How The West Was Won (1978) s01e00 Episode Script
Pilot
It's been said that the West was won with guns and gold.
It was not.
It was won by the courage of simple people who had pushed their ponderous wagons forever West through 200,000 square miles of awesome wilderness.
Some were drawn by the lure of gold.
But for the most part, they were families moved by the dream of a new beginning.
This story is about such a family.
Their name, Macahan.
The sons and daughters of Katherine Macahan were destined to write their own brilliant pages into the history of the West.
But in the beginning the only member of the family whose name had already been touched by the stuff of legend was a man cut in the image of Bridger and Bowie and Jeremiah Johnson.
Zebulon Macahan.
I ain't never seen a Sioux yet didn't jump when he heard the devil.
Go ahead and carve, feather brain.
All you're gonna get out of me is this.
Macahan, how about telling these ring-tailed Sioux to turn me loose? Who's buying scalps, Dutton? What would I know about scalping? You peddled whiskey to a Sioux hunting party about three days ago.
I counted six bodies.
They were still warm.
It was you.
Your sign was all over the place.
Yeah, one of them got away upriver and took his scalp with him.
Turned out he was carrying a grudge.
Sicced the others on us.
Yates is dead.
So is Bullion and Juno.
Yeah.
Seems like they're kind of saving you special, don't it? You just here for supper or are you gonna help me out of this? Tell him they can still have the pleasure of seeing him die.
- They're invited to the hanging.
- Hanging? And tell them if they come to the hanging, there'll be a dozen steers for them.
Hanging? We trailed together, Macahan.
You're just running a bluff.
No bluff.
Get his horse.
You turned injun-Iover on me.
Now, Dutton, one more word out of you we're just liable to leave you here.
Is that what you want? Being locked up I don't like it.
I need the sky over my head, just like you.
Hunting and trapping, that's the only life for a man.
I heard there was beaver up at Bear Paw.
A harvest of them.
We could leave right now and head north.
They was just Indians, Zeb.
You been in their lodges.
You seen their scalp poles.
Yeah.
And one of them was Lame Deer.
We used to winter with him.
He trusted you, Dutton.
The Army don't kill you, I will.
Let's go.
Riders coming in.
Take him to the guardhouse.
- Colonel.
- Macahan that guardhouse will not hold me.
I'll get out.
When I do, it's your scalp I'll be taking.
And I'll carve you slow just like them Sioux aim to do to me.
I ain't never carved no white man, Macahan.
You'll be my first.
You promised him what? Take it easy, colonel, before you bust something.
You just can't go around promising every savage in this country beef.
There was only a dozen of them, colonel.
A war party after Dutton.
Why didn't you just let them kill Dutton? As a matter of fact I thought of that before I went in there.
But there was three reasons why I didn't wanna.
Three reasons? Well, in the first place you told me to bring him in.
I like to finish what I start.
And two? Well, Dutton's not only got the Sioux stirred up but the Crow and the Blackfeet too.
Looks like the whole territory is about to break out into an Indian war.
Third.
Well, I've seen the Indians peel a man, colonel, inch at a time.
Sioux are expert at it.
They can keep a strong man alive for two days that way.
Not even Dutton deserves to die like that.
You risked your life to save a man like Dutton yet my sergeant tells me he's seen you carve men up pretty good with that Bowie knife, not even turn a hair.
Heh, well, those men were trying pretty hard to carve on me too, colonel.
Tends to put a different light on it.
Now, uh, I promised Bear Dance a dozen head of steer.
Is he gonna get them? He gets them and an invitation to the hanging.
Come in.
Message for you, sir.
This is from Colonel Collins.
What's the matter, colonel? My father, he's dead.
That's 10 years' worth of letters.
Every one of them asking me when I was coming home.
I meant to get back.
God help me, I did.
I was all the family he had I let him die alone.
Bringing Dutton in, ahem, may ease things for a while but I'm still concerned about those settlers between here and the Sioux villages.
I want them evacuated.
Colonel, maybe you better get somebody else this time.
- Been 10 years since I've seen my folks.
- All the way back to Virginia? They're getting old too.
You could be riding into a war.
Dispatches say it's just a matter of time.
Yeah, I know.
Colonel, look, about those settlers give a few men to Billy Joe.
- He'll get the job done for you.
- He ready for that? I broke him in.
When are we leaving? I'm not going, you are.
And you? Well, uh, Billy Joe, I'm going back home.
Back to Virginia.
Look, I told the colonel you're the man for the job while I'm gone.
You let me down you're gonna be looking for your praying bones.
Meantime, don't you forget what I taught you.
You shoot them where they look the biggest.
And don't go far as hell for no woman.
- So long, Billy Joe.
- So long.
- I will not see him again.
- You'll see him again.
He'll be back.
- Mattie.
- Hmm? Come here.
Look who's coming.
- Oh, Pa.
Pa, heh.
- Heh.
Zebulon.
Zebulon.
Oh, Zeb.
Oh, Zeb.
- Pa.
- Hello, Zeb.
About time you was paying us a visit.
Jed, where's Laura? - She's supposed to be helping.
- I don't know.
Bet she's up in her room again, primping in front of that looking glass.
- You tell her to get her bustle down here.
- You tell her.
I'm tired of telling her.
Besides, I'm not just a messenger boy around here, you know.
I got more important things to do than to look after Laura.
Oh, God.
Jed, you all right? Fixed it good for you, Ma.
Won't leak again for 100 years.
Thank you.
Ah, do you mind taking it in the house and boiling some water and filling the tub? Yes, ma'am.
- Have you seen your brother? - Ah.
Now, Jessie just asked me if I'd seen Laura.
She's supposed to be working in the corn crib.
You haven't answered me about Seth.
- Well, have you seen him? - I've seen him.
Less than an hour ago with his rifle.
Oh, Laura.
Laura.
Laura, are you in there? Yes, Mother.
- What are you doing in that dress? - The church meeting.
Oh, my, I didn't realize it was getting that late.
- Near 5:00, Ma.
- I better get your father.
Timothy.
- Supper's ready.
- Ah.
I'll be along by the time the table's set.
Oh, you've done enough work for one day.
Besides, it's time to get ready for church.
- That time again already, is it? - Yes, it's that time again already.
- One evening out of a whole week - I know.
I know.
Have you seen Seth? Yeah, I seen him around, been a couple of hours.
You know you've seen that boy going off with his rifle when he should be patching the roof.
Now, Kate, don't be too hard on him.
He's young and a mite restless.
When you were his age, you were working.
When I was his age, I had you wedded and bedded and got you a child.
- In double quick time too.
- Heh.
Brazen man you are, Timothy Macahan.
Never heard any complaints from you before.
And I'll not discuss that matter with you now.
And I'll not have you changing the subject so sneakily, either.
I don't like you protecting Seth.
- There's work to be done.
- Ugh.
Oh, Seth just needs to spread his shoulders some.
Just needs to see what it's like on the other side.
He's like your brother.
They're alike.
Zeb's a good man, Kate.
He's just not meant to settle down in one spot that's all.
- He's a drifter and a gambler.
- Oh, Kate.
- And a pagan.
- Kate.
He is a godless man.
And the Lord knows what else these last 10 years.
I don't like the idea of Seth taking on like him.
Well, guess you can expect Seth home any minute now.
Hey, Seth, hold up.
- Well, what are you wearing? - Confederate gray.
29th Virginia Volunteers.
Seth, where've you been? - Henry? - Mrs.
Macahan.
Just come on my way over to say my goodbyes.
Where you going? They're putting us on a train to Richmond tonight.
I don't know from there.
- Why, Henry? - To kill Yankees, ma'am.
But there's no war, not yet.
At least, not fighting.
But there's gonna be.
It's been over two weeks since we fired on Sumter.
Yankees already calling up troops.
But my sergeant says the war's gonna be over before we know it.
Says any Yankees cross into Missouri is gonna be dead.
- You and Jed volunteer before it's all over.
- Oh, they'll do no such thing.
- We have no stake in this war.
- You're not gonnajoin up, Seth? Well, they must figure the fighting gonna start pretty soon.
You betcha.
You best join up, Seth.
The captain says them as volunteers now will have it a lot better than them that has to be conscripted.
Seth, you better go wash up.
We'll be late for church.
So long, Henry.
Good luck to you.
Be back as soon as we finish off them Yankees.
So long, Mrs.
Macahan.
Henry, God bless you.
The way things look I'm not gonna have much choice.
Jed neither.
Well, I'm glad we're not eating in there.
It's like an oven.
Heh, really.
Jessie, where's Laura? - Still fretting and primping.
- Well, tell her to get a hurry on.
Jed too.
Get some, uh, forks and knives.
Don't touch that.
Tim Macahan.
You got two minutes to break out ajug.
- It's Uncle Zeb.
- Is it, Pa? By heaven, it is.
Zeb! Well, you're the last man I ever expected to see.
What are you doing around here? I figured it was time I got back and checked up on you.
God.
Kate, look who's here.
- Hello, Kate.
- Oh, Zeb, what a surprise.
- You're looking fine.
- Thank you.
Seth.
Golly, you have growed to a man.
I was 12 years old last time you saw me, Uncle Zeb.
He's more like you than we care to think about.
Heh, yeah.
- This must be Jed.
- Yes, sir.
Jed, last time I saw you, you had to climb up on that well to get a drink, heh.
- You growed some too.
- Still am, Uncle Zeb.
- Growing, I mean, heh.
- Uncle Zeb.
Since I was high as a grasshopper, been hearing about you.
You're a mighty legend around here.
This must be Laura? - No.
- That's Jessie.
Jessie.
By golly, last time I saw you, you was in diapers.
- Well, I was near 5.
- Yeah.
And look at you now.
Uncle Zeb.
Uncle Zeb.
Wait a minute.
This can't be Laura.
She was just a gangly little filly.
You tough old gal, heh.
- Any prettier, she'd be dangerous.
- Oh, Uncle Zeb.
Go fetch your grandparents.
Tell them Zeb is here.
I stopped by.
They're on their way.
Boys, take care of your uncle's horses.
You're in time for supper.
Come on in here and wash up and I want to hear all about Oregon and all them places.
- I'd love to tell you.
- Uncle Zeb is it true it's always hot in California? Well, now, it sure is.
You know one time out there, remember a fella came down with a case of the chills well, people come from miles around just to watch him shake.
Come on in here.
I wanna hear all about it.
Zeb, all this talk of gold in California, anything to that? Yeah.
Oh, sure is.
Folks been heading out there since '49.
- Some of them strike it rich.
- I heard you struck it rich, Uncle Zeb.
Well, I did all right for a while and then it kind of all sifted away.
A lot of temptations out there.
What sort of temptation you talking about, Zeb? Shh! Never mind about that.
There's children listening.
Uncle Zeb, we've been hearing about some Indian trouble out there.
Yeah.
They've been some and there gonna be more.
Why do you say that? Well, because the Army's moving troops back east here because of the war.
- Then what we been hearing is true.
- Yes.
There's gonna be a fight, all right.
Comes down to it, Zeb, would you, uh, fight? Well, I don't know.
I would have fought there at the Alamo with Crockett and Bowie if I'd heard about it in time.
But that was different.
That was Texans fighting Mexicans.
Uh, here where you got Americans fighting Americans you have to kill one of your own over that, uh, slavery issue, I don't know.
Ah, Missouri and Kansas feuding.
Freestaters, abolitionists, secession.
Now there's a word I never even heard of till six months ago.
