The Lost Battalion

It seems to be the earliest of the "Rainbow Division" movies I can recall. You know the type. Although traditionally, regiments were raised from small areas and from a cohesive group (New York's "Fighting 69th" springs to mind; it was composed of Irish Catholics from New York. My Civil War buff friends tell me that a New York regiment of Irish Protestants was also raised. When both were present at the Battle of Gettysburg, they were carefully placed at opposite ends of the line, lest they forget whom they were supposed to fight). The 77th claimed (and this movie features actual) members of many ethnoi and classes, including two Chinese troopers from warring Tongs.

The movie covers recruitment, training (including the same sort of incidents that would feature in the Abbott & Costello hit BUCK PRIVATES, and a recreation of the Battle of the Pocket, with battle maps.

In many ways it's a gimmick movie, with many of the actual combatants -- including the carrier pigeon Bon Ami -- recreating their role. As a piece of history, though it's of signal importance. The Battle of the Pocket, in which the 77th ran ahead of the units on its flanks and was besieged behind enemy lines, was certainly not terribly important in the winning of the war. It was important in the American mythos, and myths are why we do anything as crazy as go to war.