The irony is that same soldier, earlier in the film, had been insulting the soldiers of the 54th Mass.
Yep. Lots of touching moments in that movie. I like the scene between Gould (Matthew Broderick) and Tripp (Denzel Washington) talking about the state of racial affairs:
“It stinks, I suppose.”
“Stinks bad...and we all covered up in it...I mean there ain’t nobody clean...be nice to get clean”
“How do we do that?”
“By ante up and kick in, sir.”
Earlier, Gould asked Tripp to carry the flag into battle. He demured. After Gould is shot in battle, an inspired Tripp “kicks in” and picks up the flag and briefly rallies the troops.