The General Must die!

What is the fictional date of "The General Must Die" (17 November 1959), where there is a plot to kill General Sherman when he comes on the stage to Laramie City to make an inspection of "the fort" (Fort Laramie or Fort Sanders)?

1. Considering Andy's appearance, it shouldn't be more than one or two years before or after any other episode where Andy appears. Which might turn out to be impossible due to the different dates indicated by different episodes. So possibly anyone trying to make a chronology of Laramie might end up deciding that the episodes with Andy, though filmed during one year, actually happen over a span of five or six fictional years and that Robert Crawford, Jr. looked about as old as Andy was during the middle of that period of years.

2. It should be when General Sherman was the chief of staff of the US army, which is never, since the position of chief of staff was created in 1903 to replace the commanding general position. General Henry W. Halleck had the job of chief of staff in 1864-65 as a subordinate of commanding general U.S. Grant, but Sherman was not Halleck.

3. In lieu of # 2, it should be when Sherman was in command of an area that included Laramie, Wyoming. Which was when Sherman commanded the Military Division of the Missouri which contained the plains states, from 27 June 1865 to 4 March 1969, and when he was the commanding general of the entire US army from 8 March 1869 to 1 November 1883. So "The General Must Die" should be between June 1865 & October 1883.

4. And "The General Must Die" should be when at least one stagecoach line went to Laramie, Wyoming.

The Union Pacific line through Laramie was surveyed in 1864, Fort Sanders was built nearby in 1866, the town site of Laramie was selected by Grenville M. Dodge in July, 1867, and lots began to be sold April 20, 1868. Tracks were laid into Laramie May 4, 1868.

https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/brief-history-laramie-wyoming

The first scheduled passenger train arrived in Laramie on May 10, 1868.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laramie,_Wyoming

So Laramie has basically been a railroad stop since it was founded. Therefore the Sherman ranch stage station should have been on a north-south line that ran through Laramie, and 12 miles from town according to the sign.

The site of Fort Sanders (manned from 1866-1882) is 3 miles or 4.8 kilometers south of Laramie, while the site of Fort Laramie (garrisoned from 1849 to 1890) is 116.6 miles north east of Laramie via Wyoming Route 34, possibly a few miles less by a hypothetical old west stage route.

So one possible route for General Sherman would be to arrive at Fort Laramie by stage from somewhere else, inspect it, and then take another stage south from Fort Laramie, stopping at the Sherman stage station, to Laramie City and Fort Sanders to inspect Fort Sanders, and then go back to Laramie to take the train.

Or possibly Sherman was taking a stagecoach from a fort somewhere south of Laramie and was planning to stop and inspect Fort Sanders before riding on to Laramie and catching a train.

5. It should happen the right time after the US Civil War of 1861-1865. Colonel Brandon or Branton was court martialed, dismissed from the army, and imprisoned for five years at the instigation of General Sherman, who was promoted to major general afterwards. So the date should be 1866 or later. Sherman was promoted to major general of US volunteers 1 May 1862 and major General US army 12 August 1864, indicating Brandon would get out of prison about 1867 to 1869 and seek revenge an unknown period of time later.

6. The number of stars on Sherman's shoulder strap would be a clue to the date. Sherman was promoted to Lieutenant general (3 stars) in 1866 and full general 4 March 1869. So as a full general Sherman wore four stars from 1869 to 1872, and two stars with the coat of arms of the USA between them from 1872-1888. And I forgot to count the stars watching the episode on February 14, 2019.

Thus the episode should probably happen either in 1866 to 1869 or in 1869 to 1883, depending on the insignia on Sherman's shoulders traps. Or maybe it simply happens in the wild west of the imagination instead of any historic period.

7. And of course since Secret Service agents were assigned to protect General Sherman, "The General Must Die" obviously happens after guarding high ranking military officers was added to the tasks of the Secret Service. Which was never, putting the episode more toward the reel west than the real west.

I think that General Sherman probably rode in army wagons instead of stagecoaches and was escorted by soldiers instead of Secret Service men on his many trips in the west. But if the makers of Laramie knew they they had to ignore it for the premise of the episode to work!