Civil War Combat- Battle of Antietam History Channel

I honestly think it is one of the better CW documentary series. They employed authentic living historians, had solid history with a focus on men in the ranks and used some pretty solid special effects.
 
I love Civil War combat. However, best I recall, they were not filmed at reenactments. These were filmed just for this series.


I agree Michael, this was great series. I wished it continued until they did series like other series like GRANT etc before it became "Hitler Channel". This was when the Civil War was really popular and reenacting. I love it as well because it wasn't a reenactment stock footage put in with a documentary. It was more like a movie series style. I really loved all these series.
 
I used to love CWC. I at one time owned the entire series, including the VHS' for Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga and so forth.

But then I got old enough to start realizing it's flaws. Most are heavily focused on one side of the battle. Chancellorsville for instance is heavier Union, same as Chickamauga. They also put the History Channel budget into it, aka, just enough for a few reenactors but not enough to really give the massive scale of the battles being portrayed.

I would say it's a good introductory series for people new to studying the Civil War but not so much for those who are both older and know quiet a bit about the conflict.
 
You can tell in a lot of the shots specially the Cold Harbor episode one of my favorite ones. The reenactors where used on both sides for galvanizing to make it look like more soldiers for one side they did that in Gods and Generals also. My favorite episodes where First Manassas, Antietam, Whietfield at Gettysburg and Fredericksburg. Also the crater at Petersburgh.
 
I used to love CWC. I at one time owned the entire series, including the VHS' for Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga and so forth.

But then I got old enough to start realizing it's flaws. Most are heavily focused on one side of the battle. Chancellorsville for instance is heavier Union, same as Chickamauga. They also put the History Channel budget into it, aka, just enough for a few reenactors but not enough to really give the massive scale of the battles being portrayed.

I would say it's a good introductory series for people new to studying the Civil War but not so much for those who are both older and know quiet a bit about the conflict.

I get this. However, I have rarely seen a Civil War television that goes beyond what you described. CWC is a narrative and I think does it's job properly. As a narrative, they tend to go where the story is the most heart-wrenching which makes sense to tell the story primarily from the Union point of view at Cold Harbour.

I actually appreciated the smaller scale of the units because they focused on the authenticity and look of these men. Even though it was small, we actually got a sense of what these fellas really looked like especially when you compare some of them to the Sharpsburg pic or the Punch Bowl photographs.
 
Same. Although this free documentary on Amazon Prime Video is actually good.

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