M.A. Kleen

In my latest for Emerging Civil War, I explore lost Civil War films of the Silent Era. 1911–1915 marked the Civil War’s semicentennial and coincided with the film industry’s explosive growth. For the first time, Civil War veterans, their children, and their grandchildren could watch battles from distant memory come to life before their eyes. Hundreds of Civil War-related titles were released between 1910 and 1929 (at least that we know of), but, unfortunately, a large percentage of them are considered lost. In the age of digitization, home media, and film archives, it’s almost inconceivable that movies were once treated as disposable entertainment. But that attitude is a major reason hundreds of early silent films are inaccessible to us today. Check it out: