Aloha,

Just got thru watching Fort Apache, part of the John Ford/John Wayne Cavalry Trilogy.

In it they had a "Grand March".

I don't know much about that era, except that I do like that Trilogy.

Did the Army really have that sort of Social events?

What other kinds of social events did they also have.

Just to show what little I know about anything......

Dom't know for sure but, I would say it was highly probable since it was right at the end o the Civil war and a lot of the formal ways were still hanging on.

Sounds like what they still do on New Year's Eve, or perhaps on Santa Barbara's day if you're in the Artillery.

Yes they did. The Officers usually didn't mix with the enlisted men but they some times did. Each Company would take turns hosting a Hop or Dance and it was common practice to hold a Grand March. Highest Rank being in front and then followed buy the chain of command.. The Enlisted Men's Barracks would be used. Bunks, footlockers, tables, etc. would be moved out of the way and the Regimental Band would play. In the Post Civil War Era frontier military life was beyond boring and Hops happened almost year round at least once a month on Posts.

Aloha,

Thank You for the info.

I know Fort Apache is Only a Hollywood movie, BUT.....

How much of it is/was accurate as far as uniforms and firearms are
concerned.

Heck, anything else for that matter.......

I guess watching it got me curious as to how life on the "frontier" was really like.

Yep, those of us stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean don't get to go out very much.....

Notice in "Thursday's Last Stand" Ward Bond hands Henry Fonda a Colt by the barrel and it's fully cocked? I just trip on that when I see it.
The best part about the whole trilogy to me, besides Monument Valley, is watching Ben Johnson handle a horse in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. That guy was something else.

The John Ford Cavalry Trilogy was both accurate and inaccurate. Uniforms for the most part are wrong. How ever the Dance scene was good in the fact they had Civil War Dress Uniforms on but it was set in the 1870's. The Officers uniforms in some parts are correct. The songs and protocol of Frontier Army life was well researched and represented.

Aloha,

Thank You, Like I said, living in the middle of the Pacific, us locals don't get out much.

Altho I've watched the Trilogy many times, it wasn't until just recently that I started wondering just how much is Hollywood and how much is accurate.

I suppose we should not get started on "Gunga Din" and "They Died With Their Boots On"?

Probably be a lot of fun.....

Question 4864. In the Searchers, Wayne asks a courier
to turn around, and then he says: "Yeah, he's a Yankee
cavalryman". What did he mean?

Red14, during the Civil War, in some places and at some times, the courage of Federal Cavalry was often a topic of question and jokes. An example would be bogus reward posters sometimes posted by Union Infantry: $100 reward for a dead Union Cavalryman. The implication was that evidence that a Union Cavalryman who got close enough tot he action to actually be shot was rare enough to be worth paying money to see.

I suspect Waynes character is implying he would not recognize a Union Cavalryman from the front, as all he ever saw were in retreat.

That's how I understood it. As a Confederate cavalryman, the only time he saw a Union cavalryman, the bluebelly was runnin' away.

Duke did the same thing in The Searchers. When the Comanches attacked 'em at the river, Ethan hands Captain Clayton his Colt, saying either, "Careful, it's cocked" or "Careful, it's loaded", and then adding something to the effect of "Don't shoot yourself". Ward Bond immediately has an AD into the dirt.

One thing that was absolutely wrong was the hats. The Union Army never wore white hats. They were black. Whether John Ford took pity on the actors having to wear black hats in the Utah heat, or whether he just thought the white ones looked better on film (I've read it both ways), the white hats were completely his invention.

__________________
I always take precautions

I always liked that scene, made it seem more realistic.

I always thought Wayne meant he was a "shave tail"


second lieutenant; a noncommissioned officer in the army; any inexperienced person. (Military. From a nickname for an untrained mule that is marked by a shaved tail.) : Who's the shavetail dancing with the colonel's daughter?

Watched a couple of the Trilogy the other night. I liked the part in "Yellow Ribbon" where Joanne Dru says "It makes me want to stand up and cheer."

For John Ford it was about the camaraderie and traditions. He may not have gotten every detail right but in the main he was on the money.

The more I see of Obama the more I like John Wayne.

Alpo. I sure remember in the Searchers Ward Bond pulling the trigger too early in that scene by the river. Not unrealistic, actually. But about those 92 Winchesters...
You want to watch something interesting see Peter Bagdonovich (sic) try to interview John Ford in Monument Valley. Ford doesn't find it too interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25b5TJFLHwE

Maybe they were runnin' to Appomattax to see Lee surrender.

110,000 Union troops died in battle
94,000 Confederate troops died in battle

__________________
I’m your Boogie Man, uh huh.

Part of the "running away" comes from early Federal use of the Cavalry. Early they primarily were used for scout recon and were often under orders not to engage the enemy. Just scout and report back. By mid war they were being used in a way that somewhat foreshadowed Mechanized Infantry.

IN THE SEARCHER'S WAYNE LOOKS AT THE GUY'S BUTT. SHAVE TAIL LIEUTENANT RESPONDS "I RESENT THAT" LIEUTENANT WAS IN REALITY WAYNES SON. DO NOT ARGUE THESE POINTS. OR I WILL HOLD MY BREATH.