Gettysburg VS Predator

A couple days ago I received an email from someone at “History” (formerly the History Channel) asking if I would promote their upcoming two hour spectacle Gettysburg, produced by Ridley Scott (Alien, Black Hawk Down) and his brother Tony (The A Team, Pillars of the Earth). The person from “History” even offered a wide assortment of goodies in compensation for my blog space, including high-end items like t-shirts and hand bags.

With such a tantalizing deal before me (I mean who wouldn’t want a white t-shirt with a big “H” on it?), I wisely listened to the little voice in the back of my head that asked, “Yes, but what if you end up hating it?” and ended up turning down the offer.

Needless to say, it’s a good thing I did, because I can now offer you a lighthearted post on how some of my more vociferous and passionate friends on Facebook responded to what turned out to be a disappointing film on many, many levels.

Here’s a sampling of what some folks are saying about Gettysburg that had me writhing with laughter.

Enjoy:

"At least Ridley Scott didnt put laser sighters on the enfields."

"seek medical help if this show lasts more than four hours"

"This Gettysburg thing is bizarre! Bad uniforms, beards, hats etc. No one seems to fight in formations. The Rebs apparently all fought in their shirtsleeves. The Rebel yell sounds like a bunch of radical Muslims."

"Calling it putrid is an insult to all of the rotten things in the world."

"The best thing has been the warning when the show comes back after commercials: "Some scenes may disturb viewers". I find the whole damn mess pretty disturbing."

"I think they bought much of the props at the gift shop."

"I like Ewell, he looks like a crazy toupee model."

“Ron Maxwell, you have been vindicated! At least you knew that Lee’s men wore coats, you didn’t try to show sweeping forestry scenes that were reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and you didn’t annoy us with sidebars about the Underground Railroad and the invention of the telegraph. And who in their right mind would’ve thought that the fake beards you used would be shown to be superior?”

Now, in all fairness, I should point out that the historians who were chosen to provide the commentary did an excellent job (it was great to finally see my friend Hari Jones on the History Channel). It was the pairing of such excellent scholarship with awful Hollywood antics, however, that made the film seem disjointed, confusing, and supremely unfulfilling.

Kudos to “History” for trying to contribute to the Sesquicentennial commemoration by seeking out high-end Hollywood producers to help generate interest in America’s greatest conflict.

And here’s to hoping that they never do it again.

Fredericksburg.com - 'Putting their lives on the line for their country'

Kudos to Clint Schemmer of the Free Lance Star for his excellent article on Take Our Stand: The African American Military Experience in the Age of Jim Crow.

Be sure to check it out!

Fredericksburg.com - 'Putting their lives on the line for their country'

148 Years Ago Today

GENERAL ORDERS,
No. 143

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, May 22, 1863.

I -- A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops, An officer, will be assigned to the charge of the Bureau, with such number of clerks as may be designated by the Adjutant General.

II -- Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States.

III -- Boards will be convened at such posts as may be decided upon by the War Department to examine applicants for commissions to command colored troops, who, on Application to the Adjutant General, may receive authority to present themselves to the board for examination.

IV -- No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board; nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one regiment.

V -- The reports of Boards will specify the grade of commission for which each candidate is fit, and authority to recruit will be given in accordance. Commissions will be issued from the Adjutant General's Office when the prescribed number of men is ready for muster into service.

VI -- Colored troops maybe accepted by companies, to be afterward consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim, in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated: "——Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops."

VII -- Recruiting stations and depots will be established by the Adjutant General as circumstances shall require, and officers will be detailed to muster and inspect the troops.

VIII -- The non-commissioned officers of colored troops may be selected and appointed from the best men of their number in the usual mode of appointing non-commissioned officers. Meritorious commissioned officers will be entitled to promotion to higher rank if they prove themselves equal to it.

IX -- All personal applications for appointments in colored regiments, or for information concerning them, must be made to the Chief of the Bureau; all written communications should be addressed to the Chief of the Bureau, to the care of the Adjutant General,

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant General.

If You Happen To Be In Spotsylvania Tomorrow…

…stop by and meet the members of the newly formed 23rd United States Colored Troops living history group!

We’ll be scouring the crowds looking for potential recruits and educating the public about the history of the 23rd and of USCT history in general.

Members of the recreated 23rd USCT. From left to right: 1st Lt. Jimmy Price, Cpl. Steward Henderson, & Capt. John Cummings III



Hope to see you there!

