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.
I'd rather take these orders than give them, Captain.
The Black Hills? The Black Hills, the Powder, the Big Horn, the Yellowstone, Montana territory.
Covers a lot of ground. Yeah.
You want these orders, you say? I sure do.
They're your orders. Why don't you take them?
You might be gone two weeks. You might be gone two months.
Now, I'm going to stay here, set up the parley.
These are your orders, Lee.
Well, see, in their mind, maybe you'll tell me what they are.
Sitting Bull.
Sitting Bull? I mean it.
You're giving me the army from the Department of the Plat to go after him?
I'm giving you a patrol and a slip of paper.
This isn't an engagement, Captain.
I want you to deliver an invitation to Sitting Bull to parley with us.
Give me a lot of territory to find them in, Major.
And I can give you about six scout reports.
Each one definitely establishing Sitting Bull's camp at six different locations
from the Black Hills to the Yellowstone.
I saw Pete Hazen's last report on him.
On the Bell Force here in the Black Hills.
That was six months ago.
That's the latest report we have.
Well, I can start there.
Might pick up some fresh word on the way.
When do you want me to leave?
As soon as you can pick up a troll and outfit it.
And remember, you're heading north, planning anything from heat to snow.
Yeah.
When do you plan the parley, Major?
We like to hold it before winter sets in.
If he's set up a winter camp, he won't move till spring.
If he won't, we'll hold it in the spring.
He might not move then.
He isn't much to hold meetings with white men.
We're hoping he'll come.
Yeah.
Well, the finding him comes first.
I'll get started, Major.
Oh, Lee.
Yes, sir?
You've, uh...
You've seen him?
Once.
You talked to him?
I listened to him.
I didn't understand a word he said, but when he got through, I knew what he meant.
I understand he doesn't speak English.
He doesn't have to. He speaks, and you listen, and you watch him, and you understand.
I've never seen him.
I've heard the stories that he's a complete savage, that he hates white men.
He's brilliant, that he's stupid, he's revered, that he's hated.
I'd just like to see for myself.
When you see him, Major, you'll find out one thing in a hurry.
Yeah?
He hates white men.
Captain, sir.
Corporal?
That remount station still ahead?
Better be, Harrison. I'm counting on it.
Captain, I have a report.
I've got the
remount station.
I thought we'd make camp there, start tomorrow with fresh horses.
Cratton and Doolin, their mounts took the brunt of it when them boulders shook loose a while back.
The men heard, Corporal?
Shook up, that's all, Lieutenant Saberts.
Tell them the remount station is just a couple of miles away. I'd like to make it.
They'll make it, sir.
Yeah.
Two more miles, Captain. That'll make 25 miles for us today.
Not bad.
I thought it was pretty good, sir, considering that landslide held us up some.
We can average 25 miles a day. We'll be...
But we can't, Mr. Saberts. Another day we'll be heading into the Black Hills proper.
We'll be lucky to make 18 a day through them.
Yes, sir.
Hard going sometimes. Mostly it's slow.
I guess the Sioux could slow us down some, too.
I guess they could, Mr. Saberts.
That landslide, Captain, it could have been started by Indians.
Could have been.
You think it was?
No.
It's Indian country, sir.
Your idea is they shoved some boulders at us to discourage us, Mr. Saberts?
Well, they've done it before.
But they didn't try to make it stick. There were a dozen men.
The slide did hold us up, stopped us for the best part of an hour.
If there were Indians, Lieutenant, they'd have taken advantage of it. We were sitting ducks.
Yes, sir, I guess we were.
Well, it was an idea, anyway.
Lieutenant, before you came to B Company, we had a first lieutenant who'd been through part of the war.
Never said much. I'd give him an order, he'd follow it to the letter.
I could count on that. He'd follow it to the letter.
Yes, sir.
He never asked questions, he never had theories.
I understand, Captain.
He wasn't much good to me, Mr. Saberts.
Yes, sir, Captain.
Your name Dunsett?
What did you say?
Your name. Is it Dunsett?
Oh, oh, yeah, I guess it is.
I don't hear it often enough anymore, to be sure.
Kind of quiet running the remount station, is it?
Scout now in the island, nester sometimes.
This ain't exactly the Oregon Trail, you know.
Are you staying long, Captain?
Till morning. Your horses look good.
They are.
Have any trouble hanging on to them?
You mean Indian raids?
They gone on a stile?
Well, you just might put it that way, Captain.
I mind a time when I couldn't keep a horse here with four broke legs.
They'd run them off that fast.
But lately now, I get to know them just like brothers.
Brothers, huh?
Well, I say brothers. I don't know why.
Never had any brothers.
About Indian raids?
I tell you the truth, I'd welcome one every so often.
