At the gallop, ho!
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie, starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince.
Specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier.
The saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire.
And the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
The story of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier.
Gorse.
Right below me, I see him.
Wait, he's looking up this way.
Okay.
Alright, now!
You gonna leave him here, Captain?
Better hide him.
No sense announcing ourselves to Fleet Bear.
That ravine down there is choked with brush anyway.
Yes, sir.
Easy now.
Them brulee suit grow big, don't they?
This one did.
Maybe too big to sit a horse.
That's why they had him stuck up here on lookout duty.
Maybe.
Alright.
This spot's good enough.
Best pile some of this brush over him.
Don't want him finding him right off.
At least it was quick killing.
Beats Fleet Bear's way.
Kinda evens the score on that woman we found, all staked out.
You can't even scores like that, Gorse.
Well, now we can watch this powwow without being interrupted.
We got the best seat in the house, Captain.
As long as we're the only ones that knows it.
That's no war party down there.
Too many lodges, TPs.
Fleet Bear must be using this for his permanent camp.
All his raids lately have been within striking distance of here.
Yeah, those drums, they aren't war drums either.
More like a celebration of some kind.
He's got a lot of killin' to celebrate.
Yeah.
I wish we had the men.
We'd stop his killin' right now.
They sure don't look like they're expecting any trouble.
Must be a couple thousand down there, Gorse.
Half of them warriors.
We got 60 men from B Company.
They're not gonna have any trouble from us.
Fleet Bear, is he really Spotted Tail's son?
The old man looks on him like a son, but he's a nephew, I think.
No more than that.
Don't seem like they're the same breed of men.
I never heard of Spotted Tail killin' wholesale, stealin' women.
He could roam free when he was a young brave.
This was all Sioux country.
No white settlers, no white army.
That'd make a difference.
Sure would.
Ever think what you'd do, Gorse, say you were Fleet Bear
and the intruders came into your hunting grounds?
That's one of my troubles. I know blame well what I'd do.
That's not excusin' what they do to women.
That's not excusin' anything.
But it makes you wonder where men like Spotted Tail get their courage.
Anyway, I call it courage.
Agreein' to give up your land,
signin' treaties, movin' on to a reservation.
Yeah.
You call that courage.
What do you call what we're doin'?
Two of us sittin' up on the rim of a canyon
lookin' down on a couple thousand hostiles?
I wouldn't call this courage.
It's more stupid than anything.
I'm gettin' kinda tired of them drums.
Well, we can report a big powwow, the makings of a feast,
but we sure can't tell the Major what they're celebratin'.
Unless...
Unless what?
Unless you wanna slide down there
and ask Fleet Bear what all the commotion's about.
Like I said, I'm gettin' kinda tired of them drums.
Well, that bein' the case, we'd better get back to our own camp.
Captain Quincy.
Ho. Ho.
Captain Quincy.
Mr. Cybert.
I hope it was successful reconnaissance, sir.
I hope so, too. We'll talk about it.
I'll see to the horses, Captain.
Right, Sergeant.
Oh, Captain, there's a runner here from Major Daggett.
I think we have new orders.
Don't you know?
The packet's got your name on it.
You were in charge of the camp while I was gone.
I know that, Captain.
How long's he been here?
Since early this morning.
I knew you'd be back before...
Mr. Cybert, we found Fleet Bear's main camp.
2,000 brulees, Sue.
Half of them warriors along the bighorn,
about 25 miles north of here.
That near?
We had to kill a lookout
so we could stay long enough to get a good look.
Might have been the other way around, Mr. Cybert.
He might have seen us first.
Next time, when orders come, I'll open them, Captain.
Right.
Oh, he's in your tensor.
Come on in, Mr. Cybert.
Captain Quince, sir.
Orders from Major Daggett, sir.
As you were, trooper.
When did you leave Fort Laramie?
Noon yesterday, sir.
Any sleep since then?
No, sir.
Except just now.
I was beginning to doze off.
Go find yourself a place to sleep.
Some food if you need it.
Thank you, Captain.
Lieutenant Cybert saw to that.
Will you be sending me back, sir?
Not without a rest.
We'll find you when we need you.
Yes, sir.
I don't believe this.
What is it, sir?
Major says Spotted Tail's beginning to move.
Scout reports indicate he's moving his whole tribe off the reservation.
What is hard to believe?
I'd have to see it first.
Hand me that map case, will you?
Yes, sir.
Where's he supposed to be now?
I don't know.
He's been here for a while.
He's been here for a while.
He's been here for a while.
He's been here for a while.
He's been here for a while.
He's been here for a while.
Where's he supposed to be now?