I don't know.
I just don't understand any of it.
Ones who do the fighting and the dying, they usually don't.
Well, I don't wanna hear any more about it.
All this talk of war.
How can you talk about young men boys, going off to die so casually over the dinner table.
- I don't wanna hear any more about it.
- Sit down.
War's not gonna go away because we don't talk about it.
War happens.
It's gonna affect a lot of people around here, including us.
So we might as well face it.
It's time for church.
Zeb, I thought you had presents for these folks.
He gave me a Cheyenne peace pipe and Grandma a necklace out of bear teeth except, heh, she's kind of scared to wear it.
- Oh, Grandma.
- Presents? - Honest, Uncle Zeb? - Well, uh I don't wanna hold you up from your church meeting.
We could be a little late.
This one time.
- Oh, isn't it lovely.
- That's real nice.
You know, the squaw ladies chew on that to make it soft.
Ew! - Thanks, Uncle Zeb.
- Sure.
Laura, that's for you.
I'll tell you what that is.
That's a porcupine tail.
The Shoshone girls make those into hairbrushes and they scent them up with some kind of ointment.
Draws the bucks.
- Thank you, Uncle Zeb, it's beautiful.
- Sure.
Jed, that's for you.
That's called a Green River.
Used to belong to a man named Hard Luck Hays.
Killed a cougar with that.
What happened to him? Hard Luck, I mean? Yeah, well, unfortunately, the cougar killed him too.
- That's yours now.
- Thanks.
Now, let's see here.
- Seth, that's yours.
- This has always been your gun.
Well, I know, but, uh, remembered you always liked it and I been, uh, carrying a new Army Colt the past few months so I'm gonna give this to you.
- Well, thanks, Uncle Zeb.
We were just talking about Uncle Zeb, Mama.
Your Uncle Zeb will be here in the morning, girls.
Now go to sleep.
Timothy? What's Zeb doing out there? I fixed a place for him downstairs.
I reckon sleeping under a roof closes him in.
You really envy him.
Free to go wherever the spirit moves him.
Oh, there's no use denying a part of me envies him, Kate.
But nothing in this life is free.
You want something bad enough you gotta give up something to get it.
A man marries and has a family he's gotta pay the price.
Freedom? Like Zeb's got.
I don't think either one of us would change a thing if we had it to do all over again.
But if it wasn't for us, you'd do like Zeb, wouldn't you? - Ah, well - Well, wouldn't you? I got a family, Kate.
But men with families do go West, don't they? - Yeah, sure, but - Then why can't we? You saying we should leave here and head West? That's what I'm saying.
Kate, you love this place here.
- It'd mean starting all over again.
- Well, your family did it.
So did mine.
Besides, living with a man with your sort of itch can change a woman's mind.
I knew I'd have to, sooner or later.
Especially today, watching your face while Zeb was talking.
The way you been reading his letters over and over.
You've lived up to what any man could.
You've given me over 20 good years.
Now it's my turn to give back.
Kate, there's more to it than that.
Well, this war.
It's gone past rumors now.
Henry Jethro walking by today wearing a uniform ready to kill or die.
Any man able to hold a rifle will be forced to fight.
I'm not gonna lose any of you in a war we have no stake in.
Even if it means pulling up and leaving.
Timothy, it's what you've always wanted.
Now it's what I want too.
It's the middle of the night.
You think I can go to sleep after what you just said? I gotta talk to Zeb.
You'll find the jug on the top shelf of the cupboard.
- What's it doing there? - Boys are growing.
No sense leaving temptation lying about.
Well, don't just stand there with one foot in the air, brother, come on in, heh.
I was just testing you.
Like being among civilized folks hasn't cost you your touch.
Well, I guess a man gets used to sleeping with one ear open.
It's kind of a hard habit to break, heh.
Glad you came out, Tim.
Been a long time since you and me sat around the fire talking women and horses.
How long you staying? Well, at least a ways long enough for you to get off what's on your mind.
Zeb, tell me something.
How much would it cost to outfit a family traveling West? - How far West you talking about? - California, Oregon.
Places you've been writing about in your letters.
Tim, you ain't thinking about leaving this place.
Just tell me.
I don't know.
I reckon a family your size be 7-, $800.
Not only that, it's, uh Well, it it's too late for westering.
- Why? - Well, it's end April.
Now, if you was to leave here tomorrow you couldn't get to Missouri till June and the last wagon train leaves St.
Joe mid May.
May? Why so early? Well, they leave as soon as the grass is tall enough to feed the stock and the ground's dry enough so as to won't bog down the wagons.
Then at the other end, you gotta get through the mountain passes before mid October or they close with snow.
If that happens, you gotta winter where you're at.
Start again next spring.
We could do all that with you.
- You got the fever bad.
- Yeah.
Had it a long time.
You ought to know that better than anybody.
I only stayed on here because I promised Kate roots.
Women.
Oh, they won't open that door an inch for fear the man is off and running.
Hold on, Zeb.
She didn't force me into anything.
Oh, I ain't singling Kate out, Tim.
It's, well, women general.
She may have felt that at one time, but she wants to head West too.
- She does? - Yeah, she just told me so.
When a woman changes her mind that fast, there gotta be a reason.
Well, you saw how she acted at supper.
It's the war, Zeb.
She's afraid of the boys getting caught in it.
Tim, lot of men would give everything they got to have a place like you have here.
Not you.
Tim, listen to me.
There's nobody in his right mind who would take off across that country in a single wagon.
Not unless he was drove to it.
There's 200,000 square miles of nothing but wasteland out there.
And every mile there's a grave of somebody who didn't make it.
You saying you won't take us? No, I'm not saying that.
I'm saying it's too late now.
Too many risks.
Come next year.
I'll take you West.
Next year is too late, Zeb.
This war is touching us right now.
You either guide us or we're going alone.
But we're going.
Now wait a minute.
Just hold on there.
Kate, we're overloaded as it is.
Zeb Macahan, you've already made us leave behind everything that it takes to live like a decent civilized human being.
Everything.
You gotta have an organ to live civilized? My children are not going to grow up without music.
They're liable not to grow up at all if you keep putting stuff in this here wagon.
Now, we only got a fifty-fifty chance of making it as it is.
If you overload the wagon, it's liable to be too much for those animals.
And if we lose them, we got no chance at all.
Well, this clock belonged to my grandmother.
And she brought it from Ireland and she gave it to me.
I'm not leaving it behind.
Means an aawul lot to her, Zeb.
Won't make that much difference, will it? Kate, I'm gonna tell you bring so much as one more feather out of that house I'm getting on my horse and I'm gonna ride alone.
Your brother is the most arrogant, stubborn man I've ever met.
Now, Kate, take it easy.
Take it easy.
He knows what he's doing, you know.
Well, one thing's for sure.
Going is not gonna be dull.
Now, you be good.
You be a good girl and help your momma now.
Girls, would you get in the wagon, please? Jessie.
Laura.
Kate.
Kate.
- Grandpa.
- Kate, darling.
- Are you sure? - Now, dear, we've been through all that.
We're just staying put.
We been here so long, we got roots down.
Maybe we'll get a little peace and quiet now, Mother? - Grandma.
- Kate.
You might as well start heading out.
I'll catch up.
- Get going, Kate.
- Come on, Sam, Duke.
Now, you take care of them, you hear? They're farm folks and that's your country out there.
But you're not all so much, you don't need to be told to look after your own self too.
Heh, and your pa's right.
It's a long trip so we'll be praying for you.
Take care of yourselves.
- Hmm.
- Don't you worry none about us.
The Yankees got no reason to mess with old folks.
Pa, don't you try running this farm like you was no colt now.
Keep a rein on him, Ma.
For the pioneers of the early 1860s before the railroad stitched a continent together the journey west was not only arduous, but dismally slow.
Lumbering Conestogas drawn by teams of great, placid oxen weighing up to 4000 pounds per yoke could rarely move faster than 15 miles a day.
Thus, even the relatively easy journey through the Virginias, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, took upwards of six weeks.
But once beyond the bustling gateway towns of Independence and St.
Joseph, Missouri travelers found themselves in the new territory of Kansas facing the first awesome sweep of the Great Plains.
The edge of a wilderness.
The beginning of the Oregon Trail.
Oh, my God.
They never learn.
- Bringing along all that junk.
- Junk? Look at that mirror.
- Imagine what that poor woman felt.
- Woman? You see what's left of that horse? Died in his traces because some woman had to drag her past along.
Let's go.
Hyah! Hyah! It's getting worse.
We gotta go in.
Cut them in here.
What do we do with the horses? Just unsaddle them and turn them loose.
They're not going anywhere.
Then get inside the wagon, all of you.
I'll take care of the team.
Any luck? Well, I found some sign but too late to do any tracking today, anyway.
Ugh, I can't stand it anymore! I've never seen so much dirt! It's in my eyes, it's in my mouth.
It's My hair's full of bugs! All right, just calm down.
We're gonna be out of this country.
That's what everybody keeps saying! But we keep going on and on.
Nothing changes! We can't bathe because we gotta save the water.
We keep eating the same thing day after day.
The game is scarce out here.
You've been told that.
Well, I can't stand it anymore! I can't! You're gonna have to.
Now we're all going through the same thing.
You don't hear anyone else complaining about the food.
If you'd short your hair like I told you and if you wore your sunbonnet like I told you, Laura! Laura.
Laura? Well, I thought you would be asleep.
I've never raised my voice to that girl before in her life.
Well, maybe it's time you did.
We've spoiled her, Kate.
Now, you know that's true yourself.
Of course it was.
It's pretty hard not to.
Minute she was born, I knew we had a beauty on our hands.
Now, they're trouble.
You see, I've had some experience when it comes to dealing with beauties.
Sorry you came? I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
- Where is everybody? - Your Uncle Zeb and Seth went hunting.
Your father's out looking for some firewood.
He could use some help.
Don't worry.
It'll all grow back when we get to Oregon.
He's all yours, boy.
I'll flush him.
Good shot, boy.
Where'd you shoot him from? Yeah, right in there.
In that opening in the trees.
Fair distance.
Especially for a running buck, heh.
Supper's on.
They look like Ponca.
They must be having trouble finding game too.
We'll let them take it.
But we need the meat.
If they got it, maybe they'll leave us alone.
Let's just back off slow.
The wagon.
Oh, they started a fire inside the wagon.
When we went to put it out, they stole the horses.
Well, what do we do? Go after them? There's no need.
They'll be coming at us.
All right now, nobody move.
Let me talk.
Keep your gun barrels pointed down.
A man has to be buffalo-witted to walk in this country.
Now he's getting down to business.
Says they got some fine horses to trade us.
Trade? For our own horses? Tim, we're gonna have to buy those horses back.
Might as well get used to the idea.
Jed, get some flour, bacon and hardtack from the wagon.
What will happen if we don't give it to them? Then it'll be down to we kill them or they kill us.
Kate.
He fancies it.
He's not gonna have it.
Damn taker.
Easy.
He says that for the food and that clock, he'll give us the horses.
I'm not gonna give him anything.
- Not for the horses that are already ours.
- Kate.
Will they take my rifle instead? I don't know.
A man's rifle means life or death.
They're not out to see you die.
- Yeah, but will they? - Seth.
Ma, I can always get another rifle.
Take it.
And get away from here.
Leave! All right, get the horses, boys.
Uncle Zeb, how do you know they won't be back? - Well, they got too much honor for that.
