More Distorted History From The Santa Fe Trail, Plus A Rebuttal

I'll counter the above with this
A recent podcast done at the Gilder Lehrman Institute by historian David Reynolds

At eight o'clock on Sunday evening, October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a party of twenty-one men into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to free slaves. The plan soon went awry. Brown was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and murder, and was sentenced to die on the gallows. Click on the link below to read the address he gave at his sentencing:
David Reynolds, Distinguished Professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center, reassesses the legacy of John Brown, who was hanged for his role in the October 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry. Brown, a devout Calvinist possessing unshakable integrity and faith in the righteousness of his violent actions against slavery, was the only abolitionist in the years before the Civil War to live among blacks, advocate a rewritten constitution that would make slaves citizens, and ultimately to take up arms and give his life for the abolitionist cause.

A biography from the Kansas Historical Association

John Brown: May 9, 1800 - December 2, 1859, Of all the characters that played significant roles on the Kansas stage during the drama that was Bleeding Kansas, none left a legacy that compares to the controversial abolitionist, John Brown. Born in Connecticut in 1800, "Old" John Brown was only fifty-five years old when he followed his sons to Kansas just as the struggle for control of the territory was taking shape. The family settled in rural Franklin County, just southwest of Osawatomie, the home of the Rev. Samuel and Florella Adair, Brown's half-sister.
John Brown absorbed a deep hatred for the institution of slavery early in life, eventually dedicated his life to its eradication, and quickly made his presence known during the Kansas struggle. He was involved in or responsible for the "Wakarusa war" at Lawrence, the Pottawatomie Massacre, the battles of Black Jack and Osawatomie, and the liberation of dozens of slaves from nearby Missouri.
After leaving Kansas for the last time early in 1859, the crusade continued; Brown, with several of his sons and other followers, planned and conducted the ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He was tried and convicted on conspiracy, treason, and murder charges stemming from this incident and was executed on December 2, 1859.
This almost mythic figure in the history of Kansas and the nation still elicits emotional reactions from students, scholars, and the general population, and history has not always been kind to this complex personality. To some of his contemporaries, Brown was a maniacal, bloodthirsty old fanatic. To many others, black and white, he was a martyred saint. He was "a moral Genius," according to a prominent late-nineteenth-century Kansan, whose life and death "brought about the abolition of slave labor years before" it would have otherwise occurred. "No man whose name appears in the annals of Kansas can begin to stand beside John Brown."

Octobr 16th: The Anniversary Of John Brown's Raid

The final scene from Santa Fe Trail
A 1940 view of John Brown. From wikipedia:

Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Despite glaring historical inaccuracies, the film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the seventh Flynn-de Havilland collaboration. The film also has nothing to do with its namesake, the famed Santa Fe Trail except that the trail started in Missouri. Instead, it follows the life of Jeb Stuart, a cavalry commander (and future Confederate Army general). The film purports to follow the life of J.E.B. Stuart (Errol Flynn) before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Among its sub-plots are a romance with the fictional Kit Carson Holliday (Olivia de Havilland), friendship with George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan), and battles against abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey). One glaring inaccuracy has Stuart leading a cavalry charge against John Brown "fort" in Harper Ferry. In fact Stuart was at Harper's Ferry-but John Brown was captured in an infantry assault by US Marines under command of US Army Colonel Robert Edward Lee. Another inaccuracy is the film has Stuart, Custer, and Philip Sheridan all having been part of the West Point graduating class of 1854. In fact, Sheridan was the class of 1853, Stuart 1854, and Custer not until 1861-a year early because of the onset of the Civil War.
The movie is drastically critical of John Brown, portraying him as a bloodthirsty villain and blaming him for causing the Civil War, thereby exonerating the Confederacy for seceding. African-Americans are portrayed as practically content to be slaves and too fearful to fight with Brown in his abolitionist crusade, whereas in reality about one fourth of Brown's group were African-American. After being freed, some African-Americans in the film chant "We's free! We's free!", but later freed slaves say "We don't want it" with regards to freedom.
Massey's John Brown eagerly endorses breaking apart the union of the United States, as though abolitionism was the threat to the union rather than slavery. The movie was made on the eve of World War 2, 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 unnecessary tragedy caused by an anarchic madman. The heroic protagonists such as Flynn's Jeb Stuart and Reagan's Custer seem unable to conceive how the issue of slavery could place them at odds in the near future, even though by 1859 hostility between the pro/anti-slavery states had reached a boiling point.

