The American West - First Season

Narrator: Previously on "The American West"...

in the wake of the Civil War,

the country is in turmoil.

The South is rising up again,

led by ex-Confederate soldiers like Jesse James...

I'm gonna make this right.

Who takes his hatred for the Union...

Everything in your vault.

And becomes an outlaw.

Desperate to unite the country,

the government looks west,

hoping that by settling the frontier,

America can put their differences behind them.

But as settlers head west, they encounter Indians,

like fierce Lakota warrior Crazy Horse,

who are prepared to defend their land to the death.

In response,

head of the US Army, Ulysses S. Grant,

orders his most aggressive officer,

George Armstrong Custer, to send a message.

Get the men ready.

I wanna hit them with everything we've got.

Hup. Hyah!

- ( gunfire ) - ( people shouting )

Man: Fire!

Hyah!

Hyah!

Narrator: On November 27th, 1868,

George Armstrong Custer leads a brutal attack

on an Indian camp near the Washita River.

An estimated 150 Cheyenne are killed,

and what remains of their village

is burned to the ground.

It will come to be known as the Washita Massacre.

Mark Lee Gardner: Custer splits his command up into four battalions.

He wants to encircle this village

and make sure there's no possibility of escape.

He burned the village, burned their lodges.

He killed 800 horses.

It's a complete disaster for this Southern Cheyenne tribe.

Narrator: In the press, the attack is hailed

as the first significant American victory in the Indian Wars

and gives Custer the glory he's been after

since the Civil War.

Paul Hutton: For Custer, it was another great victory.

It assured his place

as the premier Indian fighter in the United States

and made him famous once again.

Narrator: Custer's mission was to put an end

to Indian attacks in the West,

but the fighting persists.

- ( groans ) - ( Native Americans whooping )

- ( men shouting ) - ( gunfire )

In hindsight, I don't think the Indian Wars

could have been avoided, because in those days

you settle scores with fighting.

The West was to be conquered by the strongest,

and the Indians were great warriors, too.

Narrator: As the violence continues,

back in Washington, there's hope.

The country has just elected a new president...

Former head of the US Army,

Ulysses S. Grant.

H.W. Brands: Grant was a very reluctant political candidate.

People who wanted him to run would say,

"General Grant, if you don't run,

then the victories that your soldiers won

at such cost on the battlefield

will be lost in the realm of politics.

We need your leadership in the White House.

Only you can bring this country back together again."

Our reports indicate around 1,000 Indian lodges...

Narrator: Up until now, Grant has led the army

in their fight to protect settlers moving west.

So as president, one of his first orders of business

is to end the violence with the Indians

once and for all.

What's going through the heads of Americans

in dealing with the Native Americans in the 1860s

can be looked at through Ulysses S. Grant.

Settlers going out west were getting killed,

and his responsibility is to protect American lives.

Here is a man who is actually disgusted by war,

but there are lots of forces within his own beloved army,

like William Tecumseh Sherman who's in charge of the army,

who are pushing the policy of "Let's get rid of them."

Any Indian who reports to the reservation

will be fed, clothed, and educated.

All due respect, sir, many of them don't want that.

A good number will be more receptive than you think.

They will be taught to farm.

They will learn Western culture.

And those that don't report?

Do we consider them hostiles?

No, we don't.

I didn't say it was going to be easy.

Nothing worth having is.

Brands: Grant viewed the Indians with considerably more compassion

than many of his contemporaries.

So instead of driving the Indians off of all of the land,

instead of exterminating the Indians

as many people of Grant's day advocated,

Grant said, "No, we need to set aside territory where they can live.

Territory for their uses and not for settlers.

Settlers are going to have to stay off that."

The policy of reservations.

Narrator: In the Great Plains,

nearly 40,000 square miles of land

are reserved for the Lakota Sioux...

Roughly the size of the state of Ohio.

And the US government makes a promise

to never interfere with the new Indian territory.

Many Indians agree to the peace treaty

and move onto the reservations.

But some, like Lakota warrior Crazy Horse,

refuse to give up their way of life.

Robert Redford: If you're a nomadic hunter and you're moving

and you take away that chance to move,

you can imagine it's the beginning of the end for you.

And I imagine they saw that coming,

and they had to fight against it.

I don't blame them.

Narrator: As Crazy Horse continues to resist,

he gets the attention of one of the most respected Lakota chiefs

in the Great Plains.

His name is Sitting Bull.

Karl Jacoby: Sitting Bull was known both as a great spiritual guide

and also someone who had tremendous success

during warfare, and he was much older,

at least probably a decade older than Crazy Horse,

and in many respects better established.

Narrator: Sitting Bull knows

his people need to form a united front,

so he calls a meeting of Lakota leaders.

Narrator: While thousands of other Indians

continue to live on reservations,

Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and their followers refuse.

But they also agree not to fight,

and a fragile peace is established.

As America gets back to settling the frontier,

a new kind of businessman emerges

who sees only one thing in the West...

The opportunity to make a fortune.

Narrator: President Grant has made peace with the Indians...

allowing the country to move forward

with its plan of settling the West.

Sir, here's the latest track map.

Narrator: A new breed of businessman

is taking full advantage of the westward expansion.

We build north to Columbus, then south to Grand Island,

and then we go out the North Platte route

when we can no longer reasonably delay that.

But, sir, that would add hundreds of miles

of unnecessary track.

The government pays us for each mile of track we complete.

Why would we design a shorter route?

- Well, sir... - Get it done.

Yes, sir.

Narrator: Thomas Durant, president of the Union Pacific Railroad,

has turned progress into millions in profits.

Eisenbach: A guy like Durant,

he's facing off against other railroad barons,

guys who didn't think twice about cutting a corner here

in order to put your nose in the dirt.

If you weren't being ruthless,

your competition was, and they were going to kill you.

Man: I've been pushing them very hard.

If you want me to start working them 12 hours a day,

I can do that.

I think that would probably help us catch up.

We are over budget and we're out of time.

Get to work.

Narrator: Durant has been racing

to complete his most ambitious project to date...

a rail line connecting the country from east to west.

Brands: The Transcontinental Railroad

was the biggest public works project of its time.

Probably the biggest public works project

of the 19th century.

Narrator: Nearly 2,000 miles of track

are laid out across the country,

cutting through ravines, solid granite mountain ranges,

and unmapped Indian territory.

It's one of the most ambitious engineering projects

the world has ever seen.

Now with the railroad nearly done,

Durant is ready to unveil

his crowning achievement to the world.

Durant: There are plenty of festivities planned

to help celebrate this grand joining of east and west,

the first transcontinental railroad in the entire world.

How much is the golden spike worth?

Next thing I know,

you'll be wanting to pry it right out of the tracks, right?

- Mr. Durant. - Ahem.

Henceforth, there shall be but one

Pacific Railroad.

Walter Borneman: This joining of the rails at Promontory Summit

in terms of the American psyche really can't be overstated.

It's not unlike men walking on the moon a century later.