Gods and Generals Pics

Gods and Generals is a 2003 American film based on the novel Gods and Generals by Jeffrey Shaara. It depicts events that take place prior to those shown in the 1993 film Gettysburg, which was based on The Killer Angels, a novel by Shaara's father, Michael. The film stars Stephen Lang as Stonewall Jackson, Jeff Daniels as Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee.

The film centers mostly on the personal and professional life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, the God-fearing and militarily brilliant yet acutely eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point when Jackson, while on a night ride with his staff to investigate the grounds of battle, is accidentally shot by his own soldiers in May 1863 while commanding at the Battle of Chancellorsville. It also follows Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a Maine college professor who is appointed a Lieutenant Colonel and becomes second-in-command of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The film prominently features the Battles of 1st Bull Run (1st Manassas), Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. The film's original running time clocked in at nearly 6 hours (much like the original running time of Gettysburg). The longer version featured the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) as well as an entire plot following the American actor and future presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth and his colleague Henry Harrison (from Gettysburg).

The film opens with Robert E. Lee's resignation from the Union Army, accompanied by the perspectives of various politicians, teachers, and soldiers as the south secedes from the Union and both sides prepare for war. Jackson, who is a professor at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington at the outset of the war, leaves his family behind to do battle at the First Battle of Manassas. Jackson is asked by a retreating General Bernard Bee for assistance against the Federal army who is pursuing them after a brief stand on Matthews Hill. In rallying his shaken troops, Bee launches the name of Stonewall into history and the Confederates win the day at Henry Hill, Manassas, Virginia. Jackson maintains steadfast discipline in his ranks during the battle despite suffering a wound to his left hand from a spent ball.

Meanwhile, Chamberlain makes his transition from teacher to military officer and practices drilling his soldiers. He is called to battle at the Union invasion of Fredericksburg. The southern forces lead a fighting retreat as the Union army crosses the river and storms the town, and there are scenes of the subsequent looting of Fredricksburg by the Union Army. Outside the city, Lee, Longstreet and Jackson have prepared an elaborate defense on the heights outside the town, and the movie focuses on Confederate defenses behind a formidable stone wall. Several Union brigades attempt to cross an open field and attack the wall, but are thrown back with heavy losses. At one point, two Irish units are forced into battle against one another, to the anguish of a southern soldier who believes he is killing his kin. Chamberlain leads an unsuccessful attack against Jackson's defenses and finds his unit pinned down in the open field. He survives by shielding himself with a corpse until nightfall; eventually he and the surviving members of his unit are ordered to retreat. Chamberlain and the defeated Union soldiers depart Fredericksburg. Jackson and Lee return to the city, and Lee is confronted by an angry citizen whose house has been destroyed by the Union forces.

Jackson spends the winter at a local plantation, where he contracts a friendship with a little girl who live there. Later, Jackson discovers the child has died from scarlet fever and he begins to cry. A soldier asks why he weeps for his child but not for the thousands of dead soldiers, and another soldier states that Jackson is weeping for everyone. Jackson is soon reunited with his wife and newborn child just before the battle of Chancellorsville.

Outside Chancellorsville