The American West (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Outlaw Rising - full transcript

Previously on
"The American West"...

In the decade
since the Civil War,

America has been desperate
to settle the West.

But the effort
has been met with conflict

- at nearly every turn.
- Who's the cashier?

Outlaws like Jesse James

have terrorized
railroads and banks

across the Midwest...

leading to one of
the largest manhunts

in American history.

But Jesse James gets away



and goes into hiding
for two years.

In the Great Plains,
the United States military

looks to defeat the armies
of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

and secure the gold

in the Black Hills
of South Dakota.

But after they're defeated at
the Battle of Little Bighorn,

the U.S. government sees
the extermination of the buffalo

as a way of starving
the Lakota nation

into submission.

After their victory
at Little Bighorn...

...Lakota warriors
led by Crazy Horse

continue to fight
for their land.

Hold the line!

But despite winning
small battles



against the U.S. Army,

the struggles
for the Indians

are only getting worse.

General William
Tecumseh Sherman's strategy

of exterminating the buffalo
is working...

as more and more Indians
face starvation.

Lakota leaders
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

are running out of options.

After years of leading
the Lakota people together,

Sitting Bull
and Crazy Horse part ways.

Sitting Bull leads
5,000 Indians north to Canada...

while Crazy Horse
stays behind

with fewer
than 1,000 warriors,

determined to remain
on their rightful land.

The Native Americans pressed on
despite the violence

and the decimation of
their tribes and their culture.

They were persistent in wanting
to maintain their beliefs,

and they pressed on
because they had courage.

With the Indian population
depleted,

the U.S. government
moves full force

into the Black Hills,

allowing them
to take the land

and the gold discovered there
three years earlier.

By 1880,
the area is yielding

over $7 million in gold
and silver annually,

over $170 million
in today's dollars.

This is just this moment
of extreme opportunity

to just go out there
and strike it rich.

And a lot of men and women
were able to do that.

And people who are not seeing
the opportunities

that they saw
in prior generations

see the West
as that great promised land.

As gold pours
into the economy,

the U.S.
is the first country

to pull itself out
of the global depression.

And over the next decade,

more than 12 million immigrants
arrive in the United States,

looking to take full advantage
of the country's prosperity.

But the population boom
brings a problem...

millions of new mouths
to feed.

The solution is found
in the West.

The wide-open spaces
provide the perfect spot

for a new American
industry...

...cattle.

There were lots
of cattle in Texas

on the border of Mexico
for a long time.

But it wasn't until
the railroads

that they could be moved
out to the plains

and shipped from there
to hungry people in the East.

Cattle that would sell
for ten dollars a head in Texas

are worth forty dollars a head
on the East Coast.

This booming industry breeds
a new sort of businessman...

the cattle baron.

Cattle barons buy up
huge tracts of grazing land

stretching from Kansas
to California.

Those land grabs
presented unbelievable opportunities.

We're talking about
sometimes millions of acres,

of these farms, and thousands
and thousands of head of cattle.

But with so much product

spread across
such a vast, unguarded area,

herds belonging
to cattle barons

are becoming
a major target...

for outlaws.

And in the territory
of New Mexico,

one cattle rustler
will become

one of the most notorious men
in the West.

He's born Henry McCarty...

but the world
will come to know him

as Billy the Kid.

His story begins
2,000 miles to the east.

Billy the Kid came
from Hell's Kitchen in New York,

and there's a beautiful
sort of irony

to the idea of a kid
from the slums of New York

becoming this icon
of the Wild West.

Billy never knew his father.

In the early 1870s,

he and his mother
move to New Mexico.

But within a year
of arriving, she dies...

and Billy is all alone
in an unknown land.

For years he wanders
without direction.

What'll you have?

Whiskey.

Leave the bottle.

There were all kinds
of cowboys.

There were ones
that were loud

and drunk and a pain,

and then there's the quiet
ones who didn't say anything.

Always sat in the corner.

Those are the ones
you had to watch out for.

To get by, Billy turns
to the one thing he can do best.

Billy the Kid
was superb with a gun.

He used every
spare dollar he had

to buy ammunition
for practice.

He understood
very early on

that the gun
was his ticket to success.

And he's not shy
about using it.

Armed with his trusted weapon,

Billy starts stealing cattle
from wealthy ranchers

and selling them
one county over.

Self-reliance is one of
the more salient features

of the Old West
because it was tough.

And in those kinds
of environment,

the tough are the ones
that survive.

Where are ya headed?

Into Lincoln.

I'm just rounding up
some strays.

Those cattle you have
belong to John Tunstall.

Well, then John Tunstall can come
and take them back himself.

Be in your best interest
to let me get on my way.

That's not how
this works.

Doesn't look like you
have much of a choice.

Young cattle thief
Billy the Kid

has just been captured
by a local rancher

he tried to steal from.

