Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "Gettysburg", the 1993 Movie

I bought the movie a while back, not so much as I like it, but as a primer coat for Wifey's budding interest in the battle. (I rub off on people )
The other night it was aired on TCM, and I watched it again. While I feel that it's a pretty decent film, and pretty much accurate, I do wish they'd gone a little further with some things and not so much on others.
While the brotherhood of W S Hancock and Amistead, and their love and respect for one another is worth remembering, the film almost gets sappy with it. J L Chamberlain deserves credit for his defense of Little Round Top, but the film ignores the sacrifice of The First Minnesota Regiment (80% casualties) and McClaw's brigade's near victory over two Union Corps.
Most of the casting was well done, but Martin Sheen was a lousy Robert E Lee.
I thought the adoration of the troops for Lee was a little overdone as well.
I realize that being based on a novel, it's bound to overlook some things, but it seems like they went out of their way to be historically accurate, while ignoring very important parts of the history they portray.
Ted Turner did several pretty good movies about "The War of Northern Aggression" but I do wish someone would do one about the CSS Alabama!
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And the "well fed" Army of Northern Virginia reenactors!!!!


They didn’t make the same mistake twice in Gods and Generals.

When I was in the army I had to do a report on Little Round Top for a course I was attending. Ergo, I found this movie particularly interesting. I did enjoy it for the most part but they sure did go overboard on the sentimentality. It got awfully syrupy at times.

This was supposed to be a three part series sponsored by Ted Turner (who had a camel role in the films. However, the first two didn't prove so popular, so the third was never made. I grew up near Civil War battlefields (Maryland and Virginia) and often visited battlefield sites; I enjoyed the film.

Quite a few years ago, when 1st Wifey and I were there, there was a group of young officers from Carlisle War College doing research on Little Round Top as well.
Being a veteran fresh out of the Army, I got to talking, and helped them hunt up the position of the 20th Maine up there.
We found the right flank marker, but the left flank was lost way back in the woods. I left before they found it ( if they did ).
Since then, the NPS has cleared out the area and exposed the hasty breastworks of the regiment. It's included in the Ranger Presentation now. Time very well spent, if you can attend.
DJS, Ted Turner had no lines, so one has to know where to look for him. He is visible portraying George S Patton's grandfather, who lead one of Pettigrew's brigades in Pickett's Charge. If memory serves, Patton's Granddad was mortally wounded and died in the orchard where the old Cyclorama building was.
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I liked Gods and Generals even more

I don't have anything substantive to add but I come back into Fredrick across the battlefield pretty often and will sometimes take a turn or two at about 3000 feet with the power back in a nice unobtrusive way. Here's pic of Little Roundtop from last summer.

It's neat to see how sprawling the battlefield is from above. Another good way to see it is from horseback. A whole new perspective https://confederatetrails.com

Horse not good enough for him?

No doubt one of Jeff Davis’ lost Camel Corps members from out west.😉

Really cool picture, Pugs.
I'm only an hour and a half away, so I visit nearly every year, usually a couple or 3 days. There's just so much to it for me, and as I said, Wifey finds it fascinating as well.
Anyway, we usually go in late summer, after the crowds abate (somewhat). The foliage and underbrush at that time of year really hides a lot of the battlefield, but it's how the armies saw it as well.
Last week, we made a day trip down, just to see it while the leaves were off the trees. I was really surprised how much more you could see, particularlyin the Houcks Ridge/Wheatfield area and Culp's Hill as well. In the summer, you can't see much more than 50 yards or so in those places. I think it helped me understand the second day's fighting in both places a little better than I had before.
It's a trade off. No crowds, less heat and bugs, but not as many rangers or battle talks either.
Of course, as with a lot of things, the more information you have, the more follow up questions you're left with! I think later on this summer, we'll probably go again. I got quite a few questions I want to discuss with the private guided Rangers available.
Over the fall and winter, the NPS trimmed a lot of the trees and stuff from Little Round Top. I hadn't thought much about it until your photo made me realize how much. Big improvement, as LRT had been clear cut a year or two before the battle. If it hadn't been bald, it wouldn't have been as major a part of the battle as it was.
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For some reason, I have never seen Gods and Generals. Will have to look that up and watch it. I grew up about 45 mins from Gettysburg, went to school K3-8 in Emmitsburg a little south across the MD line. Always a treat to swing by and check out some of the positions. Eisenhower's farm is on the backside of the battlefield. I spent a lot of my teens up in Blue Ridge Summit where the Confederates withdrew through. There was some fighting there at Penn Mar as the Cavalry chased them through the night in the middle of a thunderstorm.

