Original subtitles

The federal government had been moving whole nations

of Indians to reservations in the West.

Now it was the turn of the Cherokee to say farewell to ancestral hills and streams.

They'd resisted taking this long trail,

but anxious settlers were determined that these

people must tear up their roots and hurry away.

Father, the raiders are back. I can hear them, my son.

They'll always be back till they drive us away.

Take him inside.

I see you're in no hurry to send your men after the raiders.

Well, even if I could, there'd only be others to take their place.

The only way you're going to stop this sort of thing

is for your people to move off of these lands.

You've got the chief's answer to that.

Yes, yes I have.

But I also have my orders, and I can't wait any longer.

I'm riding out tomorrow to make arrangements for

the try to be taken to a new Indian territory. I'll be back in a week.

I hope by that time you've made up your minds to go peace and take it.

We will not move.

They tell me you're an educated man.

I hope you realize there isn't a thing that you or your tribe can do about this.

We can die. THE END

You know, Joshua, this is just like being lost in the whole world.

We've been here two days...

We have been?

We have been here two days, and it's just been like a vacation.

The weather on the Tennessee River leaves something to be desired.

If you complain about the weather again, we'll come into my boiler room for weather.

It's hot.

Indians don't mind the weather.

Hey, what kind of Indians are there around here?

Cherokee, one of the most highly educated tribes.

Every brave can read and write.

They can?

What language?

Cherokee! What are you saying?

An Indian named Sequoyah invented an alphabet

and they began printing an Indian newspaper.

They did.

Well, they did, and they still do. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine,

I hauled a printing press for him right here aboard the boat.

But all this chit-chat isn't getting any pain done here.

Now, how's your brush, Mr. Carney? Hey, brush?

I'm glad there's a boiler that's big down here.

Well, it's always good to see an army officer.

Where you heading for, Colonel Triton?

Right here, Captain.

Oh?

How soon can you get your boat ready to move?

Oh, two or three days. Why? Well,

I need her to take a tribe of Cherokees up the river to the new Indian territory.

Well, I'm sorry, but you've come to the wrong boat.

Oh, how's that? Well, the Enterprise is a passenger vessel, passengers and cargo.

We don't carry prisoners, particularly women and children prisoners. Well,

you can call them anything you like.

But I've got orders from the commanding general of the district to remove them.

Well, now, Colonel Tracker, you may not know this, but throughout the country,

there's strong feeling against the Cherokee removal.

Yes, I heard something about that. Well, I happen to share those feelings.

Those people are friends of mine. They're good, decent, law-abiding people.

Now, if you want to run them out of their homes,

you're going to have to do it without the help of my boat.

Captain, I need your boat.

Sorry?

Lieutenant Smith, reading my orders.

By order of the commanding general of this military district,

the Enterprise is commandeered to assist in the Cherokee removal.

You see, after we move the first tribe, the others will follow.

I'd like to have you at the village to help the arrangements,

but you can suit yourself about that.

This guy has to kill him, son. This mountain.

Coming on your mind, Captain Holden?

That part of the removal, burning the Indians out of their homes?

Wasn't planned that way. Fact is, the Indians have had two years to leave,

and the white settlers are getting a little impatient. We stop them when we can.

You ever served in Indian country before, Colonel? No.

How did you manage to pick you for this job? They didn't

pick me. I asked for it. You expect to enjoy it?

Well, I'm not in the Army for entertainment.

I asked for the job because three other officers turned it down.

You see, I don't plan on staying at Colonel forever.

Oh, I see.

You know, Colonel, If you try to move that band

of Cherokees out with a handful of soldiers,

you'd be lucky to stay a colonel.

Oh, they'll go, Holden.

They'll go.

In the camp of Chief White Bull, I went to see two old friends. James Evans,

a young printer, and his father, Mark Evans, a man that drank too much.

Going to visit your friends?

I want to find out what they have to say about your peaceful removal.

Hello, James Evans.

