Factual error: When Morgan Freeman is helping hand out rifles to the recruits, he is reading off the serial numbers. Enfield rifles of the Civil War era did not have serial numbers.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the 54th is on parade, Shaw commands "eyes right" and looks to his right and points his sword down to the right. Then the next shot is a brief shot of his parents and then when they return to Shaw, his sword is pointing up in the normal marching position. There was no audible command to stop saluting.
Factual error: All the soldiers in the final assault have squeaky clean, bright gray uniforms, unlike the ragtag uniforms they would have had.
Chosen answer: The History Channel has a DVD you can buy called, The Civil War Journal, one of the episodes is about the 54th Mass. http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=74565.
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