Lincoln -- Opening Scene by Tony Kushner 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 killed 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
assault 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
Massachusetts 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 assault 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 killed 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.
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 killed 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
assault 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
Massachusetts 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 assault 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 killed 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.