TV series

The Civil War

1990★ 7.9 · 130Ended1 seasonDocumentaryWar & Politics

Overview

A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Images

Backdrops & posters from TMDB

4 images

Cast

David McCullough
as Narrator (voice)

Sam Waterston
as Abraham Lincoln (voice)

Julie Harris
as Mary Chestnut (voice)

Jason Robards
as Ulysses S. Grant (voice)

Morgan Freeman
as Frederick Douglass / John Boston (voice)

Paul Roebling
as Joshua Chamberlain (voice)

Garrison Keillor
as Walt Whitman (voice)

George Black
as Robert E. Lee (voice)

Arthur Miller
as William Tecumseh Sherman (voice)

Christopher Murney
as Elisha Hunt Rhodes (voice)

Charles McDowell
as Samuel R. Watkins (voice)

Horton Foote
as Jefferson Davis (voice)

Crew

Paul Barnes
Editor

Jay Ungar
Original Music Composer

Ken Burns
Director of Photography

Stephen Ives
Producer

Catherine Yang Eisele
Producer

Mike Hill
Producer

Julie A. Dunfey
Producer

Ric Burns
Producer

Ken Burns
Executive Producer

Seasons

Specials

Episodes: 15

Miniseries

Photographs, period paintings, lithographs and headlines of the Civil War are combined with moving newsreel footage of Civil War veterans, interviews with distinguished historians and first-person accounts in this award-winning documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns. The miniseries 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.

Episodes: 9

Information

Community

7.9/ 10

130 TMDB votes

7.9

First air date: 1990-09-23

Show status: Ended

Genres

DocumentaryWar & Politics

Where to watch

Availability via TMDB / JustWatch

Country

Logos show where this title is listed (stream, rent, or buy). TMDB does not provide direct links into Netflix or other apps — use the button below to open TMDB’s watch page (JustWatch data) for this country.

Open watch options on TMDB

StreamIncluded with subscription