In this Silver Telly Award Winning special we see author Kent Masterson Brown explore some of the crucial events of the Civil War, a war that saw America locked in conflict, pitting brothers, neighbours and even states against each other. A fact which makes the study of this war all the more fascinating.

To understand the pivotal role that Kentucky played in this great conflict this film takes us back to a chapter of Civil War history which is often overshadowed but played a major role in the outcome of this war. Covering the collapse of the Confederate defenses in Kentucky in the Winter of 1862, the Battle of Shiloh and the movement of General Braggs Confederate Army from Tupelo to Chattanooga.

Chronicling the roads and battlegrounds of what was the longest and most complex military operation of the entire Civil War, it was a campaign for Kentucky, a state that had to be won and held by Confederate forces if that fledging Confederacy was to exist, it was also a state that had to be held by Union forces if the United States was to continue as a nation.