Cheyenne Autumn Page #2

is much too sick.

He'll never make such a trip.

Let...

If he lives to ride

even a mile closer to home...

...he will die as a man should.

There will be no more dying

in this place.

They've skipped.

Thank God.

What the hell do you mean by that?

I've waited since I was 10 years old

for this chance.

Then you're a damned idiot.

I want D Troop ready

and mounted in 10 minutes.

E Troop and wagons to follow

under your command.

No artillery. Plumtree!

- Come here!

- Yes, sir!

E Troop and train reporting, sir.

You brought the wagons

along too fast, Mr. Scott.

Draft animals can't stand it.

They can rest up tonight.

They can?

Well, that's an assumption

you had no right to make.

We're gonna keep moving.

That's fine with me, sir.

- Scott, tell me something.

- Sir?

What put the blood in your eye?

It's just a private matter, sir.

Nothing that affects

an officer's conduct is private.

My father died

in the Fetterman Massacre back in '66.

Mother and I were at the fort

when they brought his body in.

I was only 10 years old.

Until that time,

I never wanted to be a soldier.

Well, that doesn't give you

a personal license to kill Indians.

The job of this Army

is to keep the peace.

I understand, sir.

You do, huh?

Well, just make sure you understand...

...these Cheyenne broke no law

when they left the Agency.

And they won't

unless they cross the river.

So if you provoke trouble...

...Ill see that you lose

those shoulder straps...

...if I have to tear them off myself.

Understood?

Understood, sir.

Mr. Scott!

Sir?

I knew your father.

- Guide on!

- Sir.

Troop, halt!

Prepare to dismount!

Prepare to dismount!

Dismount!

- Sir!

- Yes.

Are you going to let them jump

the reservation right bef?

They haven't jumped the reservation.

They haven't crossed the river yet.

- Sir, I most respectfully object to...

- Put it in writing.

Join your troop, mister.

Sir.

No. No, thanks.

Spanish Woman, what's happening?

I think war.

Spanish Woman, speak to Dull Knife.

He'll listen to you.

I can do nothing.

Nothing.

- School teacher.

- Little Wolf, you promised...

Take the children, join the others.

Troop, halt!

Troop, halt!

- Plumtree.

- Sir?

I don't like the look of it.

Take a look up that canyon.

- Yes, sir.

- Jones, you cover him.

Jones!

Name's Smith, sir.

Oh, well, go on up with him. Go on!

- All right?

- Yes, sir.

But that canyon there

is plumb full of Indians.

- On ride into line! Yo!

- Hey, Smitty, wait a minute.

On ride into line! Yo!

You've got a lot to explain

to a court martial, Archer.

Sergeant...

Cannon's ready?

Forward on the double!

Cannon forward on the double!

Prepare to dismount!

- Prepare to dismount!

- Dismount!

Now!

Motion!

All soldiers to the rear!

All soldiers to the rear!

Stop!

- Major, I've got to tell you...

- Go back to your troop.

...the majority of those people

are women and children!

- Maybe 50 or 60 warriors.

- Archer, you're under arrest.

Number one gun, fire!

Number two gun, fire!

Fire number one.

Fire.

Cease firing!

Where's the major?

- Is he?

- Yes, sir.

They're angry because my son fired

the first shot.

Does it ever matter

who fires the first shot?

Those dirty, murdering...

- The major's dead, sir.

- Pick up the horses.

- I said, the major's dead, sir!

- Shut up!

Aren't you gonna give them a?

Plumtree, Brown,

get the horses off the wagons.

- Yes, sir.

- Yo.

- Name's Smith, sir.

- All right, get to work!

My son says,

"The soldiers do not follow."

Dull Knife, you know the soldiers

will have to follow us.

Have you thought what will happen

to your wife and son?

There will be war.

- Little Wolf.

- These are my wives.

I pray the young one

will give me sons.

But I want them to be born where I

and all my people before me were born.

Even a dog can go where he likes...

...but not a Cheyenne.

You may go where you like.

No.

No.

No.

But...

The report

from the Army's field telegrapher...

...to headquarters in Omaha listed

only nine casualties incurred...

...in the troop's first encounter

with the homeward-bound Cheyenne.

But by the time it came off

the press in Kansas City...

...somehow it had

mysteriously grown to 29.

And suddenly it expanded

to 59, 69, 109...

...when the news reached

the tiny hamlets of the Western Plains.

Meanwhile, the Army was frantically

deploying troops along the 1200 miles...

...that still lay between the Cheyenne

and their homeland.

The railroads they had to cross

were patrolled.

River crossings watched.

The alarm was spreading

through the West.

Settlers crossing the plains

demanded Army escorts.

Or they rushed frantically

to the safety of Army posts.

No one asked how many Indians

had escaped.

The word Cheyenne was enough.

And in Washington heated words

echoed through the Halls of Congress.

The Department of the Interior

was crowded...

...with western railroad tycoons,

mine owners and land speculators.

All such people to whom Indian scares

meant lost dollars.

While the generals came

to fix the blame on Carl Schurz...

...the Secretary of the Interior.

In his misguided effort to eliminate

corruption in the Indian Bureau...

...it was Mr. Schurz who had brought

in the Quakers.

And to the Army

it was obviously the Quakers...

...who had encouraged

the Cheyenne to rebel.

In all the land there was not one voice

raised in behalf of the Cheyenne until...

In The Sun, the Times, Chronicle.

Take your pick. They're all saying

the same things we're saying:

"Bloodthirsty savages on the loose.

Burning, killing,

violating beautiful white women!"

It's not news anymore.

We're gonna take a different tack.

From now on, we're going to grieve

for the noble red man.

We'll sell more paper that way.

Now, see to it!

But by now any rumor

could be believed.

Because suddenly the news

from the West had stopped.

The Cheyenne and their pursuers

had disappeared into the emptiness...

...and silence

of the thinly populated continent.

- Mr. Secretary.

- Come in. Come in.

Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary.

Now, no matter

what you may have heard...

We assure you there's nothing personal

about our proposed legislation.

The entire Senate

has the greatest respect for you...

...you know that.

But all I know is that you're trying

to snatch the Indian Bureau away...

...from my department

and hand it over to the Army.

Mr. Senator?

Have you ever seen a Cheyenne?

An Arapaho? Any Indian?

Have you ever been west

of the Mississippi River?

- What are driving at, sir?

- Well, just this.

Why are three eastern senators

suddenly so concerned about Indians?

Well, it's strictly

a matter of economy.

The Army has to be out there anyway.

Oh, so that's all it is.

I was afraid perhaps that some

of the dollar patriots...

...who are sleeping on my doorstep

might have been sleeping on yours.

Sir, are you questioning

our honesty of purpose?

No more than I question theirs.

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