Goofs

When Jake is describing what Simms is doing at the stagecoach, he says, "He's opening the door ... he's getting in ... he's closing the door," but when we see the stagecoach, it's driving away and Simms has only just managed to open the door.

For the boys' meal at gunpoint with the farmer, the food is repeatedly described as being "sowbelly and turnip greens", which is a boiled dish, yet what they are eating is mashed potatoes and uncooked spinach leaves.

When the boys cross the Missouri River from St. Joseph, one utters the words, "Say goodbye to the U.S.A." After January 29, 1861, what was across the river from St. Joe was the state of Kansas, so they never left the U.S.A. In fact, by the 1850s, to ride out of the U.S.A. they would have needed to have gone to the Canadian or Mexican border. Though technically crossing into New Mexico or Arizona would have also achieved this as they were still territories, Arizona did not become the 48th state until 1912.

Soldiers come to the Dixon house searching for their son stating that every able-bodied man has to join the army. For the first part of the Civil War, participation was voluntary, through recruitment and/or enticement (bounties). Though the Military Draft Act was passed in March, 1863, conscription was NOT universal. First, all men of age had to register for the draft. Then a lottery was held picking only some of those who registered. It was only those selected from the lottery that had to go into the army (unless they were wealthy enough to hire a substitute).

The Battle Of Chickamauga was September 18-20, 1863, which is where the Dixons lost their son. Drew Dixon arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri, September 30, 1863. At the most, from the loss of their son to Drew's arrival in St. Joseph, it was 12 days. It is highly unlikely that the Drews would be notified of their son's death in anything less than a week. In all likelihood, it would have been at least a couple of weeks if not a month or two to notify families of a death in the army. When the army came looking for Drew, his mother stated that their family had already given enough with the loss of their other son. So, at the very least, it would have had to have been September 25 (if the family were notified in a week) for the army to come to take Drew away (assuming the army arrived the same day the family was notified of their other son's death). That means Drew would have had to go from Ohio to St. Joseph in 5 days. To go from Ohio to St. Joseph in 5 days in 1863, one would have been very hard pressed even if one did it by steamboat or train. But Drew would have had to make this journey as a fugitive. Trains and steamboats would have had a high military presence as the military was using both to transport military personnel around the country. So, any able-bodied male not in uniform would have attracted attention. And even if most military personnel would not necessarily have challenged such an able-bodied male, there certainly would have been a probability of running into some provost marshals who would have been on the lookout for draft dodgers. Thus, this timetable is most unlikely. Rather, the writers would have been more realistic to have made his arrival the end of October instead of September 30.

When the boys are all shooting at the rabbit for dinner, they all shoot multiple shoots. Out on the prairie, ammunition would have been far too hard to come by to waste that many bullets on one rabbit.

When the boys are robbed by the bandits, Jake pulls a gun and threatens their leader. So, the bandits know that the boys (at least one of them: Jake) are armed. Yet they leave the boys with their guns, as well as their mounts, both of great value on the frontier. The bandits leaving the boys with this property would have been highly unlikely if not improbable.

The Marshal asks Big Joe if he knew Curly Bill Brocius in '53, implying Curly Bill was already an outlaw in 1853. Curly Bill Brocius was 8 years old in 1853.

Although cartridge bullets were available in 1863, they were rare. In this movie all firearms use cartridges.

The pistols used in the film are long barrel Colt 1873 SAAs (Peacemakers). These were not patented until a decade after the film takes place.

Nolan uses the word "poontang." The film is set in the 1860s but the word was not coined until the 1920s.

It is not just the 1873 Colt Single Action Army that is ten years out of place (as pointed out in a previous entry). Some of the men in the posse have the 1873 Springfield Carbine, which is also from ten years in the future for this movie.

Jake praises Loney for suggesting they rob the stagecoach, but it is his brother Jim Bob who made the comment.