01x20 - Osceola

[bunniefuu]

[knife whooshes and thuds]

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a bold adventurous man ♪

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ Battled for right with a powerful hand ♪

♪ His blade was tempered and so was he ♪

♪ Indestructible steel was he

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventurous man ♪

[gentle music] [child screams]

[rattlesnake rattling]

- Don't move.

[suspenseful music]

You'll be all right now.

A little sick maybe.

Wasn't too bad, was it?

Did it hurt much?

Huh?

What are you doing out here all by yourself?

Where's your mother or your father?

How am I supposed to take you back to them

if you can't tell me where they are,

where you've come from?

I'm gonna have to take you home to my place

just for a little while.

Just 'til I can find your folks.

How would you like that, huh?

Wanna come home with me?

Now don't worry, I wouldn't hurt you.

I promise.

You'll be all right with me.

- [Mother] Atoce!

Atoce!

[birds chirping]

[thudding] - Hey! [screaming]

He's down!

You've got him, it's all right.

You've got him, there he is, oh!

Hey, hey.

He's not hurt, you ask him.

A rattlesnake bite.

I cleaned it up.

He'll be all right.

Little sick for a while.

- I am sorry.

I did not understand.

I thought--

- You thought I was trying to steal him?

- White men have stolen many Indian boys.

This one shall not be a sl*ve.

Not my son.

- Wait a minute, he shouldn't walk on that yet.

I'll carry him back to your camp fort.

- Oh no.

- Why not?

- I would not want Osceola to know.

- Osceola?

- My husband.

- Oh.

- The boy should not have been so far from the camp alone.

He will be angry with me.

- I won't say anything.

- I can carry him.

- Any reason why I shouldn't come to your camp?

- No.

- Then I'll carry him.

Which way do we go?

[deep serene music]

Now, don't give him too much water.

You ought to keep him cool and quiet.

I guess you know all about snake bites in Florida.

We haven't seen many Seminoles this far West.

- Your white soldiers wish the Seminole

to live much farther west.

- You speak very good English.

- My mother taught me.

I was raised in a white man's house.

- You're married to an Indian?

- I am an Indian.

He will be here soon.

- Well, I said I wouldn't say anything.

- He will not like it.

- What? My being here?

Hmm.

Well, that cuts both ways.

There are enough mules here to pack a camp twice this size.

[spear thuds]

[deep serene music]

[suspenseful music]

[spear thuds]

[Jim sighs]

[suspenseful music]

[spear thuds]

A present, a gift.

Bowie to Osceola.

[gentle music]

I returned home that night.

The next morning, I had to go into town on an errand.

And when I got back, I found two surprises.

- Mr. Jim, what's that stray mule doing there?

- Hmm?

- When I stepped out after breakfast, he weren't there.

When I come back a while ago, he was.

What do you make of that, Mr. Jim?

- Well Robert, I guess that some people

just have to keep the score even.

- Yes, sir.

- [Ricky] Jim.

- Hello, Ricky.

- Say Captain Brian is inside waiting for you.

- Brian in New Orleans' garrison?

- Mm-hmm.

- Well Captain, just how can I help the army?

- By Helping us track down a man, Mr. Bowie.

An Indian.

- An Indian?

- Half-breed anyway.

Seminole by the name of Osceola.

Or sometimes, he goes by the name of Powell.

His white father's name.

- What makes you think I can find him?

- Because he's in this vicinity or he will be soon.

- So?

- Perhaps I better start at the beginning.

A large stock of g*ns have been stolen

from the arsenal in New Orleans.

- By this Indian?

- No, but for him.

Luckily, we caught one of the white conspirators.

A minor one but we were able to learn

something of the plan.

- Which is?

- The r*fles and ammunition will be sold to the Seminoles

and delivered to this Osceola somewhere in this vicinity.

Now, since you know this territory better than anybody,

General Gates hoped that you'd help us

track down this half-breed.

- His name is Powell you say.

- [Brian] Yes.

- And he's a big chief then?

- He's worse.

He's a leader of the young men,

the hot heads, the dangerous ones who cause all the trouble.

- Look, you can hardly blame the Indians.

I mean, when they're being driven from their homes

where they've always lived.

- They're not being driven.

They're simple being asked to move.

- Yeah, a thousand miles west

to some dry hills where they have

to learn a whole new way of living.

How would you like that?

- I wouldn't object if I had signed a treaty.

- Treaty?

Oh sure!

Fill 'em up with whisky and promises

and then get them to sign a paper they can't even read.

- Sir, I didn't come here to argue

an Indian problem with you.

- Good, we can drop it then.

- I came here to get your help.

Now do I get it?

- No, sir! - Jim!

- This is a military matter, let the military handle it.

- Very well.

But may I remind you sir,

this was a special request of General Gates.

- General Gates' officers are at his beck and call.

I'm not and you can tell him that.

- Aye.

[deep serene music]

- Well now, that there was a fine way to talk.

- Let the army catch their own Indians.

I don't have to jump every time a general whistles.

Oh, why do people have to get pushed around?

- You mean Osceola.

- Yeah.

He's a human being, isn't he?

- He's a m*rder*r and savage, Jim!

- Oh I don't blame him reason.

Or any Indian, they're getting a raw deal all of them!

- All right, where'd you meet him?

- Up on the back bayou.

- On our land?

g*n runner?

