Grey Knight (1993) - full transcript
Slave traders bring back an evil voodoo entity that is accidentally freed by the Confederate army during the Civil War. The entity possesses the bodies of the dead soldiers to create an army of its own bent on conquest, using the corpses of both the North and South.
Is that going to tell me what happened?
I bad rather hoped my brother could.
Sir, Captain Donnelly's found something.
THALMAN: Sweet Jesus.
BRADLEY: Oh, my Lord.
It's my brother, Richard.
Oh, angels in heaven, send Christ to defend us.
Oh, God.
Oh, God. Oh, merciful Father.
HARLING: One year after that massacre,
in the spring of 1863,
another campaign was waged at Catum Creek...
THALMAN: Alabama 51st.
HARLING: .. .which was, by far, the darkest of the Civil War.
No honors were paid to its heroes.
No wreathes laid for its dead.
And, though, that was the one time
Confederates and Yankees fought on the same side.
It is only with the greatest difficulty
that I can bear testament to it.
Not because I've forgotten,
but because I remember.
(GRUNTING)
War had taught me, the world cares little for man.
The earth will drink the tears of the dead.
The wind will consume the cries of the wounded.
And the sun will passively bear witness to it all.
(BOMBS EXPLODING)
Hold him.
In my youth, I had only desired
to be a Minister of souls.
Hold his legs.
But my own spirit had since become
as the rock of the mountain,
and I had, long ago, stopped my ears to the pleas of men.
And, thus, was I still on that day,
when the blood of those crucified soldiers
screamed through the Kentucky fields
and called to me.
LIEUTENANT: Captain Harling?
Captain.
General Haworth said, he wanted to see you.
(MEN SCREAMING)
HARLING: I had only one thought on that dry spring morning,
my discharge.
After two years of fighting,
the call of home had become deafening.
In the end, however,
the cry from Tennessee rang louder.
LIEUTENANT: General.
Captain John Harling, reporting as ordered, sir.
HAWORTH: Hmm-hmm.
Yes?
My apologies, Harling. I have a very busy schedule.
We must work around the light.
HARLING: Understandable, sir.
That is Colonel Thalman over there.
You may salute him. He is not in the portrait.
Colonel.
Please sit down, Captain.
Thank you. Lieutenant.
(PAINTER CLEARS THROAT)
A little further back from the General, sir.
You're casting shadows.
Recovering well. I hope.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
The Captain had a little mishap on his last reconnaissance.
The fact is, we were planning to send him home tomorrow.
Caught him just in time, then.
Word has it that you're a tracker, Harling.
Yes, sir.
He's very modest, George.
The Captain here is one of finest trackers
in the Federal Army.
Thank you, sir.
I'm just waiting for my discharge papers.
Anxious to get back to your preaching ministry, are you?
(THALMAN CHUCKLING)
Yes, sir.
-No, thank you. -Yes, thank you.
Uh, Captain. I understand that you are
familiar with the Alabama 51st.
Yes, sir.
Colonel Nehemiah Strayn was their commanding officer.
I thought our boys wiped them out six months ago
at a place called Catum's Creek.
Strayn survived.
He's rotting away now in a Bowling Green prison.
Excuse me, sir,
but I don't see what this has to do
with my discharge.
Show him those other photographs, George.
HAWORTH: Not a pretty portrait, Captain.
All this occurred in Tennessee,
just a few days ago not far from Catum's Creek.
They were all Colonel Thalman's men,
every last one of them.
Thirty one died. Twelve missing.
But the only thing the rebs lost was a goddamn belt buckle.
You don't think the 51st had anything to do with this, sir,
do you?
A witness to this ungodly massacre
has identified that man.
His name is Lieutenant Josiah Elkins.
He was the 5lst's second in command.
According to our dear Colonel Strayn,
Elkins died six months ago,
during the 51st's last stand.
However we now believe that he survived
and has since raised a formidable army of his own.
Under what state, sir?
In strictest confidentiality, Captain.
HARLING: Yes, sir.
We do fear there may be some Federal soldiers
operating with Mr. Elkins as well.
You know, Captain, sometimes in this war,
things get very confused.
Particularly in our border states of Missouri and Kentucky,
where there are so many young men
fighting each other from the same extended family.
Blue and grey is not always black and white
for any of us here in Kentucky.
No, sir.
So many of our fine young fighting men
become very confused between religious morality
and practical military necessity.
Every man has his breaking' point, Captain.
You and I have ours.
And whoever did this deed
has obviously reached theirs.
HARLING: Yes sir. Quite obviously, sir.
My discharge.
I'm terribly sorry, Captain.
Your discharge has been rescinded.
You will proceed with Colonel Thalman
and a small detachment
forthwith to the area around Catum's Creek.
There, you will locate these men,
and you will call for reinforcements,
and we will have done with this sorry business.
As soon as you have completed your mission,
you may return home.
Again, I'm very sorry, Captain.
But sometimes, this is how things are done.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Is there something else on your mind, Captain?
Sir, with your permission.
I'd like to speak with your prisoner, Colonel Nehemiah Strayn.
I believe, he might be of assistance.
How is that, Captain?
Well, in addition to being commander of the 51st,
I studied under him before the war.
(SIGHING)
(WHISTLING)
CORPORAL: Listen to him,
who whistles "Yankee Doodle" every time he takes a piss.
Hey, Strayn, you got a visitor.
(STRAYN SPITTING)
Hey!
STRAYN: I'm having an intensely private moment here, Corporal.
HARLING: Don't miss.
It's alright. Corporal.
I can handle him from here.
STRAYN: (WHISPERS) Johnny.
I thought you'd gone back to preaching by now.
Union take the edge outta your religion?
(MAN COUGHING)
Are we back on speaking terms?
You owe me a favor, Nehemiah.
I've just cone to collect.
It's a helluva time to ask.
Come into my classroom.
Put your hands on your head.
Put your hands on your head!
Stay there.
John Harling.
HARLING: Nehemiah!
Short moment.
Get back in here.
Move!
Oh, come on. Cheer up, Johnny.
I made life exciting for ya.
If it weren't for me
you wouldn't have had any fun at West Point.
You'da never gotten drunk.
(COCKING GUN)
And you certainly wouldn't have had the pleasure
of chasing me around this war.
(COUGHING)
I need to talk to ya.
What you need is a bath.
(COUGHING)
It's about your regiment.
(SIGHING)
I don't have a regiment, John.
Our boys found this two weeks ago
stuffed in the mouth of a dead Union soldier.
I thought you might be interested.
STRAYN: You think my boys did this?
Go to hell.
What the hell do you want, John?
I wanna go home.
But I need your help.
CAPTAIN: Attention!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
Fire one!
Two!
This is a taste of what you're going to get, rebels!
Now lay down your arms and release that prisoner!
Taste this!
(GROANS)
Alright! Level 'em!
SOLDIER: Faster! Faster!
Where's Murphy?
He's up in the loft.
God damnmt! God dammit!
Murphy! Get your ass down here!
I'm guarding the prisoners, sir.
Murphy, you heard me! Now!
Now, don't you try nothing.
Or you'll end up looking like that.
'Cause, I'll be back.
COMMANDER: Dammit, Murphy!
(WOMEN SCREAMING)
All right! Everybody fire. starting with me!
Including you, Murphy!
(LOUD EXPLOSION)
Hurry!
UNION SOLDIER: Well, if this bitch wouldn't just sit there!
What the hell?
SOLDIER 1: What's that?
SOLDIER 2: Do you see something out there?
Reinforcements!
We got men coming up the ridge, boys!
(CHEERING)
Things ain't so rosy now, are they?
CAPTAIN: Turn that cannon around!
CAPTAIN: Ready!
Halt.
CAPTIN: Ready!
Aim!
Fire!
(MEN GROANING)
CAPTAIN: Fire!
Quick, fire!
Fire!
SOLDIER: They're still coming!
SOLDEIR: My God! The bullets aren't stopping them.
Forward march!
Charge!
(SOLDIERS SHOUTING)
Hold your fire!
(MEN SCREAMING)
(HORSE TROTTING)
(WHIMPERING)
(INCOHERENT SPEECH)
Shut up, Murphy! I'm concentrating.
