I watched the Film Gods and Generals last night with my wife, and while it was more detailed than Gettysburg, it wasn't quite as moving. With one strong exception, the Battle of Fredricksburg. My Yankee blood could feel empathy for the confederate men, but not their cause, not their passion for the war that was to come. But Jeff Daniels portrayal of Joshua Chamberlain strikes a cord in me. He evokes the sorrow and determination to follow through, to fight to not just preserve the Union, but to build something that would shake the very ideas that the world was based on.

Blue and Grey, they fought and died by the tens of thousands, and in doing so they made us what we are now. No family long in this country doesn't have stories of men lost, of medals and battles. We remember our honored dead, and the ones who came home.These are the regiments that Ohio sent into the fight. So many brave men, so much was lost, but somehow I think we've managed to hold on to a piece of the convictions that served them so well. This story is the one I grew up with. A boy soldier, from my home town, he belongs to our common history now. But browse through your own states history and see if you don't find reasons to be just as proud.

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
--Thomas Paine (1737-1809)