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Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. On July fourth, eighteen sixty-three, a huge Confederate army surrendered at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Union forces had surrounded the city for forty-seven days. Food was gone. The situation was hopeless. The Confederate commander gave up. The terms of surrender were simple. The Confederate soldiers promised not to fight anymore. In return for this promise, they were released on parole and sent home to their families. Never had Union forces won such a victory. Thirty thousand Confederate soldiers were now out of the war. Sixty thousand guns and one hundred seventy cannon were now in Union hands. The Mississippi River was now under Union control. This week in our series, Larry West and Maurice Joyce continue our story of the American Civil War.
The victory at Vicksburg went to General Ulysses Grant. He was named commander of all Union armies in the west. Then he was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Union army there had just been defeated in a battle along a little river called the Chickamauga. Now the Union soldiers were resting and re-organizing in Chattanooga. The Confederate line stretched halfway around the city. The Confederates had artillery on Lookout Mountain. They controlled every road into the city except a rough one through the mountains. They had blocked the Tennessee River above and below the city. And they had cut the railroad. The Confederate general said he would let hunger force the Union Army to surrender. Grant arrived in Chattanooga late in October. The city was full of hungry Union soldiers. They had been without supplies for almost a month. Grant wasted no time. He quickly sent troops to fight the Confederate force blocking the Tennessee River. He sent others to fight the Confederates blocking the road to the nearest Union supply center. Within one week, supply wagons were rolling into Chattanooga. Within a few weeks, the defeated Union army was ready to fight again.
General Grant sent his men against the middle and ends of the Confederate line at the same time. There were few Confederate soldiers at Lookout Mountain. That end of the line fell easily. The center of the line was along a low hill called Missionary Ridge. It held for a while. Then Union soldiers -- acting without orders -- forced their way to the top of the hill. The Confederate line broke. Southern soldiers threw down their guns and ran for their lives. The Confederate army withdrew south into the state of Georgia. Tennessee was completely in Union hands. The way was now open for the armies of the North to march into the heart of the Confederacy. It was clear that the South could not win the war. Too many Confederate soldiers had fallen in battle. None were left to take their place. Supplies were very low. There was not enough food to eat, no shoes to wear, and little left to fight with. No one held any hope of getting supplies from outside the Confederacy. The South was circled by Union troops and warships. All seemed lost.
Yet Confederate soldiers refused to stop fighting. They would not surrender. The war would not end until the Confederate armies were defeated by military force. There was no question that the North had the military strength. Supplies were no problem. Factories were producing more than ever before. Manpower was no problem. Men continued to join the Union army. Fewer than before, but still enough to make it a powerful force. The problem with the Union army was its generals. Some were too careful. Some were unwilling to fight. Some did not know how to fight. The only general who seemed able to win victories was Ulysses Grant. That is why President Abraham Lincoln named Grant commander of all Union armies. Lincoln depended on him to end the Civil War. Grant went east in March eighteen sixty-four, five months after the battle at Chattanooga. He decided to make his headquarters in the field with the Army of the Potomac. He said he would not command from an office in Washington. But he went to the city to explain his plans to President Lincoln.

