The Horse Soldiers
The Horse Soldiers is a 1959 American adventure war film set during the American Civil War directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, William Holden, and Constance Towers. The screenplay by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin was loosely based on the Harold Sinclair (1907-1966) 1956 novel of historical fiction of the same name, a fictionalized version of the famous Grierson's Raid by federal cavalry in April–May 1863 riding southward through Mississippi and around the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg during the Vicksburg campaign to split the southern Confederacy by Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant.
Plot
A Union cavalry brigade led by Colonel John Marlowe — a railroad construction engineer in civilian life — is sent on a raid behind Confederate Army lines to destroy railroad track and the Confederate supply depot for Vicksburg at Newton Station. Newly assigned Major Henry Kendall, a regimental surgeon who is torn between duty and the horror of war, is constantly at odds with Marlowe.
Cast
- Althea Gibson
- Anna Lee
- Basil Ruysdael
- Bing Russell
- Carleton Young
- Constance Towers
- Denver Pyle
- Fred Graham
- Hank Worden
- Hoot Gibson
- Jack Pennick
- John Wayne
- Judson Pratt
- Ken Curtis
- Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead
- Russell Simpson
- Strother Martin
- Walter Reed
- William "Bill" Henry
- William Forrest
- William Holden
- William Leslie
- Willis Bouchey
More details
| author | John Lee Mahin |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Mississippi |
| director | John Ford |
| editor | Jack Murray |
| genre | adventure historical |
| keywords | baton rouge battle of new market battle of newton\'s station battle strategy capture cavalry confederate states army corps of cadets cut force jefferson college kill local southern military academy log cabin louisiana meet military academy newton\'s station newton station railroad track shenandoah valley campaigns union union army valley campaigns of 1864 virginia virginia military institute wound |
| musicBy | David Buttolph |
| producer | Allen K. Wood Filmmaking |
| productionCompany | The Mirisch Company |
| publisher | United Artists |
| theme | historical fiction war |