Part 1: Fire-Bell in the Night

1 Beginnings The first shots of the war, then a flashback to the story of slavery in America and how it began to tear the nation apart.

2 Liberty and Union, Now and Forever? The struggle of the South to protect slavery, and the forces that sought to bring slavery to an end.

3 Descent into War The federal government seeks compromise on the slavery issue, and a man named John Brown tries to start a slave rebellion.

4 Bleak Inaugural Abraham Lincoln becomes president of a divided nation rushing headlong into war.

Part 2: Rally Round

5 "We'll Manage to Keep House" The situation, North and South, at the start of the war: the spies, the governments, and the armies.

6 The Anaconda and a Picnic Party Winfield Scott proposes the "Anaconda Plan" to defeat the South, while the Confederacy seeks European allies, and Lincoln struggles to keep the undecided "border states" from leaving the Union. Two untested armies fight the first major battle of the war at Bull Run.

7 The Young Napoleon and a Man Who Fights: McClellan and Grant The Union looks for a hero and finds George B. McClellan; Ulysses S. Grant captures a Confederate fort, then suffers the shock of Shiloh.

8 Ocean, Valley, and River McClellan delays, the ironclads make naval history at Hampton Roads, Stonewall Jackson triumphs in the Shenandoah Valley, and New Orleans falls to the Union.

9 Blue, Gray, and Red The Civil War in the far West.

10 Seven Days and Another Bull Run McClellan is outgeneraled by Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days' Battles, and the Union loses a second battle at Bull Run.

Part 3: Die to Make Men Free

11 In Blood Proclaimed A narrow Union victory at Antietam emboldens Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

12 "A Worse Place Than Hell" Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellan, then leads his forces to disaster at Fredericksburg.

13 Bread and Bullets The Confederate homefront suffers; Kentucky's invaders are expelled; Grant takes Vicksburg.

14 "Thunderstorm from a Cloudless Sky" Hooker falls victim to "Lee's masterpiece" at Chancellorsville, and the Army of Northern Virginia invades Maryland.

Part 4: That the Nation Might Live

15 Gettysburg The story of the Civil War's turning point.

16 "Not for Uncle Sambo" Disunion in the North: the Draft Riots, Copperheads, and subversive activity. The rise of the African American soldier.

17 From Chickamauga Mud to a Battle Above the Clouds Union defeat at Chickamauga and victory at Chattanooga.

Part 5: The Last Full Measure

18 Mr. Lincoln's General Grant takes command of the Union armies, develops a strategy to destroy the enemy's armies, and dooms the POWs of both sides to languish in deadly prison camps.

19 The Butcher Grant endures heavy losses at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, then lays siege to Petersburg.

20 "Damn the Torpedoes" The career of CSS Alabama and the Union naval victory that helped Lincoln win reelection.

21 "I Almost Tremble" Sherman wages "total war," takes Atlanta, and marches to the sea.

22 On to Richmond! Jubal Early menaces Washington, rebel agents menace Vermont and New York, while Grant breaks through at Petersburg, then takes Richmond.

23 Appomattox Ending Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House, Virginia; within days, the war ends.

Part 6: Taps and Reveille

24 Malice Lincoln is assassinated, and Reconstruction turns harsh, punitive, and destructive.

25 War Without End Andrew Johnson is impeached, the South is punished, African Americans are persecuted, and the nation refuses to forget the Civil War.

A Who Was Who in the Civil War A selective list of the key figures in the war.

B Major Civil War Sites and Sights A selective list of must-see Civil War attractions.

C The Words of War A Civil War glossary.

D Further Reading A selective list of non-fiction and fiction to further whet your appetite for the Civil War.

Special Index Two sections separately indexing important Civil War figures, and Civil War battlefields and historic sites.

General Index A comprehensive index.