What happened here? Seems your people resent the idea of an Indian newspaper.

Makes it difficult calling us savages.

Yes, there are some like that. How are you, James?

Mark?

We're not very well these days. Yes,

I've often wondered why we Indians are such bad drinkers.

You know why? No, I'm afraid I don't.

Because whiskey deadens the reality of the time.

The reality for the red man is rage, hatred, despair.

Why are you here with the soldiers?

First, answer me why you wouldn't shake my hand.

It's a white man's hand. It always has been.

James, your mother was white.

If she were alive today, would you hate her for it? She was one of us.

Gray is right.

He's always been our friend.

Come inside.

Tell me, why do you come with the soldiers?

The army commandeered my boat for the removal.

There'll be no removal.

We'll fight and die first. I don't think it really has to be that way, James.

A lot of white people on your side.

It's really up to Chief White Bull now.

How's that? Well, whether he agrees to sign the treaty or refuses.

He took an oath with all the other tribal chiefs.

Well, I'm glad to hear that.

Let me tell you something, James.

That colonel isn't expecting any trouble.

Then he's a fool.

Or perhaps he knows something that we don't.

Oh, he'll never sign.

Gray, there's a council tonight.

Does the colonel expect Whitepool to sign a treaty?

He seems very sure of himself.

Remember, James, every white man is not your enemy.

And every Indian is not your friend.

We do not agree.

I've never seen you in your ceremonial dress before. I didn't know you.

Maybe that's why I'm wearing it.

So that I'll know who I am.

I'm a soldier.

I follow orders.

My orders are to remove your tribe to a good land

west of the Mississippi. It still stands.

This decision was made by men in Washington, not by myself.

And we've elaborated long enough.

There's this treaty.

Sign it.

I will not sign. Your people will be paid for their lands.

We will not leave.

They'll have to drive you out of bayonet point.

With 20 soldiers? Chief, I have 1,000 soldiers waiting a day's march from here.

Leave us.

We would speak alone.

Holden, how many days march to your boat with women and children?

Eight, maybe ten days. There's a branch of the Tennessee just north of here.

I figure two days at the most.

No, we've had no rain in months.

We'd run aground if we left the main body of the river.

All right, five days, no more than that. Colonel. I said five days, no more.

Where did you suddenly get 1,000 soldiers?

You cannot sign this treaty. You took an oath.

I say we must fight.

Without guns.

With our naked hands.

I, too, say we must fight when the time is right. When will such a time be?

On the river.

When we come to the village of the Great Oaks, there will be many guns there.

The riverboat must stop for wood.

If we must have money, money they will pay us for our

lands. If we take up arms, we will hurt our cause.

What would you have us do?

Do nothing.

The colonel cannot bring a thousand soldiers.

The white men have their chiefs too, and they're divided.

If we stay here, there will be no war.

How do you challenge me?

On what?

Your books?

The words you write? I do not trust your white man's learning.

You took a white woman for a wife. Wear the clothes of a white man.

Yet you sit in our council.

You are not one of us.

I speak to you, Running Wolf, and to you, James.

I say we must sign this paper to get money to buy guns, and then we will fight.

Father.

Hey yo, hey yo.

Prepare for the removal.

They said goodbye to the homes they'd built, to the trees they'd planted,

the fields they'd plowed.

White Bull's word was law, and they obeyed.

But behind their obedience was anger, anger that could explode into violence.

We've wasted enough time. Lieutenant, we're

moving out. All right, troopers, mount up.

Colonel, I hope you get there alive.

Don't you worry, Captain Holden.

I'll get there.

I think about it, and yeah, it makes sense.

You've got to let up on these people, Triker. This fort's march is too difficult.

They're slow, very slow. The way things are going,

it'll be another five days before we get to the river.

Holden, do you know this country here?

I've hunted it years ago.

Why?

What's this trail?

Looks like a hunting trail. Oh, I remember that.

River Indians used it when they came inland to hunt game.

Think we can reach it in a day?