John Brown Depicted In Santa Fe Trail 1

The man who jumps from the train is supposed to be one of John Brown's sons
Reviews of the film from amazon

Based on an original screenplay by Robert Buckner, SANTA FE TRAIL was shot by Michael Curtiz in 1940. There are two ways to get onto this movie nowadays, more than 65 years after its release. You could enjoy, like I did, its rthym, the actors or the strange idea, in a film made in Hollywood, to depict the abolitionists as fanatics and the unionists as sensible people.
You could also take the time to think about the message conveyed by SANTA FE TRAIL through the actions of its main character Errol Flynn. Jeb - Errol Flynn - Stuart is a man who doesn't take sides, who just obeys orders and waits for the happy ending History will certainly provide to the American nation. The description of this passive demeanor shocked me a lot and, while I was watching SANTA FE TRAIL, I couldn't but think that, the same year, another American director, Charles S. Chaplin, was desperately trying to alert the world about what was going on in Europe with The Great Dictator

Many people are no doubt thrown off by the odd politics of this film. This never actually bothered me. Today we have become so mired in political correctness outlook that we can't view a film like this objectively anymore. Sure some of the views are a bit dated. But this is a hollywood 1930s film, made around the same time as Gone With the Wind. The views in that film are also strange, but its considered a classic none the less.
The main premise of this film is to show the looming storm clouds of Civil War. The historical facts here are certainly off the mark in many places. The film enjoysgiving us a popular image of West Point in the Ante-Bellum days before the war. Many famous cadet names are bandied about that we know would be come famous just a few years later. The point here is not how accurate the data is, but to show that all these men did attend the same institution and that many would become famous adversaries on the battlefied. The film does a nice job of showing this even if it does get a lot of details wrong in the process. The bit with John Brown is amusing. Again, its a difference of perspective here. Hollywood was in love with the old South back then. Today we are in love with polotical correctness which is offended by the fanatical views expressed by the character of John Brown, who is beautifully played by Raymond Massey.
Its amusing to see Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan playing off each other here. I think the best thing to do is forget their so-called historical roles in the film, and just view them as two newly commissioned officers of the period sent to police Kansas. This way you can forget the JEB Staurt /Custer comparisons! The funny thing about seeing Reagan in a film like this is to compare him with what he would later become. We have just eulogized his recent passing in this country. The fact remains if Reagan had been a better actor he might never have become our president! This film was one of the best roles he ever had in movies! He and Flynn go round and round, and its amusing to see Reagan try and hold his own. He actually does better than one would expect next to the powerhouse Flynn with all his sex appeal back then Still, the best actor in the film is Raymond Massey by far. His portrayal of the fanatic Brown may offend some, but Brown was not unlike this. In fact its easy to compare this religious zeal to that of Bin Laden and other fanatics of his ilk. For the 1850s, Brown was seen as a fanatic by many. Abolitionism was a minority view even in the North. No one was too keen to shed blood over freeing slaves, sorry PC people, but this was so!
The final battle scene at Harpers Ferry is exciting, but wildly inaccurate. Colonel Lee actually stormed the place with a company of US Marines, not dis-mounted cavalry! And Brown had only a dozen or so mis-guided followers by that time. The whole event was quite small compared to what the movie shows us here. Again, try to view this film from the context of both when it was made and the times it is attempting to show. By doing so you can sit back and enjoy a classic adventure romp with a little history thrown in for color.

John Brown

A slide show of various images of John Brown as well as historic sites across the nation devoted to him. Louis Armstrong accompaniment.
A biography from the Kansas Historical Association

John Brown: May 9, 1800 - December 2, 1859, Of all the characters that played significant roles on the Kansas stage during the drama that was Bleeding Kansas, none left a legacy that compares to the controversial abolitionist, John Brown. Born in Connecticut in 1800, "Old" John Brown was only fifty-five years old when he followed his sons to Kansas just as the struggle for control of the territory was taking shape. The family settled in rural Franklin County, just southwest of Osawatomie, the home of the Rev. Samuel and Florella Adair, Brown's half-sister.
John Brown absorbed a deep hatred for the institution of slavery early in life, eventually dedicated his life to its eradication, and quickly made his presence known during the Kansas struggle. He was involved in or responsible for the "Wakarusa war" at Lawrence, the Pottawatomie Massacre, the battles of Black Jack and Osawatomie, and the liberation of dozens of slaves from nearby Missouri.
After leaving Kansas for the last time early in 1859, the crusade continued; Brown, with several of his sons and other followers, planned and conducted the ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He was tried and convicted on conspiracy, treason, and murder charges stemming from this incident and was executed on December 2, 1859.
This almost mythic figure in the history of Kansas and the nation still elicits emotional reactions from students, scholars, and the general population, and history has not always been kind to this complex personality. To some of his contemporaries, Brown was a maniacal, bloodthirsty old fanatic. To many others, black and white, he was a martyred saint. He was "a moral Genius," according to a prominent late-nineteenth-century Kansan, whose life and death "brought about the abolition of slave labor years before" it would have otherwise occurred. "No man whose name appears in the annals of Kansas can begin to stand beside John Brown."

