- The year 1869 stagecoach bound for SANTA FE, N.M. The four-horse stagecoach winds along the Santa Fe Trail past the Civil War Battlegrounds of The Battle of Glorieta Pass. Four passengers sit in the cramped stagecoach. Dust flies through the windows.—Melissa Ash Brownell
- "Boots of My Brother" by Melissa Ash-Brownell Ashleithfilms LLC 14.4 minutes Short, Genre: Historical Narrative, Drama Location: Abiquiu, New Mexico, Set: a Historical Stagecoach built in the 1800s.
The Civil War has been won by the North. The South will never return to its former glory. Men are seeking a new life in a new territory. The year is 1869. A Confederate Lieutenant and a Yankee Colonel are making their way west. They ride in a six-horse stagecoach with a Mexican woman and her young son who has survived a scalping on an Apache Indian night raiding Party. Their destination is Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This seemingly pleasant journey turns hostile.
The Santa Fe Trail winds its way past the remains of the Battle of Glorieta Pass. The Civil War of the West began and ended here. The young Confederate Lieutenant suffers from PTSD and continues to relieve the horrors of the battle. At the end of the war, the Confederacy ran out of supplies of food, clothing, and boots. The Confederate Lieutenant's boots sport a huge hole and aren't fit to walk in. But then, there are the Yankee Colonel's boots... black, shiny, warm and new, handmade Southern Boots made for a Southern Gentleman. He challenges the Colonel's right to those boots, the Boots of his brother.
The Mexican Woman confirms that the Indians are still a group to be feared. She reveals the ugly scar on her son's forehead, the result of an Apache Indian War Party on her family ranch.
The Yankee Colonel doesn't want to be reminded of the horror. He wants to forget and move on. When the Colonel tells that he never fought in the final battle that he was captured by the Confederates and was held in prison, the Confederate Lieutenant is incensed.
He attacks the Colonel. They fall from the stagecoach and he stabs the Colonel who dies. Now the boots rightly belong to the Lieutenant. Who walks away with a confession that leaves us stunned.
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