TRAVEL / GEOGRAPHY / HISTORIC SITES

The memorable siege of Vicksburg. Miss., by Gen. U. S. Grant, from March 29, 1863, to July 4 of the same year, is recalled upon viewing pictures of this city and the National Military Park there. Coincident with the fall of Vicksburg came the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg, these two disasters marking the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. In the National Cemetery are the graves of 16,892 Federal soldiers, 12,769 of whom are unknown. There are views of the city with its stately court house built by slave labor in 1858, of the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers, and of the battlefield. Among the monuments pictured are the U.S. Navy Memorial, and those of Mississippi, Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The Battle of Shiloh documentary takes the viewer to the fields of western Tennessee. They are filled with soldiers. Thousands of soldier reenactors set up camps and cook on open fires. Horses are everywhere. The scene looks like 1862 with men pitching tents and cleaning rifles. The documentary covers the two day 150th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh. Approximately 140 cannons form long booming lines that cause the field to thunder. Long lines of blue and gray infantry march across the fields on a collision course. These soldiers recreate battle movements of the original Hornet's Nest, Peach Orchard, Ruggles Line, Wheat Field and more. There are two DVDs in this set. DVD 1 provides highlights of the two-day reenactment plus it includes a brief tour of the Shiloh National Battlefield Park. DVD 2 takes the viewer on a tour of the Confederate and Federal camps, the sutlers area and the Saturday night dance. It also includes substantial coverage of Battery C, 3rd Iowa Independent Regiment of Light Artillery. Other units featured throughout the film include the Alamo Rifles, the Razorback Flying Battery and Burroughs' Battery.

At the beginning of hostilities, Tom Winston, despite the pleadings of his sister Ellen, an ardent Confederate, goes North and acquires a commission in the Federal Army. Frank Carey has entered the Confederate service, though his sister Ethel, furiously denounces him as a traitor, and asserts her intention of herself serving the Union. Both girls become identified with the secret service department of the South and North, respectively. Tom is with Grant, Frank with Johnston, and the armies' movements bring them into the neighborhood of their homes. Tom has with him Don, a dog that had been used in the old days to carry messages between his master and Ethel. Union headquarters are established in the Winston home, affording Ellen an opportunity to acquire many valuable secrets which she communicates to Frank, and it is the belief that some officer is proving a traitor. Tom watches his sister closely, and one night observes that as she sits merrily chatting with the Union officers, she is using her fan in such a manner as to make the dots and dashes of the Morse code to Frank, who is concealed in the shrubbery, making notes of the information. Tom discovers Frank, overpowers him, and succeeds in taking from him the memoranda, but allows him to escape. Tom places the memoranda in his pocket. The Battle of Shiloh has begun and Tom is given an important dispatch, ordering up supporting brigades. He proceeds on his mission, but is pursued and badly wounded. Unable to go on, Tom gives the dispatch to Don, telling him to carry it to Ethel. Don does his part, and Ethel undertakes to deliver the order. She is hotly pursued by Confederate cavalry, and only escapes by jumping her horse from a cliff into the river, a deed which none of her pursuers will attempt. They do not fire upon her, but wave their hats and cheer as her horse swims the stream and climbs the other bank. The dispatch is delivered, and the reinforcements begin a forced march to the assistance of the Federals. Meanwhile, Tom has been picked up by a Federal party, unconscious, but not dangerously wounded. The memoranda taken from Frank is found in his pocket, and it is concluded that he is the supposed traitor. A drum-head court-martial condemns him to he shot. The battle is now raging fiercely, the victorious Confederates pressing steadily forward. The Federal position is carried. Tom is captured and sent to the Confederate rear, where he succeeds in eluding his guards. Despite the sentence hanging over him, he determines to rejoin his troops. Johnston is killed, the triumphant advance of the Confederates falters. Tom reaches the Union lines, he rallies a breaking regiment and leads a fierce charge. The tide of battle is turned; Frank is captured. The battle lulls, the Confederates sullenly withdraw from the field. Tom is immediately arrested and placed under guard. Frank learns of the fate in store for Tom, and to save him, confesses himself to be the spy, Tom is released. Frank is held as a spy, but cleverly effects his escape. Frank goes to his home to attempt to induce his sister to go South with him, as he must accompany the southern army further into the Confederacy. Tom has gone to see his sister, to endeavor to induce her to give up her dangerous work as a Confederate spy, and has been captured by a squad of Confederates while at his home. He sends a note to Ethel informing her of his situation. Ethel secures several Federal troopers and makes her brother a prisoner. Under a white flag, Ethel and her squad approach the Winston home, and Ethel proposes an exchange of prisoners. This is agreed to, as well as a temporary truce; then Tom and Ethel turn to the North, while Frank and Ellen ride away into the Confederacy.

