Gettysburg (History Channel's Civil War Week)

[Hank_Scorpio]

Anyone planning on watching it tonight?

History Channel, 9pm EDT.

http://www.history.com/shows/gettysburg

 

[micropolitan guy]

Re: Gettysburg

Longstreet (played by Tom Berringer) has the worst beard in movie history. And every time I look at Lee I think of Jed Bartlett.

 

[Freelance Hack]

Re: Gettysburg

Is it a mini-series or are Thursday's broadcasts a re-airing?

 

[Bubbler]

Re: Gettysburg

Who beat?

 

[Shoeless Joe]

Re: Gettysburg

What I saw of it I liked. I fell asleep about 9:45. Hopefully it'll be up on OnDemand today.
There are supposed to be other shows on this week. Tonight is Lee and Grant.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Re: Gettysburg

It was good.
I am really intrigued by Rufus Dawes.
Also had some pretty interesting stuff of Dan Sickles too.

 

[Second Thoughts]

Re: Gettysburg


When I saw this film I thought Sheen's Gen. Lee came across as a doddering old fool, weak, foggy brained and indecisive. The real Lee was worshiped by his troops who would have followed him into Hell. Terrible portrayal.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Re: Gettysburg

When I saw this film I thought Sheen's Gen. Lee came across as a doddering old fool, weak, foggy brained and indecisive. The real Lee was worshiped by his troops who would have followed him into Hell. Terrible portrayal.

Not the major motion picture, starring Sheen.

The two-hour special on History Channel.



F-Hack, it's not a mini-series, just part of Civil War week on the History Channel.

Evil, I was intrigued by the Rufus Dawes stuff as well.

 

[doubledown68]

Re: Gettysburg

It was good.
I am really intrigued by Rufus Dawes.
Also had some pretty interesting stuff of Dan Sickles too.

Indeed. Probably was a blessing that Sickles got clipped by a cannon ball. And the description of Pickett's Charge was terrifying, especially having to march through an artillery range with no recourse other than to get close enough shoot back.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Re: Gettysburg

It was good.
I am really intrigued by Rufus Dawes.
Also had some pretty interesting stuff of Dan Sickles too.

Indeed. Probably was a blessing that Sickles got clipped by a cannon ball. And the description of Pickett's Charge was terrifying, especially having to march through an artillery range with no recourse other than to get close enough shoot back.

Did they have to march so slowly? I wondered if the charge was a charge or the slow march they showed? Why would you march that slowly through 400 yards of open field without support or cover and in cannon range of the enemy?
If I have to make that "charge" I am running my ass off that 400 yards. I'll take a bullet over one of of those cannon shots (esp. the gigantic shotgun) blasts any day!

 

[DanOregon]

Re: Gettysburg

Longstreet (played by Tom Berringer) has the worst beard in movie history. And every time I look at Lee I think of Jed Bartlett.

Those were "war beards" the forerunner to the NHL's playoff beards.

 

[Batman]

Re: Gettysburg

It was good.
I am really intrigued by Rufus Dawes.
Also had some pretty interesting stuff of Dan Sickles too.

Indeed. Probably was a blessing that Sickles got clipped by a cannon ball. And the description of Pickett's Charge was terrifying, especially having to march through an artillery range with no recourse other than to get close enough shoot back.

Did they have to march so slowly? I wondered if the charge was a charge or the slow march they showed? Why would you march that slowly through 400 yards of open field without support or cover and in cannon range of the enemy?
If I have to make that "charge" I am running my ass off that 400 yards. I'll take a bullet over one of of those cannon shots (esp. the gigantic shotgun) blasts any day!

It was actually closer to 1,700 yards. Almost a mile, while carrying a rifle and combat load. And about halfway across they had to go down an embankment, onto a road, and then back up the other side. At the end, they got to sprint up another hill to the Union lines. Plus, if everyone runs not everyone does it at the same speed. A unit that large, you'd have as many guys getting trampled as shot.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Re: Gettysburg

Pickett's Charge is the ultimate expression of how the Civil War was fought. Armies using tactics created for weapons with a range of 200 yards while using weapons with ranges good to nearly a mile.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Re: Gettysburg

That whole thing on the medicine during the Civil War? Yikes! Anatesia (sp) was recently invented, but for the most part it was meatball surgery. No antiseptics, no cleaning of medical equipment, no washing of hands.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Re: Gettysburg

That whole thing on the medicine during the Civil War? Yikes! Anatesia (sp) was recently invented, but for the most part it was meatball surgery. No antiseptics, no cleaning of medical equipment, no washing of hands.

Yeah, the big painkilling technology was a drink of whiskey, if they were lucky, and taking a bullet or a piece of wood and putting it in the guy's mouth to bite down on.

 

[btm]

I didn't understand why Barksdale waited and the Confederates waited when Sickels screwed up and advanced his troops.

Seems to me like they could have split the line in two fairly easily.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Barksdale, and all of Longstreet's corps, were under Lee's direct orders to advance "up the Emmitsburg Road" to do that, but it would have exposed their flank to about half the Union army. A brigade commander, Law I believe, disobeyed, and Hood's division wound up in the Devil's Den, Little Round Top, etc, while Barksdale and his troops waited for that situation to be resolved. Sickles' advance came as a surprise to both sides, and delay is often the result when generals are surprised.

 

[dreunc1542]

Barksdale was just waiting for Wee-Bey and Stinkum to arrive.

 

[Brian]

I made the mistake of walking up Big Round Top the last time I was there, thinking it was Little Round Top. Little Round Top is on the road. Big Round Top is like 350 feet above the road. And there's nothing at the top of Big Round Top. I certainly grew to appreciate those men who charged up those hills with 100 pounds strapped to their back, though.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

"Pickett's Charge" is given that name mainly because the Virginia newspapers of the day coined the phrase to play up their boy. After the war, Pickett didn't like having his name attached to it. Some historians actually refer to it as the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assault. It may not have been "the" last time troops just formed up and marched into enemy guns, but it was certainly the beginning of the ending of it.

I still haven't seen it other than the first 45 minutes. It's not on OnDemand yet.

The battle, and ultimately the war, was lost at the end of the first day when Ewell didn't take Culp's Hill. If you want to blame Lee for not giving specific instructions to take the hill rather say "if practicable" or if you want to blame Ewell for not just doing it, I'd say either is a fair assessment. Some people want to blame Longstreet for not starting Pickett's Charge earlier, but I don't think the battle should have even gone to a third day.