The Civil War

Beginning with an examination of slavery, this episode looks at the causes of the war and the burning questions of union and states' rights.

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.

This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to set the slaves free.

This episode begins with the nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg and follows two clashes that spring.

This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of the war: the Battle of Gettysburg.

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.

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.

William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea brings war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy.

On April 14, five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln is assassinated.