04x32 - The Jim Bridger Story

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I've called all you folks together
because for the next couple of hundred

miles are going to be traveling
through a huge country.

That means that we have to be extra
careful.

Reggie used to say to me, Boy,

you keep your eyes peeled for them
pesky youth.

That's good advice.

So for the next couple of hundred miles,
I want you to stay very close together.

No stragglers, and I'll be no hunting.

You never know what might set them off.

Not trying to scare you.

I just want you to realize that this is
a very dangerous stretch of ground.

And like Bridges
said, I want you to keep your eyes peeled.

The country is supposed to be beautiful

in these parts, but I don't suppose
I've ever really seen it.

I'm always looking past the scenery
for trouble and in trouble.

Have you ever heard a w*r cry?

But a summer afternoon.
You never forget it.

And you meet a lot of ghosts
along this trail.

I guess that's why it's come
to be called the Trail of Death.

And when it's finally behind you,

you have a real celebration.

I can't think when I've seen everyone
so happy.

Even Mr. Pringle is smiling.

His face is going to crash any minute.

You know,
I never saw my husband dance before.

In my spirit.

And it just happened
to kick his heels about.

He was afraid your time had come
before he left your country.

I told him the baby
wouldn't be born until Denver.

I just.

It is always a great relief
to get through the old country.

It seems so peaceful and quiet.

Was it really dangerous? Is there.

And I lost 11 wagons
the last time I came through.



just.

I reckon we're luckier than we knew.

I reckon.

You know, every time I go to square
dancing, I always feel like I'm off feet.

You never let any woman in camp
had her eyes on you.

Even those of us
that could be your grandmother.

Is that a proposal?

I'll take it up with Mr. Enders.

Indeed, I would do that.

Well, honey,
how you feeling? Like dancing.

Well, come on.

The minute you do it vicariously,
there's been no.

Well, I feel like cup of coffee about you.

As I'm a sailor.

That means you've got something
to talk about. I right.

So I told the company I'd telegraph
my report in Denver.

Kind like I'm going to
whistle as possible. How?

We got through the old country.

All right. So do you want. Me to leave?

No, I'd better go myself.

I was kind of thinking of
going out tonight.

Well, why don't you wait in the morning?

You're a nosy women, aren't you?

Hi. It's a pleasure
to travel with you, boy.

Thank you.

You must be a great satisfaction
to Jim Bridger.

Well, I hope so.

I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him.

What tribe was it?

k*lled your parents?

I don't know.

Never. Tell me.

It's better not to know.

I know what tribe it was k*lled

my wife and children.

No matter how many Christian arguments
I give myself.

No. Until the day I die.

Yeah, well, looking back doesn't
do any good.

Well, it doesn't.

And this is no time to be lugubrious.

We're past the pesky utes,
and I are riding into Denver tonight.

I need a few hours alone.

That all?

You'll take over Wyoming?

Sure. I'll take it.

Thank you.

See in Denver sometime Monday.

All right. You recognize me?

Because I have a couple of hundred. Wagons
by me.

You'd better.

I intend to count

to appropriate.

Hours, my boy.

Right.

Put him

to you.

Concerned, ornery little tadpole. You.

Where did you come from?

Well, I always come from I.A..

You know, I've been homesick for
you ever since I came into these currents.

Iron Mountain.

You a fine boy here?

Well, come on.

I thought you were with the army
up in the Yellowstone.

Well, that's why we're fighting.

I mean, you haven't been there
running then.

Concern. Pesky utes and obeah.

Well, last we heard, four days ago,
we were still holding out.

Why are you here?

I'm an escort, and General
Jamieson is my detachment.

Always in general.

Examine some of his men.

Because he's a wise

old bird who listens to a little advice
every now and then.

And I'll bet you're giving it to a fat.

Fatback.

Who's had enough of your wagon train now.

Oh, Chris Hill has a job.

Is that so?

Good man.

Yes, he is.

Got to have a talk with him.

You'll have to wait a while.

He's on his way to Denver.

So that's his bad luck. Why?

Who do you even charge the outfit? Me?

You won't have any faith in me.

I have a wish for someone else. Why?

Best it don't come from me.

Hey, sit and talk to s father and son.

That's come official like

you're in charge of the wagon train.

