Why were the names of all real characters changed?
Especially since there's narration at the end.
shareThe massacre in the movie isn't the real Sand Creek Massacre, it's just based on it. The real one took place in November, 1864 but for whatever reason, Soldier Blue takes place in 1877, as Honus tells Cresta his father was killed last year at the Little Big Horn, which occurred in June, 1876.
shareThen shame. There was no need to completely fictionalize this, when they had the real (horror) story of Colonel Chivington and his boys avaible and ready.
There were the white "good guys" to sympathise too:
Chivington was at first widely praised for the "battle" at Sand Creek, and honored with a widely-attended parade through the streets of Denver just two weeks after the massacre. Soon, however, rumors of drunken soldiers butchering unarmed women and children began to circulate, and at first seemed confirmed when Chivington arrested six of his men and charged them with cowardice in battle. But the six, who included Captain Silas Soule, a personal friend of Chivington's who had fought with him at Glorietta Pass, were in fact militia members who had refused to participate in the massacre and now spoke openly of the carnage they had witnessed.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/chivington.htm
And the narrator at the end seems to have got a fact wrong. He says that over 500 indians were killed, a number that seems to be way over the correct number of indians that were in fact killed on this tragic day. Correct me if I´m wrong, but as far as I have read about the Sand Creek massacre, the numbers go apart. Some say under 100. Then the most widely spred number I have encounterd have been between 100-200. And in rare cases you see 200-400.
Just curious, where did the information of over 500 come from?
"I´d wake up and there´d be nothing"
"Just curious, where did the information of over 500 come from? "
Oddly enough it may have been a result of some bragging by the milita.
The Indians weren't overly popular in the area, and when the troops got back to town they were feted by the locals. The latter knew that many of the victims were women and children and were quite happy to hear about the milita's antics. As a result the soldiers may well have exagerated the number dead.
"
Oddly enough it may have been a result of some bragging by the milita.
"
Yep, it is Chivington's estimates.
Regards,
The Count
The Apple Scruffs Corps, 07
"Imagine"