Historical Accuracy - Glory

 For my critical response to the historical accuracy for the movies I chose “Glory”. The movie was about the first ever African - American regiment. Culminating with a battle at the Fort with many casualties. 

The movie was not fully accurate, though it was still based on real-life events. The colonel Robert Gould Shaw really did exist and the movie relies strongly on his letters to home. Many other sources state that in real life Shaw was much more ambiguous and passionate. Another mistake made was not showing the colonel’s recruitment. In “Glory” he receives a letter at a fancier party and the next scene shows him at the colonel’s position. In reality Robert was with his regiment when he received the letter and he was struggling to make a decision. At first he even rejected the job, later changing his mind. 

However, the scene in which Shaw refuses lower pay if his soldier does not want it is correct. So is the scene in which Robert is instructed to have the village burned down by his men. There are letters that the real - life colonel sent home in which he tells his mom about his worry, how this is going to impact his men.

Even though the colonel was a person in real life, many others were not. In fct, the whole 54th regiment was made up, not one of the soldiers was real. And not all were allowed to enlist, only the highest quality of men in the States, like Frederick Douglass’s own sons. Major Forbes was also an imaginary character and others such as Colonel James Montgomery had some factual mistakes. For example, Montgomery never was a slave owner.

One of the things that the movie focused on was the racism that the army had to deal with within the army itself. Scenes of Shaw fighting for proper equipment for his men were actually an exaggeration. In reality, the 54th regiment was essentially an experiment and they were given the right tools to fight and train. 

The movie does not fail to show the motivation of colored soldiers. They are seen to be very disciplined and passionate. One could say that they were the one of the best soldiers, because they took pride in the fact that they now can enlist. They showed bravery at the end of the movie when leading the battle to Fort Wagner, which really did happen with many casualties. As also discussed in the class colored soldiers get the motivation purely from the fact that they were given the opportunity to enlist. This was their advantage that other soldiers did not have, and in my opinion, showed the public that there is no difference between them and white  men in the army. 

Even though the movie over dramatised some of the scenes and in some cases was not factually correct, the importance of having a first colored regiment is there. The audience understands the difference that it makes. How much it meant to African - Americans and that it was an important step towards more equality in the United States.