Possibly. If I remember correctly, it goes through swampland.

Good, it'll cut the distance to your boat in half. It'll save us two,

maybe three days. Just one minute, Triker.

You can't expect these old people to walk through

that swamp water up to their necks.

That's a trail for young braves.

I've wasted two months waiting for these people to make up their minds.

We're headed this way in the morning. You can't do that, Triker.

I've got a delivery date to make.

Look, if you're so unhappy, why don't you write a letter to the chief of staff?

I'll do just that. All right, you can mail it to Fort Smith.

You don't care how many of these people die, do you?

Just as long as you get that little star you've been promised.

Hold him.

You just keep it up.

Just keep it up.

I might even buy you a feather bonnet.

Hold it, Captain. You're going to finish this trip in irons.

Let him go.

You may have dismissed.

If I didn't need your boat, I'd have you shot. I want to talk to you, Chief, alone.

Stay right where you are, Holden.

Well, Chief, Captain Holden's a great friend of the Indian.

He fought for them.

Of course, he's a private citizen.

Now, me, I can't afford to have personal feelings, no matter what they may be.

Of course, you know all about that because you can't afford them either.

I do not understand the colonel's words.

We're taking a different route. We're taking the river trail.

We'll save two or three days that way.

But there is much hardship along the swamp trail. I can't help that.

My people are bitter and angry. They will not go. You'll make them go.

No. You're in no position to say no. You made a bargain.

That's true.

I signed a treaty, but... I'm not talking about a treaty.

What bargain is it you speak of?

Talking about the bargain you made with the Territorial General. Oh, yes.

I know all the details.

Now, do you want me to explain them in front of your great friend Holden?

It will be as you say. The river trail.

You sold them out, didn't you?

I do not sit in judgment before you. I do what is right for my people.

I do what I must.

Tell me, what kind of a bargain did you make?

I do not have to answer to you.

Someday, you'll have to answer to somebody.

What are you doing with this?

Throw it away. That battle totem will bring you nothing but grief.

I'm not going to let Trika drive us through the swamps.

You pass that totem through the Braves, you'll end up in chains.

There are only 20 soldiers. They can't chain all of us.

How many Braves do you think will go with you?

Haven't you seen what's been happening?

Women clutch their own children, don't see the others. Food's being hidden,

so it doesn't have to be shared. I carry this through the braves, not the women.

You haven't got a chance.

I heard he is right. It is not good to disobey White Bull.

We must wait for the guns of the White Oaks.

Well, who is it?

My good friend, Gray Holden.

You see the reality of the times now?

Indignation.

Anger.

Rage.

Grief. Mark, you're drunk. Come on. I've got work to do.

Come on, take him back to his shelter. Your words never helped us. Wait a minute.

Get him back to his shelter. Give me time. Give me

time to write an obituary. Surely we deserve that.

Ah, enter the hangman.

The red hangman and the white.

Colonel Trigger, I'm going to write a story about you.

You will be famous.

White men will raise their hats to you, and red men will walk with downcast eyes.

Move in shadows.

Take him out of here. Get him away. Come on. All right, all right.

Tomorrow will do, or the day after, I don't mind. I won't forget you, Colonel.

You'll be famous, all right.

The printed word lives, and you'll live with it. You.

Gray Chief.

I write about you, too.

The hangman's friend.

Lieutenant. Sir?

Move this wagon into the fire.

Burn the press. Call two men. Come on.

Now, wait one minute.

No, no.

They're going to make us illiterate savages again. Huh?

Let me be savage.

He's drunk.

And he brought whiskey into the camp.

Help me get him out of here. He should be whipped.

Running Wolf, tie him to a tree. 20 lashes for bringing whiskey into camp.

He's an old man. Take him.

I have heard your father's words.

I know you made a battle totem.

Remember, I am the chief here.

I, White Bull.

Only the white man's guns say that you are chief.

Stop him, Tracker. Stay out of this. If you don't stop him, I will.

Hold him.

