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The movie was Zulu and one of the officers was the first appearance of Michael Caine. Stanley Baker was the engineering officer and it depicted a particularly heroic stand at Rorke's Drift. And Baker's character did have a date of commission a few days earlier than Caine's.
ole
If I remember correctly Caine's charachter comes across as highly aristocratic and we're supposed to get a chuckle over the fact that the engineer (who gets his hands dirty) outranks him!
Just for fun, I'll challange you about the elevator; Jesse W. Reno was responsible for the escalator (that scourge of acrophobiacs like myself), not the elevator.
Now I can't use this nugget in a WBTS Trivia game, nuts!
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The "Notable Endless Conveyor or Elevator," is the original name for the escalator. Not sure when the name "escalator" was first used.
Jesse W. Reno "produced the first working escalator (he actually called it the "inclined elevator") and installed it alongside the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island, New York in 1896."
Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Brevet Major General Jesse L. Reno.
__________________ "Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
There's also a distinction between Maj. Gen. of Volunteers and Maj. Gen. of Regulars.
This is the part I don't understand, probably because today's military is totally voluntary. I mean, how many regular army were there in the civil war anyways, like 10?
__________________ "In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
When a Major General USV needed promoting, they would give him a USA rank. You'll note that the Sumner example shows that the reverse was also true.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
how many regular army were there in the civil war anyways, like 10?
In 1861, there were less than 16,000 officers and men in the regular army, most scattered at outposts west of the Mississippi. By April 1861, several of these were in Confederate prisons.
According to That Body of Brave Men: The U.S. Regular Infantry and the Civil War in the West by Mark W. Johnson, here were 19 regiments (10 infantry, 4 artillery, 2 dragoons, 2 cavalry, and 1 of mounted riflemen.)
"The US Army in 1861
The US Regular Army on the eve of the Civil War served primarily in a frontier constabulary role. It comprised 16,000 officers and men, organized into 198 companies and scattered across the nation in 79 different posts. At the war’s start, 183 companies were either on frontier duty or in transit. The remaining 15, mostly coastal artillery batteries, guarded the Canadian border, the Atlantic coast, or the nation’s 23 arsenals."
In 1861, after the war had commenced, eleven new regular regimens were organized. But recruitment was slow and by the end of the year only about 14,500 men had joined the regular army. (from That Body of Brave Men)
There's start, maybe someone can give us more.
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"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
There is the regular army, or Regulars, and the volunteer army, Volunteers. One may be commissioned in both forces but hold different ranks. The distinction was that for a volunteer officer, while he received the pay and rank (title), he was not expected to continue in that rank in the post-war era. A good example is Volunteer Maj. Gen. George Custer who was only a Lt-Col. in the Regulars. Once the war was over, Custer reverted to the regular rank and pay (even though he could be addressed by his volunteer title).
Just to follow up on the previous point, Meade received a promotion to brigadier general of Regulars just after Gettysburg. So, at the time, it would seem that a rank in the regular army had some clout over the equivalent rank in the 'volunteer' army....
The unfortunate Sumner disqualified himself for this dustinction by dying of pneumonia on 21 Mar. 1863.
Mag. Gen. USV 5 May 1862
Brig. Gen USA 16 Mar. 1861
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Its funny how these facts get mixed up in my head, when I posted that, for the life of me, I was thinking he had died of a battle related wound, or a sickness caused by a wound.....
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