TNT's Gettysburg movie & Jane Fonda
Jim Elbrecht
"Gettysburgh" filming in one capacity or another.
Someone posted a snippet about Jane Fonda to the alt.war.vietnam
group. It sounds like another urban legend to me, but maybe someone
could comment if there's even a germ of truth to it. [I'm torn here
between my feelings about Ms Fonda, and my dislike for urban legends,
no matter how much I wish they were true.]
Since it was posted as an email 'from a friend who got it from a
friend', I'll just post snippets with no attribution. The entire
message is;
Subject: A Great Hanoi Jane Story
Message-ID: <8RF%4.349$iy.3...@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>
>
>I was the Chief of Staff to the Confederate General who was overall
>commander of the 6000 troops in the movie Gettysburg.
Who would this be? I once had a 'making the movie' site bookmarked
but it seems to have disappeared somewhere.
> Historical actors,
>we volunteered to TNT who was making the movie, receiving a onetime payment
>of $25.00 for travel expenses and food while on site. We each also received
>a medal stamped Killer Angels (original book's name).
Is this true?
>Two incidents involve HJ. The first was on the day when Ted Turner made his
>cameo appearance in the movie. For those who have seen the movie, he is the
>white-haired officer who dies climbing over the fence in a charge.
'HJ' is 'Hanoi Jane' -- Was Ted there just one day?
>I had brought up a battalion, about 700 men, up on a road in the hot sun to
>await the setup of the cameras.
Would a 'Chief of Staff' 'bring up a Bn'?
> Most of the troops present were North Carolinians, many from Fort Bragg.
Fact or fiction? This fellow may have just been referring to the Bn
he 'brought up'-- but is there a breakdown of how many troops
participated in the filming?
Allegedly their Col. gave this command as Jane was passing by;
> "B Company! To the
>rear! By the right about! Face!... Stand at ease!".
Is that a proper series of commands? If it is, I'm glad it got
simpler by the time I was doing close order drill.<g>
There was supposedly another incident at the end of the filming where
someone was given an award & refused to shake Jane's hand.
thanks,
jim
David A. Campbell
> >commander of the 6000 troops in the movie Gettysburg.
Lee's Chief of Staff was Colonel Robert H. Chilton
> >Two incidents involve HJ. The first was on the day when Ted Turner made his
> >cameo appearance in the movie. For those who have seen the movie, he is the
> >white-haired officer who dies climbing over the fence in a charge.
>
> 'HJ' is 'Hanoi Jane' -- Was Ted there just one day?
So far as I know, yes.
>I had brought up a battalion, about 700 men, up on a road in the hot sun to
> >await the setup of the cameras.
Seems like he's using modern parlance. Battalions in the Civil War were, as far
as I know, only used by Federal (i.e. not volunteer) troops. Battallions were
approximately 1,000 men, and two batallions made up a single Federal Regiment.
Therefore, the breakdown would be: Divison, brigade, regiment, batallion,
company. Currently, with the exception of cavalry, brigades are not used.
Therefore, the modern breakdown is division, regiment, batallion, company. For
him to bring up 700 men would probably be leading a very small brigade or a
large
regiment. Only Smith and Brockenborough had brigades this small at Gettysburg.
For the purposes of the movie, one can only guess what unit they were
representing.
> Would a 'Chief of Staff' 'bring up a Bn'?
Probably not, but for the purposes of making the movie, they probably had the
person who knew how to do it, do it.
> Allegedly their Col. gave this command as Jane was passing by;
>
> > "B Company! To the
> >rear! By the right about! Face!... Stand at ease!".
Ha ha. But the orders don't quite jive, ordering a company when he was
supposedly commanding a 'battalion'
>
David A. Campbell
ECalistri
My advice is to ignore everything post-"Barbarella."