- Honor? They're not thieves, they're just trying to survive.
How's Kate? Kate, we're getting set to pull out.
I wanna go back.
Your letters painted quite a dream, Zeb.
Gold.
Land free for the taking, heh.
No preacher's been able to stir this family up more.
Well, it was lies, all of it.
No lies to it, Kate.
The land's there.
Good land and plenty of it.
It's 1000 miles west of here.
Takes a little doing to get to it.
And those Indians? You could've got us all killed.
I told you there was Indians out here.
We take our chances.
I wanna go home.
I'd rather take my chances there.
This is what Tim's wanted all along and never letting on.
You built him a trap, lady.
Now he's free of it, chasing his dream and you wanna turn him back just because the goings got a little tough.
Well, I reckon that's his fault making things too easy for you.
Doesn't work on me, Zeb.
I know where you've been.
It's a woman's duty to be silent.
I'm not that kind of woman.
Never took that you were.
But for once why don't you quit thinking about yourself and think about him.
And what about your boys? You forget what you were running from in the first place? There's nothing back there anymore, Kate.
Not for you.
Not for Tim.
Not for your sons.
Zeb Macahan if I weren't a religious woman I'd call you a Major Anderson, out of Fort Randall.
Zeb Macahan, major.
This here's my kin.
Zeb Macahan? Weren't you scouting for Colonel Hyatt at Fort Laramie? What are you doing this far east? Well, I was about to ask you the same thing.
We were ordered back to join General McDowell.
War's broke, full force.
- Where you coming from? - Virginia.
Well, I reckon you left just in time.
Why do you say that, major? Union forces have crossed through Maryland into Virginia.
General McDowell's at Manassas with 30,000 men.
General Beauregard with 20,000 coming up from the south.
Bull Run in the middle.
Bull Run? It's where we come from, we got family back there.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Well, good luck to you.
- Macahan.
- So long, major.
You going back.
Laura, fetch me a sack full of hardtack and dried beef.
- But, Pa - Go on now, girl, fetch it.
- Jed.
- Yes, sir.
Fetch me some ammunition.
Tim, I'll be the one going back, you stay here with the family.
This is hard country, Zeb.
You can buck it.
Comes to that, they'll be needing you more than me.
Long way to go if you expect to beat the rebel troops.
I reckon I can make it in three weeks.
Seven hundred miles, Tim, to Bull Run.
I'm going, Zeb.
What about the folks? What if they still won't leave? - Figure that when I get to it.
- Pa, good luck.
Zeb said he'd go back.
And you have a family here.
What happens to the children if you don't ever come back? Please, let Zeb go.
It's you I'm thinking of.
You stand a better chance out here with Zeb than with me.
- Timothy.
- Now, Kate, listen to me.
Kate, out here I'm a tenderfoot.
Zeb can find game and water.
He can read when a storm's brewing.
He knows the Indians.
I don't know any of that.
Out here all alone I could get all of us killed.
Now Zeb's the one that's got to stay.
You can understand that, can't you? Here, Pa.
Ah, hold open your apron.
- Pa, that's not near enough.
- It's all right, I'll make out.
Take care of them, Zeb.
I'll find you wherever you are.
Well, we'll be here.
We're not gonna go on another foot without you.
Next spring we'll go on to Oregon together.
Kate, you can't stay here.
He's right, Kate.
We can't stay out here for the winter.
Tim, I figure we're about 10 days from the Platte.
Now we'll go on there and wait for you.
There's a town there.
There's supposed to be a telegraph coming in.
We'll leave word.
They'll be all right.
We'll be waiting for you, Pa.
People, heh.
Well, we'll tend to the supplies, Zeb.
Come on, girls.
- I reckon a beer would go good.
- Yeah.
Jed, uh I'm afraid your ma would have my scalp, son.
- Ah.
- Maybe next time.
Well, howdy, pilgrims.
What can we do for you? Couple of beers.
We're used to wagon trains coming through, but folks traveling alone? - Where you coming from? - Virginia.
Well, you must have the Lord on your side.
- Where you headed? - Oregon.
Oh, you'll never make it before the snow flies.
- Ah.
- We figured to winter here.
It's tough country.
Heh, couldn't be much tougher than we just came through.
Well, the hell is a session.
This here's the Platte, gateway to the West.
Summers are hotter than Hades, winters colder than a landlord's heart.
Wolves are hungry and the Indians are hostile.
The outlaws and renegades own the deed.
Welcome, gentlemen, welcome.
I'm afraid he's called it.
NARRATOR; In a single day of fighting, Bull Run the first real conflict of the Civil War, saw 3000 casualties.
Compared to the horrendous death tolls of later battles like Gettysburg Bull Run was almost a skirmish.
But in this battle, Rebel and Union forces alike tested the mettle of their enemy and knew for the first time that victory would not be cheap.
Help that boy.
Put his head in my lap.
Oh, God.
Oh, he's no older than Seth, Pa.
Well, at leastwise it will keep the wind from the north off of us.
Zeb, what are you talking about? You mean staying here? In that shack? Called a soddie.
Not much, but it'll do.
Uncle Zeb.
You mean live in it? Well, somebody did once.
But it's just dirt.
You'll be surprised how cozy it'll be once we get it fixed up.
There's water over there at the base of those buttes.
- Appears there's been critters living inside.
- Yeah, hold on, honey.
No telling what other kind of critters might be in there, Jessie.
Maybe we'll have him for supper.
The ingenuity of the American pioneer was legendary.
When nature failed to provide his customary needs he found a way to change those needs.
Denied the luxury of brick or lumber, he built his home of logs.
And on the treeless plains where wood was almost nonexistent he turned to tough buffalo grass and mud, and raised with these crude materials a structure that was cool in summer, warm in winter and could be expanded with minimum effort as his family grew.
All the soddie required was the one commodity the American pioneer had in abundance, boundless energy.
And for settlers whose day began before dawn and ended long after dark the soddie could be raised from the empty prairie in a matter of days.
- Watch Zeb, watch that end.
- Jed, would you? Jed, use both hands.
Now don't scratch it.
Seth, watch your side.
All right, Ma, all right.
Good.
Good.
Okay, Zeb, coming in.
Will you give a little room for the doorway? Very good.
Wonderful.
Never seen younglings as tuckered as that.
I think they've growed a few inches in the last few days.
They're not the only ones.
Yeah.
There was a while there I was wondering whether you were gonna make it or not but I can see brother Tim knew what he was doing when he married you.
- It's been almost a month since he left.
- Ah.
Tim will be back, Kate.
You know, God has a way of looking out after Tim's sort.
Don't tell me you believe in God, Zeb Macahan.
I reckon I do in my own way.
I told Timothy you were a godless man.
Yeah, heh, well, that's not hard to understand, Kate.
I mean, you know, I guess I never been too much for church-going and all but I guess when it comes clearest to me is when I'm up in what they call the high lonesome watching the deer come down to drink in the early morning from a mountain lake with the mist just lifting off of it.
Or the trout rising in a river that's running cold and deep.
And the bear and the martin feeding along the shore.
And maybe the eagle up there soaring among the peaks.
A man would have to be a fool to think there wasn't a hand that made all of that.
Sure hope he's looking out for us in the morning if we're gonna be doing our planting.
What can we grow out here? Well, not too much this time a year.
Maybe some carrots and turnips, cabbage.
Maybe a little corn for the stock.
But we'll make out, Kate.
Uncle Zeb! Horses! Hundreds of them.
They're coming towards the house.
Jed, get your rifle, get down here.
You ladies get in the house.
Laura! Turn them.
Shoot over their heads.
Turn them! Turn them! Turn them or we'll blow you out of the saddle.
They're doing it, Uncle Zeb, they're turning.
Keep turning! That's it.
Move them.
- Now what do you think you're doing? - Protecting our property.
- Now get those horses out of here.
- Nesters.
Squatting right between us and the river.
Now this here land belongs to Hale Crowley.
We're running these horses through here for watering.
Not while we're here, you ain't.
Now, you tell Mr.
Crowley we're just borrowing this land.
We'll be moving on.
- When? - When we're ready.
I know what you're thinking there, sonny.
And I wouldn't try that.
This here Hawken makes a mighty big hole.
You got 30 minutes to clear out of here and then we're coming through.
- You go around us.
- Mr.
Crowley said to run through you.
They're thirsty and smelling water.
We'll kill a dozen head before you get to it.
Are you loco, mister? Now, you can build a sod anywhere.
It's a big country.
We built it here.
Go around us.
It's a big river.
Crowley Mr.
Crowley ain't used to butting heads with another bull.
It's plain to see you're no farmer, mister.
All right, we'll go around.
But when word of this gets back to Crowley, you better be gone.
We done it, Uncle Zeb.
We run them off.
Best not to count beaver till they're in your trap, boy.
I got a feeling they ain't through with us yet.
Ma.
Jed's coming back.
Oh.
Well, the telegraph's working now.
But still no word from Pa.
Uncle Zeb, I saw those cowboys again.
They said we better be out of here inside a week.
I didn't wanna say anything in front of the women.
Now, boys, I'll tell you how it is.
We can either hold ground here or we can move on.
I'm gonna leave it up to you.
Well, the way I see it we're the ones who worked the land.
We'll stay until we hear from Pa.
- Buffalo what? - Buffalo droppings, honey, ugh.
- Come on, Laura, it won't hurt you.
- But it's It's It's buffalo chips, if you tend to be finicky.
See, they, they burn real slow and they give off a lot of heat.
Go ahead jump right in, it ain't bad once you get started.
Oh, Laura, you're gonna be a good picker.
Oh, we should've heard from Pa by now.
It's been more than four months.
- Why? What could have happened? - Let's go get us a drink, huh? You know, holding your ground don't only mean out there, Seth.
Means in here too.
Grab a chair, fellas.
- What can I do for you? - Bottle, a couple of glasses.
I get it for them.
Nothing worse than the stink of a dirt-scratcher.
Except it might be the stink of a sheep-man.
Though the stink is just about the same.
Ew.
These two soddies are in a bad need of taking a bath.
Why don't we take them on outside to the horse trough.
What do you think about that, dung-heap? - Hey! Hey! - Wait a minute.
Stop it! Stop that! You're busting up my place! Get out of here! Take it outside.
Hey, you thought you'd give us a bath, did you? Well, get in there! How'd you like it, mister? Huh, how do you like it? That feel real good? I'm sure glad I never tried to give you a bath.
- You and your boys owe me for damages.
- Ah, shut up! Yeah, Seth, I was right proud of you, the way you handled that old boy's case.
He was rough as a badger out of his hole.
You remind me of your pa in the old days.
You know, before he got hitched up him and me used to take them on like that once in a while.
I remember one time down in Natchez, why - I'm going back.
- Huh? After Pa.
Boy, you ain't going nowhere.
No, I'm sorry but just sitting here, waiting.
It's getting all of us.
Most of all, Ma.
Now, you been aching to go yourself.
Well, I'm going.
- Now, wait a minute, if anybody goes - Uh-huh.
You promised Pa.
You know your ma's gonna have something to say about this.
Will you tell her? So you ain't even going back to the place? Ah, you know what it'll be like.
Yeah, you're right about that.
I guess if you're going you might as well get on your horse and ride.
I'll handle your ma.
Here, this will get you what you need, lad.
Seth, you bring back your pa, you hear? Yes, sir.
Hyah.
Is that you, Seth? Henry Jethro? Yankee cannons house wasn't hurt much.
