American History - The Civil War Filmography
updated (3/05)

Abraham and Mary Licoln a house divided. 2001. 3 videocassettes (180 min.). A six part program which examines the Lincolns' family life and marriage, Abraham Lincoln's presidency, and the Civil War era. VHS 6654

Abraham Lincoln a new birth of freedom. 1992. 1 videocassette (59 min.). Explores the explosive issues of race relations in America by examining the public and private life of Abraham Lincoln, focusing on Lincoln's struggle with black/white relations. Uses readings and narrations of his words, still photographs and other visual material to examine Lincoln's pre-election days, his ascension to the presidency, and his assassination following the Civil War. VHS 1917

All across America. The Irish in America. 1998. 1 videocassette (120 min. ). A celebration of a people who helped build America. Segment looks at the influx into America of the Irish fleeing famine following the potato blight in Ireland. As the Irish arrived in cities such as Boston they stuck together, building communities and Roman Catholic churches. Their perceived "clannishness" led to religious bigotry and a political movement (The Know-Nothing Party) to run them out of the country. Film looks at Irish American participation in the Civil War, their contribution in the industrial boom that followed, and also looks at the Molly Maguires. John L. Sullivan (bare-knuckle boxer), John Mackay (gold and silver mines owner), Marcus Daley (copper mine owner) are profiled. VHS 4802

Andersonville the great untold story of the Civil War. 1996. 1 videocassette (168 min.). "The Civil War explodes; air thick with musket fire, soil drenched with the blood of kinsmen, bodies piling up like cords of wood. In the madness and fury a small group of Union soldiers are about to discover the true meaning of the horrors of war. These unsuspecting prisoners are taken to a place worse than hell."  --from container. VHS 6789

The Civil War. 1989. 9 videocassettes (660 min.). This landmark documentary film series movingly and vividly presents the entire sweep of the war, from the battlefields to the homefronts, from the politicians and generals to the enlisted men and their families, from the causes of the war and the opening guns at Sumter to the stillness at Appomatox and Lincoln's assasination and beyond. VHS 1255 – 1263

The Cause, 1861 The Civil War: episode 1. 1 videocassette (99 min.). Beginning with a dramatic indictment of slavery, this first episode evokes the causes of the war, from the cotton kingdom in the South to the abolitionist movement in the North. Here the major characters are introduced, along with a host of less well-known but equally vital characters. Shown are events immediately preceding the outbreak of hostilities to the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, where both sides learned it would be a long war. VHS 1255

A Very bloody affair, 1862 The Civil War: episode 2. 1 videocassette (69 min.). 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 climax at the Battle of Shiloh. The episode ends with rumors of Europe’s readiness to recognize the Confederacy. VHS 1256

Forever free, 1862 The Civil War: episode 3. 1 videocassette (76 min.). This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln’s decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July, 1862 that emancipation was morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln must wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But there is no Union victory to be had until Antietam, the bloodiest day of the war, followed shortly by the brightest--the emancipation of the slaves. VHS 1257

Simply murder, 1863 The Civil War: episode 4.  1 videocassette (62 min.). The episode begins with the nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg and comes to two climaxes the following spring: at Chancellorsville, Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson; at Vicksburg, Grant’s attempts to take the city by storm are stopped. Army life and life on the home front North and South are examined. As the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant’s forces from Vicksburg. VHS 1258

The Universe of battle, 1863 The Civil War: episode 5. 1 videocassette (95 min.). This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of the war, the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest ever fought in the Western hemisphere. The episode then chronicles the fall of Vicksburg, the New York draft riots, the first use of Black troops, and the western battles at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The episode closes with the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg, when Abraham Lincoln struggles to put into words what is happening to his people. VHS 1259

Valley of the shadow of death, 1864 The Civil War: episode 6. 1 videocassette (70 min.). Beginning with a biographical comparison of Grant and Lee, this episode chronicles the battles that pitted the two generals against each other from the Wilderness to Petersburg in Virginia, as in thirty days the two armies lose more men than both sides have lost in three years of war. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, we visit the ghastly hospitals north and south, then follow Sherman’s campaign in northern Georgia. As the armies become deadlocked at Richmond and Atlanta, Lincoln’s chances for re-election dim. VHS 1260

