Learn how Abraham Lincoln defeated George McClellan before ending the American Civil War
Lincoln's reelection and the end of the Civil War.
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• Nov. 13, 2026, 6:02 AM ET (The Memphis Commercial Appeal)
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• Nov. 6, 2026, 4:30 AM ET (Chicago Tribune)
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• Oct. 29, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (CBS)
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: The weight of all this was heavy on Lincoln's soul, and it showed more and more in his face. But his humor stayed ready and easy. Once when people criticized him for telling jokes, he said . . .
LINCOLN: Were it not for this vent, I would die. I must laugh to keep from crying.
NARRATOR: In the presidential campaign of 1864, Lincoln ran against George McClellan, once commander of the army of the Potomac. It was, again, a bitter, personal campaign that depressed him greatly. But Lincoln won handsomely. The United States supported his policy. It lifted his spirits a bit [music out; crowd noise]. In his second Inaugural Address, Lincoln reminded his fellow citizens . . .
LINCOLN: With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in--to bind up the nation's wounds.
[Music in]
NARRATOR: The war had started badly for the Union, then seesawed, and finally, generals like Sherman, Sheridan, and Grant turned the tide. At last, on April 9, 1865, at the Wilmer McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant [music out].
[Cheering]
The grimmest war in America's history was virtually over. At the celebration in Washington, Lincoln asked the band to play "Dixie." It was time to bind up the nation's wounds.
NARRATOR: The weight of all this was heavy on Lincoln's soul, and it showed more and more in his face. But his humor stayed ready and easy. Once when people criticized him for telling jokes, he said . . .
LINCOLN: Were it not for this vent, I would die. I must laugh to keep from crying.
NARRATOR: In the presidential campaign of 1864, Lincoln ran against George McClellan, once commander of the army of the Potomac. It was, again, a bitter, personal campaign that depressed him greatly. But Lincoln won handsomely. The United States supported his policy. It lifted his spirits a bit [music out; crowd noise]. In his second Inaugural Address, Lincoln reminded his fellow citizens . . .
LINCOLN: With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in--to bind up the nation's wounds.
[Music in]
NARRATOR: The war had started badly for the Union, then seesawed, and finally, generals like Sherman, Sheridan, and Grant turned the tide. At last, on April 9, 1865, at the Wilmer McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant [music out].
[Cheering]
The grimmest war in America's history was virtually over. At the celebration in Washington, Lincoln asked the band to play "Dixie." It was time to bind up the nation's wounds.
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