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Ken Burns Series
Episode Breakdown
EPISODE 1: The Cause
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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00 -:01:29
Anecdote about Wilmer McLean who "could rightfully say, 'the war
began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."'
1.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:30 - 10:20
Introduction to the war and to the important characters in the series.
1.2 Chapter 2 - The Cause :10:21 - :12:28
America in 1861-most of the nation's 31 million people live peaceably
on farms and in small towns.
1.3 Chapter 3 - All Night Forever :12:29 - :19:12
The brutal reality of slavery and its importance to the Southern cotton
economy; the invention of the cotton gin.
The Civil War
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Washington.
1.12 Chapter 12 - A Thousand Mile Front 1:24:08 - 1:31:17
General George McClellan takes command of the Union army with an
elaborate plan to destroy the Confederacy, but does nothing. U.S.
Grant is assigned to desk duty; William T. Sherman resigns, close to
suicide.
1.13 Chapter 13 - Honorable Manhood 1:31:18 - 1:34:50
Sullivan Ballou, a Northern soldier, writes a letter home to his wife
before the Battle of Bull Run.
Episode 2: 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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
1.4 Chapter 4 - Are We Free? :19:13 - :23:35
The abolitionist movement: William Lloyd Garrison starts publishing
The Liberator in 1831. Rise of Harriet Tubman, Wendell Phillips, and
Frederick Douglass. Growing rift between North and South over
slavery. Death of Elija P. Lovejoy, white abolitionist. Introduction to
John Brown.
Prologue :00 -:01:14
Julia Ward Howe writes "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the Willard
Hotel in Washington.
1.5 Chapter 5 - A House Divided :23:36 - :27:45
Events leading up to secession: Uncle Tom's Cabin published in 1850;
Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision; political conflict over entry of
new states in the Union. In 1858 Lincoln writes, "a house divided
against itself cannot stand."
2.2 Chapter 2 - 1862 A Very Bloody Affair :04:46 - :08:51
The Union army is stuck in Washington. Northern soldier Elisha
Hunt Rhodes is granted home leave to see his mother.
1.6 Chapter 6 - The Meteor :27:46 - :32:43
John Brown raids the arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859, and is
captured by Colonel Robert E. Lee. The Southern militia now
becomes a viable instrument; it is the beginning of the Confederate
army.
1.7 Chapter 7 - Secessionitis :32:44 - :47:10
In 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President. The South is horrified.
Introduction to George Templeton Strong, New York lawyer, and
diarist. Seven Southern states secede in the time between Lincoln's
election and inauguration. The Confederacy inaugurates Mississippi
senator Jefferson Davis as President. Introduction to Mary Chesnut,
wife of a prominent Southern planter and diarist.
1.8 Chapter 8 - 4:30 a.m. April 12, 1861 :47:11 - :52:09
Southern artillery attack a battalion of Northern troops inside Fort
Sumter, off the coast of South Carolina in the first battle of the Civil
War. When Union forces surrender, the South is jubilant. Walt
Whitman writes, "all the past we leave behind with Sumter."
1.9 Chapter 9 - Traitors and Patriots :52:10 - 1:04:16
Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers -- Davis asks for 100,000.
Introductions to: Northern soldier (and diarist) Elisha Hunt Rhodes,
Southern soldier (and diarist) Sam Watkins. U.S. Grant, William
Tecumseh Sherman, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Robert E. Lee.
1.10 Chapter 10 - Gun Men 1:04:17 - 1:12:17
The first Union troops arrive in Washington. Wherever the Union
army goes in the South, slavery crumbles. Slaves fleeing their
plantations for the Union lines are considered "contraband" of war
and are not returned to their former owners.
1.11 Chapter 11 - Manassas 1:12:18 - 1:24:07
When the Union army marches into Virginia, Confederate troops
engage them at the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. The battle, thanks in
part to "Stonewall" Jackson, is a Southern victory with an
unprecedented 5,000 casualties. Union troops limp back to
2.1 Chapter I - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:15 - :04:45
"The war will be a struggle over the future of freedom in America."
2.3 Chapter 3 - Politics :08:52 - :14:04
Lincoln contends with political infighting in his cabinet, General
McClellan's inaction, and the tragic death of his favorite son, Willie.
