Voices Used in Documentary:Identify and explain the historic people/voices the documentary relies on to tell the story. Which are used more or less? Why do you think Burns chose these historic people?
Bobby Roenitz
Adding onto my previous point about the bias toward the North, I believe that the voice and quotes from Frederick Douglass serve as a means of doing this. Being totally honest, who wouldn’t be inclined to agree with something that Morgan Freeman says? That point aside, I think that Douglass’s quotes effectively characterize slavery. Douglass was someone who experienced slavery and could therefore attest to its horrors. Douglass also shares his knowledge about Blacks enlisting in the army. Overall, Douglass’s narratives are critical if one hopes to fully encapsulate the range of Civil War perspectives.
Bobby Roenitz
One person’s quotes I found to be especially insightful and relatively neutral were those of Mary Chesnut. Chesnut was born and raised in South Carolina, she was the wife of the Confederate general James Chesnut Jr. Most of her quotes come from her detailed diary which she started a few months before the war in 1861 and finished a few months after the war in 1865. Overall, I think Chesnut’s insights offer a gentler perspective about the war but also show that women, although they generally did not wage war on the battle field, could have just as much fiery passion as their male counterparts.
One person’s quotes I found to be unique were those of Sullivan Ballou. Ballou was a Major in the Union Army and was fatally wounded at the Battle of Bull Run. Although Ballou’s military service and experience with the war were cut short, I believe that the eloquence articulated in his letter to his wife makes up for that ten-fold. This guy really knew how to write a letter! I think that Ballou words not only articulate his feelings toward his wife, but they also express Ballou’s feelings about the war. This insight shows Ballou’s apparent remorse for his decision to join the military and express the thoughts that were most likely on the minds of many soldiers.
Bobby Roenitz Quite often, Burns utilizes quotes from Elisha Hunt Rhodes to play the role of the average soldier. Rhodes was a Union soldier during the war and the quotes came from his diary. Overall, Rhodes writes about many topics that would be of interest to a historian. Such topics included the questionable decisions of his superiors, his personal feelings and emotions about the war, and the day to day problems he encountered. For me, Rhodes diary really brought home the point that these soldiers were people too and that they all encountered problems just like we do.
Bobby Roenitz
In the series as a whole, I believe that there is a noticeable bias toward the north. Although this bias diminishes over the course of the series, I think it is definitely very noticeable in the first two episodes. Burns emphasized numerous times that it was the South that fired the first shots at Fort Sumter which supposedly “started” the war; but in reality, these shots were merely the culmination of over a century of sectional tension. Also, with the exception of Mary Chestnut, all of the quotes portrayed with different voices come from Northern and/or abolitionist perspectives.
Bobby Roenitz
I think that Burns could have included more slave perspectives. While there were some quotes intermittently tossed in, I think that a more reoccurring slave perspective would significantly increase viewers’ ability to develop an opinion. After all, generally speaking, the war was indeed being waged over the slaves and their perspective is not one to be overlooked. The only times we heard from slaves was when Union soldiers were coming to “liberate” them; even in this case we already knew their opinion. 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer A lot of the voices that Burns decided to use were people that we have studied or will most likely study in the future. That is because he chose important characters of the war to tell its story. These people are well known, and they all have their place in the war. The viewer can tell that Ken Burns chose these voices carefully, and that makes an impact on each episode. 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer In episode four, there was a use of more voices, but from both sides of the war. That eliminates some of the bias towards the North, and allows for there to be a clearer image painted for us. Burns also talks about the black soldiers in the Union army. He expresses that through the words of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer In episode two, there is still much bias towards the North, but there is also a good insight of how the soldiers felt. Many soldiers wanted to go home and end the war. They were not very excited to be out in battle, living in crummy conditions.
Elijah Hunt Rhodes expresses how there is a lack of food and supplies, causing there to be problems with the soldiers, making them want to go home even more. There is an insight of frustration amongst the soldiers, expressed in this episode. 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer One good point that was brought up in episode 3 was the disease aspect. Not everyone thinks of that right away when they hear Civil War, but the soldiers back then were still affected by it. Ken Burns uses the voices of nurses, soldiers, and medics to express the fear of diseases during that time. Also, in my transcription letter I had a soldier that was always sick and what I found while researching that was soldiers feared hospitals almost as much as prisons. It is hard to imagine that type of fear on top of the rest. 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer The use of the voice of Frederick Douglass is a key tool used to express the fact that the North is "right". Frderick Douglass was a run away slave that had a good insight of the slave environment. He was able to experience different types of slavery, and its horrors. That made him a reliable source of information for the North, and a key tool for successful propaganda. This idea made clear by the Battle Hymn of the Republic was amplified for both Douglas and all other abolitionists by the Emancipation proclamation after the Battle of Antietam. Here is a link to Frederick Douglass' biography. http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html 3/11/12 Maxx Meyer In the first episode of this series, Ken Burns shows favor to the North. He expresses that the South is at fault for the war and they chose to fire the first shot. Also, he makes Abraham Lincoln look like he did everything in his power to prevent the war, but yet it still started, because of the South. Ken also amps up the Southern image of cruel and mean towards people different from them, either my geographic or skin color. Here is a biography of Abraham Lincoln. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln/ 3/11/12 Matt Klug In the first episode of the Civil War series by Ken Burns, many of the voices used come from Northern points of view giving the impression that he is bias towards the north. He seems to really focus on the fact that Lincoln did not want the blood of starting a war on his hands and that he made sure that the south knew that if a war was going to be fought, it would have to be started by the south. He makes Fort Sumter look like the Federal Soldiers had to flee Charleston for their own personal safety but were still fired on once they reached the fort. When talking about the southren men who opened fire, I got the impression that they could not wait to fire and that the only reason Beauregard gave the Union soldiers the chance to surrender was because of his relationship with Anderson.