Stayed put inside they'd be alive.
- Who buried them? - Me and Pa.
Read over them from the Bible.
It was your pa that marked the graves.
My pa? - When? - Few days after it happened I was home on leave then, before I got burned.
Do you know where he is now, Henry? Yankees took him prisoner.
- Pa had no part in this war.
- He told them that.
But they said he was gonna have to fight anyhow.
It wasn't what I figured it was gonna be, Seth.
Yankees hit us and I woke up in a field hospital like this.
You know where they might have took my pa, Henry? Folks said they was headed toward Tennessee.
So long.
Go back home, Seth, before this war turns on you.
You hear? Couldn't get deer meat, but got us some fish, anyway.
Zeb! Doane.
What are you doing in these parts? Dutton's loose, few days after you brought him in.
Broke that guardhouse like an egg crate.
Came looking for you, Zeb, but you were in Virginia, so he went after Billy Joe.
Did he find him? Dutton killed him, Zeb.
Scalped.
He's looking for you.
Thought you best know.
How did you know where to find me? Well, the word's out, you took your family to the Platte.
If I can find you, so can Dutton.
You got any idea where he is now? Well, the last I heard he was out in the White River Crossing coming down through the Dakotas.
Well, if he's coming down from White River Crossing here he'd have to come through Pine Valley.
It ain't more than half a mile wide at the lake.
That's how I got it figured.
Well, I appreciate your coming this far.
Well, I liked Billy Joe.
I'd have done for Dutton myself if I could have found him but it'll be better coming from you.
Good hunting, Zeb.
Sorry, Zeb.
Who was Billy Joe? Oh, he was an Indian boy, Kate.
He was a reservation runaway.
First time I met him, he was trying to steal my horse.
He was about 15, I guess, then.
Kind of dirty and scrawny.
We washed him all down, we found a pure Cheyenne Indian underneath.
Being Cheyenne, he was worth the trouble salvaging.
I taught him what I know.
Guess he was kind of like a son to me.
Kate, I gotta go get the man that killed him.
First Timothy, then Seth, now you.
I promised Timothy I'd look after you and the kids.
That's what I aim to do.
Here I'd bring Dutton down on you.
See, he's kind of like an animal turned renegade.
He kills just for the taste of blood, like he did with Billy Joe.
Now, if he could hurt me by getting to you or the kids, Kate, he'd do it.
Before he finds out where this place is I gotta get to him.
- I'll be back as soon as I can.
- I'll put some things together for you.
Don't bother.
I'll kill what I need.
Zeb, what about Crowley? Well, Crowley's not out to hurt anybody, Kate.
If he was, he'd have done it by now.
Take a good look at Jed lately? He's closer to a man than you think.
The savage Battle of Shiloh exploded across the Tennessee countryside on the morning of April 6th.
The initial Confederate attack overran the Union position throwing battle lines into total confusion.
Everywhere there were small pockets of Union troops cut off from their commands in terrain that was, temporarily, in Rebel hands.
All right! Who are you? - What difference does it make? - Afraid we got us a sapping turtle, captain.
- Where you from, son? - Virginia.
Smell spy to me, sir.
Just because a man's from Virginia doesn't make him a spy, sergeant.
Besides, he seemed in a hurry to avoid that Rebel patrol.
- Well, that he did, sir.
- I got no stake in this war.
It's a hell of a place to be a neutral.
I'm looking for my father.
I'm sorry, son, but we just lost six good men and I'm shorthanded.
- What's your name? - Macahan.
Seth Macahan.
Do you believe in slavery? - No, sir.
But l - That no longer makes you a neutral.
- Time being, anyway.
- And I don't believe in war, either.
Neither do I.
About, uh, Billing's size, wouldn't you say, sergeant? Yes, sir.
All right, move, soldier.
Mama? Mama.
Something's wrong with Jessie.
She's got a fierce pain in her stomach.
Jessie? My stomach.
Any place else? Where? My arms, my legs, everything.
- Laura, get Jed.
- What is it? Get Jed, Laura.
Doctor! Dr.
Dodd! Have you seen the doctor? We wouldn't know anything about that.
I gotta find him.
It's urgent.
The doctor in there is for the people here in Sand Town.
It's not for you squatters.
- I said, I gotta find the doctor.
- You ain't going nowhere, boy.
Except maybe out of town.
We gonna give you a little lesson about what's gonna happen to you if you show your face around here again.
That must be the doctor.
You stay here and take care of her, Laura.
Jed! Jed! Jed! Jed! Jed, what happened? What happened, Jed? - Who's the doctor here? - I am.
You're coming with me right away, doctor.
- Are you Crowley? - I am.
I'm truly tempted to kill you, Mr.
Crowley.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- My son! - Your men beat him up today, bad.
- Bad enough to need a doctor? He came here for a doctor.
His sister is sick.
Maybe cholera.
Woodward, did you have a hand in beating up this boy? No, sir, I wasn't there.
- Polk? - Uh, he was one of them Macahans - When you get back to the ranch, you clear out.
You too, Stenner.
It was one of them sodbusters I told you I wanted them out, not dead.
I don't want to see you after sundown.
I'm sorry about your boy.
I didn't want anyone hurt, just out.
When I raise my voice, folks usually move.
All right, doc, you go on out there.
You too, Mr.
Crowley.
- Cholera's contagious! - Lf you're out there, no one will interfere.
If you think you're gonna make me go out there You're damned right! Then it is cholera? I don't know yet.
If it is in a few hours On the first day of battle Union forces at Shiloh had suffered devastating losses.
But during the night, General Grant rallied his shattered forces and at dawn on April 7th began a counterattack.
Before the day was over, the Union had won back what it had lost.
But the cost was appalling.
In the two days of savage fighting casualties had mounted to 25,000 men.
Thought you might need some fresh water.
Stomach cramps finally let up.
It was dysentery.
She's sleeping peacefully now.
- Thank you, doctor.
- Uh, Mrs.
Macahan.
Since I can't run you off, maybe I can make things a little more tolerable for you.
I've got some lumber out at the ranch, enough there to build you a decent floor and then you wouldn't have to walk around in all that dirt.
- We'll make do.
- You can stay as long as you like.
What about your horses? Well, we'll just, uh, move them around you.
Thank you.
Yes, ma'am.
Goodbye, ma'am.
Lord, I'm thirsty.
- Ain't had a drink since this morning.
- Yeah, well, just be glad you're alive.
I'm the only one left in my platoon when the Rebs pulled out in front of us That's water up ahead.
Come on.
- Hold on.
- What are you doing? Hey, hold your fire.
Hey, now, look, we all need water.
Maybe we can work a truce.
You crazy.
You can't trust them.
Hell, they're probably saying the same thing about us.
We can kill each other out here or we can die of thirst.
You call a truce and we all live.
How do we know you ain't got something up your sleeve? No tricks.
Look, all of us need water.
We agree on a truce, each of us fill up and go our own ways.
Never met a blue belly yet that wasn't partial to an ambush.
Only way a Reb knows how to fight is from a man's back.
I ain't drinking no water after no Reb does.
We're taking this creek.
Try to stop us.
Now, wait a minute.
It makes no sense.
- I'm taking me a bath.
- Yes, sir.
Well, we aim to take a bath in that creek ourselves.
Alone.
Ain't no Yankee gonna be around to muddy up the water.
Help me.
Who goes there? Come on.
- Where you coming from, soldier? - From Shiloh.
Set him over here, son.
We got orders just to sit tight.
You're mighty lucky, soldier.
You lost a lot of blood, but I think you're gonna be all right.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
What you doing here? I come to find you, Pa.
- Your mother? Your mother? - She's fine, Pa.
She's fine.
Everybody's fine.
Ain't there a doctor? He's dead, boy.
What was he to you, boy? He was my father.
- Were you with him? - Yup.
Wouldn't fight first off.
But pretty soon, he figured it'd beat rotting in prison.
Damn good soldier too.
Don't know exactly what happened, but we were holding a ridge and all of sudden shells come in exploding all around us.
Killing men on both sides.
I don't even know if they were Yankee or Reb cannons doing the killing.
Corporal, water these horses.
They're breaking our lines.
I need every man who can stand and shoot.
You two, fall in.
You.
You.
Corporal.
You two.
Still got one good leg left.
- I said fall in.
- No, sir.
I'm going no place.
- Soldier, on your feet.
- He was my father.
We've all lost a lot in this war, son.
Best thing you can do for him is kill Rebs.
No.
Are you refusing to fight? Done all the killing I'm gonna do.
Fall in.
Soldier.
Soldier, take one more step and I'll fire.
First thing I seen when I came in the barn was that bald-faced horse of yours.
The one that was stole from your place.
And then I see this one sleeping here so I went and got the sheriff.
Well, you did the right thing in fetching me, Sam.
So you're the horse thief? I thought you said you hit him.
I don't see any bullet wound.
Well, you hit him, mister.
He's dead.
I found him.
I found his body yesterday morning and this horse was loose.
What do you take us for, boy? My name's Macahan.
Seth Macahan.
I'm a soldier.
A Union soldier.
And I come here from Nebraska to find my pa.
I'm no horse thief.
Not only a horse thief, but a Yankee.
Come on, string him up.
No, wait.
You just can't hang a man without a trial or nothing.
Mister, this here's Missouri.
Man steals a horse, he hangs.
That's for sure.
Hyah.
You're a hard man to kill, Zeb.
- You're gonna find out how hard.
- How'd you know I was up here? I can smell you.
- You fixing to take me back? - Yeah.
Over my saddle.
I figured that's how it'd be after I got Billy Joe.
Well, come on up, Zeb.
I'll be waiting on you.
Zeb.
Come on, sit down.
Have some rabbit.
- I cook real good rabbit.
- No, thanks.
Sorry about trying to bushwhack you back there.
- I thought it was my best chance.
- Your only chance.
Wasn't too long ago, you and I rode a lot of rivers together.
Kind of like to stay up here, no matter how it comes out.
What happened, Dutton? When'd you turn wolf? Oh.
World changed.
No more beaver fur trade played out rendezvous.
Ain't been a real rendezvous since '45.
Men like you and me we had the world right by the throat and it'd give us anything we wanted.
Now it says we gotta take on civilized.
I can't do that.
Just can't do it.
Now there, there's the one I envy, the eagle.
Well either way we both seen the best of it.
Well So long, Zeb.
Seth.
Seth, heh.
Seth.
What happened, Seth? Where have you been? Your father? He's dead.
He'll never see it.
What, Ma? California.
Oregon.
What he waited 25 years to see.
What about Grandma, Grandpa? - Them too.
- Oh, God.
Ma when Pa died I was with him.
Are you all right? Where's everybody? Oh.
Zeb, he's gone north, but he'll be back any day.
Jed and the girls are in town.
They'll be back soon.
- Come on.
- Ma I can't stay.
What? - I'm wanted by the law.
- Seth.
I'm a deserter.
I shot a lawman.
Try explaining it to you, but I've got to go.
I left Missouri in a very big hurry.
Where you going to go? Up north, I guess, till things ease up.
Now, don't fret, I'll be fine.
Ma, they know where I'm from, so if anybody comes looking for me, I We haven't seen you.
Going on to Oregon? Not until we go together.
I'll be back.
We'll be here.
The Macahan family, like thousands of others came and saw and endured.
In a sense, they were a typical family.
But they were only typical of a very special breed of people their likes we will never see again.
