This was D.W. Griffith's first sound film. Abraham Lincoln (1930) was also the first sound film about the Civil War which veterans of that war could view.
James Bradbury Sr. (General Winfield Scott), Frank Campeau (General Philip Sheridan) and Robert Brower, who plays an uncredited role, are the only actors in the film who were alive during the American Civil War (1861-1865). They were born on October 12, 1857, December 14, 1864 and July 14, 1850 respectively.
Because Walter Huston was much shorter than the real Abraham Lincoln, he wore six-inch elevator shoes through most of the film. This is particularly noticeable in the long shots.
Reviews and other references credit Fred Warren with the role of Gen. Ulysses Grant and E. Alyn Warren as Stephen A. Douglas, but the print shown on Turner Classic Movies credits E. Alyn Warren for both roles. That print, however, is not original. It is an Art Cinema Associates Inc. re-release, with the title card changed accordingly. The fact is that E. Alyn Warren, who often worked under the name of Fred Warren, plays both roles--Stephen A. Douglas credited as E. Alyn Warren and Ulysses S. Grant credited as Fred Warren.
The line Abraham Lincoln speaks about how during Reconstruction he will treat the Southern states "as if they had never been away" was recycled from D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), in which it was "spoken" as a title by actor (and future director) Joseph Henabery as Lincoln.