Michigan Civil War Blog

Belle Starr and me

Well, that's a provocative title, isn't it?! What could be the connection between the notorious outlaw and the author of this blog. Therein lies a story ...

Belle Starr was born in 1848 and during the Civil War (essential topic of this blog) served the Confederacy by reporting the positions of Union troops. After the war she took up with the Younger and James outlaws and ended up in the courtroom (your author is a lawyer) where "Hanging" Judge Isaac Parker sentenced her for some crime to a Michigan (another essential topic) prison. Which prison? The Detroit House of Correction (not sure how that would have occurred!). The facility opened in 1861 (Civil War era origin) near Eastern Market on Detroit's (author was born there) east side. The "old prison housed some famous felons, including western outlaw Belle Starr and Morman polygamist David Udall." Source of the quote? -- the  Plymouth MI District Library (my local library) website, which goes on to say: 

"The city of Detroit bought about 1,000 acres in Plymouth Township and Northville Township in 1919 for about $30 an acre to house a new Detroit House of Corrections that would replace the Eastern Market facility."

"In 1920, the city set up a prison farm on the property which housed several bootleggers. The prisoners slept in tents."

"In 1930, a permanent $2.5 million maximum security facility was completed."

"Detroit sold part of the prison complex in 1979 to the Michigan Department of Corrections for $1.6 million."

"The city sold the rest of the prison and about 125 acres to the state corrections department in 1986 for $6.7 million. The same year, the Detroit House of Corrections ceased operations."

In January, 2002, Kojaian Management Corp. of Bloomfield Hills purchased the property for $50 million. Property is now zoned for residential, commercial and industrial.

(And your author resides in Plymouth Township not more than a couple of miles from the site of the former DeHoCo.)

OK, so if still curious (doubtful!) you might ask how'd this post come about?! Well, when one checks out the Turner Classic Movies website to see what's on tonite and finds Belle Starr (1941) showing at 8 ET, a click on the "article" link takes one to the story and synopsis of the movie to help decide whether to watch and ... in which the Michigan connection is revealed.

See, the Civil War and Michigan have many hidden connections ............

New Michigan Civil War movie coming

The Michigan Humanities Council has announced awards grants to 14 cultural and historical projects, among which is:

The Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University has been awarded $15,000 for the project, “Native Americans in the Civil War,” which includes the completion and dissemination of The Road to Andersonville: Michigan Native American Sharpshooters in the Civil War, a film documenting the history of the Native American soldiers of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters during the Civil War. The film will be publicly shared through PBS television, local showings and an interactive website.

Coming to a PBS station near you, soon

The Michigan Experience: The American Civil War Years will begin airing on every PBS station in Michigan this month, November. Local airdates can be found here: MICW on TV  Tonite finds yours truly at the Michigan Historical Center premiere -- the promo materials certainly whet the appetite:

"As the Civil War constitutes a grave and pivotal point not only in our national history but that of Michigan as well, the story of Michigan's involvement is a story that needs and merits greater exploration and understanding. This documentary series will examine Michigan's role in the Civil War and provide a better understanding of the significant role and impact that Michigan's involvement had. Michigan sent 90,000 men to fight in the Civil War including specialized regiments of sharpshooters and engineers, and more cavalry per capita than any other northern state. At least 68 Michigan soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry on the battlefield during the Civil War. Michigan mines produced tons of iron ore used to make cannon, iron clad ships and rails in support of the Union. Michigan supplied horses, ambulances, lumber, agriculture and was a major contributing factor in the Civil War victory."

Presenting Station WKAR TV - Kent Wieland, Station Manager

Rodney Brown is producer/director. He has a master's degree in American Culture from the Rackham School of the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in communication from Stanford University. He is an award winning filmmaker and former senior executive producer at WFUM-PBS.

(Also, the Library of Congress has selected the website for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials related to the American Civil War Sesquicentennial.)

MICW in film

Nice article yesterday on the forthcoming airing of the docu on PBS here: Salute

Civil War Sesquicentennial on Turner Classic Movies

In April, to commemorate the Civil War 150th, TCM will be showing films on Mondays and Wednesdays that have it as the central story line, not just background -- the Robert Osborne intro to the series, and this summary, say there are hundreds in the latter category: TCM CWS. "On this important anniversary, TCM presents a tribute of tremendous historic and generic breadth ..."

