Episode 1: Prologue
Oliver Wendell Holmes – We have shared the incommunicable experiences of war. We have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top. In our youths, our hearts were touched with fire.
Narrator – By the summer of 1861, Wilmer McLean had had enough. Two great armies were converging on his farm, in what would be the first major battle of the Civil War – Bull Run or Manassas as the Confederates called it – would soon rage across the aging Virginians farm, a Union shell going so far as to explode in the summer kitchen. Now, Mclean had moved his family away from Manassas and south and west of Richmond – out of harm’s way, he prayed, to a dusty crossroads called Appomattox Court House. And it was there in his living room three and a half years later that Lee surrendered to Grant, and Wilmer McLean could rightfully say, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."
A friend and fellow historian recently sent me the entire Ken Burns Civil War transcript. Huh….what should I do with it?
My colleague and I teach the civil war to juniors in a private high school. We would LOVE to have a transcript of Ken Burns Civil War–all of it.
Thank you.
Jamie Winetrobe
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately, I am not able to share the script owing to copyright restrictions.
At this point I am going to have to say no. I am at the very early stages of a book project with another historian that involves the editing of the entire manuscript. We still need to get permission to publish. I would rather not be responsible for distributing this around for legal reasons.
In that case, if at all possible, could it be emailed to me? My email address is jhgporter@yahoo.co.uk
Unfortunately, there are copyright issues.
Would it be possible to post the transcript on the internet? I am a big fan of the film and would like to read it!
What amuses me about the Holmes comment is that in 1864 … he went home.