Heroic Civil War Soldier Gets Glory

Michael Futch - Fayetteville Observer

Actor Denzel Washington and stage performer Mitch Capel have both portrayed the heroic Sgt. William Carney for the camera.

Who's better looking?

"I won't touch that," Capel said with a good laugh. "I let the critics decide that."

Washington played Carney -- the first black soldier to earn the Medal of Honor -- in the 1989 Hollywood epic "Glory." The movie tells the story of America's first unit of black soldiers during the Civil War.

Capel, a 53-year-old Harnett County resident, is best known as the grizzled, traditional storyteller Gran'daddy Junebug. He will appear as Carney in the planned educational docudrama "Filling the Gap."

Capel was filmed for the Carney segment Saturday at Averasboro Battlefield, between Dunn and Godwin in southeastern Harnett County.

Benny Pearce, publicist for Averasboro Battlefield, said this was a first on the old battleground, where Union and Confederate troops fought in the next-to-last Civil War battle in North Carolina on March 15 and 16, 1865.

"We've had The History Channel down to do things before," Pearce said, "but not a video like this with a motive. This is the first time we've had someone do something specifically like this."

In actuality, Carney and hundreds of other soldiers in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment charged into a hail of bullets and artillery fire at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, in an attempt to capture Charleston, S.C., from Confederate forces.

Hundreds of men died, including the regiment's flag bearer. With his own body riddled by bullets, Carney snatched the flag, held it and continued the charge. He carried it safely back to camp to the cheers of his men, refusing to give it up even when his own wounds left him bloody and weak.

Before collapsing, he is said to have declared, "Boys, I only did my duty. The flag never touched the ground."

Thirty-seven years later, he was awarded this country's highest award for valor. That makes him one of 16 black Union soldiers awarded the country's highest combat citation during the Civil War.

"From what I understand, he was young. One of the youngest in the 54th," Capel said. "He was just relentless. His story is about perseverance. Even though he was shot, he kept on moving.

"This guy, Chapin, told him his job was to never let the flag hit the ground. He was shot and didn't know it until he got back. When they stopped him, there he was -- between life and death, between slavery and freedom and between a boy and a man."

Capel, the seasoned storyteller, speaks eloquently on William Carney.

During the last couple of years, he has presented an interpretation of the soldier 25 to 30 times for audiences. In fact, filmmaker Tyrone Young, who is directing "Filling the Gap," first caught wind of Carney through Capel's stage act.

That was at a black symposium two years ago in Kinston.

Capel portrays Carney during his re-enactment show, "W'en Dey 'Listed Colored Soldiers." The segment on Carney was written by Dr. Rex Ellis, a teacher, historian and storyteller.

"That was the story that he (Young) wanted out of my show," Capel said.

Speaking by phone from Los Angeles, Young said the Carney piece is one of the most powerful in his film.

"When I saw him do it, I had no idea who William Carney was," Young said. "Of course, me being a documentarian, Mitch's piece on William Carney blew my mind."

"Filling the Gap" weaves together about 20 "untold" stories from U.S. history. When completed, the film is expected to be two 45-minute segments.

"Our mission," Young said, "is to get into every school in the United States -- from elementary to middle school."

Filming began with an estimated budget of $350,000, said Young, who is co-producing the project with Mary J. Fears.

"The docudrama was basically for a lot of people who don't understand the contributions blacks made during the Civil War era," Young said. "We let people know that while we were slaves, oppressed, we made great strides so that we can do great things today.

"You don't hear about William Carney in the history books. You don't hear about Elizabeth Keckley. We need to know the contributions they made to this country."

He anticipates the film being ready for viewing after another two months of production work. Young hopes to have a huge premiere that would draw interest from potential distributors.

And as for any talk of Mitch Capel bettering Denzel for the glory of most handsome Sgt. William Carney, Young said with a chuckle:

"He can hang that up. You can tell Mitch he needs a little more nip-tuckage."

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