Videos

Burns, K. (2002). //The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns// [Motion picture]. Burbank, CA: PBS Home Video:Warner Home Video.
 * Videos **

Originally produced as a television mini series in 1990, this five disc set provides 11 hours of award winning video. Described as epic documentary, each disc is divided into episodes which address the people and events of the Civil War. A complete description of each episode can be found at []. Teacher resources to accompany the video can be found at [] The following episodes will help students develop understanding of many of the key events addressed in the state standards: America in 1861 – most of the nation's 31 million people live peaceably on farms and in small towns. The brutal reality of slavery and its importance to the Southern cotton economy; the invention of the cotton gin. 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. 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." 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 exhibition in New York – "The Dead of Antietam." 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." 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. Shelby Foote discusses an emblematic Civil War photograph - of three confederate prisoners at Gettysburg. 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. 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** 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. 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. At the dedication of a new national military cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield, Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg address. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
 * 1.2 Chapter 2 - The Cause **
 * 1.3 Chapter 3 - All Night Forever **
 * 1.4 Chapter 4 - Are We Free? **
 * 1.5 Chapter 5 - A House Divided **
 * 3.8 Chapter 8 - Antietam **
 * 3.9 Chapter 9 - The Higher Object **
 * 4.4 Chapter 4 - Oh! Be Joyful **
 * Prologue to Disc 5 **
 * 5.3 Chapter 3 - Gettysburg: The First Day **
 * 5.4 Chapter 4 - Gettysburg: The Second Day **
 * 5.9 Chapter 9 - The River of Death **
 * 5.10 Chapter 10 - A New Birth of Freedom **
 * 6.8 Chapter 8 - The Remedy **
 * 7.11 Chapter 11 - Can Those Be Men? **
 * 8.3 Chapter 3 - Sherman's March **
 * 8.4 Chapter 4 - The Breath Of Emancipation **
 * 9.3 Chapter 3 - Assassination **

If you're looking for something shorter, click [|here] to check out the Civil War video clips available for free on the History Channel's website. Many of the 3-5 minute videos focus on General Sherman and his march on Atlanta.
 * History Channel Videos**