List of films and television shows about the American Civil War

Films about the war

Before 1920

• The Guerrilla
• The Fugitive
• The House with Closed Shutters
• In the Border States
• The Battle, directed by D.W. Griffith
• His Trust Fulfilled
• Railroad Raiders of '62
• Swords and Hearts
• For Her Sake
• Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight
• The Informer
• The Lie
• The Seventh Son
• The Battle of Gettysburg
• The Battle of Shiloh
• The Price of Victory
• The Seed of the Fathers
• Dan
• The Sleeping Sentinel
• The Birth of a Nation, also known as The Clansmen, directed by D.W. Griffith
• The Warrens of Virginia
• Colonel Carter of Cartersville
• The Coward
• According to the Code
• Her Father's Son
• Naked Hearts
• The Sting of Victory
• The Blood of His Fathers
• The Field of Honor
• The Lincoln Cycle
• The Spreading Dawn
• Hearts of Love
• The Scarlet Drop
• The Son of Democracy
• Miss Dulcie from Dixie
• Hay Foot, Straw Foot

  1920s

• The Copperhead
• Grandma's Boy
• Barbara Frietchie
• The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
• Hands Up!
• The General, film by Buster Keaton about the Great Locomotive Chase
• Court Martial
• The Overland Telegraph

  1930s

• Abraham Lincoln, a biopic about President Abraham Lincoln
• Secret Service
• Little Women
• Operator 13
• So Red the Rose
• The Littlest Rebel
• Hearts in Bondage
• General Spanky
• The Old Maid
• Gone with the Wind, perhaps the most famous Civil War film

  1940s

• The Man from Dakota
• Virginia City
• Dark Command
• They Died With Their Boots On, a biopic about General George Custer
• Tennessee Johnson, a biopic about President Andrew Johnson
• The Adventures of Mark Twain, a biopic about Mark Twain
• Renegade Girl
• Silver River
• A Southern Yankee
• The Man from Colorado
• Little Women
• South of St. Louis

  1950s

• Two Flags West
• Rocky Mountain
• Drums in the Deep South
• The Last Outpost
• The Red Badge of Courage
• Springfield Rifle
• Escape from Fort Bravo
• The Raid, loosely based on the St. Albans Raid
• The Great Locomotive Chase, based on the Great Locomotive Chase
• Love Me Tender
• Friendly Persuasion
• Revolt at Fort Laramie
• Band of Angels
• Raintree County
• The Horse Soldiers, based on the Grierson's Raid in the Vicksburg Campaign and the Battle of Newton's Station

  1960s

• Mysterious Island
• How the West Was Won
• Advance to the Rear
• Major Dundee
• Shenandoah
• Alvarez Kelly
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, western, directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, that involves an encounter with both Union and Confederate forces
• A Time for Killing

  1970s

• Rio Lobo
• The Beguiled
• The Red Badge of Courage
• The Outlaw Josey Wales, Clint Eastwood film about guerrilla warfare in Missouri

  1980s and 1990s

• The Shadow Riders made for television film, starring Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott
• Glory, drama, starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington, about the African-American 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
• Dances With Wolves
• Ironclads, made-for-TV drama about the ironclad warships CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor, which clashed at the Battle of Hampton Roads
• Sommersby
• Ghost Brigade
• Gettysburg, war film featuring Tom Berenger and Jeff Daniels about the Battle of Gettysburg
• Pharaoh's Army
• Andersonville
• Amistad, features a brief shot of the war at the end of the film
• The Hunley , film about the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley
• Ride with the Devil, Ang Lee film about the guerrilla battles in Kansas and Missouri between the jayhawkers and the bushwhackers

  2000s

• Wicked Spring
• Gangs of New York, drama, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, about the New York Draft Riots
• Gods and Generals, prequel to Gettysburg and covers the battles of First Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville
• Cold Mountain, drama, starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, that features the Battle of the Crater and aftermath of the war
• ', alternative history film which speculates what would happen had the South won the Civil War
• Dead Birds
• The Colt , drama, starring Ryan Merriman, features Battle of the Wilderness
• Mysterious Island
• '
• Dog Jack

  2010s

• The Conspirator
• Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies
• Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, covering the last few months of the war
• Saving Lincoln, about Ward Hill Lamon who was Lincoln's bodyguard
• Killing Lincoln
• Copperhead
• Field of Lost Shoes
• Army of Frankensteins
• The Keeping Room
• Free State of Jones
• The Beguiled
• Little Women

  Television shows and miniseries

• The Twilight Zone, had a few episodes that dealt with the Civil War:
• * The Passersby
• * Still Valley
• * An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• The Americans, TV series
• The Blue and the Gray, miniseries, starring John Hammond, Stacy Keach, Lloyd Bridges, and Gregory Peck as President Abraham Lincoln
• North and South, miniseries, starring Patrick Swayze, James Read and Lesley-Anne Down
• The Rose and the Jackal Civil War Spy drama starring Christopher Reeve as Allan Pinkerton and Madolyn Smith as Rose Greenhow
• True Blood, one of the main protagonists of the show vampire Bill Compton is a former Confederate soldier and some flashbacks are set specifically in the Civil War.
• Hell on Wheels, protagonist of the show is an ex-Confederate soldier veteran.
• Copper - portrays the 1864 Election Day sabotage
• Grant, miniseries, depicts the life of Ulysses Grant, with a large portion covering the Civil War.

  Documentaries

• The Battle of Gettysburg
• The Civil War
• The Great Battles of the Civil War
• Civil War Combat
• '
• 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed Women, TV, recounting the Battle of Antietam
• '
• Sherman's March
• Gettysburg''