NPS historian Eric Mink to talk May 17 on U.S. Colored Troops - Past is Prologue

Thanks to Clint Schemmer for his kind mention of The Sable Arm in this article. If you live in the Fredericksburg area, be sure to catch this talk tomorrow night. I'll be there wearing my "foolish re-enactor" clothes representing a member of the 23rd USCT, so I hope to see you there!

NPS historian Eric Mink to talk May 17 on U.S. Colored Troops - Past is Prologue

THIS JUST IN: Glenn Lafantasie Doesn’t Like Civil War Re-enactors

If I was a Civil War re-enactor and I happened upon Dr. Glenn W. Lafantasie’s Sunday article over at Salon.com entitled “The Foolishness of Civil War Reenactors,” I think I might have been offended.

Oh wait.

I am a Civil War re-enactor and I was offended.

In a meandering article that covers the controversial events that took place during the Fort Sumter commemoration last month, a spiteful dressing down of just about every re-enactor who has drawn breath since 1865 (the good doctor doesn’t seem interested in balancing his portrait with re-enactors who are sane, well-adjusted individuals presumably because he doesn’t think they exist), a brief overview of Lafantasie-approved reading on the conflict, and a lament over the month-old sesquicentennial, Lafantasie succeeds mainly in sounding like one of those out of touch academics that Southern heritage types are always crowing about.

He stumbles right out of the gate when he tries to give us “normal folk” a helpful definition of “what living history means.” Living history involves people “dressing up in Union and Confederate uniforms and acting out battles and other significant events that occurred between 1861 and 1865.” Not quite true – living history events are usually more casual happenings with no recreated battles in which the detested re-enactors set up camp and demonstrate life on the field and on the march. A battle re-enactment is an event where a specific battlefield scenario is recreated, such as the one that happened at Fort Sumter to Lafantasie’s everlasting outrage.

Many folks who have been in the hobby a while (myself included) will tell you that they prefer living history events because they are more laid back and offer better opportunities for interacting with the public. “Powder burning fests,” as they are sometimes called, tend to attract the subspecies of re-enactor commonly referred to as a “yahoo.” This type of re-enactor cares little for authenticity and wants to shoot his musket as often as he can so that his childhood fantasy of being Josey Wales will finally be realized. I suspect that this is the type of person that Dr. Lafantasie has so much pent up annoyance over.

As the article chugs right along, Lafantasie becomes more shrill in his denouncement of re-enactors, with statements like this – “I confess to some unease about all this playacting as we look down the road to four years of battle reenactments, fancy-dress balls (modeled on the ones portrayed in the films “The Birth of a Nation” and “Gone With the Wind”), and professions of neo-Confederate sentiments about the war having been fought over states’ rights and not slavery, as if that’s a good thing.”

Well, I shouldn’t need to point out that not every re-enactor out there thinks that such a commemoration would be a “good thing.” I guess in Lafantasie’s world there are no Union re-enactors at all, just long-bearded country folk running around shooting at the air and cursing that tyrant Lincoln. Ramping up his rhetoric, he states that re-enactors “live and breathe the war readily, without hesitation, and with a passion that veers close to a religious experience or even sexual arousal.” All of this “strikes [him] as perverse,” and I must admit that if I ever attend an event where re-enactors are flaunting their sexual arousal, I will be the first one to lead a bayonet charge back to the parking lot and fight my way out at all costs.

As the article continues to develop, the author makes more broad, sweeping statements that prove his lack of familiarity with how the hobby actually works and while he decries the violence that these battle re-enactments allegedly celebrate, he also criticizes them for being bloodless, snarkily describing how “the faux dead and wounded on the field rise up in a mass resurrection resembling the Rapture.” Unless Lafantasie wants real combat fatalities to occur at re-enactments, I’m fairly sure that this is unavoidable and the spectators (who Lafantasie also throws under the bus, comparing them to fans of professional wrestling) really are intelligent enough to draw distinctions between the modern day and 1861.

What really caused me to take issue with this article, however, is his characterization of African Americans. Consider this analysis:

“I’ve never attended a reenactment where the Confederate encampments are replete with compliant African-Americans portraying the slaves who actually accompanied their masters – officers and enlisted men – on the march. No doubt it’s hard to find modern African-Americans willing enough to play slaves alongside white Americans playing Confederate soldiers…It’s telling, of course, that African-Americans don’t often attend Civil War battle reenactments…For good reason, modern blacks are a little sensitive about slavery and anything that seems to suggest – as reenactments most assuredly do – that the Civil War was all about battles, that each side fought with equal courage and grand moral purpose, and that the war had nothing to do with slavery or emancipation.”

