01x04 - Showdown

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: Previously on "The American West"...

As President Ulysses S. Grant wraps up his final term, the country he leads is as divided as ever.

(clattering, fizzling)

Archie, get back!

Narrator: In Missouri, notorious outlaw Jesse James takes revenge on the most famous detective agency in the country, and, in doing so, establishes himself as a hero of the South. In the Black Hills, Grant's plan for peace with the Indians has fallen apart. With Indian hostilities at an all-time high, Grant sends Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer to lead a final battle for land that will change the course of history.

(theme music playing)

Narrator: After refusing to report to an Indian reservation, Lakota Sioux leader Crazy Horse has been preparing his warriors to fight the United States Army for months and he's just gotten word from his scouts that American forces are on their way. But the Lakota have brought together a massive force of their own... and they're determined to crush the invading army.

Robert Redford: I think Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse saw all that territory as belonging to them.

They realized that they were going to be invaded and what was precious to them was gonna be taken away, so they fought against that.

Narrator: Several miles away, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer has led his 7th Cavalry far ahead of a much larger American force.

Paul Hutton: He doesn't wait for reinforcements.

Custer wants this to be a victory for the 7th Cavalry and the 7th Cavalry alone.

Narrator: Custer believes that defeating Sitting Bull will be the crowning achievement of his m*llitary career... and will clear a path straight to the White House.

Mark Lee Gardner: Custer gets on top of those bluffs and then he sees this amazing village that seems like it stretches forever.

There might be as many as 6,000 Indians in this village.

He's got less than a thousand men.

We'll split our forces.

You keep the front busy, and I will att*ck from the rear.

No retreat.

I need those warriors busy.

Understood?

Yes, sir.

Narrator: Custer decides to employ a m*llitary strategy that worked for him at the Battle of Washita eight years earlier. He splits his men into two smaller forces. Custer's second in command Major Marcus Reno and his men will att*ck the camp from the left, while Custer and his troops att*ck the flank on the right, dividing the Sioux warriors.

Karl Jacoby: Custer's quite consciously, I think, very aggressive in dividing his men so that he can come at this camp from multiple directions.

He demonstrated himself to be either tremendously daring or tremendously reckless or perhaps both.

Hyah!

Come on, now.

(troops shouting)

Hutton: There's just such a beautiful romance, I think, to Crazy Horse, the ultimate Sioux warrior, and Custer, the ultimate American warrior of their time, meeting on that final field. The Sioux are at the height of their power, and here comes Custer just right at that moment. It's almost like it's meant to be.

Narrator: Following Custer's orders, Reno's command is the first to engage the Indians.

(horse whinnies)

(whooping)

Fall back!

Gardner: Major Reno completely loses his composure, panics, he retreats, and it's a complete disaster.

The men are scrambling for their lives.

Narrator: As Custer arrives to the b*ttlefield, Major Reno and his men are nowhere to be found.

(warriors whooping)

(whooping continues)

Custer: Dismount! Form a skirmish line!

Commander: Form a line!

Commander: Hold the line!

Watch your flank!

Hutton: Custer's men are pushed back, they take up defensive positions along a ridgeline, surrounded by thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse.

Commander: Hold the line!

Hold your position. Keep f*ring.

Agh-hh!

Commander: Hold the line!

Hold your positions!

Take out your sabers.

(whooping)

Soldier: Sir, what do we do?

Gardner: We have all this imagery of the Indians closing in and his regiment being a very compact group.

It was actually a very messy, bloody, terrifying last few moments.

(gasps)

(clicks)

(g*nsh*t echoes)

Gardner: A lot of men said, you know, the thing is, "Save the last b*llet for your life."

Maybe Custer committed su1c1de. I don't know.

I just find it hard to believe that he would ever give up.

I think he would fight as long as he could fight.

Narrator: On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and over 250 of his troops... are k*lled at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Narrator: Celebrated Civil w*r hero George Armstrong Custer and over 250 of his men lay dead on the b*ttlefield of Little Bighorn.

Larry T. Pourier: The Battle of Little Bighorn has mixed emotions.

On one hand, it was the greatest day for us because we showed our strength and our wisdom and our spirituality. But it was also our worst day because of everything that happened after that.

Narrator: News of the defeat quickly reaches Washington.

There were no survivors?

Sherman: Not that we know of.

There's still a chance a stray soldier will show up.

Custer?

Dead.

A b*llet in his brain.

Redford: The Battle of Bighorn was this one single event that had a much broader picture to it.

And that had to do with the settling of the West and the loss of parts of the West to Native Americans.

