The beginning of a day.
September 7th, 1878.
It dawned like any other day on the Cheyenne reservation...
...in that vast barren land in the American Southwest...
...which was then called Indian Territory.
But this wasn't just another day to the Cheyenne.
Far from their homeland...
...as out of place in this desert as eagles in a cage...
...their three great chiefs prayed over the sacred bundle...
...that at last, the promises made to them...
...when the white man sent them here more than a year ago...
...would today be honored.
The promises that had led them to give up their own way of life...
...in their own green and fertile country, 1500 miles to the north.
- Good morning, Wichowsky. - Troops all present or accounted for, sir.
Thank you.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
Can I steal some of your coffee?
- Help yourself. - Thanks.
Any news?
Here comes another name now.
- Senator. - Great.
Looks like we're gonna be up to our ears in congressmen.
Well, the more the better.
I wish every bigwig in Washington could see this place.
Deborah, they're here already.
Lord knows when the Congressional Committee will arrive.
I don't blame them for being early.
You and I know what this means to them, uncle.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J...
...K., L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.
Wonderful. Come help me set the table.
Attention!
- Scott. - Good morning, sir.
- Sergeant. - Good morning, sir.
- Archer. - Good morning, sir.
- Indians, huh? - Yep.
Any word from the Congressional Party?
They haven't left Fort Scott yet.
Well, let me know. Keep me advised.
Yes, sir.
Wichowsky, put the men at ease.
Let them smoke...
...if they've got anything to smoke, which I doubt.
At ease!
You're ready to smoke!
- Good morning, friend Thomas. - Good morning, friend Deborah.
Well, now, where have you been hiding that dress?
That's pretty stylish for a Quaker.
I made it just for this great day.
It's mighty pretty.
Do you know when they'll arrive?
Well, you can't expect speed from congressmen...
...but they ought to be here any minute now.
Well, I'd offer to help you, but I can see you don't need it.
Oh, don't I, now?
Well, the leg on the senator's chair seems to be stuck.
Senator, huh?
Well, let's see what's wrong.
There we are.
All neat and tidy for the senator.
- Thank you. - You're welcome. Anytime.
Friend Deborah, where do you want the senator's chair?
I think I'll put him at the head of the table.
He'd like that.
Plumtree, go down the road.
Let us know when those gentlemen from the East arrive.
Hour after hour they waited under the hot sun.
Waited for the moment when their prayer would be answered.
When the white chiefs from Washington would see for themselves...
...how the Cheyenne had been forgotten.
- Archer! - Yes, sir.
When is that blasted party coming anyway?
- I don't know, sir. - You don't know, sir.
- Hey, you. - Sir.
Any news on that party from the East yet?
No. No, sir. Nothing since 11:30.
Eleven-thirty?
- Do you realize it's 5:30 now? - Yes, sir.
Archer, see what he wants.
Plumtree.
I ain't a-getting paid for thinking, sir but I don't think them folks is a-coming.
Just came in from Fort Reno, sir.
I'll be damned!
"Congressional Committee delayed by bumpy roads and dust storms.
Decided to return to Reno in order to rest up for the Officers' Ball tonight."
You mean they're not coming here at all?
How long do they expect me to wait to build some barracks out here?
Archer, I'm going to Fort Reno, see to it.
Friend major, please...
...will you tell them about the medicine and the food the Indians need?
And all the things that were promised?
Uncle, you must make him listen.
How can I?
You know what he thinks of Quakers.
You've been here from the beginning.
You've watched them die of smallpox and measles and malaria.
You've watched them starve. Haven't you anything to say?
Nothing that you can't say better.
Major Braden!
I'm asking you to plead for justice.
I'm asking you to make them realize...
...that over a thousand Cheyenne were brought here...
...and only 286 are left alive.
Miss Wright, my responsibility to the Indians is only to guard them.
When you have reached my age, you will have realized...
...that it pays to stick to your own knitting.
That's exactly what I intend to do.
Dull Knife! Little Wolf!
What happened today changes nothing.
The Indian Bureau is still pledged to provide you...
...with adequate clothing and rations.
