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Mistakes

During the engagement of the 20th Maine in defense of Little Round Top there is a tremendous amount of firing going on as they repel charge after charge of Confederates. Yet, there is not a single leaf, or tree branch, that falls to the ground. With that amount of lead flying around there would have been debris everywhere. There are actual Civil War accounts where whole trees were cut in half by bullet fire. See more...

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Virtually all of the extras who play soldiers in the film were members of Civil War Re-enactor groups who not only freely donated their time but also supplied their own uniforms and equipment. This ensued that the film-makers did not have pay for their own extras and that they could stage the massive battle scenes without blowing the budget. See more...

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Gettysburg (1993) - 16 corrections

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, starring Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Tom Berenger (add more)

Genres: Drama, History, War, Western

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

Mistakes
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In the opening, the spy is watching Union troops at dawn. He rides to Longstreet's headquarters and gets there in broad daylight. They then ride to Lee's headquarters and when they get there it is dawn again. Two sunrises in one day... [This follows the book- Harrison (the spy) is watching the Union Cavalry before they enter Gettysburg on the June 30th, and arrives at Longstreets camp that afternoon. Longstreet goes to talk to Lee in the late evening of the 30th, and the scene ends in the early morning of July 1- before Heth's Division has contacted Buford. In the extended cut of the film, there is a scene of the Cavalry entering Gettysburg that doesn't make it seem like 'two mornings in one day', but illustrates the intervening time better. It was cut for space.]
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In the Civil War cannon shells that exploded on impact were not used. The cannon shells at Gettysburg had timed fuses so that the shells would explode in the air casting shrapnel downward to cause casualties. If a shell landed before exploding, it would just bury itself in the ground and scatter dirt harmlessly when exploding. In the movie, the cannon shots all explode when hitting the ground, not in the air, and are obviously preset charges. By the way, this is why the Confederates overshot the Union forces at Gettysburg. Their main supplier had burned down just prior to the battle and they were forced to use fuses from another source. The Confederates did not yet realize that these fuses burned slower than their previous ones so the shell would travel further before exploding. [This is untrue. 'Percussion' shells were used during the Civil War which would mean that shells would explode on impact.]
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As the Rebels are advancing towards the center of the battlefield, a white truck can be seen passing by in the background. [What appears to be a white truck is actually a man on horseback riding to and fro behind the lines, carrying a giant Confederate flag of the "second national flag" type, which is mostly white with the CSA battle flag design in the upper corner. This rider can be seen in other shots during the Pickett's Charge sequence.]
Edit Time
Colonel Vincent tells Colonel Chamberlain that the 20th Maine Inf. is the extreme left of the Union line, but in reality there was another regiment, the 19 Michigan, which was to their left. They were moved before the action began, but left behind about 60 skirmishers. [The filmmakers do not claim this film to be a historical documentary, and as such, they are not obligated to be factually accurate. It is a standard accepted movie convention to alter, add or disregard historical facts. This is called artistic license.] ]
Edit Corrected by lmao
Colonel Chamberlain didn't order the bayonet charge. It was his second in command, Spear. Chamberlain just followed along. [This film is not intended to be a historical documentary. Although the film is based on real events and real people, some of the characters and events have been altered for dramatic purposes. This is called artistic license.]
Edit Corrected by lmao
In the first day's battle at Gettysburg, it shows John Budford's Union Cavalry defending their ground from the Confederate Army. Budford's boys use a stonewall for protection from enemy fire. The thing is that there was really no stonewall there in 1863 for Budford to hide behind. [First, the name is Buford, not Budford. Second, I checked the battle scenes several times and haven't spotted anything even faintly resembling the stone wall you mention. All I can see is wooden fence, some parts of which have a low stone foundation, and some hastily assembled barricades.]
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When General Longstreet is trying to talk General Lee into redeploying from Gettysburg, General Lee refuses saying that he has never left the enemy in possession of the field. But General Lee did retreat from the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862. [While General Lee did retreat from The Battle of Antietam, so did the Union forces. This left no one in control of the field at the end of the Battle of Antietam making Lee's statement of never leaving the enemy in possession of the field to be accurate.]