Hey! You boys still alive in there?
Who are you?
Well, we heard all the fighting
thought there might be some trouble.
ELKINS: I wouldn't be staying in there too long.
Enemy's coming this way.
All right, boys. We're going to move out slow.
But keep one round loaded.
Murphy, you stay here and cover us.
Bennett, if something starts up,
I want you to aim for that one in the middle.
I got my eye on him. Don't you worry.
Well, this is downright inhospitable, if you ask me.
Well, that's just too damn bad, ain't it?
Hold your ground.
I ain't fooling ya.
He ain't fooling either.
(SHOT FIRED)
(MOANING)
(LAUGHING)
Boys, we're all on the same side now.
Besides, I'm a recruiting officer.
Mercy!
(SCREAMING)
(GROANS)
MAN: Move!
LADY: She sees something.
MAN: God dammit,
you want your freedom, or not?
(METAL CLINKING)
(MAN SCREAMING)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
Hi. Friend of yours?
How'd you know to do that?
I heard your kind had died off.
You know, resorting to little tricks like that,
must mean, you've grown weak.
(SHOUTS)
(DISTORTED VOICE) I will consume your bones,
and scatter the dust to the wind.
(CHANTING)
(PLAYING THE HARMONICA)
Murphy, just where in the hell have you been?
(STAMMERING) Well, I...
Boy, that goddamn stuttering
it's going to drive me to my grave.
Sorry, sir.
Are you hurt, boy?
Don't worry, son.
Everything's going to be just fine.
It's a beautiful sight, ain't?
(METAL CLINKING)
That's not going to work, son.
Captain asked us to wait on you, boy
'cause of your youth.
Didn't want nothing to happen
too sudden, you know?
Now, we going to give you a good making.
(DRUMROLL)
(SCREAMING)
(GUNSHOT)
HARLING: It happened two days ago,
about 26 miles south of the last incident.
The boy was a Confederate.
You know, it's not just the old ones
that are dying anymore, Nehemiah.
Young ones now, too.
(STRAYN SIGHING)
In fact, he looked about just a few years older
than your nephew, Thomas.
Memory serves.
What are your terms?
All right. Now, you proceed with me into the area,
under guard, strictly as an advisor.
We flush 'em out,
you get a pardon.
If I pledge allegiance to the Union?
That's right.
I can't do that, son.
(SIGHS)
No pledge, no pardon.
(STRAYN LAUGHING)
Do I get a hot bath?
(TWANGING)
SOLDIER: One. One. One two, one.
One. One. One two, one.
(MAN SPEAKING)
Hello.
Excuse me.
Hello
I say, have you seen Cap...
I see.
Yes.
BRADLEY: Oh, there you are, Captain.
I hope you don't mind,
but I'm going to photograph a document
of our little excursion.
HARLING: That'll be just fine. Mr. Browning.
BRADLEY: Sir, you haven't seen my lens cap, have you?
I've come all the way from England,
and I really hate to lose it.
Captain? Captain?
It's the third time today. I've lost the little fellow.
The trouble here is it slips down.
Great service, boys. Just like home.
Leave him be, son.
Oh, look what we got here, Johnny.
I got this when we won Texas in '46.
Of course, you're too young to remember that.
So we'll take this. You take this home.
Take it to the Missus.
And, of course, this.
Pretty smart, huh?
My granddaddy's watch.
He was in the Revolutionary War, you know.
Oh? So was mine.
You taking pictures on this trip?
His brother was killed at Catum's Creek.
He's coming along.
THALMAN: Harling!
Colonel, sir!
What is that reb puss still doing here?
It's Colonel Nehemiah Strayn, sir.
I know who he is. Captain.
But I do not want him on my expedition.
Well, sir, General Haworth authorized...
I don't give a rat's ass who authorized anything!
Colonel!
I do believe, my good friend, John,
said it was a General that authorized my coming along.
Now, back in the Confederacy,
a General usually outranks a Colonel.
I don't know.
Maybe y'all do things differently here in the Union.
Things being the way they are,
I think temporarily putting' aside past differences
would be in the best interest of this expedition.
I'm leaving orders, Captain.
If he gets away,
no discharge till you catch him!
Yes, sir.
(URGING HORSE)
John, you can't let him push you around like that.
Come on. Move him out.
Is she going to be shining our boots?
She's a runaway, sir.
Witness on the last incident.
She's going to be coming along.
That's so she don't run away again?
No, sir. It's so you don't.
John. John, you can't
-What? -You can't chain me!
You can't chain me to a nigger.
Sure I can, sir.
This is the Union.
And up here, a Captain outranks a prisoner of war.
You may do things differently down South.
But that's the way it works here.
Harling! Harling!
Harling! You can't humiliate me this way!
Captain Harling!
Prepare to move out!
Can't you at least give me...
-...us a horse? -THALMAN: No horse!
I can't help you there, Colonel.
-Sorry about that. -God dammit, Harling!
If you expect me to walk all the way to Tennessee!
THALMAN: God damn Confederate ass!
And that's how you can get to Tennessee!
If you don't like it!
Keep your God damn hands off of my watch.
Move out!
(SOLDIERS SINGING)
HARLEY: And so we began.
I was no stranger to battlefields.
I had seen the slaughtered, lying upon the meadows of Shiloh.
I have walked over corpses strewn
in the cornfields of Antietam.
But I fear that the battlefield,
to which we now journeyed,
was far darker than any I had known.
For it seemed as if God
had turned his face from these mountains,
occluding them in the shadow of his vengeance.
And I wondered what kind of enemy
walked within those shades.
And how were they different from the men
I had had to fight for so long.
Men like Nehemiah Strayn,
who not two years ago,
I had laughed with and learned from.
"Aw, hell."
"Oh, hell."
No, no, no, no.
HARLEY: They say that an enemy is only an injured friend.
But when a soldier goes beyond both injury
and friendship, what does he become?
"That is all she wrote."
"Awwlll she wrote."
"Allll she wrote."
Yeah. You keep going, and I'm going to have you
in grey before the evening's out.
"Allll she wrote."
-"Awwll she wrote." -Awwwllll.
Awl, awl, awl.
The last one was rather good, wasn't it?
Yeah.
War brought out the missionary zeal in you, Colonel?
Dam right. Gospel of the South.
God is a Southerner, John.
Is that right?
You think he keeps slaves, too?
I see, you still got your sense of humor.
Tongue's still sharp as a saber.
In fact, Captain here,
was one of sharpest pupils, Mr. Bradley.
He was going to go to Yale,
become a Doctor of Divinity.
Start up a leper colony, or something.
Lepers! Good for you.
No, it is a tragedy, Mr. Bradley.
You see, his daddy was a General,
a real Missouri fire-eater,
and he made the poor boy go to West Point,
where, thank the Lord,
he had the good fortune to study with me.
We got real close, didn't we, John?
That is until we tried to kill each other.
Pardon?
We fought a duel, Mr. Bradley.
It was over a girl, wasn't it, John?
You see, uh, the Captain had me cornered.
But he's too much of a gentleman to kill me,
so he just said, "You owe me".
You could sort of say that's why I'm here now.
What was the name of that girl, John?
(WHISPERING)
Don't get all heated up, John,
with all this war going on.
That's all, buddy, that's what divided us.
Or was it a girl who's name neither of us remember?
I'll just...
You keep working on that, Mr. Bradley.
Nobody forced you to go to the South, Nehemiah.
Johnny, since when has this war
been about slavery?
I don't own a slave. Most of my army don't.
But that's how the South works.
Till we come up with something better on our own terms,
that's the way it'll stay.
I don't think that's a popular opinion. Colonel.
Why don't we put it to a vote?
Hey, boys!
(GRUNTING)
How many of y'all think
the South should listen to Mr. Lincoln?
ALL: Hell, yeah.
You think, uh, Negroes should vote?
SOLDIERS: No, Colonel. No sir!
Democracy. John.
THALMAN: Harling!
Yes, sir.
In my tent, if you please, Captain.
Democracy, huh?
I think you forgot someone.
Sure as hell, never wanted to see this place again.
Feel proud of your regiment Strayn?
Thalman!
I lost two hundred men, here, down by the creek.
They weren't laid out nearly as pretty
when our fighting was done.
