Lincoln (2012)

[K Hale]

Good for you. I wasn't really commenting on your opinion. Never watch a movie you don't like twice.

Seriously. Reminds me of those folks who rail against "R-rated" books, then keep having to go back and uh, reread them again, you know, just to, um, make sure they really are as, uh... objectionable as they thought. Yeah, that's it.

 

[K Hale]

Also,and less I forget ,a free black man who was renting a house from my family was kidnapped and sold into slavery and brought home by the efforts of members of my family

Dude, that is freaking awesome. Please, start a thread on this!

 

[101combatvet]

Seriously. Reminds me of those folks who rail against "R-rated" books, then keep having to go back and uh, reread them again, you know, just to, um, make sure they really are as, uh... objectionable as they thought. Yeah, that's it.

Just for the record I never saw it twice... once was enough.

I saw Zero Dark Thirty last night... not to bad... for Hollywood.

 

[Jake Patterson]

Went back to go see it yesterday and wasn't really impressed. Lots of artistic license with this movie which makes it a bit unrealistic.

What in particular did you find unrealistic?

 

[101combatvet]

What in particular did you find unrealistic?

Lots of things Jake.... to name a few:

Black soldiers speaking like Harvard grads.
White soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address... what country bumpkins could do that? The last lines by the Harvard grad.
Celebrations in the streets after the passing of the 13th Amendment.
Thaddeus Stevens sleeping with his black house keeper - unproven.
Tad's collection of glass negative plates depicting slaves.
Blacks in the House when the vote is cast.... really?
The peace negotiations... covered in another thread.

 

[Jake Patterson]

Lots of things Jake.... to name a few:

Black soldiers speaking like Harvard grads.
White soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address... what country bumpkins could do that? The last lines by the Harvard grad.
Celebrations in the streets after the passing of the 13th Amendment.
Thaddeus Stevens sleeping with his black house keeper - unproven.
Tad's collection of glass negative plates depicting slaves.
Blacks in the House when the vote is cast.... really?
The peace negotiations... covered in another thread.

Thanks... There may be arguments for each both ways, but not worth pursuing. I understand your view and do agree that some historical indulgences were taken for the sake of the movie...

I was at Gettysburg a few months ago... We were close to the spot where the address was given and I started with "Four score and seven years ago..."

A friend of mine, who I never thought was a history buff at all, (he came with us because we went to Cooperstown in the same trip...) before I could get the word "ago" out he took over and recited the entire address from heart... So ya never know. But I agree the likelyhood of a soldier out of the blue having a chance to speak with Lincoln AND know the entire address was pretty remote.

 

[Ellsworth avenger]

Dude, that is freaking awesome. Please, start a thread on this!

No need ,already a famous period book.Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. The house rented is also easy to. research,The Old Fort House Museum donated to the Fort Edward Historical Society by my Great Uncle Earl Canavan.

 

[Red Harvest]

Black soldiers speaking like Harvard grads.

Some of the USCT were quite educated, I've come across a few. Some served as officers until forced back into the ranks by less progressive federal rules. And at least one of these again became an officer of a state battery during the war.

White soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address... what country bumpkins could do that?

Well, my white USMC grandfather (Depression era kid, highschool grad from a country school) would qualify. That man had a knack for remembering epic poetry completely outside of his normal realm...things he hadn't read in 40+ years but had at some distant point committed to memory. He would from time-to-time start reciting the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and others with a bit of Irish lilt to his voice.

The Gettysburg Address is easy by comparison. And while the scene is a construction, I would be welling to bet that many had committed this and other things to memory. And in particular, those who were not literate and accustomed to handing things down by oral tradition would have been even more adept at remembering it if recited to them a time or two.

You just look for reasons to hate the movie, which says far more about you and your skewed view of history, than the movie itself, which is restricted to presenting things to a modern audience for entertainment in a narrow sliver of time.

 

[101combatvet]

You just look for reasons to hate the movie, which says far more about you and your skewed view of history, than the movie itself, which is restricted to presenting things to a modern audience for entertainment in a narrow sliver of time.