Is this all that can be said of how African Americans conceptualize the Civil War? Are camp slaves and contrabands the only opportunities available for any black person who would like to participate in a re-enactment? Does Lafantasie realize that over 179,000 African Americans served the Union cause as United States Colored Troops and that there are re-enactment units that exist to strive to portray these units? (I should know – the unit that I belong to is the 23rd United States Colored Troops.) Apparently USCT re-enactors have no place in Lafantasie’s framework, leaving his readers with the impression that African Americans have nothing to celebrate when it comes to the history of the conflict that freed 4 million of their ancestors. As he cynically notes, “one might successfully argue that the ‘new birth of freedom’ Lincoln hoped for never came about.”

Throughout the article, Lafantasie suggests venues other than Civil War re-enactments where people can come and learn to truly appreciate the history of the Civil War. He rightly suggests that National Parks are a good place to start. But doesn’t Lafantasie know that the NPS relies on re-enactment units on a regular basis to bolster their programs? Attend the wonderful living history weekend held by Richmond National Battlefield at Cold Harbor one June and you will see what I mean.

The article mercifully ends with a nearly incoherent rant about birthers, the Tea Party movement, and immigration reform which is sure to earn him points with some of his fellow academics while leaving the rest of us to think that all Civil War re-enactors are right wing racist lunatics hell-bent on destroying the “true” legacy of the Civil War.

For someone who seems to have such righteous indignation over people who lump entire groups of individuals into one category and discriminate against them, that is exactly what Lafantasie has done with Civil War re-enactors.

Respected re-enactors who are still with us like Greg Urwin and Dana Shoaf, in addition to those who are no longer with us like Chuck Hillsman and Brian Pohanka stand out as sterling examples of re-enactors that don’t fit Lafantasie’s mold.

And, like it or not, re-enactors will play a large role during the sesquicentennial commemoration. Perhaps it would be best to ensure that only the most respected re-enactment units out there are invited to participate in important events rather than denigrating them all because of one event that took place in Charleston last month.

But what do I know?

I’m just a foolish re-enactor.

Random Updates

Pardon the lack of posts as of late, but my beautiful wife and I just welcomed our second child into the world this week. That being said, I thought I’d update all of you on a few things that are worth noting.

1. In the “tooting my own horn” department, Civil War Trust President O. James Lighthizer has kindly agreed to write the forward to my New Market Heights book. Also, check out the site for Colonial Williamsburg’s page for the upcoming electronic field trip entitled When Freedom Came. Yours truly wrote the historical background for said field trip.

2. Check out a very interesting post from Alan Skerrett, Jr. about monuments to United States Colored Troops.

3. Be sure to take a look at the historical consultants for the upcoming miniseries To Appomattox. Quite impressive, to say the least.

Contest Announcement

Gentle Readers of The Sable Arm,

I have acquired an extra copy Jeffrey D. Wert’s new book A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee’s Triumph, 1862-1863, and thought I'd give the book away in a contest.

Here’s what you have to do to win. I am going to give my readers the chance to be a blogger for a day. All you have to do is answer the following question in 1000 words or less:

Q: In your opinion, what is the single most important contribution made by United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War?

Rules:

1. Only One entry per person.

2. Limit submission to 1000 words or less.

3. Submit via email to jprice1@live.com with “Sable Arm Contest” as subject heading by April 22, 2011 at 11:59 PM Eastern US Time.

4. One (1) winner will be announced the week of Monday, May 2nd.

5. All contestants agree to allow the use of their submissions as future blog entries.

6. The book will be shipped once I have received the winners address. I will be shipping the book at no cost to the winner.

While the winner will receive the book as a prize, any and all entries that are worthy runners up will be included as guest posts on The Sable Arm throughout the coming months.

Good luck, and get writing!

A Brief Chronology of the 23rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops

November 23, 1863 – Organization of 23rd USCT begins at Camp Casey, VA. Lt. Robert K. Beecham, who had helped organize the regiment, said of the men of the 23rd – “As the 23d was made up mostly of men from Washington and Baltimore, very naturally we found among them some pretty hard cases, the equals, perhaps, of what white troops would show if recruited in the same cities; but as a rule the men were sober, honest, patriotic, and willing to learn and fulfill the duties of soldiers.”

