The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913

The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs from 2010 through 2015. The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans has an information page. Make it a family affair to attend the events planned throughout the USA . The National SCV Sesquicentennial Commission has a website.

The fading photos and stories of Union and Confederate Veterans from that summer of 1913, shaking hands, sharing a meal and trading war stories is a special part of our National Heritage well worth sharing. Do young people know who Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Major Gen. George Edward Pickett and Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain were? Do schools still teach children about these men and all those who met on that famous War Between the States battlefield at Gettysburg , Pennsylvania ? Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most haunted place in America as many thousands died on that fateful month in July, 1863.

Found it!

The Civil War: A Narrative, volume 2 published in 1963.

From the Bibliographical Note at the end of the book, page 971.

“In a quite different way, I am obligated also to the governors of my native state and the adjoining states of Arkansas and Alabama for helping to lessen my sectional bias by reproducing, in their actions during several of the years that went into the writing of this volume, much that was least admirable in the position my forebears occupied when they stood up to Lincoln. I suppose, or in any case fervently hope, it is true that history never repeats itself, but I know from watching these three gentlemen that it can be terrifying in its approximations, even when the reproduction - deriving, as it does, its scale from the performers - is in miniature.”

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether this view violates Foote’s principle of not judging the men of one era from the standpoint of another era.

Interesting - good find. Several points:

1. Your original point was to counter my point that Foote tilted South. This statement, if read literally, would say that while he still tilted South, current events made him less so - as opposed to being pro Northern i..e tilting the other way.

2. He’s rewording the old saw “History doesn’t repeat but it does rhyme”.

3. Does this statement contradict his own self-stated principles? I think that is a hard one to answer. Again, if read completely literally current events are affecting his affections shall we say, not his absolute judgments. Maybe in the same way you can root for the Red Sox but objectively think the Yankees a sounder baseball team. But it is a slippery slope, I grant you, between whether you “like” an historical figure and whether you can fairly judge or make sense of their actions.

4. On a personal note, I find the statement rather pompous. “I am obligated ....” “ .....these three gentleman ....”.
It’s as if he’s assuming the gentility of the 19th century, your most obedient servant, yada, yada, yada. Yet, it’s a bit out of place in the 20th century.

I’m highly disappointed. Does any Freeper know why there are no plans to complete the trilogy? I read somewhere on the internet that Ted Turner does not want to fund a third movie. Does anyone know?

Honestly? Because God and Generals sucked. Really. Not so much the fault of the material, just that it didn't translate as well to the screen as the more compressed timeline of Gettysburg did and came across as completely boring and the dialogue/monologues overblown. Turner lost a heck of a lot of money on it, decided not to throw good money after bad by trying to complete the trilogy.

I saw both movies in the DC area. Gettysburg at the Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park (which is more of an old time movie house) and the second on the stadium-seating screens at Potomac Yards. I walked away from the Gettysburg stunned by how impressive it was (esp on the big screen in a theater designed to hold ~1000 people). Gods and Generals just tired and exhausted from the experience. The audience for Gods and Generals had a LOT of the reenactors who'd been in it as well, and they were disappointed too if the discussions I heard on the way out were any indication. There were, however, lots of catcalls and "Hey, look, there's Jim!" type heckling from the audience whenever some of the guys saw friends of other members of their reenactment units. Helped keep me awake.

Now here's what's TRULY disappointing about Gods and Generals. Ron Maxwell filmed the Antietam scenes. But they got left out of the theatrical version because they would've added another hour and a half to it. They were supposed to get put into the DVD, but after the movie bombed Turner apparently balked at the additional costs and killed the idea.

I saw his pomposity as more in the vein of irony.

He was making fun of the three governors, who he didn’t see as gentlemen at all. And doing so made it more difficult for him to continue seeing the 19th century gentlemen he had revered through rose-colored glasses colored quite so strongly.

If he found the open racism and bigotry of AR, MS and AL repugnant, I think it made the even more blatant racism of the CSA less attractive or even tolerable for him. Of course, almost everyone at the time was racist by today’s standards, but obviously some were less virulently so.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.