Colonel, with your permission,
before we find out what happened to your men,
we oughta determine what happened to his.
Granted.
You ever hear of a "killing box", Colonel?
I am familiar with the term.
That's what happened here.
General Bragg ran most of his men south
to Murfreesboro to find another Union Army.
He ordered my men behind enemy lines
to see if we could divert any reinforcements coming that way.
We got more than we bargained for.
(WHISTLE)
(EXPLOSION)
STRAYN: Half my regiment got pinned down
on the southern bank of the creek in battery.
I desperately tried to rejoin them but the barrage was unrelenting.
(YELLING)
When I and my second in command, Josiah Elkins,
got to them at the Southern bank, they were in full retreat.
The Union regiment began to advance.
(SHOUTING)
Hold back!
We tried to pull back.
Before I knew it, we were surrounded.
(SHOUTING)
I gave the order to surrender.
Elkins and the others followed suit.
(DRUM BEAT)
But the Union Commander didn't accept.
(SCREAMING)
And when I was hit in the shoulder,
my men took me for dead.
Lieutenant Elkins did the only thing he could.
He charged.
We could've got past the clearing,
maybe led some of the boys to safety.
But the line held.
My nephew, Thomas, they just blew his whole stomach away.
He was twelve.
Those Union soldiers spared my life.
A week later, I woke up in a hospital.
My heart bleeds.
THALMAN: It's getting dark. Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Find some dry wood for some fires.
SERGEANT: Yes, sir. Sergeant Hamin, detail same men for water.
Corporal Berne, have some men round up some wood.
Wood ain't going to burn.
It's too wet.
THOMAS: Uncle...
Uncle Nehemiah.
(WHISPERS) The creek?
BRADLEY: Good morning.
(SPITS)
HARLING: Damn it!
(ECHOING) HARLING: Strayn!
Nehemiah!
Nehemiah.
Nehemiah.
Thomas?
Tommy?
Uncle.
Stop.
They might hear you.
Christ almighty.
What's going on, Thomas?
There's a hole,
fifty yards from the bank of the river.
The Yankee cannon made it.
When you leave here, you must fill it with rock.
And pack it hard.
You don't want nothing else getting outta here.
What the hell are you talking about, boy?
After the attack, sir,
the current of the creek brought us here.
The running water of the river keeps us from leaving.
We's are trapped until Lieutenant Elkins and the others find the hole.
-That's when it started. -What?
Your men.
-They're Made, sir. -"Made"?
Talk to me, son.
Made into something inhuman.
The Makers have taken their souls.
A terrible evil escaped from Africa and hid in this cave.
For two hundred years,
they've walked the earth by night, consuming men,
growing more powerful.
Weak ones they use for food.
Strong ones they make.
Like Elkins.
(WHISPERING) Like me.
You've got to stop them.
If they stay free up top, they'll raise an army like you've never seen.
They've changed.
Their hearts have grown dark like the devil.
Moving water from the river they can't pass.
But sun fire and pale metal will kill.
These must be your weapons.
(WOMAN WHISPERING)
They have heard you.
Thomas.
Go, sir!
Come with me.
I can't.
That's an order!
NEHEMIAH: Ah!
(WOMAN WHISPERING)
Are you alright?
There's a cave! I saw Thomas! He bit...
THALMAN: Have a nice swim?
We just got word, Harling.
There was another incident last night.
-Where? -At the front of our lines.
Strayn, looks like your boys just busted back into the Confederacy.
No, no! Colonel... They...
(LAUGHS)
(WEAKLY) Johnny?
Right here.
Did you find it?
Yeah. We found it.
Did you do what I...
Told you to do?
Yeah.
Packed it with rock.
You filled the hole with dirt?
Do you think I'm crazy!
You're delirious, Nehemiah.
-It's a snake bite. -(STRAYN LAUGHS)
It's not a damn snake bite.
The same thing that happened to my men
is happening' to me.
They're out there, John.
They're raising an army.
Sir, the 51st is a god awful regiment.
I mean, you're asking me to track an...
I'm not asking you anything, Captain.
Sir, I've got 10 men.
If I had Strayn, maybe. But if he dies...
If he dies or lives,
has nothing to do with it.
You've got a knife, use it.
Please.
THALMAN: We move out now.
Are you alright?
Never better.
You can, uh, ride with me if you like.
Never better.
Never better.
(MEN SINGING)
HARLING: We proceeded south,
and with the help of Colonel Strayn,
pierced the borders of the Confederacy
in pursuit of an enemy still unseen.
Strayn's recovery was nothing short of a resurrection.
A miracle brought on I suspect by imaginations
of the mute Negroess.
Nehemiah now clung to her,
not as a man to a woman, but rather as a child to its mother.
As if her body carried an antidote to the poison which had infected him.
She began to heal him, protect him and understand him.
This I watched with growing unease
and dare I say, jealousy.
For in the passing of a few days,
it seemed that she came to know him better than I,
who was once his fastest friend.
As for Thalman and his men, whose disposition to the negroes
is not much better than their brethren to the south...
Their bewilderment at Strayn's actions quickly turned to hostility...
As his behavior became more erratic.
Halt!
(STRAYN LAUGHING)
THALMAN: Halt!
What the hell were you talking about?
Just having a friendly conversation.
She's a mute!
I'm tired of having to explain to the Colonel
why you're acting so goddamn strange.
It's a strange world, John.
Stranger than you think.
You're behind enemy lines, Colonel.
Do not make the situation anymore dangerous than it already is.
Damn you! Don't you talk to her!
She has a name, John!
Right, Colonel.
I thought y'all had one name for 'em down South.
"Niggers," i'n't?
Apologize. To her.
HARLING: I'm gonna unshackle you.
Maybe you'll start to act like a decent soldier.
THALMAN: It's on your head, Captain.
On your head!
(GUNSHOT)
HARLING: Fall! Sniper!
(HORSE NEIGHING)
(GUNFIRE)
(THALLMAN CHUCKLES)
We got 'em. (GUNFIRE)
Send down your men for a scuttle shoot.
(MEN YELLING)
Stop then! Stop them, damn it!
MEN: Ready.
DAWSON: Hold your fire, men. Hold your fire.
You men, throw down your arms.
-You boys Yankees! -Yeah!
Thank god!
James Dawson. 31st Tennessee.
Aw, sweet Jesus, do we surrender.
DAWSON: We'd heard screaming, screaming.
They dragged a whole family outta that house yonder and...
I never heard screaming like that before.
We fell back to our wagon and just started
firing everything we had.
But they just kept on coming.
And they just plucked our men out and just dragged 'em off.
Why did they not come after you?
I don't know. I don't know.
They wouldn't come near our wagon.
Come morning, they just left.
Well, we couldn't.
We was all too scared to move.
Sir, them's our men who done this.
They're not our men, Corporal.
There are two regiments of infantry waiting across...
the Kentucky border.
If I can break through, I will force watch them here in 24 hours.
Colonel, you heard what the man just said.
I know, Captain, I know.
But under the circumstances, I can see no alternative.
Yes, sir.
Do not lose your men, Harling.
THALMAN: If they engage you, fall back.
If I'm not back in 24 hours, you send another man.
Keep your head, Captain.
I can use you at Vicksburg.
(NEIGHING)
I can help you get through this, John.
But you have to trust me.
Would you just hear me out, John?
Nehemiah, you want me to believe that Rebecca is a clairvoyant?
-Is that right? -Yeah.
First it's your cave, and then this drummer boy.
And now these "Quakers."
"Makers", "Makers", John.
Quakers don't run around conducting crucifixions, as a rule.
Now, let me ask you one thing.
How did you know her name was Rebecca?
She can't write. She can't talk.
But you knew her name was Rebecca.
She put it in your head, didn't she?
(WHISPERING) That's one of the things she does.
Rebecca is a slave girl, Nehemiah.
Just because she ran off a plantation into your arms...
Rebecca's lived the whole story, John.
She talks to me.
No words come out of her mouth, but I can hear her.
Oh yeah?
(WHISPERING) A long while ago in Africa, there was a village.
In it there lived a very powerful tribe.
No other tribe ever dared tangle with them,
'cause everyone knew what they were guarding.