But they have given us a heritage and a courage that was not only unique but has survived to become our great American tradition.
It was not.
It was won by the courage of simple people who had pushed their ponderous wagons forever West through 200,000 square miles of awesome wilderness.
Some were drawn by the lure of gold.
But for the most part, they were families moved by the dream of a new beginning.
This story is about such a family.
Their name, Macahan.
The sons and daughters of Katherine Macahan were destined to write their own brilliant pages into the history of the West.
But in the beginning the only member of the family whose name had already been touched by the stuff of legend was a man cut in the image of Bridger and Bowie and Jeremiah Johnson.
Zebulon Macahan.
I ain't never seen a Sioux yet didn't jump when he heard the devil.
Go ahead and carve, feather brain.
All you're gonna get out of me is this.
Macahan, how about telling these ring-tailed Sioux to turn me loose? Who's buying scalps, Dutton? What would I know about scalping? You peddled whiskey to a Sioux hunting party about three days ago.
I counted six bodies.
They were still warm.
It was you.
Your sign was all over the place.
Yeah, one of them got away upriver and took his scalp with him.
Turned out he was carrying a grudge.
Sicced the others on us.
Yates is dead.
So is Bullion and Juno.
Yeah.
Seems like they're kind of saving you special, don't it? You just here for supper or are you gonna help me out of this? Tell him they can still have the pleasure of seeing him die.
- They're invited to the hanging.
- Hanging? And tell them if they come to the hanging, there'll be a dozen steers for them.
Hanging? We trailed together, Macahan.
You're just running a bluff.
No bluff.
Get his horse.
You turned injun-Iover on me.
Now, Dutton, one more word out of you we're just liable to leave you here.
Is that what you want? Being locked up I don't like it.
I need the sky over my head, just like you.
Hunting and trapping, that's the only life for a man.
I heard there was beaver up at Bear Paw.
A harvest of them.
We could leave right now and head north.
They was just Indians, Zeb.
You been in their lodges.
You seen their scalp poles.
Yeah.
And one of them was Lame Deer.
We used to winter with him.
He trusted you, Dutton.
The Army don't kill you, I will.
Let's go.
Riders coming in.
Take him to the guardhouse.
- Colonel.
- Macahan that guardhouse will not hold me.
I'll get out.
When I do, it's your scalp I'll be taking.
And I'll carve you slow just like them Sioux aim to do to me.
I ain't never carved no white man, Macahan.
You'll be my first.
You promised him what? Take it easy, colonel, before you bust something.
You just can't go around promising every savage in this country beef.
There was only a dozen of them, colonel.
A war party after Dutton.
Why didn't you just let them kill Dutton? As a matter of fact I thought of that before I went in there.
But there was three reasons why I didn't wanna.
Three reasons? Well, in the first place you told me to bring him in.
I like to finish what I start.
And two? Well, Dutton's not only got the Sioux stirred up but the Crow and the Blackfeet too.
Looks like the whole territory is about to break out into an Indian war.
Third.
Well, I've seen the Indians peel a man, colonel, inch at a time.
Sioux are expert at it.
They can keep a strong man alive for two days that way.
Not even Dutton deserves to die like that.
You risked your life to save a man like Dutton yet my sergeant tells me he's seen you carve men up pretty good with that Bowie knife, not even turn a hair.
Heh, well, those men were trying pretty hard to carve on me too, colonel.
Tends to put a different light on it.
Now, uh, I promised Bear Dance a dozen head of steer.
Is he gonna get them? He gets them and an invitation to the hanging.
Come in.
Message for you, sir.
This is from Colonel Collins.
What's the matter, colonel? My father, he's dead.
That's 10 years' worth of letters.
Every one of them asking me when I was coming home.
I meant to get back.
God help me, I did.
I was all the family he had I let him die alone.
Bringing Dutton in, ahem, may ease things for a while but I'm still concerned about those settlers between here and the Sioux villages.
I want them evacuated.
Colonel, maybe you better get somebody else this time.
- Been 10 years since I've seen my folks.
- All the way back to Virginia? They're getting old too.
You could be riding into a war.
Dispatches say it's just a matter of time.
Yeah, I know.
Colonel, look, about those settlers give a few men to Billy Joe.
- He'll get the job done for you.
- He ready for that? I broke him in.
When are we leaving? I'm not going, you are.
And you? Well, uh, Billy Joe, I'm going back home.
Back to Virginia.
Look, I told the colonel you're the man for the job while I'm gone.
You let me down you're gonna be looking for your praying bones.
Meantime, don't you forget what I taught you.
You shoot them where they look the biggest.
And don't go far as hell for no woman.
- So long, Billy Joe.
- So long.
- I will not see him again.
- You'll see him again.
He'll be back.
- Mattie.
- Hmm? Come here.
Look who's coming.
- Oh, Pa.
Pa, heh.
- Heh.
Zebulon.
Zebulon.
Oh, Zeb.
Oh, Zeb.
- Pa.
- Hello, Zeb.
About time you was paying us a visit.
Jed, where's Laura? - She's supposed to be helping.
- I don't know.
Bet she's up in her room again, primping in front of that looking glass.
- You tell her to get her bustle down here.
- You tell her.
I'm tired of telling her.
Besides, I'm not just a messenger boy around here, you know.
I got more important things to do than to look after Laura.
Oh, God.
Jed, you all right? Fixed it good for you, Ma.
Won't leak again for 100 years.
Thank you.
Ah, do you mind taking it in the house and boiling some water and filling the tub? Yes, ma'am.
- Have you seen your brother? - Ah.
Now, Jessie just asked me if I'd seen Laura.
She's supposed to be working in the corn crib.
You haven't answered me about Seth.
- Well, have you seen him? - I've seen him.
Less than an hour ago with his rifle.
Oh, Laura.
Laura.
Laura, are you in there? Yes, Mother.
- What are you doing in that dress? - The church meeting.
Oh, my, I didn't realize it was getting that late.
- Near 5:00, Ma.
- I better get your father.
Timothy.
- Supper's ready.
- Ah.
I'll be along by the time the table's set.
Oh, you've done enough work for one day.
Besides, it's time to get ready for church.
- That time again already, is it? - Yes, it's that time again already.
- One evening out of a whole week - I know.
I know.
Have you seen Seth? Yeah, I seen him around, been a couple of hours.
You know you've seen that boy going off with his rifle when he should be patching the roof.
Now, Kate, don't be too hard on him.
He's young and a mite restless.
When you were his age, you were working.
When I was his age, I had you wedded and bedded and got you a child.
- In double quick time too.
- Heh.
Brazen man you are, Timothy Macahan.
Never heard any complaints from you before.
And I'll not discuss that matter with you now.
And I'll not have you changing the subject so sneakily, either.
I don't like you protecting Seth.
- There's work to be done.
- Ugh.
Oh, Seth just needs to spread his shoulders some.
Just needs to see what it's like on the other side.
He's like your brother.
They're alike.
Zeb's a good man, Kate.
He's just not meant to settle down in one spot that's all.
- He's a drifter and a gambler.
- Oh, Kate.
- And a pagan.
- Kate.
He is a godless man.
And the Lord knows what else these last 10 years.
I don't like the idea of Seth taking on like him.
Well, guess you can expect Seth home any minute now.
Hey, Seth, hold up.
- Well, what are you wearing? - Confederate gray.
29th Virginia Volunteers.
Seth, where've you been? - Henry? - Mrs.
Macahan.
Just come on my way over to say my goodbyes.
Where you going? They're putting us on a train to Richmond tonight.
I don't know from there.
- Why, Henry? - To kill Yankees, ma'am.
But there's no war, not yet.
At least, not fighting.
But there's gonna be.
It's been over two weeks since we fired on Sumter.
Yankees already calling up troops.
But my sergeant says the war's gonna be over before we know it.
Says any Yankees cross into Missouri is gonna be dead.
- You and Jed volunteer before it's all over.
- Oh, they'll do no such thing.
- We have no stake in this war.
- You're not gonnajoin up, Seth? Well, they must figure the fighting gonna start pretty soon.
You betcha.
You best join up, Seth.
The captain says them as volunteers now will have it a lot better than them that has to be conscripted.
Seth, you better go wash up.
We'll be late for church.
So long, Henry.
Good luck to you.
Be back as soon as we finish off them Yankees.
So long, Mrs.
Macahan.
Henry, God bless you.
The way things look I'm not gonna have much choice.
Jed neither.
Well, I'm glad we're not eating in there.
It's like an oven.
Heh, really.
Jessie, where's Laura? - Still fretting and primping.
- Well, tell her to get a hurry on.
Jed too.
Get some, uh, forks and knives.
Don't touch that.
Tim Macahan.
You got two minutes to break out ajug.
- It's Uncle Zeb.
- Is it, Pa? By heaven, it is.
Zeb! Well, you're the last man I ever expected to see.
What are you doing around here? I figured it was time I got back and checked up on you.
God.
Kate, look who's here.
- Hello, Kate.
- Oh, Zeb, what a surprise.
- You're looking fine.
- Thank you.
Seth.
Golly, you have growed to a man.
I was 12 years old last time you saw me, Uncle Zeb.
He's more like you than we care to think about.
Heh, yeah.
- This must be Jed.
- Yes, sir.
Jed, last time I saw you, you had to climb up on that well to get a drink, heh.
- You growed some too.
- Still am, Uncle Zeb.
- Growing, I mean, heh.
- Uncle Zeb.
Since I was high as a grasshopper, been hearing about you.
You're a mighty legend around here.
This must be Laura? - No.
- That's Jessie.
Jessie.
By golly, last time I saw you, you was in diapers.
- Well, I was near 5.
- Yeah.
And look at you now.
Uncle Zeb.
Uncle Zeb.
Wait a minute.
This can't be Laura.
She was just a gangly little filly.
You tough old gal, heh.
- Any prettier, she'd be dangerous.
- Oh, Uncle Zeb.
Go fetch your grandparents.
Tell them Zeb is here.
I stopped by.
They're on their way.
Boys, take care of your uncle's horses.
You're in time for supper.
Come on in here and wash up and I want to hear all about Oregon and all them places.
- I'd love to tell you.
- Uncle Zeb is it true it's always hot in California? Well, now, it sure is.
You know one time out there, remember a fella came down with a case of the chills well, people come from miles around just to watch him shake.
Come on in here.
I wanna hear all about it.
Zeb, all this talk of gold in California, anything to that? Yeah.
Oh, sure is.
Folks been heading out there since '49.
- Some of them strike it rich.
- I heard you struck it rich, Uncle Zeb.
Well, I did all right for a while and then it kind of all sifted away.
A lot of temptations out there.
What sort of temptation you talking about, Zeb? Shh! Never mind about that.
There's children listening.
Uncle Zeb, we've been hearing about some Indian trouble out there.
Yeah.
They've been some and there gonna be more.
Why do you say that? Well, because the Army's moving troops back east here because of the war.
- Then what we been hearing is true.
- Yes.
There's gonna be a fight, all right.
Comes down to it, Zeb, would you, uh, fight? Well, I don't know.
I would have fought there at the Alamo with Crockett and Bowie if I'd heard about it in time.
But that was different.
That was Texans fighting Mexicans.
Uh, here where you got Americans fighting Americans you have to kill one of your own over that, uh, slavery issue, I don't know.
Ah, Missouri and Kansas feuding.
Freestaters, abolitionists, secession.
Now there's a word I never even heard of till six months ago.
I don't know.
I just don't understand any of it.
