Ken Burns The Civil War Screening: 1864

The Civil War is an epic nine-episode series by the award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Heralded as an unforgettable introduction to a four-year conflict fought in 10,000 places, the film vividly embraces the entire sweep of the war: the complex causes and lasting effects of America’s greatest and most moving calamity, the battles and the homefronts, the generals and the private soldiers, the anguish of death in battle and the grief of families at home.

The Falmouth Public Library will be screening this entire Civil War series over the course of a week. Join us on Thursday, April 17, at 1 PM in the Hermann room as we screen episodes six and seven, 1864 ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ and ‘Most Hallowed Ground.’

Episode 6: Valley of the Shadow of Death: “Episode six begins with a biographical comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against each other from the wilderness to Petersburg in Virginia. In 30 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 and follow General Sherman’s Atlanta campaign through the mountains of north Georgia. As the horrendous casualty lists increase, Lincoln’s chances for re-election begin to dim, and with them the possibility of Union victory.”

Episode 7: Most Hallowed Ground: “The episode begins with the presidential election of 1864 that sets Abraham 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 the war. But 11th-hour victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta, and the Shenandoah Valley tilt the election to Lincoln and the Confederacy’s last hope for independence dies. In an ironic twist, poignantly typical of the Civil War, Lee’s Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery, the Union’s most hallowed ground.”

This documentary screening is free to the public and is supported by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. Register to attend using the library’s online event calendar or visit/call the adult service desk at 508-457-2555 x7.