The American West (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - America Divided - full transcript

Narrator: From the ashes
of the Civil War,

a new breed
of American emerges...

determined to grab
a piece

of the nation's
untamed frontier.

Life was tough
certainly after the Civil War.

And you had this vast continent
that was unexplored.

And I think that fostered
a big migration to the West.

( horse whinnies )

Narrator:
Over the course of 30 years,

more than 430 million
acres of land

will be settled.



But as the US government
pushes the nation west,

former Confederates
hell-bent on taking back

what they lost
become outlaws...

We intend to rob
this here bank.

- Who's the cashier?
- ( gunshot )

( horse whinnies )

Narrator: ...threatening to reignite
the Civil War.

In that day, you had to be
somewhat of a bad guy to survive.

- ( grunts )
- ( gunshot )

They were all tough
and nobody lived very long.

Narrator: On the plains,
war breaks out

as tribes of warriors
band together

to protect
their way of life.

We deploy Custer
and 1,200 men to track down



whatever remains of Crazy Horse
and Sitting Bull's war party.

If necessary,
wipe them out.

Narrator:
This is the story

of an age of violence
like no other,

a time when blood is shed
and battles fought

- by ordinary men who become legends...
- ( gunshot )

...as they fight to determine
the fate of the country.

Kiefer Sutherland: The West shaped
this country in ways

that people either don't acknowledge
or have taken for granted

or have simply forgotten.

The West
was true freedom.

It was such a defining
characteristic of America.

Narrator:
This is "The American West."

( gunshots )

You go to hell.

- You first.
- ( gunshot )

( theme music playing)

Narrator: The story of the West
begins at the end

of the Civil War...

where a young man
named Jesse James

is a soldier in a fringe
military group

known as Quantrill's
Raiders.

Mark Lee Gardner: Quantrill's Raiders
were guerilla fighters

fighting for the South.

They didn't necessarily fight
in traditional ways,

and the way they fought could often
be very savage, very violent,

and their targets could be
civilians as well as military.

( horses whinny )

( gunshot )

(horses approaching)

We got to go!
We got to go!

( gunshot )

- ( men shouting )
- ( gunshots )

There they go!
Come on!

(gunshots)

( grunts )

(gunshots continue )

Get him!

- ( gunshot )
- ( screams )

- Can you run?
- No. ( groans )

( gunshot )

( groaning )

Narrator:
In the spring of 1865,

Jesse James is shot
and captured

by the Union Army.

- ( squishing )
- ( groaning )

( labored breathing )

Now, say it.

I solemnly swear...

That I will bear
the true allegiance

of the United States.

Say it.

( screams )

I will bear true allegiance
to the United States.

And discourage...

Narrator: Jesse James is forced
to pledge allegiance

to the Union.

Before he's released,
the Confederacy surrenders

and after four years
of bloody fighting,

the Civil War
comes to an end.

After surviving
a near fatal wound,

Jesse James returns home
to Missouri

only to find death
and destruction all around.

After the Civil War,
the South was hellacious.

It had been ruined.

And there was a great deal
of resentment

of northern authority,
of federal authority.

There were a lot of people
who were mentally unbalanced

by that war,
by the brutality of it.

Narrator:
In the border state of Missouri,

the fighting has been
especially brutal.

David Eisenbach:
Missouri is one of the states

that stuck with the Union
during the Civil War,

but had large sectors
of the population

that wanted to go with
the South in the first place.

So you had Missourians
fighting Missourians.

It's in this
incredibly volatile,

literally brother
against brother world

that we get Jesse James.

Narrator: Jesse soon discovers
that the war

has not only torn apart
his homeland,

it's left his family
with nothing.

You look good, Frank.

You look like shit.

( laughs )

I bet you gave them Union boys hell,
though, didn't you?

It's just real nice
to be home.

Mom, I promise you,

we're gonna get back
on our feet.

Me and Frank
will figure out something.

Gardner:
Jesse and his brother Frank

grew up
in rural Missouri.

Their father had gone off
to the gold fields

during the Gold Rush
and had died there.

