Original subtitles

We'll be able to see the Fort from the top of the next rise.

There she is, Fort Lincoln.

The base of the finest cavalry regiment in the country.

And our home.

What's the matter, Tom?

The garrison flag isn't flying. It's a good three hours before retreat.

I wonder what's happened.

I don't know.

- See that little draw? - Yes.

Take Mama Crow and the pack horse, and stay out of sight till I come for you.

- Tom, I should... - Now, don't worry. I won't be long.

Just keep under cover.

Breck! Calhoun!

Lacy! Decker!

Go on.

Call them louder.

Call the roll of the dead.

Charlotte.

But you're not dead, are you, Captain Benson?

You're standing there alive because another man died in your place.

My man!

Charlotte, get hold of yourself. What's happened here?

You were Custer's favorite.

Why don't you ride out to the Little Big Horn

and ask him what happened.

And ask him why he put Captain Jim Reynolds, my husband,

in command of C Troop, your troop,

when he knew that Jim wasn't fit for duty in the field.

You knew it too!

You knew that Jim hadn't recovered

from the wound he got last year fighting the Sioux.

But your great General took him!

And he died...

in your place!

Tell me what you're talking about?

Did you bring back your bride-to-be, Captain Benson?

Look at me, I was a bride too,

an Army bride.

Charlotte, what happened here?

Dead.

All dead.

All those men who were with Custer.

Massacred.

Tortured.

Sitting Bull...

making big medicine with the Sioux braves around the fire.

And the Sioux squaws with the knives in their hands...

amongst the bodies of our dead and wounded.

And my Jim...

one of the dead.

Bates.

Well... Captain Benson.

If you've got an excuse, it'd better be a good one.

It got out of hand, sir.

Captain Benson, good old captain, did you have a nice honeymoon, sir?

- Kruger. - Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Old Sergeant Kruger, that's me, sir.

I'm only going to ask you once about this.

When the regiment left, I was detailed to provost guard,

to keep these prisoners and drunks from getting out of hand.

Then I heard about the news and how it happened.

I decided to let them go.

I didn't think they should be killed like rats in a trap.

Especially if Chief Crazy Horse and his braves decided to jump the fort.

Yes, sir, old Bates here is a regular little Napoleon,

giving orders just like a Major General.

I had to let them go. They were the only men we had left to defend the post.

But they got into Sutlers' Stores.

Got into the liquor.

So? Get them on their feet and fit for duty.

Yes, sir.

All right. Rise and shine. The wake is over.

Present arms!

Order arms!

Bates, Kruger, come with me! The rest of you men take your posts!

There they come.

All that's left of five troops of the 7th Cavalry.

Looks like the squadrons that went down with Custer

wasn't the only ones had a rugged time at the Little Big Horn.

Ed.

Oh, Ed, I...

It is Vic, Custer's mount, isn't it?

No, sir. This is Dandy, the General's second mount.

They've always been hard to tell apart.

The General was riding Vic.

But...

you were with Custer, too. You were his Bugler orderly.

I was with him, sir,

till we rode right smack into the middle of the whole Sioux nation.

General Custer sent me back with an order to Captain Benteen.

I was the only lucky one, sir.

If the General hadn't sent me back with that order -

Morrison...

is it true the whole of C Troop was wiped out?

They never had a chance, sir.

They were outnumbered at least 15 or 20 to 1.

The Sioux had Winchester repeaters against our single-shots,

and more ammunition.

You know that country, Captain. We've scouted it together.

It's bad.

Looks flat, but it isn't.

It's full of dips and rises that can hide ten thousand

until you're right in the middle of them.

The Sioux and Cheyenne seemed to come right up out of the ground.

I saw it all from the top of a hill

not five minutes after I rode away.

I've been seeing nothing else since.

I'll go on seeing it, I guess, over and over and over again,

till my dying day.

Just so it won't come as a surprise,

I'm asking for a transfer out of this outfit as soon as I can write out the request.

Before we square things with the Sioux?

I'll do my squaring things with another regiment.

This one's finished as far as I'm concerned.

I want to know why it happened, Bob.

You can read all about it in the official reports, Captain.

