Civil War Movie - Field of Lost Shoes

[VMI77]

Picked this up on DVD. Not bad for a low budget movie. It's about the Battle of New Market during the Civil War (or more accurately, Lincoln's war of Northern Aggression). I think the title is unfortunate, since most would not know anything about the battle and "Field of Lost Shoes" doesn't seem to say War of Northern Aggression. I knew a little about the battle and the title didn't connect with me. I just chanced to discover what the movie really is about. My wife subsequently bought me a book about the battle and much of the film is taken from the book, including the title, which refers to the fact that the battlefield was very muddy in places and sucked the shoes right off some of the advancing Confederates. The film makers did take a few liberties with the material but the movie is more faithful to the historical record than most.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8oIEwisxm4[/video]

[jmra]

Watched it with the family a few weeks back on Netflix. Good movie. Would be interesting to research the history to see how accurate the premise is.

[VMI77]

Watched it with the family a few weeks back on Netflix. Good movie. Would be interesting to research the history to see how accurate the premise is.

I'm reading what is supposed to be the definitive book on the battle. The movie is essentially accurate. There are some minor differences such as the fact that it rained pretty much the entire time. Some of the events at VMI before the cadets begin their trek to the battlefield are imagined --well, not so much imagined as enlarged. What Breckenridge says about sending in the cadets is a direct quote from the book (and btw, Breckenridge was a former VP of the United States...just try to imagine that clown Biden fighting or leading troops in battle).

There was a lot more fighting and maneuvering before the final cadet charge in the actual battle. The battle had progressed to the point where the Confederate troops were out of alignment and stalled and in danger of their flanks collapsing and a gap had developed in the center of their line, almost directly in front of the cadets who at that point were being held in reserve. The Union Commander flubbed the entire battle and also failed to exploit the gap in the Confederate line before it was filled by the cadets (the Union general, Siegel, turned his 2 to 1 numerical advantage into a 3 to 2 disadvantage by the way he deployed his troops).

The cadets did advance in the face of staggering fire and fill the gap. And they did subsequently overrun and capture a Union gun. The movie doesn't show all the horses that were killed trying to prevent the Yankees from retreating with their cannon. The Confederate pursuit was so close that with losing so many horses to rifle fire they had to abandon some of their guns to avoid being completely overrun. The cadets were engaged in the battle for much longer than is suggested by the movie, which concentrates on the charge to fill the gap in the Confederate line. They also employed the captured gun against the retreating Yankees. In addition, there was a cadet artillery battery consisting of two 3" rifled cannons that was deployed alongside the regular Confederate batteries, but that isn't depicted in the movie.

BTW, the cadets had been deployed several times previously with Confederate troops but the most action they'd seen prior to this engagement was chasing down deserters, as they had been kept from the actual fighting. The governor of Virginia had to authorize the participation of the cadets in battle. Breckenridge's army was seen by Lee at that point in the war as essential for the protection of his flank, but Lee had no troops to spare for Virginia. The Confederates knew the Union was going to attack through the Shenandoah Valley and had to scrape together all possible combatants to have any chance of fending off the attack. Breckenridge did not want to use the cadets, which he considered children (youngest attending VMI was 14 years old), and only consented when he was convinced by others that the battle hung in the balance.

Oh, and I should add....I recently came across an article about the production and the movie was filmed as much as possible at the actual locations, which aren't that much different from what they were back then. Key elements such as the Bushong house still exist (the battlefield, or at least part of it, is a monument). The barracks at VMI look as they did back then (except that the original building was destroyed by the Union during the war and rebuilt) --and excepting the fact that the barracks have been extended in modern times (appended to the original barracks in the same style).

This is supposed to be the best book on the battle: "The Battle of New Market," by William C. Davis

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-New-Market ... 1427226274