2.4 Chapter 4 - Ironclads :14:05 - :19:05
The Confederacy builds the Merrimack, a new iron-plated ship, and
the Union then constructs its own "ironclad," the Monitor. Off the
coast of Virginia, the Merrimack attacks the Union navy, but the
Monitor arrives just in time. All other navies on earth, after the epic
battle of ironclads, are obsolete.
2.5 Chapter 5 - Lincolnites :19:06 - :22:38
In Tennessee, U.S. Grant wins a victory at Fort Donelson, and
Clarksville is occupied by the Union army.
2.6 Chapter 6 - The Peninsula :22:39 - :27:34
McClellan cautiously moves the Union army towards Richmond and
meets a much smaller band of Southern troops at Yorktown where he
digs in and wires for reinforcements.
2.7 Chapter 7 - Our Boy :27:35 - :31:54
Description of the average soldier: Life in camp, North and South.
2.8 Chapter 8 - Shiloh :31:55 - :43:58
In Tennessee, U.S. Grant fights off a surprise attack by Confederates
under General Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh.
Johnston is killed and Grant suffers huge losses-but eventually wins
the battle when Union reinforcements arrive. More men die at Shiloh
than in all previous American wars combined.
2.9 Chapter 9 - The Arts of Death :43:59 -:54:06
The relationship of military technology to the course of the war. U.S.
Grant is relieved of command because of the losses at Shiloh.
Frederick Douglass pressures Lincoln to free the slaves. The Union
navy wins a major naval campaign when Admiral David Farragut
takes New Orleans.
2.10 Chapter 10 - Republics :54:07 - :57:28
On the Southern home front the Confederacy institutes the first
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Episode Breakdown
national draft, exempting men who own more than twenty slaves.
Only half of the eligible men show up.
2.11 Chapter 11 - On To Richmond :57:29 - 1:03:36
After a month outside Yorktown, McClellan finally attacks. But the
Rebels had already moved on. McClellan cautiously moves to ward
Richmond but refuses to attack the city. The Union's grand strategy is
completely stalled.
Episode 3: 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.
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exhibition in New York-"The Dead of Antietam."
3.9 Chapter 9 - The Higher Object 1:02:11 - 1:11:17
U.S. Grant tries to conquer Vicksburg, Mississippi, but fails. Lincoln
issues the Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862. "The war
is ennobled, the object is higher."
Episode 4: 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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00 -:01:28
Photography and the war.
3.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:29 -:04:54
Lincoln realizes that emancipation will be needed to win the war.
3.2 Chapter 2 - 1862 Forever Free :04:55 - :05:30
The Union army is stalled outside Richmond. Meanwhile,
Confederate General Stonewall Jackson is on the attack in the
Shenandoah Valley.
3.3 Chapter 3 - Stonewall :05:31 - :10:55
Stonewall Jackson, a "pious, blue-eyed killer" triumphs in his Valley
Campaign, successfully keeping Union troops off the Peninsula. The
South cuts cotton production to pressure England and France into
recognizing the Confederacy. Lincoln has to find a way to keep
Europe from coming in on the side of the Confederate government.
3.4 Chapter 4 - The Beast :10:56 - :16:46
General Benjamin Butler is put in charge of the Union occupation of
New Orleans. When local women insult his troops, he issues "General
Order No. 28." Nearby, unrest grows among slaves on the
plantations. Lincoln backs a plan to encourage freed slaves to return
to Africa.
3.5 Chapter 5 - The Seven Days :16:47 - :24:16
Union and Rebel troops clash outside Richmond. Confederate
commander Joseph Johnston is seriously wounded and Robert E. Lee
takes charge. When Lee and McClellan clash for seven days, every
battle except one is a Union victory, but McClellan retreats down the
Peninsula and all the way back to Washington.
3.6 Chapter 6 - Kiss Daniel For Me :24:17 - :32:09
When the Union army occupies the Southern coast, plantation
owners flee, leaving behind 110,000 slaves. The pressure for
emancipation grows. Deer Isle, Maine loses its first soldiers, and in
Clarksville, Tennessee, tensions run high between occupying
Northern troops and local citizens. Lincoln decides to emancipate
slaves but his cabinet advises him to wait for a military victory.