All of you were there. You must know.

Chet?

I'm not prepared to venture an opinion, sir.

If you have an opinion, I want it.

What is this, a one-man Court of Inquiry?

I have a reason for wanting to know the truth.

Worried about your General's reputation?

I'll tell you one thing:

there'll be precious little of it left once the truth is known.

Come on, get it off your chest, whatever it is.

All right, I'll give you my opinion.

Little Big Horn just proved what I thought about Custer all along.

He thought he was God Almighty and couldn't lose in any situation.

- I want the facts. - And I'll give you the facts.

He disobeyed orders.

Deliberately set the stage so if there was any glory

he'd be the one to grab it.

Custer was as responsible for the slaughter

of five troops of the 7th Cavalry as if he'd blown their heads -

I'm sorry, Bob. Forgive me.

Seems as if you do your best fighting in the officers' quarters.

- Miss Kellogg. - Yes?

Where is Captain Benson?

I don't know, Mrs Reynolds. Probably going about his duties.

His duties. How convenient!

How very convenient everything has been for him!

Are you trying to suggest that Captain Benson left his post to bring me back

knowing that General Custer was going to attack while he was gone?

Captain Benson was closer to General Custer than anyone.

He must have known his plan.

Can anyone actually believe that?

I can believe it, Miss Kellogg.

- Why do you believe it, Lieutenant? - Personal reasons.

You understand, Miss Kellogg,

that we all have the greatest respect for you and your father.

I believe we were discussing Captain Benson.

Very well.

For one, I never considered that Benson belonged.

He wasn't West Point.

I've never been able to make up my mind just exactly what he was.

Are you implying that Captain Benson is not a gentleman?

Well, as Captain Benson's fiancée, Miss Kellogg,

you certainly must be well acquainted with his background.

You tell me.

Professional gambler on a river boat.

A faro dealer before coming into the service.

I think he knew what was coming,

decided not to stake his life on such a mad gamble.

So he appealed to Custer's well-known sentimental nature and begged off

to fetch you from Fort Supply.

If I were a man, Lieutenant Fitch, I'd know how to answer you.

You laid it on too thickly, Bob.

You forget: her father is Colonel Kellogg.

Her father shares my opinion of our gallant Captain Benson.

Why didn't you come to Captain Benteen's?

I'm not exactly in the mood for social calls.

It's hardly a social gathering.

Tom, why didn't you tell me about the river boat?

About being a gambler?

I wanted to.

We talked it over, the General and I.

We decided it was nobody's business what I was.

You could've told me.

Oh, it's all in the long-dead past.

Not that I'm apologising for it.

Did you think... did you think it would change things?

I know your father,

a gentleman of the old Army school.

He's not too fond of me, you know.

You weren't marrying my father.

I wasn't so sure I'd ever be able to marry you

until I practically carried you off.

I'm sorry I had to hear it from someone else.

Fitch?

If it hadn't been Fitch, it would've been someone sometime.

He made a passage once on the Silver Queen, my father's boat.

- I don't care what... - Wait.

I want you to hear it all, from me.

I dealt faro on the Silver Queen. And I did a lot of other things.

I was a drifter, flush one day, broke the next,

good luck and bad.

Between seasons on the river, I scouted for the Army.

That's how I met General Custer.

He saw me on the Army and brought me into the 7th Cavalry.

But I'm glad this business about the Silver Queen came up

because it makes it a little easier for me to do something I must do:

you going back to Fort Supply.

- When are we leaving? - I'm not. You are.

I'm not going any place without you.

Don't you understand? The daughter of Colonel Kellogg

married to one who will always be remembered as the man who wasn't there.

Oh, Tom.

The thing that's killing you is the thought that...

when your men might've needed you, you weren't with them.

- My place was with them. - And my place is with you.

Don't make me feel that when the man I love needed me,

I wasn't with him.

Oh, it's no use, Martha. It's best you go back.

At ease, Morrison.

I guess I've played Taps over a thousand times since I've been in the Army, sir.

But tonight somehow it was different.

Yes, tonight I think I really heard it, and understood it for the first time.

It's a sad call, sir.

