Andersonville Page #8

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and captured...

...at Antietam and brought here.

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth...

...and nothing but the truth,

so help you God?

I do.

You can sit.

What's your rank, soldier?

Private.

All right, private, tell us what you saw.

I've seen each of these six men.

They've murdered.

They've robbed.

- Tell them what happened, corporal.

- Sergeant...

...it was the first day

the 184th...

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth...

...and nothing but the truth,

so help you God?

Yes, sir. I do.

You can sit.

You tell us what you saw, young man.

Sir, I saw that man, Collins...

That's the one that killed

my brother Richard.

And that little sailor down there cost me

my leg the first week I was in here.

And the fellow in the green has killed

a lot of men in here.

They're all murderers.

Every one of them. Every one of them!

We've heard enough!

Those are guilty of thievery...

...and low, cowardly assault

on their fellows.

Give them the ball and chain

or make them run the gauntlet.

Every man who wishes gets a shot

at them with his fists...

...sticks, anything you can find.

Yeah!

These six...

...hang them.

Prisoners...

...I return these men to you

as good as I got them.

You have tried them yourselves

and found them guilty.

I have had nothing to do with it.

Do with them as you like...

...and may God have mercy

on you and on them.

Company, about face!

Forward march!

My God, you don't mean

to really hang us up there?

That's about the size of it.

No! I just want to live! I just want to live!

This is nothing.

Keep your peckers up, boys.

We'll have no weakness here.

What? Did you think

you were gonna live forever?

No, don't do it!

Devils! Devils!

I'm gonna go up! I wanna hang them!

Let me hang...

This is nothing, boys.

Doesn't matter a damn.

Doesn't matter at all.

Let's get this done right, Jim.

Don't you worry about that.

Hang them! Hang them! Hang them!

Hang them! Hang them! Hang them!

Hang them! Hang them! Hang them!

Hang them! Hang them! Hang them!

Okay, boys, on three.

One!

Two!

Three!

Fresh fish, lots of them.

Uncle Billy's army must be close.

Could be rescued soon.

No, Rebs gotta keep ferrying new boys in,

keep the population up.

Martin, drink some of this.

It's rainwater. It's good for you.

Scurvy. Gums all rotten.

Can't even eat the mush anymore.

I miss Thomas. Don't you?

Sergeant and I were just talking

about him this morning.

You know him before the army?

He didn't live but 10 miles from me, but...

You know, the sergeant was saying, for...

For a man so strong...

...he never once saw him use

his strength in anger.

Except to get my banjo back.

Old Sweet.

You know, he lived on a farm

with his brothers and sisters.

He had a big family.

I have six children.

Six?

Had eight. Two died.

All right, let's see. She'll...

She starts us out with...

With some nice, plump chickens...

...from our own stock.

We breed them ourselves,

Rhode Island Reds.

- It's the tenderest meat you ever ate.

- Yeah?

She fries them, and we'll have them

with mashed potatoes and gravy.

- Mashed potatoes?

- Yeah!

I like my mashed potatoes with butter.

Yeah.

You know, we make butter

in our springhouse.

You never had butter like we churn.

Sounds good. You bring the butter.

All right.

We could put it on the biscuits.

My mother, she makes

the best biscuits in the world.

Okay, you just open them up,

just lift the top right off.

Oh, my! You got any honey?

Yeah, of course we got honey.

All right, we'll have some honey, then.

What'll we have next?

Pie.

Apple?

Apple.

Or cherry.

Apple and cherry.

Save me the leftovers. Good God, men,

you wanna drive us to the lunatic asylum?

Stuff a sock in it. Hey, friend!

What's the news, lads? Where were you,

and who were you with?

- We was with Uncle Billy Sherman.

- Grant in Virginia, all over Virginia.

Making it warm for old Johnny Reb?

Warm? Warm? Let Atlanta burn

to the ground. That warm enough for you?

We're headed to Savannah,

and we'll give them the same.

Yeah.

So this is Andersonville, huh?

Yeah, this is it.

Is it as bad as they say?

No, worse.

You boys want to stay with us?

- All right with you?

- Don't see why not.

Come on over here, lads. Come with us.

You boys hear anything

about the exchange?

There won't be any exchange,

and that's a fact.

You seem pretty sure.

I was at Sherman's headquarters

the day Grant issued the policy.

- What policy?

- Haven't heard about that.

We've been out of touch for a while.

What policy is that exactly?

Any Reb soldiers he lets go,

they just bust their paroles...

...and back on the line fighting us

the next week.

He's not gonna do it.

Says his only job's to win the war.

Rebs are saying they won't give back

our colored soldiers.

Grant says they're a part of us,

and without them, no deal.

The n*ggers?

We're supposed to die here for n*ggers?

- Good for Ulysses S. Grant.

- Does he know what it's like in here?

He does for a fact.

Somebody got out and told him.

- Got out?

- Who got out?

I don't remember his name exactly.

Any of you remember?

You know what he looked like?

Sort of tall, thin.

The hair had some yellow in it.

He's older than me.

Could his name have been Gleason?

That's it! John Gleason.

We're gonna die in here, Josie.

Just because there's no exchange...

You heard how the army's doing.

First Atlanta, Savannah.

Maybe we'll... We'll be rescued.

Savannah's toward the sea,

and we're inland.

The army's headed the other way.

Would you write a letter

to my wife and children?

- Martin.

- She'd probably want that.

Oh, you put a toe tag on me, now.

You go to the dead house

without a toe tag...

...and they'll never know

where you're buried.

Martin? Martin, did you hear?

Did you hear? Josie, did you hear?

John made it. He made it, Martin.

He got to Sherman. He said he would.

Damn if he didn't do it! Oh, Gleason.

Goddamn if he didn't!

Well, then, hand me the banjo there.

I'll play some dancing music.

- Play something happy, Martin.

- Josie.

You Yankees!

Yankees, you listen up now!

Colonel's got something

real important to tell y'all!

So you sergeants, you bring them

down here on the double-quick now.

Come on. Come on, get up.

Come on. Come on, Billy.

Get up there.

Let's go.

The colonel...

...comes with an important message

for all of you.

Col. O'Neil.

You men, you prisoners...

...I want to talk to you about

your situation here.

It must be clear to you by now

that your government...

...has cruelly abandoned you.

As you know, they have turned down...

...all of our efforts to exchange you.

They know of your suffering...

...which though terrible, is no worse than

the suffering of our men in Northern prisons.

And they know, as we all do...

...that you have had to endure far more...

...than should be expected of you.

And now that your government

has no further use of you...

...you are being thrown aside

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