They Died with Their Boots On Page #12

Not an American? What do you Yankees

think you are?

The only real Americans are

on the other side of the hill...

...with feathers in their hair.

You're probably right about that.

But there's 6000 of them...

...and less than 600 of us.

The regiment's being sacrificed, Butler.

I wouldn't want to see a foreigner

butchered in a deal like this.

Sporting of you to think of it that way.

I'll remind you, sir, I'm a member

of the mess of the 7th U.S. Cavalry.

Fancy walking into the service club

in Piccadilly if the regiment...

Get somebody else to post

your blinking letter.

Thanks, Queen's Own.

Just so long as you know.

I'll get someone else.

You'll pay for this, Custer.

There's a law in this country against

abduction. You'll go to jail for it.

Maybe, Sharp, maybe.

What do you think you're doing?

Cut me loose.

Say, what is all this?

What does it mean?

- It means you're free.

- Free?

I don't know where I am,

what day it is.

It's about dawn on the 25th of June.

You're on the Rosebud Ridge above Little

Bighorn River. The way home's due east.

The way home? From the Little Bighorn?

Why, this whole country's

swarming with Sioux!

That's right, Sharp, it is.

Why, it's murder.

What chance will I have?

About the same chance as

the thousands of poor devils...

...you sent in here with that lying tale

about the gold.

I say it's murder. I won't go.

You don't have to, Sharp.

It's for you to choose.

What do you mean?

You mean...

- You mean you'll leave me here?

- No.

The regiment rides in about an hour.

You can ride with it if you want.

Where is the regiment riding?

To hell, Sharp...

...or to glory.

It depends on one's point of view.

Not dead long.

Big war party go.

Sioux!

Forward rank, ho!

Draw saber!

Charge!

Fight on foot!

You dirty yellowbellies!

Oh, looks like I'll never get to...

Maybe you were right...

...about glory.

But for the desperate attack

of the 7th Cavalry...

...Terry's force would've been

wiped out, squatters massacred...

...the whole frontier overrun,

Bismarck itself destroyed.

I'll see that the regiment gets

due recognition from Congress.

Let me remind you that

all Custer said came true.

Every Indian gathered

to defend the Black Hills...

...and the troops which you sent

against them were overwhelmed.

The public has begun to wonder

if some of the other things...

...he tried to say

might not have been true.

By what authority do you

talk to me like this?

By authority of

the U.S. President.

He had an opportunity to tell everything

at the congressional inquiry.

- He had a fair hearing.

- A fair hearing, Taipe?

I heard them tell him

that his testimony was inadmissible...

...except as a dying declaration.

Well, Custer's dead...

...but you're going to hear him speak.

You have something to say, Libby?

I have here a letter from my husband...

...addressed to the nation.

It contains nothing with which

you are not familiar.

Only a restatement of the evidence

he attempted to put before Congress.

That evidence was ruled hearsay,

mere hearsay.

My husband wrote this letter

on the morning of June the 25th...

...in anticipation of his death

on that day.

He believed it to be what the

committee called a dying declaration...

...and as such, admissible

in a court of law.

You hear that? If that letter gets out,

we'll be lynched!

- Well, say something, man.

- It doesn't seem to matter, Taipe.

My son chose to go to his death

with the 7th Cavalry.

And I think I know why.

There is a price for which it

can be bought. Colonel Custer's price.

Well, what is it? Name it.

The company must be dissolved.

The company is dissolved.

Mr. Taipe, you must resign your office

as commissioner.

- Resign?

- And before you leave this room.

There's another price, General Sheridan.

The price the administration must pay.

The administration must make good

its promise to Crazy Horse.

The Indians must be protected in

their right to exist in their country.

I have authority to answer that from

the administration, the president himself.

Come, my dear.

Your soldier won his last fight after all.

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