from the Ohio Historical Association

In 1844, abolitionist John Brown, soon to win fame in Kansas and at Harper's Ferry, moved into a two-room cottage across the street from the Perkins Mansion. He remained there while working with Simon Perkins, Jr., in the wool trade. Brown moved on and the house was used for other activities, but his name has remained associated with it for over a century.
John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut on May 9, 1800 and moved to the Western Reserve with his family in 1805. He grew up in Hudson and there he learned how to be a tanner or leather maker. He married his first wife, Dianthe Lusk, in Hudson.
Afterward, he moved to Pennsylvania, but his tannery there did not succeed. His first wife, Dianthe, died there and the widowed John married Mary Ann Day. He and Mary moved to Franklin Mills where John entered into a partnership with Zenas B. Kent in 1835, with the idea of building a tannery along the banks of the Cuyahoga River.
Unfortunately, John Brown and Zenas Kent did not have a good partnership, and eventually they stopped doing business together. Around this same time, though, a number of investors planned to start a new company, the Franklin Land Company, with the goal of turning Franklin Mills into a major industrial city. The idea was to raise silk worms and create an American silk industry. After all, the silk worms' major food source, the mulberry tree, grew extremely well here. (Later, of course, they would discover that silk worms do not thrive in cold Ohio winters.) Then other industries would follow and the economy would boom.
In any case, John Brown believed that real estate in Franklin Mills was going to be extremely valuable, and that by investing early, he would end up a wealthy man. Brown borrowed large sums of money, bought over 95 acres of land, and waited for his investment to pay off.
Instead, in 1837, the entire nation was caught up in an economic crisis. Franklin Mills never developed into a major industrial metropolis, and John Brown was driven to bankruptcy. Eventually, Brown would leave Franklin Mills, returning to Hudson, then Richfield.
He switched his career from tanning leather to raising sheep. While at Richfield, he was offered employment by Simon Perkins of Akron and moved his family there. In Akron, Brown formed a partnership with Simon Perkins. Representing the firm of Perkins and Brown, he went to Massachusetts to try and sell Western Reserve wool. The venture was soon in trouble, and Brown traveled to Europe to try and salvage the business. He failed, Perkins fired him, and John and his wife Mary moved to the Adirondack Mountains in New York, building a farm in the hamlet of North Elba.
Eventually, Brown would end up involved in a bloody conflict in Kansas Territory between those who hated slavery and those who favored it. Brown began using violence to reach his goal, which led him to the infamous slaughter of pro-slavery advocates at Osawatomie. There is some evidence that after Brown's bloody raid at Ossawatomie Creek in Kansas, citizens of Akron raised cash and contributed weapons to Brown when he returned to describe his passionate fight against slavery in the summer of 1856. Akron historian Karl Grismer believed that cases of arms stored in the Summit County Jail made their way into Brown's hands.
Brown ended up fleeing the country, taking refuge at Chatham, Ontario. By the summer of 1859, John Brown decided to do something about slavery once and for all. Returning to the United States, he and a group of others decided to raid a federal arsenal in a place called Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia.
The raid, which took place on October 16, 1859, was a failure. Brown was captured, put on trial, and condemned to death for his actions. On December 2, 1859, John Brown was hanged at Charles Town, Virginia. His body was sent to New York State to be buried on the grounds of his farmhouse in North Elba.
While John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry failed, it did force the nation to pay attention to the slavery issue. The national controversy over Brown's trial helped fracture the Democratic Party, which helped Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln win the election of 1860. Unhappiness with the results of that election led, in part, to South Carolina deciding to secede from the United States, an action which led in turn to the Civil War.

John Brown In Two Minutes

Black History Coloring Pages: John Brown And Nat Turner