The generals in charge of the army.

General.

Major General Jamison.

Flynn.

Battalion General.

Glad to meet you, Mr. McCullough.

Did Mr. Bridger tell you what we need?

No. He's been kind of secretive about it.

Well, the major part of my command,


in an ambush back in your country,
about 180 miles.

Now, strategically,

they're in a good position to hold out
as long as their ammunition last.

I can't leave those men there to die.

I've got to have help.

I see where your men trapped.

Up on Snow Mountain.

At the base, at the foot of the ridge.

Yeah, that's right.

The way we sized it up,

the men were coming down the mountain
when they were attacked.

That's an old trick.

They'll wait until your men run out of
ammunition, and they'll pick the remains.

I took the train 80 miles
out of the way to avoid Snow Mountain.

But we couldn't do that.

We're on our way to Yellowstone.
I see. You have no choice.

Mr. Bridger.

And I'll amend with us
when out of the reconnaissance,

when we get back to the outfit.

It was dark and the situation was
as I've just described.

I was all for fighting our way up
the mountain.

But Mr. Bridger thought otherwise.

You have never made it alive. Well.

You and Mr.

Bridger seem to think alike.

I'm not surprised.

Mr. Bridger persuaded me
that my men would have a better chance

if I came after your wagon train for help.

I see.

Well, we've been celebrating
getting through that country.

I don't know how much help
they'll be willing to give you, but

I'll ask for volunteers.

I'm not asking for volunteers,
Mr. McCarthy.

I'm commandeering this train.

What do you mean, commandeering?

My men are trapped.
I've got to get them out.

Well, you can't just hijack.

Hijack is hardly
the word. You're Americans.

And those are American soldiers
back there.

Yeah, but 50% of the people on this train
are women and children.

In a state of w*r.

All civilians are subject
to the call of duty.

This is hardly a w*r.

When 120 soldiers are fighting
for their lives.

A state of w*r exists
no matter what you choose to call it.

I said I'd ask for volunteers, General.

That's as far as it goes.

You know what I'm talking about.

Tell him I brought General James in here.
Yeah, but.

You didn't know I was going to do this.

I told him to do it.

You told him?


and the buzzards are circling.

We do nothing to help them.

I said I'd ask for volunteers.

A show of strength is what's needed.

The whole train.



Soldiers up ahead.

Flags plan their engines and think we're
riding them with heavy reinforcements.

And what if they don't?

Time was when you respected my judgment.

This has nothing to do with respect.

You can't ask me to risk the lives
of these people.

He's not asking.

And I'm not asking. I'm ordering.

This is a gamble
I've got to take for my men.

You're not gambling with human life.

Not when it's my responsibility.

I'm relieving you of that responsibility
right now.

You will have to. Die, you know. Yes, sir.

Am I under arrest?

If necessary, you will be.

Have the personnel of this train
assembled immediately.

I want to speak to them.

Yes, sir.

Plan.

Think a minute.

You're looking just one side to coin.

Am I?

When you came here last night,
you were welcomed like a father.

You're still my son.

I think I'm a prisoner.

You ain't even.

I just can't understand
why Bridget do this.

I know how you feel, Flint,
but you got to eat.

I'm not hungry, Charlie.

You've got to eat food to keep them
bones glued together.

Sergeant calling all the people together.

Oh, you'll go out all night and day,
Charlie.

Hmm? You, too.

You got a way figure to block this thing.

I don't think I'm going to block it.

All you have to do
is say the word whole capital float.

You know that. Yeah,
but I'm not going to say the word.

It might start a mutiny.

And it's my job around here
to keep the peace.

Are we going to the meeting?

Yeah.

I want
to hear what the general has to say.

Your decision.

I'll never feel the same
about Captain Bridger

and me to trouble.

I'll present and accounted for. Are.

This wagon

train is now in the service
of the United States Army.

We're going to the rescue of 120 soldiers.

Cut back in your country.
Well, it's not right.

You got to know what to do.

We're not in the army.

We don't have to go back. Why?

Well, I don't know.

Why? Why?

What do you say, McCullough?

Are you going to stand for this, Mr.

Jamieson,
as a general in the United States Army?

I don't respect his methods,
but I have to respect his rank.

And you should respect it, all of you.

