I find it difficult to believe that a Confederate General would get excited about his daughter falling for an indian. Now I know it is a movie, but come on, a group of southerners willing to leave their homes in the defeated south and move to Mexico suddenly accepting such a match? I don't think so. I need to remind myself...it is only a movie, it is only a movie.
shareWell, Pastorray - not only is it possible, it happened a bit more than what people might think.
You HAVE to know that they realized that when they arrived in Mexico, there would be some inescapable inter-racial interaction going on, due to the lack of suitable males in the group, and the greater number of women.
After all, in a number of places in the South, Indians intermarried with white people all the time. In my own family history we have several cases of this. IN quite of bit of the US in those days, Indians held slaves, as well.
It wasn't an EVERY generational kind of thing, but it DID happen. Also, no matter whether they stayed in Mexico, or came back to the states (as they did), the young couple would've been together at all costs ANYWAY, so the family must have thought it was better to have her close to them rather than forcing to run away to God-knows-where.
Just so you know, Rock Hudson played a Colonel, not a General.
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. John Wayne
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Well -
You are right about the majority being white men and indian women, but the reverse DID occur. While it wasn't an INCREDIBLY common issue, it DID happen more than a lot of people would think.
Also, I believe the Colonel would have been happier to see his daughter with an Indian than with a black man, given the status of things during the time.
Besides, had he protested too much, they would just run off, only being seen again by their choice.
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. John Wayne
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I find it interesting that the Confederate Colonel complain about the government agents living off the misery of other people considering the fact that rich people both in the North and the South were living high on the hog while the majority of most Americans were in wretched poverty before and after the Civil War.
John Henry told his commanding officer that his men deserve better for what they went through. It would be about 78 years before American soldiers got the GI Bill which help them get a better future for themselves. In addition, because of the Great Depression of 1929, those guys who did not go to college still had a better life thanks to more favorable pro-union labor laws which gave them a more secure future to live the American dream.
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"those guys who did not go to college..."
How old are you, 14? The overwhelming majority of Americans did not go to college back then. Hell, the overwhelming majority of the planet did not go to college then. Unions had no clout during The Depression, for the simple fact that there were no jobs for the unions to protect.
Stop! Put down the Kool-Aid and learn for yourself- stop accepting the dogma your being fed as fact.
..Joe
A lot of Americans don't know about the labor, social, and economic history of the USA before the Depression. Unions had no clout even before the Great Depression and even when there were jobs.
You need to educate yourself about what was life really like for most Americans until the Great Depression, World War II, and the GI Bill came along. You should stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
OP,
Ever hear of Erastus "Deaf" Smith? He was one of Sam Houston's most trusted and reliable scouts during the Texas Revolution. Smith's sister was married to a black man- almost unheard of at the time, and Smith never said a word about it. Interracial couples were rare, but possible.
"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living!!!"
Augustus McCrae
It also depends on where Langdon's supposed to be from in the South. A Louisiana born Southerner probably couldn't care less, while Virginia or Georgia might have been less accepting. And even if Langdon made a fuss, they'd both have John Henry Thomas' support and blessing, as he clearly doesn't give a damn if his adopted Native American son wanted to marry a white girl.
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