So help me, if you press me any longer, I'm gonna shoot you.

I've taken all the interference I'm going to.

Sorry if I shamed you.

I want to do so much, but I can do so little.

Now the final humiliation.

20 lashes, white bull's whip.

You were right, Gray.

Not every white man is your enemy.

Not every Indian, your friend.

White Bull is the colonel's servant.

Your father brought whiskey to this camp.

You drink it, I've seen you.

Why do you obey the colonel's orders?

Why?

We will lose many of our people in the swamps. You gave the order to use that trail.

Why?

A chief does not have to answer a young brave.

A chief can't be killed for betraying his people.

White Bull is an enemy. He signed that treaty.

Don't forget you agreed to it.

James, many of your people approve the removal.

How do you know the new lands won't be as good or better than the old territory?

We are going back, I swear it, for that day I lived. James, James, James,

I speak as your friend. The white man is pushing west,

thousands upon thousands of them.

You can't fight all of them.

We're going back.

Lieutenant, get those people up here.

Be quick about it, come on.

Come on, they're closer.

Get those people aboard, Lieutenant. Be quick about it. Sir,

they won't go on the boat.

Why not? Payment for their land, sir. They want that first.

It's a matter of what they trust us.

Why should they?

Make arrangements to pay him. I want to get underway as quickly as possible.

Yes, sir.

Hello, Chip.

Welcome aboard, sir.

How are you, boy?

Fine.

Good.

Are we going to ship all these Indians?

That's right, boy. Captain, you've been gone a long

time. Everything under control, Joshua? Aye, sir.

Oh, we're glad to see you. Hey, what are we going to do with all them Indians?

Well, we're going to see they don't get in any trouble.

I would think that would be the Army's job.

Not with that, Colonel. He's been pushing them so hard,

they're liable to explode at any minute.

Come on, Topside. I want to talk to him.

Now they were being paid for the lands they had left.

Soon they would be set ashore on a new reservation in Oklahoma territory.

The United States government would give them

help and funds to build new homes and farms.

We've been cheated!

I was promised $100 for my land.

You've only given me $20.

Chief, I'm going to place this man under arrest. Have patience.

It is all part of the treaty, James. Take your money and go.

Is it true we sail at once? That's right. Go, James!

Hear me, all of you!

Shut him up.

We have been driven like dogs.

Our honorable dead have been buried alongside the road like carrion.

We have left a trail of our dead in the forest and swamps.

And our chief says, yes, go on.

He has hung the chain of his weakness upon

us and drives us like captives and slaves.

I say it is time to stop being cattle and be men again.

I raise this totem as a sacred pledge.

I will not fail.

If we cannot go back to our homelands, it is better to die here. Who stands with me?

Chip, go to my cabin and stay there, you hear? Hurry.

You've been asking for trouble. Now you're going to get it.

I warned you once before.

Don't give me another chance to shoot you.

They press me, I press you.

You deliver now, you lose everything.

What will the white soldiers do now, with only 20 guns?

Does the white man's silence mean that we will not be forced aboard the boat?

Your quarrel is not with me.

Ask your chief, he'll give you the answer.

You give it now and you're finished.

I'll tell them everything.

Hear me?

Who is this brave who asked you to die? Have you seen the strength of his medicine?

Only with his mouth is he chief.

Have you so soon forgotten the strength of my medicine? If so, look on it again.

For two times I have given my body to the Great Spirit,

and for two times he has shown he is with me. Bring your arrows.

Bring your ropes.

Let the great spirit say if I am chief.

And if you are not with me, then let me die here alone.

White Bull was asserting his leadership through self-inflicted torture,

through a test of his powers to destroy James Evans' battle totem.

He was pitting his ability to survive pain, loss of sleep,

and infection against James' totem that called upon

warriors to fight the white man here and now.

He would spend the night hanging by his thumbs with unclean arrows in his back.

Don't they know this will prove nothing except

if White Bull is strong? That it's a trick?

To them it will prove that the Great Spirit

is with White Bull, that we must obey him.