A man needs more than horses, you know.
Of course, up to a year ago, Letty was with me, and that helped some.
Letty?
Yeah, Letty Dunsett, my wife.
Oh.
It's about a year ago now. A fella came riding up one day and said he meant to do some mining.
Though I swear he didn't have so much as a pick with him, near as I could tell.
He stayed a few days, and I was busy with the horses, you know.
When he rode off, darned if he didn't take Letty with him.
Well, maybe you're better off with horses.
Oh, yeah. Letty wasn't much of a talker.
This would be Lance Creek along here?
Yep, Lance Creek it is.
I thought I'd follow it to Beaver Creek and cut up to the Belle Forche from there.
Makes a nice pretty trip. Pretty country.
Well, besides the scenery, is that the quickest route into the Black Hills?
I don't know a quicker one.
Only count 12 men, Captain.
That's all there is.
Well, you ain't going after him with 12 men.
I say anything about going after someone?
Well, the Army don't come traipsing through here getting fresh horses just for the ride.
The way it comes to me, though, you'll need a sight more than 12 men.
More than 1,200.
We're not starting any wars, Dunsett.
Not you, maybe, but you take a white man leading hostile Indians,
and you're apt to have a war.
And no 12 troopers, you see.
White man leading what Indians?
The Sioux.
Now, don't tell me you ain't never heard telly him.
Man, I don't never see nobody and I heard of him.
Well, seeing I haven't,
suppose you tell me what you've heard and where you've heard it.
Well, last time was from Coy.
Now, you go in the Beaver Creek way, you'll run right by Coy's place.
He's tall, great and tall.
And he's got a beard that's long, you know, long and flowing.
That ain't Coy you're talking about?
No, no, the white leader of the Sioux.
And they say when he talks it's like thunder, and his eyes is flash enlightening.
Dunsett, do you know what I think?
How'd I know that?
I think you've been with horses too long.
Take him down to Beaver Creek, Mr. Sabitz.
I want to talk to the settler.
Looks like he's packing up, Captain.
Over there by the barn.
Yeah, yeah, it does. Take care of things.
Yes, sir.
Corporal Harrison.
Yes, sir.
This mountain unsaddled, 10-grid and water.
This mountain unsaddled, 10-grid and water.
Moving time for you, mister?
By afternoon, Captain.
Something running you off your land, mister?
Yeah, just for a few days.
Taking a load of grain up to Indian agency.
Walking count on no military escort, though.
You need one?
Not as a know-all.
I had a talk with Dunsett at the remount station in Lance Creek.
You get a word in?
You know him pretty well?
See him maybe twice a year.
Don't dare go off on her.
Poor old coo, they ain't used to people.
Talks his fool head off.
Don't make a lot of sense.
He's got a story to tell about a new white leader of the Sioux.
Uh-huh. That's what brought you up here?
Dunsett says you told him about the white man.
What'd he say I said about him?
That he's tall, has a long flowing beard, talks like thunder, eyes that flash lightning.
Thunder and lightning?
Well, that part is pure, Dunsett Captain.
I sure didn't mention thunder and lightning.
What about the rest of it, mister?
Oh, that's gospel. He's tall.
Tall as you.
There's no doubt about the beard, all right.
Of course you hear all kinds of things.
Sometimes you're put to wonderin' what to believe.
Now, I've heard he's got as high as a thousand lodges.
Some say more.
Thousand lodges?
Figurin' three men to a lodge, this man's got a Sioux followin' of three thousand braves.
I'm just tellin' you what was told to me, Cap.
Dunsett added the thunder and lightning.
What did you add, mister?
Well, now, Kim's word at a lodge is I told you that.
But the man himself, or what he looks like, that much I know.
I know because I seen him.
When?
Well, I guess it's all four or five months ago now.
I rode up my lane, watered his mule right there at Beaver Crix.
Same as your men are doin'.
And this giant of a man with a flowin' beard told you he'd come to lead the Sioux against the white man?
Well, he said as much, Cap.
The Sioux need a new leader.
Now, those were his words.
I come to give him a new leader.
That's what he said.
The plane is innocent.
You ready to go to the agency as soon as you load the grain?
It won't take me no time at all.
I'll give you a hand. And a military escort.
Well, I think I've managed to quiet him.
We don't get much army through here since the treaty.
Your agency isn't used to cavalry patrols?
Passin' by, stoppin' for water, sure.
They saw you settin' up camp.
Made him edgy.
Considerin' we're on a peace mission, we seem to be doin' a job of makin' a lot of people edgy.
It's the times, Cap.
Hey, look up there.
The Black Hills.
Last sun of the day on them.
It's beautiful.
I look at them all day.
