The Battle of Fredericksburg (Part 4: Caldwell's Brigade)

hey historyman Margie how comes some many Irishman fought these battles espically for the Union forces? You can't tell me the North was drained of manpower, i've read it was all to avoid conscription, what do you think?

Good ol' fashioned racism

@MrRedqwerty explosive shells + tight formations = lots of death

The real event in which Lee and others were nearly killed was an explosive shot that landed at their feet but failed to explode.

4 killed and 32 wounded at Fredericksburg. Light casualties considering what they went through.

Thats a problem I had with this movie...it constantly happens that the cannonballs hit, and as in this case, ten or fifteen men fall over when it seems just dust is hitting them...I don't know about the whole playing dead business

The force of impact would knock some of them over, while others would simply drop in terror, to avoid injury.

Whether they stay down or not, that's dependent on each scene

a more accurate depiction of exploding cannonballs would be to show them exploding in the air... they weren't "explode on impact" like so many movies depict - but special effects wise, that's the easiest to create. exploding balls were set by timed fuses and optimally would have exploded at least waist-high to soldiers approaching them. Hollywood has sealed the whole 'bursting from the ground' thing though - movies for decades have used this approach. Makes sense; it's much easier to create.

I'm not sure, but the regiment started out with about 1,600 men, and Fredericksburg was the first battle they fought in.

I think that both Sheen and Duval did their best to potray Robert E Lee. and I believe Robert duvall is related to Robert E Lee.