There was a hole in the earth.
Like that cave I found back at Catum's Creek.
Inside it lived things that were out of a nightmare.
Years ago, the tribe had bottled those beings
in that hole and set their village around it.
They didn't want none of what was down there getting out,
spreading their poison, consuming mankind.
Two hundred years ago, white slave traders came.
They attacked the village, killed the men
and took most of the women.
One a the slaves had the bright idea
of going down in that hole.
He found something, alright...
But it weren't slaves.
When he came out, he weren't just a slave trader.
That man brought a plague here, John.
And a whole lot of people were, uh, changed...
Like my men.
Rebecca's ancestors, now they were the ones who hunted him down
and bottled him up in that cave that I found.
John, Rebecca's the only one left who knows how to end this.
But she needs our help.
Nehemiah, that story don't beat all.
John...
I'd like to stay and play, but I gotta plan our defense.
Listen to Rebecca. She has something to say.
Sure.
I tried.
I want you to have this.
My daddy'd kill me if he knew I'd given his watch to a nig...
Nice girl like you.
I've been meaning to ask you something.
How come you picked me? To show all this to?
(WHISPERING)
'Cause I'm the last of my tribe.
ELKINS: You're hardly the last, Colonel.
Josiah?
You boys have been raising a whole lot of hell.
Country's already gone to hell, Nehemiah.
We're just starting an army to set things right.
May I have the honor of presenting your new regiment, sir?
Welcome back, sir.
Stevens...Walker... Riggs.
Well, I'm a little confused.
What side's you boys planning on fighting for?
Sides, Colonel, are what killed the country.
We wanna resurrect it.
I see.
You're doing a whole lot of crucifying just to bring it back to life.
Yeah. But for those that deserve it,
it's a glorious life.
A sword's just a stick, Nehemiah.
A gun shot just a meaningless piece of metal.
When you feel death breathe on your face,
and you breathe right back,
that's the sweetest victory of all.
ELKINS: Hooray for the Union, glory to our cause!
Your commands are like the wind, Colonel.
This war?
This war is just a cry of desperate men.
We're not afraid.
War never promises resurrection, Nehemiah.
But I do...
To you.
(WHISPERING)
You're a damn coward, Nehemiah.
(GRUNTS)
Hello there, again.
You know, you are a strong one.
It's just a shame that we don't take niggers.
Ah!
(NEHEMIAH CHUCKLING)
UNION SOLDIER: Who goes there?
NEHEMIAH: John! Fall back! God dammit!
You got to list to me, John. I saw...
(HORSE NEIGHING)
That's the horses.
Alright, Nehemiah. What the hell is going on here?
I saw Elkins. I saw Elkins! I saw my regiment!
We gotta fall back to a river of running water.
They can't cross it.
What the hell are you talking about?
Something that Thomas told me! The pump! We'll dig a trench!
(INDISTINCT VOICES)
To the wagon!
Rebecca!
It's them, John! God dammit!
We need water...
-Surrender your arms! -We need water, John.
Identify yourself!
(GUNSHOT) THALMAN: God dammit!
Do you not know it is against military code
to fire upon a superior officer?
Colonel Thalman?
Very nearly your "late" Colonel, Captain Harling!
You boys alright?
Yes, sir.
The rebs...They're near!
Very near!
Did you encounter them, sir?
The goddamn rebel bigot
shot my beautiful horse right from under me.
I caught a ball in my leg.
Ah!
I need a tourniquet. I need a tourniquet!
I need a tourniquet!
Goddammit!
Wait.
STRAYN: John he's been out there.
John, don't!
They only want you, Strayn!
-The others can go free. -Let him go.
No! Come to me! Come to me!
Come to me.
(GRUNTS)
Now, Strayn...
Burn him!
Please! Please! I have a family.
Rebecca, burn him!
(STRANGE LAUGHING)
THALMAN: Captain, you hear it?
-Do you hear it? -HARLING: What, sir?
The blue jay. The morn is near.
I will die soon.
And, when I'm gone, you must raise my body into air
so that I may not suck the life back from the earth.
It must be done that way, Captain.
We were wrong about the crucifixions.
They were not trying to frighten us.
They were trying to keep the weak ones from rising up.
The weak ones, sir?
Colonel Strayn...
Do not blame your men for their actions.
But neither be merciful towards them.
For they will surely fall on you tomorrow's nightfall.
Captain?
Yes, sir?
Will you do of the service of waiting by my side till dawn?
I have been a soldier all my days.
And I would like to live the rest of my moments
in the company of my fellows.
(LAUGHING)
(SIGHS)
The well over there's almost dry.
That's not good enough.
Maybe we can make a stand at the Holston River, Captain.
No, we'd never make it by dark.
-STRAYN: Dawson! -Yes, sir?
You said those things never came near your wagon.
What were you carrying in there?
Aw, all sorts of stuff.
We were evacuating Shyesville up North,
so we had clothing, ammo...
Uh, bullion.
Bullion? Yeah. From, uh, the bank up there.
What kind of bullion?
Well, silver mostly. Maybe there's some silverware, too.
Yeah. Some trays and some candlesticks
and some dinner sets.
Sounds like you boys cleaned up.
Silver?
Just like my watch, John.
That's what Rebecca was trying to tell me.
What's it mean?
-It scared the hell outta Elkins. -How?
I don't know.
Think what a silver bayonet could do.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
HARLING: Colonel Thalman had told us to expect an attack at nightfall.
But Nehemiah, always the master of tactical improvisation,
had already planned the defense.
Stolen silver that had once donned a family's dining table,
now became ammunition for our rifles,
and a poison sheen for our bayonets.
A simple trough of the water
was transformed from a tool of irrigation
into an invincible line in the earth.
a stock of coin was turned from currency into an impervious wall.
I cannot fathom how any of these could fend off
such a ruthless enemy.
But military logic had begun to fade with the waning daylight.
Making less clear the lines between blue and grey,
black and white, sanity and insanity.
I could only now pray that the winds of fate
would be merciful to us all,
and carry us to a place where lies undivided ground.
And Strayn himself had elected to become...
Human bait, the lure for his once beloved regiment.
Into what would be the most bizarre killing box in military history.
One thing's for sure,
it'll be the most expensive battle of the war.
Yeah.
It's gonna be nice not to have to shoot at you this time.
Likewise.
Alright, men.
Find your positions. Load all weapons.
I'm going out. John.
Nehemiah, don't you run away on me.
(WHISTLING YANKEE DOODLE TUNE)
(HARMONICA PLAYING)
Evening boys. Nice night for a walk.
-ELKINS: War's over, Nehemiah. -Oh, it's over.
Come on home.
Nehemiah, you take a good look in your heart.
Tell me what you see.
(CONTINUES WHISTLING)
Colonel, you don't need no hole in the earth, no cave, no Makers...
No slave traders,
to find an excuse for you.
(GUNSHOT) (GRUNTS)
(SCREAMS)
Fire!
ELKINE: Nehemiah!
NEHEMIAH: Hold your fire!
Return!
We're brothers, Nehemiah.
Mr. Bradley!
ELKINS: We're your own men!
We're brothers!
Water!
HARLING: Look out for the run!
Dawson!
STRAYN: Dawson!
Let's teach these boys the rebel yell!
(SCREAMS)
Please! For god sakes!
(GUNSHOT)
Elkins!
(SCREAMS)
Come on, Nehemiah. Silver, on the water?
Are we so simply the devil?
(GRUNTS)
I bleed.
So am I still the devil?
(GRUNTS)
Be brave.
Rebecca!
(SCREAMS)
(NEHEMIAH SCREAMS)
NEHEMIAH: Rebecca.
She was brave, sir.
Reverend, you know.
HARLING: On that day, I, John Lawrence Harling,
released my former mentor from captivity
and, thus, forfeited my discharge.
As a result, I was forced to remain on active duty,
serving with General Ulysses S. Grant till the end of the war.
Nehemiah Pierson Strayn rejoined the Confederate army
and was to serve valiantly at the battles of Gettysburg,
Chikamagua, and Cold Harbor.
Though still an ardent believer in the Southern cause,
he made many enemies there,
due to his outspoken stance against slavery.
