as
George Pickett,
Ronald Reagan as
George Armstrong Custer,
Errol Flynn as
J.E.B. Stuart and
William Lundigan in
Santa Fe Trail There are several major inaccuracies with many of the characters and timeline depicted in the film. First, JEB Stuart, George Custer, and Philip Sheridan, as well as George Pickett, James Longstreet, and John Bell Hood are all depicted as classmates in the same graduating class at West Point and all stationed in the Kansas territory at the same time. In reality they graduated at different times–Stuart in 1854, Custer in 1861, Sheridan and Hood in 1853, Pickett in 1846, and Longstreet in 1842. This depiction of these future Union and Confederate officers adds an element of foreshadowing predicting the coming
American Civil War conflict, in which former American officers would be forced to choose sides following Southern
secession. Second, future
Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who was Secretary of War under
Franklin Pierce in 1854 (the time set at the beginning of the film), was not in this Cabinet position by the time of John Brown's raid of Harper's Ferry in 1859. By then, the position was being held by
John B. Floyd, a member of the
Buchanan administration. This film takes substantial liberties with other historical facts: • Stuart and Custer, while they did attend West Point—albeit at different times—and fought against one another at the
Battle of Gettysburg, were never personally acquainted. • Jason Brown did not betray his father to the US Army. He was briefly a prisoner of war, but, after John Brown sought his son's rescue, he arranged for Jason to be exchanged as a POW. • Jason Brown was not killed in Kansas. One of Brown's other sons, Frederick, was shot by Reverend White. • Stuart served in the 1st Cavalry Regiment, and Custer served in the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Regiments. • Custer was never in Kansas Territory; he was stationed there after the Civil War when Kansas had already become a state. • The character of Carl Rader, expelled from West Point and assisting (later betraying) John Brown, did not exist. • The U.S. Cavalry did not assault the Harper's Ferry engine house that was occupied by John Brown; it was taken by U.S. Marines who incurred two casualties (one dead, one wounded). • The railroad into New Mexico was not begun until 1879, 20 years after the fictional events in the film. • The characters in the film carry Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army revolvers, which did not exist in 1859. • Jefferson Davis did not have a daughter named Charlotte, who is introduced to George Custer in 1859 in the movie. His daughters were Margaret Howell Davis, who was born in 1855 and thus would have been 4 years old in 1859, and Varina Anne Davis, who was born in 1872. •
Cyrus K. Holliday did not have a son named Bob or a daughter named after
Kit Carson. His children were actually named Charles King and Lillie Holliday, respectively. And the maiden name of the real Mrs. "Jeb" Stuart was Flora Cooke. To this day, some historians describe the figure of John Brown as a monomaniacal zealot, others as a hero for his violent tactics in the name of emancipation. The film depicts the character of John Brown generally as an antagonist, showing the valor of the principles of abolition but criticizing the methods by which Brown pursued his crusade. In the film, Brown eagerly endorses breaking apart the union of the United States and further bloodshed as a means to bringing an end to slavery, ultimately seeing his own demise as a sacrifice made to further the cause of abolition. The movie was made on the eve of the United States' entry into World War II, and its tone and political subtext express a desire to reconcile the nation's dispute over slavery which brought about the American Civil War and appeal to moviegoers in both the Southern and Northern United States. The American Civil War and abolition of slavery are presented as an oncoming tragedy triggered by the actions of an anarchic madman. The film seems to place blame for the outbreak of the Civil War on John Brown and the abolitionists perpetuating the violence of the
Pottawatomie Massacre in Bleeding Kansas — but historically there were many
other factors, over a much longer period of time. These include the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act, the publication of ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'', the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott Decision, none of which are addressed in the film. In many scenes, including one with a Native American fortune teller, the heroic protagonists are unable to foresee how the issue of slavery could make them bitter enemies in the near future, even though by mid- to late-1850's hostility between the pro- and anti-slavery states had already reached a boiling point. To modern viewers, the depiction of some of the black slaves seeking freedom may appear as insensitive or inaccurate in some cases. Many of the black people in the film appear to be passive or dependent on the will of John Brown as an emancipator. Slaves brought by Brown's Underground Railroad to the North seem to be following orders of the abolitionist, without any driving motive of their own to flee slavery. Slaves in Kansas wait to be told they are free by John Brown; he then specifically declares them all free in one scene. Later, several who remain behind after their "emancipation" muse about their days serving masters South in a less than negative light. Trapped in a burning shed, several John Brown's black followers are rescued by Jeb Stuart. One black woman confidently boasts to Jeb Stuart as she's bandaging his wounds. Jeb yelps: "Ouch, that's too tight, Mammy." Mammy retorts: "Don't tell me how to do this, boy! I've been wrapping white folks all my life. When they was babies, I wrapped one end, and when they growed-up and took on too much corn liquor, then I wrapped t'other end!" Jeb laughs: "Ah, what made you leave home?" Mammy: "Well, Old John Brown said he's gonna give us freedom, but shuckins, if this here Kansas is 'freedom', then I got no use for it. No, sir." Then, a black man adds, "Me, neither. I just wants to get back home to Texas and sit till Kingdom Come." A 2019 review by
Filmink magazine stated "This would be the least highly regarded of the 'Dodge City' trilogy. Warners had a strong track record when it came to illustrating the dangers of Nazism, but they were not crash hot on the topic of African-American history. No studio was in 1940 but
Santa Fe Trail is especially dodgy." ==Availability==