A history and reenactment of the 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, a key battle of the American Civil War.

Our multi-Emmy award-winning production team takes you on a cinematic adventure through the legendary Battle of Shiloh. Seven characters, based on real first person accounts, weave multiple narrative threads of their own personal experiences during one of the bloodiest fights of the American Civil War. These stories reveal the dramatic and haunting effects of a fight without precedent in American history, where almost 24, 000 were left maimed, missing or dead in just two days. The 1862 Battle of Shiloh ended all illusions that the war would be ended quickly without great bloodshed, and signaled what it was to become: a bloody war of attrition that reduced scores of cities and towns to smoldering ruins, and left nearly three quarters of a million dead.

From the first shots at Fort Sumpter, to the emotional Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House, this program tells the story of the conflict which scarred the soul of a nation. The program features battle reconstructions and depictions of army life, dramatized eyewitness accounts, period photographs and engravings, plus expert commentary and analyses.

The American Civil War - as told in the re-enactment films of all the Confederate Pictures years that we were on the circuit; from 2004 to 2008. These films were the focus of our travels, from Fort Sumter in South Carolina to Appomattox in Southern Virginia. Some of this footage in this four DVD series has never been seen before. This is Disc Two of that series. From Shiloh in 1862 to near 1864.

Historical documentary on the American Civil War (1861-1865) featuring firsthand information from personal diaries, soldiers' letters, reminiscences, personal accounts, photographs, paintings, extensive footage of battlefields and historic locations, as well as interviews with leading historians and writers, and reenactments of many of the key campaigns. All this makes this title an authentic documentary of the Civil War.

A comprehensive survey of the American Civil War.

Kevin Dykstra and his team base their search for Civil War Gold in Michigan on a deathbed confession from a lighthouse keeper in the 1890s.

A dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the Hessian forces at Trenton.

Arguably one of the most fateful and resonant events of the last half millennium, the Pilgrims' journey west across the Atlantic in the early 17th century is a seminal, if often misunderstood episode of American and world history.

In 1620, the Assembly of the Pilgrims decides to emigrate to the young America because of the persecution they suffer by the English crown. This movie tells the adventurous journey of the Pilgrims to an unknown land and future.

An in-depth dramatization of the story of the Pilgrims

Exploration of New York City's rich history as a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.

Chronicles the way the West was lost and won between 1845 and 1893. It looks at the final decades of the American frontier from the time of the Gold Rush until after the last gasp of the Indian wars at Wounded Knee.

Narrated by Academy Award Winner Kevin Costner, and directed by Emmy Award winner Ric Burns, People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation, The War of Independence, and The Making of America explores the little known, yet crucial history of the extraordinary contributions of one Native American people-the Oneidas-who during the darkest hours of the Revolutionary War became the only member of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy to side with rebelling colonists. This powerful and sweeping film, is a moving and unique cinematic experience that sheds light on an American story that has gone shamefully overlooked in the annals of American history.

The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.

Though considered unqualified, Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd president following the April 1945 death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The clash between Native American and European cultures during the 1800s is chronicled via archival photos, location photography and comments from descendants of Indian leaders.

In a period when many thought that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce won the admiration of the American public.

BBC investigative documentary series noted for its new perspectives on historical events.

Story of the Voyage of the Mayflower and the first year of The Pilgrims in America.