can you imagine that. You survive Bull Run, antietam, fredericksburg, chancellorsville, gettysburg, the wilderness, cold harbor, and this is how you die, charging into a crater because your commander didn’t listen to grant.
Grant changed the order at the last minute from colored troops leading the charge to white troops saying if it failed papers would say he had through them to the wolves but they wouldnt say that about the white ones. The colored troops had actually prepared to lead the charge whereas the others had not. Simple things like dont run into the crater arent so simple in the midst of something like that they werent thinking about the crater but all the rebs just past it and wanting to get to them before they can organize any defense and start shooting and stabbing back. I would have too. And yes it is an amazing thing to consider living through all of that. Many men made it through to later be killed in minor skirmishes or even accidents. It would be hard if not impossible to make any sense of it. The man who killed Jeb Stuart was dead a week or two later. Stonewall shot by his own sideat the moment of his greatest triumph but right before total victory could have been achieved against the army. Longstreet was shot in the neck by his troops at wilderness or spotsylvania. His memoir Manassas to apottamattox is a hell of a journey to think about. Longstreet was often in the very thick of the fighting also.
Not all of them were so brutal and gruesome. Siege of Petersburg happened in the end of the civil war in 1864-1865 when the war was nearly over but it was most brutal.
I honestly think it's the most powerful scene of the battle, these 2 person who lives were ruined by the white man fighting each other for the scrap he'll give them
+Christian Johnson, I had never heard of this film before today, but, dear God, I am taken aback at how good this scene is - and in no small part because of that song! Good God, it's enchanting...
When I saw the lyrics to that song, I REALLY saw how it fits. The song itself gives me chills, big-time. This, from the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, popped up when I searched, "Idumea": And am I born to die? To lay this body down! And must my trembling spirit fly Into a world unknown A land of deepest shade Unpierced by human thought The dreary regions of the dead Where all things are forgot Soon as from earth I go What will become of me? Eternal happiness or woe Must then my portion be! Waked by the trumpet sound I from my grave shall rise And see the Judge with glory crowned And see the flaming skies Here it is sung by itself: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XIkPyUecsnI.html
That part at 3:43 where the Confederate soldiers are damn near trampling over each other just to get a shot in is absolutely horrific and probably pretty accurate in showing just how chaotic a battle can be when neither side has things going to plan.
I mean to be fair, even in a controlled situation firing at will or "pouring into them" would look like this. Pretty powerful depiction by all counts still
And these were the survivors of Picketts charge, where Union troops on the high ground had rained fire down on their helplessly exposed lines. This was payback.
This is how most battles in the Civil War were like. Chaos almost always flooded the ranks, what determined who won was who's Officers could control the chaos of Hell the best. A Private on the line who have barely an idea of what was going on during an Assault. Defensive battles we're different, but this is a real insight into the fog of war.
I thought this was a retarded Hollywoodism that was a bit insulting to the Confederate Natives, since they were very familiar with firearms, but no. Turns out during the Crater both Union and Confederate troops were hurling empty muskets like spears. Like WWI, against the wall the Caveman brain takes over.
The only difference here was that the yanks just dug there own grave while the British just stood there and waited for the Germans to come and surrender to them
+Cart Mass Never having even heard about this movie and watching a scene from it for the first time just today I can see what you mean! Good God, that American choir song hits hard! The harmonies are beautiful and seem to reflect the time period and chaos and bloodshed of battle perfectly.
I cry too no joke, and I’m a pretty manly dude. It’s just incredible to see what man is capable of, and it’s tragic to know both sides were Americans, brother against brother
My Great-Grandmother's Grandfather died in the Battle of the Crater. He was pure blood Mohawk and fighting for the Confederacy, mostly because he and his family remembered what it was like to live on their own land, and they lost it all after the Revolutionary War.
The mohawk used to live in what is now Nova Scotia. Then my ancestors , the MicMac , an Algonquin speaking tribe from he'll , drove the Mohawk out of their land. Then the British took Nova Scotia for itself . Does this mean the Brits stole my land?....No it doesn't . The land belongs to whoever can hold it .....until they can't.
