7th Cavalry

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.