3.7 Chapter 7 - Saving the Union :32:10 .:44:39
Lincoln replaces McClellan with John Pope, who leads the army to
the second Battle of Bull Run-another Union disaster. Lincoln
reluctantly reinstates McClellan. Robert E. Lee decides to invade the
North and, heading for the federal rail center in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, takes up positions in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in front of
Antietam creek. McClellan arrives with vastly superior forces.
3.8 Chapter 8 - Antietam :44:40 - 1:02:10
The Battle of Antietam, a costly Union victory, is the bloodiest day in
American history. The next day, Lee and his army slip back across the
Potomac River. Introduction to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
Union officer from Maine. Lincoln permanently removes McClellan
from command. Photographer Mathew Brady opens a landmark
Prologue :00 -:01:43
Historian Shelby Foote explains the rebel yell.
4.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:44 - :05:00
Despite the Northern victory at Antietam, despite emancipation, and
despite the Union's superiority in men and material, the North is
coming close to fumbling all it has. But the fragile Confederate
coalition is also coming apart.
4.2 Chapter 2 - 1863 Simply Murder :05:01 - :08:13
In the Northern winter camp, "the Union's Valley Forge," morale is
low as hundreds die from disease due to unsanitary conditions.
4.3 Chapter 3 - Northern Lights :08:14 - :21:32
The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 1862 - where
entrenched rebel forces under Robert E. Lee kill or wound 12,600
Union soldiers under Ambrose Burnside - it is another debacle for the
Union.
4.4 Chapter 4 - Oh! Be Joyful :21:33 - :31:46
Humorous section on the food and drink of soldiers, North and
South. Introduction to John Singleton Moseby, a brilliant Southern
General. Frederick Douglass pressures the government to arm the
free blacks and former slaves. In the North, soldiers desert over
Emancipation, and the Copperhead movement tries to undermine
Lincoln and the war effort.
4.5 Chapter 5 - The Kingdom of Jones :31:47 - :42:11
On the home front, Southerners cope with terrible inflation and lack
of basic consumer goods. In Richmond, women riot over the price of
bread, and in the rebel army morale is very low. Interlude on the
music of the war, North and South.
4.6 Chapter 6 - Under the Shade of the Trees :42:12 - :51:22
Lincoln appoints Joseph Hooker to lead the Union army. He faces Lee
at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia and loses 17,000 men to
Lee's 13,000. But Lee's most brilliant victory is also his costliest;
Stonewall Jackson dies from a battle wound on May 10th.
4.7 Chapter 7 - A Dust-Covered Man :51:23 - :57:21
U. S. Grant daringly sneaks up from behind on the crucial Southern
city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and settles in for a siege, trapping
31,000 Confederates. Lee decides to invade Union soil again to force
Grant to move north to defend Washington.
Episode 5: 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
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Episode Breakdown
The Civil War
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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.
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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00 -:01:25
Shelby Foote discusses an emblematic Civil War photograph - of three
confederate prisoners at Gettysburg.
5.1 Chapter I - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:26 - :06:35
Lee, seeking to "conquer a peace" and take pressure off Vicksburg,
leads his army north.
5.2 Chapter 2 - 1863: The Universe of Battle :06:36 - :10:50
Lee marches into Pennsylvania. Union troops clash with Jeb Stuart at
Brandy Station, Virginia in the biggest cavalry engagement of the war.
The Union army Linder George Meade follows Lee into Pennsylvania.
5.3 Chapter 3 - Gettysburg: The First Day :10:51 - :16:21
Footsore Confederate forces enter Gettysburg in search of shoes and
run headlong into the Union cavalry. All divisions in the area
converge on Gettysburg. The Union takes the high ground and much
to Lee's chagrin, Jeb Stuart arrives late.
5.4 Chapter 4 - Gettysburg: The Second Day :16:22 - :32:16
The two armies amass overnight - by morning, 65,000 Confederate
troops face 85,000 Union troops. The rebels try to take the crucial Big
and Little Round Tops but the Union holds, thanks in part to the
brilliance of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his 20th Maine. Lee
pronounces the day a Confederate victory, and plans to attack the
center of the Union line the next day.
5.5 Chapter 5 - Gettysburg: The Third Day :32:17 - :51:46
Pickett's charge is Lee's greatest mistake and the turning point of the
war. Entire Southern regiments disappear. The rebels suffer 28,000
casualties; almost a third of all the men engaged- 51,000 men-are
lost. The South will never invade the North again. Lee offers to resign.