@@theodoremartin6153 MIC Mac; upper Michigan peninsula? I luv all the old history of the Americas: above & below the 49th Paralell. THANKS to the NWO & the CV-19 84 BS dictatorships I don't even know if I'll ever get back to the Great White North, from HMP Great Britain & the Eton Globalist vermin Boris.
@@redwingrob1036 The Mic Mac ( the British version of the name MigMaug ) were Easter North America . I don't know where they came from before wresting control of the Canadian Maritimes from the Mohawk . Mic Mac mothers used to scare their children into obedience by talking about the Mohawk sneaking around the campsite even untill the 1900s. The Britishhad a bunch of Mohawk imported into Nova Scotia to wipe out the remaining Mic Mac round about 1750. But thanks to the Acadians who refused to be expelled to Louisiana and such , The Mic Mac were able to hang on until things got better. The Acadians would join MicMac settlements and intermarry . This kept the culture alive until the wars for North America ended . I got no hard feelings about the past since The MicMac freely intermarried with the French , and also , I don't relish the idea of living in the stone age.
The best part of the cinematography in these battle scenes is it’s parallels to civil war battle paintings. Really captures the brutality and suffering America went through during this conflict.
This is one of the greatest scenes on cinematic history, unbiased and brutally realistic. There might never be a more truer civil war movie than this. Ever.
Wish we could get as many civil war movies as we get world war 2 movies every year. I always found the civil war way more interesting and fun to learn about.
Sat at the crater in Petersburg and watched this video one summer, very impactful to imagine this whilst looking out at the field where this all happened.
Actions like this made Bismark swear never to be caught in a war of attrition. The minute Wilhelm II forced him to resign all that resolve in the German High Command vanished and within 24 years Germany found itself in a trench siege on two fronts.
Well it's also about picking your fights and getting oneself into a position from where you can win. Let's be honest, aside the blunder of Verdun there were few things in the german High Command that they could have done much better considering the vast difference in materials and supplies. And if neither side is outmanuvered or willing to give in easily, it simply turns into a slaughterhouse.
@Clem Cornpone are you sick? No hate/troll Posts about the Confeds :O yep true, use of railroad , fast mobilization, better Tactics, a national army of conscripts, good General Staff and the Prussians had the Dreyse needle Rifle, compared to austrian Rifled muskets a advantage in firepower during the Battle of Königgrätz .
Well, the European military was looking more at the wars of 1866 and 1870/71 that were decided by quick and well coordinated movements and not by trench warfare. They should have studied the last year of the American Civil War a lot more to get an idea of what a future war would look like.
The crushing crowd, the kid getting his uniform ripped off and his body burnt then bayonetted, and that poor dude getting his face stomped into the bloody mud to suffer a crushing, suffocating, gurgling panic of a death. What horror.
@bravo23 delta Actually, there were several documented cases of rebels running out of ammo, so they began throwing their bayonetted rifles like spears. Fish in a barrel if you will. Lee was furious when he heard about it, and he almost court martialed the commanding officer of the regiment. He called it a cowardly act.
francisco gonzales Yes, that is true. But it isn’t their fault, it’s Christopher Columbus and the English of the 1400-1600s fault. Besides, the Native Americans are better Indians than the real people of India. Indians were respectful and strong willed people. Wise.
True story: They had to light the fuse to blow that crater twice. 360 kegs of gunpowder stacked under the Confederate position, they light the fuse and wait 20 minutes...nothing happens. How'd you like to be the guy they asked to go deep into that tunnel, with all that gunpowder and a sputtering Yosemite Sam fuse that may or may not be still lit, check if it had burned out and re-light it? Two brave Pennsylvania coal miners, with cojones of steel, volunteered to go back into the tunnel and do it. It worked the second time. Reality beats a Hollywood movie every time.
Yes sir. The presence of black Yankees is accurate as well. Gen. Burnside (of Fredericksburg fame) was in command during this debacle as well. What a waste.