Sort of like saying goodbye to old friends.

- Requiem for the regiment. - Yes, sir.

I won't be seeing you for a while, Captain.

I'm riding courier to Fort Supply...

with a dispatch for Colonel Kellogg.

Colonel Kellogg?

- Does Miss Martha know? - No, sir.

I just received the orders.

Major Reno is insisting that Colonel Kellogg come here to

conduct a Court of Inquiry into what happened...

...out there.

I know, sir.

You wanted to be there.

Thank you, Morrison.

Good night.

You ought to bring him in to see me.

Good afternoon, Charlotte. Mrs Bremer, Mrs -

- You sent for me, sir? - Yes, I did.

Concerning your request for an escort to take Miss Kellogg to Fort Supply,

it is refused.

On what grounds, sir?

One, not sufficient men are available for such an expedition.

Two,

Miss Kellogg has stated that she has no intention of returning to Fort Supply,

which I can understand seeing that her father is coming here.

I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I suppose when you asked for active service

it was your intention to command her escort.

Such was not my intention.

When I asked for active service,

I asked for duty commensurate with my rank of Captain.

Very well, Benson. I'll see what I can find for you to do.

Detail, attention!

Dress right, dress!

How the mighty have fallen.

Imagine having to take a bunch of scurvy recruits to the rifle range.

He asked for an assignment.

Well, the adjutant sure took care of him.

Don't worry about him.

He's all taken care of.

If his brother officers have their way,

they'll bury him with the rest of the garbage.

Uh, Captain Benson wasn't the only one

who had other business when he should've been with Custer.

I don't seem to recall you were there.

One, two. One, two.

Detail, halt!

At ease, Benson.

Good afternoon, Colonel Kellogg.

What is, uh, this?

Recruit target practice. On the way to the rifle range, sir.

And you're in command, on foot?

Yes, sir.

It's special duty, sir.

Your daughter Martha will be happy to see you.

- Have the two of you married yet? - No, sir.

Good.

Forward, march!

Gentlemen,

as you know, I'm here to conduct an official investigation

into the reasons for this shocking defeat

by direct order of the President of the United States.

It's my duty to establish the truth,

about the elements that led to this disaster.

Who's to blame?

Why did Custer divide his command?

Where were the officers and their men who could have supported him?

Were certain officers derelict in their duties?

At the height of his career as an Indian fighter,

a brave, experienced officer led five troops of cavalry to their deaths.

Where was the rest of his command when he died?

Why was Custer unsupported in the hour of his greatest need?

Major Reno,

the support of your battalion could have saved Custer.

Don't you agree?

I...

I don't know, sir.

Well, surely you know how desperately he needed help?

No, sir.

Come now, Major Reno.

You were there. You knew what was happening.

You had guides and scouts and messengers.

A commander like Custer would never lose contact with his officers.

That is exactly what he did, sir.

Are you suggesting that he didn't ask for support?

Yes, sir.

As a matter of fact, it was he who had promised to support my battalion.

You have orders to that effect?

My orders were to cross the Little Big Horn River

and charge the Indian village on the other side.

I was told by the adjutant that I was to be supported by the whole outfit.

You carried out your order?

As far as I could, sir.

Until I found myself under a murderous attack

faced by impossible odds.

The Sioux outnumbered us 10 to 1.

I sent a messenger for the support I'd been promised.

It never came.

My battalion was forced to fall back to the river.

Isn't it true then, that your withdrawal

left the Indians free to mass against Custer?

I couldn't help that, sir.

I had to try to save what was left of my own battalion.

But your orders were to engage the Indians.

They weren't feasible.

Custer foolishly divided the regiment into three battalions

when he should have kept his command intact.

I object to that statement, Major.

You're condemning the General's decision without explaining why he made it.

I'm not interested in why he made it.

I only know it was an invitation to disaster. And it came.

It's easy to assassinate the military reputation of a dead man

who's not here to defend himself.

Order, order.

I'll not allow these proceedings to be interrupted.

Particularly by an officer who can only theorise about the battle.

- That's all anyone's doing, sir. - Sit down, Captain.