5.6 Chapter 6 - She Ranks Me :51:47 - :56:01
North and South, women find ways to participate in the war effort,
forming Sanitary Commissions, nursing the wounded, running family
farms, etc.
5.7 Chapter 7 - Vicksburg :56:02 - :59:53
As Grant's siege drags on, conditions inside the city become
unbearable. After 48 days, on July 4, 1863, the Confederates
Surrender. "the Father of Waters," Lincoln says, "again goes unvexed
to the sea."
5.8 Chapter 8 - Bottom Rail On Top :59:54 - 1:13:23
Lincoln issues the first federal draft call, but for $300, men can hire
substitutes and most of the wealthy elite do so. Resistance to the draft
causes riots throughout the North. Lincoln authorizes the first black
troops. The 54th Massachusetts regiment, under Robert Gould Shaw,
attacks Fort Wagner, South Carolina. The battle is a Confederate
victory but it proves that blacks can fight as well as whites.
5.9 Chapter 9 - The River of Death 1:13:24 - 1:25:09
The Battle of Chickamauga, Tennessee is a Confederate victory and
the Union army retreats to Chattanooga. U.S. Grant arrives, takes
charge and brilliantly wins major victories at Lookout Mountain and
Missionary Ridge.
5.10 Chapter 10 - A New Birth of Freedom 1:25:10 - 1:30:58
At the dedication of a new national military cemetery at the
Gettysburg Battlefield, Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg address.
Episode 6: Valley of
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
Prologue :00 -:01:27
Walt Whitman worries about the coming battles, the "awful loads ...
of bloody, pale, and wounded young men."
6.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:28 -:05:22
There is no real end in sight for the war. And, as William Tecumseh
Sherman says, "the worst of the war is not yet begun."
6.2 Chapter 2 - 1864: Valley of the Shadow of Death :05:23 :08:37
Letter from Spotswood Rice, escaped slave and Union soldier, to his
enslaved children.
6.3 Chapter 3 - Grant :08:38 - :15:17
Ulysses S. Grant's background: Born in 1822 to a tanner in Ohio.
Graduates from West Point. Marries the daughter of a Kentucky
slave-holder. Fights in the Mexican War. Unsuccessfully tries
farming, real estate, and works as a clerk for his father. Re-enters the
Army when the war begins.
6.4 Chapter 4 - Lee :15:18 - :20:47
Lee's background: Born in 1807 to a very prominent Virginia family
and raised by his mother. He is nicknamed "the marble model" at
West Point and graduates in 1829 without a single demerit. Marries
Mary Custis, George Washington's granddaughter. Serves in the
prestigious Army Corps of Engineers during the Mexican War. The
captor of John Brown at Harpers Ferry, Lee is the most promising
soldier in the nation at the start of the war.
6.5 Chapter 5 - In the Wilderness :20:48 - :36:10
Grant plans a four-pronged assault on the Confederacy: Sherman will
move on Atlanta, Sigel will advance up the Shenandoah Valley, Butler
will work his way up the James River, and Meade will head south to
Richmond. Lee and Grant clash for the first time at The Wilderness,
near Chancellorsville, Virginia, "in many ways the most terrible battle
of the war." Grant loses 17,000 men. But the next day, instead of
retreating, he gives orders to march. Now the war will wage non-stop
for 30 days.
6.6 Chapter 6 - Move By the Right Flank :36:11 - :49:34
Lee and Grant fight continuously as Grant's flanking maneuvers force
Lee south towards Richmond. At the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant
makes his worst mistake, sending 7,000 troops to be slaughtered by
entrenched Rebel troops. In one month, the Union loses 50,000 men.
But Grant tricks Lee and makes it to Petersburg, just south of
Richmond. The siege of Petersburg begins - it will last ten months.
6.7 Chapter 7 - Now, Fix Me :49:35 - :56:49
Both sides organize hundreds of hospitals to care for the wounded.
Walt Whitman volunteers in hospital wards in Washington. Dorothea
Dix is in charge of all the nurses for the Union army and serves all
four years without pay.