Actually Burnside`s plan was sound, he had battle-experienced African-American troops specially drilled, trained and briefed ready for the assault, which dictated that IMMEDIATELY after the debris had fallen out of the air they were meant to go AROUND the crater, deal with any dazed Confederate troops and secure the flanks so that white divisions could go THROUGH the crater, all this within MINUTES, using the ladders the African-American soldiers were supposed to set up, and if practicable breach as far as INTO Petersburg itself. Burnside had no interference from top brass (Grant and Meade) up until Grant and Meade had fucked up in their own ventures to break through so they went back to Burnside and went cirka like this "Hey uh remember that big explosion you got planned?" and pretty much fucked up his entire plan in the ass in almost every conceivable detail. So just before the operation commenced, African-American troops (who IMHO woulda gotten the job done without any fuss) were switched out with White troops to avoid political fallout in case the plan resulted in lots of African-American casualties. The result? White divison with little prior battle experience, training, drilling or briefing on the assault waited 15 minutes AFTER the explosion and walked INTO the crater (instead of around) and bunched up there and got slaughtered, all the while their commander (Ledlie) was drunk as a skunk. Burnside, thinking the African-American troops could still get the job done, sent them in to try and save the day, unfortunately they faced withering flanking fire and was bunched up in the crater as well. Not only were the African-American soldiers shot and bayoneted by Confederate troops... White Union troops about to face capture did the same thing... Now I`m not saying Burnside is innocent (he should have cut his losses and ordered a general retreat), but had it gone as planned (which btw wasnt all that complicated), it would have worked. Meade and Grant, after all their useless meddling, of course blames the result all on Burnside. Grant later managed to have it all blamed on Meade and Burnside was acquited, cant remember whether that was before or after he became POTUS though.... Furthermore, Fredricksburg could have been a success as well, but monumental fuckups on corps levels, Gettysburg-style, were made. Again, not defending the man, in fact I`m pretty sure I dislike him, but others were to blame as well.
Whoever thought to put Idumea into this and then swell in the orchestral accompaniment for the climax was a fucking genius. My god this scene holds up perfectly after nearly 20 years.
@@boi9428 To be fair I'm happy to find the normal version at all, and I'm happy NOT to find the orchestral bit at the end because each time I hear that I imagine the mud-covered dying troops being trodden over... war is horrible
For context: during the siege of Petersburg General Ambrose Burnside (From my home state I will add) decided to go against Grant's orders to hold fast and instead attack what He thought was a weak point in the defensive line around Petersburg. So he decided to make the largest man made explosion at the time (Until messines ridge in 1916 by the British) to create a crater for his men to go through. instead he accidentally sent his men to their death, trapping themselves inside their own crater as depicted here and getting picked off. I love this scene because this is one of the most realistic depictions of a battle during the Civil war and the war in general (even though I'm not an expert on this battle, this is basically the information I know on the top of my head).
Wasn't the mine at the Somme almost entirely based on this, but meaning to do it without fking up? Even the situation is similar... not your normal history siege of a city or town, but based around the telegraph/communications and railroad hub.
@@SStupendous Mining in warfare had an old, old history so wasn’t new in the Civil War let alone in WW1 (mining in WW1 also started months before the Somme, in 1915 when the war of movement had ceased). More modern explosive made it much more potent as a siege weapon.
@@HydroSnips This has often been my argument... the things we consider things that show a war is a "modern war" in say ww1 or the US Civil War are actually much older in use. In the civil war of course, like here, as you said, blackpowder hindered it (Though being fair, almost 300 confederate were killed instantaneously in the explosion.) Mining HEs like nitrocellulose were around but were quite dangerous.
Burnside was ordered to swap his specially trained Colored Division the day before the attack because Meade and Grant felt it would be politically problematic for them if it failed. Instead, White troops with no understanding of the plan were substituted at the last minute. Exasperated that his carefully conceived plan was ruined, Burnside literally had his remaining officers draw straws to decide who would lead the attack. The short straw fell to James H. Ledlie, and consequently to the Union Army.
One of the key differences between this and the reenactments most people are used to.... is the film used almost entirely actual soldiers of military age, so no 40 year old fat guys larping, these are what the armies would have really looked like.
There's a movie called Map of the Human Heart and the main character is a pilot in WWII and his bomber flies over Dresden and gets shot down. After the crash if I remember correctly he sees this little girl get her entire clothes blown off by an explosion and it was very quick. It was very real looking
Rich Kendall Yeah and what about those people at the weddings? Or the victims of blue on blue incidents? Or the civilians near the enemy? All collateral damage? Or did they also deserve all of that?
