> 19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
> manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
>
> Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
> > 19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
> > manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Craig
I watched a 1970s movie last weekend on the Nez Perce war and saw an
unusual deployment of a column of twos. Specifically I wanted to see if
it was a standard tactic. There was an Army officer mentioned in the
credits as the technical advisor but we all know that they haven't the
final word on movies.
The scene involved was the opening moves of the battle of White Bird
Canyon. I found pictures on the 'net of the area and the movie was not
shot there. The scenery in the movie was just too flat.
OTOH, the move was carried out so smoothly that one had the feeling that
one wasn't watching just extras at work. Possibly they were the unit
from Ft. Apache that did a lot of movie work in the '70s.
In the same vein, as one who has seen John Ford's cavalry trilogy
several hundred times, I'm not sure if they are authentic either. My
best source there was my father who was in the US 3rd Cavalry when they
were horse-borne. Need I say those three movies were among my dad's
favourite movies?
BTW, Dad was the 'heavy weapons' man in his squad. This entitled him to
an extra horse to lug the BAR around.
As an extra, my Uncle Frank was in the Polish Cavalry during the
Russo-Polish War. I wish I knew more of what he did but I really didn't
find out until after he was gone.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Bill Shatzer - 08 Dec 2006 07:39 GMT
-snip-
> In the same vein, as one who has seen John Ford's cavalry trilogy
> several hundred times, I'm not sure if they are authentic either. My
> best source there was my father who was in the US 3rd Cavalry when they
> were horse-borne. Need I say those three movies were among my dad's
> favourite movies?
Being something of a John Ford Cavalry trilogy fan myself, I found this
sometime ago which you might find interesting.
http://tinyurl.com/ye8u3w
(full URL in case the tinyurl doesn't work is:
http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA211796&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
You can scroll past the introduction and go right down to the actual
discussion of the movies themselves starting on page 26.
As to how "authentic" they were, Major Prater's conclusion seems to be,
"not bad at all".
Recognizing that Ford was making dramatic movies about fictional events
and not doing an historical re-enactment, that sometimes he compromised
or disregarded historical accuracy for dramatic effect, and that the
practicalities of movie making mandated some compromises, it does appear
that Ford made an effort to get most things right. And he got at least
as much right - or mostly right - as he got wrong.
Certainly far superior to the typical "western" of that era.
Anyway, I found the thesis interesting though, of course, the actual
prose is a bit dry and sometimes heavy going as is rather typical of
master's theses - especially those authored by Air Force majors.
Cheers and all,
e - 08 Dec 2006 15:46 GMT
>-snip-
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>
>Cheers and all,
the other side of the coin.
e - 08 Dec 2006 15:44 GMT
>> > 19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
>> > manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
>Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
i worked with a man named floyd wells who was the last
african-american to qualify as sharpshooter from a horse.
he laughed at all the cavalry movies, especially john
ford's. he said the indian tactics were just silly and the
cav repsonses would have gotten them dead.
it was his ipinion that custer was a real yahoo and leaving
his best firepower behind proves it. he said the gatkings
did not really slow them down but custer was a glory dog
with political ambitions.
he said all this before it became pop culture.
Mad-Modeller - 10 Dec 2006 07:08 GMT
Try "Son of the Morning Star" for a look at Custer. The writing style
is a bit too rambling to use as a reference book (one simply can't
recall on what page which thought was expressed) but taken as a whole
one gets the picture of a smartass who demanded strict disciplne from
his underlings but flaunted the rules applied to his own conduct.
I used to use the Gatling Gun episode at work those times when the big
wheels would advocate throwing out a worthwhile practice to hurry things
up. Part of my workplace charm. ;)
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
crw59@earthlink.net - 08 Dec 2006 19:41 GMT
> > > 19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
> > > manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
I've always wondered if anything historical ever took place in Monument
Valley in AT and UT.
Seems like all of John Ford's horse operas took place around there.
Were there forts and outposts in that area or did he just film there
because of the rock formations?
Craig
Rufus - 08 Dec 2006 19:46 GMT
>>>>19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
>>>>manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
>
> Craig
Saw a doumentary on PBS recently - in the "American Masters" series - on
John Ford and John Wayne. As they told it, Ford filmed there strictly
because he loved the landscape and nothing more.
...but that doesn't mean nothing historically significant ever happened
there.

Signature
- Rufus
WmB - 09 Dec 2006 17:58 GMT
>>>>>19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
>>>>>manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
> ...but that doesn't mean nothing historically significant ever happened
> there.
Indeed there was. The longest known buggy ride ever embarked upon is known
to have passed thru Monument Valley, circa 1967. Claudia Cardinale and her
buggy druver in "Once Upon a Time in the West" start their trip from a train
depot set in Spain! ;-)
WmB
Mad-Modeller - 10 Dec 2006 07:02 GMT
> Indeed there was. The longest known buggy ride ever embarked upon is known
> to have passed thru Monument Valley, circa 1967. Claudia Cardinale and her
> buggy druver in "Once Upon a Time in the West" start their trip from a train
> depot set in Spain! ;-)
>
> WmB
I watched that movie 'once' and I felt like I had made the trip on foot.
I've never watched it again - Claudia or no.
That movies was about as exciting as watching paint dry. I've never
really taken a liking to Eastwood's Italian Westerns either. I have no
real objection to them. They just don't do anything for me.
Back to the trilogy, whilst I'm waffling on, "Rio Grande" seems to have
been based on a short story published in the Saturday Evening Post. I
bumped into a reprint in one of the latter day issues of the same
magazine. The movie story was altered to fit Wayne as he would have had
to be overreaching to get anywhere near the main character in the print
story.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Mad-Modeller - 10 Dec 2006 06:46 GMT
The scene in "Fort Apache" that takes place at the Indian agent's store
was filmed in Corriganville, Calif. I've seen stills of the place with
a few young ladies decorating the steps.
Corriganville will be really familiar to those of us who watched any
amount of TV westerns and some movies. Some of those rocks should have
gotten cuts of the takes. :)
Speaking of cheesecake shots, I ran into a whole bunch of colour shots
taken in Monument Valley with some famous 'named' rocks in the
backgrounds. This was about a year ago on another group.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
crw59@earthlink.net - 08 Dec 2006 20:30 GMT
> > > 19th century US Army cavalry tactics. I assume there was a printed
> > > manual back then. Might it be on the 'net somewhere?
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Likewise I have watched and enjoyed all of John Ford's "horse operas"
I've always wondered if anything ever did take place in Monument Valley
in AZ and UT or did he just film there because of the rock formations.
Seems like every western he did was in the same local.
Craig