You'll have to figure that.
Ordinarily, his lodges are set up along here, Pleasant Valley Creek.
Rosebud Agency in the Black Hills.
Let's see.
This report was a day getting to us,
two days before that getting to the Major.
Which way is he traveling, Captain?
This way.
Toward us, on the Bighorn?
That's what the report says.
Hmm.
I wonder why.
I don't know why, but we're going to get the chance to find out.
We're supposed to go after him.
He's still in Indian country.
We can't keep him from moving around if he wants to.
Spotted Tail's supposed to stay at the Rosebud Agency, Mr. Sybets.
If he's going to move around, he's supposed to ask permission.
You're not calling this a treaty violation.
I'm not calling it anything.
Yes, sir, but the Major...
The Major wants to know why Spotted Tail's moving.
He has the right to know.
Yes, sir, I suppose he does.
Is this going to go hard with you, seeing Spotted Tail again?
No, sir.
I want you to be sure about that, Mr. Sybets.
I'm sure.
It doesn't take Spotted Tail to remind me of his daughter, Captain.
Not with her grave at Fort Laramie.
Yeah.
And even if Ahuapa's grave weren't there, I...
I'd remember.
I'll be doing some map work tonight, Mr. Sybets.
I could use a hand.
Yes, sir.
Tell Sergeant Gorse to pass the word. We'll break camp at dawn.
Right, Captain.
Oh, what about the runner?
He can start back to the fort when we break camp.
No need in him starting earlier. He needs the rest.
Yes, sir.
Oh, Mr. Sybets.
Yes, sir?
Spotted Tail's my friend.
All I want to do is talk to him.
This must have been their camp, Captain.
It's likely.
I wish I didn't think it was.
How's that, sir?
Look. All along here.
Wagon tracks. Only deeper.
Lodge poles.
They make that kind of mark, dragging behind ponies.
Camp site, this big, ponies trailing lodge poles.
That's gotta mean Spotted Tail's moving his whole tribe.
He can't understand.
There's no understanding unless we can talk to him.
At the rate he's moving, that might not be too easy.
Captain Spotted Tail's like Red Cloud.
He believes in the treaty table.
He's always kept the peace.
Well, something's got his dander up.
I guess he wouldn't go off the reservation without a good reason.
It's the way he's going off that bothers me.
How do you mean?
Well, he could have moved up north in the Dakota Territory.
Could have cut off a corner of Wyoming, gone up to Montana country.
There are lots of ways he could have left.
Getting off the reservation was what he had in mind.
Well, from the Black Hills to the Little Powder, he's taking the long way, all right.
It'd be a direct way if you were heading for the Big Horn and Fleet Bear.
You don't think that, Captain.
I don't want to.
Could be some trouble in the Black Hills drove him out,
but this looks more deliberate to me.
You think we can catch up with him?
Not standing here, Mr. Cybertz.
Sergeant!
Yo!
Pass the word. Prepare to mount and move out.
Prepare to mount!
Captain, if he were heading for Fleet Bear, then what?
That'd be something I'd want to find out from Spotted Tail, Mr. Cybertz.
I've been here since the treaty, Captain.
I never saw anything like it.
They've been gone about three hours, you say?
Just about.
Talk about folding tents and silently stealing away.
I read that in the book once.
Yeah, I read the same book.
You're going to wait here for a reply, ain't you?
I haven't much choice.
Is that what you want me to say to the Major?
Just put down, I'm waiting for orders.
All right.
Yes, sir.
When I bedded down last night,
there was only one on Rawhide Creek, as far as I knew.
Woke up this morning,
got a whole Injun village sitting at my front door.
Yeah, you told me.
Yep.
Fires going, squaws turning up, pots of food,
papooses squalling, and...
darned if some of their braves were fishing right out there in the Rawhide.
That don't happen to me every morning, Captain.
Papooses squalling?
Funny thing about that,
no matter what color hide a young'un's got,
when they squall, they all sound the same.
How long you think it'll take to get an answer?
That'll be more up to your Major than to me.
You're quite a philosopher, aren't you?
Yeah, yeah, I am.
It comes from having time to think.
Alone a lot, you know.
Once in a while, some of you soldier boys are someone from the Injun agents.
If they get lost, tote in the mail, let them by.
Like I say, I've been here since the treaty,
and I never saw anything like this.
Talk about folding tents and silently stealing away.
Oh, yeah, you read that book, too, didn't you?
Well, sir, I no sooner got used to them cooking and squalling, fishing,
they was gone.
Like one minute they was there, then right away they wasn't.
Like I say, I've been here...
Not three times you're not gonna say it.
Oh, right. All right.