@@spad3z605 The most horrible part is that they probably don't even know he's there. There's just nowhere to stand. You fall over in a crush like that, you're dead.
This film in six minutes somehow has the most realistic depiction of civil war combat *edit* I just meant to comment on the horror of the war, what the hell happened in the comments section
Agreed. I saw this in the theatre when it came out. Blew my mind and changed the way I looked at the Civil War. Although that could be because I was a little stoned.
Yup accept I believe black Union troops went into the crater first and were pretty much slaughtered by the Confederates but that would not be politically correct to show I suppose
@@carolinadog8634 Not even sure where you got this from. Black Union troops were trained specifically for this assault, but were replaced at the last minute with white troops who were not aware of the situation and charged straight in, getting stuck and slaughtered. The black Union troops were not used because it was expected to be a bloodbath either way (Grant was supervising the troops and was known for losing ~50% of his men in assaults), and Meade believed throwing away black lives in such an attack would not reflect well on him politically
@@alexolivan5378 calm down it’s ok I may have not remembered correctly your ok. It’s quite obvious where I got this from, from your own statement. Black soldiers were supposed to go first then they got pulled.. there mystery solved where I got from.. there you go
5:26 I really love that shot. A Black man and a Native American. Both oppressed groups, both on different sides, both fighting for their right to be viewed as Human beings, Killing eachother in the muds of Virginia.
@@dachicagoan8185well the Native lives through this battle. No doubt it would have been hard fought tho. The black would have probably been stronger but the Native would have more experience in war.
So many human being's life struggle, suffering, and misery... How many lost a brother, a husband, a father, a son...It is now behind a 7 eleven and a Hardees. Its crazy to think about. .
Battlefield Trust has done great work preserving it. It could be a lot worse. Like Atlanta, for example. Despite ABT doing what they can, almost all the battlefields around there have been completely paved over.
Originally there was supposed to be a unit of US Colored troops that had been rehearsing this assault.The original plan was to send one unit to the left and right of the crater. However, in the last minute the black soldiers were reassigned due to the backlash that was thought to happen if a unit of black colored troops was thrown into a meat grinder like this and was destroyed...political correctness existed back then too, surprisingly. Anyways, in their place was sent a unit that had not rehearsed nor were they privy to the original plan of attack and they fell into the crater which was not the original plan...which led to the epic failure of the union's assault.
I usually never cry when watching films, but somehow the first twenty minutes of this movie made me cry a waterfall. It just felt so real, and what's even worst, these men were probably brothers, cousins, friends, etc, fighting each other... In a way, the civil war issues seem prevalent even to this day. We're so divided as a nation right now, and it seems like it's getting worst. I just can't even stomach the idea of having to fight my own friends and family. Plus, one of the men in this scene reminds me of someone that I know and care about, which makes this scene even more dreadful to me.
If you ever get the chance, look into the real story of this, its way more brutal and destructive than this movie portrays it, one of the most bloody battles in terms of just the way it was in my opinion, it wasnt normal, it was crammed in, men being trapped, more men being sent in disorganized and the first 15 minutes no shots were fired cause the union troops were instead of using the breakthrough they were helping the wounded and freeing men who were under rubble and earth
Most of them wouldn’t have been related. Typically only men from the border states were truly pitted in a war of brother against brother. There were exceptions, such as Southern Unionists who remained loyal despite the beliefs of their kin, and a small handful of Northern men who had married and settled in the South who decided to stand with their adopted states. Usually these guys were professional soldiers and so they moved around and interacted with other people on each side of Mason-Dixon more. The average Northern and Southern man would have had minimal contact with each other prior to the Civil War. Still, they were all Americans, and were all more alike than they probably realized.
5:20 Such a great moment. Fog of war. Both men, in those days, were likely oppressed by the very people they were fighting with but in that moment one thing was clear; If I don't kill him, he'll kill me.