Ones who do the fighting and the dying, they usually don't.
Well, I don't wanna hear any more about it.
All this talk of war.
How can you talk about young men boys, going off to die so casually over the dinner table.
- I don't wanna hear any more about it.
- Sit down.
War's not gonna go away because we don't talk about it.
War happens.
It's gonna affect a lot of people around here, including us.
So we might as well face it.
It's time for church.
Zeb, I thought you had presents for these folks.
He gave me a Cheyenne peace pipe and Grandma a necklace out of bear teeth except, heh, she's kind of scared to wear it.
- Oh, Grandma.
- Presents? - Honest, Uncle Zeb? - Well, uh I don't wanna hold you up from your church meeting.
We could be a little late.
This one time.
- Oh, isn't it lovely.
- That's real nice.
You know, the squaw ladies chew on that to make it soft.
Ew! - Thanks, Uncle Zeb.
- Sure.
Laura, that's for you.
I'll tell you what that is.
That's a porcupine tail.
The Shoshone girls make those into hairbrushes and they scent them up with some kind of ointment.
Draws the bucks.
- Thank you, Uncle Zeb, it's beautiful.
- Sure.
Jed, that's for you.
That's called a Green River.
Used to belong to a man named Hard Luck Hays.
Killed a cougar with that.
What happened to him? Hard Luck, I mean? Yeah, well, unfortunately, the cougar killed him too.
- That's yours now.
- Thanks.
Now, let's see here.
- Seth, that's yours.
- This has always been your gun.
Well, I know, but, uh, remembered you always liked it and I been, uh, carrying a new Army Colt the past few months so I'm gonna give this to you.
- Well, thanks, Uncle Zeb.
We were just talking about Uncle Zeb, Mama.
Your Uncle Zeb will be here in the morning, girls.
Now go to sleep.
Timothy? What's Zeb doing out there? I fixed a place for him downstairs.
I reckon sleeping under a roof closes him in.
You really envy him.
Free to go wherever the spirit moves him.
Oh, there's no use denying a part of me envies him, Kate.
But nothing in this life is free.
You want something bad enough you gotta give up something to get it.
A man marries and has a family he's gotta pay the price.
Freedom? Like Zeb's got.
I don't think either one of us would change a thing if we had it to do all over again.
But if it wasn't for us, you'd do like Zeb, wouldn't you? - Ah, well - Well, wouldn't you? I got a family, Kate.
But men with families do go West, don't they? - Yeah, sure, but - Then why can't we? You saying we should leave here and head West? That's what I'm saying.
Kate, you love this place here.
- It'd mean starting all over again.
- Well, your family did it.
So did mine.
Besides, living with a man with your sort of itch can change a woman's mind.
I knew I'd have to, sooner or later.
Especially today, watching your face while Zeb was talking.
The way you been reading his letters over and over.
You've lived up to what any man could.
You've given me over 20 good years.
Now it's my turn to give back.
Kate, there's more to it than that.
Well, this war.
It's gone past rumors now.
Henry Jethro walking by today wearing a uniform ready to kill or die.
Any man able to hold a rifle will be forced to fight.
I'm not gonna lose any of you in a war we have no stake in.
Even if it means pulling up and leaving.
Timothy, it's what you've always wanted.
Now it's what I want too.
It's the middle of the night.
You think I can go to sleep after what you just said? I gotta talk to Zeb.
You'll find the jug on the top shelf of the cupboard.
- What's it doing there? - Boys are growing.
No sense leaving temptation lying about.
Well, don't just stand there with one foot in the air, brother, come on in, heh.
I was just testing you.
Like being among civilized folks hasn't cost you your touch.
Well, I guess a man gets used to sleeping with one ear open.
It's kind of a hard habit to break, heh.
Glad you came out, Tim.
Been a long time since you and me sat around the fire talking women and horses.
How long you staying? Well, at least a ways long enough for you to get off what's on your mind.
Zeb, tell me something.
How much would it cost to outfit a family traveling West? - How far West you talking about? - California, Oregon.
Places you've been writing about in your letters.
Tim, you ain't thinking about leaving this place.
Just tell me.
I don't know.
I reckon a family your size be 7-, $800.
Not only that, it's, uh Well, it it's too late for westering.
- Why? - Well, it's end April.
Now, if you was to leave here tomorrow you couldn't get to Missouri till June and the last wagon train leaves St.
Joe mid May.
May? Why so early? Well, they leave as soon as the grass is tall enough to feed the stock and the ground's dry enough so as to won't bog down the wagons.
Then at the other end, you gotta get through the mountain passes before mid October or they close with snow.
If that happens, you gotta winter where you're at.
Start again next spring.
We could do all that with you.
- You got the fever bad.
- Yeah.
Had it a long time.
You ought to know that better than anybody.
I only stayed on here because I promised Kate roots.
Women.
Oh, they won't open that door an inch for fear the man is off and running.
Hold on, Zeb.
She didn't force me into anything.
Oh, I ain't singling Kate out, Tim.
It's, well, women general.
She may have felt that at one time, but she wants to head West too.
- She does? - Yeah, she just told me so.
When a woman changes her mind that fast, there gotta be a reason.
Well, you saw how she acted at supper.
It's the war, Zeb.
She's afraid of the boys getting caught in it.
Tim, lot of men would give everything they got to have a place like you have here.
Not you.
Tim, listen to me.
There's nobody in his right mind who would take off across that country in a single wagon.
Not unless he was drove to it.
There's 200,000 square miles of nothing but wasteland out there.
And every mile there's a grave of somebody who didn't make it.
You saying you won't take us? No, I'm not saying that.
I'm saying it's too late now.
Too many risks.
Come next year.
I'll take you West.
Next year is too late, Zeb.
This war is touching us right now.
You either guide us or we're going alone.
But we're going.
Now wait a minute.
Just hold on there.
Kate, we're overloaded as it is.
Zeb Macahan, you've already made us leave behind everything that it takes to live like a decent civilized human being.
Everything.
You gotta have an organ to live civilized? My children are not going to grow up without music.
They're liable not to grow up at all if you keep putting stuff in this here wagon.
Now, we only got a fifty-fifty chance of making it as it is.
If you overload the wagon, it's liable to be too much for those animals.
And if we lose them, we got no chance at all.
Well, this clock belonged to my grandmother.
And she brought it from Ireland and she gave it to me.
I'm not leaving it behind.
Means an aawul lot to her, Zeb.
Won't make that much difference, will it? Kate, I'm gonna tell you bring so much as one more feather out of that house I'm getting on my horse and I'm gonna ride alone.
Your brother is the most arrogant, stubborn man I've ever met.
Now, Kate, take it easy.
Take it easy.
He knows what he's doing, you know.
Well, one thing's for sure.
Going is not gonna be dull.
Now, you be good.
You be a good girl and help your momma now.
Girls, would you get in the wagon, please? Jessie.
Laura.
Kate.
Kate.
- Grandpa.
- Kate, darling.
- Are you sure? - Now, dear, we've been through all that.
We're just staying put.
We been here so long, we got roots down.
Maybe we'll get a little peace and quiet now, Mother? - Grandma.
- Kate.
You might as well start heading out.
I'll catch up.
- Get going, Kate.
- Come on, Sam, Duke.
Now, you take care of them, you hear? They're farm folks and that's your country out there.
But you're not all so much, you don't need to be told to look after your own self too.
Heh, and your pa's right.
It's a long trip so we'll be praying for you.
Take care of yourselves.
- Hmm.
- Don't you worry none about us.
The Yankees got no reason to mess with old folks.
Pa, don't you try running this farm like you was no colt now.
Keep a rein on him, Ma.
For the pioneers of the early 1860s before the railroad stitched a continent together the journey west was not only arduous, but dismally slow.
Lumbering Conestogas drawn by teams of great, placid oxen weighing up to 4000 pounds per yoke could rarely move faster than 15 miles a day.
Thus, even the relatively easy journey through the Virginias, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, took upwards of six weeks.
But once beyond the bustling gateway towns of Independence and St.
Joseph, Missouri travelers found themselves in the new territory of Kansas facing the first awesome sweep of the Great Plains.
The edge of a wilderness.
The beginning of the Oregon Trail.
Oh, my God.
They never learn.
- Bringing along all that junk.
- Junk? Look at that mirror.
- Imagine what that poor woman felt.
- Woman? You see what's left of that horse? Died in his traces because some woman had to drag her past along.
Let's go.
Hyah! Hyah! It's getting worse.
We gotta go in.
Cut them in here.
What do we do with the horses? Just unsaddle them and turn them loose.
They're not going anywhere.
Then get inside the wagon, all of you.
I'll take care of the team.
Any luck? Well, I found some sign but too late to do any tracking today, anyway.
Ugh, I can't stand it anymore! I've never seen so much dirt! It's in my eyes, it's in my mouth.
It's My hair's full of bugs! All right, just calm down.
We're gonna be out of this country.
That's what everybody keeps saying! But we keep going on and on.
Nothing changes! We can't bathe because we gotta save the water.
We keep eating the same thing day after day.
The game is scarce out here.
You've been told that.
Well, I can't stand it anymore! I can't! You're gonna have to.
Now we're all going through the same thing.
You don't hear anyone else complaining about the food.
If you'd short your hair like I told you and if you wore your sunbonnet like I told you, Laura! Laura.
Laura? Well, I thought you would be asleep.
I've never raised my voice to that girl before in her life.
Well, maybe it's time you did.
We've spoiled her, Kate.
Now, you know that's true yourself.
Of course it was.
It's pretty hard not to.
Minute she was born, I knew we had a beauty on our hands.
Now, they're trouble.
You see, I've had some experience when it comes to dealing with beauties.
Sorry you came? I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
- Where is everybody? - Your Uncle Zeb and Seth went hunting.
Your father's out looking for some firewood.
He could use some help.
Don't worry.
It'll all grow back when we get to Oregon.
He's all yours, boy.
I'll flush him.
Good shot, boy.
Where'd you shoot him from? Yeah, right in there.
In that opening in the trees.
Fair distance.
Especially for a running buck, heh.
Supper's on.
They look like Ponca.
They must be having trouble finding game too.
We'll let them take it.
But we need the meat.
If they got it, maybe they'll leave us alone.
Let's just back off slow.
The wagon.
Oh, they started a fire inside the wagon.
When we went to put it out, they stole the horses.
Well, what do we do? Go after them? There's no need.
They'll be coming at us.
All right now, nobody move.
Let me talk.
Keep your gun barrels pointed down.
A man has to be buffalo-witted to walk in this country.
Now he's getting down to business.
Says they got some fine horses to trade us.
Trade? For our own horses? Tim, we're gonna have to buy those horses back.
Might as well get used to the idea.
Jed, get some flour, bacon and hardtack from the wagon.
What will happen if we don't give it to them? Then it'll be down to we kill them or they kill us.
Kate.
He fancies it.
He's not gonna have it.
Damn taker.
Easy.
He says that for the food and that clock, he'll give us the horses.
I'm not gonna give him anything.
- Not for the horses that are already ours.
- Kate.
Will they take my rifle instead? I don't know.
A man's rifle means life or death.
They're not out to see you die.
- Yeah, but will they? - Seth.
Ma, I can always get another rifle.
Take it.
And get away from here.
Leave! All right, get the horses, boys.
Uncle Zeb, how do you know they won't be back? - Well, they got too much honor for that.
- Honor? They're not thieves, they're just trying to survive.