You are still pledged to abide by the law.
Remember that.
We are asked to remember much.
The white man remembers nothing.
You spoke the truth for us.
This we will not forget.
But there will be no more school.
Oh, no.
Oh, no, please don't do that to the children.
The white man's words are lies!
It is better that our children not learn them.
It is not the words, but who speaks them.
Has speaking white men's words made you a liar?
Our words were learned long ago.
When some white men still spoke truth.
And so began, what to most people...
...must seem to be only a footnote in history.
It ain't in my department, sir...
...but looks to me like them kids is a-playing hooky.
You're gonna be pretty lonesome, friend School Teacher.
No scholars.
They'll come.
When?
Spanish Woman!
Friend Deborah, leave this place.
Friend Thomas, you know I came here to carry out a task.
I can't leave now.
Bunking in this schoolhouse won't help.
It will show them that I'm on their side.
Not unless you can change color.
You know what they call whites?
- And veho means "spider"! - Means "spider"!
That's right.
- That's what they think of all of us. - And why shouldn't they?
How many Cheyennes have you fought? How many have you killed?
Deborah, look, will you take the blinders off just for once?
You claim no self-respecting Quaker could fall in love with a soldier...
...but you've fallen in love with a whole tribe of them.
Have you ever seen a Cheyenne?
- Of course, I have. - No, you haven't!
All you've seen is reservation Indians, looking pitiful as fish out of water.
But give them a chance, they're the greatest fighters in the world.
Will you listen to me?
It takes a blue coat to make a white man a soldier.
But a Cheyenne is a soldier from the first slap on his bottom.
War is his life. He's fierce, he's smart.
And he's meaner than sin.
Possibly you can only think of the past, but I'm here to think about the future.
All right.
You think of the future.
Want some help?
I'll manage.
Better keep that lamp lit tonight.
And if anything happens, ring the bell.
- Little Wolf. - Yes?
- What's happened? - This is not the place for you.
Spanish Woman...
...where are they going?
- Home. - Home?
What you call Yellowstone country.
What about the children?
They are Cheyenne.
But who will care for them?
We will do what we can.
They are Cheyenne.
Dull Knife, the old chief is much too sick.
He'll never make such a trip. Let...
If he lives to ride even a mile closer to home...
...he will die as a man should.
There will be no more dying in this place.
They've skipped.
Thank God.
What the hell do you mean by that?
I've waited since I was 10 years old for this chance.
Then you're a damned idiot.
I want D Troop ready and mounted in 10 minutes.
E Troop and wagons to follow under your command.
No artillery. Plumtree!
- Come here! - Yes, sir!
E Troop and train reporting, sir.
You brought the wagons along too fast, Mr. Scott.
Draft animals can't stand it.
They can rest up tonight.
They can?
Well, that's an assumption you had no right to make.
We're gonna keep moving.
That's fine with me, sir.
- Scott, tell me something. - Sir?
What put the blood in your eye?
It's just a private matter, sir.
Nothing that affects an officer's conduct is private.
My father died in the Fetterman Massacre back in '66.
Mother and I were at the fort when they brought his body in.
I was only 10 years old.
Until that time, I never wanted to be a soldier.
Well, that doesn't give you a personal license to kill Indians.
The job of this Army is to keep the peace.
I understand, sir.
You do, huh?
Well, just make sure you understand...
...these Cheyenne broke no law when they left the Agency.
And they won't unless they cross the river.
So if you provoke trouble...
...I�ll see that you lose those shoulder straps...
...if I have to tear them off myself.
Understood?
Understood, sir.
Mr. Scott!
Sir?
I knew your father.
- Guide on! - Sir.
Troop, halt!
Prepare to dismount!
Dismount!
- Sir! - Yes.
Are you going to let them jump the reservation right bef?
They haven't jumped the reservation.
They haven't crossed the river yet.
- Sir, I most respectfully object to... - Put it in writing.
Join your troop, mister.
Sir.
No. No, thanks.
Spanish Woman, what's happening?
I think war.
Spanish Woman, speak to Dull Knife.
He'll listen to you.
I can do nothing.
