The Civil War

"The Civil War was history running on all four cylinders.  It was the most important event in the history of our nation, and its importance continues today.  The blueprint of the America we know was drawn up then, and whether we know it or not, we are still walking around in the shadow of that war." (Ken Burns)

http://www.civilwarphotos.net/

It had all the makings of a hit:  Matthew Brady's stirring photographs; tear jerking letters penned by soldiers on the battlefield; star power narratives; and a haunting Scottish lament.  Ken Burns Civil War series, which debuted in 1990, would reach 40 million viewers.  It would make documentary maker Ken Burns a household name and commentator Shelby Foote, a millionaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(TV_series).

"Dead at Gettysburg 1863" courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg.

Ken Burns was inspired to create the Civil War series after discovering Matthew Brady's massive collection of photographs.  Brady studied under Samuel Morse, who had learned about the daguerrotype from Louis DaGuerre himself.  Brady, along with three associates, was able to capture 16,000 images on the battlefield.  His secret to success was his portable darkroom which travelled with him wherever he went.  His very first photographs were taken at the Battle of Bull Run (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathew_Brady).

Battle of Bull Run courtesy 

http://www.newmarketnhhistoricalsociety.org/site/assets/files/1074/6th_1st_battle_of_bull_run-.475x0.jpg/

Ken Burns other discovery was the Civil War correspondence.  In 1986, someone sent him the Sullivan Ballou letter which was penned at Bull Run by a 32 year old major from Rhode Island.  Burns read it to his wife, brother and a staff member; when he looked up from the page, they all had tears welling up in their eyes.  Burns explained:  "It's the most beautiful letter I've ever read in my life.  It's a Grand Canyon of a letter.  You can read the strata of meaning.  It's all about love.  First and foremost is love of country...It's about love of government...It's a love of cause...It's a love of family." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/civil-war-soldiers-heartbreaking-farewell-letter-was-written-before-death-at-bull-run/2011/07/11/gIQAFe3MQI_story.html).  The Sullivan Ballou letter became the crux of all the soldiers' letter, so eloquently written, by Civil War soldiers and so eloquently read by star power narrators for the series.  The now famous letter has since been read a weddings, funerals and memorial services.

Sullivan Ballou letter circa 1861 courtesy 

http://listverse.com/2011/05/03/10-fascinating-last-letters-written/.

No Ken Burns series is complete without an expert commentator.  For the civil war series, Burns chose a historian and author named Shelby Foote.  With his Southern drawl and his erudition, Foote hooked the audience.  Foote had penned by hand a 3000 page trilogy called The Civil War:  A Narrative (Fort Sumter to Perryville in 1958; Fredericksburg to Meridian in 1963; and Red River to Appomattox in 1974).  A relative unknown before the Ken Burns series, by late September of 1990, his trilogy was selling 1000 copies per day; by mid-1991, the trilogy had sold 400,000 copies.  "Ken, you've made me a millionaire," said Foote (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote).

Shelby Foote courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote#/media/File:Shelby_Foote.jpg.

Ken Burns knew the importance of music.  He chose a haunting Scottish lament to play during his series.  Ashokan Farewell, played at the end of the Fiddle and Dance Camps at the Ashokan Reservoir in New York State, conveyed a "sense of loss and longing" appropriate to the Civil War.  The tune, played 25 times during the series, comprises an hour's play time.  Viewers started to associate the haunting melody with the Civil War period although the tune was only composed in 1982 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashokan_Reservoir).

Confederate soldiers plays the fiddle courtesy https://brandonraykirk.wordpress.com/2013/02/.

The Civil War became the most watched program ever aired on PBS.  It resonated with Americans.  Ken Burns explained:  "The Civil War was history running on all four cylinders.  It was the most important event in the history of our nation, and its importance continues today.  The blueprint of the America we know was drawn up then, and whether we know it or not, we are still walking around in the shadow of that war." (http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/civil-war/about/about-overview/)

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Ken-Burns-The-Civil-War/70202577

Shelby Foote: PBS Civil War Series Made Him a Millionaire

"Interested more in the process of learning than in earning an actual degree, Foote was not a model student.  He often skipped class to explore the library and once he even spent the night among the shelves." (Wikipedia)

Before Ken Burns' civil War series debuted on PBS, Shelby foote was a relative unknown.  However, as soon as the series aired, Foote started selling 1000 copies a week of his massive work The Civil War:  A Narrative.  

Shelby Foote was born in the Mississippi Delta in 1917, the only child of Shelby Dade Foote and Lillian Foote.  Foote claimed that having no siblings had its advantages:  "Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would have never thought about if I was romping around with a brother and sister."  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote)  Foote lost his father at the age of five, perhaps making him retreat even more into books.

Foote was accepted at the University of North Carolina by the skin of his teeth.  There he was "interested more in the process of learning than in earning an actual degree, Foote was not a model student.  He often skipped class to explore the library and once he even spent the night among the shelves."

After two years, Foote returned to greenville Mississippi where he started writing for The Delta Democratic Times with a side job in construction.  In 1946, he had a piece titled Flood Burial published in the Saturday Evening Post.  He quit his job to write fulltime.  

Foote's first nove, Tournament, was published in 1949.  He said he was heavily influenced by his literary hero, William Faulkner.  By the mid-1950's, he started working on a massive volume called The Civil War:  A Narrative with grant money from the Guggenheim Fellowships and Ford Foundation.  Volume 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, was first published in 1958.  Volume 2, Fredericksburg to Meridian, debuted in 1963.  Volume 3, Red River to Appomattox, first appeared in print in 1974.  Foote always maintained that President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate General Forrest, were the "two authentic geniuses of the war," a conflict that his great-grandfather participated in.  

In the late 1980's, Ken Burns came calling.  He did several interviews with the author.  When Burns' Civil War series debuted in September of 1990, "Foote's drawl, erudition and quirk of speaking as if the war were still going on  made him a favorite".  In one week at the end of September, Foote's The Civil War:  A Narrative sold 1000 copies a day.  Foote told Burns:  "Ken, you've made me a millionaire."

Foote passed away in 2005 and is buried next to the family plot of General Forrest.

http://www.achievement.org/achievers/foo0/large/foo0-009.jpg