How's Kate? Kate, we're getting set to pull out.
I wanna go back.
Your letters painted quite a dream, Zeb.
Gold.
Land free for the taking, heh.
No preacher's been able to stir this family up more.
Well, it was lies, all of it.
No lies to it, Kate.
The land's there.
Good land and plenty of it.
It's 1000 miles west of here.
Takes a little doing to get to it.
And those Indians? You could've got us all killed.
I told you there was Indians out here.
We take our chances.
I wanna go home.
I'd rather take my chances there.
This is what Tim's wanted all along and never letting on.
You built him a trap, lady.
Now he's free of it, chasing his dream and you wanna turn him back just because the goings got a little tough.
Well, I reckon that's his fault making things too easy for you.
Doesn't work on me, Zeb.
I know where you've been.
It's a woman's duty to be silent.
I'm not that kind of woman.
Never took that you were.
But for once why don't you quit thinking about yourself and think about him.
And what about your boys? You forget what you were running from in the first place? There's nothing back there anymore, Kate.
Not for you.
Not for Tim.
Not for your sons.
Zeb Macahan if I weren't a religious woman I'd call you a Major Anderson, out of Fort Randall.
Zeb Macahan, major.
This here's my kin.
Zeb Macahan? Weren't you scouting for Colonel Hyatt at Fort Laramie? What are you doing this far east? Well, I was about to ask you the same thing.
We were ordered back to join General McDowell.
War's broke, full force.
- Where you coming from? - Virginia.
Well, I reckon you left just in time.
Why do you say that, major? Union forces have crossed through Maryland into Virginia.
General McDowell's at Manassas with 30,000 men.
General Beauregard with 20,000 coming up from the south.
Bull Run in the middle.
Bull Run? It's where we come from, we got family back there.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Well, good luck to you.
- Macahan.
- So long, major.
You going back.
Laura, fetch me a sack full of hardtack and dried beef.
- But, Pa - Go on now, girl, fetch it.
- Jed.
- Yes, sir.
Fetch me some ammunition.
Tim, I'll be the one going back, you stay here with the family.
This is hard country, Zeb.
You can buck it.
Comes to that, they'll be needing you more than me.
Long way to go if you expect to beat the rebel troops.
I reckon I can make it in three weeks.
Seven hundred miles, Tim, to Bull Run.
I'm going, Zeb.
What about the folks? What if they still won't leave? - Figure that when I get to it.
- Pa, good luck.
Zeb said he'd go back.
And you have a family here.
What happens to the children if you don't ever come back? Please, let Zeb go.
It's you I'm thinking of.
You stand a better chance out here with Zeb than with me.
- Timothy.
- Now, Kate, listen to me.
Kate, out here I'm a tenderfoot.
Zeb can find game and water.
He can read when a storm's brewing.
He knows the Indians.
I don't know any of that.
Out here all alone I could get all of us killed.
Now Zeb's the one that's got to stay.
You can understand that, can't you? Here, Pa.
Ah, hold open your apron.
- Pa, that's not near enough.
- It's all right, I'll make out.
Take care of them, Zeb.
I'll find you wherever you are.
Well, we'll be here.
We're not gonna go on another foot without you.
Next spring we'll go on to Oregon together.
Kate, you can't stay here.
He's right, Kate.
We can't stay out here for the winter.
Tim, I figure we're about 10 days from the Platte.
Now we'll go on there and wait for you.
There's a town there.
There's supposed to be a telegraph coming in.
We'll leave word.
They'll be all right.
We'll be waiting for you, Pa.
People, heh.
Well, we'll tend to the supplies, Zeb.
Come on, girls.
- I reckon a beer would go good.
- Yeah.
Jed, uh I'm afraid your ma would have my scalp, son.
- Ah.
- Maybe next time.
Well, howdy, pilgrims.
What can we do for you? Couple of beers.
We're used to wagon trains coming through, but folks traveling alone? - Where you coming from? - Virginia.
Well, you must have the Lord on your side.
- Where you headed? - Oregon.
Oh, you'll never make it before the snow flies.
- Ah.
- We figured to winter here.
It's tough country.
Heh, couldn't be much tougher than we just came through.
Well, the hell is a session.
This here's the Platte, gateway to the West.
Summers are hotter than Hades, winters colder than a landlord's heart.
Wolves are hungry and the Indians are hostile.
The outlaws and renegades own the deed.
Welcome, gentlemen, welcome.
I'm afraid he's called it.
NARRATOR; In a single day of fighting, Bull Run the first real conflict of the Civil War, saw 3000 casualties.
Compared to the horrendous death tolls of later battles like Gettysburg Bull Run was almost a skirmish.
But in this battle, Rebel and Union forces alike tested the mettle of their enemy and knew for the first time that victory would not be cheap.
Help that boy.
Put his head in my lap.
Oh, God.
Oh, he's no older than Seth, Pa.
Well, at leastwise it will keep the wind from the north off of us.
Zeb, what are you talking about? You mean staying here? In that shack? Called a soddie.
Not much, but it'll do.
Uncle Zeb.
You mean live in it? Well, somebody did once.
But it's just dirt.
You'll be surprised how cozy it'll be once we get it fixed up.
There's water over there at the base of those buttes.
- Appears there's been critters living inside.
- Yeah, hold on, honey.
No telling what other kind of critters might be in there, Jessie.
Maybe we'll have him for supper.
The ingenuity of the American pioneer was legendary.
When nature failed to provide his customary needs he found a way to change those needs.
Denied the luxury of brick or lumber, he built his home of logs.
And on the treeless plains where wood was almost nonexistent he turned to tough buffalo grass and mud, and raised with these crude materials a structure that was cool in summer, warm in winter and could be expanded with minimum effort as his family grew.
All the soddie required was the one commodity the American pioneer had in abundance, boundless energy.
And for settlers whose day began before dawn and ended long after dark the soddie could be raised from the empty prairie in a matter of days.
- Watch Zeb, watch that end.
- Jed, would you? Jed, use both hands.
Now don't scratch it.
Seth, watch your side.
All right, Ma, all right.
Good.
Good.
Okay, Zeb, coming in.
Will you give a little room for the doorway? Very good.
Wonderful.
Never seen younglings as tuckered as that.
I think they've growed a few inches in the last few days.
They're not the only ones.
Yeah.
There was a while there I was wondering whether you were gonna make it or not but I can see brother Tim knew what he was doing when he married you.
- It's been almost a month since he left.
- Ah.
Tim will be back, Kate.
You know, God has a way of looking out after Tim's sort.
Don't tell me you believe in God, Zeb Macahan.
I reckon I do in my own way.
I told Timothy you were a godless man.
Yeah, heh, well, that's not hard to understand, Kate.
I mean, you know, I guess I never been too much for church-going and all but I guess when it comes clearest to me is when I'm up in what they call the high lonesome watching the deer come down to drink in the early morning from a mountain lake with the mist just lifting off of it.
Or the trout rising in a river that's running cold and deep.
And the bear and the martin feeding along the shore.
And maybe the eagle up there soaring among the peaks.
A man would have to be a fool to think there wasn't a hand that made all of that.
Sure hope he's looking out for us in the morning if we're gonna be doing our planting.
What can we grow out here? Well, not too much this time a year.
Maybe some carrots and turnips, cabbage.
Maybe a little corn for the stock.
But we'll make out, Kate.
Uncle Zeb! Horses! Hundreds of them.
They're coming towards the house.
Jed, get your rifle, get down here.
You ladies get in the house.
Laura! Turn them.
Shoot over their heads.
Turn them! Turn them! Turn them or we'll blow you out of the saddle.
They're doing it, Uncle Zeb, they're turning.
Keep turning! That's it.
Move them.
- Now what do you think you're doing? - Protecting our property.
- Now get those horses out of here.
- Nesters.
Squatting right between us and the river.
Now this here land belongs to Hale Crowley.
We're running these horses through here for watering.
Not while we're here, you ain't.
Now, you tell Mr.
Crowley we're just borrowing this land.
We'll be moving on.
- When? - When we're ready.
I know what you're thinking there, sonny.
And I wouldn't try that.
This here Hawken makes a mighty big hole.
You got 30 minutes to clear out of here and then we're coming through.
- You go around us.
- Mr.
Crowley said to run through you.
They're thirsty and smelling water.
We'll kill a dozen head before you get to it.
Are you loco, mister? Now, you can build a sod anywhere.
It's a big country.
We built it here.
Go around us.
It's a big river.
Crowley Mr.
Crowley ain't used to butting heads with another bull.
It's plain to see you're no farmer, mister.
All right, we'll go around.
But when word of this gets back to Crowley, you better be gone.
We done it, Uncle Zeb.
We run them off.
Best not to count beaver till they're in your trap, boy.
I got a feeling they ain't through with us yet.
Ma.
Jed's coming back.
Oh.
Well, the telegraph's working now.
But still no word from Pa.
Uncle Zeb, I saw those cowboys again.
They said we better be out of here inside a week.
I didn't wanna say anything in front of the women.
Now, boys, I'll tell you how it is.
We can either hold ground here or we can move on.
I'm gonna leave it up to you.
Well, the way I see it we're the ones who worked the land.
We'll stay until we hear from Pa.
- Buffalo what? - Buffalo droppings, honey, ugh.
- Come on, Laura, it won't hurt you.
- But it's It's It's buffalo chips, if you tend to be finicky.
See, they, they burn real slow and they give off a lot of heat.
Go ahead jump right in, it ain't bad once you get started.
Oh, Laura, you're gonna be a good picker.
Oh, we should've heard from Pa by now.
It's been more than four months.
- Why? What could have happened? - Let's go get us a drink, huh? You know, holding your ground don't only mean out there, Seth.
Means in here too.
Grab a chair, fellas.
- What can I do for you? - Bottle, a couple of glasses.
I get it for them.
Nothing worse than the stink of a dirt-scratcher.
Except it might be the stink of a sheep-man.
Though the stink is just about the same.
Ew.
These two soddies are in a bad need of taking a bath.
Why don't we take them on outside to the horse trough.
What do you think about that, dung-heap? - Hey! Hey! - Wait a minute.
Stop it! Stop that! You're busting up my place! Get out of here! Take it outside.
Hey, you thought you'd give us a bath, did you? Well, get in there! How'd you like it, mister? Huh, how do you like it? That feel real good? I'm sure glad I never tried to give you a bath.
- You and your boys owe me for damages.
- Ah, shut up! Yeah, Seth, I was right proud of you, the way you handled that old boy's case.
He was rough as a badger out of his hole.
You remind me of your pa in the old days.
You know, before he got hitched up him and me used to take them on like that once in a while.
I remember one time down in Natchez, why - I'm going back.
- Huh? After Pa.
Boy, you ain't going nowhere.
No, I'm sorry but just sitting here, waiting.
It's getting all of us.
Most of all, Ma.
Now, you been aching to go yourself.
Well, I'm going.
- Now, wait a minute, if anybody goes - Uh-huh.
You promised Pa.
You know your ma's gonna have something to say about this.
Will you tell her? So you ain't even going back to the place? Ah, you know what it'll be like.
Yeah, you're right about that.
I guess if you're going you might as well get on your horse and ride.
I'll handle your ma.
Here, this will get you what you need, lad.
Seth, you bring back your pa, you hear? Yes, sir.
Hyah.
Is that you, Seth? Henry Jethro? Yankee cannons house wasn't hurt much.
Stayed put inside they'd be alive.
