Watch Sunday, Febraury 7, 2016 at noon on WMHT TV
With the 1860 election of anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln, the divisions between North and South reached their breaking point. Thirteen states from the South seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. Union military leaders, along with Lincoln himself, realized that ending the rebellion rested on controlling the Western Theater territory, the area between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. THE CIVIL WAR: THE UNTOLD STORY examines this well-documented conflict through the lens of the Western Campaign, which dramatically shaped the final outcome of the Civil War. Narrated by Emmy-nominated actress Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), the five-part series features poignant letters from both soldiers and civilians that provide new insights into the causes of the Civil War, life on the homefront, the politics of war, the issue of slavery, and the relatively unheralded role African Americans played in the conflict. Filmed at the actual battle sites, THE CIVIL WAR: THE UNTOLD STORY uses hundreds of re-enactors to recreate the epic battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Atlanta. Interviews with scholars and 3D graphics convey the strategy and tactics of the battles while underscoring the relationship between the Western Campaign and the more famous battles waged in the East.