Jesse's mother, Zerelda James,
was a single parent,

and I think that created
a very, very strong bond

between her
and her children.

Narrator: Still reeling
from his time in battle,

Jesse knows he has to find a way
to provide for his family.

So he comes up
with a plan.

He forms a gang...

and begins stealing.

Sutherland: When you think
of Jesse James and those families,

they have been stripped
of everything, they felt,

after the Civil War
and they were gonna come

and take what they thought
was owed to them.

- Jesse: Come here, come here.
- Let's go.

Here, take this.

Go, go, go!

Narrator: But the Union Army
quickly cracks down.

(men shouting)

Jesse.

Cover that up.

How you doing?

What's in the crates?

Food,

various sundries.

Got some sweet corn.

- You boys hungry?
- Want some water.

- We don't take orders from northern...
- Jesse: Frank!

We got water.

Fresh out of the creek.

Tastes like shit.

(pours water)

Yeah, well, I guess
we're used to it.

Search the house.
Take it all.

Soldier:
Yes, sir.

Narrator: Fed up
with the North's presence,

Jesse James is determined
to fight back.

( grunts )

Eric Foner: Jesse James could not
adjust to peacetime.

He was strongly opposed to
what was going on in the South

and in fact viewed the army after the end
of the war as being oppressive.

Narrator: As attacks
from Confederates like Jesse

escalate around the South,

news travels over
1,000 miles to the east

to the nation's capital.

These just came in.

You're dismissed.

Narrator: The man who has to deal
with the growing unrest

in the South
is the same man

who recently claimed victory
over the Confederacy...

commanding general
of the US Army

Ulysses S. Grant.

( men shouting )

Narrator:
When the Civil War began,

Grant was considered by many
to be a failure,

a drunk with no future
in the military.

But after a series
of Union generals

were unable to secure victory
for the North,

Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant
to lead the US Army,

and he rose to the task.

John McCain: General Grant is one
of the true military geniuses.

He saw the objective and he knew
what needed to be done.

Narrator: With tensions rising
in the former Confederacy,

Grant is forced to deal
with the South once again.

H.W. Brands: When Grant took control
of the army,

he had to deal with leftover matters
from the Civil War.

Grant understood that there
was a feeling in the South

that this defeat was something
that still might be resisted.

And Grant had
to attend to that.

Narrator: Grant knows he can't let
rebels like Jesse James

reignite the war.

So he sends more US troops south
to maintain order

and institutes
strict martial law.

Just over a year since
the end of the Civil War,

it's North
versus South again.

Narrator: With former Confederate
soldiers like Jesse James

lashing out against
northern authority in the South...

(gunshot)

...General Ulysses S. Grant
sends armed troops

to enforce order.

Brands: During the immediate
aftermath of the Civil War,

military government
martial law was imposed

and Union soldiers were
in occupation of much of the South.

Southerners generally
resisted this.

It was, from their perspective,
a continuation of the Civil War

in which northerners
imposed their will,

imposed their ways
on the South.

Narrator: But the increased
military presence

only makes things worse.

Jesse James and other
ex-Confederates like him

begin rioting.

(men shouting)

Narrator: With the Civil War
on the verge of starting up again,

Grant knows a new strategy
is needed to heal the nation.

So he
and the US government

look to a plan laid out
by the man who led the country

during the Civil War...
Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln knew that the key
to healing the country

would be to give
all Americans the promise

of a new start
in the West.

Redford: The value of going
into uncharted territory,

there's a chance for enterprise
and development

and a chance for people
to grow and to succeed

in ways they couldn't
in the overdeveloped East.

And also, I think,
just the excitement

and the challenge
of uncharted territory...

that's a little bit
of the American way.

Narrator:
From the Missouri River

to the coast
of California,

the frontier is nearly
500 million square miles

of wide-open land.

Danny Glover: You have
the Pacific Ocean on one end,

and you have the Atlantic Ocean
on the other end,

and all the vast land
in between that.

It's the whole idea
of looking for opportunity,

looking for another life.

Narrator: The challenge
is figuring out

how to get people to the West
as quickly as possible.

