Goofs

Before coming to their final destination, the paint horse tied to the back of the wagon changes to the sorrel.

After Briggs is rescued by Cuddy, she takes him home on her wagon. As she stops outside Briggs face is dirty at 26m 11s but he is still on the wagon but with a clean face at 26m 23s after a change of shot.

Mary's wagon changes in appearance throughout the movie. For example, the rope caulking between the wall boards of the box varies in location and amount as the story progresses. At no point does the box appear completely caulked, but any caulking at all to keep out wind and rain would have been a waste of time since there's a large window opening on each side of the box with no shutters or covering of any kind provided.

Tommy Lee Jones tells Hillary Swank that he was with Company C, First US Division of the Dragoons. In the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s, a Regiment was composed of several Companies, and a Brigade was composed of 2-6 Regiments. Then a Division was composed of 3-5 Brigades. In the periods before and after the Civil War, Regiments were rarely used in whole and companies were spread across the frontier. Only during a major campaign, such as the Great Sioux War of 1876, did Regiments operate intact. So, George Briggs (Jones) identification would have indeed been Company C, but he would have known it was the First Regiment of US Dragoons. He would NOT have called it the First Division Of Dragoons.

The Cuddy farm is all dirt, but there is plenty of fresh green hay for the livestock.

At the end, a man plays a banjo on a riverboat. The banjo has steel strings with frets and a design that first appeared around 1890. In the 1850s, banjos had gut strings and no frets.

At the card game, George is told his money is no good due to the bank which issued it having gone bust. George is then asked if he has any greenbacks. The movie is set in 1854, but greenbacks would have been unknown to anyone living at that time. It wasn't until 1861 that so-called greenbacks were first issued by the US government, in part to finance the Civil War. The bills gained the nickname due to the green ink used on their reverse side.

When George has the noose around his neck and is trying to prove his worthiness to Mary so she will rescue him, he mentions Bringing in the Sheaves. The story is set in 1854. The lyrics to what became the song Bringing in the Sheaves were not written until 1874 and did not become well known until the lyrics were set to the now familiar tune in 1880.

As Briggs loads his wagon on the ferry over the Missouri River -- presumably the Lone Tree Ferry between Omaha, NB and Council Bluffs, IA -- you can see the modern-day river restraining berms along the bank.

Mary's Enfield musket is a 1858 model. The film is set in 1854.

During the Indian attack, every shot of the carriage has mountains in the background. The road from Nebraska to Iowa is nowhere near any mountains.

When Cuddy draws the black bean, which means she will transport the women, someone remarks that it is May 4, and she should be back by the 4th of July, which means, of course, that it is late spring. Yet in the first few days they run into snowfall, and Briggs constantly complains about the cold nights. The women show no apparent discomfort when they are bathed naked in a stream.

In the opening scene Mary Bee plows in the wrong direction, throwing dirt onto the unplowed ground instead of towards the plowed ground.

Gro Svendsen is allegedly Norwegian, but the song she is singing is Danish, written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1829. Also the conversations between Gro and Thor, is spoken in Danish.

The Svendsens are Danish. The joke is that the townsfolk can't tell the difference and call them Norwegian.