Billy Boy: The Execution of Billy Laird
Documentaries
•
8m 40s
He never saw battle.
He never fired a shot.
But in 1863, William Laird, a mentally challenged young man from Maine, was executed by a Union Army firing squad.
This is one of the most tragic and forgotten stories of the Civil War.
Up Next in Documentaries
-
The Drive
Felled timber is taken down the Mattagami, a Northern Ontario River. The men who guide the logs on “the drive” are “famous for their dexterity” as poling and burling are demonstrated. In an amusing sequence the men are shown as “proverbial for their appetite.” The independence that workers enjoye...
-
The Mind of the Kamikaze
In late 1944, Japan’s military turned to a deadly and radical tactic: suicide attacks by pilots known as kamikaze, or “divine wind.” These young men, often in their late teens, flew explosive-laden aircraft into Allied ships, sacrificing themselves to delay defeat. The kamikaze program, rooted in...
-
Worse Than Omaha Beach - River Assaul...
In late January 1944, during the brutal Italian Campaign of World War II, the U.S. 36th Infantry Division was ordered to launch a night river assault across the Rapido River near Cassino. Intended to support the Allied landings at Anzio and break through the German Gustav Line, the operation woul...
