Here's a synopsis of the chapter headings of part 1, 'The Cause'
(Part 2: A Very Bloody Affair - will be discussed next monday 20th March onwards btw)
Quote:
Prologue
Anecdote about Wilmer McLean who "could rightfully say, 'the war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor.'"
1.1 Chapter 1 - THE CIVIL WAR Series Title
Introduction to the war and to the important characters in the series.
1.2 Chapter 2 - The Cause
America in 1861 – most of the nation's 31 million people live peaceably on farms and in small towns.
1.3 Chapter 3 - All Night Forever
The brutal reality of slavery and its importance to the Southern cotton economy; the invention of the cotton gin.
1.4 Chapter 4 - Are We Free?
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.
1.5 Chapter 5 - A House Divided
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."
1.6 Chapter 6 - The Meteor
John Brown raids the arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859, and is captured by Colonel Robert E. Lee. The Southern militia now becomes a viable instrument; it is the beginning of the Confederate army.
1.7 Chapter 7 - Secessionitis
In 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President. The South is horrified. Introduction to George Templeton Strong, New York lawyer, and diarist. Seven Southern states secede in the time between Lincoln's election and inauguration. The Confederacy inaugurates Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis as President. Introduction to Mary Chesnut, wife of a prominent Southern planter and diarist.
1.8 Chapter 8 - 4:30 a.m. April 12, 1861
Southern artillery attack a battalion of Northern troops inside Fort Sumter, off the coast of South Carolina in the first battle of the Civil War. When Union forces surrender, the South is jubilant. Walt Whitman writes, "all the past we leave behind with Sumter."
1.9 Chapter 9 - Traitors and Patriots
Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers -- Davis asks for 100,000. Introductions to: Northern soldier (and diarist) Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Southern soldier (and diarist) Sam Watkins. U.S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Robert E. Lee.
1.10 Chapter 10 - Gun Men
The first Union troops arrive in Washington. Wherever the Union army goes in the South, slavery crumbles. Slaves fleeing their plantations for the Union lines are considered "contraband" of war and are not returned to their former owners.
1.11 Chapter 11 - Manassas
When the Union army marches into Virginia, Confederate troops engage them at the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. The battle, thanks in part to "Stonewall" Jackson, is a Southern victory with an unprecedented 5,000 casualties. Union troops limp back to Washington.
1.12 Chapter 12 - A Thousand Mile Front
General George McClellan takes command of the Union army with an elaborate plan to destroy the Confederacy, but does nothing. U.S. Grant is assigned to desk duty; William T. Sherman resigns, close to suicide.
1.13 Chapter 13 - Honorable Manhood
Sullivan Ballou, a Northern soldier, writes a letter home to his wife before the Battle of Bull Run.
I think this was a beautifully composed document, picking images, sounds, music and quotes from letters, journals, newspapers, diaries etc (with the voice actors beautifully picked to bring a deeper sense of authenticity to the proceedings), to give a real sense of what was going on in 1861, and the lead-up to 1861. I found the last section, with a letter from a man to his wife sent a week before he died in battle, quite profound.
I have no doubt it's piecemeal, but, coming to it as a virtual novice to the civil war, I found it very educational indeed.
I have a question for more knowledgeable people on the American Civil War - this documentary portrayed the entire cause as the issue of slavery - and the whole secession movement was entirely caused by the South not willing to submit to Northern issues around ending slavery. Is that true? Was there more than the drive to secession than slavery? And was the desire to keep slavery all about economy, or also fear of 'being murdered in their beds' by the ex-slaves?
That latter part, touched on in the documentary, reminded me of the fears of Afrikaaners at the end of apartheid.