3/11/12 Matt Klug I noticed that Ken Burns uses the voices and quotes of may different people including Frederick Douglas, Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and many more. I think that this really helps the viewer grasp the qoute more fully instead of just reading it out of a book or hearing it in the same voice as the narrotor. It gives the quote character and meaning as well the opportunity for the viewer to build a persona for the voice. Burns does not only use the quotes of important people though. He uses quotes from both men and women of all social levels including privates in both the Union and Confederate Armies. This really helped me more fully understand the perspective of everyone during the Civil War and not just the presidents, generals, and politcians.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Going back to my previous post somewhat but I want to revisit the idea of the view of the use of the privates point of view in the series. Whenever the quotes of the Northern or Southern private were used, most of the time, the quotes of the other would follow. Not only does this give the viewer the point of view from both sides around a certain subject but it also cancels out any bias they have been present in the earlier episodes. With no bias to influence the viewer, Burns leaves it up to the viewer to choose what he or she thinks was the right cause during the war.
Rhodes (North) Watkins (South)
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Another thing that stood out to me is the tie to what we have been doing in class recently by looking at a document and figuring out if it was written by a Northern man or a Southern man. I noticed smilar language and attitudes used in the quotes in the series as in the documents we looked at. The Confederates looked at the war eagerly as a glorious chance to prove themsleves in battle to be honorable, courageous men. At one point the movie stated that when the South asked for volunteers for the army, a quarter of the men had to be told to go back home because there were just to many men to be the army. The Northern men were not as anxious to go to war as the Rebels were and they responded to the call to volunteer more because it was their duty as a citizen than because they wanted to.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In episode one of the Civil War series by Ken Burns I noticed that speakers/voices were very biased towards the North. Ken Burns really seemed to emphasize the fact that the south started the war during the firing on Fort Sumter, and that Abraham Lincoln did everything he could to make sure that if there were shots fired, his men would not be the first ones to fire it. Also, during the narration I also felt that Ken Burns really tried focus on a sense of ruthlessness from the South because they open fired on the Northern Fort first to start to the war, and the Confederate Commander was Beauregard and he was firing on his old teacher, Anderson.
Anderson and Beauregard
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
I also noticed that the people that were chosen for the historic voices were fairly well known commanders of the north or the south or they were somehow important in another way. Some people that stuck out the most in my mind were Abraham Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Jefferson Davis and others. The quotes that were used from these influencial individuals, in my oppinion helped me better understand everything that was going on. These voices/quotes should give the people watching these videos a good understanding of the different perspectives of North and South Generals, politicians, and even African American rights leaders. Also, Ken Burns used regular citizen's voices to capture certain moments. This should help people understand what was going on from the perspectives of the citizens caught in the crossfire/destruction of the war.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode two of the Ken Burns series there is a conversation between a Northern soldier (Rhodes) and his commanding officer (unnamed). In the conversation Rhodes is asking for a few days a leave from his service to go home and see his mother and his commanding officer tells him that since he has been good that he can have 10 days of absence. I liked this part of the episode because it shows the humanity within the war. It shows the perspective from a private in the army and how sometimes all a soldier wants to do is go home. It also shows that even though they are at war the officers understand that all of their soldiers are only human and they need a break every once in a while.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Burns not only looks at different perspectives between Federal and Confederate soldiers but also between the soldiers and generals on a particular side. This is more obvious in the northern army. Mcclellan thought that he was commanding the army of the Union perfectly but the soldiers under him thought differently. Rhodes thought differently though. He and many other soldiers complained about the decisions of the generals as well as the as the conditions, physically demanding marches, and the bad food. Burns shows that altough there only appeared to be high tensions between the North and South, but there was also low amounts of tension between the soldiers and their officers.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
One thing I found very interesting about the way Burns presented key figures during the war as the person they were before and during the early stages of the war. I think the 2 best examples of this are Grant and Sherman. Neither one started out as the great generals they would later be known as. Sherman was sent home due to mental issues but later came back to be the commander everyone knows him as now. Grant was sent back to a desk job for the army because of problems with drinking and other issues. Burns does a great job of capturing who these men really were and not just who history remembers them as. There are similar "behind the scenes" looks at Confederate commanders and leaders such as Stonewall Jackson and his religious outlook and Jefferson Davis and his troubles trying to unite a country that was focused on individual states and not the united country.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
Also, through out the series i have noticed a number of Commander and soldier relationships through quotes and speeches. However, this is more common within the Union army. Halfway through episode two General McClellan is talking to his military force and he says "I am to watch over you as a parent watches over his children, and you know that your general loves you from the depths of his heart, which it will my care to gain success with the least possible loss." I think that Ken Burns is trying to show his audience what a general and his soldiers share in concerning war and battle. When he puts quotes like this into his film it really says a lot about the General.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode three of the series there is a section on Stonewall Jackson. In this section Ken Burns uses a clever mix of narrative from his own script and quotes from Stonewall Jackson himself. I believe that Ken Burns did this to give his audience an idea of what historians say about a subject and then he has quotes from that subject to help undestand what the historians believe. This will help everyone gather a better insight on the subject being examined. With the quotes from Stonewall we obtain a better understanding of the way he thought, through things he did and said.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