6.8 Chapter 8 - The Remedy :56:50 - 1:04:45
William Tecumseh Sherman moves south from Chattanooga to wards
Atlanta. Lincoln's chances for re-election hinge on Sherman's
campaign. Sherman's advance is a masterpiece of planning and
Joseph E. Johnston cannot slow his advance. He makes one mistake
at Kennesaw Mountain he loses 3,000 men in a series of doomed
frontal assaults. Then, Sherman also stalls outside of Atlanta.
Episode 7: Most Hallowed
Ground
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,
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Episode Breakdown
opinion in the North has turned strongly against the war. But 11thhour 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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00 -:01:09
Shelby Foote on Nathan Bedford Forrest.
7.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:10-:04:07
With the Union Army stalled outside Petersburg, and the casualty
lists growing longer, Northern opposition to the war increases.
7.2 Chapter 2 - 1864: Most Hallowed Ground :04:08 -:07:08
Lincoln's chances for re-election hinge on Union victories.
7.3 Chapter 3 - A Warm Place in the Field :07:09 - :10:17
The siege at Petersburg is taking a toll on the inhabitants. To relieve
pressure on the city, Lee sends Jubal Early north to attack
Washington and the Shenandoahs.
7.4 Chapter 4 - Nathan Bedford Forrest :10:18 - :14:04
Forrest - according to William T. Sherman, "the most remarkable
man our Civil War produced on either side" - is on the move, slowing
the Union advance to Atlanta.
7.5 Chapter 5 - Summer, 1864 :14:05 - :19:08
It is the North's darkest hour with Grant stalled outside Petersburg
and Sherman stalled outside Atlanta. Lincoln's chances for re-election
are slim. The Democrats nominate George McClellan on a peace
platform, and the election becomes a referendum on the war.
7.6 Chapter 6 - Spies :19:09 - :22:02
Both the Confederacy and the Union have secret services, run by
William Norris and Alan Pinkerton. During the war, spies are
everywhere: many Southern slaves spy for the Union, and the
Confederate spy network extends as far north as Montreal.
7.7 Chapter 7 - The Crater :22:03 :28:00
In an effort to end the siege of Petersburg, Northern troops dig a
tunnel and pack it with gun powder. But the plan is doomed because
of bad planning. Scores of black troops are killed as they try to
surrender.
7.8 Chapter 8 - Headquarters U.S.A. :28:01 - :30:35
The seamier side of life in camp - soldiers gamble, bet, play cards, and
visit whore houses.
7.9 Chapter 9 - The Promised Land :30:36 - :44:24
Black soldiers are finally given equal pay with whites. Union Admiral
David Farragut, wins another naval victory in Mobile Bay. Sherman's
troops arrive outside Atlanta. Jefferson Davis removes General
Joseph E. Johnston from command and replaces him with John Bell
Hood. At the Battle of Atlanta, Sherman's favorite general, 35-year
old James McPherson is killed. But with the next Union attack, Hood
withdraws into the city, and Sherman puts Atlanta under siege. A
week later, Hood abandons Atlanta and Sherman enters the city.
The Civil War
page 4
7.13 Chapter 13 - Most Hallowed Ground 1:01:02 - 1:07:13
Lincoln calls for more men to finish the war. The South has no men
left. The Union dead have now completely filled all the military
cemeteries. Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster General, chooses the
grounds of Lee's home for the new military cemetery. It becomes
Arlington National Cemetery, the Union's most hallowed ground.
Episode 8: 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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00. - :01:55
Shelby Foote discusses one of the main importances of the war: the
Southerner's sense of defeat - of having lost a war.
8.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :01:56 - :05:26
The Confederacy is dying. Robert E. Lee assumes command of all the
Southern forces, but the Union is closing in on all sides.
8.2 Chapter 2 - War Is All Hell :05:27 - :07:10
William Tecumseh Sherman - the first modern General - purposely
makes war against civilians to deprive the enemy of what kept it
going. "War is cruelty ... the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over," he
says.
8.3 Chapter 3 - Sherman's March :07:11 - :18:07
In late 1864, Sherman decides to march his army from Atlanta to
Savannah, living off the land, and destroying everything along the
way that could aid the Confederate army. On the march, Sherman's
army causes $100 million worth of damage "the South would never
forget." John Bell Hood moves his forces into Tennessee, and at the
Battle of Franklin clashes with Union troops under General George
Thomas. Hood loses 7,000 men. At the battle of Nashville, Hood's
army is destroyed. Joseph E. Johnston is put back in command.
