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The Fictional Date of Smoke Signal

posted 5 years ago by MAGolding (1096)
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The fictional date of Smoke Signal (1955) should be either sometime between April 24, 1868 and the end of 1877, or else sometime between April 16, 1869 and April 15, 1870.

Sometime after the battle of Shawnee Pass on April 24,1868, there is peace with the Utes. But Chief War Cloud plans a war, and is making alliances with Navajos under Chief White Feather and Sioux under Chief Wild Horse, and will have 1,000 braves under his command when they arrive, the biggest encampment since the Bitter Creek Massacre.

It is said that only the power of Chief Gargana of the Apaches, who are at peace with the Americans, can persuade the Utes and their allies to make peace.

Former Captain Brett Halliday is captured by the soldiers and imprisoned at the River Outpost, on the Colorado River about a day from Fort Defiance. The Fort is attacked and Major Evans is killed. Captain Harper arrives with a patrol, and together they sail down the unexplored Colorado River in boats, hoping to reach Fort Marble downriver.

Chief Garganda and his Apaches along the lower Colorado River are at peace with the Americans, and apparently powerful enough to intimidate a coalition of 1,000 warriors into making peace.

In real history most western Apache groups were hostile through the 1860s and until 1872 to 1873. If Smoke Signal (1955) happens in the same fictional universe as other westerns, Broken Arrow (1950) indicates that Cochise was the leader of all Apaches and was at war until making peace in apparently 1870, and Taza Son of Cochise (1954) says that Cochise made peace in 1872.

So if Smoke Signal (1955) happens in the same fictional universe as those movies, it might happen some time after 1870 or 1872. Captain Brett Halliday deserted on April 16, 1867, which one person says was “a couple of years ago”. If that means “a few years ago”, Smoke Signal (1955) should happen after April 24, 1868 and by the end of, say, 1877.
If that means “two years ago”, Smoke Signal (1955) should happen between April 16, 1869 and April 15, 1870.

If Smoke Signal (1955) happens in the same fictional universe as the television series Branded (1965-1966), the Massacre at Bitter Creek and the Battle of Bitter Creek are likely to have been the same event, happening before Smoke Signal and the episodes of Branded.

John Pickard played General Phil Sheridan in three episodes of Branded, "Call to Glory", Parts 1, 2, & 3, 27 February, 6 and 13 March, 1966. If Sheridan has two stars on each shoulder strap those episodes would happen before March 4, 1869, and if he has three stars on each shoulder strap they would happen after March 4, 1869 - if they happened in real life. John Pickard was born June 25, 1913, and was 52 years, 8 months, and 2 days old when "Call to Glory Part 1" aired. Phil Sheridan, born March 6, 1831, would have been that age on November 8, 1883.

William Bryant (January 31, 1924-June 26, 20011) played President U.S. Grant in eight episodes of Branded between "The Mission" Part 1 on March 14, 1965 and "The Assassins" Part 2 on April 3, 1966. Bryant was between 41 years, 1 month, and 14 days and 42 years, 2 months, and 3 days old when those episodes were broadcast, which would put them in 1863 to 1864 if Grant, born on April 27, 1822, was as old as Bryant. Grant was president from March 4, 1869 to March 4, 1877.

Robert Lansing, born June 5, 1928, played George Armstrong Custer in "Call to Glory", and was 37 years, 9 months, and 22 days old when "Call to Gory Part 1" aired on February 27 1966. George Armstrong Custer, born on December 5, 1839, would have been that age on August 27, 1876. But George Armstrong Custer actually died on June 25, 1876, so "Call to Glory" must happen before then.

And no doubt there are other details in various episodes of Branded that would help to date them.

[–] whynotwriteme (7119) 3 years ago

I love Western movies, but there is little to no point in trying to establish accurate timelines. Almost all of them obviously exist in some sort of Wild West Fantasy Neverland. Look at the jumble of tribes we have interacting in Smoke Signal: The Utes of Utah and Colorado are going to ally with the Sioux of the Dakota Territory and the Navajo of New Mexico! Only the power and wisdom of the Arizona Apache chief, "Gargana", can stop them!

This is nonsensical! These tribes were separated by thousands of miles. Apache and Navajo sometimes fought each other, and the Sioux and the Utes had very rare occasional skirmishes when far-ranging raiding parties crossed each other's territories, but otherwise, these tribes likely never interacted at all. And who the heck is "Gargana"?

I recall a similar scene in a John Ford western. Ford is considered an expert of the Wild West, but even he had a whole mess of random, widely-scattered tribes coming together in some kind of "grand alliance" in one of his cavalry films.

This type of nonsense is not limited to the old 40s and 50s movies, either. As recently as 2017 we have the goofiness of "Hostiles" where in 1892, we see raiding Comanches trying to kill a Cheyenne chief whom the Cavalry is escorting to a reservation. First, Comanches and Cheyenne had been allied since the 1840s, and second, by 1892 both tribes were long since pacified and living on reservations engaged in farming! If the army had a reason to move a Cheyenne chief in 1892, they would have just put him on a train and they would have had nothing to worry about from Comanches!

I can tolerate the use of anachronistic firearms in Westerns, but this crazy inaccuracy about Indian tribes really frustrates me for some reason. I still enjoy the movies, but such ridiculousness makes it impossible to view them as anything other than Western-themed fantasies.