This is the first half of a 6 disc set.
Disc 1
Episode One: The Cause (1861)
The stage is set for war as the nation begins to tear apart. Commanding center stage are towering figures—Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. Also includes 2 special features: Making The Civil War: 25 Years Later, and Restoring The Civil War
Disc 2
Episode Two: A Very Bloody Affair (1862)
The war to preserve the Union becomes a war to free the slaves, and political fights become as fierce as those on the battlefield. New weapons and strategies emerge, as ironclad ships do battle and Ulysses S. Grant wins at Shiloh. With unprecedented ferocity, the age of modern warfare takes hold.
Episode Three: Forever Free (1862)
Dark Clouds of defeat hover over the Union Army as President Lincoln prepares the landmark Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves. While Lincoln waits for a victorious moment for this announcement, Union troops lose repeatedly. Finally with a victory at Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the war gives way to the dawn of emancipation.
Disc 3
Episode Four: Simply Murder (1863)
While life in the South becomes more desperate, northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation strengthens. The combat spearheaded by Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee brings the war to a fever pitch, and both sides strain with the weariness of so many years under siege.
Episode Five: The Universe of Battle (1863)
The turning point of the war is reached at the legendary Battle of Gettysburg. As the Union drafts more soldiers, riots rage in New York, and African American troops join the fight. At Gettysburg's cemetery, President Lincoln articulates the poignant hope "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."