Most hallowed ground, 1864 The Civil War: episode 7. 1 videocassette (72 min.). This episodes begins with the presidential campaign of 1864 that set Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of the Union itself: with Grant and Sherman stalled at Petersburg and Atlanta, opinion in the North has turned strongly against Lincoln and the war. But eleventh hour Union victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta and the Shenandoah Valley tilt the election to Lincoln, and the Confederacy’s last hope for independence dies. The episode also examines the prison camps, and the role of spies in the war effort. In an ironic twist, Lee’s Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery--the Union’s most hallowed ground. VHS 1261

War is all hell, 1865 The Civil War: episode 8. 1 videocassette (69 min.). This episode begins with Sherman’s March to the Sea, which brings the war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy. In March, following Lincoln’s second inauguration, Petersburg and then Richmond finally fall to Grant’s army. The Army of Northern Virginia flees westward to Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrenders to Grant. The episode ends in Washington where John Wilkes Booth begins to dream of vengeance for the South. VHS 1262

The Better angels of our nature, 1865 The Civil War: episode 9. 1 videocassette (68 min.). This episode concludes the series with Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln’s assassination and the capture of John Wilkes Booth, and the fate of the series’ major characters. Finally, the episode considers the consequence and meaning of the war that transformed the country from a collection of states to the nation we are today. VHS 1263

Confederacy theory. 2001. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Confederacy theory presents an unflinching portrait of the cultural war that has erupted around the confederate flag. Using never-before-seen archival footage and exclusive interviews with politicians, pundits, activists, and scholars, Confederacy theory traces the history of this symbol and its impact on Southern culture, history, and identity -- from the Civil War to the front lines of a modern-day secession movement. VHS 7284

Death runs riot. The West. 1996. 1 videocassette (85 min.). In the 1850s, as more American pioneers poured west, they brought with them the nation's oldest most divisive issue--slavery--and the rough frontier would supply the sparks the would ignite the Civil War. Indians would be dragged into "the white man's war," while the besieged Mormons would commit the worst massacre of innocent pioneers in American history. And as the bitter Civil War drew to a close, celebrated Union heros such as George Armstrong Custer and William Tecumseh Sherman would use the tactics which had defeated the South against the Native Americans of the West. VHS 4234

Dr. Toer's amazing magic lantern show. Who built America? 1987. 1 videocassette (20 min.). Part of the award-winning Who built America? series, which explores the central role working men and women have played in the key events and developments of American history. This segment takes a look at the Magic Lantern Show of J. W. Toer, a Baptist minister and former slave who traveled the rural South in the years following the Civil War. The show featured music and stories of the black people before, during and after the Civil War. Especially focuses on the misrepresentation by the North of the former slaves and the progress of Reconstruction. VHS 354

A Firebell in the night. America, a personal history of the United States. 1972. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Discusses the causes and miseries of the Civil War and the racial wounds that still trouble the United States. VHS 1996

Forward to Sumter. The Divided union. 1987. 1 videocassette (52 min.). What caused the American Civil War? Take a personal journey through history to see that the split between North and South was not a surprise--the U.S. had been evolving into two separate societies and cultures ever since independence. Illustrates the rise of the Republican Party and the emergence of Abraham Lincoln, the moves toward secession within the South, industrialization in the North, and the impact of the cotton gin on the economic development of the South. It also traces the origins of slavery in North America. VHS 3253 pt.1

Ironclads the Monitor & the Merrimac. 1988. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Tells the story of the two astonishing vessels that fought the most memorable naval battle of the Civil War, and revolutionized maritime warfare. VHS 4066

Islands of green: saving Civil War battlefields. 1999. 1 videocassette (24 min.). Explores the grass roots effort underway to save America's Civil War battlefields from encroaching urban sprawl. In particular looks at the development that swallowed Salem Church and at the movement that saved 100 acres of the Chancellorsville, Virginia battlefield from development. VHS 5946

Lee beyond the battles. 2001. 1 videocassette (90 min.). Robert E. Lee is worshiped by many and vilified by others. Few know the true story behind one of America's most influential and controversial figures. This film shows Robert E. Lee as a West Point cadet, a soldier in the Mexican War, after which General Winfield Scott declared Lee "was the very best soldier that I ever saw in the field", a Civil War general who for the side of the confederacy, and finally as president of Washington College where he lead the effort to restore peace to a divided nation. VHS 6892