Talk to them. Trike will have to make some kind of a compromise.

How can I convince them?

How do you get a man to abandon his gods?

Evans was right.

There was nothing he could do.

White Bull could still control the tribe by sheer physical strength.

And yet, watching him, I wondered if he didn't really believe in what he was doing.

If he wasn't asking the Great Spirit for a sign that

the deal he'd made was acceptable to his God.

It was a desperate gamble for all of us.

If White Bull remained conscious until dawn,

he would have things his way and Triper's.

But if he collapsed, there would be a massacre.

The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna be to back down.

I can't back down. I've got a delivery date to make.

What difference can a few days make? A week?

Why don't you leave me alone? Go to Washington, invite the politicians.

They give me my orders, I just carry them out.

And be made a general for it.

Yes.

He made it.

Yeah, he made it.

Now they'll do whatever he says.

Yeah, anything he says.

Do you still challenge me?

My people, it is my wish you come on this boat.

No infection came to him.

White Wolf still protects us with the Great Spirit.

I still think he's an evil man. James, James,

if you could just forget your bitterness. I will never forget.

Well, then you'll never sleep like these people do.

But you, there'll always be dreams. To go back

to my own land. And it won't be a dream.

None of us want this new land.

Yeah, you might like it.

I've been there.

Land is rich.

Grows good things.

Not as strong as the soil I had.

I think so.

You'll have more land for grazing, too.

More?

No, I don't believe it. Yeah, you'll see.

I know you don't want to go, James, but if you

could just give it a try, give it a chance.

My home is in the east, not out here.

The big great oaks.

All along the shore.

They're beautiful, aren't they?

I want to walk among them.

When do we go ashore again?

We'll be stopping for wood sometime this afternoon.

At the village of Great Oaks? No, no, we've passed Great Oaks.

We've passed it?

This morning.

What do you want?

Where are the guns we were supposed to find?

When do we get them?

The guns?

The guns? Yes, the guns!

Do you know that we passed Great Oaks?

Wait a moment. There's been a change. They did not tell me.

You're lying!

There never were any guns.

They never meant to stop there. I have prayed. Why are you lying to us?

I have prayed to the grace.

You're lying. It's not worked out as I thought. Lies. Get out of here.

Why are you lying to us? Get out of here. Can't you see he's sick?

It'd be difficult to remember.

Take the blanket from him. Get out of here.

Take the blanket from him. Look at his back.

Look at his back.

We followed him because his medicine was strong,

because the Great Spirit would rid him.

Do you believe in his medicine now? Where the arrows were, swollen with poison.

Do you believe in his medicine now? He tricked us.

He has the fever. He is no chief to lead us. Now we are free to fight!

I'm no doctor, but I'll see what I can do about your back.

Yeah.

Now, get off the boat.

They will kill you. Kill all white men. Get off the boat.

What's that all about? It's about you. They're gonna kill you, Tracker.

What are you talking about? They're probably gonna kill me, too.

Chief Whitebull has an infected back.

Apparently the Great Spirit wasn't with him today.

You won't be made a general.

I hardly think they'll promote you for delivering a boatload of corpses to you.

That's enough, Holden. Oh, I haven't even begun.

Do you know what they do with their prisoners?

They turn them over to their women,

and then the women go to work on them slowly

and methodically with very sharp knives.

They wouldn't dare attack us.

That's not what the drums say.

Holden, I know how you feel about me, but your life is in danger, too. Now,

you know these people and how to deal with them.

You told me not to interfere. I know what I told you,

but I'm telling you something else. Now, you

talk to those Indians. Too late, Trager.

Chip, you stay off the decks.

Well, the crew wanted a cup of coffee. I got you one, too.

But you can make James C. reason.

It's too late. You pushed him too far. He'll make a fight for it.

The Indians are gonna bust loose any minute. The soldiers are outnumbered.

What are you talking about? Those Indians are not armed.

All right, save your own skins. I'll handle this my way.