8.4 Chapter 4 - The Breath Of Emancipation :18:08 - :23:41
25,000 slaves flee to Sherman's army during the march, jubilant that
he has come to liberate them. On December 25, Sherman emerges
near Savannah and starts for South Carolina, where secession began.
8.5 Chapter 5 - Died Of A Theory :23:42 -:29:03
The situation in the South becomes desperate. Hundreds of soldiers
desert. As a last resort, the Confederates decide to use slaves as
soldiers. Earlier in the year, Congress had passed the 13th
Amendment, abolishing slavery.
7.10 Chapter 10 - The Age of Shoddy :44:25 - :47:58
The Northern war effort has created an enormous industrial machine
and many astute businessmen are making big profits off war
industries. Ruthless war profiteers are getting rich, too.
8.6 Chapter 6 - Washington, March 4, 1865 :29:04 - :34:45
Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term. John Wilkes Booth hatches
a scheme to kidnap Lincoln. Lincoln travels to City Point, Virginia to
meet with Grant and Sherman and discuss the final campaigns of the
war and the Union's plans
for peace.
7.11 Chapter 11 - Can Those Be Men? :47:59 -:54:06
In Tennessee, Nathan Bedford's men attack Fort Pillow and kill 300
black troops after they have surrendered. In retaliation, U.S. Grant
ends the system of prisoner exchange, until the Confederacy agrees to
treat black and white prisoners the same. As a result, prisons North
and South become overcrowded. In the South, already inadequate
prisons become nightmares. Andersonville in Georgia is the worst of
all.
8.7 Chapter 7 - I Want to See Richmond :34:46 - :49:11
Grant finally conquers Petersburg and moves quickly towards
Richmond. Jefferson Davis is forced to evacuate the Confederate
government. The retreating Confederate army sets fire to much of the
city and mobs loot what remains. The Union army enters the city.
Lincoln arrives in Richmond. Lee and the remains of the rebel army
flee westward, with Grant in hot pursuit.
7.12 Chapter 12 - The People's Resolution :54:07 - 1:01:01
Union General Phil Sheridan triumphs over Jubal Early in the
Shenandoahs. Lincoln is re-elected by large majorities. The
Confederacy is now "a lost cause."
8.8 Chapter 8 - Appomattox :49:12 - 1:04:00
April 7, 1865 - Grant writes to Lee. April 9, 1865 - Lee sends word that
he will surrender. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant meet at
Appomattox to work out the terms of the surrender. The formal
Ken Burns Series
Episode Breakdown
surrender comes three days later. In Washington, Lincoln quietly
rejoices. A few blocks away, John Wilkes Booth plots.
Episode 9: 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.
Detailed Episode Description with time code:
Prologue :00 - :02:29
Barbara Fields and Shelby Foote discuss the meaning of the war.
9.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title :02:30 - :06:24
The war is over and the soldiers are going home.
9.2 Chapter 2 - The Better Angels Of Our Nature :06:25 :11:18
Word of Lee's surrender spreads across the country. In the North
there is joy and exaltation. In the South, despair.
9.3 Chapter 3 - Assassination :11:19 - :25:47
On April 14, 1865, a ceremony at Fort Sumter marks the end of the
war. On that same day, John Wilkes Booth learns that Lincoln will be
attending a play at Ford's Theater that evening. That night, he
assassinates the President at the theater. Lincoln is moved across the
street to a boarding house, where he dies the next morning. All across
the country people are horrified. Lincoln's funeral train makes its way
from Washington back to Springfield, Illinois.
9.4 Chapter 4 - Useless, Useless :25:48 -:33:55
Union cavalry capture and kill John Wilkes Booth in a Virginia barn.
In Georgia on May 10th, Union soldiers arrest Jefferson Davis. On
May 23, victorious Union troops parade down Pennsylvania Avenue
in the Grand Army Review. Booth's conspirators are tried and
executed.