The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry. 1991. 1 videocassette (60 min.). The story of the first officially sanctioned regiment of northern Black soldiers formed in Boston during the Civil War. VHS 4409

Order and disorder. New York, a documentary film: episode 2. 1999. 1 videocassette  (ca. 120 min.). Chronicles the rise of New York from a merchant city to an industrial metropolis as the commercial revolution triggered by the Erie Canal transforms every aspect of life in the city.. With the explosion of the immigrant population come social problems of every kind and the Civil War brings on civil disturbance in the form of the Draft Riots of 1863. VHS 6122

Parker Adderson, philosopher. The American short story video series. 1985? 1 videocassette (39 min.). Parker Adderson, a Yankee spy captured by the Confederates, faces the harsh reality of execution -- a fact which alters his flippant attitude towards life. Adderson's impending death not only brings abrupt character changes but his philosophizing about his fate forces his executioner to confront his own mortality. A battle in the general's tent ensues. Finally, there is an execution at midnight in violation of all honor codes. VHS 2090

Raise the Alabama. 2002. 1 videocassette (100 min.). The Alabama, known as the Ghost ship, her origins are shrouded in mystery, her path as unpredictable as the wind. As Americans in blue and gray fought bloody land battles at home, the confederate raider, Alabama, took the Civil War to the oceans of the world. For two years she traveled the globe in search of Union merchant ships and sent dozens of them to the bottom of the sea. But her luck ran out  on a spring afternoon in 1864. Two captains, two ships, one on one, duelling it out. It was one of most important naval battles of the American Civil War and was fought 7 miles off the the coast of northern France. For 120 years the Alabama lay undisturbed at the bottom of the English Channel. Now she is giving up her secrets, but not without a fight. VHS 7303

Robert E. Lee. Civil War journal. 2001. 1 videocassette (50 min.). A profile of the greatest general of the Civil War, who fought for his beloved Virginia on the losing side. The film includes excerpts from diaries, contemporary photographs, re-enactments and observations from historians. VHS 6869

Sex in the Civil War. 2000. 1 videocassette (50 min.). This documentary lifts the veil on sexual behavior in the mid-19th century by examining the actions of soldiers in the War Between the States. You will see how enlisted men and officers alike took their pleasure in bawdyhouses, and hear of generals who took advantage of "special privileges" accorded to their rank. From the brothel to the battlefield, this film documents the soldiers', and society's, views on birth control, abortion, premarital sex, and infidelity. Love letters bring torrid wartime romances back to life, and scholars relate some of the most famous tales of unlikely unions forged in the fight. VHS 7304

Stonewall Jackson. Civil War journal. 2001. 1 videocassette (50 min.). A profile of the fearless Confederate general of the Civil War, who was mistakenly killed by a rebel sharpshooter. The film includes excerpts from diaries, contemporary photographs, re-enactments and observations from historians. VHS 6870

Ulysses S. Grant. American experience. 2002. 2 videocassettes (ca. 240 min.). This biography of Ulysses S. Grant paints a nuanced portrait of one of America's most paradoxical leaders. The greatest hero of the Civil War, Grant was a brilliant military strategist who rose from obscurity to a rank held previously only by George Washington. However, the strength of the Confederate resistance forced Grant into a hard war that destroyed the South and led to his being labeled "a butcher." Propelled into the White House by his battlefield success, Grant lacked the political skills to deal with the issues of the era: reconstructing the South and managing the nation's rapidly expanding economy. His two terms were rocked by bitter racial conflict and corruption scandals. Seven years after leaving office, Grant was financially ruined by the collapse of an investment house in which he had placed his assets. He spent his final days in a race against time as he battled cancer while finishing his epic war memoirs. VHS 6983

American History - The Civil War Feature Films

The Birth of a nation. 1996. orig. 1918. 2 videocassettes (200 min.). This epic story of the Civil War as seen through the lives of two families is a controversial classic of film history as it portrays life in the South during and after the Civil War. Made without a script under the personal direction of Griffith. The fictional plot line, a romance/melodrama, is interwoven with historical events (Civil War battles, Lincoln's assassination, et al.) that are documented by the filmmaker as "facsimiles." Portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a means of suppressing black anarchy. Intended to be an authentic depiction of the Civil War era, the film was strongly criticized for its racial stereotypes and its white Southern bias. Feature Film HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 6