About halfway through of episode three in the Civil War series there is what seems to be some kind of a letter being read off, and it is about a previous encounter with the enemy. In this "letter" the soldier sounds scared and helpless as he talks about how he can fell the wind from the bullets going past his face, and how he does eventually get shot. The man also recalls another man screaming in pain while on the battlefied. The man seemed to have escaped death but the next day he saw a man who had died in the firefight and he recalls it as a "horrible sight". Hearing what a man said who was actually in the war really starts to put things into persepctive for some people. Most people cannot fathem the horrors of war unless they have experienced it first hand or heard about it from someone else who experienced it first hand. I believe this is what Burns was trying to achieve. I think that by having a primary source from the war (the quote), he was able to recreate the horrors of the war and let everyone from our time know what it was like.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Mary Chestnut, a Southern voice used regularly throughout the first four episodes in the Civil War series, hailed from Charleston, SC. She wrote a diary starting in February of 1861 and concluding in June of 1865, documenting various points in the Civil War and providing a window to the home front during those perilous times. The diary, quoted multiple times in the documentary, paints a portrait of the Confederacy unlike that which could be produced by soldiers and generals; her words and emotions demonstrate to the listener/reader a female perspective on the war, and how housewives could be just as passionate "rebels" as their husbands. Burns likely chose to quote her so regularly because it would otherwise be difficult to portray the entirety of the Confederacy just by documenting the battles it fought. He needed the perspective from someone back home, someone who could represent the public opinion and therefore the inner thoughts of the "home front".
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Burns also needed to show the voice of an entity not explicitly partial to either side of the conflict. In the first episode, he quotes passages posted in The Times, a newspaper based out of London. At various points in the documentary, he quotes other foreign entities and figures: Alexis de Toqueville, among others, juxtaposed the North and South, spreading the word into Europe of the impending conflict. Diplomacy and withholding foreign support played a key role in the Civil War for both sides; the South needed someone to break up the Union blockade, and the North needed to keep European powers from aiding the Confederacy. Obviously these foreign voices are used less frequently than American voices, but it is vital to bear in mind that what occurred on American battlefields had direct implications in Europe and the world entire.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Burns does not seem to hold a bias of any kind. He points out failures and lapses in judgment made by Northern figures just as much as he shows those in Southern figures. Furthermore, he represents each side in each conflict he goes into detail about, quoting both Union and Confederate soldiers in their personal accounts. Burns only documents and reports on the history, and he makes no editorial or opinion based statements of any kind in the first four episodes of the documentary.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Even in the historians Burns uses to discuss and further explain events in the Civil War, various backgrounds and persuasions are evident. Shelby Foote, a historian quoted very often, was born in Mississippi. Ed Bearss is another oft-consulted historian that was born in Montana. Yet another, Barbara Fields, is an African-American historian that was born in South Carolina. Burns does not make any of the three or any other historian consulted in the documentary more important than another. Each has his or her own insights and comments to the discussion, and the fact that their backgrounds are so varying is a good example of how Burns chooses to diversify opinions. Furthermore, an interesting article that talks about Ed Bearss even more can be found in the link below. http://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/study_leaders/edwincbearss/
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Another voice often overlooked is that of the African-American slave. Since the war was (whether or not either side wanted to admit it) the result of differing attitudes over slavery, it is important to see what those slaves were thinking at the time. They spoke of how great it was to see the Union soldiers and be liberated. Others who came down to regions where slaves were being freed commented that their work to educate and support them in building a new life was honorable work. Burns likely included those Abolitionists and Anti-Slave workers as well as slaves themselves to show how the war was affecting these demographics, not just the soldiers and generals.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
The voice of the "typical soldier" is another used by Burns very often. Rhodes's accounts of his endeavors as a Union soldier allows us a look into what the experience of the war was really like. He questions certain choices made by generals that were proven to be inept. He writes about being homesick and how he had never been away from home like this before in his life. Burns uses this to immerse the listener in the experience on a personal note, and to demonstrate that those hundreds of thousands of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, each had a unique story to tell.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