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Good friend of mine from my reenacting days wrote this book.

https://www.visitcumberlandvalley.com/event/book-signing%3A-civil-war-author-jeffrey-william-hunt/21490/

I have not had the opportunity to read it yet.

We live about 90 minutes from Gettysburg, so we go there about 10 days a year. Since the area supports a million visitors a year there are plenty of things to do there.
We went in March, and we walked the trails behind Little Round Top. The 20th Maine had a really nice position. They had a tremendous advantage in terrain.
We also walked the boy scout trail in a similar fashion as the Alabama troops that attacked LRT. Very interesting to see the distance they covered under cannon fire, and the terrain that split the Confederate assault.
Will will go two or three times in the summer, and we usually ride the horses. The horse perspective is great to see and really immersive.
I was super bummed out that the Longstreet Tower was locked closed in March. We always climb that, maybe even twice to really get the blood flowing.

Live 5-10 minutes away.
Always go in winter.......peaceful and quiet.
Day after Thanksgiving is good too.
You can bicycle and go slow.
No crowds or traffic.
The old Electric Map is back too.
Gone for years and now restored........overview of the whole battle and battlefield
Sit thru it a couple times and the go out and bicycle around.
You get a tell of where the troops were from anywhere.

Then walk the path Pickett’s Charge.

It is humbling what those men did.

Very good movie and pretty true to the book.

"Killer Angels" was mandatory reading in one of my Army career courses, we had to do a paper analyzing the leadership of one of the main characters (anyone other than Chamberlain). A year or two later the organization I was assigned to in MD took an "professional development" tour of the Gettysburg battlefield, with historians from the Army War College as guides instead of the regular park rangers. Very good tour. Saw the movie a couple of yrs after that.

I've read quite a few of Michael and Jeff Shaara's historical novels and haven't seen a bad one yet. Just finished "The Frozen Hours" a week or so ago.

Meade and Lee After Gettysburg

Looks interesting, thanks for the heads up. He's gonna be in Gettysburg for a signing later this summer as well.
Another thought on the Ariel photo, maybe somebody with better resources and understanding than mine could do a modern map of the town and battlefield overlayed with the positions and incidents of the battle. The NPS has bought some of the land near the railroad cut, where there was a motel in the 60s and 70s. It's been restored somewhat to 1863, and some markers added. Stuart's Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery and a few other units made a heck of a stand, at great sacrifice, as the Federals were pushed back through the town on July 1st. History that was lost to all but a few amateur historians, is now available to everyone. It makes me feel good to see it.
We've lost a lot of good history from the old visitors center on account of "PC" and private influence over money. The new one is partly owned by the NPS, and partly by The Gettysburg Foundation. It's a shame, because it's now part museum, part tourist trap. I usually skip it other than the book store, and even there, the books are usually cheaper through Amazon.
But with the restoration of the battlefield itself, all done by the NPS, it seems like every time I visit I get more out of it.
I remember as a kid, many parts of the field were cluttered up with brush and trees, particularly Oak Hill, Little Round Top and the Union Center with the visitors center and Cyclorama building. The last five years or so, they've made some pretty significant restorations in those areas, and the place resembles it's 1863 self more than it has since the NPS took over. It's a lot easier to understand and picture what happened than it used to be. Unless you're lucky enough to live nearby, you probably don't see it. As I said, each visit seems to open up a little more for me.
My Dad was a history buff, and loved the place. I've been there dozens of times since I was a little kid, and as an adult. I wish Dad could see it now. I think he'd be as pleased as I am.
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Camel?

Jeff is the current curator of the Texas military forces museum at Camp Mabry. Before that he was curator at the War of the Pacific museum in Fredericksburg. ( When it was still the Nimitz Birthplace museum).

Terry, that Longstreet Tower reminds me of a couple years ago when we visited.
We had just started up and a couple with two cute little girls were there. I jokingly told the young ladies to count the steps. When we got to the top, they both had counted!
I didn't have any candy, so I gave them each two dollars .
The dad-gum electric map is in Hanover now! It's another 14 miles east for me, so I haven't seen it since the restoration. Coming in from west on Rt 30, I'd stop at Reynolds Woods and Oak Hill first, then head through town to the VC and the electric map. I probably know my way around there as well as anyone, but the birds eye view and animation were a help in understanding the battle. I may have to drive on down to see it again, just for old times sake.
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If you visit, be sure to check out Ike's place. He moved there because of the battlefield... https://www.nps.gov/eise/index.htm