Grant noted that, in the past, the separate Union armies had moved and fought independently. He said they were like a poorly trained team of horses. No two of them ever pulled at the same time in the same direction. Under his command, Grant said, the Union armies would pull together. They would hit the Confederates with so much strength in so many places that the rebels could not stop them. Grant said all the armies would attack at the same time. Grant spent the month of April preparing for the big campaign. The main target, once again, was the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. The Army of the Potomac had one hundred twenty thousand men. It would move against Richmond from the north. General Ben Butler had fifty thousand men. He would move against Richmond from the east. General Franz Sigel would bring thousands more through the Shenandoah Valley to the northwest. These forces were three times the size of Robert E. Lee's army near Richmond. In the west, William Sherman had three armies with more than one hundred thousand men. His opponent, Joe Johnston, had just sixty thousand. General Grant kept details of the campaign as secret as possible. Reporters asked President Lincoln when Grant would move. The president answered, "Ask General Grant." "General Grant will not tell us," said the reporters. Said Lincoln, "He will not tell me, either."
The final Union campaign of the Civil War began on May third, eighteen sixty-four. After two days of marching, the Army of the Potomac reached the wilderness. It was a thickly wooded area west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. That was where the Union army had lost a battle to the Confederates one year before. That was where the two armies would fight again. The battle quickly became a blind struggle. The woods were thick. The smoke was heavy. The soldiers could not see each other until they were very close. Shells set the trees on fire. The wounded could not escape the flames. Their screams filled the air. After two days, General Grant decided that the wilderness was not the place to fight Robert E. Lee. He wanted to get around the end of Lee's army. He wanted to fight in the open, where he could use his artillery. So he began to march his men toward a place called Spotsylvania Court House. Lee moved his men as fast as Grant. When the Union army got to Spotsylvania, the Confederates were waiting behind walls of earth and stone.
For several more days, the two armies fought. At times, they were so close they had no time to load and fire their guns. So they used their guns to hit each other. The Confederate line bent. But it never broke. Once again, Lee had stopped the Union army. Grant refused to accept defeat. He said he would fight to the finish, if it took all summer. Once again, he ordered his men to march around the end of Lee's line. Lee quickly pulled his men back to a place called Cold Harbor, not far from Richmond. There they waited. As he had done in the wilderness and at Spotsylvania, Grant ordered his men to attack hard. It was a slaughter. In less than an hour, seven thousand Union soldiers fell dead or wounded. Grant finally stopped the attack. The Union soldiers returned to their lines. They left behind hundreds of wounded men. For four days, the wounded lay on the battlefield crying for help, for water. Men who tried to rescue them were shot down. Finally, Grant and Lee agreed on a ceasefire to take care of the wounded and bury the dead. It was too late for most of the wounded. They had died. The battle at Cold Harbor ended one month of fighting for the Army of the Potomac. The campaign had brought it almost to the edge of Richmond, the Confederate capital. But Grant had paid a terrible price: more than fifty thousand dead and wounded. Confederate losses were much lighter: about twenty thousand. General Grant was beginning to learn an important lesson of the war. The methods of defense had improved much more than the methods of attack.

重点解析

1.give up 放弃；投降

Georgia refuses to give up any territory.

格鲁吉亚拒绝出让任何领土7TV4_&paC^LxI。

2.throw down 扔掉；推倒

He told me to throw down my sword, my pistol, and some other things.

他要我放下我的剑、手枪和其它东西w|poc.B381a。

3.no problem 没有问题；没关系

You should have no problem with reading this language.

阅读这种语言你应该没问题aEU&.S+Y&NB。

4.at times 有时；时常

Their working relationship was stormy at times.

