MovieChat Forums > Gods and Generals (2003) Discussion > Irish Vs Irish

Irish Vs Irish

posted 13 years ago by dln1700
4 replies | jump to latest

I've got a question about this event at Friedricksburg. In the movie we see the Irish Brigade charging the wall and the Irish Confederates dismay at the thought of shooting their own countrymen. They make the hard choice to do so and the feeling of sadness for having done so.

But then they cheer.

Now my question is, for the more knowledgable, are they cheering for the victory at having driven a brigade of FEDERAL (not seeing them as Irish) troops back or are they cheering the bravery of their IRISH cousins?

It seems the latter to me. Thoughts?

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chrismahon2005 13 years ago

For sure its a cheer of how brave the union irish were, they felt a swell of pride for seeing them stand there ground in the open and fight it out for all the time they lasted till they broke. Probably mixed in of course with the relief that they held them and forced them away.

Sadly Cobb the main guy in that scene was killed in the battle a bit later on if my memory is correct, while the union guy meargher ?, lived till wars end, though the irish brigade was in the end merged into other units after Gettysburg or later due to huge losses. Im no expert here haha, feel free to correct any one

[–] dubhodhar2000 13 years ago

Haroo! Is definitely an Irish victory cheer.

[–] Reel_Big_John 12 years ago

I think they were jeering on the other Irishmen on the Union side, angry they sided with the North. At the battle of Gettysburg, ironically, the Irish brigade is on the other side of the wall and the Confederates were the ones making the charge. After the disastrous Pickets charge at Gettysburg the Irish Brigade began to yell at the retreating Confederates "Fredricksburg! Fredricksburg!"

Its possible they were giving each other credit for fighting hard, but more likely they were talking smack.