Plot Synopsis

Three celebrity hosts delve into their own family history, as well as those of many viewers, and explore iconic Smithsonian artifacts, providing different perspectives on the events and impact of the Civil War (1861-1865), one of the most divisive eras in American history. Each 60-minute episode focuses on a different viewpoint, including those of: "The Union," in which Ashley Judd seeks to understand the experiences of two of her great-great-great grandfathers, both Union soldiers from Kentucky, while she also examines field surgical instruments, a Union private's letter home about life in Kentucky, and battered dishes from Libby Prison; "The Confederacy," during which Trace Adkins honors the experiences of everyday soldiers like his great-great grandfather, a Confederate infantryman from Louisiana, by exploring music, art, and firearm collections at the Smithsonian; and "Fight for Freedom," in which Dennis Haysbert traces his ancestry back to enslaved people in America's deep South, while he experiences painful reminders of this struggle firsthand as he encounters Smithsonian treasures, like a ship's manifest listing a cargo of slaves, the inkwell Lincoln used to write the Emancipation Proclamation, and a hymnal owned by Harriet Tubman.