This is your country,

and your soldiers need your help now.

I'm not a brigand or a highwayman.

I'm law and order.

The thing that you want most of here.

But we are not soldiers.

You are an old man.

Every man, woman and child in

this outfit is now a soldier in the army

and will be for the next 12 days.

I apologize for this inconvenience.

Believe me,
I regret the necessity far more than you.

But understand this.

You offered no choice.

And the state of w*r.

The military is in full charge.

This gentleman here is Mr.

Jim Bridger.

Of the benefit of any of you
who might not know him.

The Army considers him
the greatest living authority

on Indian affairs in the whole country.

He's also a great explorer.

You all came west by the Overland Trail.

Mr. Bridger blazed that trail.

You passed by Fort Bridger,

and you recently came through Bridges
Pass.

Now, in the next few days, Mr.

Bridger is going to be riding
at the head of this stream.

That's something you'll be proud
to tell your grandchildren one day.

That is,
if we live to have any grandchildren.

I always think about it.

Well, maybe it won't be that bad.

Hey, Jeff,

Your teams would be prepared
to leave in one hour.

I didn't hope.

Mr. McCullough.

Don't we have any. Rights in this?

Yeah, we have rights. But not to fight
the army.

Look, we've got g*ns.

And as far as I can see,
we outnumber the soldiers.

I say we fight

and I say we don't.

You siding with them.

You saying we go along with them?

Under the circumstances,
That's what I'm saying.

I forgot.

Bridger raised you, didn't he?

What does that got to do with it?

Sounds to me
like it's got a lot to do with it.

Well,
I can't help out Sam McCullers with them.

There's nothing more we can say to him.

Come on, man. Let's pack our gear.

Down over there.

Things are going to get pretty edgy.

Fletcher can't blame the people
for feeling the way they do.

No, you can't.

You know, this is like being invited
to your own m*ssacre.

I never figured pressure
to be a part of a thing like this.

You know, I've looked up to him
all my life.

I figured that they just
didn't make men any taller.

I'm not so sure.

Please turn your wagon around, sir.

No, I want.

I won't turn my wagon around.

I'm sorry, sir.

Couldn't turn this wagon.

Stay away from that way.

Sorry, sir.

Please don't.

Just wagon, sir.

My wife's going to have a baby.

We're not going. Back to Indian Country.
I'm sorry, sir.

You know my orders.

But devil, your orders.

You're starting a ruckus, sir.

Look, Mr..

Maybe you didn't understand me.

I said we're not going back.

Brown, turn this wagon.

No, you don't.

Same General Motors orders

all round the wagon.

They did it.

No, just done.

I'll find my car.

Well.

You don't seem to understand, General.

Some of the people aren't physically able
to make the trip.

I make one exception. I have to make one.

What about Mrs. Beddoes?
You could have a baby at any time.

It's not human to move.

It isn't human to take any of you.

Her husband is young and able. I need him.

I see.

And what about the Elliott boy?

I'll have the army surgeon look at him.

Five is better than any
you'll find in that.

I always said that the Army was sent out
here to protect the people, not sacrifice.

I'm going to argue anyone.

I'd advise you to keep your people
in order.

Any insubordination will be harshly
dealt with.

You catch this wagon train.

Don't ask me to help you run it.

I will need your help.

You might need this much.

It's a long train.

I wouldn't turn my back on a single wagon.

But can you do a job on that boy

in his shoes and be seen the same things
and maybe not as blind?

Well,

I reckon

each of us does the duty as he sees it.

Sometimes of costs, Kind of.

I'm sorry.

It turned out to be his dream.

I know what it means to you.

Too good to be about

eight years old in I fountain

and a little redheaded
sprout trying to dig a grave for his mind.

I'll never forget

the look on his face that day.

I'm crying.

You are mad

at himself.

A powerful, strong anger.

Even then.

And when I finished the graves, I said

broken.

I found me, son.

And that's the way it was.

Never no trouble twixt us.

Never.

All them years.

He'll go down.

Don't ask me why.

That's what troubles me most.

He don't give me a chance to tell him why.

No way, Mr.

Bridges.

Oh, that those wagons go.

That.

Oh, he's hell

with.

Right here.

We turn out so.

We should be there by sundown tomorrow.

How long?

That bar and accidents?

