Dark Command

Dark Command is a 1940 American Western thriller film loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders during the American Civil War. When transplanted Texan Bob Seton (John Wayne) arrives in Lawrence, Kansas, he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor), daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air as Seton runs for marshal against respected local schoolteacher William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), who harbors a dark secret and eventually forms a group of raiders to terrorize settlers throughout the territory.