I always do enjoy seeing things on the civil war, this wasn't horribly bad. A few things they didn't seem to stick on was Paul Revere at Gettysburg. Showing him fighting on the field when he was wounded when that isn't what happened at all. He was in camp laying in his tent when it was struck upon by artillery. The actors also looked nothing like the people based upon their story. I think it could have been better. If your going to show history please learn it fully and show it how it went. Don't add in things based on " Hollywood features" All in all I give this about a 5 out of 10. With more research and time this could have been great. Also showing shots with people wearing the things they were and woman civs walking with the army a no go...
2 Reviews
Fields of Valor is Entertaining but Historically Weak
edwardrayner14 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Last February 14, 2016 I anticipated excitement to hear that "Fields of Valor" was going to air on AHCTV, only to be thoroughly disappointed after watching the series. The production, involving the combination of talented re-enactors plus letters and archive material, was entertaining, but the historical accuracy was at best questionable.
I write books which combine ancestry, biography, and history. One of my books, "The Colonel and the Vicar" is the story of two forebears that fought on opposite sides of the American Civil War. The "Colonel" in the title refers to my G-G-Granduncle Henry Martyn Tremlett, in 1861 a captain in the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, commanding Company A. His first officer was Lt. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. At the same time, Company I was commanded by Captain William Francis Bartlett, with Lt. Henry L. Abbott as his first officer. The series then proceeded to describe the regiment's actions through four years of war from Ball's Bluff to Richmond.
I was taken aback by the implication that Holmes and Abbott lead their respective companies with no mention of their commanding officers, particularly through the Twentieth's first action, the Battle of Ball's Bluff and later during the Peninsula Campaign. There were no lieutenants in charge of companies in the regiment during this time. Granted, Holmes is probably one of the most celebrated names of a long list of officers that formed The Harvard Regiment, and Livermore, a personal friend, left behind a trove of letters, but in my opinion that was no reason to dilute the history. Further, Holmes' wounds sustained at Ball's Bluff, though accurately described as nearly fatal, were not sustained as heroically as the documentary described. If anyone was heroic, it was Captain Tremlett, who, in the face of the eventual bloody rout of the Union force, lead 100 men up the west bank of the Potomac, including Bartlett and Abbott, whereupon he encountered a small boat which he used to ferry the men back and forth sixteen times to the safety of the Maryland shore. Tremlett and Bartlett were in the last trip across, and Henry wrote in a letter home saying, "About 9½ p.m. we all got across and (I) shall not very soon forget my moonlight paddle across the Potomac".
The description of the Twentieth's actions during the Peninsula Campaign is also lacking much of the regiment's movements, especially during The Battle of the Seven Days. After the failed campaign, Henry was promoted to the rank of major and transferred to the Thirty-Ninth Massachusetts, at which point much of the original Harvard Regiment was fought out, and therefore much of its original identity was lost.
I write books which combine ancestry, biography, and history. One of my books, "The Colonel and the Vicar" is the story of two forebears that fought on opposite sides of the American Civil War. The "Colonel" in the title refers to my G-G-Granduncle Henry Martyn Tremlett, in 1861 a captain in the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, commanding Company A. His first officer was Lt. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. At the same time, Company I was commanded by Captain William Francis Bartlett, with Lt. Henry L. Abbott as his first officer. The series then proceeded to describe the regiment's actions through four years of war from Ball's Bluff to Richmond.
I was taken aback by the implication that Holmes and Abbott lead their respective companies with no mention of their commanding officers, particularly through the Twentieth's first action, the Battle of Ball's Bluff and later during the Peninsula Campaign. There were no lieutenants in charge of companies in the regiment during this time. Granted, Holmes is probably one of the most celebrated names of a long list of officers that formed The Harvard Regiment, and Livermore, a personal friend, left behind a trove of letters, but in my opinion that was no reason to dilute the history. Further, Holmes' wounds sustained at Ball's Bluff, though accurately described as nearly fatal, were not sustained as heroically as the documentary described. If anyone was heroic, it was Captain Tremlett, who, in the face of the eventual bloody rout of the Union force, lead 100 men up the west bank of the Potomac, including Bartlett and Abbott, whereupon he encountered a small boat which he used to ferry the men back and forth sixteen times to the safety of the Maryland shore. Tremlett and Bartlett were in the last trip across, and Henry wrote in a letter home saying, "About 9½ p.m. we all got across and (I) shall not very soon forget my moonlight paddle across the Potomac".
The description of the Twentieth's actions during the Peninsula Campaign is also lacking much of the regiment's movements, especially during The Battle of the Seven Days. After the failed campaign, Henry was promoted to the rank of major and transferred to the Thirty-Ninth Massachusetts, at which point much of the original Harvard Regiment was fought out, and therefore much of its original identity was lost.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
