Miniseries (1990)

The Cause: 1861
7.4

September 23, 1990 • 1h 40m

Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this first episode dramatically evokes the causes of the war, from the Cotton King...Read more

A Very Bloody Affair: 1862
7.1

September 24, 1990 • 1h 9m

1862 saw the birth of modern warfare and the transformation of Lincoln's war to preserve the Union into a war to emancipate the sl...Read more

Forever Free: 1862
7.4

September 24, 1990 • 1h 17m

This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July 1862 that emancip...Read more

Simply Murder: 1863
7.4

September 25, 1990 • 1h 3m

The nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg comes to two climaxes that spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his...Read more

The Universe of Battle: 1863
7.4

September 25, 1990 • 1h 37m

This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of war: the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest ever fought in the ...Read more

Valley of the Shadow of Death: 1864
7.4

September 26, 1990 • 1h 11m

Episode six begins with a biographical comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary seri...Read more

Most Hallowed Ground: 1864
7.4

September 26, 1990 • 1h 13m

The episode begins with the presidential election of 1864 that sets Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McC...Read more

War is All Hell: 1865
7.9

September 27, 1990 • 1h 10m

The episode begins with William Tecumseh Sherman's brilliant march to the sea, which brings the war to the heart of Georgia and th...Read more

The Better Angels of Our Nature: 1865
7.6

September 27, 1990 • 1h 10m

This extraordinary final episode of The Civil War begins in the bittersweet aftermath of Lee's surrender and then goes on to narra...Read more