After the war, it is rumored that he returned
to the cave at Catum's Creek to rescue his nephew,
the last remaining member of his regiment.
Since then, to my knowledge,
he has not been heard of.
I bad rather hoped my brother could.
Sir, Captain Donnelly's found something.
THALMAN: Sweet Jesus.
BRADLEY: Oh, my Lord.
It's my brother, Richard.
Oh, angels in heaven, send Christ to defend us.
Oh, God.
Oh, God. Oh, merciful Father.
HARLING: One year after that massacre,
in the spring of 1863,
another campaign was waged at Catum Creek...
THALMAN: Alabama 51st.
HARLING: .. .which was, by far, the darkest of the Civil War.
No honors were paid to its heroes.
No wreathes laid for its dead.
And, though, that was the one time
Confederates and Yankees fought on the same side.
It is only with the greatest difficulty
that I can bear testament to it.
Not because I've forgotten,
but because I remember.
(GRUNTING)
War had taught me, the world cares little for man.
The earth will drink the tears of the dead.
The wind will consume the cries of the wounded.
And the sun will passively bear witness to it all.
(BOMBS EXPLODING)
Hold him.
In my youth, I had only desired
to be a Minister of souls.
Hold his legs.
But my own spirit had since become
as the rock of the mountain,
and I had, long ago, stopped my ears to the pleas of men.
And, thus, was I still on that day,
when the blood of those crucified soldiers
screamed through the Kentucky fields
and called to me.
LIEUTENANT: Captain Harling?
Captain.
General Haworth said, he wanted to see you.
(MEN SCREAMING)
HARLING: I had only one thought on that dry spring morning,
my discharge.
After two years of fighting,
the call of home had become deafening.
In the end, however,
the cry from Tennessee rang louder.
LIEUTENANT: General.
Captain John Harling, reporting as ordered, sir.
HAWORTH: Hmm-hmm.
Yes?
My apologies, Harling. I have a very busy schedule.
We must work around the light.
HARLING: Understandable, sir.
That is Colonel Thalman over there.
You may salute him. He is not in the portrait.
Colonel.
Please sit down, Captain.
Thank you. Lieutenant.
(PAINTER CLEARS THROAT)
A little further back from the General, sir.
You're casting shadows.
Recovering well. I hope.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
The Captain had a little mishap on his last reconnaissance.
The fact is, we were planning to send him home tomorrow.
Caught him just in time, then.
Word has it that you're a tracker, Harling.
Yes, sir.
He's very modest, George.
The Captain here is one of finest trackers
in the Federal Army.
Thank you, sir.
I'm just waiting for my discharge papers.
Anxious to get back to your preaching ministry, are you?
(THALMAN CHUCKLING)
Yes, sir.
-No, thank you. -Yes, thank you.
Uh, Captain. I understand that you are
familiar with the Alabama 51st.
Yes, sir.
Colonel Nehemiah Strayn was their commanding officer.
I thought our boys wiped them out six months ago
at a place called Catum's Creek.
Strayn survived.
He's rotting away now in a Bowling Green prison.
Excuse me, sir,
but I don't see what this has to do
with my discharge.
Show him those other photographs, George.
HAWORTH: Not a pretty portrait, Captain.
All this occurred in Tennessee,
just a few days ago not far from Catum's Creek.
They were all Colonel Thalman's men,
every last one of them.
Thirty one died. Twelve missing.
But the only thing the rebs lost was a goddamn belt buckle.
You don't think the 51st had anything to do with this, sir,
do you?
A witness to this ungodly massacre
has identified that man.
His name is Lieutenant Josiah Elkins.
He was the 5lst's second in command.
According to our dear Colonel Strayn,
Elkins died six months ago,
during the 51st's last stand.
However we now believe that he survived
and has since raised a formidable army of his own.
Under what state, sir?
In strictest confidentiality, Captain.
HARLING: Yes, sir.
We do fear there may be some Federal soldiers
operating with Mr. Elkins as well.
You know, Captain, sometimes in this war,
things get very confused.
Particularly in our border states of Missouri and Kentucky,
where there are so many young men
fighting each other from the same extended family.
Blue and grey is not always black and white
for any of us here in Kentucky.
No, sir.
So many of our fine young fighting men
become very confused between religious morality
and practical military necessity.
Every man has his breaking' point, Captain.
You and I have ours.
And whoever did this deed
has obviously reached theirs.
HARLING: Yes sir. Quite obviously, sir.
My discharge.
I'm terribly sorry, Captain.
Your discharge has been rescinded.
You will proceed with Colonel Thalman
and a small detachment
forthwith to the area around Catum's Creek.
There, you will locate these men,
and you will call for reinforcements,
and we will have done with this sorry business.
As soon as you have completed your mission,
you may return home.
Again, I'm very sorry, Captain.
But sometimes, this is how things are done.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Is there something else on your mind, Captain?
Sir, with your permission.
I'd like to speak with your prisoner, Colonel Nehemiah Strayn.
I believe, he might be of assistance.
How is that, Captain?
Well, in addition to being commander of the 51st,
I studied under him before the war.
(SIGHING)
(WHISTLING)
CORPORAL: Listen to him,
who whistles "Yankee Doodle" every time he takes a piss.
Hey, Strayn, you got a visitor.
(STRAYN SPITTING)
Hey!
STRAYN: I'm having an intensely private moment here, Corporal.
HARLING: Don't miss.
It's alright. Corporal.
I can handle him from here.
STRAYN: (WHISPERS) Johnny.
I thought you'd gone back to preaching by now.
Union take the edge outta your religion?
(MAN COUGHING)
Are we back on speaking terms?
You owe me a favor, Nehemiah.
I've just cone to collect.
It's a helluva time to ask.
Come into my classroom.
Put your hands on your head.
Put your hands on your head!
Stay there.
John Harling.
HARLING: Nehemiah!
Short moment.
Get back in here.
Move!
Oh, come on. Cheer up, Johnny.
I made life exciting for ya.
If it weren't for me
you wouldn't have had any fun at West Point.
You'da never gotten drunk.
(COCKING GUN)
And you certainly wouldn't have had the pleasure
of chasing me around this war.
(COUGHING)
I need to talk to ya.
What you need is a bath.
(COUGHING)
It's about your regiment.
(SIGHING)
I don't have a regiment, John.
Our boys found this two weeks ago
stuffed in the mouth of a dead Union soldier.
I thought you might be interested.
STRAYN: You think my boys did this?
Go to hell.
What the hell do you want, John?
I wanna go home.
But I need your help.
CAPTAIN: Attention!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
Fire one!
Two!
This is a taste of what you're going to get, rebels!
Now lay down your arms and release that prisoner!
Taste this!
(GROANS)
Alright! Level 'em!
SOLDIER: Faster! Faster!
Where's Murphy?
He's up in the loft.
God damnmt! God dammit!
Murphy! Get your ass down here!
I'm guarding the prisoners, sir.
Murphy, you heard me! Now!
Now, don't you try nothing.
Or you'll end up looking like that.
'Cause, I'll be back.
COMMANDER: Dammit, Murphy!
(WOMEN SCREAMING)
All right! Everybody fire. starting with me!
Including you, Murphy!
(LOUD EXPLOSION)
Hurry!
UNION SOLDIER: Well, if this bitch wouldn't just sit there!
What the hell?
SOLDIER 1: What's that?
SOLDIER 2: Do you see something out there?
Reinforcements!
We got men coming up the ridge, boys!
(CHEERING)
Things ain't so rosy now, are they?
CAPTAIN: Turn that cannon around!
CAPTAIN: Ready!
Halt.
CAPTIN: Ready!
Aim!
Fire!
(MEN GROANING)
CAPTAIN: Fire!
Quick, fire!
Fire!
SOLDIER: They're still coming!
SOLDEIR: My God! The bullets aren't stopping them.
Forward march!
Charge!
(SOLDIERS SHOUTING)
Hold your fire!
(MEN SCREAMING)
(HORSE TROTTING)
(WHIMPERING)
(INCOHERENT SPEECH)
Shut up, Murphy! I'm concentrating.
Hey! You boys still alive in there?
Who are you?
Well, we heard all the fighting
thought there might be some trouble.
ELKINS: I wouldn't be staying in there too long.