Were you also unaware of the fact that

your General needed support, Captain Benteen?

No, sir. I knew he needed it.

I had received an urgent order to join him and bring up the ammunition packs.

- Did you obey that order? - I tried.

Just what do you mean by that, Captain?

The Indians were attacking when I came to the river.

I thought it was General Custer who was being attacked.

I formed my battalion in line and moved up the bluffs.

But when we got close enough,

I saw that it was Major Reno's battalion which was in trouble.

I ordered my battalion to help.

But your orders were to help Custer.

There was no way through.

We faced a horde of savages armed with repeating rifles.

Rather than ask my men to charge that wall of Indians,

I joined forces with Major Reno's battalion.

Together you could've charged the Indians, but you withdrew.

Why?

Half of Major Reno's men were already dead or wounded when I joined him.

To go on would have been suicide for the rest of us.

A supposition, Captain, not necessarily a fact.

I exercised my judgement as an officer.

But by doing so, you knew that your decision

was abandoning your commanding officer to his fate.

How could I be certain of that, sir?

Why not, Captain,

when you were so sure it was suicide to join him?

- Now, listen, Captain Benson - - Captain Benson!

I'm quite capable of conducting this investigation.

You will remain silent, or I'll have you removed.

Now, both of you officers appear to have tried to carry out your orders.

Apparently, you didn't try hard enough.

Whatever his orders were, sir, they were premature.

Premature?

According to the field order on your desk, sir.

Custer was instructed to await the arrival

of General Gibbons' infantry on the 26th.

Instead he went against the Indians on his own on the 25th.

Obviously you went into battle

with no feeling of confidence in your commanding officer.

Captain Benteen,

did you have confidence in Custer, and in his plan of battle?

How much confidence can you have in a man who

refuses to believe the reports of his scouts when they tell him

that he's not only facing the whole of the Sioux nation,

but thousands of Cheyennes as well?

A man who insists that he can defeat all the savages ever gathered together

with one regiment of cavalry.

The 7th, Captain.

Yes, the 7th.

Colonel, these officers are trying to cover up their own mistakes -

I've been very patient with you, Benson.

- But now I believe - - This isn't an investigation.

This is a whitewashing party at the expense of General Custer.

Captain Benson, you're confined to quarters

until tomorrow, at which time I'll inquire into your conduct,

which seems to be very open to question.

How did it go, darling?

Words, words, words.

But forgive me, my dear.

I haven't had a chance to speak three words to you since I got here.

I haven't even had a chance to take a good look at you.

A little peakèd.

Then that's to be expected.

A long ride from Supply...

then what you found after you got here.

There's one thing I'm devoutly thankful for:

that you aren't married to Benson.

Father I, uh... I want to talk to you about Tom.

I'm afraid there's very little that I care to discuss

concerning Captain Benson.

Less now than ever.

Could you just listen to me?

Try to forget your dislike for Tom for my sake?

I've tolerated him for your sake.

Don't ask me to change my opinion.

I'm going to marry him if he'll have me.

Marry a man who's practically an outcast from the service?

A man who's being humiliated and punished for no good reason.

He's complained to you, I suppose.

He won't even come near me.

He just takes it.

Thick-skinned, eh?

It doesn't matter to you how -

how I feel about the way he's being treated?

It matters a great deal, my dear.

It was to spare your feelings

that I opposed your interest in Benson at the beginning.

I knew it to be a mistake.

A dreadful mistake that you'd have reason to regret.

I have no reason to regret.

Tom Benson is more than just a gentleman, by -

by act of Congress, or by appointment of the President.

When he came to Supply to get you,

to bring you back here his bride,

I couldn't lock you up, or confine you in chains.

But I told you I'd never accept him as a son-in-law.

But General Custer accepted him as his closest friend.

At the moment, General Custer's preference

hardly constitutes a recommendation for anyone.

Then I can't even beg you to help stop this persecution.

I've got to do my duty, my dear.

And that duty includes an Inquiry into the circumstances

surrounding the absence of Thomas Benson from his command

at a time of dire need.

You know Custer gave him his permission to come and get me.

That is yet to be officially established.

