Forrest Shelby Foote on Forrest

Okay. I tried to find my previous post but no luck.

I was researching my Dad's WW2 unit, the 328 Field Artillery, and I met a son of one of the officers of Dad's battery. His son sent me a lot of info and photos. This friend also relayed the story that his father attended OCS at Fort Sill to become an artillery officer. Among the men in his class were a future TV actor and Shelby Foote. His Dad and both men were sent to Camp Shelby, Miss., to be assigned to an artillery battalion undergoing training and needing officers. But he wasn't really sure as both of us were trying to verify the "stories" that our Dad's told us.
So I pondered on how I could find out if Shelby Foote was an artillery officer and did attend Camp Shelby. I mentioned this to a SCV Commander and his response was: "Call him up and ask him".
I was like What!! He said that Shelby Foote would answer my questions. I thought this was impossible because Foote was NOT known to attend SCV meetings or Civil War reenactments---I thought he was either a loaner or a celebrity and didn't want to be bothered.

I got the number from the SCV commander and rang him up. We had a discussion about his military service. Foote confirmed that he attended OCS at Fort Sill and graduated in Class #8 in 1942. That is Shelby Foote in the class photo that my friend had sent me. He is #19.

LtShelbyFoote.jpg


After OCS, Foote did go to Camp Shelby where he was assigned to one artillery unit and then another but not to my Dad's 328FA. He eventually became a member of the 50 Field Artillery Battalion and was under the command of General Patton. While in England, Foote took leave and traveled to Ireland which was beyond the limit of authorized travel. I'm not sure if he was court martialed or what but he eventually resigned his commission. He didn't tell me much about this. Some websites say he later enlisted in the US Marines and performed guard duty somewhere in California.

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My friend's Dad is #12 Capt Wm Dempsey. He became a lawyer and I think a Dustrict Attorney for Long Island area in NY.
Other OCS graduates who were assigned to my Dad's 328 FA Btn were;
#5 George Brehm
#21 Harold E Goodwin
#25 E O Kassman

The officer identified as #2 E B Andrews is beieved to be the Actor Edward Andrews who played a lot of comedy and also a naval commander in "Tora, Tora, Tora". But I have not confirmed this is really him.
 
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You know, it all comes down to taste and personal preference--how do we want our history--with the commanding voice and sweeping gesture of a Bearss or the subdued dulcet tones of a Foote? I have room for both in my appreciation of the Civil War. I don't have to play favorites and can savor both.
 
Ah! I asked this on another thread, earlier tonight, which ties into his role on the Burns' documentary: The Southern view. Others have challenged me on this, but it seems logical.

As an aside about Bruce Catton, he was arguably the most popular and successful writer about the Civil War in the 1950's and 60's. He was a Michigander who wrote about sitting around as a boy on the steps of the local veteran's home listening to the old men talk about the war in exactly the same way as Foote does. Catton had a similar background as a WWII-era newspaperman, so was also devoted to telling a good story; he parlayed both interests into the senior editorship of the extremely popular and influential American Heritage Magazine and authored the text for its Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 The Civil War. He also authored another Pulitzer Prize volume from the Union viewpoint This Hallowed Ground; the same series also featured a Southern-viewpoint history by a Virginia writer, but Catton's has remained popular. It only seems natural at the time when the Southern experience was still valued that a publisher would look for a popular alternative to Catton.
 
he parlayed both interests into the senior editorship of the extremely popular and influential American Heritage Magazine and authored the text for its Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 The Civil War.


....and it was through the gift of an old 1969 issue of American Heritage Magazine that I began my discovery of Bruce Catton :smile:
 
....and it was through the gift of an old 1969 issue of American Heritage Magazine that I began my discovery of Bruce Catton :smile:

The several devoted fans of U.S. Grant here on the forums should thank Catton for his considerable part in rejuvenating their hero's reputation by his U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition, Grant Moves South, and Grant Takes Command.
 
The several devoted fans of U.S. Grant here on the forums should thank Catton for his considerable part in rejuvenating their hero's reputation by his U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition, Grant Moves South, and Grant Takes Command.


You are following my arc splendidly! After reading the excerpt from Grant Takes Command in the 1969 issue, I bought the whole Trilogy. I thought that the first volume was called Captain Sam Grant? It is a soft and somewhat dated treatment of US Grant, but still an enjoyable read :smile:
 
You are following my arc splendidly! After reading the excerpt from Grant Takes Command in the 1969 issue, I bought the whole Trilogy. I thought that the first volume was called Captain Sam Grant?

US Grant and the American Military Tradition is a single volume not related to the trilogy began by Lloyd Lewis and finished by Bruce Catton. :smile:
 
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LOL.

I hadn't really thought about that, but I think you may be right.

Ken Burns is the very last person that I would consider as pro-Confederate.:bounce:

My favorite recent experience - until his latest The Vietnam War, that is - with Burns was a segment of Henry Louis Gates' excellent series Finding Your Roots when genealogist/historian Gates revealed that a part of Burns' family tree included some Maryland slaveowners! Poor Baby Burns was almost prostrate with grief, guilt, and remorse, at least until Gates cheered him up by also revealing that he was a collateral descendant or relative of Abraham Lincoln.
 
You are following my arc splendidly! After reading the excerpt from Grant Takes Command in the 1969 issue, I bought the whole Trilogy. I thought that the first volume was called Captain Sam Grant? It is a soft and somewhat dated treatment of US Grant, but still an enjoyable read :smile:


That first one was by Lloyd Lewis who inconveniently died and was fortuitously replaced by Catton who agreed to take on and complete the project.
 
, at least until Gates cheered him up by also revealing that he was a collateral descendant of Abraham Lincoln.

That seems to be part of Gates' schtick on that show: Sucker punch the individual with some terrible news about his past, pause whilst the *victim* twists in the wind, and then follow up with some soothing news about his relationship to the North/Union.
 
That seems to be part of Gates' schtick on that show: sucker punch the individual with some terrible news about his past, pause whilst the *victim* twists in the wind, and then follow up with some soothing news about his relationship to the North/Union.

I still like it, and not least because it's one of the few shows actually dealing with history.
 
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US Grant and the American Military Tradition is a single volume not related to the trilogy began by Lloyd Lewis and finished by Bruce Catton. :smile:

That first one was by Lloyd Lewis who inconveniently died and was fortuitously replaced by Catton who agreed to take on and complete the project.

*Purchasing query* US Grant and the American Military Tradition is a separate fourth book from the Grant trilogy? I need to look into this!
 
I didn't see a criticism of Burns in the post. Perhaps it's in the comments. I didn't read the 252 comments on the post.

The Burns criticism is there in the comments, and in other posts on that blog. The Burns criticism is by no means limited to the alleged pro-Confederate tilt of the Civil War.
 
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