Enemy's coming this way.
All right, boys. We're going to move out slow.
But keep one round loaded.
Murphy, you stay here and cover us.
Bennett, if something starts up,
I want you to aim for that one in the middle.
I got my eye on him. Don't you worry.
Well, this is downright inhospitable, if you ask me.
Well, that's just too damn bad, ain't it?
Hold your ground.
I ain't fooling ya.
He ain't fooling either.
(SHOT FIRED)
(MOANING)
(LAUGHING)
Boys, we're all on the same side now.
Besides, I'm a recruiting officer.
Mercy!
(SCREAMING)
(GROANS)
MAN: Move!
LADY: She sees something.
MAN: God dammit,
you want your freedom, or not?
(METAL CLINKING)
(MAN SCREAMING)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
Hi. Friend of yours?
How'd you know to do that?
I heard your kind had died off.
You know, resorting to little tricks like that,
must mean, you've grown weak.
(SHOUTS)
(DISTORTED VOICE) I will consume your bones,
and scatter the dust to the wind.
(CHANTING)
(PLAYING THE HARMONICA)
Murphy, just where in the hell have you been?
(STAMMERING) Well, I...
Boy, that goddamn stuttering
it's going to drive me to my grave.
Sorry, sir.
Are you hurt, boy?
Don't worry, son.
Everything's going to be just fine.
It's a beautiful sight, ain't?
(METAL CLINKING)
That's not going to work, son.
Captain asked us to wait on you, boy
'cause of your youth.
Didn't want nothing to happen
too sudden, you know?
Now, we going to give you a good making.
(DRUMROLL)
(SCREAMING)
(GUNSHOT)
HARLING: It happened two days ago,
about 26 miles south of the last incident.
The boy was a Confederate.
You know, it's not just the old ones
that are dying anymore, Nehemiah.
Young ones now, too.
(STRAYN SIGHING)
In fact, he looked about just a few years older
than your nephew, Thomas.
Memory serves.
What are your terms?
All right. Now, you proceed with me into the area,
under guard, strictly as an advisor.
We flush 'em out,
you get a pardon.
If I pledge allegiance to the Union?
That's right.
I can't do that, son.
(SIGHS)
No pledge, no pardon.
(STRAYN LAUGHING)
Do I get a hot bath?
(TWANGING)
SOLDIER: One. One. One two, one.
One. One. One two, one.
(MAN SPEAKING)
Hello.
Excuse me.
Hello
I say, have you seen Cap...
I see.
Yes.
BRADLEY: Oh, there you are, Captain.
I hope you don't mind,
but I'm going to photograph a document
of our little excursion.
HARLING: That'll be just fine. Mr. Browning.
BRADLEY: Sir, you haven't seen my lens cap, have you?
I've come all the way from England,
and I really hate to lose it.
Captain? Captain?
It's the third time today. I've lost the little fellow.
The trouble here is it slips down.
Great service, boys. Just like home.
Leave him be, son.
Oh, look what we got here, Johnny.
I got this when we won Texas in '46.
Of course, you're too young to remember that.
So we'll take this. You take this home.
Take it to the Missus.
And, of course, this.
Pretty smart, huh?
My granddaddy's watch.
He was in the Revolutionary War, you know.
Oh? So was mine.
You taking pictures on this trip?
His brother was killed at Catum's Creek.
He's coming along.
THALMAN: Harling!
Colonel, sir!
What is that reb puss still doing here?
It's Colonel Nehemiah Strayn, sir.
I know who he is. Captain.
But I do not want him on my expedition.
Well, sir, General Haworth authorized...
I don't give a rat's ass who authorized anything!
Colonel!
I do believe, my good friend, John,
said it was a General that authorized my coming along.
Now, back in the Confederacy,
a General usually outranks a Colonel.
I don't know.
Maybe y'all do things differently here in the Union.
Things being the way they are,
I think temporarily putting' aside past differences
would be in the best interest of this expedition.
I'm leaving orders, Captain.
If he gets away,
no discharge till you catch him!
Yes, sir.
(URGING HORSE)
John, you can't let him push you around like that.
Come on. Move him out.
Is she going to be shining our boots?
She's a runaway, sir.
Witness on the last incident.
She's going to be coming along.
That's so she don't run away again?
No, sir. It's so you don't.
John. John, you can't
-What? -You can't chain me!
You can't chain me to a nigger.
Sure I can, sir.
This is the Union.
And up here, a Captain outranks a prisoner of war.
You may do things differently down South.
But that's the way it works here.
Harling! Harling!
Harling! You can't humiliate me this way!
Captain Harling!
Prepare to move out!
Can't you at least give me...
-...us a horse? -THALMAN: No horse!
I can't help you there, Colonel.
-Sorry about that. -God dammit, Harling!
If you expect me to walk all the way to Tennessee!
THALMAN: God damn Confederate ass!
And that's how you can get to Tennessee!
If you don't like it!
Keep your God damn hands off of my watch.
Move out!
(SOLDIERS SINGING)
HARLEY: And so we began.
I was no stranger to battlefields.
I had seen the slaughtered, lying upon the meadows of Shiloh.
I have walked over corpses strewn
in the cornfields of Antietam.
But I fear that the battlefield,
to which we now journeyed,
was far darker than any I had known.
For it seemed as if God
had turned his face from these mountains,
occluding them in the shadow of his vengeance.
And I wondered what kind of enemy
walked within those shades.
And how were they different from the men
I had had to fight for so long.
Men like Nehemiah Strayn,
who not two years ago,
I had laughed with and learned from.
"Aw, hell."
"Oh, hell."
No, no, no, no.
HARLEY: They say that an enemy is only an injured friend.
But when a soldier goes beyond both injury
and friendship, what does he become?
"That is all she wrote."
"Awwlll she wrote."
"Allll she wrote."
Yeah. You keep going, and I'm going to have you
in grey before the evening's out.
"Allll she wrote."
-"Awwll she wrote." -Awwwllll.
Awl, awl, awl.
The last one was rather good, wasn't it?
Yeah.
War brought out the missionary zeal in you, Colonel?
Dam right. Gospel of the South.
God is a Southerner, John.
Is that right?
You think he keeps slaves, too?
I see, you still got your sense of humor.
Tongue's still sharp as a saber.
In fact, Captain here,
was one of sharpest pupils, Mr. Bradley.
He was going to go to Yale,
become a Doctor of Divinity.
Start up a leper colony, or something.
Lepers! Good for you.
No, it is a tragedy, Mr. Bradley.
You see, his daddy was a General,
a real Missouri fire-eater,
and he made the poor boy go to West Point,
where, thank the Lord,
he had the good fortune to study with me.
We got real close, didn't we, John?
That is until we tried to kill each other.
Pardon?
We fought a duel, Mr. Bradley.
It was over a girl, wasn't it, John?
You see, uh, the Captain had me cornered.
But he's too much of a gentleman to kill me,
so he just said, "You owe me".
You could sort of say that's why I'm here now.
What was the name of that girl, John?
(WHISPERING)
Don't get all heated up, John,
with all this war going on.
That's all, buddy, that's what divided us.
Or was it a girl who's name neither of us remember?
I'll just...
You keep working on that, Mr. Bradley.
Nobody forced you to go to the South, Nehemiah.
Johnny, since when has this war
been about slavery?
I don't own a slave. Most of my army don't.
But that's how the South works.
Till we come up with something better on our own terms,
that's the way it'll stay.
I don't think that's a popular opinion. Colonel.
Why don't we put it to a vote?
Hey, boys!
(GRUNTING)
How many of y'all think
the South should listen to Mr. Lincoln?
ALL: Hell, yeah.
You think, uh, Negroes should vote?
SOLDIERS: No, Colonel. No sir!
Democracy. John.
THALMAN: Harling!
Yes, sir.
In my tent, if you please, Captain.
Democracy, huh?
I think you forgot someone.
Sure as hell, never wanted to see this place again.
Feel proud of your regiment Strayn?
Thalman!
I lost two hundred men, here, down by the creek.
They weren't laid out nearly as pretty
when our fighting was done.
Colonel, with your permission,
before we find out what happened to your men,
we oughta determine what happened to his.
Granted.
You ever hear of a "killing box", Colonel?