Why don't you go all the way?

Try him for cowardice.

Or desertion in face of the enemy.

I'm sorry for you, Martha.

Terribly sorry.

Please don't be.

The lower you drive him,

the further down I'll go with him.

Martha...

State your name, rank, organisation, for the record.

Thomas Benson, Captain, 7th United States Cavalry,

commanding C Troop, now non-existent.

Of all the officers in the regiment, you were the one closest to General Custer?

I think I had that honor, sir.

Did he ever discuss the campaign, which ended in disaster, with you?

He did, sir.

Then you knew the purpose of the planned action?

To round up the hostiles off the reservation and return them.

Custer thought this was an easy task, I suppose?

General Custer had been in too many fights with the Sioux to believe that, sir.

Then why did you request leave of absence

to pursue your private affairs at such a time?

I absented myself at the direct order of General Custer.

But you did absent yourself?

Yes, sir.

Captain Benson,

do you know that General Custer was once court-martialed

for absenting himself from his command in order to visit his wife?

Colonel Kellogg, I consider that statement highly improper

and prejudicial on the part of the presiding officer of this investigation

and completely irrelevant to the proceedings.

I need no instruction as to how to conduct this investigation.

Then you should know the difference between hearsay and evidence, sir.

Have you a copy of this order granting you leave?

- No, sir. - May I ask why?

General Custer's permission to absent myself was verbal, sir.

What led up to this verbal leave of absence?

A private discussion of my affairs, sir.

In an Inquiry such as this, I cannot rule that anything is private.

Very well, sir. I accept your ruling.

General Custer was aware of the difficulty I was having

in persuading a certain young lady to become my wife,

due to objections to our marriage in certain quarters, sir.

I see.

General Custer was acting Cupid.

General Custer was a great human being, sir.

And what was the exact nature of these verbal orders

granting you leave to pursue an affair of the heart?

- You want his exact words, sir? - I do.

He said, "Benson, I want you to show enough gumption

"to ride off to Fort Supply, bring back that girl, and marry her.

"And if anyone stands in your way, by refusing to be a party

"to the happiness of his own daughter,

"then, by Godfrey, I'll give the bride away myself."

I'd have given anything to have seen his face.

- I was only quoting General Custer. - He deserved it.

I really didn't like to do it, but he asked for it.

I wonder what the findings will be in your case.

Oh, the good old English verdict:

not proved by reason of insufficient evidence.

A stand-off.

I can't prove that General Custer did authorise my absence, and...

they can't prove that he didn't.

But one thing:

I'm going to hound your father to return me to useful active duty

or kick me out. One or the other.

Will you stop worrying?

- Attention! - At ease.

Gentlemen, I've just received an order.

An order from the President of the United States.

It says in part,

"A burial detail will proceed to the valley of the Little Big Horn

"for the purpose of interring the bodies and marking the graves

"of the 7th Cavalry not properly buried.

"The bodies of the officers will be placed in caskets

"and returned to Fort Lincoln for shipment to their families."

Burial detail?

But, sir, the President doesn't seem to realise the impossibility.

The country around that battlefield is still swarming with hostiles.

Crazy Horse and his braves are drunk with victory.

Worse than that,

Sitting Bull has declared that ground big medicine for the whole Sioux nation.

You move in there with troops,

and they'll be down on their necks like wolves.

But a direct order of the President...

it must be carried out, somehow.

A matter for the Quartermaster Corps, but...

Sir, I'd like the assignment.

You're aware of the risk involved?

Yes, sir.

But I don't believe that would disturb too many people.

Very well.

It will be an impossibility for me to give you more than two troops.

A force of that size would defeat your purpose.

As Major Reno states,

to move into that area openly with a force of any strength

would be to invite another massacre.

Perhaps the Captain intends to go in alone?

No, Lieutenant Fitch. I'm moving in with volunteers.

But, Captain Benson, it stands to reason that one thing is sure and certain -

- What's the matter, Sergeant? - It's suicide, plain suicide.

Them Indians out there... they think they own the country.

A small party wouldn't have a chance.

- Then you're refusing the duty? - This is for volunteers.

