Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Pbs Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 14, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B00000G06N
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,550 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Civil War, Ken Burns' Episode 3: Forever Free, 1862 [VHS]

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars General McClellan and Antietam, October 17, 2008

By 

Zachary Koenig "K-Dawg" (Forest Lake, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Civil War, Ken Burns' Episode 3: Forever Free, 1862 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The third portion of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary continues to examine both the macro (war strategy) and micro (personal accounts/letters) happenings that comprised the North/South conflict. However, this chapter of the series focuses on two main subjects:

First, is the three-stage battle of Antietam, which proved to be the single bloodiest day in United States history, featuring more casualties than the U.S. assault on D-Day during World War II.

Second, stemming from the failure of the Union army to thoroughly route the Confederates when they had the chance at Antietam (which wiped out 1/4 of the South's fighting force), U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was forced to relieve General George McClellan from his command. With respect to McClellan's skill in training armies, he almost certainly goes down in history as perhaps the worst military commander to ever fight in a major scrutinized conflict, as his obsessions (he always thought the Confederate army outnumbered him when that was never the case) and inactivity as a result cost the Union army many chances to put a quick and decisive end to the war. Because of McClellan, Gettysburg had to occur.