- I'm not gonna see him slaughtered.

He's not like the captain said.

He's a man you can deal with.

- Oh.

So you're gonna deal with him, is that it?

- Yeah.

- Just go up and ask him to clear out politely?

- Yeah. - And he'll go?

- Yes! - You're out of your mind!

- Well, I'm gonna give it a try right now.

- All right.

You go ahead.

They're gonna get a tomahawk in your thick skull.

Oh wait a minute, you leather head,

you can't go up there alone!

[deep serene music]

Jim!

[deep serene music]

- You better cover me.

Just in case.

- I'll cover you.

- Morning, ma'am.

Just stopped by to see how the little boy is doing.

Oh yes, I can see he's much better.

Hello, Atoce!

Well, thanks for the mule.

Mr. Powell, isn't it?

- Powell, what do you know of Powell?

- Oh nothing, except that the army

is looking for a Seminole of that name

believed to be in these parts, just thought it might be you.

- My name is Osceola.

- Oh, one of your men then.

- I do not like questions.

You can go now.

- No, I guess it's you who'll be gone.

This is my land you're on.

- We do not injure your land.

- Look, can't you get it into your head

that I'm trying to help you?

- I don't give a hoot about your Seminole w*r.

It's just that, well, I like that little boy of yours.

And if you haven't left here by dark,

he's liable to get hurt.

- You mean, you will bring the soldiers?

- No, they'll find you themselves.

They know you're in these parts.

My brother's out there behind one of those trees

and I imagine his r*fle is aimed just about here

and he's a real good shot.

- Wait, just a little more time.

The boy is still sick.

We will leave by tomorrow before dawn.

- All right, but if you're still here this time tomorrow,

I'll bring the soldiers myself.

He wants to stay 'til the morning.

That means he'll be getting the g*ns tonight.

- No, we'll let Captain Brian get 'em.

They'll have to come by bayou stash, won't they?

- Yeah.

- Well, you tell the captain that.

Tell him to hide his men at that narrow bend.

Don't tell him anything else, you understand?

- What about him?

- I'll take care of him.

Just as soon as those g*ns are out of the way.

- Right.

[deep serene music]

- [Brian] All right, stop there.

[shots blaring]

Stand ajar and keep your hands up.

On the bank.

[deep serene music]

- Drop the g*n, white man.

What are you doing here this time?

- Hunting.

- I heard a shot.

You made it?

- I said I was hunting.

- But what are you hunting?

- I don't know,

a way to get along, you and me,

Indian and white man.

We understand each other.

We can get along.

What I'm trying to say is that if we can,

why can't all Indians and white men?

- I do not know what you are speaking of.

- I'm speaking of w*r.

It's no good,

not for the Indians not for the white men either.

How about your wife and Atoce?

Why does there have to be this k*lling and suffering?

And if you keep on like this,

there'll be plenty on both sides.

Why?

- The white men drive us from our homes and you ask me that?

- The Cherokees are going to the new territory.

The Choctaws have signed a treaty to go.

- The first Seminole chief who signs a treaty,

I will k*ll that chief!

- You hate white men that much?

- [Osceola] Yes!

- You're half-white yourself.

- I am an Indian.

- You didn't hate your father, did you?

I'll bet you loved him, didn't you?

- Go!

Why do you ask me these questions?

- 'Cause that's my knife in your belt

and I got a mule of yours in my barn.

- All right.

My father was as tall as a tree

and as straight and as strong.

He came and he went with his trading

and I ached with pain while he was away.

Then when I was six, like Atoce,

he came and he stayed one winter.

- He's gone Osceola, he's dead.

Forget him.

- I will not forget him!

I will not forget the way he treated my mother.

Like dirt he treated her

as if he were ashamed by her and by me.

- You were just a little boy.

You didn't understand.

- He stayed one winter.

And when he left, he took my sisters with him.

His own two daughters he sold for sl*ves.

My father!

Now go!

Go now, before I k*ll you!

- All right, I'll go.

But you might as well go too.

There's no reason for you to stay now.

See those g*ns you're waiting for?

They won't be coming.

The soldiers got 'em already, a while ago down the bayou.

[Osceola thuds]

[Osceola grunting]

[punch thuds]

[men grunting and panting]

[punch thudding]

[Osceola coughing and panting]

Pack up and get off my land.

- No!

Osceola you must not k*ll him!

- Why not?

- He saved Atoce.

He saved your son's life!

He sucked up the poison of the rattlesnake

with his own lips.

- Go.

Go.

We are finished.

- I thank you.

You tried.

- I didn't succeed.

- Give it up, Osceola.

Give it up.

You'll only break your heart and theirs.

Best to stop the fighting

and try and find a way to get along.

Look, you loved the white man once.

You can again.

You made a friend in me.

You can do that again.

Why not start right here, right now?

One Indian, one white man.

- It is not Osceola alone who leads the Seminole.

One man cannot cause a w*r.

One man cannot stop one.

If all white men were like you.

[deep choir music]

- [Jim] In November 1835, the Seminole chief,

Charley Emathla signed a treaty with the US government

and was promptly shot to death by Osceola.

A month later, the Seminole w*r began.

Before it was over,





and Osceola was dead in an army prison.

The w*r lasted seven years.

It ended without a treaty

and there has never been a Seminole treaty.

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventurous man ♪