Is that what's troubling you, Sergeant?

- If you've got the guts to go... - You're volunteering then?

What is the duty, sir?

I'll acquaint you with the details later.

Just see that these men and supplies are fit and ready to move out at a moment's notice.

But you've got the name of every scrounger, drunk,

no-good guardhouse rat and shirker in the whole outfit on this list.

Why, Bates, you wrong them. They're all volunteers.

Even if they don't know it... yet.

Them?

Volunteers?

All right, get set, volunteers.

Your Captain awaits you.

I'd like to fix the Captain's wagon for him.

You won't have to. It's been fixed.

Yeah, well, he's still the best troop commander in the outfit.

Well, what's happened to you, Kruger? Getting religion?

You're getting soft in the head, Kruger.

It's all right by me if they let Custer's body rot where it is.

Oh, no. We can't do that.

We're picked men. The Captain picked us himself.

Yeah, you know why?

Because we've been living on borrowed time.

We weren't with Custer when we should've been.

Oh, blow his nose for him, Dixon. I think he's going to bust out balling.

Mmm, coffee's good.

Don't change the subject now.

Did father give you this assignment, or did you ask for it?

I asked for it.

Truth?

Truth.

You come back, you hear?

Form platoons, right wheel, forward ho!

You're going to kill off this whole outfit with your forced marches.

You look pretty healthy to me, Bates.

As for the other men, a little hard riding in the sun is good for them.

Boil some of that guardhouse beef off of their bellies.

Okay, you're the boss.

That's right, I am the boss.

♪ The captain's in the horse marines ♪

♪ He feeds us all on corn and beans ♪

♪ While he is living beyond his means ♪

♪ The captain to the horse marines ♪

♪ When the enemy comes of course he runs♪

♪ He's not cut out for the cavalry ♪

♪ The colonel's daughter loves him true ♪

♪ For he's a Fed of the cavalry ♪

Bates.

- Yes, sir. - Bring an ax.

I tried to warn this smart monkey about the liquor. The both of them.

A drunk warn a drunk... That's rich.

Now, wait a minute.

We need that liquor, captain or no captain,

to keep the stink of this job out of our noses.

Well, Bates?

On your feet.

Reveille at 4 a.m.!

Indians!

No, Bates! I want to take him alive.

Dixon, Vogel, come with me!

Bull's eye! Right through the kicker!

You trigger-happy fool!

I told you I wanted to keep him alive for questioning.

I didn't know you wanted to take him home for a pet, Captain.

Bury him.

Yes, sir.

Think maybe you shot the wrong man, Dixon.

Maybe you got something there.

Well, he said bury him.

You and that fast gun of yours.

If you hadn't killed that lousy Indian,

we wouldn't be stuck up here like a sore thumb ahead of the column.

Well, I ain't going let that Captain Benson get me killed.

Not if I get a chance at him first.

Yeah, well, right now it's his chance.

They left us a warning.

Sitting Bull don't want no white man in the valley of the Little Big Horn.

For once you're right, Bates.

He's made the battlefield his personal big medicine ground.

And when we take out those bodies, we disturb his medicine.

Little Big Horn is now a Sioux holy place,

part of their religious belief.

Us coming in here is like busting into a church and shooting it up.

- That's it. - Right here is where we turn back.

- I gave no order to go to the rear. - No, but that did.

Burial unit! We'll be the ones that'll be buried if we don't heed that warning.

If you want to take orders from the Indians, why don't you ride up and join 'em?

Forward!

Ho!

What's he trying to do? Get us all killed?

Nervous, Vogel?

There's no danger, yet.

That's what the Captain says.

He's crazy. You got eyes, ain't you? You can see the Indians up on them hills.

Yeah, we all can see 'em.

He's leading us right into another ambush.

Those braves are sitting up there just biding their time.

We walk into a trap we can't get out of.

Then they'll butcher us.

Is there anyone else besides Vogel who can read Indian minds?

Vogel, come with me. We're scouting ahead.

Ride out there alone?

Follow me. That's an order.

We must be a couple of miles ahead of the camp.

- Dismount, Vogel. - Huh?

You heard me. Get off that horse.