Three days during three days.

If my men hold out that long.

Is no campaigner interest in the food
and the ammunition jam.

He doesn't even know help is on the way.

That old warhorse of hope.

Right down to the last b*llet.

Better keep moving just as fast as we can.

Something's wrong.

Come on

back.

Pull up. Oh.

That's up to you. Like a broken wheel.

About 50 wagons tucked up behind.

They put new wheels on a wagon
just last week.

I must not put them on right.

On their plates on it.

Now we're unloading these wagons.

Unloading the wagon.

Me, too.

I think the Germans is pretty stupid.

What's the.

Trouble? Break down the fifth section.

About 50 wagons held up.

A legitimate break down.

We all came off the wagon.

You can't run a wagon on three wheels,
General.

It's like we best up here for Noonan.

That's the thing.
It's a little early, Mr. Bridger.

General Jamieson.

Well, I figure we better send to the
soldiers down there to fix them wagons.

Unless we want to set up a blade about

the way you see it. Yep.

So I see it.

There's no mountain straight through.

Any sign of Indians?

No, not yet.

People behave,

sulking, doing
whatever they can to hold this up.

So there's that.

Three more wagons.

What a load of ships.

And we'll have to repack that.

Right there on Rawhide.

That could cost us a whole day.

They want to play tough.

We'll play with them.

Perhaps they ought to stop here
for repairs.

And tell McCullough to come to my wagon
immediately.

Yes, sir.

You tell the general
that I'm busy, Sergeant.

The general wants to see you immediately.

So I don't want to see him immediately
or any other time.

You just tell him I'm busy.

Sir, my orders were to tell you
to come to his wagon immediately.

You have an alternative.

You bring me in, dead or alive.

I'll have to ask the General
for an alternative, sir.

You do. That, Sergeant.

McCullough.

Sergeants are downright
mean. They're all alike.

I've never met one in my life,
but it wasn't me.

The chow, please.

Yes, sir. Mr. McCullough. Right away. Yes.

Throw that coffee.

Ready yet?

How to get the way you look.

If you don't hurry up,
we won't have time to eat lunch.

I only got two hands and two feet.
And you got two heads.

I'm going to take the saddle
out of the Weber wagon when I come back.

I want that chow ready.

That's what you get paid for.

You're going to be amenable, man, Someday.

Now there is a living example
of an excited, huh?

I want to get myself a job
on the new wagon train.

Next time
I get out there and get it to it for me.

Mr. McCullough,

Mr. Bridger

tells me that we're getting close to Snow
Mountain.

You agree with that?

It would be presumptuous
for me to disagree with Mr.

Bridger, don't you think?

My soldiers are taking care

of the latest rash of breakdowns?

I'm getting sick
and tired of these tactics.

I've ordered Sergeant Hogue
to pass the word down the line

that the driver of the next wagon
who holds us up faces arrest


fines and imprisonment.

I don't think you mean it.

And I do, believe me.

I mean.

I wouldn't push the people too far.

I don't care if they hate me.

I've got 120 men caught in a death trap.

They've been there 11 days.
Time's running out.

Threats won't speed up that train,
and neither will bluffing.

And you'd better make it down.

Blame. Clear that I'm not bluffing.

This isn't a w*r of words
between them and me.

This is an effort to save a company of men
every hour lost.

I mean the life of a man or 120 men.

What kind of people are they?

But they may whip like naughty children
before they do what's right.

No, they're not children,
but they're not soldiers either.

They're ordinary people.
And they think independently.

They make up their own minds
about what's right and wrong.

And they resent taking orders
with a g*n in their back.

They're free citizens, General,

and they've got very strong opinions
about the rights of free citizens.

They figure the army is supposed to
protect those rights, not take them away.

I've got to have help.

I always thought that help

was something that was given.

I don't know.

Yes, sir.

That's a little.

Gesture.

You see.

I'm never too old to learn.

Mr. McCullough.

So you made it back.

I told you, no sign of them.

Pesky oath.

I figure they're all.

It's no mountain

anymore. Break down.

No. No incidents this morning

except for a few potshots at my men.

We dance and have no shot.

We can't let them know we're here.

Very well, Mr. Bridger.

There'll be no more shots.

I'm getting sick and tired of dining.