Narrator: President Ulysses S. Grant's show of force against the Sioux is a total failure... and the m*ssacre soon makes headlines across the country.

Gardner: This is the biggest story for the last half of the 19th century.

George Armstrong Custer was America's most romantic, dashing, heroic cavalry figure. Ordinary citizens loved him.

Narrator: Appalled by the slaughter, the country demands action.

H.W. Brands: When Americans at large heard the story, what they heard was that these savage Indians had massacred these brave white cavalry.

They thought, okay, well, this means that they have to be punished, they have to be driven back to the reservation.

Narrator: With only months left in office, Grant's plan for peace with the Indians has failed and the country is no closer to securing the gold-rich Black Hills. While the Indian Wars continue, Grant's battle with Southern sympathizers is getting worse... as former Confederates like Jesse James...

Cover it up.

Continue to resist Northern interference after the w*r, including a policy known as "Reconstruction."

David Eisenbach: The major question coming out of the end of the Civil w*r is what do you do with four million freed slaves? What are their rights, what are their positions in society?

Reconstruction comes up with an answer.

They have equal rights.

There are senators and congressmen who are black and tremendous progress gets made.

But, of course, there were elements that wanted to set the clock back that were not satisfied with the end of the Civil w*r and certainly weren't satisfied with these former slaves now having equal rights with them.

Narrator: At the end of the Civil w*r, thousands of Union Army troops remained in the South to enforce the government's Reconstruction policies. For Jesse James, the Northern occupation of the South represents everything he's been fighting against. And now, with the nation facing an upcoming election, he plans to make his biggest demonstration of Southern resistance yet... by launching his first big att*ck deep in Northern territory.

You can rob a bank in Missouri.

Why do you have to go hundreds of miles away to rob a bank? They got plenty of banks.

Because he had heard that the Reconstruction governor of Mississippi, Adelbert Ames, had relatives up in Northfield, and a lot of his money was in this bank.

And James decided, "We're gonna go up there and we're gonna rob that bank to take the money of the Reconstruction governor of Mississippi."

Narrator: Working with his brother Frank and the rest of the James g*ng, Jesse spends weeks planning a heist so bold, it's sure to grab national attention.

All right, this time, we're gonna do it a little different.

We're gonna split up into three groups.

Clell, cut all the telegraph wires.

(snaps)

We don't want any information gettin' in or out of town.

Cole, Bob, I want you to stand guard out front of the bank.

Frank, Charlie, the three of us will head inside.

Now, when the robbery is over, we're all gonna meet down here near this bridge.

We'll be a hundred miles away before anyone knows what happened.

(whinnies)

Move! We intend to rob this here bank!

Who's the cashier?

Who's the cashier?

The cashier's not here today, sir.

Have a seat, son.

Open the safe.

I cannot open the safe, sir.

You know what I don't like?

I don't like being lied to.

(panting)

You open that safe now.

I can't, I can't.

Gardner: The key to the success for the James g*ng has always been speed, quickness.

There ain't nothin' in here!

Gardner: Joseph Lee Heywood, the cashier that day, delayed them.

(yells) Open the g*dd*mn safe!

(grunts)

Who's the cashier? Turn around!

You the cashier?

Turn around!

Eisenbach: Jesse James decides he's gonna att*ck this bank... or maybe he doesn't even know... on the first day of hunting.

So you had all these hunters who are in town buying supplies and they're getting very suspicious 'cause there are a bunch of dudes standing outside the bank with g*ns.

(horse whinnies)

Clear the streets! Move your asses inside!

(g*nshots popping)

Gardner: Jesse's men are f*ring off their g*ns, telling people to get back.

This is kind of shock and awe in the middle of the street, but these people aren't being shocked and they're not being awed. Townspeople are starting to fight back.

They're coming to protect their bank.

Agh-hh!

Jesse, time's up!

Jesse, we gotta go. Come on, now.

Back up!

Get on your knees. Get on your knees and stay on your knees.

(glass crashes)

Come on, Jesse, we gotta go!

Gardner: It's pandemonium.

The outlaws are f*ring revolvers, which are pretty inaccurate on horseback.

The townspeople have shoulder g*ns. They're very accurate.

These guys are getting sh*t to pieces on the street.

It was a complete disaster for the James g*ng. And the only thing for them to do is to try to get out of town alive.

Frank: We gotta go, Jesse! Send him on now!

I can't.

Frank: Come on, we gotta go now! Let's go, boys!

(grumbles)

(g*nf*re whistles)

(murmuring)

Gardner: Joseph Lee Heywood, the acting cashier that day, was a thorn in the side to the plans of these robbers.

