jim caviezel
how much of a role does jim have in this movie?
shareCaviezel only have a supporting role,might be an altogether a 10 minute screen time. but good enough for a rental if your curious to just see him.
I haven't read Woodrell's novel yet, but my assumption is that he is playing a Bloody Bill Anderson type.
"Every burned book enlightens the world."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
According to the film, "Black John" lost "womenfolk" in the Kansas City jail, and invited William Clarke Quantrill's guerrillas to join the Missouri bushwackers for the famous incursion into Lawrence Kansas, on 23 August 1863. "Anderson" is mentioned in the film, (as well as my pet peeve, the pronunciation of "Quantrill" as "Quantrell") but it certainly appears that "Black John" is modelled on a milder (much milder) Captain William "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Probably the only War between the States film referencing two "Andersons".
In actual history, in August 1863, Federal officers arrested some womenfolk of Quantrill's men, (three of Anderson's sisters, as well as sisters of the Younger's, some cousins, even a 10 year old girl) and placed them in the Kansas City jail. Anderson's eldest sister was killed. Those women not killed outright, were generally badly mangled by the ordeal. Notable exceptions were Anderson's sister Molly and a Younger cousin, who remained unhurt as they were in the hallway at the time of the collapse.
The reason: Cole Younger's wealthy & respected father was brutally murdered by some Federal officers. To compound the injury, the family home was looted and his mother was literally forced to torch the home to the ground. Women who were witnesses to the murder and burning, or those known to be related to any of Quantrill's men, were jailed to keep them from testifying against the officers.
Cole Younger had joined Quantrill's men after a spurned suitor of one of his sisters took revenge by reporting to Federals that the youth was a spy for Quantrill. In a fit of pique, he sought out Quantrill and took the black oath. His brother James soon followed. (The other Younger boys were too young at the time.)
Cole, with more taste for robbing than killing, spared three males during the Lawrence raid, going against the explicit orders of Captain Anderson. Unlike his brother, James Younger, Cole left the guerrillas to join the Confederate army under General Henry McCulloch's Texas troops; Quantrill met his bloody demise in Kentucky (shot to bits on 10 May 1865, dying at age 27 on 6 June 1865, in a Federal hospital).
James Younger was with Quantrill during the blundering surprise attack by Federal guerrillas which cost the rebel leader his life. Younger was captured and sent to the yankee prison at Alton, Illinois, and was released in 1865.
24 year old Capt. Anderson died during the battle of Albany, Missouri on 27 October 1864. He was given the appellation "Bloody Bill" by the same side which debased his mortal remains, buried him in an unmarked grave, and took pleasure in using his grave as a urinal.
Bloody Bill murdered more unarmed men than just about any other single individual in the Civil War. Centralia, anyone?
And you didn't mention that the KC jail collapsed. Anderson did not believe it was an accident and so, with Quantrill, murdered hundreds of innocent people in Kansas.
You apparently did not read what I wrote very carefully. There is a whole paragraph about the KC jail collapse! The undermining of the jail structure was deliberate.
The Centralia situation was war where soldiers were killed; only 2 civilians died, and one of those was dressed in Union blues.
Anderson and others knew all about the deaths and enforced displacement of hundreds of families - men women and children - from their homes in Missouri, with nothing but the clothes on their backs - courtesy of federals.
Folks should read the diaries and journals written by Southern women during the War between the states.
The jail collapse has never been proven to have been deliberate. It might have been but it would have served no purpose. Itt was more likely the case of prisoners being housed in an unsafe environment because the local command was too lazy to do anything else. Someone definitely should have been courtmartialed as a result.
As for the military nature of Centralia, it appears to have happened as a response to Anderson's being repulsed by the garrison at Fayette. What is known is that his men stopped a train carrying 25 unarmed soldiers and killed all of them.
In all likeihood, the jail collapsed because soldiers were trying to tunnel under the foundation to reach some rooms where prostitutes were being confined. You can guess why. Not a deliberate act to kill innocent women. If killing the female prisoners was the goal, why drop a building on them? There are better and easier ways to kill someone. Get real.
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