Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln -- Opening Scene lyrics

EXT. BATTLEFIELD, JENKINS' FERRY, ARKANSAS - DAY Heavy grey skies hang over a flooded field, the water two feet deep. Cannons and carts, half-submerged and tilted, their wheels trapped in the mud below the surface, are still yoked to dead and dying horses and oxen. A terrible battle is taking place; two infantry companies, Negro Union soldiers and white Confederate soldiers, knee- deep in the water, staggering because of the mud beneath, fight each other hand-to-hand, with rifles, bayonets, pistols, knives and fists. There's no discipline or strategy, nothing depersonalized: it's mayhem and each side intensely hates the other. Both have resolved to take no prisoners. HAROLD GREEN (V.O.) Some of us was in the Second Kansas Colored. We fought the rebs at Jenkins' Ferry last April, just after they'd k**ed every Negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. EXT. PARADE GROUNDS ADJACENT TO THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD, ANACOSTIA RIVER - NIGHT Rain and fog. Union Army companies are camped out across the grounds. Preparations are being made for the impending a**ault on the Confederate port of Wilmington, North Carolina. Two black soldiers stand before a bivouacked Negro unit: HAROLD GREEN, an infantryman in his late thirties, and IRA CLARK, a cavalryman in his early twenties. ABRAHAM LINCOLN sits on a bench facing Harold and Ira; his stovepipe hat is at his side. HAROLD GREEN So at Jenkins' Ferry, we decided warn't taking no reb prisoners. And we didn't leave a one of `em alive. The ones of us that didn't die that day, we joined up with the 116th U.S. Colored, sir. From Camp Nelson Kentucky. LINCOLN What's your name, soldier? HAROLD GREEN Private Harold Green, sir. 2. IRA CLARK I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir. Fifth Ma**achusetts Cavalry. We're waiting over there. He nods in the direction of his cavalry. IRA CLARK (CONT'D) We're leaving our horses behind, and shipping out with the 24th Infantry for the a**ault next week on Wilmington. LINCOLN (to Harold Green:) How long've you been a soldier? HAROLD GREEN Two year, sir. LINCOLN Second Kansas Colored Infantry, they fought bravely at Jenkins' Ferry. HAROLD GREEN IRA CLARK That's right, sir. They k**ed a thousand rebel soldiers, sir. They were very brave. (hesitating, then) And making three dollars less each month than white soldiers. Harold Green is a little startled at Clark's bluntness. HAROLD GREEN Us 2nd Kansas boys, whenever we fight now we - IRA CLARK Another three dollars subtracted from our pay for our uniforms. HAROLD GREEN That was true, yessir, but that CHANGED - IRA CLARK Equal pay now. Still no commissioned Negro officers. LINCOLN I am aware of it, Corporal Clark. 3. IRA CLARK Yes, sir, that's good you're aware, sir. It's only that - HAROLD GREEN (to Lincoln, trying to change the subject:) You think the Wilmington attack is gonna be - IRA CLARK Now that white people have accustomed themselves to seeing Negro men with guns, fighting on their behalf, and now that they can tolerate Negro soldiers getting the same pay - in a few years perhaps they can abide the idea of Negro lieutenants and captains. In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel. In a hundred years - the vote. Green's offended at the way Clark is talking to Lincoln. LINCOLN What'll you do after the war, Corporal Clark? IRA CLARK Work, sir. Perhaps you'll hire me. LINCOLN Perhaps I will. IRA CLARK But you should know, sir, that I get sick at the smell of bootblack and I can't cut hair. Lincoln smiles. LINCOLN I've yet to find a man could cut mine so it'd make any difference. HAROLD GREEN You got springy hair for a white man. Lincoln laughs. 4. LINCOLN Yes, I do. My last barber hanged himself. And the one before that. Left me his scissors in his will. Green laughs. TWO WHITE SOLDIERS have come up, two young kids, nervous and excited. FIRST WHITE SOLDIER LINCOLN President Lincoln, sir? Evening, boys. SECOND WHITE SOLDIER Damn! Damn! We, we saw you, um. We were at, at - FIRST WHITE SOLDIER We was at Gettysburg! HAROLD GREEN SECOND WHITE SOLDIER You boys fight at Gettysburg? DAMN I can't believe it's - FIRST WHITE SOLDIER (CONT'D) (to Green, with mild CONTEMPT) Naw, we didn't fight there. We just signed up last month. We saw him two years ago at the cemetery dedication. SECOND WHITE SOLDIER Yeah, we heard you speak! We... DAMN DAMN DAMN! Uh, hey, how tall are you anyway?! FIRST WHITE SOLDIER Jeez, SHUT up! LINCOLN Could you hear what I said? FIRST WHITE SOLDIER No, sir, not much, it was- SECOND WHITE SOLDIER (he recites, fast and MECHANICALLY:) "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the 5. proposition that all men are created equal." LINCOLN That's good, thank you for - FIRST WHITE SOLDIER "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are, we are, we are met on a great battlefield of that war." LINCOLN Thank you, that's - SECOND WHITE SOLDIER "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is..." (He chokes up a little.) FIRST WHITE SOLDIER His uncles, they died on the second day of fighting. SECOND WHITE SOLDIER A VOICE (O.C.) I know the last part. "It is, Company up! Move it out! uh, it is rather -" Soldiers all over the field rise up at the mustering of the troops. Names of regiments, brigades, divisions are called: all across the field, the men put out fires, put on knapsacks. LINCOLN (to the two white SOLDIERS:) You fellas best find your company. FIRST WHITE SOLDIER (SALUTING LINCOLN:) Thank you, sir. God bless you! LINCOLN God bless you. The second white soldier salutes, and the two move out. 6. Green salutes Lincoln as well and glances at Clark, who remains, looking down. Green leaves. Clark looks up, salutes Lincoln and, turning smartly, walks toward his unit. Then he stops, turns back, faces Lincoln, who watches him. A beat, and then, in a tone of admiration and cautious admonishment, reminding Lincoln of his promise: IRA CLARK "That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in VAIN -- " Clark salutes Lincoln again, turns again and walks away. Lincoln watches him go. As he walks into the fog, Clark continues reciting in a powerful voice: IRA CLARK (CONT'D) " - That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln watches Clark until the fog's swallowed him up.