He delayed them.

They don't get the money they come for. In fact, the safe was unlocked the whole time. Had they just tried that handle, it would've opened up and revealed about $15,000.

Narrator: The robbery is a complete failure. The people of Northfield stood up to Jesse James. Now they want justice. And Jesse James is running for his life.

(men shouting)

Narrator: After Jesse James' latest heist at the Northfield Bank... local citizens are on a mission to track down the notorious outlaw and his g*ng.

Danny Glover: In the West there were these citizens who, in their passion, their anger, their authority that they thought they had, they go out to bring these men to justice. They were law-abiding citizens who take the law into their own hands.

Narrator: News of the pursuit quickly spreads across the country, turning a small-town chase into the largest manhunt in United States history.

Gardner: There were at least a thousand men going after these guys.

It was instant national news, especially when the James g*ng was associated with this robbery. There were dozens of newspaper reporters that went along with the posses, keeping track of the manhunt and how it was progressing.

Jesse and Frank were Southern boys and murderers.

They were hated in Minnesota, and everyone wanted to see them captured and brought to justice.

Narrator: Over the course of two weeks, almost all of the James g*ng is either captured or k*lled. The only fugitives they're unable to track down are Jesse and his brother Frank.

Gardner: These guys were masters at concealing themselves and getting away.

They had to do it all during the Civil w*r.

They were always outnumbered. They always had people chasing them. Northfield was the biggest disaster the Jameses had experienced since the Civil w*r. They lost men that they had fought with.

They both suffered g*nsh*t wounds.

But I think, in a way, mentally in some way, they're wounded as well.

Narrator: Now the most wanted man in America is forced to go into hiding, and it will be two years before the world gets another glimpse of Jesse James. While his robbery may have been a failure, Jesse's Confederate cause may finally have a victory. With the presidential election just around the corner, a strong pro-South candidate named Samuel Tilden has emerged with a plan to put an end to Reconstruction.

Foner: Samuel J. Tilden had criticized Emancipation.

Tilden was explicit about wanting to end Reconstruction and attacking Reconstruction.

But then Tilden was also overtly r*cist.

Narrator: Opposing him is a former Union general named Rutherford B. Hayes.

Foner: Hayes was the governor of Ohio, and he was a mainstream Republican.

Hayes would say, "We want to make sure that blacks' rights are guaranteed."

Narrator: On November 7th, 1876, Southerners flocked to the polls in unprecedented numbers, knowing that if they can put Tilden in the White House, they could put an end to Northern policies that have been in place since the end of the w*r. On election night, votes roll in from across the country.

Governor Hayes, news from Washington.

Narrator: But when the returns are counted, the results are unclear.

Foner: The morning after the election of 1876, it's not quite clear who has won.

The returns from three Southern states were disputed... South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. And both sides claimed to have carried those states for their candidate.

In 2000, we went through another disputed presidential election.

And, of course, there it focused on disputed returns from Florida. So there was great confusion, uncertainty, a lot of heated political rhetoric.

Narrator: With no clear winner, Americans begin to panic and rumors began to spread.

Foner: It was an unprecedented situation. Some Democrat said if Tilden is not inaugurated,

100,000 people will march on Washington.

People talked about a new civil w*r.

There's rumors of a hundred thousand men marching on the capital.

Have 4,000 men ready to defend the capital.

Post the USS Wyoming in the Potomac.

Peace must be maintained at all costs.

Yes, sir.

Narrator: After dealing with an economic depression and leading an unsuccessful w*r against the Indians, Ulysses S. Grant is facing his final political crisis, and now he needs to find a way to keep the country from falling apart.

Narrator: Three months after the election of 1876 ends in controversy, tensions between North and South are the highest they've been since the Civil w*r ended and the future of the country hangs in the balance.

Electoral votes that must be won...

I don't care how many electoral votes he has, all right?

Narrator: To find a solution, a secret meeting is convened between the teams of both presidential candidates.

Hayes men and Tilden men got together in a hotel in Washington and hammered out an agreement.

There has to be some give and some take.

We give you the presidency, and you pull out the troops.

It's that simple, gentlemen.

We want the troops out of the South.

Narrator: After over eight million Americans cast their votes, the presidency is ultimately decided by 15 men in a backroom deal that will come to be known as "the Corrupt Bargain."

The deal was Hayes would become president.

But in exchange for this, he would withdraw remaining Federal troops from the South. This would bring Reconstruction under a m*llitary authority to a definitive end.

