This is one of the most popular Civil War movies of all time. Until the Gettysburg Movie was made, this was the best Civil War movie of all time. In Glory, a colored division of soldiers is raised for service in the Union army. At first their use is limited to the realm of manual labor. Training sequences pit the black soldiers against their white officiers in a most unique fashion. The movie stars Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman. Denzel plays a bull headed soldier who seems to wish to fight the world. Morgan plays an old man who later becomes a non commionsed officer, a Sergeant. The one thing that stands out about this movie most is the final battle scene. In the scenes climax, a colored division leads an attack on Confederate held Ft. Wagner. Confederates sit perched high above on their fort and rain down hell on their union attackers. Everything from cannon fire, to muskets, and even grendaes are hurled at their enemy. At the end of the film it appears at first that the black division will win as they circle around and appear to have outflanked their enemy. But then the smoke clears and a cannon and several confederate soldiers come into view. The next thing that is seen is the morning and the sight of confederate soldiers hurling the bodies of their enemy into deep mass graves. The movie was filled with colorful characters (most notably the white division commander), and an amazing musical score. The illustrations shown on screen as the movie ends which depicted characters from the war served as a nice ending touch. .
This 1989 movie is, in my opinion, the best Civil War picture ever made. The story is largely seen through the eyes of Robert Gould Shaw, the young commanding officer of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. The Fifty-fourth was the first black regular army regiment in the Civil War.
Robert Gould Shaw was born in Boston on October 10, 1837. He died in action during the assault on Confederate Battery Wagner on July 18, 1863.
