History UsefulNotes / TheAmericanCivilWar

%%* Charles Frazier's ''Literature/ColdMountain'', which was also made into a movie.

* ''Series/{{Manhunt}}'' follows the manhunt for UsefulNotes/JohnWilkesBooth following his assassination of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, with several flashback scenes taking place during the war.

** Director John Ford subverted many tropes, though. For instance, the loyal slave servant (Althea Gibson—yes. ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Tennis}} that]]'' Althea Gibson) [[{{Irony}} ends up]] [[spoiler:shot dead by a Confederate bushwhacker]] for her pains) and the SouthernBelle trope turns into comedy where the ladies of Newton Station throw dirt at the Yankee cavalrymen, dirtying themselves in the process. It also turns out that one of Marlowe/Wayne’s men (played by Ford stalwart Hank Worden) knows the area from the time before the war when he helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad, and a couple of Confederate deserters (who by their very existence counter the trope of always honorable Southern soldiers) boast about their shooting prowess and then mention the time when one of them shot a female runaway slave right between the eyes. The [[ChildSoldiers schoolboys’ action]] is played not as heroic, but equal parts tragedy (there’s a real TearJerker moment when a mother begs the commander to spare her one surviving son and not take him into battle with him) and comedy (the little drummer boy then runs away from home[[note]]Does this imply that [[AnAesop only ignorant children would want to seek martial glory]]?[[/note]] to rejoin his comrades, but is captured by the Northerners who let him go after giving him a spanking). Also, the briefing with Grant and Sherman at the beginning makes it clear that the Marlowe/Wayne’s raid is part of the operations that resulted in one of the great victories of the North, the taking of Vicksburg, and the brigade handsomely wins the two fights against grownup Confederates that it cannot avoid.

In the North, there is industry and patriotism, and abolitionists decry the evils of slavery from every pulpit. Abraham Lincoln is a pretty popular guy in these parts — he spends most of his time in the Oval Office, brooding over battle maps and writing deep historical speeches on stovepipe hats. Ask him why he’s fighting the war and he’ll tell you it’s to free the slaves. Never mind that this runs contrary what he actually ''said'' when asked during the war[[note]]"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing ''any'' slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing ''all'' the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."[[/note]]; this is HollywoodHistory, where heroes are pure and their motives always perfectly clear.[[note]]Historians still debate whether this reflects Lincoln's genuine motivations or was pragmatic rhetoric meant to win broader support for the war; even those in the latter camp still agree that "racial equality" was never something Lincoln had in mind. Even among the most strident abolitionists (and Lincoln was a more moderate abolitionist), ''very'' few believed in racial equality. Most agreed with the slaveowners that blacks were a "lower race" than whites, but felt that even the "lowest" of humanity still deserved better than slavery.[[/note]] You’re lucky if you see portrayals of black persons ''at all'' in the North, especially in older media, even though they made up a disproportionate 10% of the Union army by war's end (''Film/{{Glory}}'' being a notable depiction thereof).