You've been doing a lot of talking since we started this march,

in front of my face and behind my back...

I figure if we get him now,

we'll all have a chance to get out of here alive.

Bates would turn back in a minute if Benson would let him.

Sure, as soon it's over, we'll be headed back for the post.

We keep on this way, we'll never make it back.

- It may be too late even now. - No, no, it's not too late.

Them Indians won't bother us as long as we don't disturb their medicine grounds.

You're not going to use no gun!

Shooting would wake up the whole camp.

I ain't going to use no gun.

Remember that Indian I gut-shot back there?

Took this off of him for a souvenir.

Vogel!

Vogel!

- He was your friend. - No, Sarge. No friend of mine.

Had to soldier with him. We were in the same outfit.

- Get a shovel. Bury him. - Yeah, sure.

Pollock, help him.

Well, Sergeant, I didn't expect this, but I want to thank you.

There was nothing personal in what I did.

I'd do the same thing for any man.

Oh, Miss Kellogg,

I'm Corporal Morrison, ma'am.

I've been off on detached duty riding courier out of Fort Supply.

Yes?

I just rode in carrying a message from Buford, and I heard about Captain Benson.

About the Court of Inquiry, I mean.

- The Inquiry is over, Corporal. - Yes, ma'am, but...

is it true that Captain Benson couldn't prove at the Inquiry

that the General did order him back to Fort Supply

to bring back you, miss?

- That's right. - But he can prove it now, miss.

By me.

- By you? - Yes, ma'am.

I was standing right beside General Custer

when he gave Captain Benson the order to go.

- He said - - You mean you were actually there?

You heard him give the order?

I did and I'll swear to it.

But why didn't Tom say this at the Inquiry?

I guess you know him better than we do, miss.

- He's a proud one. - Yes.

You'll never know what wonderful news you brought me.

I'd sure like to give him that news, but, uh...

my own horse is pretty used up, so I'd like to take Dandy,

General Custer's second mount.

He's the fastest thing on the post.

Would you get the Colonel's permission for me please?

I will, Corporal. Go on.

With Dandy under me, I'll make good time!

Corporal, God bless you, and tell Tom I love him.

Yes, ma'am, I tell him that.

- Good night. - Good night.

Hey, that horse Morrison was riding, wasn't it Dandy?

Sure enough was. That's General Custer's horse.

The valley of the Little Big Horn.

The men we're to bring home are down there, waiting for us.

"Dig up the bodies of the officers," the President says.

"Bring 'em home for burial."

What he didn't say is how are you going to tell which ones are the officers?

No marks, no nothing.

We don't even know which grave is Custer's.

Yes, we do, Bates.

I located it earlier this morning myself.

Oh, you got eyes that see underground, I suppose?

No, Sitting Bull himself marked it for us.

There it is.

Kruger, Vogel, Pollock, bring a spade.

Sitting Bull's own coup stick to mark this grave apart from the others.

The tribute of one great leader to another.

- Yes, sir? - Dig here gently.

Captain Benson!

Well, they got us right where they want us.

All boxed in.

Keep digging.

You're the man who can get us out of this, Bates.

We'll all follow you.

They come in peace to recover the bodies of their dead, as we would do.

Their dead belong to us, as the victory belonged to us.

If I can make them go in peace.

If they go and leave without Yellow Hair.

There is wisdom in the counsel of Young Hawk.

If they go in peace and leave big medicine to lie sleeping,

we shall let them leave.

But if they refuse, they shall die.

He's making the sign of peace.

- I come in peace. - You're welcome in peace.

I am Young Hawk, sub-chief of the Sioux.

I am Captain Benson of the 7th Cavalry.

The warriors of the Sioux and of our brothers the Cheyenne

have painted their faces and taken up their weapons.

You are defiling sacred ground.

We come to honor our dead according to the white man's custom.

But it is strange to hear a Sioux chief

speak the language of the white man so fluently.

From my birth until my twelfth year, I was reared by white men

and taught by white men on an Army post.

Therefore, I know what is in the hearts of your people and mine.

But you must know that we mean no harm to your people.

You do not understand.