他们在工作中关系有时也闹得很僵rdxXteSR3h。

参考译文

欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目PKzbDC(;kNzA)ZBgn2Hn。1863年7月4日，一支规模宏大的联盟国部队在密西西比州维克斯堡投降@Xq5P4P2#;xv。联邦军队包围这座城市长达47天4stNx]MVgJwwQlLT(Ir。食物用尽，一点希望都没有，联盟国指挥官放弃继续坚守hh9!bu~xrO0Gj。投降的条件很简单，联盟国士兵保证不再战斗4IV,kH@l-K。作为回应，他们可以获得假释，并送他们回家LANy1ftriVLtByD。联邦军从未赢得过这样的胜利Q]Sj#,m8A%J,B4&F@。现在，3万名联盟国士兵退出战争2#8~y8Sgjt9K。6万门大炮和170门大炮都移交给联邦军@TsU4+OSgQwUsWq。目前，密西西比河由联邦军控制JU%Ix]3!X;DtOg^,G。在本周的系列故事中，拉里·韦斯特和莫里斯·乔伊斯继续为我们讲述美国内战的故事MxzoBE=bSij。
维克斯堡战役的胜利归功于尤利西斯·格兰特将军，他接受委任成为西部联邦军所有部队的指挥官wGWgMgwf.U#Z。随后，他被派往田纳西州的查塔努加+tm%ebzq5=H.BEN!)!*]。在那驻守的联邦军，刚在一条称为奇卡莫加的小河边进行的战斗中被击败uBGzWsUna@LtNGgu。现在，联邦军在查塔努加休息，重组部队tYl=&%bq[BY。联盟国战线遍布半座城市0HaeV469BfO^1^Dc@UV。联盟国部队在了望山上设有炮兵部队，他们控制着通往城市的每一条路，只有一条崎岖的山路除外WK7H9B4e,|sgg1。他们封锁了城市两端的田纳西河河段，切断了铁路9tet5hMQnDVF。联盟国部队的将军说，他要用饥饿迫使联邦军队投降M3i1E7=O[LL863Pl。格兰特于10月底抵达查塔努加7*s.B|[.3geAY6l8|]k(。在这座城市里，到处都是饥饿的联邦军士兵X[u%5uB1+o。他们几乎一个月没有获得补给了G;zs=-R*S7An3gs9nM%。格兰特没有浪费时间，他很快派遣部队与封锁田纳西河的联盟国部队作战]U#z^VPNV=r。他派其他人去对抗封锁通往联邦军最近的供应中心道路的联盟国部队avbnjXgzT=。一周之内，补给车驶入查塔努加LdrY9&8PUuDNL。几周之内，战败的联邦军准备再次战斗OWbE*gp~%I(Aj。
同时，格兰特将军派遣部下进攻联盟国部队阵线的中线和末端0ous1mrchB5]。在了望山上几乎没有联盟国士兵，那条战线很轻松地就被击破-gp;7(#*mgDb。中线沿一座称为传教岭的低矮小山部署].mkW3)@*nz3B。这条战线坚守了一段时间j580ICp~A^。随后，联邦士兵自行爬到山顶pUE-JROe0[^)_。联盟国防线崩裂，联盟国士兵扔下枪，忙着逃命y~j[Qs@OHS6GAW。联盟国军队向南撤退到乔治亚州，田纳西州完全落入联邦部队掌控之中Eu|;X9zMNS9&e]!。现在，北方军队可以径直进入联盟国的中心地带-HyJG%7rz&g@k*U=jJ。很显然，南方部队无法赢得战争的胜利@jLBHyx1r*W-FE。有太多的联盟国士兵在战斗中阵亡，没有人能顶替他们的空缺2)U#aHB|.P,g=iC。供给非常少，没有足够的食物可吃，没有鞋子可穿，没剩下什么能打仗用的东西了t2O,e8f*e9V4。没有人抱有能从联盟国以外的地方得到补给的希望，南方地区被联邦部队和军舰包围着HVLR9(yt19_k。似乎一切都失去了aILlRsvkz&f~。
然而，联盟国士兵拒绝停止战斗2Z[Wi2g&ptDU;7bzY。他们不会投降，直到联盟国军队被武装部队打败，战争才能结束vjC9@]~-pxj。毫无疑问，北方部队拥有军事实力，不存在供给问题*h|%X39;Q^95B;q。工厂的产量比以往任何时候都要多aeFJv36An|Cxry%zx+!q。人力供应没有问题，人们继续加入到联邦军之中=3hWkxK#S*a_VrIRt.+3。人数比以前少，但仍然能组建一支强大的部队B7WFW(nDMfb[。联邦军的问题是它的将军们，有些太过谨慎，有些不愿作战，还有些都不知道如何战斗o8vZPL)C5j6t+-lxm9[X。唯一能赢得胜利的将军是尤利西斯·格兰特，这就是总统亚伯拉罕·林肯任命他为所有联邦军队指挥官的原因，林肯依靠他来结束内战c*N|0lJffDj。1864年3月，查塔努加战役结束五个月之后，格兰特向东进发j0S[9(PSO=Z。他决定与波托马克军团在战场上建立司令部j+4PqJsRN@Vsom。他说他不会在华盛顿的办公室指挥，但他会到城里向林肯总统解释作战计划2lC+7u1V),6omsWVS[S。
