Seeing the Elephant
Seeing the Elephant is the term Civil War soldiers used to describe their first experience with combat. This high-tech digital movie experience in “The Fiery Trial” Exhibition gives visitors a glimpse at “the Elephant.” One of just a handful of venues nationwide using 360° movie technology, this 10-minute film incorporates visual and audio sound effects as well as ground motion to enhance the viewer’s movie experience.
The story follows three characters: a young Irish man seeking adventure, an officer/family man, and an abolitionist – from enlistment to their first taste of combat and the after effects. All three face battle together and ultimately deal with the consequences of war. Mr. Bill Kurtis narrates the film.
Characters: Narrator, Young Irish Soldier, Officer/Family Man, and Abolitionist.
[Bells ringing]
(Narrator):
In the 19th century there was a saying people used when they were going off to experience something remarkable, or indescribable. And for the young men that would come from these parts to defend the Union it was often an expression of anticipation, excitement, and apprehension for the fight that lay ahead. These men spoke of ‘seeing the elephant’.
[Ensemble music building]
Spring, 1861 – The Upper Middle West. The Nation is slipping into war, a civil war. The call goes out for volunteers to put down the Southern Rebellion.
[Military bugle call]
Western men from all walks of life rush to answer the call. Farmers, merchants, immigrants, sons, and fathers. Many are bound by patriotic duty.
[Solemn music]
(Officer/Family Man):
My dear, don’t worry. I will be home soon, but we must first rid this Nation of this curse of secession. Pray for us and be brave.
(Narrator):
Some dream of adventure.
(Young Irish Soldier, excitedly):
Everyone says, war, war, war! I’m going cuz I want to see the sunny South. No one has the right to fire on our country’s flag.
(Narrator):
Still others respond to a different calling.
[Choir singing “Holy God, we praise thy name”]
(Abolitionist):
People accuse me of being an abolitionist. I firmly believe that a man’s energy and ability, not skin color, defines his worth. If that makes me an abolitionist, so be it.
[Church congregation singing hymn]
(Narrator):
These men have come from small towns, bustling cities, and piny camps, deep in the woods.
[Rhythmic military drumming]
They possess a fiercely independent spirit and a fearless confidence…. Driven by an urge to make their mark.
[Crescendo and silence]
[Soft and soulful violin and harmonica playing, campfire crackling]
The war is far from what the men imagined.
(Young Irish Soldier, frustrated):
We’ve been in the army a year now and we ain’t never been in a fight!
(Narrator):
Rather than fighting the enemy, they find themselves fighting boredom, loneliness, and disease.
[Soft and soulful violin and harmonica continues]
(Abolitionist, offscreen):
Captain is killing us! We got morning drills, before noon drills, evening drills, night drills! A whole year’s fight bottled up in us, spoilin’ to come out.
(Narrator):
Months slip by without even a skirmish to show folks back home what they’re made of.
(Officer/Family Man):
My dear Martha, all is fine here. We are on the march and the boys are eager to see the elephant, and of course, gain some honor. Please, kiss the little ones for their father.
(Young Irish Soldier):
This damn war will be over before we ever have a chance to do anything!
[music fades]
(Narrator):
In time, the war will find them.
[Horses trotting]
(Officer/Family Man):
Sergeant, those don’t look like our guns? Where? Do you see them?
[Cannon blast and explosion]
“Company! And Skirmishers! Deploy in that field! Go! Go!
[Trumpets sounding]
As skirmishers we have the honor and duty to be the first to cross the field….My men are all so young. And we have never seen an enemy rifle up close…Company, fire!
[Battle ensues, men yelling, shots siring]
(Abolitionist):
After just a few volleys, a dozen of our men tumbled over and fell down like ten pins.
(Officer/Family Man):
For God sakes…c’mon men… get down. Load, aim, fire! C’mon boys! Pour it into them boys!
[Suspenseful music]
[Music and time slows]
(Young Irish Soldier, thinking):
Am I a coward? (replays “I’m going to see the sunny south”) Should I run? Please God, make me strong.
[Time resumes, battle sounds]
(Officer/Family Man):
Fire!
(Abolitionist, surprised):
I fired 15 rounds, made my gun so foul, I couldn’t get the cartridges down. Captain told me to take one off a fella who didn’t need his no more.
[Gun shots, screams]
[Slow, somber music]
(Narrator):
Under intense fire, the men of the West hold their ground.
(Officer/Family Man):
The boys fired with the energy of mad men. And the bullets came thicker than hail. Through the smoke, I saw the sun, blood red, sinking behind the trees.
Do your duty boys!
[Shot lands, Officer/Family Man in pain]
Where is it, where?
[somber music]
(Narrator):
On this field, and in battles to come, these men will earn the respect of their comrades as well as their enemy. Yet, this respect will come at a steep price, earned in blood, at places like Shiloh, Antietam, in Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Atlanta.
[Solemn bugle playing]
[Choir harmonizing]
(Abolitionist):
Sheets and rows divide the wounded.
(Narrator):
Western regiments serve in every theater of the war, suffering large numbers of wounded and dead.
(Young Irish Soldier, angrily):
Our shattered regiment filled the hospital. So dirty and powder stained, I could but scarcely recognize them. I don’t care if I ever see that damned elephant again!
(Officer/Family Man):
My dearest Martha, I’m afraid my wound will prove mortal and I so regret that I will not be by your side to see our little ones grow. Please know that your husband was no coward. I pray that we will meet again in God’s Kingdom.
(Narrator):
In 1865, the guns finally fall silent.
[Church bells ringing]
For those who returned home, the war will cast a dark shadow over their lives. These men will struggle to find meaning in their victory. A victory that restored the union and ended slavery. But forever robbed them of the innocent lives they left behind, in the towns and farms of the West.
[Peaceful guitar and fiddle music playing, fades out]
