lincoln is decidedly not for racial equality.’ ibid. Professor Medford
It was a very limited kind of freedom. Many state quickly institution racial segregation laws. ibid.
The end of slavery was a lie. ibid.
A post-Civil War nightmare … Reconstruction: throughout every Southern state, the Reconstruction period is marked by racial massacres, vigilante violence against all races, and the rise of Confederate paramilitary groups like the Ku Klux Klan, America’s first terrorist organisation. Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War, History 2006
The violence suffered by blacks during this time is often perpetrated by Southern land owners attempting to keep their black labor in the fields. ibid.
Lincoln calls for a reconstruction of the county, a rebuilding of trust and of dedication to peace. ibid.
The Civil War claims the lives of nearly 260,000 Southern men. Those that were able, returned home to utter devastation. Thousands starved to death. ibid.
Anti-black violence erupts throughout the South … Memphis, Tennessee: a mob butchers 50 former slaves and burns close to 100 black homes and churches to the ground. ibid.
The New Orleans Massacre of 1866 is just the first of five street battles to break out in the city during Reconstruction. ibid.
After several more skirmishes, [B P] Upham is able to suppress the entire Arkansas Klan … This of course is only temporary as the Ku Klux Klan will re-emerge and reinvent itself time and again throughout American history. ibid.
Henry’s band includes his brothers and cousins, ex-Union soldiers and some ex-slaves. They become known as the Lowrie Gang and are about to unleash a torrent of violence against White Supremacists in North Carolina. The gang would become some of the most wanted men in the country. ibid.
Local authorities form a county militia to combat the Lowrie Gang. The leader is a former Confederate military commander Colonel James Wisher … He arrests the wives of the Lowrie gang members … Lowrie leads an ambush attack against the militia … ibid.
Henry Berry Lowrie vanishes and is never seen in North Carolina again. Many believe he heads West with the reward money, eventually making a new name for himself as a gunslinger. ibid.