Civil War Battlefields

This triptych of documentaries consecutively traces the entire history of the American Civil War (1861-65) from the precipitating causes and the Battle of Bull Run, up through the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It begins with the program A HOUSE DIVIDED, a look at the roots and the early stages of the bloody conflict, with touchstones including the Battle of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Stones River, as well as the successful Confederate outmaneuvering of the Union army at Richmond, Virginia. The second documentary in the set, THE TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD, revisits the events that caused the tide of the entire war to turn against the American South, such as the failure of Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North at Gettysburg, Grant's capture of Vicksburg, and the brutal massacres at Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Wilderness. Finally, the documentary THE UNION RESTORED commences with Sherman capturing Atlanta, then discusses the implications of Lincoln's pending reelection, Lee's failure to escape from Grant's control at Petersburg, and the death of Lincoln that made reconciliation of the Union and Confederacy a permanent impossibility.