AHC: Make a TL like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly historically plausible

[SPJ]

I'm a big fan of westerns like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Even if it his historically inaccurate. So I'd like to create a challenge to make an ATL in which the events shown in the film would be more plausible.

The major inaccuracy is how the Civil War is portrayed in the film. The plot revolves around the Confederate invasion of New Mexico Territory, but the scale of the battles, and seemingly the length of the invasion, are greater than what occurred in OTL by 1862. As well, Generals Grant and Lee are named as the leaders of the opposing sides of the war, even though Grant was not put in charge of the Union army until 1864, and the Confederate invasion of NM ended by 1862.

Many of the weapons shown in the film are inaccurate too. The main characters use metallic cartridge conversions of Colt 1851 revolvers, even though such conversions would not be developed until after the expiration of the Rollin White Patent in 1870 . There are also shown Gatling guns in the film, in great quantity, even though only a handful where purchased for use during the ACW. They are also of post war models as late as the model 1874. One shot of the film even shows a Krupp breech loading cannon

Another inaccuracy is the scene showing characters at a railway station , even though no railway would be built threw New Mexico until the building of the Southern Pacific Railroad by the 1880s

I have some ideas for PODs, but I want to see what others here post first

 

[Pat the Baker]

Is it ever explicitly said the movie takes place in 1862?

 

[SPJ]

Is it ever explicitly said the movie takes place in 1862?

I had to go threw the movie again to check and luckily the version on Amazon answers the question. The only other clue that hints to a date is that the grave they are looking for is shown to have February 1862 marked on it

 

[Pat the Baker]

Well, I was thinking we could move the Confederate invasion of New Mexico up a few years, though that wouldn't solve all the anachronisms.

 

[SPJ]

Well, I was thinking we could move the Confederate invasion of New Mexico up a few years, though that wouldn't solve all the anachronisms.

Agreed, though I don't want to try and resolve every single anachronism. Just as many as I can. The fact that Tuco handles a Bodao 1889 revolver at the gun store makes that almost impossible to resolve. Other weapon anachronisms, that are at least more manageable in my mind, includes the dynamite (patented in 1867) used to blow up the bridge in the film. As well as the 1868 Galand Revolver and the 1867 Rolling Block Pistol in the gun shop. I wondered if the Remington New Model Army revolvers used in the film might be anachronistic, but I imagine they might be stand-ins for the earlier Remington-Beals revolvers made in 1861. Though I still find it implausible that a gunstore owner in remote New Mexico would have them in stock by 1862

One of the most difficult details to handle is how to have a railroad in New Mexico during the war. So the obvious answer to me is to have the Transcontinental Railroad started, but not necessarily finished, before the start of the war. Then have it follow one of the southern most paths detailed by surveyors in the 1850s that goes threw New Mexico

So for the series of events I have in mind for this ATL, I am going to reference another post I made about a delayed Civil War. In it, Douglass wins the 1860 election, with his VP taking over after his death. The conflicts over slavery still continue of course. So Lincoln runs again in 1864, wins the election, and so now the American Civil War starts 4 years later than OTL in 1865. With such a scenario as this I think I can create a plausible TL that resembles the setting like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

So here is the series of events I have laid out:

1856-1858 - Deposits of Gold are found along the border of CA and NX along the Colorado River. This leads to a large number of prospectors and migrants to the area. This subsequently leads to large deposits of silver being found in Southern New Mexico Territory (OTL Arizona) and the Calico Mountains of California. Thus leading to a larger Silver Rush in the SE USA (this takes the place of the Comstock Lode Silver Rush in Nevada)

1859 - The Democratic majority of the 35th Congress passes the Pacific Railroad Act to build a Transcontinental Railroad from the Mississippi river to Los Angeles, California. The justifications include granting access to the new Silver and Gold deposits found in New Mexico and southern California. The Democrats from the Slave states hope not only to use this new railroad to benefit their own state economies, but as bargaining chip against Anti-Slavery Republicans now that it is being built in their sphere of influence

1860 - Douglass wins the US Presidential Election with Georgian politician Hershal Johnson as his VP

1861 - Douglass dies and Johnson is made POTUS

Early 1862 - A pandemic hits the mining communities of New Mexico, killing countless people. Sad Hill Cemetary becomes one of the largest in the territory

Late 1862 - Richard Gatling (thinking much like he had during this period in OTL), fearing the possibility of a Civil War, chooses to design a gun capable of a rate of fire matching several men with muskets. His hopes being that if enough of his guns are made and sold by the time of the next Presidential election, that the threat they would pose would halt any desire for war. He starts the basis of this design on his 1844 patent for a seed planter. He patents his new fire-arm and starts manufacturing them by the end of the year

1863 - Smith & Wesson file for bankruptcy. Loosing his exclusive deal with them, Rollin White makes concessions to different fire-arms manufacture's to use his bored threw cylinder design. By the end of the year, The Colt Fire Arms Manufacturing Company starts making breechloading conversions of their revolvers based on the designs of Charles Richards and William Mason

1864 - Lincoln wins the 1864 election, leading to the secession of Southern Slave States. The Transcontinental Railroad remains unfinished, the two halves meant to meet in New Mexico remain unconnected, with miles of desert still between them

1865-186? - The American Civil War begins. Confederates attempt an invasion of New Mexico in order to take over the portion of the territory south of the 34th parallel and claim it as their own territory of Arizona. Each side's half completed portion of the Transcontinental Railroad allows them to import large numbers of men and supplies. The Union making use of it to import weapons shipped to the California coast, including Gatling guns manufactured in the eastern US. As well as weapons from Europe, such as Krupp breechloading cannons, dynamite, and small arms.