You think they got wind you was trailing them, huh?
I think they did.
Well, sir, well, I...
I won't say it again, but I'll tell you,
it left its mark on me, it sure did that.
You get anything for me, I'll be outside.
Oh, say, Captain.
Yeah?
Yeah, I've got a couple of pools.
Any of you soldiers want to get some good fishing?
Thanks, thanks very much. Maybe next time.
Captain Quince?
Yeah?
Up on the bluff.
Yeah.
He wouldn't come back to make a stand, Captain.
I don't think so.
We'd have more than we could handle if he did.
The runner's coming down under a flag, sir.
See the men hold their fire, Sergeant?
Yes, sir.
Hold your fire. Hold your fire.
Like his not, he wants a power.
White Captain, I come from Spotted Tail.
You have a message?
Spotted Tail say, you come, White Army stay.
You come alone.
Up on the bluff.
Spotted Tail meet White Captain at Trees by Water.
Like White Captain, Spotted Tail come alone.
Get my horse, Mr. Sybets.
Right away, Captain.
And Mr. Sybets, while I'm gone, orders may come from Major Daggett.
I'll receive them, sir.
Good.
Corporal, the Captain's horse.
You may tell your chief I will meet him at the Trees by the Water.
Spotted Tail send White Captain Ring to show good faith.
Tell your chief I know him to be a man of good faith.
Tell him to keep his ring.
As you say, White Captain.
Greetings, Spotted Tail.
White Captain.
You are from Fort Laramie.
I know your face.
It's been a long time since we've met, Spotted Tail.
Many moons.
I came to you then in sorrow to put only daughter, Ahuapa, in White Man's burial grounds.
I remember.
She spoke of love for White Man.
You?
No.
Not me, Spotted Tail, a young officer.
He's with me back there at the station.
The place of her burial.
Is he still honored among you?
She was our friend, as you are.
Friendship is always honored.
The words are well spoken.
I, too, speak of honor, White Captain.
You follow me, do you?
Yes, for two days now.
It is honor for a friend to track a friend?
I wanted to talk with you.
To talk or to make questions?
Questions and answers make talk, Spotted Tail.
By terms of treaty, White Army not belong in land of Indian.
From Bighorn Mountains to Black Hills, all land north of river which flows by your fort.
All this Indian hunting ground.
By terms of treaty, Spotted Tail belongs on the agency called Rosebud,
not in the valley of the Little Powder, or on the bluffs above Rawhide Creek.
This is why you follow me?
This is why.
If I say my people want new hunting grounds, what does White Captain say to that?
I say you left the best hunting grounds in the west when you left the Black Hills.
See? We do not wear the paint of war.
Our mission is one of peace.
I believe you do not want war, Spotted Tail.
When red man go to war, all who see can tell he plans war.
The headdress, the paint of war, all who look can see.
The White Army wears same face at treaty table as on field of battle.
Only White Army knows when White Army plans war.
The White Army plans no war against Spotted Tail.
You are only White Army who follows?
I think this is so.
I ask what you know, not what you think.
I can only tell you what I think.
As far as I know, we are the only White Army to follow, Spotted Tail.
My scouts count you small.
I am told sixty soldiers of White Father.
That's no war party, Spotted Tail.
You are moving all your people.
Many times, my sixty soldiers.
All your lodges have been moved.
Squaws, Papooses, your old people as well as your warriors.
I have told you, our mission is one of peace.
To leave the reservation without permission of the White Father is to break the spirit of the treaty.
No words in treaty, says Spotted Tail, must ask White Father to breathe.
This is the land of my fathers.
On it we hunt, fish, live and breathe.
Do you consider the valley of the Bighorn the land of your fathers?
My fathers have counseled there many times.
Have yours?
No.
Then it is more the land of my fathers than yours, White Captain.
The Bighorn River lies beyond the treaty limits, Spotted Tail.
If you go there, you break the treaty.
I speak to you of peace and you reply of breaking treaties.
It is you who first talks of the valley of the Bighorn, not Spotted Tail.
Do you go to Fleet Bear?
You know the son of my brother?
I have seen his camp on the Bighorn.
I have seen his killing.
He does much harm.
He is young and has the feel of a warrior.
I have seen the killing of young White warriors.
Three burial grounds of Seuss, Squaws and Papooses stood once near your Fort Laramie.
I know that.
So, there is no good left in talk, White Captain.
The sun moves and Spotted Tail moves with it.
One last time I say to you, I speak with truth and honor.
Our mission is one of peace.
If you follow me, White Captain, I cannot be sure of the peace.
Are you doing any good at your powwow, Captain?
