The Fighting Rev. Caldwell (1911)
Some startling incidents in the life of the Rev. James Caldwell, the fighting parson of New Jersey, the hero of the battle of Springfield, have been rescued for the first time from the oblivion of a century and a half, and are here presented by the Champion players with an adherence to historical veracity and correctness of detail that is truly wonderful. The Tories were bitter haters of the patriots, and many and horrible were the atrocities they perpetrated against them, but nothing did they do more infamous than the wanton, brutal murder of Mrs. James Caldwell, the wife of the fighting parson. The reverend gentleman had cost his lot with the patriots, for he loved his country and detested her tyrannical rulers' and we see in this film presentation what it meant, and what it cost to be a patriot in those days. We see the parson in the pulpit expounding the word of God, and there on either side of the hole boo, two blunderbusses, the huge pistols then in vogue. And ranged behind him, on the platform, a number of muskets, the old-fashioned flintlocks, terrible instruments in the hands of the clear-eyed, courageous, sharp shooting "Minute Men," as the unorganized patriots were then termed. The Tories and Hessians approaching one day, Mistress Caldwell went off to a neighbor's hard-by, taking with her her little girl. The fond father waved his beloved wife and child an affectionate adieu, little dreaming of the dark tragedy that was soon to cloud his life. But a few days had elapsed, the hold Sabbath had come, and the parson was in the midst of his sermon, when a messenger arrived telling him of the cold-blooded murder of his beloved spouse! Oh, the horror of it! What consternation in that house of prayer then broke forth! Men seized their weapons and rushed out following their parson's lead. Into the death chamber he came, followed by his faithful people, there to gaze on the still, cold form of her whose heartbeats once pulsated with warm and tenderest affection for him; then to see his little girl-baby by her mother's form, kneeling and weeping her very eyes out in the despair and anguish of her little soul! Oh, the agony of it all seemed too much for mortal eyes to gaze on! We wonder little after that to see the fierce charges of the patriots against their hated foes led on by their minister of God! We wonder little to see him, when the men ran short of wadding for their guns, rush into the church, when nowhere else could it be had, and grab up armfuls of hymn books, hymnals by the celebrated composer "Watts" and rushing forth to his men, cry out as he flung the hymn books among them! "Give them Watts, boys, give them Watts."
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Domestic
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Worldwide
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Ulysses Davis | Director |
| Mark M. Dintenfass | Producer |
