Abraham Lincoln becomes frustrated with his cautious commander, George McClellan, whose army gets routed at Manassas, Va.; Confederate Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson earns his nickname.
Robert E. Lee, who once turned down command of Northern forces, becomes the top Confederate general; Ulysses S. Grant scores Union victories in the West.
Former slave Frederick Douglass pushes President Abraham Lincoln to free his people; Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, after the bloody Battle of Antietam.
The North turns back the South's invasion; a heroic bayonet charge led by Maine's Joshua Chamberlain; the doomed Confederate charge led by Gen. George Pickett.
Once drummed out of the army for drinking, Ulysses S. Grant earns his place as the North's best general; the Union's first black regiment marches into battle;
A U.S. senator, war hero, and presidential aspirant who has much in common with Abraham Lincoln; Jefferson Davis answers the call to lead the Confederate States of America;
Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta and marches to the sea; Abraham Lincoln's re-election; Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia.
