Goofs

During the Indian raid of the town Fourth of July celebration, we see the attackers swarm into the saloon, where there's a plain wooden wall centered behind the bar. A moment later, a large mirror appears on that same plain wall and falls on an Indian, revealing the scene we just saw a few seconds earlier, which just tells us that the shots were edited out of sequence.

At the start of the movie, General Custer is leading a charge on a white horse. As the charge continues, Custer is suddenly on a brown horse.

Custer tells all his men that they are going to do some exercising. When he tells them, every soldier is wearing a yellow scarf around his neck. A second later, the men are running and none is wearing a scarf.

At 29 minutes into the movie, the size of the ambushed cavalry unit varies greatly, in the shots looking down from the hill, the group clearly consists of only 9 soldiers, in the close-ups their number appears to be somewhere around 20 - 25.

The sarge leading the guard detail in the forest escapes the attacking Indians by entering the river and running with the logs. As he exits the water we can see a bare foot. Yet, he immediately runs toward the sound of the train wearing his boots.

The troops of the 7th Cavalry are shown with 1873 Winchester rifles, which were in wide use by 1876, but not by the US Army. Custer's men were armed, as all troopers who did not purchase their own rifles were, with the 1873 Springfield Trapdoor carbine, a single-shot weapon. Had Custer's men been armed with the Winchester, it is possible, though unlikely, that they could have held out until relieved.

Whilst signing the letter during his opening conversation with Custer, General Sheridan identifies himself as the Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan never commanded the Army of the Potomac, and was the Commanding General of the Army of the Shenandoah at the end of the Civil War. (George G. Meade was the Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac for the last two years of the Civil War until its deactivation.)

The Cavalry troops throughout the film are depicted with full battle flags. In fact, they should have been flying cavalry flags, which are swallow-tailed.

Custer had risen to the rank of brevet (temporary) Major General during the Civil War. His actual rank at the time of his death at Little Bighorn was Lieutenant Colonel, though, as a courtesy, he could still be referred to as, "General".

During the opening scene of the union cavalry charging the confederate artillery, most of the cannons shown firing are unmanned. In another case, a soldier is leaning on the wheel of a cannon while it is being fired, a sure way to get yourself killed. Due to the massive kickback of the cannons in those days, the gun crews knew very well to stay back when firing.

When the Scout is supposedly shot with an arrow through the neck whilst standing next to Custer, the point and notch halves of the arrow shaft can be seen springing forward and out from behind his neck on either side.

When the Sergeant is going to shoot the Chief (Bird) he loads his rifle twice (without firing).

When the cavalry chase the Cheyenne through the desert and onto the rocks and the chief "turns into a bird" to escape. The bird is seen to have falconer's jesses (leather straps) on its legs.

During the final battle scene, the same scene of an Indian shooting an arrow is shown at least three times over again.

A scene in this movie depicts a medical tent with a red cross on the side. Custer lived between 1839 and 1876, but the [American] Red Cross was not formed until 1881.

United States flags are shown displaying 50 Stars, too many for the number of States at the time.

At c.14 minutes the roads are far too modern in construction for the film's late 1860s setting.

When Custer is getting off the boat taking him home after being assigned to go out west by General Sheridan, there are 2 US Navy officers in dress whites standing on the upper deck. They are both wearing the modern short crown officer's 'Class A" cap instead of the high crown 19th century type.

When the Indians attack the town, they arrive with fire arrows ablaze, but there is no sign of a fire to light them with.

Custer says he doesn't drink alcohol, yet he is shown with a bottle of champagne on the boat.