In episode five of the series Barbara Fields talked about how African American soldiers wanted to enter the war. I think that Ken Burns was really trying toadress the lost cause that Frederick Douglass was so afraid that would happen. This addition really shows that some people still remember the reason for the war and that it is not to be forgotton. If this crucial area of the civil war is forgotton, the entire war mind as well be forgotton also, because that is what the civil war was started over and it is what Lincoln made the war over when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode 5 Ken Burns has a quote from a confederate named Private William Christian. In this quote Private Christian talks about how they will see battle like they have never seen before and they must conquer for peace and that they will show the Yankees how they can actually fight. This was before their army actually went into Pensylvania to clash with Union forces. This Private speaking is significant because even though this series seems a little biased towards the northern side, Ken Burns still put a Confederate stating how ready they are to defend their country. That shows a lot of courage and that southern honor that is a major theme throughout the entire war.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Oliver Wendall Holmes starts off episode 8 "War is Hell" by talking from a union perspective. He states that he knows that the Union is going to win and it is inevitable that slavery will be abolished completely. However, the union still respected the confederates for their effort in the war for trying to maintain their beliefs and everything that they stood for. This shows that even though these waring factions hate each other they still in return give the other side respect despite the outcome. This ties into reconstruction ,that is soon to come, with that only in the American Civil War can two factions that hate each other, in the end have so much love and respect for each other.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Ken Burns not only uses the voices of privates and low ranking soldiers within his series, he also uses General's voices. He uses Sherman's voice while describing Lincoln, by saying that he never saw Lincoln again after their meeting and he called Licoln a man of greatness that was combined with goodness. This shows a better relationship with a commander-in-chief and his generals, through quotes that offer reverance and respect. By showing what the generals have to say as well as the soldiers, it provides for a good foundation to give better insight of the war, through the people who actually fought in it.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Within the series there is also talk from Ken Burns about how the Confederate army is in very poor shape. So poor that 60,000 men had deserted because they knew the war was lost and there was not point anymore. A confederate soldier was given a voice to say that men were exhausted and were getting half rations due to the food shortage of the Confederacy. This voice was given to show a first person view on how bad of shape that the confederates were in and that they wouldn't last much longer.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Finally, in the beggining of the last episode of the series a confederate soldier talks about how his once proud nation was lifeless. He describes it as a dream and that he cant believe that his brave and noble countrymen just sat their wallowing in pain and blood. He sees his Countnry in ruins and the flag of his country to be so close to extinction. This describes that the Confederates are basically done for and that the war has destroyed their cities and desimated their countrymen and they could hold on no longer.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
The voice of the “Copperhead”, or peace Democrat, was used when speaking of the 1864 presidential election. Newspapers stated that “Lincoln’s reelection was an impossibility”. Since no election had ever been held during a Civil War, this was uncharted territory, and the voices used definitely shows that. Burns shows the opinion of Democrats, the Confederates, and even fellow Republicans that Lincoln would lose the election in their own words. Ultimately, Lincolnwould be reelected, an event that would determine the path of the war.
Here is a general description of the Copperheads (Peace Democrats). http://www.civilwarhome.com/copperheads.htm
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
As the Confederacy bled out nearing the end of the war, the dropping morale is clear in the rebel soldiers’ writings. Their lack of shoes was a consistent topic in their narratives. They spoke of the lack of food, waning enthusiasm for the Confederate nation, and the general loss of devotion to southern nationalism.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
Elijah Hunt Rhodes continued to be a voice for the common Union soldier as Burns follows his path through the entire war. He describes his service under the multiple generals of the Army of thePotomac. In the first four episodes, his superiors tended to be timid, ineffective generals. As the war progresses Grant and Sherman take over, and while they yield greater results, they would withstand far greater casualties.Rhodeswould describe Grant’s Overland Campaign’s overwhelming
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
There is a definite switch in the generals’ voices used, for obvious reasons, towards Grant and Sherman in the later episodes of the documentary.Sherman’s words, for example, are more similar to those of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the ruthless Confederate General. This change reflects the changing attitude towards the war. In the beginning, generals such as McClellan or Meade would take an incredibly cautious stance towards the war. Grant would throw everything he had at the enemy. His andSherman’s words, especially the quote “War is Hell”, show the idea that they were not fond of the vast number of casualties, but knew they were necessary.
In Sherman's letter to the city of Atlanta, one can find a more adequate context of his famous "War is Hell" quote.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
The voices of the individuals’ farms that were destroyed duringSherman’s “March to the Sea” were also very powerful. One woman described her pigs being shot in front of her, and others had similar stories to tell. The voices of those that lost everything in the war speak the most about Absolute Warfare. No longer were only soldiers being affected by the fighting. In these peoples’ situations, their entire livelihoods could be destroyed by the people that advertised reconciliation. It is hard not to sympathize with them with words like these.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
Mary Chesnut’s diary continued to be sampled in the 5th-9th episodes of the documentaries. As a woman watching the Confederate South slowly fade away near the end of the war, her words echo the waning confidence the South felt for the Confederacy. She describes the aftermath of the Union invasion and the resulting fallout. She reported that those inRichmond dreaded starvation more than Grant or Sherman. Other women said that towards the end, food could not even be exchanged for Confederate currency. The female voice definitely narrates the fall of the Confederacy felt from the home front.
Voices Used in Documentary: Identify and explain the historic people/voices the documentary relies on to tell the story. Which are used more or less? Why do you think Burns chose these historic people?
