Anti-War


This is not a Pro-Union/Anti-Confederate film.

While I do think there were a lot of things Wirz could have done, I realize some things were beyond his control, and there is a scene that shows Henry Wirz in a sympathetic light, a line that points out Federal prison camps are no better then Andersonville, and there are several good Southerners and bad Northerners presented in the movie.

I think the reason why Andersonville gets the attention it does is because more men died there then any other prison camp, and the film is just telling their story. The movie is very honest, and no one group or person really gets blamed for the mistreatment of the prisoners. It is sadly all apart of the hades that is war.

"Andersonville" is more of an anti-war film in my view.

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I think your conclusion is correct.However I cannot but help remembering the old adage that History is written by the victors.

Gordon P. Clarkson

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But numbers don't lie, and as I typed in my first post, more men died at Andersonville then any other prison camp. That is why it gets the attention it does. Of course, in the South at the time, plenty of humans were suffering. The Union Troops were among the other thousands of people that were dying slowly. I don't think anyone is at fault. It was just war.

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"I think your conclusion is correct.However I cannot but help remembering the old adage that History is written by the victors."

In most cases, yeah, but the Civil War has always been a rather bizarre exception. I mean, within a few years the Lost Cause myth had pretty much dominated Civil War history up until the late 20th Century, and in the general public is still pretty much dominant.

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In case of the Civil War, the losers ended up writing the popular history books that get read and remembered the most. Everyone has heard of Gone With the Wind and poor Scarlett's struggles against the "vile, awful. Yankees". Comparatively few have heard of Andersonville).

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That the treasonous rebels weren't summarily executed shows the extreme largess of the United States of America.

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

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They were not trailed and hung because of Mr. Lincoln. Others urged him to put them on trail, but President Lincoln refused and felt it was time to forgive and forget so the nation could be healed.

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