Native Americans were actually treated very well in the south unfortunately after the war the union took most of their lands and finally kicked them out for good or at least make their land federal land and pushed them off to reservations
DasBubba Yeah but slavery wasn’t really an issue and yet they still got kicked out of their homes and lands.... that was their property and they were kicked out for it! It wasn’t right the south tried to help them out but when they lost there was nothing they could do
@@V1nce_man Native American support for the Confederacy is largely forgotten. I do not think that idea of an "oppressed" class supporting "oppressors" goes well in the modern narrative. Regardless, a Southern victory had more to offer Indians than a Union one. Oklahoma was almost the unofficial Confederate "14th" state.
I personally would disagree and say that the fighting at the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania Court House was the most brutal. But then again, most battles in the Overland Campaign, culminating in the Siege of Petersburg, were brutal in general.
@@cmdrgarbage1895 Stalingrad, with its street-by-street fighting, that’s gotta be the absolute worst- imagine spending a month in one building, each moment one grenade throw away from being your last I also wouldn’t want to be a Nazi defending Berlin either lol
Johann Schmidt, some of the historical documents I have read are unbelievable in their descriptions of battles that the soldiers were in. Armless and legless bodies sometimes flying overhead, spinning and spewing blood from their stumps. Very brutal... but such is war. I just wonder how all those men... career soldiers and officers as well as the enlisted who went off to fight, dealt with all their PTSD... or did they just suck it up and go on with life afterwards. I have never seen any books that broached the subject of PTSD during and after the Civil War.
...what? I was saying the movie wasn't gruesome enough to reflect how bad it was. But you're wrong about lives lost. It might be highest -proportion- of the population or highest single conflict (inconclusive data, it and WW2 are close-ish), but certainly not more than all wars combined. Look up some supported statistics. :)
Yes, I know. The Civil War can only even beat WW2 by a little bit if you include civilian casualties as well. But whether you include civilian or just military, wars since the Civil War have racked up higher numbers. What you said is only true of wars BEFORE then.
The carnage & horror depicted in this clip notwithstanding, the direction, lighting, sets, costumes, cinematography & music are just incredible... you can almost smell, feel & taste this battle- simply a master class in film-making, IMHO!
This is literally the biggest uno reverse card ever, they blew up the Confeds side then the union preceded to charge in and trap themselves in their own trap
4.44am explotion. 5am attack starts late, giving time to confederates to recover a bit... 5am battle in the middle of summer is not pitch dark, just a bit dark
@@J472AKA I find it hard to believe. 5 AM at the end of July? That's twilight. Main part of the battle started around 6 AM, after Confederates gathered enough troops around the crater. By that time the sun was already rising.
@killallendings I’d take a Union Huzzah over a rebel yell any day of the week. One sounds like a raccoon screeching and the other sounds like a disciplined, trained force of men ready to bayonet anyone in their place.
If you read some of the first-hand accounts written by those who actually fought in this war, this scene comes closer to the real thing, compared to f.ex ‘Gettysburg’. The battle at The Wilderness, where the battlefield caught fire, or Spotsylvania Courthouse are examples where the fighting was exceptionally brutal, savage and desperate. It is bone-chilling reading material, believe me. After you’ve read some of it, ‘Gettysburg’ comes off almost fisticuffs-esque. The real thing was absolute carnage; the ground soaking with blood, their uniforms spattered with the brains of their comrades, legs, arms, heads torn from their bodies, the ear-deafening shrieks of the wounded and dying - it must have been a living nightmare.
Check out General STAND WATIE , He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee and Seminole. He was the last Confederate general in the field to cease hostilities at war's end.
@@motorrebell he might be the inspiration for the cherokee character in "The Outlaw Josie Wales" who is a Cherokee man who fought with the south named "Lone Watie." in the movie he says "I didn't surrender, but they captured my horse and made him surrender.
When war broke out. The south was full of Cherokee blood and alot of there nation lived in the south. So confederate government let the nation live we're ever they wanted do what they wanted with what they wanted. Witch the union government wasn't like that they stuck them all on reservations and controlled them like livestock. So it only makes sense that they would fight for the confederacy.
Conflicts are in the human nature. Everyone telling you something different is lying. It starts as soon as we can speak and walk. Conflict over stuff with other kids. Conflict over women with other men. Conflict over emotions. War is human. Human nature is war. Life means fighting. Stop trying to erase human nature from humans. Thats how whining first world bitches are created.