- Who buried them? - Me and Pa.
Read over them from the Bible.
It was your pa that marked the graves.
My pa? - When? - Few days after it happened I was home on leave then, before I got burned.
Do you know where he is now, Henry? Yankees took him prisoner.
- Pa had no part in this war.
- He told them that.
But they said he was gonna have to fight anyhow.
It wasn't what I figured it was gonna be, Seth.
Yankees hit us and I woke up in a field hospital like this.
You know where they might have took my pa, Henry? Folks said they was headed toward Tennessee.
So long.
Go back home, Seth, before this war turns on you.
You hear? Couldn't get deer meat, but got us some fish, anyway.
Zeb! Doane.
What are you doing in these parts? Dutton's loose, few days after you brought him in.
Broke that guardhouse like an egg crate.
Came looking for you, Zeb, but you were in Virginia, so he went after Billy Joe.
Did he find him? Dutton killed him, Zeb.
Scalped.
He's looking for you.
Thought you best know.
How did you know where to find me? Well, the word's out, you took your family to the Platte.
If I can find you, so can Dutton.
You got any idea where he is now? Well, the last I heard he was out in the White River Crossing coming down through the Dakotas.
Well, if he's coming down from White River Crossing here he'd have to come through Pine Valley.
It ain't more than half a mile wide at the lake.
That's how I got it figured.
Well, I appreciate your coming this far.
Well, I liked Billy Joe.
I'd have done for Dutton myself if I could have found him but it'll be better coming from you.
Good hunting, Zeb.
Sorry, Zeb.
Who was Billy Joe? Oh, he was an Indian boy, Kate.
He was a reservation runaway.
First time I met him, he was trying to steal my horse.
He was about 15, I guess, then.
Kind of dirty and scrawny.
We washed him all down, we found a pure Cheyenne Indian underneath.
Being Cheyenne, he was worth the trouble salvaging.
I taught him what I know.
Guess he was kind of like a son to me.
Kate, I gotta go get the man that killed him.
First Timothy, then Seth, now you.
I promised Timothy I'd look after you and the kids.
That's what I aim to do.
Here I'd bring Dutton down on you.
See, he's kind of like an animal turned renegade.
He kills just for the taste of blood, like he did with Billy Joe.
Now, if he could hurt me by getting to you or the kids, Kate, he'd do it.
Before he finds out where this place is I gotta get to him.
- I'll be back as soon as I can.
- I'll put some things together for you.
Don't bother.
I'll kill what I need.
Zeb, what about Crowley? Well, Crowley's not out to hurt anybody, Kate.
If he was, he'd have done it by now.
Take a good look at Jed lately? He's closer to a man than you think.
The savage Battle of Shiloh exploded across the Tennessee countryside on the morning of April 6th.
The initial Confederate attack overran the Union position throwing battle lines into total confusion.
Everywhere there were small pockets of Union troops cut off from their commands in terrain that was, temporarily, in Rebel hands.
All right! Who are you? - What difference does it make? - Afraid we got us a sapping turtle, captain.
- Where you from, son? - Virginia.
Smell spy to me, sir.
Just because a man's from Virginia doesn't make him a spy, sergeant.
Besides, he seemed in a hurry to avoid that Rebel patrol.
- Well, that he did, sir.
- I got no stake in this war.
It's a hell of a place to be a neutral.
I'm looking for my father.
I'm sorry, son, but we just lost six good men and I'm shorthanded.
- What's your name? - Macahan.
Seth Macahan.
Do you believe in slavery? - No, sir.
But l - That no longer makes you a neutral.
- Time being, anyway.
- And I don't believe in war, either.
Neither do I.
About, uh, Billing's size, wouldn't you say, sergeant? Yes, sir.
All right, move, soldier.
Mama? Mama.
Something's wrong with Jessie.
She's got a fierce pain in her stomach.
Jessie? My stomach.
Any place else? Where? My arms, my legs, everything.
- Laura, get Jed.
- What is it? Get Jed, Laura.
Doctor! Dr.
Dodd! Have you seen the doctor? We wouldn't know anything about that.
I gotta find him.
It's urgent.
The doctor in there is for the people here in Sand Town.
It's not for you squatters.
- I said, I gotta find the doctor.
- You ain't going nowhere, boy.
Except maybe out of town.
We gonna give you a little lesson about what's gonna happen to you if you show your face around here again.
That must be the doctor.
You stay here and take care of her, Laura.
Jed! Jed! Jed! Jed! Jed, what happened? What happened, Jed? - Who's the doctor here? - I am.
You're coming with me right away, doctor.
- Are you Crowley? - I am.
I'm truly tempted to kill you, Mr.
Crowley.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- My son! - Your men beat him up today, bad.
- Bad enough to need a doctor? He came here for a doctor.
His sister is sick.
Maybe cholera.
Woodward, did you have a hand in beating up this boy? No, sir, I wasn't there.
- Polk? - Uh, he was one of them Macahans - When you get back to the ranch, you clear out.
You too, Stenner.
It was one of them sodbusters I told you I wanted them out, not dead.
I don't want to see you after sundown.
I'm sorry about your boy.
I didn't want anyone hurt, just out.
When I raise my voice, folks usually move.
All right, doc, you go on out there.
You too, Mr.
Crowley.
- Cholera's contagious! - Lf you're out there, no one will interfere.
If you think you're gonna make me go out there You're damned right! Then it is cholera? I don't know yet.
If it is in a few hours On the first day of battle Union forces at Shiloh had suffered devastating losses.
But during the night, General Grant rallied his shattered forces and at dawn on April 7th began a counterattack.
Before the day was over, the Union had won back what it had lost.
But the cost was appalling.
In the two days of savage fighting casualties had mounted to 25,000 men.
Thought you might need some fresh water.
Stomach cramps finally let up.
It was dysentery.
She's sleeping peacefully now.
- Thank you, doctor.
- Uh, Mrs.
Macahan.
Since I can't run you off, maybe I can make things a little more tolerable for you.
I've got some lumber out at the ranch, enough there to build you a decent floor and then you wouldn't have to walk around in all that dirt.
- We'll make do.
- You can stay as long as you like.
What about your horses? Well, we'll just, uh, move them around you.
Thank you.
Yes, ma'am.
Goodbye, ma'am.
Lord, I'm thirsty.
- Ain't had a drink since this morning.
- Yeah, well, just be glad you're alive.
I'm the only one left in my platoon when the Rebs pulled out in front of us That's water up ahead.
Come on.
- Hold on.
- What are you doing? Hey, hold your fire.
Hey, now, look, we all need water.
Maybe we can work a truce.
You crazy.
You can't trust them.
Hell, they're probably saying the same thing about us.
We can kill each other out here or we can die of thirst.
You call a truce and we all live.
How do we know you ain't got something up your sleeve? No tricks.
Look, all of us need water.
We agree on a truce, each of us fill up and go our own ways.
Never met a blue belly yet that wasn't partial to an ambush.
Only way a Reb knows how to fight is from a man's back.
I ain't drinking no water after no Reb does.
We're taking this creek.
Try to stop us.
Now, wait a minute.
It makes no sense.
- I'm taking me a bath.
- Yes, sir.
Well, we aim to take a bath in that creek ourselves.
Alone.
Ain't no Yankee gonna be around to muddy up the water.
Help me.
Who goes there? Come on.
- Where you coming from, soldier? - From Shiloh.
Set him over here, son.
We got orders just to sit tight.
You're mighty lucky, soldier.
You lost a lot of blood, but I think you're gonna be all right.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
What you doing here? I come to find you, Pa.
- Your mother? Your mother? - She's fine, Pa.
She's fine.
Everybody's fine.
Ain't there a doctor? He's dead, boy.
What was he to you, boy? He was my father.
- Were you with him? - Yup.
Wouldn't fight first off.
But pretty soon, he figured it'd beat rotting in prison.
Damn good soldier too.
Don't know exactly what happened, but we were holding a ridge and all of sudden shells come in exploding all around us.
Killing men on both sides.
I don't even know if they were Yankee or Reb cannons doing the killing.
Corporal, water these horses.
They're breaking our lines.
I need every man who can stand and shoot.
You two, fall in.
You.
You.
Corporal.
You two.
Still got one good leg left.
- I said fall in.
- No, sir.
I'm going no place.
- Soldier, on your feet.
- He was my father.
We've all lost a lot in this war, son.
Best thing you can do for him is kill Rebs.
No.
Are you refusing to fight? Done all the killing I'm gonna do.
Fall in.
Soldier.
Soldier, take one more step and I'll fire.
First thing I seen when I came in the barn was that bald-faced horse of yours.
The one that was stole from your place.
And then I see this one sleeping here so I went and got the sheriff.
Well, you did the right thing in fetching me, Sam.
So you're the horse thief? I thought you said you hit him.
I don't see any bullet wound.
Well, you hit him, mister.
He's dead.
I found him.
I found his body yesterday morning and this horse was loose.
What do you take us for, boy? My name's Macahan.
Seth Macahan.
I'm a soldier.
A Union soldier.
And I come here from Nebraska to find my pa.
I'm no horse thief.
Not only a horse thief, but a Yankee.
Come on, string him up.
No, wait.
You just can't hang a man without a trial or nothing.
Mister, this here's Missouri.
Man steals a horse, he hangs.
That's for sure.
Hyah.
You're a hard man to kill, Zeb.
- You're gonna find out how hard.
- How'd you know I was up here? I can smell you.
- You fixing to take me back? - Yeah.
Over my saddle.
I figured that's how it'd be after I got Billy Joe.
Well, come on up, Zeb.
I'll be waiting on you.
Zeb.
Come on, sit down.
Have some rabbit.
- I cook real good rabbit.
- No, thanks.
Sorry about trying to bushwhack you back there.
- I thought it was my best chance.
- Your only chance.
Wasn't too long ago, you and I rode a lot of rivers together.
Kind of like to stay up here, no matter how it comes out.
What happened, Dutton? When'd you turn wolf? Oh.
World changed.
No more beaver fur trade played out rendezvous.
Ain't been a real rendezvous since '45.
Men like you and me we had the world right by the throat and it'd give us anything we wanted.
Now it says we gotta take on civilized.
I can't do that.
Just can't do it.
Now there, there's the one I envy, the eagle.
Well either way we both seen the best of it.
Well So long, Zeb.
Seth.
Seth, heh.
Seth.
What happened, Seth? Where have you been? Your father? He's dead.
He'll never see it.
What, Ma? California.
Oregon.
What he waited 25 years to see.
What about Grandma, Grandpa? - Them too.
- Oh, God.
Ma when Pa died I was with him.
Are you all right? Where's everybody? Oh.
Zeb, he's gone north, but he'll be back any day.
Jed and the girls are in town.
They'll be back soon.
- Come on.
- Ma I can't stay.
What? - I'm wanted by the law.
- Seth.
I'm a deserter.
I shot a lawman.
Try explaining it to you, but I've got to go.
I left Missouri in a very big hurry.
Where you going to go? Up north, I guess, till things ease up.
Now, don't fret, I'll be fine.
Ma, they know where I'm from, so if anybody comes looking for me, I We haven't seen you.
Going on to Oregon? Not until we go together.
I'll be back.
We'll be here.
The Macahan family, like thousands of others came and saw and endured.
In a sense, they were a typical family.
But they were only typical of a very special breed of people their likes we will never see again.
But they have given us a heritage and a courage that was not only unique but has survived to become our great American tradition.