/ Modified sep 7, 2015 5:53 p.m.

Ken Burns: The Civil War 25th Anniversary Edition

Celebrate the remastered, 25th anniversary, edition of the landmark series. Beginning Monday, at 9 p.m. on PBS 6.

The Civil War, the award-winning film produced and directed by Ken Burns, will be rebroadcast over five consecutive nights, beginning Monday, September 7. The broadcast will present, for the first time, a newly restored high-definition version of the series. This is also the first time the film will be seen with the same fidelity and framing as the negative that Burns and his co-cinematographers Allen Moore and Buddy Squires shot more than 25 years ago.

civil_war_lincoln&general617x347 Lincoln and McClellan confer in the generals headquarters tent at Antietam on October 4, 1862. Photo: Library of Congress
PBS

Episode 1: The Cause
Beginning with an examination of slavery, this episode looks at the causes of the war and the burning questions of union and states' rights. Significant events include John Brown's rebellion at Harper' s Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Introducing the series' major figures - Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant - the episode concludes with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, where both sides realize it is to be a very long war.

Episode 2: A Very Bloody Affair (1862)

The year 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. Episode Two begins with the political infighting that threatened to swamp Lincoln's administration and then follows Union General George McClellan's ill-fated campaign on the Virginia Peninsula, where his huge army meets a smaller but infinitely more resourceful Confederate force. During this episode we witness the battle of ironclad ships, partake of camp life, and watch slavery begin to crumble. We meet Ulysses S. Grant, whose exploits come to a bloody climax at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. The episode ends with rumors of Europe's readiness to recognize the Confederacy.

Episode 3: Forever Free (1862)
This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to free the slaves. Convinced by July 1862 that emancipation was now morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln must wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But as the year wears on, there are no Union victories to be had, thanks to the brilliance of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The episode climaxes in September 1862 with Lee's invasion of Maryland. On the banks of Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the war takes place, followed shortly by the brightest: the emancipation of the slaves.

Episode 4: Valley of the Shadow of Death (1864)
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. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, the episode moves to the ghastly hospitals in both the North and South, and follows Sherman's Atlanta campaign through the mountains of northern Georgia.

Episode 5: War Is All Hell (1865)
Sherman's March to the Sea brings war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy. Following Lincoln's second inauguration, Petersburg and Richmond finally fall to Grant's army. Lee's tattered Army of Northern Virginia flees westward towards Appomattox, where the surrender of Lee to Grant takes place. The episode ends in Washington, DC, where John Wilkes Booth begins to dream of vengeance for the South.

Ken Burns: The Civil War, Monday - Friday at 9 p.m. on PBS 6.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona