The film centers mostly around the personal and professional life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point.

小说无情地揭露了美国历史上南方奴隶制度的残暴面目，是美国第一部具有鲜明民主倾向的作品。此书出版前，美国南、北方因奴隶制度而引起的地域性矛盾由于1850年国会通过的妥协法案而趋于缓和，小说发表后，犹如平地一声霹雳，震撼了整个美国社会。近代史学家普遍认为《汤姆大伯的小屋》是美国南北战争的导火索之一；林肯总统也曾把斯陀夫人称为“发动南北战争的妇人”。书中对于善良诚实的汤姆大伯和各阶层众多人物的刻画，散发出强烈的艺术感染力。

《红色的英勇标志》是美国文学史上一部经典作品，它奠定了作者斯蒂芬•克莱恩（1871-1900）在美国史学上的地位。小说描写了美国南北战争时期间一个不谙世事却胸怀崇高理想的青年在战火和死亡中成长的故事。亨利！弗莱明由于战火和死亡的恐惧而逃跑，又因为受到道德和荣誉心的鞭策而归队，重使用面对炮火，他奋勇当先，表现顽强，终于赢回了荣誉和信心，从而成熟起来。《红色的英勇标志》是一个描写年轻人在战火中成长的故事，重点表现战争环境对人的心理所产生的影响。美国南北战争（1861-1865）期间，不谙世事的小伙子享利•弗莱明到爱国宣传的影响，出于对古希腊英雄的崇拜，不顾母亲反对，执意报名参加了北部联邦军。

在军事方面，美国内战也是一个重要事件。后来的战争在作战方式、战术以及军队的构成等方面的变化，在其他地方——尤其在欧洲——也都能看得到。美国内战中的这些变化则首次为人们所瞩目。 内战突显了许多新型武器的极大威力。和以前相比，步枪的射程更长，并且准确度更高。能够连发的来复枪可以使士兵在一分钟内射击多次，而不是以往的两三次。人们还使用了具有更强火力和更远射程的大炮。这些武器的增长如此之快，以至于不必再拔军费给骑兵和步兵。当然，在这样强大的火力面前，伤亡人数也是非常之巨。

《葛底斯堡的雄狮：美国南北战争传奇将军张伯伦回忆录》主要内容包括：战后演讲及私人书信、给妻子弗朗西斯，张伯伦的信、给亨利·沃兹沃思，朗费罗的信、在葛底斯堡缅因纪念碑落成典礼上的演讲、在亚伯拉罕.林肯总统诞辰一百周年纪念仪式上的演讲等。

This novel reveals more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any piece of learned nonfiction on the same subject. Michael Shaara's account of the three most important days of the Civil War features deft characterizations of all of the main actors, including Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Buford, and Hancock. The most inspiring figure in the book, however, is Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, whose 20th Maine regiment of volunteers held the Union's left flank on the second day of the battle. This unit's bravery at Little Round Top helped turned the tide of the war against the rebels. There are also plenty of maps, which convey a complete sense of what happened July 1-3, 1863.

With On to Petersburg, Gordon C. Rhea completes his much-lauded history of the Overland Campaign, a series of Civil War battles fought between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in southeastern Virginia in the spring of 1864. Having previously covered the campaign in his magisterial volumes on The Battle of the Wilderness, The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, To the North Anna River, and Cold Harbor, Rhea ends this series with a comprehensive account of the last twelve days of the campaign, which concluded with the beginning of the siege of Petersburg. On to Petersburg follows the Union army’s movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign. Beginning his account in the immediate aftermath of Grant’s three-day attack on Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Rhea argues that the Union general’s primary goal was not―as often supposed―to take Richmond, but rather to destroy Lee’s army by closing off its retreat routes and disrupting its supply chains. While Grant struggled at times to communicate strategic objectives to his subordinates and to adapt his army to a faster-paced, more flexible style of warfare, Rhea suggests that the general successfully shifted the military landscape in the Union’s favor. On the rebel side, Lee and his staff predicted rightly that Grant would attempt to cross the James River and lay siege to the Army of Northern Virginia while simultaneously targeting Confederate supply lines. Rhea examines how Lee, facing a better-provisioned army whose troops outnumbered Lee’s two to one, consistently fought the Union army to an impasse, employing risky, innovative field tactics to counter Grant’s forces. Like the four volumes that preceded it, On to Petersburg represents decades of research and scholarship and will stand as the most authoritative history of the final battles in the campaign.