Bobby Roenitz
Adding onto my previous point about the bias toward the North, I believe that the voice and quotes from Frederick Douglass serve as a means of doing this. Being totally honest, who wouldn’t be inclined to agree with something that Morgan Freeman says? That point aside, I think that Douglass’s quotes effectively characterize slavery. Douglass was someone who experienced slavery and could therefore attest to its horrors. Douglass also shares his knowledge about Blacks enlisting in the army. Overall, Douglass’s narratives are critical if one hopes to fully encapsulate the range of Civil War perspectives.
Bobby Roenitz
One person’s quotes I found to be especially insightful and relatively neutral were those of Mary Chesnut. Chesnut was born and raised in South Carolina, she was the wife of the Confederate general James Chesnut Jr. Most of her quotes come from her detailed diary which she started a few months before the war in 1861 and finished a few months after the war in 1865. Overall, I think Chesnut’s insights offer a gentler perspective about the war but also show that women, although they generally did not wage war on the battle field, could have just as much fiery passion as their male counterparts.
Biographical Info on Chesnut
Bobby Roenitz
One person’s quotes I found to be unique were those of Sullivan Ballou. Ballou was a Major in the Union Army and was fatally wounded at the Battle of Bull Run. Although Ballou’s military service and experience with the war were cut short, I believe that the eloquence articulated in his letter to his wife makes up for that ten-fold. This guy really knew how to write a letter! I think that Ballou words not only articulate his feelings toward his wife, but they also express Ballou’s feelings about the war. This insight shows Ballou’s apparent remorse for his decision to join the military and express the thoughts that were most likely on the minds of many soldiers.
Biographical Info on Ballou
Bobby Roenitz
Quite often, Burns utilizes quotes from Elisha Hunt Rhodes to play the role of the average soldier. Rhodes was a Union soldier during the war and the quotes came from his diary. Overall, Rhodes writes about many topics that would be of interest to a historian. Such topics included the questionable decisions of his superiors, his personal feelings and emotions about the war, and the day to day problems he encountered. For me, Rhodes diary really brought home the point that these soldiers were people too and that they all encountered problems just like we do.
Bobby Roenitz
In the series as a whole, I believe that there is a noticeable bias toward the north. Although this bias diminishes over the course of the series, I think it is definitely very noticeable in the first two episodes. Burns emphasized numerous times that it was the South that fired the first shots at Fort Sumter which supposedly “started” the war; but in reality, these shots were merely the culmination of over a century of sectional tension. Also, with the exception of Mary Chestnut, all of the quotes portrayed with different voices come from Northern and/or abolitionist perspectives.
Bobby Roenitz
I think that Burns could have included more slave perspectives. While there were some quotes intermittently tossed in, I think that a more reoccurring slave perspective would significantly increase viewers’ ability to develop an opinion. After all, generally speaking, the war was indeed being waged over the slaves and their perspective is not one to be overlooked. The only times we heard from slaves was when Union soldiers were coming to “liberate” them; even in this case we already knew their opinion.
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
A lot of the voices that Burns decided to use were people that we have studied or will most likely study in the future. That is because he chose important characters of the war to tell its story. These people are well known, and they all have their place in the war. The viewer can tell that Ken Burns chose these voices carefully, and that makes an impact on each episode.
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
In episode four, there was a use of more voices, but from both sides of the war. That eliminates some of the bias towards the North, and allows for there to be a clearer image painted for us. Burns also talks about the black soldiers in the Union army. He expresses that through the words of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
In episode two, there is still much bias towards the North, but there is also a good insight of how the soldiers felt. Many soldiers wanted to go home and end the war. They were not very excited to be out in battle, living in crummy conditions.
Elijah Hunt Rhodes expresses how there is a lack of food and supplies, causing there to be problems with the soldiers, making them want to go home even more. There is an insight of frustration amongst the soldiers, expressed in this episode.
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
One good point that was brought up in episode 3 was the disease aspect. Not everyone thinks of that right away when they hear Civil War, but the soldiers back then were still affected by it. Ken Burns uses the voices of nurses, soldiers, and medics to express the fear of diseases during that time. Also, in my transcription letter I had a soldier that was always sick and what I found while researching that was soldiers feared hospitals almost as much as prisons. It is hard to imagine that type of fear on top of the rest.
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
The use of the voice of Frederick Douglass is a key tool used to express the fact that the North is "right". Frderick Douglass was a run away slave that had a good insight of the slave environment. He was able to experience different types of slavery, and its horrors. That made him a reliable source of information for the North, and a key tool for successful propaganda. This idea made clear by the Battle Hymn of the Republic was amplified for both Douglas and all other abolitionists by the Emancipation proclamation after the Battle of Antietam.
Here is a link to Frederick Douglass' biography.
http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html
3/11/12 Maxx Meyer
In the first episode of this series, Ken Burns shows favor to the North. He expresses that the South is at fault for the war and they chose to fire the first shot. Also, he makes Abraham Lincoln look like he did everything in his power to prevent the war, but yet it still started, because of the South. Ken also amps up the Southern image of cruel and mean towards people different from them, either my geographic or skin color.