Nothing.
- School teacher. - Little Wolf, you promised...
Take the children, join the others.
Troop, halt!
- Plumtree. - Sir?
I don't like the look of it.
Take a look up that canyon.
- Yes, sir. - Jones, you cover him.
Jones!
Name's Smith, sir.
Oh, well, go on up with him. Go on!
- All right? - Yes, sir.
But that canyon there is plumb full of Indians.
- On ride into line! Yo! - Hey, Smitty, wait a minute.
On ride into line! Yo!
You've got a lot to explain to a court martial, Archer.
Sergeant...
Cannon's ready?
Forward on the double!
Cannon forward on the double!
Prepare to dismount!
- Prepare to dismount! - Dismount!
Now!
Motion!
All soldiers to the rear!
Stop!
- Major, I've got to tell you... - Go back to your troop.
...the majority of those people are women and children!
- Maybe 50 or 60 warriors. - Archer, you're under arrest.
Number one gun, fire!
Number two gun, fire!
Fire number one.
Fire.
Cease firing!
Where's the major?
- Is he? - Yes, sir.
They're angry because my son fired the first shot.
Does it ever matter who fires the first shot?
Those dirty, murdering...
- The major's dead, sir. - Pick up the horses.
- I said, the major's dead, sir! - Shut up!
Aren't you gonna give them a?
Plumtree, Brown, get the horses off the wagons.
- Yes, sir. - Yo.
- Name's Smith, sir. - All right, get to work!
My son says, "The soldiers do not follow."
Dull Knife, you know the soldiers will have to follow us.
Have you thought what will happen to your wife and son?
There will be war.
- Little Wolf. - These are my wives.
I pray the young one will give me sons.
But I want them to be born where I and all my people before me were born.
Even a dog can go where he likes...
...but not a Cheyenne.
You may go where you like.
No.
But...
The report from the Army's field telegrapher...
...to headquarters in Omaha listed only nine casualties incurred...
...in the troop's first encounter with the homeward-bound Cheyenne.
But by the time it came off the press in Kansas City...
...somehow it had mysteriously grown to 29.
And suddenly it expanded to 59, 69, 109...
...when the news reached the tiny hamlets of the Western Plains.
Meanwhile, the Army was frantically deploying troops along the 1200 miles...
...that still lay between the Cheyenne and their homeland.
The railroads they had to cross were patrolled.
River crossings watched.
The alarm was spreading through the West.
Settlers crossing the plains demanded Army escorts.
Or they rushed frantically to the safety of Army posts.
No one asked how many Indians had escaped.
The word Cheyenne was enough.
And in Washington heated words echoed through the Halls of Congress.
The Department of the Interior was crowded...
...with western railroad tycoons, mine owners and land speculators.
All such people to whom Indian scares meant lost dollars.
While the generals came to fix the blame on Carl Schurz...
...the Secretary of the Interior.
In his misguided effort to eliminate corruption in the Indian Bureau...
...it was Mr. Schurz who had brought in the Quakers.
And to the Army it was obviously the Quakers...
...who had encouraged the Cheyenne to rebel.
In all the land there was not one voice raised in behalf of the Cheyenne until...
In The Sun, the Times, Chronicle.
Take your pick. They're all saying the same things we're saying:
"Bloodthirsty savages on the loose.
Burning, killing, violating beautiful white women!"
It's not news anymore.
We're gonna take a different tack.
From now on, we're going to grieve for the noble red man.
We'll sell more paper that way.
Now, see to it!
But by now any rumor could be believed.
Because suddenly the news from the West had stopped.
The Cheyenne and their pursuers had disappeared into the emptiness...
...and silence of the thinly populated continent.
- Mr. Secretary. - Come in. Come in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary.
Now, no matter what you may have heard...
We assure you there's nothing personal about our proposed legislation.
The entire Senate has the greatest respect for you...
...you know that.
But all I know is that you're trying to snatch the Indian Bureau away...
...from my department and hand it over to the Army.
Mr. Senator?
Have you ever seen a Cheyenne?
An Arapaho? Any Indian?
Have you ever been west of the Mississippi River?