And Grant knows the answer.

The same way he was able
to rapidly move Union troops

during the Civil War.

Man: Whoa, hold up
on that sleeper.

Get to work.

Narrator:
The railroads.

Man:
Hold up on that...

Narrator:
To promote construction,

the government makes
the railroad companies

an unprecedented offer...

millions of acres
of free land.

For every mile of track
that a railroad would build,

Congress would provide
the company with land

on either side
of the track.

The land grants
that Congress provides

really is the sweetheart
deal of the century.

Narrator:
175 million acres

are given
to the railroad companies...

more land than the entire
state of Texas.

The railroads then take
the land they got for free

and sell it
to the settlers...

using a massive
advertising campaign

that promotes the West
as an uninhabited paradise.

( train whistle blows )

People were lured by this
fantastic sense of opportunity.

You can be a poor immigrant
and all of a sudden

there's an opportunity that you can
get 50 acres and start a life.

That's like winning
the lottery back then.

I mean, it was amazing.

Narrator: But as Americans begin
to head west by the thousands...

they're pushing into land
that's already occupied

by a people determined
to defend it.

Narrator:
As railroads expand west,

hopeful new settlers
push into territory

that's been occupied
for thousands of years.

At the end
of the last Ice Age,

nomadic hunters
migrated into the Americas

across a land bridge that once
connected Siberia to Alaska.

By 1865,

300,000 Native Americans
are living in the West.

The most numerous and powerful
people on the plains

are the Lakota Sioux.

But now their homelands
are being invaded.

For the Lakota people,
1865 is a major turning point.

With the railroads
coming west,

there is literally
and figuratively

a freight train
coming right at them.

Narrator: Standing in the path
of the invasion

is a fearless
young warrior.

His name is Crazy Horse.

Andrew Isenberg: Crazy Horse was
a very talented military leader

who was the chief lieutenant

of the Sioux in the northern
Great Plains.

Narrator: The land is sacred
to the Lakota

and Crazy Horse feels
it's his duty to defend it.

Redford: Native Americans,
when they saw the railroad,

they knew that there
was now a vehicle

to invade them with
and it was protected by steel.

And it was fast.

Narrator: In 1866,
Crazy Horse takes part

in a bloody campaign throughout
the Wyoming territory.

Sioux in the northern
Great Plains

are fighting against the settlers
who are moving into that area.

And they're winning.

Narrator:
In the span of six months,

dozens of settlers
are killed

and movement through
the territory is restricted.

News of the violence makes
its way to Washington, DC...

( tapping )

...where it's received by the man
overseeing troops in the West,

famed Civil War general
William Tecumseh Sherman.

I just received word
from the Dakota territories.

Another six men have
been killed in a raid.

Narrator:
General Grant knows

he can't let chaos
on the frontier

threaten the government's plan
of unifying the country,

so he orders Sherman
to use military force.

( horse whinnies )

Narrator:
In late 1866,

nearly 1,000 soldiers
pour into Sioux territory.

Crazy Horse knows
it's up to him

to defend his land
and his people

against an enemy
with superior firepower.

But he's confident
he'll prevail,

thanks to a powerful vision
he had in his youth.

Karl Jacoby: Crazy Horse,
as a young man, had a vision.

( thunder rumbles)

( cawing )

And in this vision he sees
that whenever he's in battle,

he's very safe from the enemy
and the enemy can never hurt him.

And in essence
he could be protected

from anything that the enemy
might do to him.

Narrator:
Emboldened by his vision,

Crazy Horse sets in motion
a daring plan.

Jacoby: Several Lakota are set
to decoy the US Army,

and one of these people
is Crazy Horse.

It's obviously a very risky
position to be in

because you're putting yourself
very close to the US Army.

Narrator:
Crazy Horse lures the soldiers

away from the protection
of their forts

into an open territory.

(man shouting)

Narrator: Once he has
them in position,

Crazy Horse begins
his assault.

Man:
Ready!

Narrator:
He charges alone...

Man:
Aim!

Narrator: ...directly into
their line of fire.

