EXT. IN AN OPEN FIELD NEAR PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA - EVENING

THREE UNION CAVALRY OFFICERS consult with THREE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY OFFICERS, all mounted. The officers exchange documents and salutes.

TITLE: NO MAN'S LAND

OUTSIDE PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA

JANUARY 11

The ranking Confederate trots to a buggy in which three Confederate officials sit: Vice President ALEXANDER STEPHENS, 53, short; JOHN A. CAMPBELL, Assistant Secretary of War, 54; and Senator R.M.T. HUNTER, 56. They're well-dressed for winter, Stephens especially heavily bundled.

Stephens, Campbell and the indignant Hunter leave the buggy and are escorted by Confederate officers to the waiting company of Union cavalry and infantry.

A Union Army ambulance, a large American flag painted on one side, driven by TWO BLACK SOLDIERS, stands near broken wagons and a derelict cannon. ANOTHER BLACK SOLDIER stands at attention by the ambulance's rear door.

The soldier, staring coldly at these men, gestures brusquely to the ambulance. The Confederate peace commissioners hesitate; Hunter stares in horror at the black soldiers. Then Stephens pushes past Hunter. He nods to the soldier.

           ALEXANDER STEPHENS

(with polite dignity:) Much obliged.

He boards the ambulance. His fellow delegates follow in his wake, Hunter glaring with defiant hatred at the soldiers before climbing in.