NARRATOR: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863.
Two years and three months into the Civil War, 337,000 men
lie dead, over 13 times as many casualties as the United States
suffered during the Revolutionary War.
But after so much bloodshed, neither side
has a clear advantage.
The majority of the fighting has taken
place in the Southern states.
But Confederate General Robert E. Lee,
who is gaining a reputation as being invincible,
decides to make an aggressive move
and advance into Union territory.
RICHARD LEWIS: Robert E. Lee decides
that he will take the war north for a couple of reasons.
Number one, it's going to relieve pressure
on the farmers in Virginia who are trying to grow crops,
feed themselves, feed the army.
And second, politically, he knows
that there is a lot of pressure on Abraham Lincoln
to win this war.
Northern voters, Northern politicians
are angry that this war is carrying on so far.
NARRATOR: While the Confederates were massing for attack,
reinforcements from the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry
Regiment were called in, commanded
by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain.
Chamberlain rushes his troops towards the Little Round Top.
It comes to a crossroads.
And he said there was an eerie figure in a tri-corner hat
pointing the way to the Little Round Top,
the right road to take.
And he said it looked like George Washington.
NARRATOR: Could this ghostly vision
have been merely an illusion?
Although the story sounds incredible,
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton appointed a member
of his staff to speak with a number of the men
who experienced this vision.
And it is said that he gathered unwavering testimony claiming
that the encounter was real.
In the end, the 20th Maine would repel
the Confederate attack on Little Round Top
and save the day for the Union Army.
So you have to ask yourself, did
extra terrestrials in some way influence this battle
by disguising themselves as a familiar figure like George
Washington and then guiding the troops
to a certain position where they knew this would
turn the tide of the battle?
It would seem that something like this happened.
We do have clues that Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin
Franklin and George Washington all believed
in extraterrestrial life.
Thomas Jefferson gave a famous lecture about the unusual UFO
sighting by a person named William Dunbarton
in Baton Rouge in 1800.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in his "Poor Richard's Almanac"
about life on other worlds, and apparently was
a believer in that.
And George Washington had a very famous
angelic vision at Valley Forge.
And so it would seem that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
and Benjamin Franklin were very much
believers in extraterrestrials and life on other planets.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that extraterrestrials have
been guiding the course of America
since its very beginning and intervened in the Civil War
to ensure that the great experiment would continue?
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest further evidence
that an otherworldly force was present at this point
in history can be found by examining a recurring dream
that Abraham Lincoln had of his own death.
He sees a body on the catafalque
wrapped in mourning clothing.
The body is being guarded by Union soldiers.
He asks one of the soldiers, who is dead in the White House?
And one of the soldiers says, it's the president.
He's been killed by an assassin.
CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN: Lincoln's belief
that he would rise to greatness and then die prematurely
was something that was of long standing.
And it's a testament to his courage
that he fulfilled his destiny.
He believed that he was uniquely suited to become
president to carry the country through the great crisis
of disunion.
And part and parcel with that belief
in his destiny to become president
was his belief that he would be slain.
NARRATOR: Could it be that extraterrestrials were
the source of this recurring dream
and that they were testing Abraham Lincoln to see if he
would fulfill his destiny, even knowing that it
would lead to an early grave?