Question: Just before the final battle, the men were gathered around the fire singing "Oh My Lord." The soloist who sings the very first part of the song (about the animals marching two by two...) has the most beautiful voice. Who played that part?
Question: At the beginning of the film, what part of the Battle of Antietam was shown where Robert Shaw was involved?
Question: When the men finally get their shoes, they are just tossed a pair from the wagon and they automatically fit. Were military shoes back then one size fits all? How could they have shoes that automatically fit them?
Chosen answer: The shoes would have been a mix of the most common sizes, and the men would have gone through them to find the right size...swapping when necessary. Keep in mind many of them were barefoot, so even shoes of the wrong size would have been a blessing.
Question: Is there a website, books or vhs/dvd that tells the entire documentary of Robert Shaw and the 54th Mass that the movie is based on?
Question: At the end of the movie the remainder of the 54th Mass top a cliff, look down and see a bunch of soldiers waiting for them who then fire on them. My question is what happened to the rest of the 54th Mass? did they die in this scene? Did they survive? It is never explained and during the burial at the mass grave none of the soldiers who ended up at the cliff are seen being put into the grave nor do you see their bodies on the ground.
Chosen answer: While the film deals with factual events, the only real character is Robert Gould Shaw, so, historically speaking, it cannot be stated exactly what happened to the characters based on historical grounds. However, only about a quarter of the regiment were actually slain in the real battle, with slightly more captured. Bearing that in mind, it's not unreasonable to speculate that the characters on the cliff were either captured by the enemy or managed to retreat.
Answer: The movie states that over half of the 54th perished in the battle. As for your question regarding the soldiers in the fort: if you are referring to the group consisting of Forbes (Cary Elwes) and Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), while no definitive answer is given, it can be assumed that they died as well, likely as soon as they were fired upon.
Question: Did the black soldiers ever earn the white soldiers' respect?
Answer: As the soldiers marched toward the hill in the final battle, the white soldiers yelled, "Give them Hell, 54." Everyone knew it was a suicide mission, they saw them as brave and honorable men.
Question: Why does Forbes try to convince Robert to stop the flogging?
Answer: Forbes feels that a flogging was way too drastic of a punishment. At this point in the movie, Forbes doesn't think that the higher-ups are going to allow the 54th into battle, and as such, he feels Robert's methods are a bit excessive.
Answer: To add to the answer, it's shown in the film in this scene as a soldier approaches a pile of shoes and places a pair on the pile and grabs another.
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