I am familiar with the term.
That's what happened here.
General Bragg ran most of his men south
to Murfreesboro to find another Union Army.
He ordered my men behind enemy lines
to see if we could divert any reinforcements coming that way.
We got more than we bargained for.
(WHISTLE)
(EXPLOSION)
STRAYN: Half my regiment got pinned down
on the southern bank of the creek in battery.
I desperately tried to rejoin them but the barrage was unrelenting.
(YELLING)
When I and my second in command, Josiah Elkins,
got to them at the Southern bank, they were in full retreat.
The Union regiment began to advance.
(SHOUTING)
Hold back!
We tried to pull back.
Before I knew it, we were surrounded.
(SHOUTING)
I gave the order to surrender.
Elkins and the others followed suit.
(DRUM BEAT)
But the Union Commander didn't accept.
(SCREAMING)
And when I was hit in the shoulder,
my men took me for dead.
Lieutenant Elkins did the only thing he could.
He charged.
We could've got past the clearing,
maybe led some of the boys to safety.
But the line held.
My nephew, Thomas, they just blew his whole stomach away.
He was twelve.
Those Union soldiers spared my life.
A week later, I woke up in a hospital.
My heart bleeds.
THALMAN: It's getting dark. Sergeant.
Yes, sir.
Find some dry wood for some fires.
SERGEANT: Yes, sir. Sergeant Hamin, detail same men for water.
Corporal Berne, have some men round up some wood.
Wood ain't going to burn.
It's too wet.
THOMAS: Uncle...
Uncle Nehemiah.
(WHISPERS) The creek?
BRADLEY: Good morning.
(SPITS)
HARLING: Damn it!
(ECHOING) HARLING: Strayn!
Nehemiah!
Nehemiah.
Nehemiah.
Thomas?
Tommy?
Uncle.
Stop.
They might hear you.
Christ almighty.
What's going on, Thomas?
There's a hole,
fifty yards from the bank of the river.
The Yankee cannon made it.
When you leave here, you must fill it with rock.
And pack it hard.
You don't want nothing else getting outta here.
What the hell are you talking about, boy?
After the attack, sir,
the current of the creek brought us here.
The running water of the river keeps us from leaving.
We's are trapped until Lieutenant Elkins and the others find the hole.
-That's when it started. -What?
Your men.
-They're Made, sir. -"Made"?
Talk to me, son.
Made into something inhuman.
The Makers have taken their souls.
A terrible evil escaped from Africa and hid in this cave.
For two hundred years,
they've walked the earth by night, consuming men,
growing more powerful.
Weak ones they use for food.
Strong ones they make.
Like Elkins.
(WHISPERING) Like me.
You've got to stop them.
If they stay free up top, they'll raise an army like you've never seen.
They've changed.
Their hearts have grown dark like the devil.
Moving water from the river they can't pass.
But sun fire and pale metal will kill.
These must be your weapons.
(WOMAN WHISPERING)
They have heard you.
Thomas.
Go, sir!
Come with me.
I can't.
That's an order!
NEHEMIAH: Ah!
(WOMAN WHISPERING)
Are you alright?
There's a cave! I saw Thomas! He bit...
THALMAN: Have a nice swim?
We just got word, Harling.
There was another incident last night.
-Where? -At the front of our lines.
Strayn, looks like your boys just busted back into the Confederacy.
No, no! Colonel... They...
(LAUGHS)
(WEAKLY) Johnny?
Right here.
Did you find it?
Yeah. We found it.
Did you do what I...
Told you to do?
Yeah.
Packed it with rock.
You filled the hole with dirt?
Do you think I'm crazy!
You're delirious, Nehemiah.
-It's a snake bite. -(STRAYN LAUGHS)
It's not a damn snake bite.
The same thing that happened to my men
is happening' to me.
They're out there, John.
They're raising an army.
Sir, the 51st is a god awful regiment.
I mean, you're asking me to track an...
I'm not asking you anything, Captain.
Sir, I've got 10 men.
If I had Strayn, maybe. But if he dies...
If he dies or lives,
has nothing to do with it.
You've got a knife, use it.
Please.
THALMAN: We move out now.
Are you alright?
Never better.
You can, uh, ride with me if you like.
Never better.
Never better.
(MEN SINGING)
HARLING: We proceeded south,
and with the help of Colonel Strayn,
pierced the borders of the Confederacy
in pursuit of an enemy still unseen.
Strayn's recovery was nothing short of a resurrection.
A miracle brought on I suspect by imaginations
of the mute Negroess.
Nehemiah now clung to her,
not as a man to a woman, but rather as a child to its mother.
As if her body carried an antidote to the poison which had infected him.
She began to heal him, protect him and understand him.
This I watched with growing unease
and dare I say, jealousy.
For in the passing of a few days,
it seemed that she came to know him better than I,
who was once his fastest friend.
As for Thalman and his men, whose disposition to the negroes
is not much better than their brethren to the south...
Their bewilderment at Strayn's actions quickly turned to hostility...
As his behavior became more erratic.
Halt!
(STRAYN LAUGHING)
THALMAN: Halt!
What the hell were you talking about?
Just having a friendly conversation.
She's a mute!
I'm tired of having to explain to the Colonel
why you're acting so goddamn strange.
It's a strange world, John.
Stranger than you think.
You're behind enemy lines, Colonel.
Do not make the situation anymore dangerous than it already is.
Damn you! Don't you talk to her!
She has a name, John!
Right, Colonel.
I thought y'all had one name for 'em down South.
"Niggers," i'n't?
Apologize. To her.
HARLING: I'm gonna unshackle you.
Maybe you'll start to act like a decent soldier.
THALMAN: It's on your head, Captain.
On your head!
(GUNSHOT)
HARLING: Fall! Sniper!
(HORSE NEIGHING)
(GUNFIRE)
(THALLMAN CHUCKLES)
We got 'em. (GUNFIRE)
Send down your men for a scuttle shoot.
(MEN YELLING)
Stop then! Stop them, damn it!
MEN: Ready.
DAWSON: Hold your fire, men. Hold your fire.
You men, throw down your arms.
-You boys Yankees! -Yeah!
Thank god!
James Dawson. 31st Tennessee.
Aw, sweet Jesus, do we surrender.
DAWSON: We'd heard screaming, screaming.
They dragged a whole family outta that house yonder and...
I never heard screaming like that before.
We fell back to our wagon and just started
firing everything we had.
But they just kept on coming.
And they just plucked our men out and just dragged 'em off.
Why did they not come after you?
I don't know. I don't know.
They wouldn't come near our wagon.
Come morning, they just left.
Well, we couldn't.
We was all too scared to move.
Sir, them's our men who done this.
They're not our men, Corporal.
There are two regiments of infantry waiting across...
the Kentucky border.
If I can break through, I will force watch them here in 24 hours.
Colonel, you heard what the man just said.
I know, Captain, I know.
But under the circumstances, I can see no alternative.
Yes, sir.
Do not lose your men, Harling.
THALMAN: If they engage you, fall back.
If I'm not back in 24 hours, you send another man.
Keep your head, Captain.
I can use you at Vicksburg.
(NEIGHING)
I can help you get through this, John.
But you have to trust me.
Would you just hear me out, John?
Nehemiah, you want me to believe that Rebecca is a clairvoyant?
-Is that right? -Yeah.
First it's your cave, and then this drummer boy.
And now these "Quakers."
"Makers", "Makers", John.
Quakers don't run around conducting crucifixions, as a rule.
Now, let me ask you one thing.
How did you know her name was Rebecca?
She can't write. She can't talk.
But you knew her name was Rebecca.
She put it in your head, didn't she?
(WHISPERING) That's one of the things she does.
Rebecca is a slave girl, Nehemiah.
Just because she ran off a plantation into your arms...
Rebecca's lived the whole story, John.
She talks to me.
No words come out of her mouth, but I can hear her.
Oh yeah?
(WHISPERING) A long while ago in Africa, there was a village.
In it there lived a very powerful tribe.
No other tribe ever dared tangle with them,
'cause everyone knew what they were guarding.
There was a hole in the earth.
Like that cave I found back at Catum's Creek.
Inside it lived things that were out of a nightmare.
