About this season
This soon-to-be classic documentary mini-series traces the causes, courses as well as the major events and personalities of the American Civil War. Between 1861 and 1865, this epic American story of struggle and survival was written in blood, and in this series is told mostly from first-hand accounts and in the spoken words of the participants themselves, through their diaries, letters, and memoirs. The series concludes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and the surrender of the western Confederate Army to Sherman in North Carolina in the spring of 1865. It then explores the legacy of slavery and the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country forever.
Episodes (7)
1. Sins of the Fathers
5.0Aired 24 July 2012 • 52 min
The Road to Civil War, battles over Slavery turn violent in Kansas and Harper's Ferry; the election of Lincoln, Secession, Fort Sumter and the First Battle of Manassas.
2. A Deep, Steady Thunder
8.0Aired 31 July 2012 • 49 min
The first battles of the war end poorly for the North; the rise of General Lee, and the 1862 invasion of Maryland.
3. Days of Infamy
8.0Aired 7 August 2012 • 48 min
The Battle of Antietam; Northern troops fail at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville; Lee marches toward Gettysburg.
4. The Turning Points
8.0Aired 14 August 2012 • 48 min
The Battle of Brandy Station sees a massive cavalry battle, with the epic struggle at Gettysburg following soon after, along with the fall of Vicksburg.
5. Not War, but Murder
8.0Aired 21 August 2012 • 49 min
Grant takes command and begins attacking Lee in Virginia; battles take place at Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, The Wilderness and Petersburg.
6. The Killing Fields
8.0Aired 28 August 2012 • 54 min
Battles for Petersburg - The Crater. The futile fights of Franklin and Nashville in Tennessee. The Battle of Five Forks shatters Lee’s Army.
7. New Birth of Freedom
5.0Aired 4 September 2012 • 52 min
April 2, 1865 and the fall of Petersburg and Richmond; Lee surrenders to Grant and Sherman takes the surrender of the western Confederate Army; Lincoln's assassination and the second war over reconstruction and the citizenship of former slaves.