The Civil War

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. The episode follows the battle of ironclad ships, camp life and the beginning of the end of slavery. Ulysses S. Grant's exploits come to a bloody resolution at the Battle of Shiloh. The episode ends with rumors of Europe's readiness to recognize the Confederacy. 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 there are no Union victories to be had, thanks to the brilliance of Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. With Lee's September 1862 invasion of Maryland, the bloodiest day of the war takes place on the banks of Antietam Creek, followed shortly by the brightest -- the emancipation of the slaves.

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.

This episode begins with the nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg and follows two clashes that spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson; and at Vicksburg, where Grant is prevented from taking the city by siege. Also covered are the fierce northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the miseries of regimental life and the increasing desperation of the Confederate home front. As the first part of the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant's forces away from Vicksburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the war. For three days, 150,000 fought to the death in the Pennsylvania countryside culminating in Pickett's legendary charge. This extended episode 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 and Chattanooga. At the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln struggles to put into words what is happening to his people.

This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of the war: the battle of Gettysburg - the greatest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. For three days 150,000 will fight to the death in the gentle 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 and Chattanooga. 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.

This episode begins with a biographical comparison of Grant and Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against each other from the wilderness to Petersburg in Virginia. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, the episode moves to the ghastly hospitals in both the North and South, and follows Sherman's Atlanta campaign through the mountains of northern Georgia. As the horrendous casualty lists increase, Lincoln's chances for re-election begin to dim and with them, the possibility of Union victory. The presidential campaign of 1864 set Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of the Union itself. Opinion in the North has turned strongly against Lincoln and the war, but 11th-hour Union 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, Lee's Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery -- the Union's most hallowed ground.

The episode begins with the presidential campaign of 1864 that set 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 Lincoln and the war. But eleventh hour union 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.

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.

This extraordinary final episode 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 his conspirators, and the fates of the series' major characters. 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.