His line on escaping prisoners is very similar to the book, "The Flying Dutchman (Wirz) offers to give two at a time twelve hours the start".

[1] In June 1864, a group of soldiers from Company I, 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment are captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia.

He prevents them from being lured into the territory of the "Raiders", a collective of rogue prisoners who attack, rob, and sometimes kill new internees in order to hoard their supplies.

With disagreements over what to do with the Raiders, a request for a legitimate court-martial is made to Captain Wirz who approves only if the trial is handled internally by the prisoners themselves.

Accurate in detail down to the officer's quarters outside the camp gates, the fifty foot high raw timber walls and thousands of ragged tents, a working stream, and even a full scale railway depot with half of a locomotive made of wood were built on the property.

Dozens of additional makeup, hair, wardrobe and production staff were needed for these scenes, which actually went very well due to military style organization with the "troops" even being marched in platoons from the preparation tents to the set.

Long days took their toll on the cast and crew and the situation came to a head when disaster struck at the end of principal photography.

This necessitated a partial re-building of the set on location in North Carolina and a gathering of all the principal actors involved in the scenes for a very costly re-shoot which took about a week to complete.

"[3] Howard Rosenberg of The Los Angeles Times praised the film for its opening sequences, visual effects, and historical accuracy.

Rosenberg said that, while the central cast performed "ably," none of the characters stood out well enough from each other to allow the audience to root "for an individual instead of for a tormented blur.