Being new to this realm I would like input on the best type of software to do forensic animation. i.e. generating an accurate graphic depiction of an actual event such as you see of a particular battle or historical event. Thanks in advance.

Is this for The History Channel, or for a jury at a lawsuit trial?  Who and how big is your audience first?

One touch...contact someone or studio that do this job and ask them about this. If you want to do in a freelance way try the software that you can buy: Cinema 4D, Lightwave, XSI, 3DMax, Maya

This is something for my son and I to do. He is particullarly interested in Civil War Battles very specfically the battle that one of our relatives was killed in.

One can go overboard, using http://www.massivesoftware.com/ to create mobs.  Or use pre-animated non-AI objects that are replicated into cheaper Vue or Carrara scenes.  First-Person Shooter game engines (some with ragdoll physics) are being used more and more now to re-enact battles.

One low cost idea is Iclone studio www.realilusion.com

Thanks for all the info.

Everybody knows my view on Daz/Poser so I don't believe I am saying this, but you could probably do it using daz studio and bryce 6. Create your characters in daz and animate them in bryce. Also if you get DEM files of the battlefield Bryce will accuratly recreate it.

If you want accuracy I think you need to look at Lightwave , Modo, or one of the higher end apps. Since it sounds like a hobby I would go with Poser and Bryce .   Poser simply because it has better animation controls than Daz studio.   

You might chack out www.contentparadise.com , they have a passport membership and you can get Poser 6 for $2.50  if you become a passport member . The passport membership gives you discounts on products from the store for some things .

Well a few things you might want to look at do you plan on animating. do you want to render it in real time or do you want to do a series of stills. How do you feel about spending some time learning the software because you have to do that nothing is instant. plan on taking some time think of which aspect you wan lot learn first. Good free stuff Wings is nice and free you can make low poly models. Look into games based on the civil war and see if you can import DEM files pr do mods might be a interesting tool.