9.5 Chapter 5 - Picklocks Of Biographers :33:56 - :55:16
The war took a heavy toll on the country - three and a half million
men fought in it and 620,000 men died. Now, the survivors are going
home. We learn of the fates of major characters - Elisha Hunt Rhodes
(Union soldier); Sam Watkins (Confederate soldier); William
Tecumseh Sherman; Joe Johnston; Mary Chesnut; Jefferson Davis;
Alexander Stephens; Mary Todd Lincoln; Clara Barton; Henry Wirz
(commandant of Andersonville Prison); Phil Sheridan, George
McClellan; Pierre G. T. Beauregard; Nathan Bedford Forrest; Dan
Sickles; John Bell Hood; James Longstreet; George Pickett; Frederick
Douglass; Julia Ward Howe; Robert E. Lee; U. S. Grant. At the 50th
reunion of the battle of Gettysburg, in 1913, the veterans stage a
reenactment of Pickett's Charge.
9.6 Chapter 6 - Was It Not Real? :55:17 - :1:04:10
Barbara J. Fields, James Symington and Stephen Oates sum up the
meaning and legacy of the Civil War. Shelby Foote makes a closing
statement on the war.
The Civil War
page 5
Ken Burns Series
Episode Breakdown
Civil War Timeline
EPISODE ONE 1861
1787:
The United States Constitution is ratified; slaves are
counted as three-fifths of a person and enjoy no rights of
citizenship.
1793
Eli Whitney, a northerner, invents the cotton gin.
1803
Louisiana Purchase roughly doubles the size of the United
States.
1831
William Lloyd Garrison begins publication of radical
abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator.
1831
55 whites killed in Virginia slave revolt led by Nat Turner.
1837
Pro-slavery mod kills abolitionist editor Elijah P. Lovejoy
in Alton, Illinois.
18468
War with Mexico adds territory to the United States.
1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s inter-national best-seller, Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, exposes the evils of slavery.
18545
Anti-slavery northerners found the Republican Party.
1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allows incoming settlers to
decide for themselves whether to permit slavery.
1857
The Supreme Court decides that a slave, Dred Scott, has no
rights a white man is bound to respect.
1858
The Civil War
page 6
1862
June 25 – The Seven Days (the Peninsula Campaign) for
Richmond, Virginia; 36,000 casualties.
1862
August 29 to 30 – The Battle of Second Manassas in Virginia
(also known as Second Bull Run); 25,251 casualties.
1862
September 17 – Battle of Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg,
Maryland; 23,000 casualties in bloodiest day of combat in
American history.
1862
September 24 – Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus
for individuals deemed guilty of "Discouraging volunteer
enlistments, resisting military drafts, or guilty of any
disloyal practice offering comfort to Rebels."
1862
October 11 – The Confederate Congress passes a bill
exempting from army service anyone owning 20 or more
slaves.
1862
December 13 – The Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia; 17,
900 casualties.
1863
January 1 – Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.
EPISODE FOUR 1863
1862December 31 to January 3 – The Battle of Murfreesboro;
3
23,514 casualties.
1863
March 3 – Congress passes the Conscription Act, calling for
the enlistment in military service of all able-bodied males
between 20 and 45 years of age for terms of three years.
1863
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate issues in
the campaign for Illinois United States Senate seat.
March 10 – Faced with an estimated 125,000 deserters,
Lincoln issues o general amnesty for all who will report
back to duty.
1863
1859
John Brown is executed for treason against the state of
Virginia after his unsuccessful attempt to incite a slave
uprising at Harpers Ferry.
April 21 to May 11 – The Battle of Chancellorsville in
Virginia; 30,051 casualties.
1863
1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.
May 19 – Ohio congressman Clement Vallandigham, an
out-spoken critic of Lincoln and the war, is exiled to the
South.
1863
1861
February - The Confederate States of America is formed,
with Jefferson Davis sworn in as president.
1861
March 4 - Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as President of
the United States.
May 19 – In three weeks Grant’s army marches 180 miles
through Mississippi, fights and wins five battles, and
surrounds Vicksburg. After a failed attack on the city, Grant
settles for a siege to "Out-camp the enemy."
1861
April 12 – Confederates fires on Fort Sumter in Charleston
Harbor, South Carolina.
1861
April 14 – Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to put down
the insurrection.
1863
July 4 - The Battle (Siege) of Vicksburg in Mississippi;
50,000 casualties; 29,000 rebels surrender.
1861
April 18 – Virginia’s Robert E. Lee rejects Lincoln’s request
to command the Union army.
1863
July 13 – 50,000 people (mostly Irish) riot in New York City
in opposition to the draft, attacking and beating blacks.