I thought the same thing. When they show the kid who briefly falls to the bottom. You see dead and dying soldiers drowning in the bloody mud as other solders scream, bleed, and step all over them. Hell on earth.
@@buckshotthegoofball7671 whats worse is when they bring up the cannon and just blast it right in their faces. In real life you'd see heads flying and arms/legs flying. Literally a pool of blood. Its horrific.
@@colinm8200 Sadly it was due to incompetence from the Union commanders during the battle that caused this too occur. If the attack was led by the Black troops and was given more thought for the recurits the opening would've been in favor of the Union. But since they charged right into the hole they fell victim to the confederates musketfire and were bunched up to be blown to pieces by mortars and cannons causing heavy damage during the battle.
I know it's not an entirely accurate portrayal of this engagement, but it's so goddamn effective. The Union soldiers charging through the smoke, the music, the graphic depiction of the vicious hand-to-hand fighting, man this scene works so well
The majority of Native Americans fought for the south and were later slaughtered under the the Grant administration. The image of the black Union soldier vs native Confederate soldier was pretty epic. Also... Oakley lives on to drift race tuner cars in Tokyo Drift
Mr. Wolf Many Irish fought for the south. I like the southern Irish folk music from the time. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--ot7amDyqbY.html On a side note, I earned my history degree in VA and went to Petersburg multiple times. There’s still a huge hole in the ground from this battle. I can’t get over how well Cold Mountain portrayed the battle of the crater
Hotheaded generals eager for glory in massacring Indian villages were more to blame than grants administration alone. His best friend was a native named Ely Parker.
@Mr. Mendez actually not alot of african americans fought for the South i think they did raised a black regiment towards the end of the war but they didnt see any action
@ Hobo Larry Yup. Arrived, ran into the asshole son of the asshole militia guy and got shot. Uplifting. And it is possible they've cut that out on tv. Do you know "True Romance"? In the end, it looks like the two main characters get killed, but they actually survive, which is shown in the last scene. In german tv, this scene got always cut, because the people in charge felt that it is not a good thing to show "that crime pays off".... Hey, there even is "Le Grand Bleu" with Jean Reno where they actually shot two different endings. One that is kind of dark; but more fitting for the story, for the european audience and one happy-go-lucky ending for the americans. :D
Furzkampfbomber that actually reminds me of something, supposedly schizophrenic Americans typically have the voice in their head say bad things where someone like in India has good things spoken to them.
My great great grandfather recieved a medal of honor for his actions in this battle. Charles H DePuy was in the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters. My grandmother had his letters from that time before she donated them for him to be memorialized. Growing up, she never told me the horrors he experienced in war, but she did proudly explain how he received the medal of honor. He took over the Confederates own cannons to fire at them
My great great grandfather fought in in the civil war and went through hell and back. After the war he went back to Illinois and started the town of Arlington heights. His diary is in the local museum and I got to hold and read with my bare hands
This war absolutely tore this nation apart in such an unimaginable gruesome manner that many depictions in film fail to capture besides this one. Throughout my life I knew my ancestors fought in this war but not to the extent. With the help of my father we discovered veterans who served on both sides of the war. Later I found out they fought against one another on multiple occasions. Both sides of the family went into the war and barely came out. Only one member survived on both my moms and dads side. I honored their service by becoming an interpreter at a battlefield where their paths would have crossed. To know what they went through I cannot fathom how hard life must’ve been one it all concluded.
Imagine being the guy who gets his clothes blown off by the explosion. You get rocked by the massive force of a blast and have to recover and keep fighting for your life in the middle of a pitched battle. And on top of that your twig and plums are swinging in the breeze
In a more realistic setting you'd be dead. Either from the bits of what used to be the fort, dirt, cannons, and yes, bits of human remains. If you survived that you'd mostly likely be in severe pain from the shockwave bursting your internal organs. When that mine blew, it blasted all of that stuff high in the air. First hand accounts say that they could see human remains falling from the sky and an entire artillery battery was buried by falling dirt hundreds of yards away down the line. Some rebels were half buried alive calling for help when the union finally arrived. On top of that there's war crimes committed from both sides, from the mutilation of surrendering soldiers, North and South. This entire battle is just a big mass of human brutality that in actuality this movie only scratches the surface of how bad it truly was and how it could've ended the war almost a year early.