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When John Buford's cavalry are engaging Confederate infantry on the first day of battle, they are seen to be firing muzzle loading rifles, something which cavalry in 1863 would not be using. Rather, they would have had Sharps or Spencer breech loaders, the latter capable of firing eight shots before reloading. Later, when you see the cavalrymen firing from behind a fence, they now have breech loaders. [Actually, there were several cavalry units in the Army of the Potomac that were equipped with muzzleloading carbines (i.e. several units from Illinois.) Soon AFTER Gettysburg, Gen. Sheridan's overall command of the Army of the Potomac's cavalry forces enabled almost every cavalryman to be equipped with Sharps and Spencer carbines. Granted, most of Buford's men carried Sharps carbines (and several sawed-off Spencer RIFLES) but a company or so of men equipped with muzzle-loaders was quite possible at this point.]
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There's a time when a battle is starting (either the third or fourth wave, I think) it shows groups of soldiers heading into battle. However, there is a time when a guy falls when they're charging even though no guns have been fired. [This mistake occurs at the point of the 20th Maines bayonet charge, nothing is wrong. Just after Spears men charge, a faint shot is heard (obviously from a crack Confederate Sharpshooter) then a man falls down dead.]
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In the scene where Tom and Lawrence Chamberlain are on Little Round Top and Lawrence is drinking coffee, way in the distance a vehicle is moving. [The white object that is moving is more likely to be a confederate rider that a vehicle. The giveaway is that it is in the Confederate lines]
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Chamberlain's shoulder insignia change from Lt. Colonel (Silver Oak Leaves) to Full Colonel (Eagle) in the course of the three-day battle. [Somewhere immediately before, immediately after or during the battle of Gettysburg Chamberlain was promoted to full Colonel and was given command of the 20th Maine from then Brigadier General Ames. It is not known when exactly Chamberlain received word of such other than it was after June 1, 1863 (around which time the promotion would have been approved by the Governor of Maine) and before July 11, 1863 (Chamberlain belatedly writing to acknowledge his promotion), so it is perfectly reasonable that he received the promotion during the battle. At the very least, it is an effective device to indicate his change in status from the first movie in the series, Gods and Generals, which Ted Turner knew he wanted to make when Gettysburg was made, and Gettysburg, just as there are tie-ins from Gettysburg to an epic scale Last Full Measure, should they choose to ever make one.]
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In the sequence portraying the battle of Little Round Top, there is a miraculous lack of damage done to the vegetation. This was because that the filmmakers were given unprecedented permission to film the battle scenes at the actual battle site. This was only with the strict condition that no damage whatsoever was done to the landscape as Gettysburg is now a U.S National Park. [The Little Round Top scenes were not filmed on Little Round Top but several miles away. In the "making of" documentary on the DVD and the commentary track they mention the LRT scenes were filmed several miles outside of the Park.]
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In the panning scene of cannons firing, way in the distance a car is visible. [This "car" is frequently described as a van or a truck, but is actually a large flag being carried by a mounted soldier. It is visible in other scenes, but at a distance it does appear to be a vehicle traveling from right to left.]
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During the battle of Little Round Top, the camera pans along the defensive line of 20th Maine soldiers firing from behind rocks. Irishman Kilrain begins to raise his musket only to have it go off too early. Evidently hoping that no one has noticed, he goes through the motions of aiming it even though the weapon is now empty. [It's actually the muzzle flash of Chamberlain's pistol. The two are next to each other and with his arm extended, the barrel of his pistol is about even with the barrel of the rifle.]
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There is a scene in which Union soldiers are standing on Little Round Top. You can see the arm of a monument hidden partially by shrubbery. [The Little Round Top scenes were not filmed on the real Little Round Top or even in the Gettysburg Military Park. They were filmed in the woods miles away from Gettysburg and where any fighting actually took place. There would have been no monuments there to cover up.]
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At the end of the movie, there is a scene where General Kemper is carried back to Confederate lines. He was actually captured by Union forces after Pickett's Charge and exchanged in early 1864. [The movie portrays this situation accurately. General Kemper was carried back to Confederate lines after Pickett's Charge, where he spoke with General Lee. However, he was left behind in the Confederate withdrawal from Pennsylvania after the battle (probably because his wounds were too severe for him to travel in the wagon train), and was subsequently taken prisoner by Union forces.]
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