Years ago, the tribe had bottled those beings
in that hole and set their village around it.
They didn't want none of what was down there getting out,
spreading their poison, consuming mankind.
Two hundred years ago, white slave traders came.
They attacked the village, killed the men
and took most of the women.
One a the slaves had the bright idea
of going down in that hole.
He found something, alright...
But it weren't slaves.
When he came out, he weren't just a slave trader.
That man brought a plague here, John.
And a whole lot of people were, uh, changed...
Like my men.
Rebecca's ancestors, now they were the ones who hunted him down
and bottled him up in that cave that I found.
John, Rebecca's the only one left who knows how to end this.
But she needs our help.
Nehemiah, that story don't beat all.
John...
I'd like to stay and play, but I gotta plan our defense.
Listen to Rebecca. She has something to say.
Sure.
I tried.
I want you to have this.
My daddy'd kill me if he knew I'd given his watch to a nig...
Nice girl like you.
I've been meaning to ask you something.
How come you picked me? To show all this to?
(WHISPERING)
'Cause I'm the last of my tribe.
ELKINS: You're hardly the last, Colonel.
Josiah?
You boys have been raising a whole lot of hell.
Country's already gone to hell, Nehemiah.
We're just starting an army to set things right.
May I have the honor of presenting your new regiment, sir?
Welcome back, sir.
Stevens...Walker... Riggs.
Well, I'm a little confused.
What side's you boys planning on fighting for?
Sides, Colonel, are what killed the country.
We wanna resurrect it.
I see.
You're doing a whole lot of crucifying just to bring it back to life.
Yeah. But for those that deserve it,
it's a glorious life.
A sword's just a stick, Nehemiah.
A gun shot just a meaningless piece of metal.
When you feel death breathe on your face,
and you breathe right back,
that's the sweetest victory of all.
ELKINS: Hooray for the Union, glory to our cause!
Your commands are like the wind, Colonel.
This war?
This war is just a cry of desperate men.
We're not afraid.
War never promises resurrection, Nehemiah.
But I do...
To you.
(WHISPERING)
You're a damn coward, Nehemiah.
(GRUNTS)
Hello there, again.
You know, you are a strong one.
It's just a shame that we don't take niggers.
Ah!
(NEHEMIAH CHUCKLING)
UNION SOLDIER: Who goes there?
NEHEMIAH: John! Fall back! God dammit!
You got to list to me, John. I saw...
(HORSE NEIGHING)
That's the horses.
Alright, Nehemiah. What the hell is going on here?
I saw Elkins. I saw Elkins! I saw my regiment!
We gotta fall back to a river of running water.
They can't cross it.
What the hell are you talking about?
Something that Thomas told me! The pump! We'll dig a trench!
(INDISTINCT VOICES)
To the wagon!
Rebecca!
It's them, John! God dammit!
We need water...
-Surrender your arms! -We need water, John.
Identify yourself!
(GUNSHOT) THALMAN: God dammit!
Do you not know it is against military code
to fire upon a superior officer?
Colonel Thalman?
Very nearly your "late" Colonel, Captain Harling!
You boys alright?
Yes, sir.
The rebs...They're near!
Very near!
Did you encounter them, sir?
The goddamn rebel bigot
shot my beautiful horse right from under me.
I caught a ball in my leg.
Ah!
I need a tourniquet. I need a tourniquet!
I need a tourniquet!
Goddammit!
Wait.
STRAYN: John he's been out there.
John, don't!
They only want you, Strayn!
-The others can go free. -Let him go.
No! Come to me! Come to me!
Come to me.
(GRUNTS)
Now, Strayn...
Burn him!
Please! Please! I have a family.
Rebecca, burn him!
(STRANGE LAUGHING)
THALMAN: Captain, you hear it?
-Do you hear it? -HARLING: What, sir?
The blue jay. The morn is near.
I will die soon.
And, when I'm gone, you must raise my body into air
so that I may not suck the life back from the earth.
It must be done that way, Captain.
We were wrong about the crucifixions.
They were not trying to frighten us.
They were trying to keep the weak ones from rising up.
The weak ones, sir?
Colonel Strayn...
Do not blame your men for their actions.
But neither be merciful towards them.
For they will surely fall on you tomorrow's nightfall.
Captain?
Yes, sir?
Will you do of the service of waiting by my side till dawn?
I have been a soldier all my days.
And I would like to live the rest of my moments
in the company of my fellows.
(LAUGHING)
(SIGHS)
The well over there's almost dry.
That's not good enough.
Maybe we can make a stand at the Holston River, Captain.
No, we'd never make it by dark.
-STRAYN: Dawson! -Yes, sir?
You said those things never came near your wagon.
What were you carrying in there?
Aw, all sorts of stuff.
We were evacuating Shyesville up North,
so we had clothing, ammo...
Uh, bullion.
Bullion? Yeah. From, uh, the bank up there.
What kind of bullion?
Well, silver mostly. Maybe there's some silverware, too.
Yeah. Some trays and some candlesticks
and some dinner sets.
Sounds like you boys cleaned up.
Silver?
Just like my watch, John.
That's what Rebecca was trying to tell me.
What's it mean?
-It scared the hell outta Elkins. -How?
I don't know.
Think what a silver bayonet could do.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
HARLING: Colonel Thalman had told us to expect an attack at nightfall.
But Nehemiah, always the master of tactical improvisation,
had already planned the defense.
Stolen silver that had once donned a family's dining table,
now became ammunition for our rifles,
and a poison sheen for our bayonets.
A simple trough of the water
was transformed from a tool of irrigation
into an invincible line in the earth.
a stock of coin was turned from currency into an impervious wall.
I cannot fathom how any of these could fend off
such a ruthless enemy.
But military logic had begun to fade with the waning daylight.
Making less clear the lines between blue and grey,
black and white, sanity and insanity.
I could only now pray that the winds of fate
would be merciful to us all,
and carry us to a place where lies undivided ground.
And Strayn himself had elected to become...
Human bait, the lure for his once beloved regiment.
Into what would be the most bizarre killing box in military history.
One thing's for sure,
it'll be the most expensive battle of the war.
Yeah.
It's gonna be nice not to have to shoot at you this time.
Likewise.
Alright, men.
Find your positions. Load all weapons.
I'm going out. John.
Nehemiah, don't you run away on me.
(WHISTLING YANKEE DOODLE TUNE)
(HARMONICA PLAYING)
Evening boys. Nice night for a walk.
-ELKINS: War's over, Nehemiah. -Oh, it's over.
Come on home.
Nehemiah, you take a good look in your heart.
Tell me what you see.
(CONTINUES WHISTLING)
Colonel, you don't need no hole in the earth, no cave, no Makers...
No slave traders,
to find an excuse for you.
(GUNSHOT) (GRUNTS)
(SCREAMS)
Fire!
ELKINE: Nehemiah!
NEHEMIAH: Hold your fire!
Return!
We're brothers, Nehemiah.
Mr. Bradley!
ELKINS: We're your own men!
We're brothers!
Water!
HARLING: Look out for the run!
Dawson!
STRAYN: Dawson!
Let's teach these boys the rebel yell!
(SCREAMS)
Please! For god sakes!
(GUNSHOT)
Elkins!
(SCREAMS)
Come on, Nehemiah. Silver, on the water?
Are we so simply the devil?
(GRUNTS)
I bleed.
So am I still the devil?
(GRUNTS)
Be brave.
Rebecca!
(SCREAMS)
(NEHEMIAH SCREAMS)
NEHEMIAH: Rebecca.
She was brave, sir.
Reverend, you know.
HARLING: On that day, I, John Lawrence Harling,
released my former mentor from captivity
and, thus, forfeited my discharge.
As a result, I was forced to remain on active duty,
serving with General Ulysses S. Grant till the end of the war.
Nehemiah Pierson Strayn rejoined the Confederate army
and was to serve valiantly at the battles of Gettysburg,
Chikamagua, and Cold Harbor.
Though still an ardent believer in the Southern cause,
he made many enemies there,
due to his outspoken stance against slavery.
After the war, it is rumored that he returned
to the cave at Catum's Creek to rescue his nephew,
the last remaining member of his regiment.
Since then, to my knowledge,
he has not been heard of.