Tonight at 10 pm on AMC, one of the best Civil War classics will be airing. Birth of a Nation. The film was made while president Wilson was in office and before the first World War. It is one of my favorites. It is not for the politicaly correct either. I learned that most of the civil war uniforms in that movie are orginals. Though the film gets a little racist toward the end it is a great telling of the times. It is one of the great unapperciated classics of film history.
Birth of a Nation
Subscribe to Recent Stories
It gets A LOT more racist by the end.
Still a great flick!
Major Eric R. Reeder
CSO, 1st Division ANV, Staff
Liberty Hill Signals
2nd Lt Eric R. Reeder United States Army Corps of Topographic Engineers "Hawks and Eagles fly like Doves"
Oh poo. It didn't come on
Oh poo. It didn't come on like I thought. It was a dumb docomentry about the movie instead. And you can guess the topics of the documentry. One hint-Spike Lee had a lot to say about it. In place of the movie I wanted so bad to see again, I instead got an hour of politically correct, Southern bashing, and holyer than thou points. Sigh
Southern Man
Oh, a rough night for the "old south"? Zac, it reminded me of the Neil Young song:
"Southern Man
Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man
I saw cotton
and I saw black
Tall white mansions
and little shacks.
Southern man
when will you
pay them back?
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?
Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man
Lily Belle,
your hair is golden brown
I've seen your black man
comin' round
Swear by God
I'm gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?
Pvt/Lt Craig Young
3rd Maine, company A
"I ain't as good as I once was. But I'm as good once as I ever was. I used to be Hell on wheels Back when I was younger man. Now my body says 'You can't do this boy' But my pride says 'Oh, yes you can."
Pvt/Lt Craig Young 3rd
Pvt/Lt Craig Young
3rd Maine, company A
"I ain't as good as I once was. But I'm as good once as I ever was. I used to be Hell on wheels Back when I was younger man. Now my body says 'You can't do this boy' But my pride says 'Oh, yes you can."
Don't Fret Zac
I rented a DVD with 3 silent Civil War films
"The Drummer boy of the 8th"
"The Coward"
"Grandpa"
Two of them had Signal Corps stuff in it... Which being the geek I am tried to decypher. They didn't stay on them long enough to read any words. I got a couple letters out....
All three were total Melo-dramas... The "Grandpa" flick shows the old vet as a drunk with an enabeling grand daughter who likes to hang out at the GAR hall drinking with his buddies. The kid's mom shows up and decides that the old dude is aa bad influence on the daughter and sends him off to the poor farm...
"The Coward" is about a reluctant recruit who is forced to join by his domineering old soldier dad... when the kid deserts the old guy filled with shame takes his son's place...
The "Drummerboy" is basically a kid takes off to join the army filled with childish ideas of glory and finds the opposite.
The uniforms looked pretty good... The Rebs were MUCH better dressed than the Yanks suggesting they used REAL union unifoms and newly made stuff for the Rebs. Rank insignia was horrible for the Rebs. The used the more modern "pin on" type US army type. Worst of all they were all using trapdoor springfields!!!!!
Still it's neat to watch since these films were most likely actually seen by real Vets from the war!
Major Eric R. Reeder
CSO, 1st Division ANV, Staff
Liberty Hill Signals
2nd Lt Eric R. Reeder United States Army Corps of Topographic Engineers "Hawks and Eagles fly like Doves"