The Civil War. Episode 1, 1861--the cause

United States, 1989

TV show
Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

Episode number 1 of Series “The Civil War”.
In this introductory episode the background of the war is dramatically evoked and the commanders and ordinary soldiers march on stage - along with the diarists and letter writers who will put it in perspective. In 1861 the nation witnesses the inauguration of two rival presidents and the first shots are fired at Fort Sumter and Bull Run. Subtitled “At the crossroads of our being”, this episode is summed up in the words of Mary Boykin Chesnut of Charleston, “We are divorced now, North from South, because we hated each other so”.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Ken Burns

co-producer

Ric Burns

Ken Burns

production company

WETA-TV

Florentine Films

Duration

01:40:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1989

Appears in

The Civil War

Group of items

The Civil War

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302978

Language

English

Audience classification

G

Subject categories

Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - United States

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → African Americans - Civil rights

Educational & Instructional

Educational & Instructional → Educational films

History → African Americans - History

History → History

History → Slavery

History → United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Television

Television → Television programs

Television → Television programs → Television programs - United States

Television → Television series

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White and Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81853--the-civil-war-episode-1-1861-the-cause/ |title=The Civil War. Episode 1, 1861--the cause |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=26 September 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}