i just watched Cold Mountain on Bravo and being a bit of a civil war buff, i was wondering if anyone knew if the opening minutes where the union army blows up the rebs, is this an actual thing that happened ? as i have never read anything about it in any of my books? Aside from being a love story, it is a very powerful war story or so i thought
2007-09-22 17:16:55 · 7 answers · asked by Nora G 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The mine was at Petersburg. A group of Pennsylvania men dug a tunnel under the confederate works, packed it with gunpowder and set it off early one morning. The men were a part of General Burnside's command, and this tactic had a great potential, but it was badly handled.
The soldiers who were sent in to exploit the breach were as startled as the secesh on the other side. Many of them got to the edge and stared into it. Some others finally started down into it, and tried to get up the other side. Others were going around it and trying to get over the breach in the defenses.
Many of the men didn't go around the hole, but right down in to it, as seen in the film. Nobody had thought to supply the attacking force with ladders. They got in, and trying to climb over loose dirt is not easy, as you may have learned yourself.
By the time they started up the side of the hole, Confederate officers managed to get their men to fire down into the hole. It was a blood bath, as you see in the film.
I had read about this in Bruce Catton's books, and seen the story in Ken Burns' Civil War, so I noticed that the director chose to be politically correct enough to edit what the secesh soldiers (some of them) were shouting. There were African American troops in the attacking force there, and some of the rebs were reportedly yelling
"Take the white man, kill the N-----". I was glad they left that out.
I did wish I could have seen Grant tear into Burnside for botching the whole thing the way it was done. They could have forced the issue at Petersburg and taken Richmond at the end of July 1864 instead of taking it in early April 1865.
2007-09-22 21:11:59 · answer #1 · answered by william_byrnes2000 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being a civil war buff myself and having spent many days around the Petersburg area, you can still find artifacts after a heavy rain. These of course belong to the museums and should be turned in. Some areas still show scars of the battles.
Urban building is encroaching on these areas and soon they won't exist anymore.
2007-09-23 05:48:41 · answer #2 · answered by cowboydoc 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The opening minutes of 'Cold Mountain' when the Union army blows up their explosives under the Confederate trenches is taken from the siege of Petersburg. The mine and the following explosion were called "The Crater."
4:44 a.m., July 30th, 1864.
2007-09-23 02:15:30 · answer #3 · answered by WMD 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, that's true. In one of the battles around Richmond. I can't remember the name, but the commander was drunk and failed to properly execute the attack after the hole was blown in the Confederate lines.
2007-09-23 00:25:18 · answer #4 · answered by Steve-O 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Never seen it
2007-09-23 09:52:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, I saw some of it. Found it very,very boring. Couldn't even sit through all of it. It sucked.
2007-09-23 01:10:01 · answer #6 · answered by mikk 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Yeah that's a good movie... but I can't say I know. Sorry.
2007-09-23 00:27:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