Man:
Fire at will!

( gunshots )

Narrator: It's a tactic known
as riding the brave line.

And it exposes the soldiers'
greatest weakness.

Man #2:
Reload!

( whooping )

( all whooping )

( soldiers grunting,
screaming )

( whooping )

Narrator:
On December 21, 1866,

Crazy Horse claims
one of his greatest victories...

killing nearly
100 US soldiers...

in what becomes known

as the Battle
of a Hundred Slain.

Now, in addition to trying
to contain the southern rebellion,

Grant must deal
with an Indian war

that's beginning
to rage out West,

threatening the future
of the nation.

Narrator: After Crazy Horse
and his men

kill nearly 100 US soldiers
in a single battle,

news travels back
to Washington.

Incompetence.

These savages,
they don't fight the way we do.

Narrator: Commanding general
Ulysses S. Grant

is not only facing
uprisings in the South,

but a new war
in the West.

Grant realizes the only way
to defeat the Indians

is to send his best commander
from the Civil War...

a man stationed 2,000 miles
away in Texas

who's famous
for both his victories

and his unconventional
commanding style.

His name is
George Armstrong Custer.

Anne Collier: George Armstrong Custer
was very flamboyant.

He had flowing blond hair.

Some say
he curled it himself.

He wore a signature costume,
if you will,

that he called a uniform.

He had a red handkerchief,
shiny boots,

and a broad-rimmed hat.

And he just showed himself
to be superior to others.

Where did you acquire that insignia
on your uniform, soldier?

West Point, sir.
Fourth in my class.

Fourth
in your class?

Gentlemen, we have
a celebrity in our midst.

Do you know what position
I graduated?

Last.

And yet here I stand
commanding you.

Why is there a button
missing from your coat?

You're a disgrace

to that insignia.

You are a disgrace
to my unit.

And you are a disgrace to every man
who ever wore that uniform.

One month laundry duty.

Make it the end
of the year.

Narrator: Though Custer is not
the army's most beloved leader,

he is respected
for the killer instincts

he showed
during the Civil War.

( cannonball whistling)

Cover their left flank!

Narrator:
It was his daring charge

that contributed
to Robert E. Lee's surrender.

Lieutenant, why are you
falling back?

You breach their front lines
and you push.

Burt Reynolds: A lot of people
laughed at him,

but not in battle.

He was a hell
of a soldier.

Tremendous courage.

The thing that scared
people half to death

was being assigned to him

'cause you were gonna be
in the middle of everything.

(men shouting)

Narrator:
But since the Civil War ended,

Custer has been relegated
to overseeing border patrol

at a remote post.

Custer was sent
into exile.

He brooded over this,
of course.

And he knew that he needed
to get back into action.

Sir.

Narrator: Grant gives him
the opportunity

he's been waiting for.

Hutton:Custer got command
of the 7th Cavalry,

which was going to be
the crack elite unit

for Indian fighting
in the West.

Narrator: George Custer
finally has his chance

to step back
into the limelight.

And it's an assignment
that will change the course

of American history.

( crickets chirping)

Narrator: In the years following
the Civil War,

former Confederate soldier
Jesse James

has been leading
an uprising in Missouri.

Jesse: All right, boys, I'll tell you
what's going to happen.

Me, Charlie, and Frank
will head inside.

Get around that counter,
easy money.

Narrator: Until now,
Jesse's crimes have been small.

But as the North's postwar domination
of the South continues...

Jesse is starting
to think bigger.

He decides that the best way
to express his hatred for the North

is to go after
their wealth.

In the first 80 years
of America's existence,

there was not a single
armed bank robbery.

So at the time,
banks have minimal security.

And even in the South,

they hold mostly
northern money.

Rob a bank and you're stealing
northern wealth.

Sutherland: Jesse James wanted
the money,

but he had a real statement
he was trying to make

that was as much political
as it was about robbing banks.

( people chatting )

Go.

- Everything in your vault.
- (people screaming)

Open the vault.

- Move.
- ( gasps )

- Open the vault.
- Jesse: Hold on, hold on.

