The Battle of Gettysburg has a special place in the hearts of Americans. It was a real battle in the Civil War that for many reached mythical levels. In the South reenactments of the Civil War take place with an emphasis to historical fact both in uniforms and in military tactics. The Gettysburg battle and The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln still bring up strong emotions for Americans to this day. On November 19, 1863President Lincoln noted at the Gettysburg’s National Union ceremony that the Union was created 100 years before and was “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure” (1863, para. 1). President Lincoln honors each soldier equally, regardless of which the side the soldier fought, “The brave me, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract” (1863, para. 3) This is a touching and a revealing statement on the meaning of the war to many northerners. Too many of the northern soldiers the war was over the equality of men and making sure the Union was kept in one piece.
Most of the popular movies about the Civil War have been from the perspective of the Lost Cause myth started by Confederates after the war; Union leaders and soldiers are either ignored or made into terrible villians but rarely treated with respect. The movie Gettysburg did have elements of the Lost Cause myth but the movie made great progress in introducing the movie audience to important Union characters from history.
The movie Gettysburg is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning historical fiction novel, The Killer Angels, written by Michael Shaara. Historical war buff sites AmericanCivilWar.com and InfoBarrel.com both agree that the film does a better job than other movies to show that both the Union and Confederates had honorable and good leaders. InfoBarrel.com in particular notes the negative way that the Union generals are presented in the movies Gone With the Wind and The Birth of a Nation (para 1-2). Both of those movies are from the perspective of the Lost Cause myth perpetuated after the war by Confederates who gave the Union no credit for using military ability to win the war.
Two of the Lost Cause elements in the movie Gettysburg are reflected in the treatment of General Lee’s character. General Lee is portrayed as “separate from the Confederacy” when in fact he was a strong nationalist for the South (Gallagher, 2008, 58). General Lee’s character was also “separated from slavery” or portrayed as being motivated to fight the war in defense of slavery (Gallagher, 2008, 58). This could partly be explained because the screenplay for the movie was based on The Killer Angels which is regarded as having a Lost Cause slant to some degree. On the other hand the novel introduced to the audience to one of the most important leaders of the Civil War, Joshua Chamberlain (LaFantasie, 1997, 51).
In the movie Chamberlain is shown to be serious, respectable to all and smart about winning battles. His brother, who is in the same Maine regiment, is shown to be gregarious and to treat everyone equally and kindly, even the Confederate prisoners of war taken by the regiment. This is the first mention some ever hear about the person who should be the most famous of the Civil War. Even though the war lasted two years longer, the battle of Gettysburg was considered a decisive win for the North and they were from that time on considered to have the upper hand (American Civil War, n.d., para. 2).
Reardon (1997) tells a story about the veterans of the 149th Pennsylvanian Infantry. The veterans returned to Gettysburg to dedicate their infantry’s monument to the civil war soldiers. Clearly they were very upset with the way that the Union army has been portrayed in popular culture. She quoted a speaker at the dedication
The battle of Gettysburg has served to magnify the glory of the rebels at the expense of the Union troops. The great event of the battle in the popular mind is the magnificent charge of Pickett’s Division . . . So much has been said of the courage of his men that the sublime sacrifices of the first day and the brilliant charges and stubborn resistance of the Union troops on the second and third days, on all parts of the field, are overlooked. (Reardon, 1997, 122)
Reardon agrees with the speaker from the 149th Pennsylvanian Infantry and she tells us that Pickett agreed, too. She shares an anecdote about Pickett being asked ‘Why did your assault fail?’ and Pickett answered “I think the Union army had something to do with it.” (Reardon, 1997, 122) Although the Confederate myth makers did not respect the efforts of the Union those who fought against the Union did if Pickett is an example.
Another Union leader that has not been given much credit is the Major General George C. Meade the leader of the northern army. Although he had no way of knowing exactly what Lee had planned, he did know to expect the attack at Cemetery Ridge and he warned Brigadier General John Gibbon to be prepared. Major General Meade also sent troops to help fill in Gibbon’s line of defense. Reardon makes the point that
There is a great irony in this need to restore to history a proper appreciation of the Union Army’s efforts on July 3. After all, it was the decisions and actions of Northern leaders that set the stage for the dramatic events that brought great fame to southern arms that afternoon. (Reardon 1997, 123)
Gettysburg demonstrated a lot of respect to the Union leaders and to the soldiers fighting in the Union army. By filming the movie as realistically as possible the filmmakers were able to show moments of thoughtfulness or hesitation on the Union leaders’ decision-making process just by showing the expressions on their faces or how they held their shoulders. The movie also showed the Southern leaders discussing the challenges and making decisions but the Union leaders were not left out as they were in other movies.
The movie differed from the real life event in ways that mostly only Civil War reenactors or Civil War buffs would recognize. For example the IMDB.com webpage notes that the soldiers from the 2nd Maine did not reach the 20th Maine immediately before the Battle of Gettysburg; they arrived six weeks earlier (IMDB, n.d. Trivia: Did you know?). There are two reasons the soldiers need to arrive just before the battle in the movie: the movie is only covering three days and it gives viewers a way to understand the character of Chamberlain.
Movies cannot exactly show history as it happened. Plus this movie was based on a fictional historical novel. The things the movie got right were greater than the things the movie got wrong. Compared to other fictional movies that are based on real events this one did a fairly good job of expressing the feelings of the people involved. In terms of the facts of the time period the film covers it is better to use historically reliable sources. The movie did accomplish showing a comparison of the leaders’ values on both sides of the war although they were handled superficially, especially by the southern characters. The only mentions of abolishing slavery were by characters from the North. Yet the leaders and the soldiers from both sides were portrayed in the movie as men facing terrible challenges. The face to face battle when the southern soldiers were climbing the hill to take the position from the northern soldiers showed some of the grim realities of war. Gettysburg gets very high marks for giving so much time to Chamberlain because he was probably the most important person at the Battle of Gettysburg. Seeing the dusty marches, the long roads the soldiers had marched through the countryside helped the movie seem like real history.
As historians find more information to add about the Civil War from letters and other papers the picture of the reality of the war will become more clear. The Lost Cause myth will have less of a hold on the imagination of the young people in the country once all the textbooks add information based on primary sources from historians. When this happens sometimes in the future the movie Gettysburg may seem closer to pure entertainment. On the other hand the portrayal of Chamberlain and the battles between his soldiers and the Confederate soldier, I predict, will still be just as powerful.
Works Cited
American Civil War Battle, Gettysburg Pennsylvania, July 1-3, 1863. americancivilwar.com (n.d.) Web. 2April 2010 [website with articles and videos] Accessed at
‘Films that continue the Lost Cause Myth,’ InfoBarrel.com, n.d. Web. 5 April 2012. Accessed at
LaFantasie, Glenn. ‘Joshua Taylor and the American Dream’ Chapt. 2. In The Gettysburg No One Knows. Gabors S. Boritt (ed.) New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print. pp. 31-55.
Lincoln, President Abraham. (1863 November 19). The Gettysburg Address. Speech delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Soldiers’ National Cemetery.
Reardon, Carol. ‘”I think the Union Army had something to do with it” The Pickett’s Charge Nobody Knows. Chapt. 6. In The Gettysburg No One Knows. Gabors S. Boritt (ed.) New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print. pp. 122 – 143.
Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels: A novel of the Civil War. New York, NY: Random House, 1974. Print.
