New Civil War Documentary to Premier at Shiloh Battlefield | Events

On Saturday, August 25, Shiloh National Military Park will be premiering the new Ric Burns documentary "Death and the Civil War.”

This ground-breaking fi lm, based on the book This Republic of Suff ering by Drew Gilpin Faust, explores an important but often overlooked aspect of the most pivotal event in American history: the transformation of a nation by the death of an estimated 750,000 people.

This carnage represented 2 1/2 percent of the American population in 1860, which in today’s numbers would equal nearly seven million individuals.

“Death and the Civil War,” part of PBS’ American Experience series, tracks the lethal arc of the war, from the bloodless opening in 1861, through the chaos of Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, and the unspeakable carnage of 1864 - down through the struggle, in the aftermath of war, to cope with an American landscape littered with the bodies of thousands of soldiers, many unburied, most unidentified.

The premier of this new documentary will begin with a reception and light refreshments provided by the Hardin County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 6:30 pm in the park’s visitor center, followed by the showing at 7:00 pm. It is a 90 minute fi lm, which will include an intermission. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Anyone interested in attending the premier is encouraged to contact the visitor center at 731-689-5696 to register in advance.