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 (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000G0AA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,486 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, as is the series., March 6, 2000

By 

Ken Kressin (Cannon Falls, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Civil War, Ken Burn's Episode 4: Simply Murder 1863 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This episode covers the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville along with the winter camp of 1862-63. The haunting words of Chamberlain describing the Fredericksburg aftermath is worth the price by itself. 90 minutes that you can watch again and again if you find facination with this period of our history.

5.0 out of 5 stars The South Rises, But Suffocates Within (And Goes "All In"), October 17, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: Civil War, Ken Burn's Episode 4: Simply Murder 1863 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The fourth installment of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary deals with the first half of 1863, touching on three main issues:

First, Burns describes the major Confederate victories at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where the Union army suffered terrible casualties and were completely out-generaled by the brilliant Southern General Robert E. Lee.

Secondly, though, while the South was winning the war militarily, they were suffocating economically, as their mint printed worthless dollars (due to inflation) and thus foodstuff prices skyrocketed.

So, finally, due to the stagnation of the Southern economy, Confederate President Jefferson Davis decided to essentially gamble the fate of the war on one tactic: With Union General Ulysses S. Grant laying siege to the key Southern city of Vicksburg, Davis prepared to send General Lee on an all-or-nothing surge through Northern lines and up to Washington itself in order to draw Grant's forces.

That maneuver set up the likely focus of Burns' fifth chapter of the series...the Battle of Gettysburg.