The Horse Soldiers

• 1. Introduction

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  The Horse Soldiers starred John Wayne and William Holden, each earning $750,000 for the job. That figure set a new record for Hollywood at the time. Director John Ford drew on a celebrated Civil War cavalry operation for his story, following a Union column sent deep behind enemy lines. The production that resulted was troubled in ways that left a mark on the finished film. What audiences eventually saw had been shaped as much by what went wrong during filming as by anything Ford intended.

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• 2. Grierson's Raid

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  In April 1863, Colonel Benjamin Grierson led 1,700 soldiers from La Grange, Tennessee, into Confederate-held Mississippi. His men came from Illinois and Iowa regiments, and their objective was the rail infrastructure supplying the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg. Union General Ulysses S. Grant's broader aim was to seize Vicksburg and gain control of the Mississippi River. Grierson's column was to wreck Confederate railroad lines and supply depots along the way. His men covered several hundred miles of enemy territory over 17 days. At Newton's Station, they cut the rail connection between Vicksburg and the Mississippi state capital of Jackson. Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive strategies and troop deployments were disrupted. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman reportedly called the operation "the most brilliant of the war."

  Dr. Erastus Dean Yule, the brigade's surgeon, faced a choice as the column neared Union lines. Some of his patients were too badly wounded to keep pace with the cavalry. He chose to remain behind with them rather than ride for safety. Confederate forces took him prisoner. He was held for several months before eventually being exchanged. The raid occurred roughly a year before the Andersonville prison camp was established, so his captivity operated under conditions different from those that would come later. Grierson's column reached Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with the larger Union siege of Vicksburg still ahead.

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• 3. From Novel to Screen

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  Harold Sinclair, born in 1907, published a novel called The Horse Soldiers in 1956, drawing on the historical raid. Screenwriters John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin then adapted it for John Ford. The changes between the historical record and the finished film were considerable. Benjamin Grierson had been a music teacher in civilian life, not the railroad construction engineer that the film's Colonel John Marlowe is. Numerous other details were shifted to broaden the story's appeal beyond Civil War history enthusiasts. Hannah Hunter, the Southern plantation mistress who eventually falls for her Yankee captor, has no counterpart in the historical record. John Ford cast Constance Towers in that role, a decision that proved one of the smoother moments in what would become a difficult production.

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• 4. Discord and Tragedy

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  Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, served as the main exterior location. Much of the filming took place along the banks of Cane River Lake and around Natchez, Mississippi. The production company also used Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California. The film was shot in DeLuxe Color, and many local residents were hired as extras. A bridge was built over Cane River specifically for the pivotal battle sequence.

  William Holden and John Ford argued incessantly throughout the shoot. John Wayne was distracted by pre-production work on The Alamo, which he was preparing to direct. Cost overruns mounted alongside the personal tensions. Althea Gibson, cast as Lukey, was a former Wimbledon and U.S. National tennis champion. Her character's dialogue had originally been written in a racial dialect she found offensive. Gibson informed Ford she would not deliver the lines as written. Ford was widely known for refusing to accommodate actors' objections. He agreed to modify the script anyway.

  Fred Kennedy, a veteran stuntman, suffered a broken neck performing a horse fall during filming of the climactic battle scene. He died from his injuries. Biographer Joseph Malham wrote that Ford "was completely devastated" and "felt a deep responsibility for the lives of the men who served under him." The film had been scripted to end with Marlowe's forces arriving triumphantly in Baton Rouge. Ford abandoned that plan. He closed the picture instead on Marlowe's farewell to Hannah Hunter and the destruction of a bridge.

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• 5. A Lackluster Welcome

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  Manny Farber, writing in The New Leader, called The Horse Soldiers "the disaster of the month." He described it as "an eventful canter" in which Ford, "without any plot to speak of," fell back on "boyish Irish playfulness." The cast included "a rigor-mortified John Wayne, an almost non-existent Bill Holden, and a new gnashing beauty named Connie Towers." The broader critical response was described as "lackluster."

  The film opened at number one in the United States but proved a commercial failure. The high cost of its stars and the involvement of multiple production companies were cited as principal reasons. General Ulysses S. Grant, played uncredited by Stan Jones, appears in the picture. The Vicksburg campaign that Grierson's entire ride was meant to support remains, by contrast, entirely offscreen.

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