Been there a couple times(I'm from the area).It's not as impressive as you might think.Erosion and time have smoothed it out a great deal.But you can definitely tell.
"what has come to be known as the Crater-was opened up in the ground where moments earlier they had been sleeping. It was more than 170 feet long, 60 feet across, and 30 feet deep. "
Yeah I go there sometimes. The battlefield was a golf course and as recently as the 60s and 70s kids would ride their bikes in the crater and earthworks before it became an official park...so no the crater isn't quite as deep as you'd expect but still pretty huge.
@@arnieus866 One of the only wars that wasn't bullshit, in fact. The main thing that went wrong was that the country didn't follow up the victory by crushing the old plantation class permanently after the war and protect the Constitution in regard to civil liberties for Black Americans.
TehMorbidAtheist while the position of the states was to preserve slavery you can’t possibly say every confederate soldier was fighting for the preservation of slavery, same goes for the union with ending slavery. Every one had their own reason. Look at Robert E Lee, his sole reason for being a confederate was because he was Virginian.
Union soldiers actually had more casualties during the war, but because they had more soldiers, better technologies, better logistics, etc, they ended up winning.
There was actually a time in the civil war where the confederates were actually wining and public support was dwindling in Union. That all change post Gettysburg
The defeat of of the Confederacy was a strategic defeat. Grant enacted a three-pronged attack against Virginia with him keep pressure on Lee from the North, his other generals squeezing in from the West, and Sherman cutting off supply lines to Richmond on his march, before moving in from the South. Lee made many mistakes leading up to his surrender, particularly with his myopism for Virginia, ignoring important movements of the Union Army in other states, well before the Overland Campaign. He also refused to fight like a smaller army, and preferred to indulge in grandiose tactics that ignore the Confederacy's limitations, which would become his undoing in the later years of the war. There are also many cases in history of armies defeating a more industrious and numerically superior enemy. The idea that the war was only won because of "overwhelming numbers and resources", is one of the tenets of the Lost Cause Myth of the Confederacy.
Literally one of the most disturbing things that I have ever seen. I can't believe people want another civil conflict. The first one, even if justified. Consisted of events that you couldn't imagine even in your worst nightmares. This makes me sick to my stomach. I could not even begin to imagine being there......ugh.
@@jfontanez1838 I wouldn't say we were slaves, but caught into promises that we had to accept. Life is hell for us American Indians condemned to live on as lost souls
@@TannerWilliam07 Native-Americans, being pagans and involved in witchcraft, are cursed by God until they repent by seeking Jesus Christ. Sad but true.
@@mexicanfries5336 I mean 90% of "Native Americans" are Christians, much higher than the population in America as a whole. Maybe your God isn't real after all
I have a cousin about Oakley’s age and they look alike. I tear up every time he gets bayonetted. That raspy, squeaky scream just hurts. There were a lot of poor boys that happened to.
I have been to this site in Petersburg. The "Crater" that survives is quite small now. Disappointing, but the history is still there, in terms of the loss of life. The lines between the trenches give a clue as to the accuracy of the muskets used back then, or more to the men that used them.
The schene with the African American and the native American its really great. The one away from his real home fighting for his right to be free in a country that is not his and the other an outcast and foreign in his own land fighting a war that it's not his. Really great schene.
I went to Virginia State University, which is only a few miles from this battlefield. Watching this back then and seeing the actual location was mind blowing.
I actually had a relative that died at the Battle of the Crater, he was my great-grandmother's grandfather. I don't know if he died at the battle itself or during the initial explosion.
My great great grandfather was fighting for the Confederacy digging a counter-mine when the explosion happened. He survived, but apparently sucked up a lot of dust, resulting in respiratory issues for the rest of his life. He died 23 years later.
A prelude of The Indian War of 1866 to 1918 When The Regular Army's Six (9th and 10th US Cavalry Regiments, 38th 39th 40th 41st US Infantry Regiments) and later in 1869 reduction in force The Four( 9th and 10th US Cavalry Regiments 24th and 25th US Infantry Regiments) Buffalo Soldiers Regiments are used to fight The Native American Indian Tribes.