Dining is a woman's work.

All I do all day long, I cook and walk.

And so what do I get out of it?

Why don't you be quiet?

Some, that's all. Never a kind word.

It's only to blame Johnny. Work
your finger to the bone.

Sleep over after volley.

Johnny. I'm trying to think. Yeah.

You'll be sorry when I'm gone too.

Yeah, but you're still here.

You're the new canvas to begin with.

I wouldn't have always done it to do.

You better be quiet about that canvas.

Oh, thin skinned and touchy.

I can't stand. A little criticism.

Everything you do, it's got to be perfect.

Everything I do has got to be wrong.

What are you going to do? Don't touch me.

I'm alone on your bill. Bill.

I got our bill.

Yeah, well, Bill.

Now, now, maybe
he'll crawl out a little bit out here.

Hell, I'll k*ll him.

Okay, Let it go.

There's
no time for you to be clowning around.

I know it's late. I'm sorry.

I know we've got to act normal, All right?

You do a pretty good job.

Maybe you better put on some dry clothes.

If you talk to Jimmy.

I know you're going to. I doubt it.

Why not?

Because I got nothing to say to him.

Are you really Jim Bridger?

Yep. I am proving my passes to Bridges.

Try to smell the whole country.

Prove it, huh?

Well,

tell you what.

You'll bring me a grizzly bar tonight.

What with?

I spent it.

Honest in you.

I don't know that
that's so much Davy Crockett.

Do that.

Not with one foot on Flagstaff
Mountain mountains.

Other on Boulder Ridge.

Davy Crockett.

He had a grizzly bear for a pet.

Yeah, well, you know that.

That Davy Crockett. He was some fella.

I remember one time him and me
had a contest down the Arkansas River.

I said, Davy, let's settle this thing once
and for all.

And so we each plunk down a brand.

New shiny dollar.

And Davy, he bends over
and he picks up a mountain.

Lion.

Under each arm
and only takes himself a run and jump.

And he lands clear across
on the other side of the Arkansas River.

Stand it up straight.

Never even lost his balance.

And then
he just stood there looking at me.

He was waiting to see
what I was going to do.

Wow, there ain't no way to beat that.

True.

I don't mind telling you,

he had me up there for me,

but I wasn't going to give up that silver
dollar without a fight of some time.

So I says, David, let me see them.

Lions.

And so I reached out across the Arkansas
and grabbed

each one of the babies by the tail
and all across the river.

By the time.

Yeah, well, that's that's the best way
to get a good hold on a lion by the tail.

And so then I started work on them around
my head, you know, one, one way,

one time when I got to Worland Good.

Let's go. And

they went way.

Up into the sky.

You know, them lions never come down
to was across the Canadian border,

and they never did come back.

And then old Davy stood on the other side
there, laughing and.

Laughing and. Laughing.

People around thought
they was hearing thunder.

And then he hollers out to me and he says,
Can you keep

The dollar was worth the cartwheel to me
just to see the look on them.

Lions faces

it. Mr.

Bridges, Were you born in the mountains?

No, no, no.

I never was born.

Or one day
there was a big thunderstorm and a bolt

come out of the sky
and it landed, plucked alongside of.

My dad, his cabin.

And I walked out of that thunderbolt,

growed with a tiger back in my hand.

Ooh, yeah.

Time was when I used to tell my stories
to another little boy.

In the long run. Long go.

What happened to little boy

all day?

He grew up. Grew up?

Tony Haney?

Yes, ma'am.

By Mr. Bridger. His brother.

Five boys

come back, see me again.

That lonesome around.

Here?

Well, I missed the middle.

I feel I'm all right.

I'm as good

as the head.

And just keep right on moving, Mr..

McCullough, and we'll both feel better.

Grades Don't. Doesn't help. That's right.

You figure McCullough
sold us out for friendship or money.

You don't really mean that.

I'm doing the best I can.

It happens. Everyone on this train
doesn't agree with that.

Is that so? Yes, that's. So. You're sold.

Your friends got the jump on us back
there, thanks to you.

But we may even things up yet.

Don't start anything.

This place is crawling with engine failure
at base McCullough.

This wagon trains
had about a belly full of it.

You heard what I said.

Don't start anything, Gray.

You better go in

there is turned bitter.

