Sumith Prasad
In Kevin Costner’s Western drama film ‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,’ First Lt. Trent Gephardt rescues Frances Kittredge and her daughter, Elizabeth, from the attacks of the Apache tribe. The U.S. Army lieutenant then takes the mother and daughter to his base, which is named Camp Gallant. Frances and Elizabeth overcome the deaths of their loved ones with the help of the soldiers at the camp. When the Civil War breaks out, many of the soldiers leave the place to join the armed conflict between the Union and the Confederacy. Even though the film is set against the backdrop of real events, the camp cannot be found in reality!
The Nuances Behind Camp Gallant
Camp Gallant is a fictional U.S. Army base created by Kevin Costner and his screenwriting partner Jon Baird. However, what makes it rooted in reality is the presence of the national military in Native American lands in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In ‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,’ the soldiers of Camp Gallant arrive in Horizon to rescue the survivors of the Apache attack and likely retaliate if the Native Americans continue with their ambush. Like the settlers, the Army has built a fort in the tribes’ sacred land, which makes them trespassers as well.
Similarly, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the U.S. Army had an unignorable presence in Indigenous lands, and the soldiers often interacted with the Native Americans in varying ways. According to the Civil War historian Megan Kate Nelson, these tribes didn’t trust the Army outrightly since the soldiers were also trespassers in their eyes. During this period, the Army fought several battles against prominent Native American leaders, such as Black Kettle of the Colorado War, Black Hawk of the Black Hawk War, Osceola of the Second Seminole War, etc.
Through Camp Gallant and its soldiers, the narrative acknowledges a tumultuous period in the history of the Native Americans. The presence of the Army and the officers’ departure for the Civil War are wisely used to introduce the beginning of the battles between the Union and the Confederate states, which rewrote the history of the Old West significantly through the migration they caused. The production department of the film seemingly set up Camp Gallant by the Colorado River, which flows through and around Moab, a significant filming location of the Western drama in Utah.
The rock formations that are visible in the background in the scenes set in Camp Gallant are the main attractions of Moab. In addition to the ‘Horizon’ films, the region hosted the shooting of popular projects such as HBO’s ‘Westworld,’ the survival drama ‘127 Hours,’ and Ridley Scott’s ‘Thelma & Louise.’
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