well,
One of the problems to an accurate portrayal would be that they would have to accurately portray the reconstruction period. No one wants to show how the North behaved after the war and to show that behavior led men to do evil things. Some of Hardin's kills were former slaves. Maybe he was plain evil, minister's kid gone real bad, or maybe a young man full of anger and frustration at poor treatment from an occupying army. Funny, how history so often repeats...