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The Civil War

The Civil War
★ 8.0/10•1990•1h 16m•TV-14•Documentary•War & Politics
Similars

A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

StatusEnded
Runtime1h 16m
LanguageEN
First Air DateSep 23, 1990

Episodes

Episode 1 - The Cause: 1861E1100m

The Cause: 1861

Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this first episode dramatically evokes the causes of the war, from the Cotton Kingdom of the South to the northern abolitionists who opposed it. Here are the burning questions of Union and States' rights, John Brown at Harper's Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Along the way the series' major figures are introduced: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and a host of lesser-known but equally vivid characters. The episode comes to a climax with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, Virginia, where both sides now learn it is to be a very long war.

Sep 23, 1990

Episode 2 - A Very Bloody Affair: 1862E269m

A Very Bloody Affair: 1862

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. Episode Two 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, where his huge army meets a smaller but infinitely more resourceful Confederate force. During this episode we witness the battle of ironclad ships, partake of camp life, and watch slavery begin to crumble. We meet Ulysses S. Grant, whose exploits come to a bloody climax at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. The episode ends with rumors of Europe's readiness to recognize the Confederacy.

Sep 24, 1990

Episode 3 - Forever Free: 1862E377m

Forever Free: 1862

This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July 1862 that emancipation was now morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln must wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But as the year wears on there are 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. On the banks of Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the war takes place, followed shortly by the brightest: the emancipation of the slaves.

Sep 24, 1990

Episode 4 - Simply Murder: 1863E463m

Simply Murder: 1863

The nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg comes to two climaxes that 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. During the episode we learn of fierce Northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the miseries of regimental life and the increasing desperation of the Confederate homefront. As the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant's forces away from Vicksburg.

Sep 25, 1990

Episode 5 - The Universe of Battle: 1863E597m

The Universe of Battle: 1863

This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of war: the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. For three days 150,000 men will fight to the death in the Pennsylvania countryside, culminating in Pickett's legendary charge. This extended episode then goes on to chronicle the fall of Vicksburg, the New York draft riots, the first use of black troops, and the western battles at Chickamauga, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The episode closes with the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg in November, where Abraham Lincoln struggles to put into words what is happening to his people.

Sep 25, 1990

Episode 6 - Valley of the Shadow of Death: 1864E671m

Valley of the Shadow of Death: 1864

Episode six begins with a biographical comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against each other from the wilderness to Petersburg in Virginia. In 30 days, the two armies lose more men than both sides have lost in three years of war. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, we visit the ghastly hospitals north and south and follow General Sherman's Atlanta campaign through the mountains of north Georgia. As the horrendous casualty lists increase, Lincoln's chances for re-election begin to dim, and with them the possibility of Union victory.

Sep 26, 1990

Episode 7 - Most Hallowed Ground: 1864E773m

Most Hallowed Ground: 1864

The episode begins with the presidential election of 1864 that sets Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of the Union itself: with Grant and Sherman stalled at Petersburg and Atlanta, opinion in the North has turned strongly against the war. But 11th-hour victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta, and the Shenandoah Valley tilt the election to Lincoln and the Confederacy's last hope for independence dies. In an ironic twist, poignantly typical of the Civil War, Lee's Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery, the Union's most hallowed ground.

Sep 26, 1990

Episode 8 - War Is All Hell: 1865E870m

War Is All Hell: 1865

The episode begins with William Tecumseh Sherman's brilliant march to the sea, which brings the war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy. In March, following Lincoln's second inauguration, first Petersburg and then Richmond finally fall to Grant's army. Lee's tattered Army of Northern Virginia flees westward towards a tiny crossroads town called Appomattox Court House. There the dramatic and deeply moving surrender of Lee to Grant takes place. The episode ends in Washington where John Wilkes Booth begins to dream of vengeance for the South.

Sep 27, 1990

Episode 9 - The Better Angels of Our Nature: 1865E970m

The Better Angels of Our Nature: 1865

This extraordinary final episode of The Civil War begins in the bittersweet aftermath of Lee's surrender and then goes on to narrate the horrendous events of five days later when, on April 14, Lincoln is assassinated. After chronicling Lincoln's poignant funeral, the series recounts the final days of the war, the capture of John Wilkes Booth and the fates of the Civil War's major protagonists. The episode then considers the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country from a collection of states to the nation we are today.

Sep 27, 1990

Actors

David McCullough

David McCullough

Narrator (voice)

Sam Waterston

Sam Waterston

Abraham Lincoln (voice)

Julie Harris

Julie Harris

Mary Chestnut (voice)

Jason Robards

Jason Robards

Ulysses S. Grant (voice)

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman

Frederick Douglass / John Boston (voice)

Paul Roebling

Paul Roebling

Joshua Chamberlain (voice)

Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

Walt Whitman (voice)

George Black

Robert E. Lee (voice)

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

William Tecumseh Sherman (voice)

Christopher Murney

Christopher Murney

Elisha Hunt Rhodes (voice)

Charles McDowell

Samuel R. Watkins (voice)

Horton Foote

Horton Foote

Jefferson Davis (voice)

George Plimpton

George Plimpton

George Templeton Strong (voice)

Philip Bosco

Philip Bosco

Horace Greeley (voice)

Terry Courier

George B. McClellan (voice)

Jody Powell

Stonewall Jackson / Various (voice)

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