Narrator: The end of Reconstruction is a victory for Southerners who've rallied around rebels like Jesse James. But for newly freed African Americans, it comes at a heavy cost.

The Bargain of 1877 marks the end of a federal commitment to protect the basic rights of black citizens in the South. It basically recognizes the white supremacist Democratic Party as being in control.

Narrator: With one decision, the rights of freed slaves in the South to vote and hold office are no longer protected. It will be nearly another 100 years before they are granted equal rights under the Constitution. The deal marks a sad end to Grant's presidency.

Brands: When Grant got the nomination in 1868, the phrase that won him the hearts of most Americans was "Let us have peace."

That was the platform that he ran on. But in 1876, he was losing the battle with respect to Indian policy.

Now he lost the battle with respect to equal rights for freedom in the South.

Narrator: Despite his failings, Grant oversaw the completion of the transcontinental railroad and kept a divided country together. But when Hayes finally takes office in 1877, he inherits a country with numerous problems.

Eisenbach: Rutherford B. Hayes comes in and it is, to say the least, a controversial election.

Half the country doesn't think he's the rightful president and he's dealing with the economic crisis coming off the Panic of 1873, the greatest depression in American history up to that point, and he still has to avenge the death of Custer by getting Crazy Horse.

Sherman: So I know you're familiar with our present situation with the Sioux. It's pervasive.

Gentlemen, we've got to fix this.

Narrator: After the army's embarrassing defeat at Little Bighorn, Hayes is under pressure to ramp up m*llitary efforts against the Indians, and General William Tecumseh Sherman sees the opportunity he's been waiting for.

We deploy 1,200 troops here and about 240 miles to the west here.

Then we wipe Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull's w*r party out.

All resources are put into defeating the Indians.

The debate over the peace policy is over.

It's a w*r policy from now on. The natives are going to be totally subjugated.

Narrator: But Sherman has a plan that he believes will not only defeat the Indians on the b*ttlefield, but could forever alter their way of life.

Narrator: To defeat the Lakota Sioux once and for all, General William T. Sherman looks to a brutal tactic he used during the Civil w*r...

(cannonfire echoes)

(soldiers' voices echo)

Narrator: a policy called "Total Warfare." During his march across Georgia, Sherman's troops torched 300 miles of civilian homes, farms, and livestock.

John McCain: General William Tecumseh Sherman was ruthless.

He realized that he had to cut the heart out of the South.

He had to stop their base from functioning so the armies would be starved.

It was terrible what he did. Very successful, but, honestly... ruthless.

Narrator: Sherman knows he can apply a similar tactic to defeat the Indians that will guarantee victory, destroying something essential to their survival... the buffalo. At their peak, tens of millions of buffalo roamed the plains from Canada to New Mexico. For tribes like the Lakota, the buffalo are critical to their survival.

Pourier: The buffalo was our life.

We used every part of the buffalo, nothing was wasted.

We used the bones, the hide and, of course, the meat. The internal organs we used for strings and bags.

We always lived around the buffalo.

I mean, wherever they went, that's where we went.

Narrator: The U.S. m*llitary encourages Eastern hunters to travel west, providing them with shelter, protection, and amm*nit*on. Enticed by the army's offer and the opportunity to make up to $700 a day, the hunters m*ssacre entire herds of buffalo... all in a plot to starve the Indians.

Jacoby: White hunters come out and just k*ll buffalo, k*ll as many as they can.

There's stories of the single white hunter k*lling maybe 5,000 buffalo in a season...

very large numbers.

Narrator: As the hunt expands, railroad companies begin to promote the buffalo's extermination, offering "hunting by rail" expeditions, where men sh**t the animals from moving trains. Some men become celebrities by the sheer number of buffalo they k*ll, including hunter William Cody, who takes down 4,000 buffalo in 18 months... earning the nickname "Buffalo Bill." By 1877, the buffalo's population, once estimated at 60 million, plummets to below 2,000.

Pourier: I really believe that was planned to help exterminate us.

Because once they took the buffalo from us, they took our way of life.

Anne Collier: The American government policy to eradicate the buffalo was no better than genocide.

It was a matter of psychological warfare.

If you eradicate the buffalo, you eradicate the Indian.

Narrator: Lakota leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull face a difficult decision... stay in the Great Plains and fight or move their people away from everything they've ever known.

Pourier: These men were hunters, they were fighters, they were providers. They had pride, they had strong spirits.

Everything they did at that point was just to stay alive.

Narrator: As the Indians fight for survival, over 750 miles away, a new breed of outlaw is about to emerge... including an unknown teenage cattle thief who will soon become the most wanted man in the West.