Civil War

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene in California's civil war -- the conflict between Hollywood and Silicon Valley over digital copyright rights. The case before the court nominally pits MGM and Grokster, a scrappy online "file-sharing" software maker based in the West Indies. But this is really a fight between those who make entertainment content and those who make the gadgets that often encourage the unauthorized use or copying of that content.

Robert Bohrn cannot forget the black Union soldier whose bones he and another Civil War relic hunter uncovered on Folly Island, S.C., more than 20 years ago. "It's one thing to find a coin, a slave tag, a person's ring," Bohrn said. "It's way different to turn your shovel blade over and see a human being." Feeling as though he is a caretaker for that soldier and the 18 others whose skeletons were found at the lonely outpost, Bohrn, 53, now is working with South Carolina to erect a historical marker near the site.

Most Americans seem ready to consign the Iraq war to history. They've watched tank convoys leave Baghdad, and they've heard the president underscore his campaign promise to draw down U.S. forces, leaving roughly 50,000 in the country as of Aug. 31. Moreover, Iraq and the U.S. have agreed that the remaining U.S. troops will be gone by December 2011. But history suggests that unless the U.S. is willing and able to remain committed to Iraq's security and prosperity — and Iraqis know it — the country is at risk of spiraling back into civil war. Civil conflicts like those we have seen in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion often recur when parties to a conflict fail to dedicate themselves to a peace process.

Things hadn't gone according to plan — do they ever in war? — and now, Lt. James Barrett was going to make them right. The cavalry officer and his dozen or so men would rescue his colleague, Capt. William McCleave, from those nettlesome rebels hiding near Picacho Peak, and McCleave would be returned to his rightful place with the California Volunteers and regulars. The honor of California, a state that contributed more than 15,000 troops to the Union war effort, was at stake.

Talk about Civil War action in Southern California, and people might think you're arguing about the annual UCLA-USC football clash. But in Wilmington, not far from the Port of Los Angeles, stands a piece of the real war between the states. The white two-story Greek revival in the middle of a residential tract is the last remaining Civil War-era military facility in Southern California, a remnant of what was once a bustling 60-acre compound. Now home to the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, the building was Army headquarters for Southern California and the Arizona Territory from 1862 through 1871.

It's a pretty autumn day on an Ohio farm, and the leaves are changing into red, yellow and deeper shades of green. Apples ripen; grapes hang on vines. It's just rained, and the air is clear as a letter arrives from the farm family's son, Pete, who's been away at war. His brother calls to their father to come up from the fields to read it, and the boy's mother hurries over too. A glance shows the parents that the letter was not written by their son. It recounts the boy's wounding, in a gunshot to the chest, with a reassurance that he "will soon be better.

A Civil War prison in Georgia -- briefly the largest prison camp of the conflict -- continues to provide archaeologists with fresh artifacts, including the personal belongings of Union soldiers held there. Camp Lawton, in Millen, Ga., has been the site of an excavation by a team from Georgia Southern University since last year. This week, university officials announced the team had found a ring, a corps badge, keys to furniture and doors, suspender buckles and a pocket knife.

African states supporting the warring parties in Congo's civil war have agreed to withdraw their troops in favor of a peacekeeping force organized by the Organization of African Unity, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said. The force's priority will be to disarm Rwandan rebels, Museveni said in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The war began in August 1998 when rebels took up arms in eastern Congo to oust President Laurent Kabila.

For Ernest Griffin, the Civil War is more than just a lesson in the history books. Griffin, 78, is the unofficial historian of Camp Douglas, the prisoner-of-war camp built on Chicago's South Side on land now occupied by faded mansions, high-rises and Griffin's Funeral Home. "I have an overall interest in the Civil War," Griffin, whose grandfather fought for the Union, said. "It was such an important role our city of Chicago played in the history of the Civil War."

The two-hour opening episode of PBS' monumental documentary "The Civil War" scored the network's highest rating ever for the debut of any series, according to data provided Monday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. and PBS. Based on ratings for Nielsen's 24 largest markets, PBS estimated that nearly 14 million people nationwide watched the opening installment of filmmaker Ken Burns' nine-part series.