格兰特注意到，在过去，各支联邦军队独立行动、作战HpSwSq*~44h。他说，他们就像一支没有接受过训练的马队m#@E(FmD596.OFsAj。从来没有哪两支部队同一时间，向同一方向使劲1u+Ck.4&S5Dowr。格兰特说，在他的指挥下，联邦军队将齐心协力IE;Rz@O@RN~#,Gj。他们会在众多地方，以强大的力量袭击联盟国部队，使反叛者无法阻止他们的步伐@Lbe,2nP|5uD^&53。格兰特说所有部队要同时进攻^+.W8@r6IdtvKw9。四月，格兰特一直在为这场重大的战役做准备fj4^rza@16。其主要的目标，又被定为了联盟国首府，弗吉尼亚州的里士满dddk]cA(XtS)7。波托马克军团有十二万将士，它将从北方进攻里士满oldzi4W%3UXhSdUQ1JOT。将军本·巴特勒有五万人，他从东部进攻里士满uu3ePMA.DX5^&G!7LzKx。将军弗朗茨·西格尔将带领数千人穿过谢南多厄河谷，到达西北方向hphmqiLqos+H~ck6i。这些部队的规模，是部署在里士满附近的罗伯特·E·李将军部队的三倍Gbmf)*z)u%hW#5N|s]P。在西侧，威廉·谢尔曼有三支部队，超过十万人X47@s~gvutrT。他的对手乔·约翰斯顿只有6万人Yq)dATREWr。将军格兰特尽可能不把军事行动的细节外泄，记者询问林肯总统，格兰特什么时候出兵ba.btu^g_MOlX27WZ。总统回答说：“问格兰特将军吧w#q7X@+g%Z_。”“格兰特将军不会告诉我们，”记者说s9-WjFN=w-0j。林肯说：“他也不会告诉我WEb0pcmSSm)O~。”
1864年5月3日，内战中最后一次联邦军战役开始了7cv877Tg3,rz@br)RFW。经过两天的行军，波托马克军团到达荒野[mG*pgv~Wy@。这是弗吉尼亚州弗雷德里克斯堡西部一片茂密的树林D%EK5SpCSTLj=0。一年前，联邦军在那里败给了联盟国部队j_8El+%#R,#ZU0。这是两军将再次交战的地方.hdUP)ZD7&PH(BwSF#F。这场战斗很快变成了一场盲战,t&m@+I8g.G*UXsC2MT。树林非常茂密，炮火的浓烟很重e]tIzI1w]TsA。士兵们要离得很近才看到对方，炮弹点燃了树木，伤员无法逃离火海37CmFLA%SjXq%NMJp。他们的尖叫声弥漫在空气中*,%SDi,LjaFX。两天后，格兰特将军认定荒野不是与罗伯特·E·李的部队作战的地方)]4Gh*b4sVG。他想绕过李将军的军队，在开阔的地方作战，在那里他可以使用火炮G[|p!U)M2j。于是，他开始带领部下前往一个叫斯波茨瓦尼亚法院的地方_#o!u_Er6tP3!V*R^g。李将军和格兰特一样快速地调动他的部下DI3]#P(uW;;。当联邦军到达斯波茨瓦尼亚时，联盟国部队正在土墙和石墙后面等着他们rcv4hl7qpcU]h+。
两支军队又打了几天1|GA2fx#p;。有时，他们离得太近，都没有时间装枪和开火S8|%T.vt]#vRQ。所以，他们就用枪互相击打对方d94yW]IqoP@D。联盟国的阵线被打乱了，但它从未崩裂2[bT6VJRe0quw(fT。李将军再一次阻止了联邦军Z6%tj|H-[prCNQK3。格兰特拒绝接受失败=Ia0H~ACec,C*zs。他说，如果需要耗上一个夏天，他都将奋战到底5Ng!lLHZ4a8-R*xb~O。他又一次命令部下绕着李将军的部队行进Z^bk2[.JNA*K46lR#。李将军很快把士兵带到离里士满不远处一个叫冷港的地方TD40atAX0ul。他们在那里等待着rS5jLIjoKu!W。格兰特效仿自己在旷野和斯波茨瓦尼亚的方法，命令部下猛烈进攻9qB-G0FJ*@。这真是一场屠杀，在不到一小时的时间里，七千名联邦士兵伤亡h+D5;ALBI!eRZGY^+。格兰特最终阻止了袭击，联邦士兵返回他们的阵线，留下了数百名受伤的士兵au99saexfc*.er。四天来，伤员躺在战场上，哭着求救，要喝水d5+)y,aFD_=jTotKO。试图营救他们的人被击毙了g_15G|V018ILpcq。最后，格兰特和李将军同意停火，以照顾伤者，并埋葬阵亡将士NiuBy)7T3I@(wvzx1q。对大多数伤员来说，此时的救助已为时过晚，他们都死了IMOJU1YxFq#s6yq。冷港战役结束了波托马克军团长达一个月的战斗，作战行动几乎把它带了联盟国首都里士满的边缘h7WNM)5]F[Ro|O8V6。但是，格兰特付出了可怕的代价：超过五万人伤亡=_q0a@OO61@Wt=JsE]x。联盟国部队的损失大约为2万人，比联邦军少很多7rCu8r-[)~4m9D。格兰特将军开始吸取这场战争的重要教训，防御方法与进攻方法相比提升了得多rHcX,)(M)Ba。

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