 

[Pat the Baker]

Agreed, though I don't want to try and resolve every single anachronism. Just as many as I can. The fact that Tuco handles a Bodao 1889 revolver at the gun store makes that almost impossible to resolve. Other weapon anachronisms, that are at least more manageable in my mind, includes the dynamite (patented in 1867) used to blow up the bridge in the film. As well as the 1868 Galand Revolver and the 1867 Rolling Block Pistol in the gun shop. I wondered if the Remington New Model Army revolvers used in the film might be anachronistic, but I imagine they might be stand-ins for the earlier Remington-Beals revolvers made in 1861. Though I still find it implausible that a gunstore owner in remote New Mexico would have them in stock by 1862

One of the most difficult details to handle is how to have a railroad in New Mexico during the war. So the obvious answer to me is to have the Transcontinental Railroad started, but not necessarily finished, before the start of the war. Then have it follow one of the southern most paths detailed by surveyors in the 1850s that goes threw New Mexico

So for the series of events I have in mind for this ATL, I am going to reference another post I made about a delayed Civil War. In it, Douglass wins the 1860 election, with his VP taking over after his death. The conflicts over slavery still continue of course. So Lincoln runs again in 1864, wins the election, and so now the American Civil War starts 4 years later than OTL in 1865. With such a scenario as this I think I can create a plausible TL that resembles the setting like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. So here is the series of events I have laid out

1856-1858 - Deposits of Gold are found along the border of CA and NX along the Colorado River. This leads to a large number of prospectors and migrants to the area. This subsequently leads to large deposits of silver are found in Southern New Mexico Territory (OTL Arizona) and the Calico Mountains of California. Thus leading to a larger Silver Rush in the SE USA (this takes the place of the Comstock Lode Silver Rush in Nevada)

1859 - The Democratic majority of the 35th Congress passes the Pacific Railroad Act to build a Railroad from the Mississippi river to Los Angeles, California. The justifications include granting access to the new Silver and Gold deposits found in New Mexico and southern California. The Democrats from the Slave states hope not only to us this to benefit their own state economies, but to use a Railroad in their sphere of influence as a political bargaining chip against Anti-Slavery Republicans

1860 - Douglass wins the US Presidential Election with Georgian politician Hershal Johnson as his VP

1861 - Douglass dies and Johnson is made POTUS

Early 1862 - A pandemic hits the mining communities of New Mexico, killing countless people. Sad Hill Cemetary becomes one of the largest in the territory

Late 1862 - Richard Gatling develops thoughts like those he had during this period in OTL. Fearing the possibility of a Civil War, he chooses to design a gun capable of a rate of fire matching several men with muskets, and starts the basis of this design on his 1844 patent for a seed planter. His hopes being that if enough of his guns are made and sold by the time of the next Presidential election, that the threat they would pose would halt any desire for war. He patents his design and starts manufacturing them by the end of the year

1863 - Smith & Wesson file for bankruptcy. Loosing his exclusive deal with them, Rollin White makes concessions to different fire-arms manufacture's to use his bored threw cylinder design. by the end of the year, The Colt Fire Arms Manufacturing Company starts manufacturing breechloading conversions of their revolvers based on the designs of Charles Richards and William Mason

1864 - Lincoln wins the 1864 election, leading to the secession of Southern Slave States. The Transcontinental Railroad remains unfinished, the two halves meant to meat in New Mexico remain unconnected, with miles of desert still between them

1865-186? - The American Civil War begins. Confederates attempt an invasion of New Mexico in order to take over the portion of the territory south of the 34th parallel and claim it as their own territory of Arizona. Each side's half completed portion of the Transcontinental Railroad allows them to import large numbers of men and supplies. The Union making use of it to import weapons shipped from the California coast, including Gatling guns manufactured in the eastern US. As well as weapons from Europe, such as Krupp breechloading cannons, dynamite, and small arms.

This is pretty interesting. I wouldn't mind reading a timeline about this.

 

[SPJ]

This is pretty interesting. I wouldn't mind reading a timeline about this.

Thank you. I think I should still add a few more details to flesh it out. I also couldn't think of a better POD to have a Railroad built threw NM before the ACW or have as many towns and settlements as there seem to be in the film. I'm not sure how many towns existed in New Mexico in OTL during the ACW. So if anyone has a better idea for a POD, or info on what towns and population of American migrants existed in NM at that time, I would appreciate it