- What are driving at, sir? - Well, just this.
Why are three eastern senators suddenly so concerned about Indians?
Well, it's strictly a matter of economy.
The Army has to be out there anyway.
Oh, so that's all it is.
I was afraid perhaps that some of the dollar patriots...
...who are sleeping on my doorstep might have been sleeping on yours.
Sir, are you questioning our honesty of purpose?
No more than I question theirs.
Their honest purpose is to grab every acre of land...
...the Indians once thought they owned.
You can't say that's Army policy.
Well, I can say it amounts to the same thing.
The smaller the reservations, the easier they are to guard.
You let the Army have its way...
...and they'll end up the size of postage stamps.
Exactly what the land-grabbers want.
We'll be late for that committee meeting.
- Excuse us, Mr. Secretary. - Oh, Henry.
You and I fought together at Gettysburg...
...yet you'd never even seen a Negro slave.
All you ever knew...
...is that they were human beings with the rights of human beings.
And it was worth an arm to you.
Carl, I'll stall this legislation, but unless those Cheyenne are found soon...
...or if you make one false move, God help you.
God help me.
Leave us.
When Little Wolf speaks veho words they are for my ears alone.
This I say:
We have always thought as one.
Never has the thickness of a straw come between us.
We still think as one.
As war chief...
...I may raise my hand only against the enemy.
We still think as one.
That is why I must sleep with no wife...
...saving all my strength for a fight against the soldiers.
But your son...
...tries to steal my youngest wife.
This cannot be.
He is of my blood.
And my blood has never been bad.
He is of your blood...
...but he is not you.
Troop, halt!
Sergeant.
Mr. Scott.
Unlimber the guns!
If we attack, I think we're in for a beating.
- Here's what I want... - Their backs are to the wall!
And a lot of flat land to cross before we get there.
I'd rather force them to attack us.
- Well, they ain't done nothing foolish yet. - I know.
- Take D Troop, get on their flanks. - Sir.
Mr. Scott, dismount half of E Troop to protect the guns and wagons.
Then you move out with the rest to cover the right flank.
Yes, sir.
And remember, Mr. Scott...
...the trick to being brave is not to be too brave.
- Any questions? - No questions, sir.
Right.
Plumtree, Murphy, take the point!
Take the point. Yo!
A little faster on there, come on.
Hurry up there.
You all right?
Well, yes, sir.
On left, to the line.
Forward at the walk. Yo!
Walk trot!
- What in the hell is that kid doing? - As you were.
What the hell is he doing?
Canter!
Company, charge!
Mr. Scott!
Scott!
Damn you!
Front left, into line!
Yo!
Prepare to dismount.
- Get the guns out! - They're at the wagons.
- Get the guns. Move! - Yes, sir.
- Come on, move it. - Come on.
- Get them out of there. - Let's go.
Come on. Come on. Get out of there.
Mr. Scott!
- I told you to cover that flank. - I'm sorry, sir.
From now on, you don't scratch till I itch, is that clear?
Yes, sir.
Plumtree, Thompson.
Here, let me help.
Sir...
Despite the Indian scare, an occasional cattle herd...
...still came up the Chisholm Trail from Texas...
...to the railhead in Dodge City, Kansas.
Sometimes the hungry Cheyenne...
...were able to pick up a few stray cows.
And sometimes they even begged for charity from the tough trailhands.
Yo, there.
Jessie, Homer, Shug. Come here. Come here.
Hey, come on. Come here.
Slow down.
Lookit there. Real blanket-head Injuns.
I sure would like to have me that little paint.
And I sure would like to kill me an Injun.
Can't you gut-eaters talk any Texican?
Yes, sir. I'd sure love to kill me an Injun.
I dare you, Homer.
- You dare me? - I dare you.
I always wanted to kill me an Injun.
All them old-timers back home...
...a- hoorahing about how many scalps they've took.
Jessie, that's one of them there, one of them there Cheyenne.
We better skedaddle and get that herd out of here.
- Let's go. - Not till I get my scalp, we won't.
G-O-O-D. Good.
G-O-O. Good.