1861: "The Cause"

Between 1861 and 1865, Americans made war on each other and killed each other in great numbers if only to become the kind of country that could no longer conceive of how that was possible. What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America.

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1861: "The Cause"

Season 1 Episode 1 | 100m 58s | CC

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 Harpers Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter, and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides.

The Civil War

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02:14:38

The Civil War

1865: "War Is All Hell"/"The Better Angels of Our Nature"

Richmond falls to Grant's army, Lee surrenders, Lincoln is assassinated, and the war ends.

02:21:25

The Civil War

1862: "A Very Bloody Affair"/"Forever Free"

Lincoln’s war to preserve the Union transforms to a war to emancipate the slaves.

02:34:49

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1863: "Simply Murder"/"The Universe of Battle"

Follow the Battle of Gettysburg, draft riots, and the first African-American troops.

Production made possible by grants from General Motors Corporation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation

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