The mornin' sun on them.
The bright sun of midday.
And now, when they're givin' up to the night,
they're always beautiful.
But somewhere in those hills,
somethin' quiet is buildin' up.
I don't know what it is, but I feel it.
And the agency Indians feel it.
Someday, I got a notion the whole west is gonna feel it.
You got mostly Sue here in the agency?
Mostly.
The Black Hills are pas sapit to them.
Sacred.
It's the home of the Sue deities.
Maybe...
Maybe that's the feelin'.
Whatever it is, I'm losin' Indians to it every day.
With winter comin' on, that's the time most Indians head for agencies.
Always before, yeah.
But not this year.
Just the opposite.
I don't know.
I left Fort Laramie four days ago to find Sittin' Bull
and invite him to powwow with us.
And every place I stop, no one wants to talk about Sittin' Bull.
All I hear is that the Sue have a new white leader.
That's all I hear, Captain.
But you never saw him.
No.
But I never saw Sittin' Bull.
That doesn't mean he doesn't exist.
You figure you've lost how many Indians so far?
Not over 20.
I look around, and days end, everyone's accounted for.
By morning, two are gone, maybe three, maybe just one.
And no one ever knows where they've gone, of course.
I'm supposin' you're reportin' this to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Sure.
Like I'm also reportin', there's fewer and fewer Indian raids.
Less hostility, less trouble.
Now, what do you think they're gonna pay most attention to?
20 Indians goin' off an agency
or four or five months of uninterrupted peace?
Why do you suppose they sent this patrol up here?
This whole area is so peaceful right now,
they wanna make it official.
Wanna smoke the pipe with Sittin' Bull
and tell the rest of the country the Indian wars are over.
I don't envy you, Captain.
Ridin' into the Black Hills just now.
Thanks.
You could send back for more troops.
My orders are clear. I'm still lookin' for Sittin' Bull.
You don't believe the talk?
They're about the white leader.
I don't believe it when I see him.
Patch of smoke ahead, Captain.
Comin' out of that line of hills to the west.
First one you've seen, Mr. Sybert?
No, sir, it isn't.
This one seems larger than the others.
Signal fires.
Sue were just lettin' their people know we're here.
Markin' our course for them.
We're flyin' a white flag.
They've honored it so far.
Yes, sir.
Those signal fires aren't botherin' me
near so much as that cloud formin' ahead.
We're gonna get some weather before long.
Bad weather.
You're more worried about a storm than Sittin' Bull?
I know where the storm is, Mr. Sybert.
Well, Sittin' Bull might be nearer.
He might.
Signal fires are a warning to someone.
I hope it's Sittin' Bull.
If it is, we can deliver our message
and get out before we get bogged down by the storm.
I guess I don't understand, sir.
We may be attacked, Mr. Sybert,
we're in unceded Indian country.
It can happen any time.
But Sittin' Bull isn't likely to attack
a patrol flyin' truth flags.
You know, you don't often hear him described
as a man of honor.
Does Sue think he is, Lieutenant?
Yes, but, well, you've met him, sir.
You must have an idea what kind of a man he is.
I have an idea, Mr. Sybert.
Captain Quintson.
What does it look like up ahead, Harrison?
The storm's headin' our way all right, Captain.
But straight ahead over the rise,
there's a valley set ablaze, sir.
Can't see the smoke.
It looks like part of the storm cloud from here, Captain.
You can take my word for it, it's burnin' away for fair.
That's the patrol, Mr. Sybert.
So ride ahead with Corporal Harrison.
Yes, sir.
Come on, Corporal.
Patrol!
Hold!
Burnin' right up into the ravines, Harrison.
They've been markin' our course all the way in with signal fires.
Might be the set of goodwin' like this to tell us
we ain't right welcome in their country.
And it might be they set it to cover their movement away from the valley.
Only from up here we should be able to spot them.
I ain't seen a engine yet, Captain.
We better find some cover for the patrol.
Can't make it across a blazin' valley.
And we can't ride the long way around in this kind of storm.
This ain't a bad campsite, sir.
Them granite ledges make an overhang the way they do.
Of course, I don't know how near we are to water.
That near enough for you?
Yes, sir. It sure is.
Signal the patrol to move up, Harrison.
I'm gonna ride along this rim, find a spot for the horse.
Yes, sir.
It's clearin' off, Captain.
Worst of it's moved through.
You check the pickets yet this morning, Corporal?
Changed the duty at dawn, sir.
Any of them drowned during the night?
If they did, they didn't mention it to me.
You still tryin' to figure out where we are, Captain?
Yeah. I'd kinda like to know.
Funny. You look at a map like that, makes everything look real simple.
Left the agency on the Belle Forche, moved along it,
and to the west to the Little Powder.
