At least Roman realizes slavery's time in the sun is ending. Kinda hilarious that the eventual end of that horrid institution was started by slaver who wanted to empower the south. The irony.
The Dead Skunk
- Thread starter Lycaon pictus
- Start date
Well well well, the Iron Duke rides again. Did not see that coming. It really is the next round of the last war.
Looks like I get my wish with the war weakening slavery. If even a proslavery leader is admitting the cause of abolition is advancing like this it bodes well to at least pragmatic abolition taking root in the Republic. And of course if Wellington saves the Republic alongside Keane, what ground would the citizens have to protest British abolitionists furthering the cause in the country?
I get the feeling Berrien will have a backhanded positive legacy by furthering boosting abolition.
What does anyone think of Wellington's plan? Knowing him if he succeeds, he may want t strike back at Mississippi.
I wonder how this war will shape a generation the Republic?
Always good to see a Christmas Truce.
Looks like I get my wish with the war weakening slavery. If even a proslavery leader is admitting the cause of abolition is advancing like this it bodes well to at least pragmatic abolition taking root in the Republic. And of course if Wellington saves the Republic alongside Keane, what ground would the citizens have to protest British abolitionists furthering the cause in the country?
I get the feeling Berrien will have a backhanded positive legacy by furthering boosting abolition.
What does anyone think of Wellington's plan? Knowing him if he succeeds, he may want t strike back at Mississippi.
I wonder how this war will shape a generation the Republic?
Always good to see a Christmas Truce.
Oh dear.
I have a prediction: The US keeps holding Ontario through the rest of the war. Meanwhile the Brits are going to move into the South and stir up all sorts of trouble, while the northern front remains more favorable. All this, only for Berrien to trade away Canada a the peace table.
If this happens, many in the free states will be PISSED: they put in all that effort, for a war which nominally started after rebellions in Canada, only for "that goddamn slaver" - a man who few of them voted for, and who could hardly be said to have won a mandate in that last election - to trade it all away? What was it all for? Was the sacrifice in northern trade worth it?
The slavers are arguing with each other. Excellent. It'll be extra great if they're too busy blaming each other to do anything against the invading British...
At least he's recognizing things are going to change after the war. And I agree, damn you, Berrien.
A sentiment which I fear will be shared by many in the US itself, eventually...
I've long maintained that one of my favorite things about AH.com is learning about people who I'd never heard - Berrien was definitely one of those before I read this thread.
And he's back for one last campaign. This should be fun.
1838 is shaping up to be a very interesting year in North America and I look forward to reading about it.[/QUOTE]
The fact the Alabama governor is siding with Houston and by extension the Cherokee is particularly promising. If even one Deep South state is out of line with the rest we are unlikely to see the threat of "Solid South" either deterring moves against slavery or threatening moves like secession.
Still the Georgians are facing disaster on their Southern border alongside potential invasion, and they are still taking the time and manpower to try a landgrab against the Cherokee? I am starting to see why Jackson apparently had a special contempt for the leaders of that state.
So Hooper Bragg is remembered. I am rather hoping he takes his encounter with grace to heart and ebdsup a positive force in the Union.
Yes, they do. At least for now.
If they were bad OTL they're probably much worse here. Having a border with a staunchly anti-slavery colony of your arch-rival will do that to you.
There is a map in Stablers Send their Regards part 1. Yes the Americans do have the Mississippian and Alabaman coastal strip. The Cherokee even have prominent towns along the Alabaman coast.
Lycaon pictus
Donor
Sometimes I feel bad about taking somebody obscure from ITTL, like Morisset or Berrien, and turn them into a major villain. Berrien was Andrew Jackson's attorney general (until he resigned in the "Petticoat Affair"—i.e., because his wife wouldn't shut up about Secretary of War Eaton's wife) and while he seems to have had very little involvement in driving the Cherokee and other tribes off their land, he certainly supported it. Just about his last act on Earth ITTL was to accept the leadership of the Georgia branch of the Know-Nothing party. (This article tells the whole story, and tries like hell to put a positive spin on it, describing Berrien's position as one of "moderate anti-Catholicism and nativism.") Given that Berrien was famous as an orator in his day and as fiercely pro-slavery as anybody, I feel like he could've stretched himself enough to fill a monster-shaped hole if one happened to open up.
Oh, and Spain is on the British side, hasn't involved itself in the war, but is aware of Berrien's ambition. There are a couple of regiments in Castellano and San Patricio, and another regiment being moved to Nacogdoches, but they're busy with the Comanche.
