HIS 226 - Civil War: Civil War Weapons

Civil War: the Untold Story provides new insights into the causes of the Civil War, life on the home front, the politics of war, the issue of slavery, and the role African Americans played in the conflict.

The Civil War, one of the most defining moments in American history, tore the nation apart, pitting North against South--brother against brother. Over the course of four years, more than 750,000 military and civilian lives were sacrificed to make the United States a more perfect union, where the human rights of every person are guaranteed.

With the 1860 election of anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln, thirteen states from the South secede and form the Confederate States of America. Union military leaders, along with Lincoln himself, realize that ending the rebellion rests on controlling the Mississippi River.

This program offers a portrait of the United States in 1860 and describes the events of the Civil War: secession and the election of Jefferson Davis; the attack on Ft. Sumter; the initial enthusiasm for a heroic, romantic war; the first two years of war, with most of the fighting taking place between Washington and Richmond; the modern aspects of the war—the use of trains, the telegraph, the camera, automatic arms, iron-clad ships and mines; the Emancipation Proclamation; and a detailed analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg—the turning point of the war which would rage on for two more years. (42 minutes)

Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this program dramatically evokes the causes of the war. Here are the burning questions of union and states’ rights, John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln, the firing on Fort Sumter, and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides.

The year 1862 saw the birth of modern warfare and the transformation of Lincoln’s war to preserve the Union into a war to emancipate the slaves. This program begins with the political infighting that threatened to swamp Lincoln’s administration and then follows Union General George McClellan’s ill-fated campaign on the Virginia Peninsula and Ulysses S. Grant’s costly victory at the Battle of Shiloh. The episode ends with rumors of Europe’s readiness to recognize the Confederacy. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (68 minutes)

his program charts the events that led to Lincoln’s decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July 1862 that emancipation had become morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln had to bide his time and wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But as the year wore on, there were no Union victories to be had, thanks to the brilliance of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The episode comes to a climax in September 1862 with Lee’s invasion of Maryland and the bloody struggle on the banks of Antietam Creek. The emancipation of the slaves follows. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (76 minutes)

This program begins with the nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg, which leads to two climaxes the following spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson, and at Vicksburg, where Grant’s attempts to take the city by siege are stopped. Fierce Northern opposition to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is addressed, along with the increasing desperation on the Confederate home front. As the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant’s forces away from Vicksburg. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (62 minutes)

This program opens with an account of the turning point of war: the Battle of Gettysburg. For three days, 150,000 men fight to the death in the Pennsylvania countryside—an action that culminates in Pickett’s ill-fated charge. This extended episode then goes on to chronicle the fall of Vicksburg, the New York draft riots, the first use of African-American troops, and the battles at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The program closes with the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg, where Lincoln struggles to put into words what is happening to his people. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (96 minutes)

This program begins with a biographical comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and then goes on to chart the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against each other. So intense was the fighting that in one 30-day period, their armies lost more men than both sides had lost in three years of war. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, this episode shifts focus to follow General Sherman’s Atlanta campaign. As the horrendous casualty lists increased, Lincoln’s chances for reelection began to dim—and with them the possibility of Union victory. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (70 minutes)

The program begins with the presidential election of 1864 that set Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes were nothing less than the survival of the Union itself: with Grant and Sherman stalled at Petersburg and Atlanta, opinion in the North had turned strongly against the war. But 11th-hour victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta, and the Shenandoah Valley tilted the election to Lincoln, and the Confederacy’s last hope for independence died. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (72 minutes)

This program begins with William T. Sherman’s brilliant March to the Sea, which brought the war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spelled the end of the Confederacy. It continues with Lincoln’s second inauguration, the fall of Petersburg and then Richmond to Grant’s army, and the westward flight of Lee’s tattered Army of Northern Virginia to a tiny crossroads town called Appomattox Court House, where the dramatic and deeply moving surrender of Lee to Grant would take place. The episode ends in Washington, where John Wilkes Booth dreamed of vengeance for the South. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (69 minutes)

This extraordinary final episode of The Civil War begins in the bittersweet aftermath of Lee’s surrender and goes on to narrate the terrible events of five days later when, on April 14, Lincoln was assassinated. After chronicling Lincoln’s poignant funeral, the program then recounts the final days of the war, the capture of John Wilkes Booth, and the fates of the Civil War’s major protagonists. The consequences and meaning of a war that transformed America from a collection of states to the nation it is today are considered as well. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. (69 minutes)

Civil War Combat explores key battles of the American Civil War in a graphic, realistic manner The series included such battles as the Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Cold Harbor, Battle of Shiloh, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Antietam, and Battle of Petersburg. The mission of this series is to introduce viewers to lesser known regiments and commands, provide little known facts of the fields of conflict, and give an accurate portrayal of the bloodiness of the fighting of the day. 11-part series, 45 minutes each. Distributed by A&E Television Networks.

The History Channel’s acclaimed series, Civil War Journal, takes viewers beyond the battles and into the personal stories of the War Between the States. Drawing on diaries, photographs and dramatic re-enactments, the intimate side of the epic conflict is exposed. 50-part series, 45 minutes each. Distributed by A&E Television Networks.

This film provides new insights into the causes of the Civil War, life on the home front, the politics of war, the issue of slavery, and the relatively unheralded role African Americans played in the conflict.