January 26, 1864 – Burnside requests USCT units to form a division of black troops for the 9th Corps

April 1864 – 23rd ordered to Manassas Junction to become part of Col. Henry G. Thomas’s Second Brigade of Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero’s Fourth Division (which consisted of the 19th, 23rd, 28th, 29th, & 31st USCT



Henry G. Thomas



May 6, 1864 – Fourth Division crosses Rapidan River at Germanna Ford for what will become the Overland Campaign (Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River, and Cold Harbor)



May 7, 1864 – Fourth Division detached from 9th Corps to guard the roads, bridges, and fords in the rear of the Union May 7th was the first time that many of the white troops of the Army of the Potomac laid eyes on the USCTs of the Fourth Division. A member of Meade’s staff wrote a letter stating that, “As I looked at them my soul was troubled and I would gladly have seen them marched back to Washington…We do not dare trust them in battle. Ah, you may make speeches at home, but here, where it is life or death, we dare not risk it.”

 May 8-9, 1864 – 23rd was placed in charge of the army’s supply train then located at Belle Plain Landing on the Potomac River. They were also charged with escorting wounded men to Belle Plain. Once they arrived, the supply wagons were refilled and the regiment turned around to head back to the Army of the Potomac. In these first marches and movements some of the black troops fell into enemy hands. This was the first time that armed African American soldiers were taken prisoner in this theater of operations, but their fate differed little from that being suffered by their western comrades. Charles Hopkins, a white soldier who had been captured during the Wilderness fighting, was witness to the hanging of a black POW at Orange Court House on the morning of May 9. An even more chilling incident is related in the diary of a Virginia cavalryman named Byrd C. Willis. “we captured three negro soldiers the first we had seen. They were taken out on the road side and shot, & their bodies left there.”

May 15, 1864 – 23rd USCT returns from Belle Plain Landing. They are then called upon for what will be the first clash of black troops against Robert E. Lee’s vaunted Army of Northern Virginia north of the James River. As described by Noel Harrison at Mysteries & Conundrums: “On May 15, 1864, [Gen. Thomas L. ]Rosser’s men sought information on a Union army corps as it shifted southeastward towards Spotsylvania Court House. Apprised by the retreating Ohioans of Rosser’s approach, the 23rd United States Colored Infantry, joined by some members of the 30th United States Colored Infantry, hastened southeast from Chancellorsville, where those and other African American regiments of Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero’s division had bivouacked. Moving in column along the plank road, the reinforced 23rd first made contact through its deployed skirmishers with Rosser’s men. The Confederate troopers had stopped short of the Catharpin-plank road intersection to occupy the southwestern side of the Alrich clearing, holding an edge-of-tree line position that likely straddled Catharpin Road. The climax of the action came when the column of the 23rd reached the intersection and faced right. In an account recently uncovered by historian Gordon C. Rhea, one of the Ohio cavalrymen wrote, “It did us good to see the long line of glittering bayonets approach, although those who bore them were Blacks, and as they came nearer they were greeted by loud cheers.” The 23rd charged southwest toward the tree line. Rosser’s men withdrew, pursued by the now-reformed Ohio cavalrymen. The engagement had taken the lives of several Confederates and wounded several Federals. A small action indeed, otherwise not important, save for the first shots in anger fired by USCTs–some of them former slaves.”

May 16 – June 15, 1864 – The 23rd continues to follow Grant’s army, but sees no major action. As the army moves south, Ferrero’s black troops became the instruments of liberation for many of the slaves who were confined between Fredericksburg and Richmond. A soldier in the 43rd USCT wrote that “we have been instrumental in liberating some five hundred of our sisters and brothers from the accursed yoke of human bondage. You see them coming in every direction, some in carts, some on their masters’ horses, and great numbers on foot…Several of them remarked to me [that] it seemed to them like heaven, so greatly did they realize the difference between slavery and freedom.”

June, 1864 – Pvt. William Johnson of the 23rd confessed his guilt to the charges of desertion and rape and was executed within the outer breast works at Petersburg, on an elevation, and in plain view of the enemy, a white flag covering the ceremony. The site is near where the current visitor center sits.