Don't forget the Florida Panhandle west of the Chattahoochee.
Oh, and Spain is on the British side, hasn't involved itself in the war, but is aware of Berrien's ambition. There are a couple of regiments in Castellano and San Patricio, and another regiment being moved to Nacogdoches, but they're busy with the Comanche.
Oglethorpe struggled in vain for the furure of the polity he founded. Too many people wanted 'negro slavery' and the British at the time didn't care.
Very nice, can we put a pin in this?
You know, Wellington arriving in New Orleans might be the cause for quite the reaction in America. This was the man that smashed their armies aside, threatened to raze Boston to the ground and enforced their acknowledgement of the Republic independence on them. With him back in the firing line, what effect will this have on the focus for the war, especially Berrien? The ultimate enemy of America in one war, returned for another, and now threatening to march through the South like he had once done through New England. Will the news be greeted with grim resolution, or panic? Especially if he succeeds and causes a major reversal in Louisiana for the US. Probably get some getting unpleasant memories dredged up in that case.
In the South, particularly Mississippi, I predict panic. Abolitionist Britain making movies in Louisiana with none other than the Iron Duke leading them? it firstly dashes any hopes Britain would just be treating this war as a sideshow. And secondly will likely be taken as an intent to repeat his invasion but in the South. And this invasion will be abolitionist in nature they will say, with the British striking off every shackle they find and siphoning runaways to safety. And what could be more likely to spark slave revolts than Wellington invading?
The South will be demanding Berrien do everything he can too protect them from Wellington. Which means good news for Canada and Daniel Webster and company likely having a fit as the war becomes ever more blatantly a Southern venture.
Winter Retreat (1)
Lycaon pictus
Donor
The last battle of 1837—though certainly not of the War of 1837—was fought in Wharton[1] on December 26, and was more or less a foregone conclusion. Wool, badly outnumbered and out-generaled, never had a chance.
It cannot be said that he acquitted himself badly. According to his memoirs, his scouts informed him shortly after dawn that British vessels were crowding the docks of Villeréville. The scouts, unable to approach the town itself without being seen, were unable to assess British numbers, but it was clearly a force of multiple regiments. In any case, some of the British ships on Lake Ponchartrain were armed, which meant that the Americans would be subjected to punishing artillery fire even if they took the town. “I deemed it prudent to stand on the defensive until I better knew the strength of the enemy we faced,” noted Wool.
Seeing that Wool would not come to him, Wellington quickly decided to go to Wool. His own correspondence reveals he was somewhat disgruntled that “Their Most Martial Lordships[2] are of the opinion that these nineteen years of peace may have rusted my skills, and that I must needs prove myself in this little war before I may be trusted to join the great one”—i.e., the Bosnia-Rumelia War. Wellington set out to prove himself as quickly as possible.
Wool, for his part, positioned his infantry and artillery on a spit of land at the south end of town, between the Tchefuncte and Bogue Falaya, where they would have a clear view of anyone trying to cross these rivers—up to a point. The rivers were lined with cypress which there was no time to cut down, complicating both defense and attack.
Beyond the rivers lay fallow fields of clover and alfalfa[3]. These plants had gone dormant for the winter, but were still tall enough to conceal crawling men. The weather (rain turning to sleet) did not allow for the fields to be burned, so Wool ordered his cavalry to graze and trample the vegetation.
It was while the cavalry was in the middle of this exercise that Wellington’s much larger cavalry force attacked from the southwest. Wool’s own scouts gave him barely a minute of warning, and they were driven from the field in disarray. Of course, now that Wellington held this field, he and his men were subjected to fire from Wool’s strong point. In response, he brought up his own artillery, which was no more numerous than Wool’s—but he concentrated it on a narrow front facing the river junction, where Wool could bring less than half of his guns to bear. This limited his own ability to harm the Americans, but that didn’t matter. All this was a distraction. The main attack came from British infantry and the Louisiana troops, following friendly locals down paths Wool didn’t know about until they entered the town itself and attacked the Americans from the north.