Saving our heritage

Attended a screening of "Forgotten Glory", a film about African-American soldiers and sailors in the Civil War, this past Tuesday evening at the Detroit Historical Museum. Included material on the 102d USCT. Reenactors were present, including 'Harriet Tubman' but no Sojourner Truth. Film was well worth the trip. Info can be obtained at 248-747-5807.

Black soldiers and sailors of Michigan remembered

The Detroit Historical Society’s Black Historic Sites Committee invites the public to a special screening of excerpts from “Lest We Forget” by local filmmaker Jeffrey O’Den showing Tuesday, September 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Detroit Historical Museum’s Louise C. Booth Auditorium. It is said that "This moving documentary tells the story of forgotten black soldiers & sailors, including the 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry from Michigan, who served during the Civil War." Program is free to the public, but reservations are required by Friday, September 10, with a call to (313) 833-1262.

Michigan Civil War movie

From yesterday's Freep:

Civil War family drama to be Unity Studios' first production

A Civil War-era family drama titled "War Flowers" will be the first feature-length film produced by Allen Park's Unity Studios. The film's cast includes Christina Ricci, Jason Gedrick ("Backdraft") and Tom Berenger ("Platoon" and "Major League").

It's being filmed on the studios' sound stages and other locations around southeast Michigan.

Graduates from the studio's affiliated school, Lifton Institute for Media Skills, are working on the crew.

Best Civil War movie on tonite?

Turner Classic Movies features Glory tonite at 8:00 pm EDT as part of a Denzel Washington slate of films. The TCM website says this:

Glory received widespread critical praise upon release with Variety proclaiming that it "has the sweep and magnificence of a Tolstoy battle tale or a John Ford saga of American history." Vincent Canby, The New York Times film critic, concurred, writing "Glory is the first serious American movie about the Civil War to be made in years. There haven't been that many anyway - D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915), Buster Keaton's The General (1927), David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind (1939) and John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage (1951). Almost everything else has been balderdash...Although Glory employs the devices of fiction and sometimes is as brightly colored as a recruiting poster, it seems as severe as a documentary alongside those earlier films...Glory is celebratory, but it celebrates in a manner that insists on acknowledging the sorrow. This is a good, moving, complicated film." In addition to Denzel Washington's Best Supporting Actor Oscar®, Glory was nominated for four other Academy Awards including Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Cinematography (by Freddie Francis); it won in the latter two categories.

Don't know why the Best Sound Oscar, but Best Cinematography? -- definitely! Hard to believe it was released two decades ago.

P.S. @ It's been awhile since I had seen the movie, so the emotion I felt watching it begin just now was surprising. Robert Osborne's introduction was informative, then the Tri-Star pictures intro, then...the spine-tingling overture as the words about Shaw and his letters appear...including a curious reference to his papers being at Harvard, what other movie opens with such an academic item?...and the quotations from a letter about African-Americans...and Union artillery racing down a road, after which the infantry steps into formation...and then Antietam, terrible Antietam, with shot and shell and carnage...and the face of Morgan Freeman appearing...and...the field hospital scene that cuts suddenly into Shaw's Boston drawing room (reminiscent of The Deerhunter) and the appearance of Frederick Douglass... The first 10 minutes might just be the most awful and awesome in motion picture history. I don't know if I can stand to watch the rest tonite.

Will Spielberg measure up?

Today's Freep has an item on why no final piece in the Shaara Trilogy, as reported elsewhere. Gary Gallagher has a new book out on the War and the movies. Steven Spielberg says he will start on Lincoln next year coincident with the Bicentennial. All that, plus recent comments here, leads me to noodle a list of good-to-great Hollywood efforts (ranked by memory, not quality, and I'm too lazy to alpha). Note how most actors rank pretty high in the pantheon.

Major Dundee (Charlton Heston)

Dark Command (John Wayne)

Red Badge of Courage (Audie Murphy)

Glory (Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman)

Cold Mountain (Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellwegger)

Gettysburg (Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels)

Gods and Generals (Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels)

Santa Fe Trail (Errol Flynn, Raymond Massey, Olivia deHaviland)

Abe Lincoln in Illinois (Raymond Massey)

Young Mr. Lincoln (Henry Fonda)

Gone With The Wind (Clark Gable)

Shenandoah (Jimmy Stewart)

Friendly Persuasion (Gary Cooper)

The Horse Soldiers (John Wayne, William Holden)

Virginia City (Errol Flynn)

They Died With Their Boots On (Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHaviland)

The Tall Target (Dick Powell)

I have favorites but those with Michiganders Daniels and Heston are at the top (naturally).