‘Union Bound’ to be shown Friday

The full-length feature film “Union Bound” will be shown at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts Friday, Aug. 5, a special treat because of the Wake Forest connections.

It is a production of Uptone Pictures based in Wake Forest, and it is based on the true story of Joseph Hoover, a Union soldier, who is the great-great-grandfather of Pam Jay, the local woman and the former owner of the Next Consignment Boutique on South White Street.

Tickets are $10 for the reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. before the showing, the 94-minute movie and a question and answer period after the screening. Tickets are available at the Renaissance Centre box office or at the door.

Hoover kept two diaries during the Civil War and both diaries will be on display Friday night.

In the spring of 1864 newly appointed Union General Ulysses S. Grant determined to cross the Rapidan River and engage Confederate troops on their own ground. He had hoped to slip quickly through the densely wooded area called the Wilderness on the river’s southern bank but Confederate General Robert E. Lee determined to confront Grant’s troops there. The result was two day, May 5 and 6, of horrific confusion, including fire, fierce and chaotic fighting and many men on both sides captured when they stumbled into enemy camps.

Hoover was one of those captured, and he was sent first to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, one of several prisons on both sides that became notorious for mistreatment. After four months, he was lucky enough to be transferred to a new prison in Florence, South Carolina.

With a friend, Hoover escaped and, with the help of freed slaves who guided them on the Underground Railroad, was able to reach the Union lines. He returned to duty and was wounded but survived. After the war he went back to his farm in Little Falls in upstate New York and worked as a cabinet maker, living in several towns such as Oneida and Munsville before settling in Utica. He lived to be 84.

Sean Stone, the son of moviemaker Oliver Stone, plays Hoover in the movie which was released nationwide this past April. See a trailer at http://unionboundthemovie.com.