Patreon Newsletter #4 (Patreon)

Dear Patrons, 

Welcome to newsletter number four, with all the latest production updates... and one cool history thing.

Production Updates

Nelson's Battles: Cape St Vincent

... is imminent. Sound effects are being added this afternoon - quite a lot of bangs and splashes. Standby for the premiere any moment..

Battle of Wabash

Animation is underway, though it's still early days. We begin the series looking at the problems faced by the infant United States - uncontrolled settlement on the frontier, the 'Articles of Confederation' that left federal government virtually powerless, and simmering violence along the Ohio..

Brumaire Coup

"We need Bonaparte!"

Le Surveillant newspaper, August 1799.

We have a script! And it's packed with iconic moments and some of the best quotes of the series. "Let's go throw those bloody lawyers in the river" from General Lefebvre is among my favourites. PMF begin animation work next week...

One Cool History Thing

Our cool history thing this week comes courtesy of our friends Patrick and Mike of PMF Productions, who've recently been touring American Civil War battlegrounds. At Vicksburg, Mississippi, they came across the story of Abraham, the man 'blown to freedom', and have shared his story with us:

"It’s 1863.  In the western theater of the American Civil War, the Union army under General Ulysses S. Grant had been frustrated by the strong fortifications around the city of Vicksburg.  In a desperate but brilliant plan - quite reminiscent of Napoleon’s maneuvers in Italy to divide and defeat the Austrian and Piedmontese armies in 1796 - Grant first swings south and then east of Vicksburg, placing himself between two Confederate armies. He drives away Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee and then moves back west towards Vicksburg. After defeating Pemberton's Confederate army at Champion Hill, he then surrounds the city of Vicksburg itself. Grant still faces a formidable task: Vicksburg is protected by numerous redoubts, held by nearly 30,000 soldiers.

During the subsequent siege, there is a very peculiar incident. In an effort to break through the Confederate line, Grant orders that tunnels be dug beneath certain defensive positions and mines be placed to blow a hole in the enemy lines.  The first attempt fails as the Confederates quickly recover after the initial explosion.  The enormous crater from this blast remains visible today (see photo below).

When a second mine is detonated, a remarkable thing happens. A Confederate slave named Abraham, sent to dig a tunnel to intercept the Union miners, is underground when 1,800 pounds of gunpowder explodes beneath him.  He is blown 150 feet through the air - but amazingly, lands behind Union lines with only minor injuries.  He is thereby freed and becomes a cook for Union officers.  Abraham becomes a celebrity, as the man ‘blown to freedom.’

The siege of Vicksburg would last nearly 7 weeks, and cost the Union 5,000 casualties. However, Grant ultimately forced the capitulation of 30,000 enemy soldiers, cut the Confederacy in two, and achieved one of the most decisive Union victories of the war."

That's all for this update. Keep your eyes peeled for the Battle of Cape St Vincent premiere and we'll be back with another newsletter in two weeks!

And thank you as ever for your amazing and generous support!

Toby