Here is a biography of Abraham Lincoln.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln/
3/11/12 Matt Klug
In the first episode of the Civil War series by Ken Burns, many of the voices used come from Northern points of view giving the impression that he is bias towards the north. He seems to really focus on the fact that Lincoln did not want the blood of starting a war on his hands and that he made sure that the south knew that if a war was going to be fought, it would have to be started by the south. He makes Fort Sumter look like the Federal Soldiers had to flee Charleston for their own personal safety but were still fired on once they reached the fort. When talking about the southren men who opened fire, I got the impression that they could not wait to fire and that the only reason Beauregard gave the Union soldiers the chance to surrender was because of his relationship with Anderson.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
I noticed that Ken Burns uses the voices and quotes of may different people including Frederick Douglas, Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and many more. I think that this really helps the viewer grasp the qoute more fully instead of just reading it out of a book or hearing it in the same voice as the narrotor. It gives the quote character and meaning as well the opportunity for the viewer to build a persona for the voice. Burns does not only use the quotes of important people though. He uses quotes from both men and women of all social levels including privates in both the Union and Confederate Armies. This really helped me more fully understand the perspective of everyone during the Civil War and not just the presidents, generals, and politcians.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Going back to my previous post somewhat but I want to revisit the idea of the view of the use of the privates point of view in the series. Whenever the quotes of the Northern or Southern private were used, most of the time, the quotes of the other would follow. Not only does this give the viewer the point of view from both sides around a certain subject but it also cancels out any bias they have been present in the earlier episodes. With no bias to influence the viewer, Burns leaves it up to the viewer to choose what he or she thinks was the right cause during the war.
Rhodes (North) Watkins (South)
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Another thing that stood out to me is the tie to what we have been doing in class recently by looking at a document and figuring out if it was written by a Northern man or a Southern man. I noticed smilar language and attitudes used in the quotes in the series as in the documents we looked at. The Confederates looked at the war eagerly as a glorious chance to prove themsleves in battle to be honorable, courageous men. At one point the movie stated that when the South asked for volunteers for the army, a quarter of the men had to be told to go back home because there were just to many men to be the army. The Northern men were not as anxious to go to war as the Rebels were and they responded to the call to volunteer more because it was their duty as a citizen than because they wanted to.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In episode one of the Civil War series by Ken Burns I noticed that speakers/voices were very biased towards the North. Ken Burns really seemed to emphasize the fact that the south started the war during the firing on Fort Sumter, and that Abraham Lincoln did everything he could to make sure that if there were shots fired, his men would not be the first ones to fire it. Also, during the narration I also felt that Ken Burns really tried focus on a sense of ruthlessness from the South because they open fired on the Northern Fort first to start to the war, and the Confederate Commander was Beauregard and he was firing on his old teacher, Anderson.
Anderson and Beauregard
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
I also noticed that the people that were chosen for the historic voices were fairly well known commanders of the north or the south or they were somehow important in another way. Some people that stuck out the most in my mind were Abraham Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Jefferson Davis and others. The quotes that were used from these influencial individuals, in my oppinion helped me better understand everything that was going on. These voices/quotes should give the people watching these videos a good understanding of the different perspectives of North and South Generals, politicians, and even African American rights leaders. Also, Ken Burns used regular citizen's voices to capture certain moments. This should help people understand what was going on from the perspectives of the citizens caught in the crossfire/destruction of the war.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode two of the Ken Burns series there is a conversation between a Northern soldier (Rhodes) and his commanding officer (unnamed). In the conversation Rhodes is asking for a few days a leave from his service to go home and see his mother and his commanding officer tells him that since he has been good that he can have 10 days of absence. I liked this part of the episode because it shows the humanity within the war. It shows the perspective from a private in the army and how sometimes all a soldier wants to do is go home. It also shows that even though they are at war the officers understand that all of their soldiers are only human and they need a break every once in a while.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
Burns not only looks at different perspectives between Federal and Confederate soldiers but also between the soldiers and generals on a particular side. This is more obvious in the northern army. Mcclellan thought that he was commanding the army of the Union perfectly but the soldiers under him thought differently. Rhodes thought differently though. He and many other soldiers complained about the decisions of the generals as well as the as the conditions, physically demanding marches, and the bad food. Burns shows that altough there only appeared to be high tensions between the North and South, but there was also low amounts of tension between the soldiers and their officers.
3/11/12 Matt Klug
One thing I found very interesting about the way Burns presented key figures during the war as the person they were before and during the early stages of the war. I think the 2 best examples of this are Grant and Sherman. Neither one started out as the great generals they would later be known as. Sherman was sent home due to mental issues but later came back to be the commander everyone knows him as now. Grant was sent back to a desk job for the army because of problems with drinking and other issues. Burns does a great job of capturing who these men really were and not just who history remembers them as. There are similar "behind the scenes" looks at Confederate commanders and leaders such as Stonewall Jackson and his religious outlook and Jefferson Davis and his troubles trying to unite a country that was focused on individual states and not the united country.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
Also, through out the series i have noticed a number of Commander and soldier relationships through quotes and speeches. However, this is more common within the Union army. Halfway through episode two General McClellan is talking to his military force and he says "I am to watch over you as a parent watches over his children, and you know that your general loves you from the depths of his heart, which it will my care to gain success with the least possible loss." I think that Ken Burns is trying to show his audience what a general and his soldiers share in concerning war and battle. When he puts quotes like this into his film it really says a lot about the General.
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode three of the series there is a section on Stonewall Jackson. In this section Ken Burns uses a clever mix of narrative from his own script and quotes from Stonewall Jackson himself. I believe that Ken Burns did this to give his audience an idea of what historians say about a subject and then he has quotes from that subject to help undestand what the historians believe. This will help everyone gather a better insight on the subject being examined. With the quotes from Stonewall we obtain a better understanding of the way he thought, through things he did and said.
Background/Biography of Stonewall
http://www.civilwarhome.com/jackbio.htm
Stonewall Jackson
3/11/12 Andrew Durst
About halfway through of episode three in the Civil War series there is what seems to be some kind of a letter being read off, and it is about a previous encounter with the enemy. In this "letter" the soldier sounds scared and helpless as he talks about how he can fell the wind from the bullets going past his face, and how he does eventually get shot. The man also recalls another man screaming in pain while on the battlefied. The man seemed to have escaped death but the next day he saw a man who had died in the firefight and he recalls it as a "horrible sight". Hearing what a man said who was actually in the war really starts to put things into persepctive for some people. Most people cannot fathem the horrors of war unless they have experienced it first hand or heard about it from someone else who experienced it first hand. I believe this is what Burns was trying to achieve. I think that by having a primary source from the war (the quote), he was able to recreate the horrors of the war and let everyone from our time know what it was like.
This is a link to a number of diary entries from soldiers who were in the civil war.
http://www.ioweb.com/civilwar/
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Mary Chestnut, a Southern voice used regularly throughout the first four episodes in the Civil War series, hailed from Charleston, SC. She wrote a diary starting in February of 1861 and concluding in June of 1865, documenting various points in the Civil War and providing a window to the home front during those perilous times. The diary, quoted multiple times in the documentary, paints a portrait of the Confederacy unlike that which could be produced by soldiers and generals; her words and emotions demonstrate to the listener/reader a female perspective on the war, and how housewives could be just as passionate "rebels" as their husbands. Burns likely chose to quote her so regularly because it would otherwise be difficult to portray the entirety of the Confederacy just by documenting the battles it fought. He needed the perspective from someone back home, someone who could represent the public opinion and therefore the inner thoughts of the "home front".
Biographical Information on Mary Chestnut
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/mary-chesnut.html
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Burns also needed to show the voice of an entity not explicitly partial to either side of the conflict. In the first episode, he quotes passages posted in The Times, a newspaper based out of London. At various points in the documentary, he quotes other foreign entities and figures: Alexis de Toqueville, among others, juxtaposed the North and South, spreading the word into Europe of the impending conflict. Diplomacy and withholding foreign support played a key role in the Civil War for both sides; the South needed someone to break up the Union blockade, and the North needed to keep European powers from aiding the Confederacy. Obviously these foreign voices are used less frequently than American voices, but it is vital to bear in mind that what occurred on American battlefields had direct implications in Europe and the world entire.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Burns does not seem to hold a bias of any kind. He points out failures and lapses in judgment made by Northern figures just as much as he shows those in Southern figures. Furthermore, he represents each side in each conflict he goes into detail about, quoting both Union and Confederate soldiers in their personal accounts. Burns only documents and reports on the history, and he makes no editorial or opinion based statements of any kind in the first four episodes of the documentary.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Even in the historians Burns uses to discuss and further explain events in the Civil War, various backgrounds and persuasions are evident. Shelby Foote, a historian quoted very often, was born in Mississippi. Ed Bearss is another oft-consulted historian that was born in Montana. Yet another, Barbara Fields, is an African-American historian that was born in South Carolina. Burns does not make any of the three or any other historian consulted in the documentary more important than another. Each has his or her own insights and comments to the discussion, and the fact that their backgrounds are so varying is a good example of how Burns chooses to diversify opinions. Furthermore, an interesting article that talks about Ed Bearss even more can be found in the link below.
http://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/study_leaders/edwincbearss/
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
Another voice often overlooked is that of the African-American slave. Since the war was (whether or not either side wanted to admit it) the result of differing attitudes over slavery, it is important to see what those slaves were thinking at the time. They spoke of how great it was to see the Union soldiers and be liberated. Others who came down to regions where slaves were being freed commented that their work to educate and support them in building a new life was honorable work. Burns likely included those Abolitionists and Anti-Slave workers as well as slaves themselves to show how the war was affecting these demographics, not just the soldiers and generals.