Wow.... sorry your feelings were hurt. You just pretty much agreed that the movie is "skewed" with excuses... hilarious!

 

[unionblue]

Celebrations in the streets after the passing of the 13th Amendment.

US Congress Passes 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery.

http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/us-congress-passes-13th-amendment-abolish-slavery

Comments from Northern papers on the celebrations that took place in Congress, the city of Washington and a one hundred gun salute by cannon for its passage.

There are also comments from Southern newspapers of the time.

Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

Blacks in the House when the vote is cast.... really?

From a review of the book, Final Freedom: The Civil War, The Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment, by Michael Vorenberg, 2001:

"When the votes were counted and the result announced, the House of Representatives erupted in bedlam. Vorenberg noted that among the blacks in the gallery was Charles Douglass, son of the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass."

Really.

Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

White soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address... what country bumpkins could do that? The last lines by the Harvard grad.

Havard Gazette.

http://news.havard.edu/gazette/story/2012/03/blue-gray-and-crimson/

Seems like there were lots of educated folks in the Union army, even a lot of Harvard grads.

Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

Thaddeus Stevens sleeping with his black house keeper - unproven.

Who Was Lydia Hamilton Smith?

http://stevensandsmith.org/

Yep, unproven.

Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

The peace negotiations... covered in another thread.

Here is the thread that covered the peace negotiation conducted in the movie, Lincoln.

The Hampton Roads Conference as Presented in the Movie Lincoln, by Battalion.

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the...ence-as-presented-in-the-movie-lincoln.78373/

Unionblue

 

[ForeverFree]

Lots of things Jake.... to name a few:

Black soldiers speaking like Harvard grads.

LOL - the black soldier in the movie spoke so few words, I didn't even notice his accent!

Some of the USCT were quite educated, I've come across a few. Some served as officers until forced back into the ranks by less progressive federal rules. And at least one of these again became an officer of a state battery during the war.

That is correct - many of the men in the Northern colored units were literate. The 54th and 55th Mass regiments, one of which was featured in the movie Glory, were actually more literate than many white regiments (although that is not clear from the movie). It is fair to say that these men were not representative of the entire colored troop population, but they made up a decent sized minority of that population, I believe.

In any event, it was not incorrect or unrealistic that a colored soldier might have talked as this black soldier in the movie did. He would have been one of what was commonly referred to as an "intelligent negro" at the time.

- Alan

 

[K Hale]

This thread is awesome this morning.

 

[101combatvet]

This thread is awesome this morning.

Lots of things Jake.... to name a few:

Black soldiers speaking like Harvard grads.
White soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address... what country bumpkins could do that? The last lines by the Harvard grad.
Celebrations in the streets after the passing of the 13th Amendment.
Thaddeus Stevens sleeping with his black house keeper - unproven.
Tad's collection of glass negative plates depicting slaves.
Blacks in the House when the vote is cast.... really?
The peace negotiations... covered in another thread.

More.... the Captain in the communication office appears to be a native American. What are the chances?

 

[101combatvet]

LOL - the black soldier in the movie spoke so few words, I didn't even notice his accent!




That is correct - many of the men in the Northern colored units were literate. The 54th and 55th Mass regiments, one of which was featured in the movie Glory, were actually more literate than many white regiments (although that is not clear from the movie). It is fair to say that these men were nor representative of the entire colored troop population, but they made up a decent sized minority of that population, I believe.

In any event, it was not incorrect or unrealistic that a colored soldier might have talked as this black soldier in the movie did. He would have been one of what was commonly referred to as an "intelligent negro" at the time.

- Alan

LOL... reciting a speech that few could hear when present... an unbievable fantasy event.

 

[Sid J.]

More.... the Captain in the communication office appears to be a native American. What are the chances?

Ely Parker was played by Asa-Luke Twocrow.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWparkerEly.htm

 

[101combatvet]

Ely Parker was played by Asa-Luke Twocrow.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWparkerEly.htm

I noticed his portrayal on Grant's staff... believable.