The black soldier was played by my uncle. Oddly enough, he was there to be Jude Law's personal trainer, and got asked by Minghella to do this. He'd never done any kind of acting or extra work before. Minghella was a genius. God, movie-making misses that guy so badly.
I wonder why they decided on having a black soldier in that scene because Union regiments were segregated and the black units that was supposed to make the attack were replaced at the last minute.
The very beginning of this movie, right after Ada's monologue, opens like a scene from a prison movie, set in a hardcore maximum security prison in the deep South between the 1970s and 1990s. The tones of the violin and fiddle even adds more to the southern prison atmosphere. Gritty scenery through and through. Awesome work by the producers.
that might have been intentional as the war is in many ways a prison. you may have gotten yourself in there but you are not leaving until those in power say you get to leave- unless you "take yourself a walk" and "they are shooting men who take themselves a walk"
@@MrChickennugget360 Agree, that is most likely what they went for. The very opening scene showed a guard tower and stockades with a bluegrass fiddle playing in the soundtrack. I can almost imagine the next scene showing deputies banging on cell doors with nightsticks to rouse the cellblock for morning roll and inmates sporting street tattoos of all kinds groggily climbing out of their bunks.
The most powerful part was when the Native and Black soldier for a split second looked at each other in a way that says "here we are fighting each other, for 2 sides that'll never give a shit about either of us"
@@MaxVonStark NA's fought with the union just as much with the confederacy. You are the one with no intelligence. And am I wrong to hate people who think it is all right to enslave millions over their pathetic state rights?
I've got ancestors who fought on both sides, my moms family has always lived south, and my dads family has always lived north, I wonder if they were ever in each other's gun sights on the battlefield...
Same here. I have family who fought in the 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Which apparently didn't see much action. And the 6th Arkansas infantry Regiment. One saw action from Shiloh to Battle of Tennessee. Ironically both might of saw General Sherman. Since I know the 6th fought Sherman's Brigade at Shiloh. He Lived intill 1891.
Josh D I don’t like to glorify it either but I do enjoy these movies made about the civil war because it just makes me respect those men even more than I already did,you had to have be a tuff son of a bitch to do what those soldiers did, I would shit myself walking straight into enemy fire, slowly awaiting death those are true heroes not these celebrities that people worship now
honestly I'm pretty sure everybody has family from both sides when you look at how complicated family trees can get. I'm from Northern Alabama so I'm sure most were Confederates but there were many that fought in the 1st Alabama Cavalry which was a Union unit
yeah kinda like pearl harbor. it's supposed to be historically accurate but then it's hollywood so they added the love triangle. chicks get the romance, dudes get the action.
This scene is powerful in the spirit of expressing the disaster and horror of the battle of the crater, despite the compression of time and details for the sake of cinematic brevity. The mine was suppose to off earlier, but was delayed due the fuse going out, and a Union soldier had to brave going back into the tunnel to relight it. The there was another fatal delay as a result of the shock the Union troops experienced themselves from the blast, and the lack of enough access ramps to cross the Union trenches to get to the crater, causing a bottle neck. The nail in the coffin was the absence of the Union commander of the troops, Ledie, who was drunk and could not be found. The tragic thing is it could have worked, had the Union been better organized to take advantage of the initial confusion to the rebel lines.
They actually were over exaggerating a bit in this movie bc the union flanked them and also sent men into a frontal assault regardless of the outcome they failed to put that into the movie, also it would not have mattered if they didn’t bc the union had the numbers and superior range for their artillery
The thing is Pickett's charge, well, Gettysburg in general, is what ended the war for the Confederacy. There was no way they could recover the lost manpower.
My grandfather used to take me to Sacred Harp singing meeting when I was younger, a few of then specifically at Liberty Baptist Church where the soundtrack was recorded . I probably even know and have sung with some of the people that were in this recording since it's not a very large circle of people. Hearing it as a backdrop always made this scene particularly chilling for me.
Would you be willing to disclose the name of the song? It's haunting when paired with the footage, and I would very much like to know what the song is.
This was a decent film overall, but the attention to accuracy in the Battle of the Crater scene was very well done. There are many accounts of the battle, and the film did it justice. Setting aside the fictional characters and banter before the battle, I'd say most historians would have approved of the scene.