Hanging of William Johnson

June 15-18, 1864 – 23rd participates in the opening battles of outside of Petersburg. Rebels under P.G.T. Beauregard hold on to the city, however, and a siege begins. The 23rd is engaged in building fortifications until late June. In July, Gen. Burnside’s proposed mine attack against the Confederate lines along the Jerusalem Plank Road was underway. “Towards the end of the digging, members of the 23rd United States Colored Troops…were employed to carry dirt from the mine in sacks. They also hauled timber to the gallery [of the mine] for framing its sides.”

July 30, 1864 – The Battle of the Crater. After the mine explosion early on the morning of July 30, Capt. Warren H. Hurd of the 23rd watched in awe as a “large black cloud…appeared to rise out of the ground.” White troops of the Third Division advanced into the Rebel works and after 90 indecisive minutes, the Fourth Division was called in to support the attack. Hurd remembered that “it seemed [to take] forever [to move forward]. The whole [division]…filed through a single parallel… we were hindered by officers and orderlies coming to the rear, the parallel being only six feet wide.” The 23rd charged forward but could not get past the crater itself. Lt. Beecham remembered of the crater – “The black boys formed up promptly. There was no flinching on their part. They came to the shoulder…like true soldiers, as ready to face the enemy and meet death on the field as the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived.” Beecham and the rest of the 23rd held a portion of the crater until around 2 p.m. when the Confederates counterattacked and swept over them, killing many men who were attempting to surrender. Historian Earl J. Hess speculates that the 23rd lost their flag during this counterassault. The 23rd sustained the heaviest losses of the entire Fourth Division.



Alfred Waud's Sketch of the 23rd USCT going into the Battle of the Crater.



October 27, 1864 – The 23rd participates in the Battle of Burgess’ Mill at Petersburg.

December 1864 – The 23rd USCT is transferred to the Army of the James, where it will serve in Brig. Gen. Henry G. Thomas’s Third Brigade of Maj. Gen. August V. Kautz’s First Division of the all-black 25th Corps.

April 1865 – The 23rd enters the fallen Rebel capital of Richmond and is at Appomattox for Lee’s surrender.

November 30, 1865 – The 23rd USCT is officially mustered out of United States service

The Crooked Road To Appomattox

4/18/11 - UPDATE # 2: Historian and fellow blogger J. D. Petruzzi has been called in to serve as an historical advisor for the film. For more, see here.

4/15/11 - UPDATE # 1: From the producer - "Pleased and very honored: reknowned historian, Ronald White--Christopher Award winner for "A. Lincoln: A Biography" and his upcoming Grant biography for Random House, has come on board as a historical advisor and will be paying expert attention to the characterization of President Lincoln." This is a very encouraging development. 

A couple of months ago I posted on the upcoming eight-part miniseries To Appomattox, which is being sponsored by NASCAR and gives all of the signs of being a very Lost Cause friendly dramatization of the American Civil War. The entire country music band Rascal Flatts will play varying parts in the film and stock car racer Carl Edwards is slated to portray Confederate General and post war propagandist John B. Gordon. In my first analysis of the project I expressed hesitant hope that the film will strive for accuracy and not fawn over Lee, Jackson, and “the cause” a la Gods & Generals.

Well, now I’ve discovered that the miniseries has a Facebook page which sheds a lot of light on just what we can expect from this production. First of all, it appears that Trace “I ain’t gonna cut my hair til the South gits her rights” Adkins is being approached for the role of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Although Adkins recently stated that he was certain that Confederate soldiers did not fight for slavery, I wonder how he will approach acting out the Fort Pillow massacre, should the filmmakers decide to include it in the film?

Not surprisingly, the movie has already drawn out the die hards. One exchange on the Facebook page reads like this:

Southern Heritage Type: “i truly hope the dignity of the southern soldger is up held they use facts and dont fill it with federal propaganda lets respect our forefathers not ridicule them”

“To Appomattox”: “Thanks...Over my mantle is the portrait of my great great great grandfather Simeon Howard Calhoun, a quartermaster in Lee's Army.”

Fun.

On the bright side, however, it appears that the miniseries will strive to portray the contributions of United States Colored Troops. When asked, “You will Add USCT troops in this series will you?” the producers responded:

“Absolutely. We follow the story of Captain Andre Cailloux of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard--the first African-American officer in the U.S. Army--from their recruitment and through their heroic service at Port Hudson... We also spend a great deal of time with the tragedy and heroism of the USCT at the Battle of the Crater.”

So country music stars and NASCAR drivers will portray Rebel generals while reasonable folk and loons alike strive to have their voices heard and make sure that the “real” history will make it into the final cut.

Sounds about right for a Civil War movie…