LOGLINE
A young Missouri slave’s daring midnight escape from his master’s shackles leads him to join the first-ever black Union regiment to fight a battle in the Civil War. But his greatest peril lies in the relentless pursuit of the master who once raised him, and enslaved him.
Scenes from the short film, “The Battle of Island Mound” - 2014
Escaped Missouri slave George Washington looks across the frozen Missouri River, his escape route to Free Kansas.
The 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry marches back into enemy territory, Missouri, to take a slave-owner’s farm and set up a defensive post.
Bushwhackers attack the 1st Kansas Infantry at Island Mound.
George prepares for the onslaught and stands his ground against the storming Bushwhackers.
The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers emerge victorious from the first battle ever fought by black Union soldiers.
But the fight had only just begun for Private George Washington.
FEATURE FILM IN DEVELOPMENT
“Private Washington” is the working title of a feature film in development, based on the oral history of an escaped Missouri slave-turned soldier named George Washington. On a frigid January night in 1862, George escaped the shackles of the master he once thought his surrogate father, fleeing across a frozen Missouri River to freedom in Kansas. George's harrowing fight for freedom and personhood are ever threatened by Jesse Miller, his former owner, relentlessly pursuing young George, alongside the brutal Missouri Bushwhackers, and lawless men like Jesse James, and “Bloody” Bill Anderson. Under constant threat of capture by roving slave bounty hunters, George volunteers with the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and soon finds himself in uniform and at war with his former owner and the vengeful Bushwhackers during the fiery Battle of Island Mound, the first-ever battle fought by African-American Union soldiers during the Civil War. After the smoke clears and the 1st Kansas emerges victorious, the personal score between George and the man who raised him, and enslaved him, remains to be settled.
Based on a true story, the film is set against classic Western genre imagery and personas, and the wind driven flames of the bloody border war between slave-state Missouri and Free Kansas; a time and place still untouched by Hollywood accounts of America’s Civil War.
And unlike other most films in the genre, “Private Washington” depicts African-Americans as agents of their own salvation, without themes of victimization, or the usual rescue of a white "savior". Intense action, military, and western motifs will appeal to broad audiences, as will the universal concepts of human freedom, dignity, and redemption.
This is a story whose time has come to tell.
For inquiries, please complete the form on the "Contact" page.
Brant Hadfield - Story Creator/Producer
The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, agents of their own salvation.