"Buster" Kilrain - real or fictional?

If you look at pics of Chamberlain, he was a twig. Skinny and not very tall. Daniels in G&G is big enough for three Chamberlains. He was wonderful in Gettysburg, but he ought not to have even been in G&G. The movie made up for it, though, by including Alexander's "a chicken couldn't live on that field" scene at F-burg. Still one of the best lines of the war.

Tom Desjardin, author and expert on the 20th Maine, said Colonel Chamberlain was only 5' 6". The actor who portrayed him is 6' 4"!
 
To answer a previous poster there actually is a Corp. John Foss on the 2oth Maine memorial listed as Company F.

Kilrain definitely a composite character, a bit like the drill sergeant in Glory who had some great lines.
 
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Bloopers

maryingettysburg,

Thanks for the info.

If you haven't already, try to get a copy of the "Director's Cut" of the film. More bloopers than the release version. my favorite is as the CS troops step off in PPT's assault there is a clearly visible white panel truck driving by in the background. Must have been one of those legendary CS stealth vans <grin>.

TomH
Someone must have watched an out -take from "Ben Hur" where a massive truck drives across the background in the chariot race sequence.
 
The previously mentioned "The 20th Maine" by John Pullen was he first of the "modern" regimental histories. Pullen researched and wrote the book, and hand-delivered it to the publisher. It took the historical world by storm in its day, probably singlehandedly rescued the reputation of the 20th Maine and Chamberlain from obscurity AND was the inspiration for "The Killer Angels." It remains an excellent book today. Very accurate, but highly readable I absolutey recommend it to younger Civil War readers. (I read it first when I was 16.) In the edition that was in print when Shaara was writing, there is a photo of an unidentified 20th Maine soldier. That photo was used for Kilraine in the movie credits.
I believe the historical Andrew Tozier was a young man at the time of the battle, not at all in appearance as he was portrayed in the movie. Reenacting is filled with many "grizzled old NCOs".
 
One important thing to remember is that Killer Angels/Gettysburg is not a documentary, it's Historical Fiction. Historical fiction combines actual historical items with fiction to make the overall story. For Killer Angels/Gettysburg, the mix has a main framework of historical events, with fiction filling in parts of the story. Another era I have interest in is the fur trade. In the movie Mountain Men, we can see the opposite: a main framework of a fictional story based on historical events. While many of the events in the Mountain Men are based on historical fact, they were used for the events that happened to the main fictional character, pulling in historical events that happened to several different people, at times using parts from one event and parts of another one combined into a single event. In Gettysburg, Kilrain is one of the fictional parts that adds some flavor to the story.
 
One important thing to remember is that Killer Angels/Gettysburg is not a documentary, it's Historical Fiction. Historical fiction combines actual historical items with fiction to make the overall story. For Killer Angels/Gettysburg, the mix has a main framework of historical events, with fiction filling in parts of the story. .

Most historical fiction includes a lot more fiction and fictitious characters in the historical framework than Killer Angels. In the case of this book/movie, virtually all (except for Buster, obviously) of the characters and events are historical. Also, much of their quotes are historical. It does make it particularly difficult to separate fact from fiction.
 
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