At this point, Wellington called for a cease-fire. His words to Wool were, “You know who I am. I have you surrounded. I recommend you surrender.” Seeing no other option, Wool agreed. Wellington, whose plans required he not be occupied with managing prisoners, paroled Wool’s army and sent it northeast—the shortest route to the border—with no weapons beyond a few small arms. “Whatever your little rabble-rouser in Washington may be about, Her Majesty’s soldiers will continue to respect the institution of parole,” he said. “You had best do the same.”[4]
Thanks to the varying speeds of the cavalrymen who delivered the messages, Col. Thomas A. Davies heard of the defeat at Wharton only an hour after he heard of the British landing at Villeréville. As commander of the garrison at Port-Natalbany, it was his decision whether to stand his ground and delay the enemy, or retreat to a more defensible location in the face of what seemed to be a rapidly escalating disaster.
Some officers, such as Twiggs or Harney, might have chosen to stand their ground, or possibly charge out to attack. But Davies was well aware that his single regiment had no way to stand against Wellington’s army. On the advice of his aide-de-camp, the scholarly and cautious young Captain Henry Halleck, he ordered a retreat to the fort that was named, in one of history’s great ironies, Fort-Wellington.
Into the Bayou (1960)
A High Moon Pictures kinematograph
Directed by Louis Falkirk
Starring George Spence, Armand Moore, Adolf Jacobson, Marduk Webster
Reviewer: Eric Reagan
With all the controversy surrounding In the Bayou before it was even released, any review needs to begin by answering three questions: is this K-graph any good, is it accurate, and is it well-intentioned?
Yes, no, and I think so. If that’s good enough for you, you can go ahead and stop reading, because this is going to be a very long review.
K-war directors often try to create an epic, sometimes clocking in at three hours or more, on the theory that war is big and deserves big ribbons[5]. Falkirk has resisted this temptation. At 109 minutes, Into the Bayou lasts just long enough to tell the story it came to tell.
Falkirk eschews grandeur in other ways as well. There are only a few shots (mostly at the beginning or during the crossing of the Mississippi) where the viewer can see Taylor’s entire force, and the larger force of which it is a part is never shown. This might have been for budgetary reasons—hiring and costuming that many extras isn’t cheap—but it also serves to give the K-graph a certain intimacy by bringing it down to the level of the individual soldier and his comrades.[6]
The central characters are two sergeants, George Butler[7] (George Spence) and William Burch (Armand Moore). Both have personal reasons for taking part in this war—Butler to avenge his father, and Burch to claim land and slaves in Louisiana—but are preoccupied with trying to keep their men alive in a hostile land while General Taylor (Adolf Jacobson) keeps talking about victory and glory.
For both Spence and Moore, this ribbon represents a career breakthrough—it is Spence’s first major role, and Moore up until now has only starred in light romantic comedies. Both of them deliver outstanding performances as men who are not naturally warlike but have been drawn into the conflict. You can see them becoming more capable fighters, scene by scene, as the story progresses. Jacobson is less effective as Taylor, simply because he seems too wise and sane for the words coming out of his mouth.
The fights are brutal and chaotic. They begin without warning, and it’s sometimes hard to tell when they’re over. The result is a constant tension that prevails for most of the 109-minute length, with no sense of a breather. There are limits to how well a K-war can convey the feel of a real battlefield, given that the audience is in no danger of being maimed or killed, and Into the Bayou is right up against those limits.
It’s worth noting that Into the Bayou has no romantic subplot at all. So many K-graphs, whatever the genre, feel the need to shoehorn in some sort of a romance even if there’s no reason for one to happen and it distracts from the story. Falkirk has resisted this temptation, and the ribbon is much the better for it.
I have mixed feelings about Falkirk’s trademark refusal to use pseudarkness[8] when so many of the combat scenes are at night. On the one hand, I appreciate the realism, especially in a ribbon trying so hard to show the actual experience of war. On the other hand, after a full minute or more of not being able to tell what’s happening onscreen, I generally drift off and wait for the next morning scene so I can find out who’s still alive and what sort of shape they’re in.
As for the accuracy, I had no way of knowing myself. But I’m friends with some historians, and whenever I review a K-bio or other historical ribbon I like to invite one of them along to check the accuracy. I don’t expect the graphers to get every single detail right, but if it seems like they’re engaged in deliberate mythmaking, the audience needs to know. Mythmaking, as we’ve seen too often, can be used for good or evil. My historian friends don’t always know about the specific period of history, but in this case I got a little more than I bargained for:
“This K-graph is one of the most shamelessly wrong depictions of American history it has ever been my displeasure to witness. General Taylor crossed the Mississippi because his superior officer ordered him to. He did not do so out of a desire for glory, and he certainly did not do so against orders. When he retreated at the end of the year, he did so for the same reason—Gaines was retreating and knew he would be facing the British army soon, and he needed his best cavalry officer available. When two of Taylor’s regiments left for Gaines’ army in early December, it represented neither a mutiny nor a desertion. Taylor ordered them to go back because his supply situation was too precarious for the size of the force he was trying to support.