West again to the Powder. Hmm.
Is a river in that valley below, Harrison?
If there is, it was on fire yesterday.
Now let's take a look.
By golly, there is a river, Captain.
Yeah, must be the tongue.
This is new country to me.
You sure couldn't see no river for the blaze down there yesterday.
If it is the tongue, we're in Montana territory, Corporal.
Don't look much different.
It's beginning to.
Yes, sir. It sure is.
Captain, coming up the trail. Indians.
How many, Lieutenant? Six? Eight?
That's all I make out, Captain.
Pass the word. Hold fire, Corporal. Yes, sir.
Hold your fire, man. Hold your fire.
Don't seem to fear us, sir.
Riding up from that charred valley as big as you please.
It's their valley, Mr. Sabitz.
Well, yes, it is.
Might be they're just riding up to remind us of that.
You look young, Captain. Mm-hmm.
Very small camp.
How many, white soldier?
Twelve.
Twelve.
That's right.
Twelve.
Twelve is how many, white soldier?
You are six braves.
Six brave.
We are twice your number.
Two white soldiers to one brave.
Now understand.
Why here?
We have a letter. The white chiefs want to powwow a sitting bull.
To smoke the pipe, talk peace.
Letters say that?
Letters says that.
I take. Captain.
It's all right, Mr. Sabitz.
Office of...
Post Commander...
Fort...
Larmi...
Wyoming...
Territory.
You see? I read.
You take back.
Thank you.
You read well.
I read well.
Speak well?
You speak very well.
You white man.
Me red man.
That's right.
Color of skin not matter to leader.
Who is your leader?
Leaders say all men are brother.
Now we go.
What was that all about, Captain?
I don't know, Mr. Sabitz.
But I bet if we follow them, we'll find out.
They slicker us, Captain.
We ain't seen a sign of them Indians in a full day now.
Not Indians, Harrison.
Patrol, halt!
Either you can't see or I'm seeing things.
It'd comfort me some to know you saw him too, Captain.
A giant of a white man with a flowing beard who rides a white mule.
He's the new white leader of the Sioux?
I'll let you know when I get back.
I heard about you, Captain.
I've heard about you.
I've heard about you.
But I didn't really believe it.
Your patrol is flying truce flags.
You got a letter for sitting bull.
I don't have to tell you anything, do I?
Red Bear was very proud of his knowledge.
The young Sioux Brave?
He told me he met a white brother who was armed.
Who did not shoot.
You're not armed either.
I'm armed.
You mean the Sioux up on the ridge?
No, they're just interesting.
So am I.
I hear you've got anything from a thousand lodges up.
I wish I had, Captain.
You can ride up and count them.
On my best day I've got 30 Braves.
It's a beginning.
Depends on what you're beginning.
A small beginning.
Not nearly as big as your invitation to sitting bull to smoke the pipe.
Do you know where he is?
Alas, I heard his camp was on the Yellowstone River.
You said you were armed.
I am?
A Bible?
A Bible.
I'm Father Farrell.
I'm a Jesuit priest.
You're preaching to the Sioux?
Teaching, I hope.
Reading, writing, little farming.
All men are brothers.
The color of the skin don't matter.
Red Bear's learning faster than most.
You've...
You've cut out a big job for yourself, Father.
No, I'm not alone.
I'm a Jesuit.
But there are Methodists out here, too.
Presbyterians.
You helped Captain with Red Bear.
He seemed to respect you.
To know he could trust you.
Maybe that's the way it begins.
With one red man and one white man
trusting each other.
Yeah.
Like you said, Father.
A small beginning.
But it's a beginning.
Fort Laramie is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald
and stars Raymond Burr as Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
The script was specially written for Fort Laramie by Kathleen Height
with sound patterns by Bill James and Ray Kemper.
Musical supervision by Amarigo Marino.
Featured in the cast were Jess Kirkpatrick, Jack Crouchon,
Howard Culver, Lawrence Dobkin, and John Dana.
Sam Edwards is Corporal Harrison, Jack Moyles is Major Daggett,
and Harry Bartel is Lieutenant Seibertz.
Company attention!
Next week, another transcribed story of the Northwest Frontier
and the troopers who fought under Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry.
Every time a foot goes down on the accelerator of an automobile,
somebody is taking life into his hands.
And life is a battle.
And life, anybody's life, is something to be handled with care.
If you're out on the highway, drive at the speed that best meets
the traffic conditions you find.
Obey the road signs and give your attention to traffic signals, too.
Be sure the lane is clear for passing when you want to get around.
And don't take a chance on the other fellow making room for you.
In fact, don't take a chance.
Remember, you can't save time by losing lives.
Hazardous