Brand new factory sealed tapes in a heavy duty navy blue faux leather look case with gold foil stamping as pictured on both the front and back. This was produced for Reader's Digest and sold as a mail-order documentary. Also comes with a big fold-out insert, a viewers guide with all the detailed maps of the battlefields so you can follow along. Volume 1 'TO SUMTER and SHILOH': The legendary Southern way of life--magnificent plantations, fields of cotten... and slaves--is challenged with words (by Harriet Beecher Stowe, among others) and with guns (by abolitionist John Brown at Harpers Ferry). But it is the election of Abraham Lincoln (1st Republican) that finally drives Southern states to secession. When Southern rebels fire upon Fort Sumter, suddenly America is at war with herself. During the next 12 months, blue meets gray in the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), the 'Monitor' and the 'Merrimac' clash at sea, and General Ulysses S. Grant takes Fort Donelson in Tennessee. The moving ballad, "the Battle on Shiloh Hill", brings the volume to a close. Volume 2 'BLOODY STALEMATE': Brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor. Men are recruited, troops march, battles are fought, the luckless die. But a clear-cut victory continues to elude both sides. The Battle of Antietam takes place on September 17, 1862. It is the bloodiest day of the entire war. As soldiers risk wounds, death, or capture, Abraham Lincoln frees the slaves and Jefferson Davis seeks support from abroad. Ulysses S. Grant lays siege to Vicksburg. Robert E. Lee achieves his finest victory at Chancellorsville and suffers his greatest defeat: Gettysburg. Volume 3 'CLIMAX at APPOMATTOX': Northern troops start closing in on the war-weary Southerners, whose cities have been razed, farms plundered, and morale all but destroyed. In Tennessee, mist-shrouded Lookout Mountain plays a pivotal role in the bloody fight for Chattanooga. Atlanta burns. Sherman marches to the sea. And Admiral David Farragut "damns the torpedos" in Mobil Bay. Finally Robert E. Lee and Ulyssess S. Grant sit down at Appomattox Court House to work out the terms of surrender.