3/11/12 Andrew Puck
The voice of the "typical soldier" is another used by Burns very often. Rhodes's accounts of his endeavors as a Union soldier allows us a look into what the experience of the war was really like. He questions certain choices made by generals that were proven to be inept. He writes about being homesick and how he had never been away from home like this before in his life. Burns uses this to immerse the listener in the experience on a personal note, and to demonstrate that those hundreds of thousands of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, each had a unique story to tell.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
In episode five of the series Barbara Fields talked about how African American soldiers wanted to enter the war. I think that Ken Burns was really trying toadress the lost cause that Frederick Douglass was so afraid that would happen. This addition really shows that some people still remember the reason for the war and that it is not to be forgotton. If this crucial area of the civil war is forgotton, the entire war mind as well be forgotton also, because that is what the civil war was started over and it is what Lincoln made the war over when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Here is a link to a site that has some background on African American soldiers-
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
In the beggining of episode 5 Ken Burns has a quote from a confederate named Private William Christian. In this quote Private Christian talks about how they will see battle like they have never seen before and they must conquer for peace and that they will show the Yankees how they can actually fight. This was before their army actually went into Pensylvania to clash with Union forces. This Private speaking is significant because even though this series seems a little biased towards the northern side, Ken Burns still put a Confederate stating how ready they are to defend their country. That shows a lot of courage and that southern honor that is a major theme throughout the entire war.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Oliver Wendall Holmes starts off episode 8 "War is Hell" by talking from a union perspective. He states that he knows that the Union is going to win and it is inevitable that slavery will be abolished completely. However, the union still respected the confederates for their effort in the war for trying to maintain their beliefs and everything that they stood for. This shows that even though these waring factions hate each other they still in return give the other side respect despite the outcome. This ties into reconstruction ,that is soon to come, with that only in the American Civil War can two factions that hate each other, in the end have so much love and respect for each other.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Ken Burns not only uses the voices of privates and low ranking soldiers within his series, he also uses General's voices. He uses Sherman's voice while describing Lincoln, by saying that he never saw Lincoln again after their meeting and he called Licoln a man of greatness that was combined with goodness. This shows a better relationship with a commander-in-chief and his generals, through quotes that offer reverance and respect. By showing what the generals have to say as well as the soldiers, it provides for a good foundation to give better insight of the war, through the people who actually fought in it.
Biography of Sherman:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/sherbio.htm
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Within the series there is also talk from Ken Burns about how the Confederate army is in very poor shape. So poor that 60,000 men had deserted because they knew the war was lost and there was not point anymore. A confederate soldier was given a voice to say that men were exhausted and were getting half rations due to the food shortage of the Confederacy. This voice was given to show a first person view on how bad of shape that the confederates were in and that they wouldn't last much longer.
5/14/12 Andrew Durst
Finally, in the beggining of the last episode of the series a confederate soldier talks about how his once proud nation was lifeless. He describes it as a dream and that he cant believe that his brave and noble countrymen just sat their wallowing in pain and blood. He sees his Countnry in ruins and the flag of his country to be so close to extinction. This describes that the Confederates are basically done for and that the war has destroyed their cities and desimated their countrymen and they could hold on no longer.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
The voice of the “Copperhead”, or peace Democrat, was used when speaking of the 1864 presidential election. Newspapers stated that “Lincoln’s reelection was an impossibility”. Since no election had ever been held during a Civil War, this was uncharted territory, and the voices used definitely shows that. Burns shows the opinion of Democrats, the Confederates, and even fellow Republicans that Lincoln would lose the election in their own words. Ultimately, Lincolnwould be reelected, an event that would determine the path of the war.
Here is a general description of the Copperheads (Peace Democrats).
http://www.civilwarhome.com/copperheads.htm
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
As the Confederacy bled out nearing the end of the war, the dropping morale is clear in the rebel soldiers’ writings. Their lack of shoes was a consistent topic in their narratives. They spoke of the lack of food, waning enthusiasm for the Confederate nation, and the general loss of devotion to southern nationalism.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
Elijah Hunt Rhodes continued to be a voice for the common Union soldier as Burns follows his path through the entire war. He describes his service under the multiple generals of the Army of thePotomac. In the first four episodes, his superiors tended to be timid, ineffective generals. As the war progresses Grant and Sherman take over, and while they yield greater results, they would withstand far greater casualties.Rhodeswould describe Grant’s Overland Campaign’s overwhelming
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
There is a definite switch in the generals’ voices used, for obvious reasons, towards Grant and Sherman in the later episodes of the documentary.Sherman’s words, for example, are more similar to those of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the ruthless Confederate General. This change reflects the changing attitude towards the war. In the beginning, generals such as McClellan or Meade would take an incredibly cautious stance towards the war. Grant would throw everything he had at the enemy. His andSherman’s words, especially the quote “War is Hell”, show the idea that they were not fond of the vast number of casualties, but knew they were necessary.
In Sherman's letter to the city of Atlanta, one can find a more adequate context of his famous "War is Hell" quote.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
The voices of the individuals’ farms that were destroyed duringSherman’s “March to the Sea” were also very powerful. One woman described her pigs being shot in front of her, and others had similar stories to tell. The voices of those that lost everything in the war speak the most about Absolute Warfare. No longer were only soldiers being affected by the fighting. In these peoples’ situations, their entire livelihoods could be destroyed by the people that advertised reconciliation. It is hard not to sympathize with them with words like these.
5/14/12 Andrew Puck
Mary Chesnut’s diary continued to be sampled in the 5th-9th episodes of the documentaries. As a woman watching the Confederate South slowly fade away near the end of the war, her words echo the waning confidence the South felt for the Confederacy. She describes the aftermath of the Union invasion and the resulting fallout. She reported that those inRichmond dreaded starvation more than Grant or Sherman. Other women said that towards the end, food could not even be exchanged for Confederate currency. The female voice definitely narrates the fall of the Confederacy felt from the home front.