“One of the trends in the War of 1837 was the increasing professionalism of U.S. armed forces, which conflicted with the old ‘minuteman’ ideal the militia represented. Into the Bayou avoids this potentially interesting conflict by consistently presenting strategic and logistic decisions as the result of caprice or panic.
“Ironically, the most difficult part of Taylor’s mission took place after the K-graph ends. Taylor’s force returned to the Mississippi, but found themselves unable to cross, or even to approach the river too closely—the Louisiana armored gunboat Volonté de la République was in the way. Taylor was not only unable to come to Gaines’ assistance, but had to retreat all the way north of the border with no support from the rest of the American army. In my opinion, that would make a more interesting story than the one on the screen.
“There are other mistakes. The invasion began in October and ended in early January, yet the K-graph was plainly rolled[9] in summer. Even in Louisiana’s climate, you can see the difference between summer and winter. Taylor and his men are depicted as wielding Colt revolvers, but the western armies were not equipped with these weapons until the second attack in 1838. And although John Butler fought at New Orleans and was wounded at Natchez, he did not die in either of those places. He survived the war and died in 1820.
“The K-war depicts Thibodeauxville as long-abandoned ruins in the middle of a swamp. It was and is a thriving community, although most of the richest citizens and the slaves had fled ahead of Taylor’s arrival. The majority of Taylor’s brief time was spent dealing with complaints from the occupied residents, not staring dramatically at the mist-shrouded bayou and listening for the sound of the enemy.”
In short: ouch. He did give them credit for one possibly accidental bit of accuracy: “Many black volunteers engaged in guerrilla warfare, some of them using waterdragoon methods. ‘The Machete’s’ uniform trousers with no shirt would not have been out of place (during the summer).” All I can say is that I have mixed feelings about Webster’s appearance in Into the Bayou: his considerable skills as an actor are seriously underused here, but perhaps it’s just as well. Those skills do not extend to speaking in a Louisiana accent.
But perhaps it’s fitting that the most visible Louisianan in this ribbon is played by an American. The Louisianans in Into the Bayou are more of an ongoing, violent distraction than the center of the action, and the British never show up at all. The K-graph is about Americans, and the division between Americans—the conflict between Butler and Burch, and as the story progresses, between both of them and Taylor.
The one part of Into the Bayou that should have been left on the cutting room floor is the part that feels as though it was added later at the insistence of the studio—Taylor’s monologue in which he denounces his earlier ambition, a speech which lasted less than ninety seconds by my watch but felt much longer. The scenes immediately before it had done such a good job building up tension that I honestly expected the waterdragoons to come along and shoot everybody while the general was talking.
Which brings us to the trou de loup in the floor[10]—the ribbon’s ideological leanings. Taylor is presented (inaccurately, it seems) as an aristist’s idea of a great leader, obsessed with conquest and glory. It seems it was not enough for High Moon Pictures management that the events of the K-graph made a mockery of these dreams. Taylor had to tearfully repudiate them. (I’m just glad they didn’t make him say “And Elmar’s wrong too!” apropos of nothing.) In spite of all that, some people are still claiming that Into the Bayou is pro-aristist, not anti-aristist.
For what it’s worth, I think Into the Bayou was intended as an anti-aristist K-graph, but it doesn’t quite work as one, because aristists are too good at dressing up the horrifying consequences of their ideas as “tragedy,” or worse, “tragic destiny.” It’s hard to give people who, as Scattergood put it, will “massacre villagers in the night and write a sad song about them the next morning” the condemnation they deserve. What can you say about them that they wouldn’t acknowledge amid a shower of crocodile tears?
Into the Bayou does, however, work as a K-war. It is compassionate, yet brutally unflinching. It will be remembered when many more ambitious K-graphs have been forgotten.
[1] OTL Covington, Louisiana
[2] A snarky reference to lifelong civilians Brougham and Russell.
[3] This is one of those places where the Louisianans are trying to revitalize soil that’s been worn out from growing cotton.
[4] Translation: “Do not let me catch you on a battlefield again in this war.”
