We examine the most powerful, influential and consequential propaganda campaign in American history, the Lost Cause myth of the Civil War. With religious-style fervor, Confederate apologists turned fiction into history, villains into heroes and created rationalizations for enslaving 4 million human beings. Several historians and authors are interviewed.

Mary Todd Lincoln is one of the most interesting characters in the Civil War. She turbocharged Abraham Lincoln's ambition, especially when his political career seemed at a low ebb. Yet her strong personality could rub people the wrong way. To better understand her, I interviewed one of the nation's premier experts on Abraham Lincoln, Michael Burlingame. He is the author of many books, including "An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd." This book is diligently researched and thus sorts fact from rumor. Burlingame is a history professor at the University of Illinois - Springfield.

One of the most interesting and important characters in America's Civil War history is Henry Clay of Kentucky. Like Thomas Jefferson, he made antislavery statements and yet enslaved many people. Clay also was instrumental in developing compromises between slave states and anti-slave states. Though the compromises eventually had to fail -- there is no compromise on freedom -- the delays made possible the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. To understand Clay, I interviewed Eric Brooks, curator at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate. The expertise of Brooks is on display here. Follow my website: civilwarsurvivor.com.

When I discovered that a female nurse, basically acting like a medic, heroically called Union troops forward at Chancellorsville for the 3rd Michigan Infantry Regiment, I realized there was an interesting tale. The story of women who fought as men in combat units in the Civil War had only been superficially examined in modern times. But DeAnne Blanton and Lauren Cook did a masterful job of getting to the bottom in their groundbreaking book, "They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War." What follows is my interview with Blaton.

In a slight departure, we examine the maternal branch of my family. My mother's ancestors, the Hamlins of Sussex County, freed their enslaved people. Four members of the Hamlins freed 17 people ranging in age from six months to 57 years in 1782 and 1788. This was no coincidence. For 24 years, from 1782 to 1806, the state of Virginia made it relatively easy to free enslaved people. To put this into context, I interviewed two experts: Tom Costa is a history professor at the University of Virginia-Wise and Eva Sheppard Wolf is a history professor at San Francisco State University and the author of "Race and Liberty in the New Nation: Emancipation in Virginia from the Revolution to Nat Turner's Rebellion." Wolf masterfully explains the contradictions and ironies in the slave system.

Edgar W. Clark left his home in Lansing, Mich., his wife and two daughters, ages 1 and 3, to join the 3rd Michigan Regiment. Though it was organized out of Grand Rapids, the roster shows soldiers from all over Michigan. Edgar almost at once became homesick but found that a soldier's life initially was pretty easy. Finally, the author explains why primary sources prove the Civil War was fought over slavery. For more info on this project, see the website: civilwarsurvivor.com.

A month after Gettysburg, Edgar W. Clark is sent along with the 3rd Michigan Infantry Regiment to protect draft offices in New York. He survives the winter and then joins the continuous battles of the Overland Campaign in the summer of 1864. For more info on this project, see the website: civilwarsurvivor.com.

For the first time, Gen. U.S. Grant outsmarts Gen. Robert E. Lee, brilliantly moving his forces across the James River to the railroad center of Petersburg, south of Richmond. But poor generalship reduces the advantage. Edgar W. Clark meets his fate on the second day's battle. For more info on this project, see the website: civilwarsurvivor.com.