He doesn't mean all he's saying.

Come on in.

There's

someone might see us talking.

To McCullough and get the idea.

We're still friends.

Don't worry about.

It. All.

McCullough.

What is it, Sergeant?

I'm instructed by General Jamieson
to collect all firearms, get the r*fles.

Wait a minute.

What are we going to do if we're attacked?

My orders are to fire on
anyone who refuses to obey the order.

Mr. McCullough,

I regret very much
having to order these men to fire.

Give it to them, Charlie.

Thank you,

General Jamieson, that
if for attack, there will be a m*ssacre.

Colonel James is not afraid of an attack.

And he's a fool.

You'll get your g*ns back
at the proper time

without my g*ns as I was born.

If you'll make it.

We've got to happen to

Where does the army get off
taking our g*ns?

It took hours to.

They can't get away with this.
We're a new country.

You better tell General Jamieson
he's running this train.

You're
supposed to be in charge of this outfit.

Not at the moment, I'm not.

As far as Chris Taylor is concerned.

You are?

Of course.

I was in here, and I'm doing the best
I know how.

You know, the people aren't
speaking to me down the line.

They think we're part of this.

I think we ought to set them straight.

That might mean a mutiny.

Maybe that's what we ought to have.

Maybe we should have done that
in the first place.

That'd show our position
to every youth in the territory.

Well, I'm not sure we can stop a mutiny.

I do not.

But you ought. To walk down the line
and see.

How popular you are right now.

I'm not
out here to win a popularity contest

trying to save this train
all the way to save it.

It's to get back control.

I have submitted a cent.

Maybe you can't decide.

Maybe the people are right.

Maybe you're too close to Jim Bridger

to see the truth of things.

Maybe.

But all I've got.

Oh, I guess it's her time.

Captain Fox is a Duffy that just said no.

You stay away from my wife.
It's your fault that we're here.

That's not important.
Now. You stay out of this.

What matters now is your wife.

Don't be a fool at the doctor. Go in.

I brought many a baby into the world,
young man.

Oh, please help her, Doctor.

Please.

All right, you folks, that isn't
the first baby we've had on the trail.

Charlie, you get the water boiling,
and I think you need.

Ladies, You just tell us.

We aren't going any farther today, are we?

I don't know.
That's up to General Jamieson.

How about it, gentlemen?

Three more hours of daylight.

We'll get an early start tomorrow.

All right, folks, we camp right here.

Thanks, General.

Hi. New Coffee.

But it takes a year to make it taste
like a coffee plant again.

You notice change down the line?

Well, I'm not sure.

At least the people are starting to say
hello again.

Have some encouragement.

You know, there's a bunch of young fellows
gallons of the kale wagon.

Well, it can't stop them from gathering.

Haven't really set them up.

Yeah, we better keep our eyes on them.

I want their g*ns well, stowed away.

What's the matter with you, anyway?

Every time a baby's born,
it's like when I get nervous.

That's why you're not the mom or the papa.

You what? I'm gonna go.

Are you sure, Charlie?

Every time one of I have a boy or a girl
that you have, we might have both.

Hey, that's an idea.

I never had twins before. Patrick,

where are you going?

I'm going to go to the General.

With Norm at the bar. Yep.

We're going to fight them.

Your guess is as good as mine, Charlie.

You know Jim?

Well,
I'm off to get myself a look at them.

Pesky you'd be back for on a

name of God, man.

You be careful, General.

The dimensions never got me yet.

Maybe not,

but I'm uneasy tonight.

Well, I.

I've known considerable generals
in my time and every single one of them.

But I need you for a battle, Mr.

Bridger.

The Army owes
you more than it can ever repay.

For that matter.

The whole country.

And I consider myself fortunate.

Count you among my friends and, well,
I'm coming back.

You talk like you was telling me. Goodbye.

You look pure.

Tuckered out

A couple of hours
sleep will make everything look bright.

Maybe so.

Say before sunup.

Let's see that you do, Mr. Bridger.

I see that you do do.

I feel I've seen him for the last time

without us.

You know the matter. That's what he said.

I'm going to people that think so much

alike become devoted.

I guess,
because we are divided responsibilities.

I don't like this
feeling of half an ocean.

And then after.