[5] I.e. films
[6] A less loaded word than IOTL.
[7] George Armistead Butler, IOTL named Andrew Jackson Butler and older brother to Benjamin Franklin Butler.
[8] Day for night
[9] Filmed
[10] I.e., the elephant in the room
It cannot be said that he acquitted himself badly. According to his memoirs, his scouts informed him shortly after dawn that British vessels were crowding the docks of Villeréville. The scouts, unable to approach the town itself without being seen, were unable to assess British numbers, but it was clearly a force of multiple regiments. In any case, some of the British ships on Lake Ponchartrain were armed, which meant that the Americans would be subjected to punishing artillery fire even if they took the town. “I deemed it prudent to stand on the defensive until I better knew the strength of the enemy we faced,” noted Wool.
Seeing that Wool would not come to him, Wellington quickly decided to go to Wool. His own correspondence reveals he was somewhat disgruntled that “Their Most Martial Lordships[2] are of the opinion that these nineteen years of peace may have rusted my skills, and that I must needs prove myself in this little war before I may be trusted to join the great one”—i.e., the Bosnia-Rumelia War. Wellington set out to prove himself as quickly as possible.
Wool, for his part, positioned his infantry and artillery on a spit of land at the south end of town, between the Tchefuncte and Bogue Falaya, where they would have a clear view of anyone trying to cross these rivers—up to a point. The rivers were lined with cypress which there was no time to cut down, complicating both defense and attack.
Beyond the rivers lay fallow fields of clover and alfalfa[3]. These plants had gone dormant for the winter, but were still tall enough to conceal crawling men. The weather (rain turning to sleet) did not allow for the fields to be burned, so Wool ordered his cavalry to graze and trample the vegetation.
It was while the cavalry was in the middle of this exercise that Wellington’s much larger cavalry force attacked from the southwest. Wool’s own scouts gave him barely a minute of warning, and they were driven from the field in disarray. Of course, now that Wellington held this field, he and his men were subjected to fire from Wool’s strong point. In response, he brought up his own artillery, which was no more numerous than Wool’s—but he concentrated it on a narrow front facing the river junction, where Wool could bring less than half of his guns to bear. This limited his own ability to harm the Americans, but that didn’t matter. All this was a distraction. The main attack came from British infantry and the Louisiana troops, following friendly locals down paths Wool didn’t know about until they entered the town itself and attacked the Americans from the north.
At this point, Wellington called for a cease-fire. His words to Wool were, “You know who I am. I have you surrounded. I recommend you surrender.” Seeing no other option, Wool agreed. Wellington, whose plans required he not be occupied with managing prisoners, paroled Wool’s army and sent it northeast—the shortest route to the border—with no weapons beyond a few small arms. “Whatever your little rabble-rouser in Washington may be about, Her Majesty’s soldiers will continue to respect the institution of parole,” he said. “You had best do the same.”[4]
Charles Cernliglia, 1837
Thanks to the varying speeds of the cavalrymen who delivered the messages, Col. Thomas A. Davies heard of the defeat at Wharton only an hour after he heard of the British landing at Villeréville. As commander of the garrison at Port-Natalbany, it was his decision whether to stand his ground and delay the enemy, or retreat to a more defensible location in the face of what seemed to be a rapidly escalating disaster.
Some officers, such as Twiggs or Harney, might have chosen to stand their ground, or possibly charge out to attack. But Davies was well aware that his single regiment had no way to stand against Wellington’s army. On the advice of his aide-de-camp, the scholarly and cautious young Captain Henry Halleck, he ordered a retreat to the fort that was named, in one of history’s great ironies, Fort-Wellington.
Eric Wayne Ellison, Anglo-American Wars of the 19th Century
In ‘Into the Bayou,’ war is a backdrop to interpersonal drama
Into the Bayou (1960)
A High Moon Pictures kinematograph
Directed by Louis Falkirk
Starring George Spence, Armand Moore, Adolf Jacobson, Marduk Webster
Reviewer: Eric Reagan
With all the controversy surrounding In the Bayou before it was even released, any review needs to begin by answering three questions: is this K-graph any good, is it accurate, and is it well-intentioned?
Yes, no, and I think so. If that’s good enough for you, you can go ahead and stop reading, because this is going to be a very long review.
K-war directors often try to create an epic, sometimes clocking in at three hours or more, on the theory that war is big and deserves big ribbons[5]. Falkirk has resisted this temptation. At 109 minutes, Into the Bayou lasts just long enough to tell the story it came to tell.