Colonel, we'll have to shoot.

They're running wild and climbing up the sides of the boat. Then open fire.

Yes, sir. I want you out of this ship.

Now, I want you to stay inside there. Don't come

out like you smell smoke, okay? Drop that gun.

I'm going to arm your crewmen. The guns are in the passenger deck, Joshua.

Keep your hand off your pistol. We're all armed.

James, what are you doing? We have your boat.

Colonel Trager, tell your men to hold their fire.

Colonel Tracker speaking. Hold your fire!

I want all the guns on the boat.

Not a chance. Tell your soldiers to give up their guns, or you'll all die.

James, what good would killing us do?

We are returning to our Cherokee lands. We do not recognize the treaty.

I won't wait long.

I want a meeting with White Bull on the cargo deck,

where all your people can hear him.

He is no longer our chief.

You don't have to obey him, but I think you should listen to him.

Send your soldiers for him.

Let him say what he will, Chief.

I am finished dancing to your whip. Then you can dance to their whips.

You hold me responsible for this, don't you?

Before you do any killing, there's a few things you should know.

The removal, plan of march, and the time allowed by White Bull.

Your chief made a bargain with the territorial general.

There was no bargain. Tell him why you signed the treaty.

I am done with it. And how much did you get?

How much land and money did you get for yourself? No. No.

And a promise to be made supreme chief of the new lands. Lies.

All lies.

I've got signed documents to show that I don't lie. Lies.

Stop him!

Reverse engines!

Mail over, boss!

No!

The devils are dead and gone. We cannot go back

for them. You're the captain. You're in command.

Tell the soldiers to put down their guns.

I'll ask you once more.

Tell the soldiers to put down their guns.

I tell you to put down your guns, James.

The damage has been done.

The treaty's been signed, and White Bull took money to sign it.

He didn't only sell you out, he sold out his white friends too.

And if you kill us, what will your friends in Washington be able to do for you then?

No.

No, I won't tell a soldier to put down their guns.

And if you shoot us, You'll do nothing but help your enemies.

And in the end, you'll hang. All of you.

In another day, we reached the new home of the Cherokees.

They were ready to go ashore, if their chiefs told them to.

And James Evans was one of their new proud leaders.

It's a hard decision to make, Gray.

But we will try.

Your advice has been good.

A new land is outside, and we will try it.

That is all I can say.

It's a good decision.

And if it's a good land, I will behave myself.

A new reality. And no whiskey.

That's fine. I want to go ashore now. I want to lead my people to their new land.

Come.

Do not come here.

But this is our new land. Go.

Do not come ashore.

Careful, they're Pawnee.

I know.

Is this their land? No, but they claim all the land where they hunt.

Why do you greet us with war cries?

We are Indians like yourselves, your brothers. You are not our brothers.

You are Cherokee.

In the trees are many Pawnee.

Ready to attack.

We come in peace, and we ask only that we be allowed to make our homes here.

We have no welcome for an enemy.

You cannot stay in our land. This isn't your land.

It is a big land, and we ask very little.

A place to shelter, to grow food.

Let the white man give you shelter and food.

Let them find other lands for you.

Well, it's just a hunting party. They won't attack us.

A white man and his soldiers defend a Cherokee?

Maybe things are going to be better.

I have ten guns.

You can have them. The guns will help, even ten.

Our people are ready.

Bye, Gray.

We'll remember you, Gray, and we'll remember not every white man is an enemy.

Goodbye.

What are your orders, Lieutenant?

To stay with them until they're settled safely.

Good luck.

There's a long trail ahead for them, Chip.

But maybe, maybe someday they'll think better of us.

They seemed less sad. Many of them smiled at me to say goodbye.

You know what?

I think they like marching with the soldiers.

Oh, I doubt that, Jim.

No, they saw them fight for them. They liked it.

They were surprised, weren't they?

Maybe someday there'll be a time for new realities.

No more hatred.

Revenge.

Someday, not right away, but someday.