April 19 – Lincoln orders the blockade of ports in
Confederate states.
1863
July 18- 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry attacks
Battery Wagner at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
July 21 – Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run) in Virginia;
4,878 casualties.
1863
August 1 – Jefferson Davis offers amnesty to all Confederate
deserters.
1863
August 21 – Confederate William C. Quantrill’s guerilla raid
on Lawrence, Kansas; 150 civilian casualties.
1861
1861
EPISODE TWO 1862
1862 February 6 and 16 – Battles of Fort Henry and Donelson in
Tennessee; 4,332 casualties.
EPISODE FIVE 1863
1863
July 1 to 3 – The Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania
51,000 casualties.
1863
1862
February 20 – Willie Lincoln dies of typhoid fever in the
White House.
September 19 to 20 – The battle of Chickamauga Creek in
Georgia; 34,444 casualties.
1863
1862
March 9 – Battle of the Ironclads, the Confederate Merrimac
vs. the Union Monitor, Hampton Roads, Virginia.
November 19 – Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address dedicates a
battlefield cemetery at Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
1863
1862
March 13 – George McClellan plans to move his 121,500
troops to Richmond. It takes three weeks and 400 boats to
land at Fortress Monroe on the Virginia coast.
November 23 to 25 – The Battle of Chattanooga in
Tennessee; 12,491 casualties.
1862
April 4 to 7 – Confederate General Jeb Magruder stages
theatrical troop movements at Yorktown, with an army of
only 11,000, creating the appearance of a much larger force.
1862
April 6 to 7 – Battle of Shiloh at Pittsburgh Landing in
Tennessee; 23,700 casualties.
1862
April 16 – Lincoln signs into law a bill prohibiting slavery in
the District of Columbia.
1862
April 24 – Battle of New Orleans: Admiral David Farragut
sails past forts at mouth of Mississippi River to take the city.
EPISODE THREE 1862
EPISODE SIX 1864
1864
March 2 – U.S. Grant named General-in-Chief of Union
armies.
1864
April 12 – The Massacre at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi
River in Tennessee; 431 casualties.
1864
May 5 to 19 – The Battles of the Wilderness and
Spotsylvania near Chancellorsville, Virginia; 54,000
casualties.
1864
May 31 – A group of radical Republicans meets in Cleveland,
Ohio to nominate their own presidential candidate, General
John Charles Fremont.
1864
June 1 to 3 – The Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia; 13,500
casualties.
Ken Burns Series
Episode Breakdown
1864
June 14 – Naval battle between CSS Alabama and USS
Kearsarge near Cherbourg, France; 33 casualties.
1864
June 27 – The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain near Marietta,
Georgia; 2,321 casualties.
EPISODE SEVEN 1864
1864
June 8 – Lincoln is nominated by the Union Party for
president. Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Union Democrat,
is nominated as vice-president.
1864
July 2 to 14 – Early’s Raid on Washington, D.C.; 9,000
casualties.
1864
August 5 – Naval Battle of Mobile Bay; 589 casualties.
1864
August 31 – General McClellan is nominated as the
Democratic candidate for president.
1864
July 18 to September 3 – The Battles for Atlanta; 20,000
casualties.
1864
October 19 – The Battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah
Valley: 8,665 casualties.
1864
October 19 – Confederate raiders, based in Canada, steal
$200,000 from banks in the Vermont town of St. Albans.
1864
November 8 – Lincoln is re-elected to a second term
winning more than 55 percent of the popular vote.
1864
December 16 – The Battle of Nashville in Tennessee; 4,449
casualties.
1864
December 21 – Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia.
EPISODE EIGHT 1865
1865
January 15 battles for Fort Fisher in North Carolina; 1,841
casualties.
1865
February 3 – Lincoln meets with Confederate Peace
Commission at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1865
February 19 – Confederates abandon Charleston, South
Carolina.
1865
March 3 – Union Congress creates the Freedmen’s Bureau.
1865
March 13 – The Confederacy authorizes the arming of slaves
as soldiers.
1865
March 25 to April 2 – The Battle of Petersburg in Virginia;
17,000 casualties.
1865
April 3 to 4 – Davis flees Richmond, hoping to escape to the
South; Lincoln arrives in the city.
1865
April 9 – Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse,
Virginia.
1865
April 14 – Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.
The Civil War
page 7