It wouldn't come down to scouts,
No mountain.

People you've taught.

Them? No.

Nobody has to tell me
where Bridger went tonight.

You've held all this against him.

He didn't know you were in command
this time.

When he found out it didn't change.

I'm the one that took the train.
The command is mine.

It shouldn't come between you and.

I came to ask
if your plans are the same for tomorrow.

They are

you going to me.

Over after my help?

In the beginning, I didn't approve
of bringing women and children then.

And I still don't.

But we're here, and I'd like to know
what's expected of us.

If nothing's changed.

The Indians are camped
at the foot of the mountain.

I want you to line your wagons up abreast,
going to put the cameramen

out front flags and bugles,
and we'll charge those Indian.

Now, if we put on a good enough show

building, think
half the armies with no panic and scatter.

That'll give them hope and a chance
to get down the hill.

Those men on the mountain are soldiers.

They face danger and death before.

They're not strangers to it.

And if they survive
tomorrow, the minute again.

But they chose this life.

It's their job.

Remember that these people know.

You would never know For me.

I captured the settlers and pioneers
and brought them out here

at gunpoint to do a soldier's job that
maybe I didn't have the right to do it.

I've been in the Army since I was a boy.

I suppose I just lost
sight of the gentler ways of doing things.

You've given me something to think about.

I tell you that.

Well, you've given me

something to think about to, General.

I say the fact that

soldiering and pioneering
go hand in hand and

one answer that helps the other.

I might add, you're going to return.

I'm going to apologize to these people.

I'm going to tell them my plan

as their help.

I pray to God to give it to me.



A whole company of men.

That sounds like it.

All right.

Come on.

Let's find out.

Full of comings and goings.

Child is sent

and a man is taken.

It's always hail and farewell.

The g*ns have been taken out of our backs,

trains and our hands and afraid to move

before we pull out in the morning.

We've got a decision to make

and we should try and make it
without any bitterness if we can.

As you know, for the last several days,

General Jamieson
and I have had two points of view,

and I suppose we're both right

that is dependent on how you look at it.

But I'm sure there are more
than two points of view on anything.

And before we make a decision, I think

even though Mr.

Bridger
and I don't always agree with each other,

I think we ought to hear what he's

got to say.

Well, I got an ax to grind.

I thought I'd be the first to tell you

I come through this country
when tried safer.

No white man who travels open on his belly

that way.

I got a real close
look at the good black earth around here

and the green things growing,

and I commence thinking of the people back

east of closed in
with the smokestacks and cement.

I've got to be for them out here.

And pretty soon the wagons started coming

for quite a spell there,

it seemed more folks died to come
and then got where there was going.

And then the army of g*ns ended in help

Grant always
where and how US men felt a lot too.

But well,

and you folks wouldn't have got
as far as you have

if it weren't for a lot of battles
being fought and

a lot of good men dying for you got here.

The Army brung law and order to the West.

Now, it ain't reasonable

to get all that protection

and then to go right on through
and forget about it.

Everything is.

But we are having a price
and you should ought to pay your share

of the army.

Come to the West to make it safe.

Well, I figure they got a right

to a helping hand from them
that they're keeping safe.

Could you turn this train around?

Go away.

Leave them men up there in the mountains

to get m*rder*d.

I don't think there's a single one of you
to sleep at night, sir.

If you wish to do it.

It seems to me that

Mr. Bridger makes a lot of sense.

But it's up to you
folks to make the decision.

But take a vote

and we'll turn around and head

back for California.

We'll go on to Snow Mountain.

Up to you.

And we haven't exactly

seen over these last few days.

And wrong the way you were saying things,

only way you could say them, do your job.

I could have seen them go away.

I mean, I should realize that

everybody out here sort of has to

help everybody.

I live considerable more years than you.

I've got hindsight.

Hindsight comes with the years

when I was your age, right.

And folks West, I only thought of the ones
I was responsible for, too.

And these

later years I

come to think of all of the wagon train,

all of the Army commands is one one large

group of Americans
going west in the history

that really

here's to me.

I have been doing considerable
speechifying these last few hours.

Well, I want to admit a lesson

that I once said to me that a man
should never be too old to learn.

Speak that fellow's right.

Take care of yourself.

You too.

See, concerned, ornery

little dad for the.