Scourge of War Boards

If only one of the big movie companies would make Last Full Measure, that is one of the most important periods in American history. Haven't read the book, but here's the events I would like to see on the big screen:

1-Start the movie with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
2-Grant being put in charge of the army
3-Fighting in the thickets at the Wilderness, and near destruction of the Iron Brigade
4-Longstreet marching his corps to get there, then getting wounded as he was turning the tide of the battle
5-Leaving Wilderness, Grant turns right instead of left, meaning no retreat, his men cheering
6-Bloody Angle at Spottsylvania, where many good southern officers fell or were captured
7-Grant's assault at Cold Harbor, the only one he regretted ordering
8-Jeb Stuart's last battle and death at Yellow Tavern
9-Siege and evacuation of Richmond
10-Lee trying to escape Grant, many of his men barefoot, starving, and un-armed, but still with the army
11-Lee's last stand and surrender at Appomattox
12-Chamberlain (north) and Gordon (south) exchanging salutes as the rebels march out after surrendering

Wishful thinking, huh?

Very wishful indeed but that is how it would probably go but you got to add some small important things in there... Hill being killed, Lee's retreat across the potomac, bristoue station, Gordon's attack on those union forts at Petersburg, Hill suffering from his illnis at the Wilderness, Lee attempting to lead his men into the bullets, ect.

Here's a peace I thought was very exciting in the book...
...Lee saw one man holding a battle flag, the man bloody, staggering, and he moved toward him, said, "Here, son, let me..." The man looked at him, dropped to one knee, said nothing, and Lee saw now the face of a child, the sharp eyes, the bright light looking up at him , and the boy released the flag. Lee held it up high, began to wave it, catching the breeze. Now more men fell into line beside him, behind him, and they began to cheer, to yell out his name. He stared below, into the trees, was ready to ride, to move in one hard wave down into the face of the enemy, drive them out, drive them away. The flag was slapping hard around him, catching a sharp gust of wind, the horse staggering to keep straight,and he thought, Yes, we will not be beaten, you cannot take this away from us!
Behind him there was a new sound, men moving over the crest of the hill, a heavy battle line. It was Mahone's men, and all along the hill came the sound of rebel yell, high and terrible. suddenly, someone grabbed the flag, and Lee would not let go, looked at the man with hot anger, How dare you... saw the face of Mahone.
Mahone still gripped the flag, gave a firm pull, and Lee felt it slip out of his hands. Mahone said, "General this is my job."
Last Full Measure

I've never liked any of the books, the movies I enjoy, (even though in G and G I felt like I was being preached to about Southern righteousness) but the books I thought were too dry. Even when there were battles, they seemed watered down (the Battle of Manassas isn't even described in the book, Lee just hears about it in Richmond). However, it may just be that I've read Bernard Cornwell for too long, who zeroes in on the dirty, gritty lives of the line soldier.

As for The Last Full Measure sure it'd be great to see, Cold Mountain has been Hollywood's only attempt at portraying the horrors of trench warfare.

I don't find the books dry I think there really good but if I read the books you were talking about I would probably not find them as interesting.

I still need to find the audiobook for Last Full Measure. I usually don't read books, I listen to the audio books for my commute to/from work. They also make mowing the lawn MUCH more enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the books, not enough to read them over and over. But they gave me the history in a format that I could really get into. I got a good overview of the war and was able to discover the personalities. Best part of the last full measure was the end, when Chamberlain ordered his men to salute

Really? I thought Sheen did an excellent job as Lee; I couldn't stand Duvall in G&G.

I love reading books over and over there like movies in my head.

I agree with charlesobscure, Sheen was much better at Lee than Duval. Just my opinion

civilwarbuff123 wrote:

I agree with charlesobscure, Sheen was much better at Lee than Duval. Just my opinion

I agree that Sheen was better, but I still liked Duvall. He sure did look like Lee in the movie:



Also something interesting I just found out, Robert Duvall is actually a descendant of Lee:

"Being descended from Robert E. Lee, he can actually trace his family back to President George Washington. Washington himself had no biological children, but his wife, Martha Custis, did, and he adopted them after the death of Martha's first husband. Her son, John Custis, had a son of his own, Washington Custis, whose daughter, Mary Custis, was Robert E. Lee's wife."