Falkirk eschews grandeur in other ways as well. There are only a few shots (mostly at the beginning or during the crossing of the Mississippi) where the viewer can see Taylor’s entire force, and the larger force of which it is a part is never shown. This might have been for budgetary reasons—hiring and costuming that many extras isn’t cheap—but it also serves to give the K-graph a certain intimacy by bringing it down to the level of the individual soldier and his comrades.[6]
The central characters are two sergeants, George Butler[7] (George Spence) and William Burch (Armand Moore). Both have personal reasons for taking part in this war—Butler to avenge his father, and Burch to claim land and slaves in Louisiana—but are preoccupied with trying to keep their men alive in a hostile land while General Taylor (Adolf Jacobson) keeps talking about victory and glory.
For both Spence and Moore, this ribbon represents a career breakthrough—it is Spence’s first major role, and Moore up until now has only starred in light romantic comedies. Both of them deliver outstanding performances as men who are not naturally warlike but have been drawn into the conflict. You can see them becoming more capable fighters, scene by scene, as the story progresses. Jacobson is less effective as Taylor, simply because he seems too wise and sane for the words coming out of his mouth.
The fights are brutal and chaotic. They begin without warning, and it’s sometimes hard to tell when they’re over. The result is a constant tension that prevails for most of the 109-minute length, with no sense of a breather. There are limits to how well a K-war can convey the feel of a real battlefield, given that the audience is in no danger of being maimed or killed, and Into the Bayou is right up against those limits.
It’s worth noting that Into the Bayou has no romantic subplot at all. So many K-graphs, whatever the genre, feel the need to shoehorn in some sort of a romance even if there’s no reason for one to happen and it distracts from the story. Falkirk has resisted this temptation, and the ribbon is much the better for it.
I have mixed feelings about Falkirk’s trademark refusal to use pseudarkness[8] when so many of the combat scenes are at night. On the one hand, I appreciate the realism, especially in a ribbon trying so hard to show the actual experience of war. On the other hand, after a full minute or more of not being able to tell what’s happening onscreen, I generally drift off and wait for the next morning scene so I can find out who’s still alive and what sort of shape they’re in.
As for the accuracy, I had no way of knowing myself. But I’m friends with some historians, and whenever I review a K-bio or other historical ribbon I like to invite one of them along to check the accuracy. I don’t expect the graphers to get every single detail right, but if it seems like they’re engaged in deliberate mythmaking, the audience needs to know. Mythmaking, as we’ve seen too often, can be used for good or evil. My historian friends don’t always know about the specific period of history, but in this case I got a little more than I bargained for:
“This K-graph is one of the most shamelessly wrong depictions of American history it has ever been my displeasure to witness. General Taylor crossed the Mississippi because his superior officer ordered him to. He did not do so out of a desire for glory, and he certainly did not do so against orders. When he retreated at the end of the year, he did so for the same reason—Gaines was retreating and knew he would be facing the British army soon, and he needed his best cavalry officer available. When two of Taylor’s regiments left for Gaines’ army in early December, it represented neither a mutiny nor a desertion. Taylor ordered them to go back because his supply situation was too precarious for the size of the force he was trying to support.
“One of the trends in the War of 1837 was the increasing professionalism of U.S. armed forces, which conflicted with the old ‘minuteman’ ideal the militia represented. Into the Bayou avoids this potentially interesting conflict by consistently presenting strategic and logistic decisions as the result of caprice or panic.
“Ironically, the most difficult part of Taylor’s mission took place after the K-graph ends. Taylor’s force returned to the Mississippi, but found themselves unable to cross, or even to approach the river too closely—the Louisiana armored gunboat Volonté de la République was in the way. Taylor was not only unable to come to Gaines’ assistance, but had to retreat all the way north of the border with no support from the rest of the American army. In my opinion, that would make a more interesting story than the one on the screen.
“There are other mistakes. The invasion began in October and ended in early January, yet the K-graph was plainly rolled[9] in summer. Even in Louisiana’s climate, you can see the difference between summer and winter. Taylor and his men are depicted as wielding Colt revolvers, but the western armies were not equipped with these weapons until the second attack in 1838. And although John Butler fought at New Orleans and was wounded at Natchez, he did not die in either of those places. He survived the war and died in 1820.