Eric
Bruce Henderson
<cam...@flux.cpmc.columbia.edu> writes:
>>Seems like he's using modern parlance. Battalions in the Civil War were, as
far as I know, only used by Federal (i.e. not volunteer) troops. Battallions
were approximately 1,000 men, and two batallions made up a single Federal
Regiment. >>
Thanks for this info on Union units, but he might have been talking about a
Confederate battalion. At least among North Carolina troops, a "battalion" was
unit made up of (generally) three to seven companies. There was Nethercutt's
Partisan Ranger Battalion of six companies - I think John Nethercutt was a
Major when his battalion was combined with other troops to form the 66th NC
regiment (he was made Lt. Col of the Regiment). There was also Wright's
Battalion, an infantry battalion made up of four companies that were formerly
railroad guards on NC railroads. Wright was a Major, a rank he kept when his
battalion was combined with Nethercutt's (an officer with Military School
training was brought in as the colonel). Another example of a battalion is
Whitford's battalion. This battalion grew out of a single company of outpost
guards from Fort Macon; when it was split into three companies (following
additional recruits), John Whitford was made Major. He was promoted to Lt. Col
as more local companies (generally picket and outpost companies around New
Berne) were added to the battalion. In January, 1864, the battalion had grown
to ten companies so it was officially redesignated 67th NC Regiment.
There were a couple of other instances of "failed" regiments; i.e. ones
that never were able to recruit to the full ten companies. In these instances,
they were redesignated battalions and served that way, at least for a while
(generally, their companies were mixed and matched around to add to existing
regiments).
Yours respectfully, Bruce Henderson (Tar Heel born & bred)
Partisan Rangers - The Heart of Eastern NC Defense (67th NC Rgmt)
RichieM2
and Generals, the sequel to Killer Angels? I heard that a movie was being made
quite some time ago but haven't heard anything since.
RG
43rd Alabama Infantry
into two regiments(59th and 60th Alabama) on Oct 25th 1863 in Tn. Also the
23rd BN Alabama Sharpshooters was made up of companies from both Bn.
I am , very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Richard Sinyard
43rd Alabama Infantry Page
www.geocities.com/pentagon/barracks/3313/index.html
"About dark on the 17th grave disaster to the Confederates seemed imminent,
When Gracie's brigade of Alabamians,
gallantly leaped over the works and drove the assailants back, capturing a
thousand or more prisoners."
LtCol Charles S. Venable C.S.A. Lee's Staff
>
> Seems like he's using modern parlance. Battalions in the Civil War were,
as far
> as I know, only used by Federal (i.e. not volunteer) troops. Battallions
were
> approximately 1,000 men, and two batallions made up a single Federal
Regiment.
David A. Campbell
they probably did not have the tradition organization of battalions (i.e. they
did not have other battalions with them to make up a regiment). They were,
with the number of men they fielded that day and their brigade commander:
3rd South Carolina Battalion (203) Kershaw
2nd North Carolina Battalion (240) Daniel
1st Maryland Battalion (400) Steuart
2nd Georgia Battalion (173) Wright
There were two Legions, both in Wofford's Brigade
Cobb's Legion (213)
Phillip's Legion (273)
The Confederate organizations of battalions may be simply because they were
recruited as 'short' regiments' (not enough men for 10 companies) but I'm not
sure. Legions, on the other hand were unique structures usually comprising of
6-12 companies of infantry, 2-4 companies of cavalry and a few pieces of
artillery. Upon reaching the battlefield, these units were usually separated
off into their components and attached accordingly. As pointed out below, the
definition of size of Legions was taken quite liberally sometimes.
David A. Campbell
Joel Craig
According to Ron Maxwell's home page he is currently involved in
preproduction work on Gods & Generals and Last Full Measure. To get
the latest scoop check out:
For info on what Jeff Shaara is up to, check out:
_Joel Craig
jcr...@valstar.net
http://www.valstar.net/~jcraig
43rd Alabama Infantry
Brigade, Heth's Division A.P. Hills Corps.
--
I am , very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Richard Sinyard
43rd Alabama Infantry Page
www.geocities.com/pentagon/barracks/3313/index.html
"About dark on the 17th grave disaster to the Confederates seemed imminent,
When Gracie's brigade of Alabamians,
gallantly leaped over the works and drove the assailants back, capturing a
thousand or more prisoners."
LtCol Charles S. Venable C.S.A. Lee's Staff
news:39450104...@flux.cpmc.columbia.edu...
Jon1856
http://www.civilwarcinema.com/
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Ron Maxwell
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