In the corner now.

I know you.

Where'd you fight?

- I didn't.
- You did.

You fought for the Union,
didn't you?

No.

Let's open the vault,
be on our way.

- You fought at Richmond.
- No, I didn't.

- Don't you shake your head at me.
- Jesse.

You're the man who shot
Bill Anderson.

Gardner: The Civil War
made Jesse James.

He killed men,
he saw men killed.

Seeing death every day changes
the way you look at life.

Jesse mistook
the teller

for the murderer
of his leader during the Civil War.

I found you,
you son of a bitch.

( shouts )

We still need him
to open the vault.

Bill Anderson
was my friend.

( gunshot )

God damn it, Jesse.
On the floor!

Frank: Come on, Jesse,
we got to go.

Come on, now!
Come on.

Gardner:
That revolver shot

is somewhat of a release.

When Jesse fires that gun,

there's a welled-up bitterness
that's been boiling for years.

He still has the memories
he witnessed personally during the war.

Lots of his friends
have been killed.

Jesse refused to forget.

A lot of his makeup
was revenge.

Come on, Jesse.
We got to go.

Jesse, come on.
Come on, now.

Get, boys, get.

( clicks tongue )
Come on.

Come on.

( hammer clicks,
gunshot )

Narrator: Jesse James
has just pulled off

one of the first
bank robberies in America,

leaving one man dead
and earning the ex-Confederate

his first victory
against the North.

A lot of the guys
who became outlaws,

Jesse James and so forth, they were
all part of the Confederate Army.

And when the Union
won that war,

robbing banks
was their way

of continuing the fight
of the Confederacy.

Narrator: The crime makes
headlines across the state,

turning Jesse
into a wanted criminal.

All right,
it's on you, Frank.

There it is.
( laughs )

It's a good day
to be Frank James, you know.

Sutherland: Jesse James certainly
had a very specific idea.

He was going to take the money that he felt
was taken from him during the Civil War.

The press
got wind of that.

And once they started
reading their own stuff,

they were, "Yeah, I'm right.
You know, I was questioning

whether or not I should have robbed
that bank, but now I know I'm right."

( laughs )

Narrator:
With his reputation growing,

Jesse James is fanning the flames
of rebellion in the South.

Over 400 miles away,

the US government is dealing
with an even greater problem

than southern uprisings...

as Indian attacks
by warriors like Crazy Horse

are slowing down
western progress.

But General Ulysses S. Grant
has an answer...

Civil War hero
George Armstrong Custer.

Grant was quite happy
with the performance of Custer.

Custer was one of the great heroes
during the Civil War.

He was also willing to do
whatever was necessary

to deal with the Indian issue
right now.

Narrator: For Custer,
it's the opportunity

he's been waiting for to step
back into the spotlight.

For months, Custer has been
hunting bands of Indians

across
the southern plains...

Halt!

...but hasn't been able
to track them down.

Gardner: I think Custer had
the same ambitions

that any long-term
military officer had.

That was to advance
in rank.

Advance in rank
and to win laurels, win glory.

That was hard to do
in the post-Civil War West.

I mean, you weren't meeting
a foe that was lined up

with 10,000 men
on the field of battle.

You were meeting
a very elusive foe.

So I think Custer
was frustrated often

with what he wanted to do,
and I think he wanted glory.

Narrator: Finally,
Custer catches a break.

His regiment discovers
a band of Cheyenne Indians

camped near
the Washita River

suspected of attacking
settlers and troops.

Get the men ready.

Half an hour.

I want to hit them
with everything we've got.

You have your orders.

Yes, sir.

Narrator: Desperate for
another chance at greatness,

Custer prepares
a surprise attack.

Jacoby: Custer is quite consciously,
I think, very aggressive

in his war against Indians

because he's really trying
to reclaim the glory

that he experienced
during the Civil War

when he was
this American hero.

Narrator: It's only been three years
since the Civil War ended.

But now with Custer riding
into a battle for glory...

and Jesse James inciting
a rebellion in the South...

America is on the brink
of fighting a two-front war.