“The K-war depicts Thibodeauxville as long-abandoned ruins in the middle of a swamp. It was and is a thriving community, although most of the richest citizens and the slaves had fled ahead of Taylor’s arrival. The majority of Taylor’s brief time was spent dealing with complaints from the occupied residents, not staring dramatically at the mist-shrouded bayou and listening for the sound of the enemy.”
In short: ouch. He did give them credit for one possibly accidental bit of accuracy: “Many black volunteers engaged in guerrilla warfare, some of them using waterdragoon methods. ‘The Machete’s’ uniform trousers with no shirt would not have been out of place (during the summer).” All I can say is that I have mixed feelings about Webster’s appearance in Into the Bayou: his considerable skills as an actor are seriously underused here, but perhaps it’s just as well. Those skills do not extend to speaking in a Louisiana accent.
But perhaps it’s fitting that the most visible Louisianan in this ribbon is played by an American. The Louisianans in Into the Bayou are more of an ongoing, violent distraction than the center of the action, and the British never show up at all. The K-graph is about Americans, and the division between Americans—the conflict between Butler and Burch, and as the story progresses, between both of them and Taylor.
The one part of Into the Bayou that should have been left on the cutting room floor is the part that feels as though it was added later at the insistence of the studio—Taylor’s monologue in which he denounces his earlier ambition, a speech which lasted less than ninety seconds by my watch but felt much longer. The scenes immediately before it had done such a good job building up tension that I honestly expected the waterdragoons to come along and shoot everybody while the general was talking.
Which brings us to the trou de loup in the floor[10]—the ribbon’s ideological leanings. Taylor is presented (inaccurately, it seems) as an aristist’s idea of a great leader, obsessed with conquest and glory. It seems it was not enough for High Moon Pictures management that the events of the K-graph made a mockery of these dreams. Taylor had to tearfully repudiate them. (I’m just glad they didn’t make him say “And Elmar’s wrong too!” apropos of nothing.) In spite of all that, some people are still claiming that Into the Bayou is pro-aristist, not anti-aristist.
For what it’s worth, I think Into the Bayou was intended as an anti-aristist K-graph, but it doesn’t quite work as one, because aristists are too good at dressing up the horrifying consequences of their ideas as “tragedy,” or worse, “tragic destiny.” It’s hard to give people who, as Scattergood put it, will “massacre villagers in the night and write a sad song about them the next morning” the condemnation they deserve. What can you say about them that they wouldn’t acknowledge amid a shower of crocodile tears?
Into the Bayou does, however, work as a K-war. It is compassionate, yet brutally unflinching. It will be remembered when many more ambitious K-graphs have been forgotten.
[1] OTL Covington, Louisiana
[2] A snarky reference to lifelong civilians Brougham and Russell.
[3] This is one of those places where the Louisianans are trying to revitalize soil that’s been worn out from growing cotton.
[4] Translation: “Do not let me catch you on a battlefield again in this war.”
[5] I.e. films
[6] A less loaded word than IOTL.
[7] George Armistead Butler, IOTL named Andrew Jackson Butler and older brother to Benjamin Franklin Butler.
[8] Day for night
[9] Filmed
[10] I.e., the elephant in the room
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So, Wellington has them on the run? But it sounds like the only group defeated was the initial force under Wool.
So my take on the situation:
1. Davies has retreated to a fort of ironic name.
2. Taylor is going to retreat all the way back to Mississippi, his supply situation bad enough he'll send two regiments to Gaines.
3. Gaines will also be retreating, and even with those two regiments, Taylor will be trying to come to his aid indicating he gets in big trouble.
4. The Volonte is proving to be worth every red cent and is still ruling the River for the Republic.
5. The Americans will launch a second attack in 1838, equipped with Colt revolvers and likely better supplies in general.
So my take is Berrien will turn a blind eye to Canada to put forces into defeating the Republic and the Iron Duke. He'd be wise shift to the defense in Florida too, but I wonder if his backers would allow it?
Overall, my guess is the Canadas will have a new order worked out by Brougham and the Queen that won't please anyone completely but be something the Compact will swallow however reluctantly and persuade the Rebels to continue working within the Empire. The US will ose ground to a coynterstroke up north having stripped down forces there for the South. And the Soyuthern Theater will remain a quagmire advance for the USA.
Word of Astoria falling will be the last straw for the North feeling Berrien will sacrifice the North and West for the South. The war ends with mostly a white peace, but as Berrien won't allow bases in the South and has no money for reparations he instead gives up land in the Northern unorganized territory deeming it pretty useless. Britain accepts it as it gets back land that would have been costly to fight for and they have war closer too home too worry about.