This, all, is now a part of my people.

A part of their lives, a part of their faith.

The spirits of the dead have been reborn again

in the bodies and the souls of the Sioux and Cheyenne braves.

Even the spirits of their horses

have passed on into the beings of our own ponies.

And Custer,

the great warrior of the yellow hair, lives now

in the hearts and the minds of the Sioux.

He has endowed our braves with his own bravery and wisdom.

Transmitted to them through his spirit, which is in our keeping.

But Young Hawk knows that such a belief is only superstition.

Is the white man's belief in the miraculous powers of his own saints

and the truth within the teachings of his own faith

nothing more than superstition?

It is the belief of my people

that if Yellow Hair's body is removed,

his spirit will go with him,

and the fruits of our victory will be lost.

The great chief of my people has ordered me to bring Yellow Hair home

to lie among his own kind in honored rest.

My people will never let him go.

Well, that's the end.

If there's a choice between the dead and the living, we'll take the living,

as long as we're alive.

Captain,

me and the men have decided what I've known a long time:

you're not fit to command.

I'm taking over.

Bates, you and the men know this means court-martial.

We're not going to sit here and get what Custer got.

We're getting out.

I'm with you, Sarge.

You're going to stay here and carry out orders.

Are you going to stop us, Captain?

All by yourself?

You're the fellow who believes

a man should have a chance for his life, remember?

Not this time. It's you, or all of us.

You pull back that hammer, Bates, and you're dead.

Put up your gun, Kruger. This is between Bates and his superior officer.

Bates tells you the Captain's crazy when he's already saved two troops of the 7th

by coming in here with a gang of scroungers like us to do men's work.

Kruger, it's an order. Put up your gun.

Well, Bates, go ahead. Shoot.

Then you'll really be in command.

You won't have to worry about me.

You'll have nothing to worry about but Indians.

Are you watching them?

They're set, Bates. Ready to charge.

You give the orders, Sergeant.

Tell these men how to save their hair.

Well, come on, Bates. Get it over with. Take command.

What's the matter? Haven't you the guts?

I guess I'm the one that's nuts.

This ground is sacred. It must not be stained by more blood.

Young Hawk has proven that in his heart is a Sioux brave.

But there are times when he thinks with the mind of a white man.

Get your mounts!

Use them and the wagons for a barricade!

Go!

You two men, get moving!

Come on, all you guardhouse gold bricks!

Maybe you can fool them Indians into thinking you're troopers!

You! You heard what the Captain said!

No rifles will be fired against them.

No lance will pierce their hearts.

No arrow will bury into their bodies, but they will die,

perhaps more slowly, but just as surely.

What are they waiting for?

Yeah, what are they waiting for? Reinforcements?

I'll tell you what they're waiting for.

They're waiting for us to die.

Not from bullets, from thirst.

Our tongues swelling up in our mouths till they choke us to death.

We're surrounded, cut off from water and everything else.

Benson.

He wanted to be with Custer.

Well, let him. Not me!

Vogel!

Get back under cover, you idiot!

You're the idiots, letting Benson hound you to stay in here like rats in a trap.

Not me. I'm getting out.

It's the General's horse Dandy.

They're falling back!

The Indians think it's the spirit of the General's horse.

They think it's Vic.

Kruger, sound the charge!

Hey, look at them Indians! Look like they're struck with lightning.

That's the answer.

They're sure it's Vic, the horse they buried with the General.

They think he's returned from the grave to help us,

and Custer's spirit is in the saddle.

Get these wagons moving! We're going to mount and ride!

You heard the Captain! Come on, we're riding out!

I want you ride out of here as if those Indians weren't there.

Column of two's. Forward, ho!

I've had the DT's in my time, but they couldn't touch this.

Let them go in peace. The spirit of Yellow Hair has spoken.

I congratulate you on the way you conducted your mission.

It'll be reported directly to the President.

Can you forgive a man who, for once in his life,

acted more the anxious father than an officer in the Army?

Yes, sir.

If you can forgive a man who, for once in his life,

acted more like a bridegroom than as troop commander of the 7th Cavalry.

Captain Benson.

About face!