The Birth of a nation. 1998. orig. 1918. 1 videodisc (87 min.). This epic story of the Civil War as seen through the lives of two families is a controversial classic of film history as it portrays life in the South during and after the Civil War. Made without a script under the personal direction of Griffith. The fictional plot line, a romance/melodrama, is interwoven with historical events (Civil War battles, Lincoln's assassination, et al.) that are documented by the filmmaker as "facsimiles." Portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a means of suppressing black anarchy. Intended to be an authentic depiction of the Civil War era, the film was strongly criticized for its racial stereotypes and its white Southern bias. Feature Film DVD 639

The Birth of a nation and the Civil War films of D.W. Griffith. Griffith masterworks. 2002. 2 videodiscs (187 min.). A Civil War spectacular. Portrays life in the South during and after the Civil War as revealed in a story depicting the war itself, the conflict between the defeated Southerners and emancipated renegade Negroes, the despoiling of the South during the carpetbagger period, and the revival of the Southern white man's honor through the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan. Feature Film DVD 640 - 644

The General. 1980. orig. 1927. 1 videocassette (90 min.), 1991. 1 videodisc (77 min.). The complicated, comic adventure of Johnnie Gray, a young Southern engineer trying to recover his train from Union army spies. Gray repeatedly tries to enlist in the Confederate Army but is refused because he is of more value to the cause as the engineer of his train, The General. Dissatisfied with his job, Gray becomes an unlikely war hero and wins the heart of Annabelle by performing valiantly in battle. Feature Film. HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 25, DVD 34

Gettysburg. 1993. 2 videocassettes (254 min.). On July 1, 1863, more than 150,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were drawn into one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.  When it was all over, 50,000 men had paid the ultimate price.  Today, Gettysburg is known as the turning point of the war and a pivotal event in American history.  Featuring some of the most authentic Civil War battle scenes ever committed to film, and outstanding performances by the cast, "Gettysburg" accurately depicts the events, battles and personal struggles of valor on both sides of the Civil War. Feature Film. VHS 7207

Glory. 1990. orig. 1989. 1 videocassette (122 min.). Two idealistic young Bostonians lead the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, America's first Black regiment in the Civil War. Feature Film. VHS 1078

Gods and generals. 2003. 1 videodisc (219 min.). Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain left behind a quiet life and a career as a college professor to fight for the Union. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a man of great religious faith who served in the defense of the Confederacy. And Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate army, was a man who was forced to choose between his loyalty to the United States and his love of the Southern states where he was born and raised. As Chamberlain, Jackson, and Lee are followed through the declaration of war and the battles at Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Feature Film. DVD 625

Gone with the wind. 1990. orig. 1939. 2 videocassettes (232 min.),  1999. 1 videodisc (233 min.). Focuses on the life and loves of the beautiful and selfish Scarlett O'Hara. The story begins on the O'Haras' Georgia plantation of Tara in antebellum days and moves through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Feature Film. VHS 2349, DVD 9

The Horse soldiers. Western legends. 2001. orig. 1959. 1 videodisc (120 min.). Colonel Marlowe is in command of a motley assortment of 1200 Union volunteers whose task-- and apparent suicide mission-- is to infiltrate 300 miles of Southern territory and destroy the most strategic rail route in the Confederacy. Marlowe's life is complicated by his ferocious running feud with the company's surgeon, Major Kendall. Feature Film. DVD 304

The Red badge of courage. Warner Bros. classics. 2001. orig. 1951. 1 videocassette (69 min.). Retells Stephen Cranes's story of a young man's grappling with fear and courage during the Civil War. Feature Film. VHS 6740

Ride with the devil. 2000. orig. 1999.  1 videodisc (139 min.). In a no man's land on the Missouri/Kansas border, a staunch loyalist, an immigrant's son, a freed slave and a young widow form an unlikely friendship as they learn how to survive during the Civil War, in a place without rules. Feature Film. DVD 114

Sherman's march. 1991. orig. 1986. 1 videocassette (157 min.). Ross McElwee's quest for true romance takes him along General Sherman's Civil War march with laughable results. Feature Film. VHS 3250

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