The Culpepper Cattle Co. - Historic Accuracy

Historic Accuracy

The Culpepper Cattle Co. has been praised for its attention to detail and period atmosphere. A subtle example is seen when Frank Culpepper leans against a water barrel and his arm above the wrist is exposed — it’s white, untanned. People rarely took off any clothing in public (there’s a comic moment when the cook is embarrassed to be seen with his shirt off), and the idea of an “all-over” tan would have been absurd, if not incomprehensible. (Only working folk had a tan.) Cowboys were “fish-belly white” over most of their bodies.

The story is almost casually violent, but this has to be seen in the context of the offenses against Frank Culpepper and his party. These included horse and cattle theft, which were usually punishable by hanging. As there was no practical way to haul the thieves into court, Culpepper was justified in dispensing immediate “justice”, however brutal. Culpepper’s final act of justice is to wipe out the evil agro-Capitalist (the villain in scores of Westerns) and his horde.

By contemporary standards, the grass-fed cattle are rather scrawny, as fattening them up on corn had not become general practice. Even if it had, there would have been little point in adding weight to animals who would only "walk it off" on a long drive. The 1866 date of the story is plausible. This was the same year Goodnight and Loving made their first long cattle drive.

The film’s principal anachronism is showing most of the cowhands with beards. Contemporary photos indicate that, while cowboys often had mustaches (sometimes quite fancy), beards were not common — one out of twenty cowboys, perhaps. This was unusual in an era (extending to the end of the 19th century) where a high percentage of men took pride in having full beards.