S01E04: Simply Murder: 1863

The nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg comes to two climaxes that spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson; and at Vicksburg, where Grant's attempts to take the city by siege are stopped. During the episode we learn of fierce Northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the miseries of regimental life and the increasing desperation of the Confederate homefront. As the episode ends, Lee decides to invade the North again to draw Grant's forces away from Vicksburg.

David McCullough
David McCullough
Narrator (voice)
Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Abraham Lincoln (voice)
Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Mary Chestnut (voice)
Jason Robards
Jason Robards
Ulysses S. Grant (voice)
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Frederick Douglass / John Boston (voice)
Paul Roebling
Paul Roebling
Joshua Chamberlain (voice)
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Walt Whitman (voice)