He is going to Fleet Bear. I know he is.
Will he tell you that?
He told me everything but that.
But that is where he is hidden.
Well, they have moved off the bluff. They must be going on.
He told me they would.
Are we going after him?
If we do, we start a war. He told me that too.
Where is Mr. Sybitt?
In the telegraph station.
No orders, Captain. We are supposed to return to Fort Laramie.
And the Major has made my decision for me.
Following Spotted Tail might not be the best move now.
This isn't a complete message, Mr. Sybitt.
I know, sir. The telegrapher says the line must have been cut between here and Fort Laramie.
Return to garrison immediately. Fleet Bear has...
That's all it says.
Fleet Bear has what?
I don't know, sir.
But it does say to return. That's the important part.
I wonder if it is, Mr. Sybitt.
You're convinced he was going to Fleet Bear?
I'm convinced. But that doesn't do much good now.
Captain, you can't help what's happened.
Fleet Bear has been asking for a fight for a long time.
Major Little came across the same encampment you did, only he had enough men to lead a charge.
My orders were reconnaissance.
I know that. And I didn't know Major Little and three companies of cavalry and two of infantry were this side of California.
Major Little's not in my command. I didn't know either.
Tell that to Spotted Tail.
Spotted Tail's an old chief. He knew any renegades were open to attack.
There's a quiet little scene, Major. Spotted Tail and me into the trees by a stream, talking peace and honor.
You didn't kill Fleet Bear, Captain.
Spotted Tail was talking to the White Army when he talked to me. He told me his mission was peaceful.
I told him mine was no war party. We believed each other.
Well, you were right. Yours was no war party.
His wasn't either. They could have wiped us out right there at the rawhide.
Spotted Tail is going to figure that he was talking peace with one white man while another attacked and killed his nephew.
You say you're convinced Spotted Tail was going to Fleet Bear to join him?
I think it was more likely the other way around, to persuade Fleet Bear to join him on the reservation.
But you don't know that.
I don't know that, but I know Spotted Tail. He signed the treaty. He's kept it.
That remains to be seen.
Major, Captain, outside the post gate, Spotted Tail and his whole tribe.
Well, we don't want any trouble. We'll meet him outside the gates.
You show great courage, Spotted Tail, riding up to the gates of Fort Laramie without first sending a runner.
I have sent runner before to speak to White Army. I have sent him with a ring to show good faith.
That was before, Major, when we met on the rawhide.
I have now come to White Army with no faith.
We didn't break faith with you, Spotted Tail, and we broke none with Fleet Bear.
The words faith, courage, honor come easy to the tongue for white man.
Have no meaning to Spotted Tail unless they are words of the heart.
Fleet Bear broke faith with us by his killing. I told you that when we pow-wowed.
There was not yet faith in him to break. White man has killed not only Fleet Bear, but the faith that was not yet born in him.
Is that why you were going to him?
I have seen much good in treaty and council. Fleet Bear Young had not seen this.
You think he would have listened to you, Spotted Tail?
We will not know that answer now. You have made his ears forever deaf to the words of his father's brother.
I can say what is in my heart, and in my heart I believe he would have listened.
Why do you believe that? You tried to talk to him before?
You told me you saw his camp on the Bighorn. If you saw and knew what you saw, then you know he planned a feast of celebration.
That's what I saw, Major.
A feast for his father's brother, Spotted Tail. We do not make feast and talk war. That is not our way.
We can't be sorry for Fleet Bear, but we will counter the loss to lose your friendship, Spotted Tail.
You have lost more than that. I am an old man. My friendship has not long to last.
But the young brave, they will live on and remember. You have lost the hope in their hearts for peace and honor.
Is that why you've come here? To tell us that?
No. I come only for what is mine. The remains of my daughter, Ahoapa.
She was buried in our cemetery at her request, Spotted Tail. Her grave here at Fort Laramie has been honored.
I am yet her father. She will return to the land of her people. She lived in peace.
She will rest now and forever in the peace her father understands.
Captain, help him any way you can.
You can help me?
Just one way for now, Spotted Tail. I can lead you to her grave.
Fort Laramie is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald and stars Raymond Burr as Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry, with Vic Perrin as Sergeant Gorse.
The script was specially written for Fort Laramie by Kathleen Height, with sound patterns by Bill James and Ray Kemper, musical supervision by Amarico Marino.
Featured in the cast were Ralph Moody, John Danaer, Tim Graham, and Lou Krugman.
Jack Moyles is Major Daggett, and Harry Bartell is Lieutenant Cybertz.
Company, attention! Dismiss!
Next week, another transcribed story of the Northwest Frontier and the troopers who fought under Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
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