For the USA the war, its cinduct and outcome will see the Dead Roses return to the White House but the troubles erupt with different side blaming the other for everything wrong.
So my take on the situation:
1. Davies has retreated to a fort of ironic name.
2. Taylor is going to retreat all the way back to Mississippi, his supply situation bad enough he'll send two regiments to Gaines.
3. Gaines will also be retreating, and even with those two regiments, Taylor will be trying to come to his aid indicating he gets in big trouble.
4. The Volonte is proving to be worth every red cent and is still ruling the River for the Republic.
5. The Americans will launch a second attack in 1838, equipped with Colt revolvers and likely better supplies in general.
So my take is Berrien will turn a blind eye to Canada to put forces into defeating the Republic and the Iron Duke. He'd be wise shift to the defense in Florida too, but I wonder if his backers would allow it?
Overall, my guess is the Canadas will have a new order worked out by Brougham and the Queen that won't please anyone completely but be something the Compact will swallow however reluctantly and persuade the Rebels to continue working within the Empire. The US will ose ground to a coynterstroke up north having stripped down forces there for the South. And the Soyuthern Theater will remain a quagmire advance for the USA.
Word of Astoria falling will be the last straw for the North feeling Berrien will sacrifice the North and West for the South. The war ends with mostly a white peace, but as Berrien won't allow bases in the South and has no money for reparations he instead gives up land in the Northern unorganized territory deeming it pretty useless. Britain accepts it as it gets back land that would have been costly to fight for and they have war closer too home too worry about.
For the USA the war, its cinduct and outcome will see the Dead Roses return to the White House but the troubles erupt with different side blaming the other for everything wrong.
Another good update showing that Wellington still has it and that the Americans on the back foot here. The movie review was another way to show a good insight into things with the information gleaned from it and how it reflects on the historical aspects of the future movie and different terminology.
Lycaon pictus
Donor
Let me clear up the timeline a little:
• John Butler (father of George A. Butler, currently serving under General Taylor ) fought in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson, which is why IOTL he named his son after Andrew Jackson.
• Taylor sent two regiments back to Gaines not long after he reached Thibodauxville and well before Wellington arrived, because he'd outrun his logistics train and (with a large river, uncooperative locals and an occasional gunboat getting in the way) he wasn't going to be able to feed his whole army.
• When Gaines heard Wellington was preparing to cut him off and surround him, he retreated from LaPlace and ordered Taylor to get back across the Mississippi pronto. But when Taylor got to the Mississippi, there was the Volonté blocking his path.
• John Butler (father of George A. Butler, currently serving under General Taylor ) fought in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson, which is why IOTL he named his son after Andrew Jackson.
• Taylor sent two regiments back to Gaines not long after he reached Thibodauxville and well before Wellington arrived, because he'd outrun his logistics train and (with a large river, uncooperative locals and an occasional gunboat getting in the way) he wasn't going to be able to feed his whole army.
• When Gaines heard Wellington was preparing to cut him off and surround him, he retreated from LaPlace and ordered Taylor to get back across the Mississippi pronto. But when Taylor got to the Mississippi, there was the Volonté blocking his path.
Thanks.
So aside from Wool's defeat Wellington has forced a retreat by threat of cut off. Now as I recall of the three prongs of invasion Ford Nord Est was a stalemate in favor of the republic, so with these two fores in retreat the invasion has for time being bee rolled back in general?
But while this retreat is bad for American morale its preserved the greater portion if their forces even if divided for now, and they gain renewed security in suppylines. The Reoublic gets breathing room and territory regained, plus a major boost in morale. But the war is far from over with the Americans abke to move to the defensive and await reinforcements. Unless Wellington can deal a blow of significance time is on the Union's side.
So aside from Wool's defeat Wellington has forced a retreat by threat of cut off. Now as I recall of the three prongs of invasion Ford Nord Est was a stalemate in favor of the republic, so with these two fores in retreat the invasion has for time being bee rolled back in general?
But while this retreat is bad for American morale its preserved the greater portion if their forces even if divided for now, and they gain renewed security in suppylines. The Reoublic gets breathing room and territory regained, plus a major boost in morale. But the war is far from over with the Americans abke to move to the defensive and await reinforcements. Unless Wellington can deal a blow of significance time is on the Union's side.