Danny Glover's "Civil War Journal" vs. Ken Burns "Civil War"
 

There seem to be a lot of well read people on this board, so I have a question for you all. If you are a true Civil War buff, no doubt you have read Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton, William C. Davis and Douglas Southall Freeman amongst others.

However if you are just getting into it or the history channel is your thing, most likely one of two TV series has been a part of your Civil War diet. I am of course referring to the two PBS series mentioned in the title.

I was wondering what you all thought about the two series. I own both of them: 9 tapes of the Civil War and 28 tapes of the Civil War Journal. Personally, I like the Civil War Journal series a lot better. I believe Ken Burns may have beat Danny Glover to the punch as far as release date, but after viewing the two series over and over again, I still give the nod to Civil War Journal. Most people seem to worship the ground that Ken Burns walks on. I thought the series was OK, not great but OK. At least I thought, it may get some people thinking about the war and with luck there would ber a resurgance(sp?) in studying the war. It is 11.5 hours spread between 9 tapes and is basically divided into campaigns. If you wanted to look up something specific about the war it is not the series for you. If you are a real Civil War freak as I am, some of the things in the film are bothersome. For example, Burns uses a photograph taken of the Fredricksburg trenches during the battle of chancellorsville and represents it as the Battle of Frericksburg. There are several extant prints of the same scene of the stone wall during Fredricksburg but he chose to take a photo of the trenches as they were during Chancellorsville. I grant you the typical person wouldn't know or problably wouldn't care. But for me, well, it was an irritation. Minor maybe but still an irritation.

On the other hand, The Civil War Journal has tapes of easy duration 44 to 48 minutes. So if you want to use one for a classroom presentation, it will fit the time frame. also the tapes are divided specifically into categories. If you're curious about color bearers you look up the tape Banners of Glory. If you want to get a better insight as to how West Point figured into the war, you look up the episode West Point Class Mates Civil War Enemies. Likewise there are tapes on the medical advances during the war, Zouves, Lincoln, Lee, Mosby, Jackson, artillery, Civil War newspaper Reporters, Photographers, the Monitor and the Virginia, etc.Like I said ,28 tapes. each long enought to hold your interest but not too long so you can still do honey-do stuff around the house without feeling too guilty.

What do you all think?

Bill

Bill,
Finally got some free minutes to check this forum, as discussed earlier. I've put it into my favorites so it can be reached quicker too.

I am glad to learn somebody other than myself was not thrilled as maybe one should have been by the Ken Burns series. I had looked forward to it actually very much. Friends who know of what they would readily call "my obsession" with the Civil War were all set to give the series a sigh of relief that finally something had gotten my attention. It was very difficult to explain to anyone the ways in which the series disappointed. Of course, I was very glad to see Mr. Foote hold forth in it, and felt that certain elements were up to the need (such as that lady near the end who said the war is not yet ended...).
Anyway, I plan to look into the Danny Glover tapes wherever they can be found near here. Some significant battles (e.g. Carthage) occured nearby and there was a lot of raider-type activity in this region back then...so there will certainly be copies of those tapes someplace around.
Thanks for your great info about the Union army oath of 1861. I'd love to know/see a copy of the Confederate oath of that period too. I'll keep checking in here from time to time. Maybe someone out there knows how to get at that obscure document.
Mike

Mike,
This isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I thought you might like to look at it anyway. Its the Texas version.

Chilidog

http://www.allenisd.org/facstaff2.ns...256B720015DBA9

6 of one ...
 

Ken Burns opened the door for the others who wished to tell the complete story of the Civil War. The producers of the Glover series realized that specific topics could be made in a one hour format. It comes down to your personal likes.

:a:

Chilidog,
Thanks for that Texas oath, which suggests thsat each of the seceding states probably had one similar, and most likely so did the Confederacy itself and/or the CSA army/navy as well.
How amazing it would be to find that somehow.
Mike

oath
 

Mike,
You are probably right about each state having its own oath. Go to google.com and type in "confederate oath." There were a couple of links to a list of people that signed the Alabama oath. I didn't see the Alabama oath itself, but at least they referred to it.

Chilidog

:e:

Chilidog,
Okay, I'll follow that trail, thanks for finding it.
Do you think Shelby Foote can be reached by someone somehow (e-mail or otherwise), and if so wouldn't he know the most direct route to the CSA "federal" oaths?
Mike

Confederate oaths
 

:re:
Chilidog and Tamaroa
I'm also going to send an e-mail to the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, for their librarian, maybe they'll know how to guide this inquiry. I made my pilgrimage there in 1995, quite an experience.
Mike

I haven't seen the new M.O.C. since they added the new building and restored the house. I was a member of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society when I lived in Virginia in the 70's. In the old Confederate White House they had a room dedicated to each Confederate state. I did some research there once, They let me go through the original records of the 11th Virgiina Quartermaster records. Quite an experience, it was.

Bill

M.O.C.
 

Bill,
I sent you an e-mail cc of my letter to the MOC librarian, so I hope if you see any defects in it you might send your own query? Surely they'll know the right way.
I could have spent a month in the MOC and white house out there...it was really wonderful to be seeing inches away the actual artifacts and not ones resembling the ones that so-and-so used on such-and-such a day or year. I brought home a replica CSA canvas side pouch that I treasure as if it were the real deal. I sometimes look at E-Bay and elsewhere to see if any CSA military gear comes up, can't afford it, but its nice to see it. The whole road trip into Richmond to the museum, down that long boulevard of memories was quite an experience, an honor... Just the knowledge that nobody was about to jump down my collar because I felt something for our past. I worked almost twenty years in art museums as a curator, and would give just about anything legal to end my days even as a docent for the MOC.
Bluehawk/Mike