Most men shoot
cattle rustlers on the spot.

You still haven't told me
who you're workin' for.

I don't work for anyone.

Son, in Lincoln County,

everybody works
for somebody.

Yeah...
well... not me.

You strike me as a man
used to gettin' what he wants.

You got that right.

Only thing about that is...

so am I.

Easy. Easy.

You got a lot of men.

You got room for one more?

When Billy the Kid came to Lincoln,
he needed a job.

John Tunstall
happened to need cowboys.

Cowboys who could use guns,

and so Billy became
one of his employees.

After roaming the West
for years,

Billy the Kid has finally found
a place to belong...

working for an ambitious
rancher and businessman

in New Mexico...

named John Tunstall.

John Henry Tunstall
has come to the West

to make a fortune.

And he settles
on Lincoln County,

where he can make
a lot of money.

Looking to make it big
in the booming cattle industry,

Tunstall has bought a ranch
outside of Lincoln, New Mexico,

and in just two short years
has become

one of the most successful
cattle barons in the territory.

But with his success,

he's upset
some very powerful men.

Lincoln was the wildest
of the Wild West.

The law was almost
nonexistent,

and the people
who controlled it

were generally corrupt.

The established power
in Lincoln County

was a group of wealthy land owners
and cattle barons

known simply
as "the House."

"The House"
controls everything

from cattle prices,
land holdings

and government positions.

Even the law
is on their payroll.

The House controlled
Lincoln County,

and they were prominent.

In fact, a lot of people
that lived in Lincoln

really looked at them
as oppressors.

And John Henry Tunstall
arrives

to kind of horn in
on the monopoly

that the House has had
for a long time.

Tensions quickly rise
between Tunstall and the House,

but the rancher
is not one to back down.

Looking to build up
his small army,

Tunstall sees potential
in young Billy.

In Lincoln County,

everyone was forced
to make a choice...

either you supported
the House

or you supported
John Henry Tunstall.

There was no in between.

So, once Billy accepted that job
with John Henry Tunstall,

he was gonna be
Tunstall's man.

Over the next few months,
the young outlaw

becomes Tunstall's
most trusted gunslinger.

And for the first time,

it feels like
this orphan of the West

has a home.

Tunstall was a mentor
to Billy the Kid.

Billy really liked Tunstall

because he treated him fairly,
he paid him well,

and he was probably
the first man in his life

Billy looked up to
and respected and treated him

like Billy
wanted to be treated.

Put your plate
over here, Billy.

Thanks.

I'm starved.

It doesn't get any better
than this, son.

Good to have you
on board.

Thank you.

If you think about it,
Billy had been scraping by.

He was looked at
by most people as riffraff.

But John Henry Tunstall...
it's kind of shocking,

but he offers this hoodlum...
he offers him a job.

For a young man
of Billy's age,

that was incredible,
that was life-changing.

So he becomes a loyal,

devoted employee
and friend

of John Henry Tunstall.

While Billy the Kid

is now a part of
the burgeoning cattle industry

that's fueling
America's growth...

several hundred miles
to the north,

one man is doing
everything he can

to hold off
western expansion.

Since parting ways
with Sitting Bull,

Lakota warrior
Crazy Horse

has tried to
protect his people

from the flood
of settlers.

But after months
of watching

the buffalo extermination
starve his people,

Crazy Horse
is running out of options...

and is forced
to do something

he swore
he would never do.

Easy, boys.

On May 6, 1877,

Crazy Horse, the man that led
his people to victory

at the Battle of Little Bighorn,
surrenders,

marking the end
of 17 years of resistance.

When Crazy Horse surrenders,

I really believe
everyone knew that was the end.

But the reality is
if he didn't do that,

most of us wouldn't be here.

We would've died fighting

instead of going
to the reservation.

But while the move
onto a reservation

may have saved his people
from starving...

Crazy Horse
is beginning to realize

that it's doing something
far worse.

When they put us
on the reservations,

it really kinda took the spirit
out of a lot of people.

They took away our pride,
they took away our life,

they took away our manhood

because we
couldn't hunt anymore.

A lot of people died,
not from sicknesses and stuff,

they died
from broken spirits.

He trusts in me.
He speaks through me.

The Lord, the Savior.

But the government
isn't content

just to tell the Indians
where to live...

they're also determined
to change their culture.

Large numbers
of Christian missionaries

were in fact sent out
to reservations in the West

to do the work of, as people
in the 19th century saw it,

"civilizing"
these Native Americans.

It's a policy known
as "assimilation."

Assimilation is just...
maybe it had good meaning,

maybe the intentions
were good.

But I think they
wanted us to change

to protect themselves.

They had a saying
in the military...

"Kill the Indian
and save the man."

Which is, basically,
to take his culture away

and you'll be
a better person.

They thought
we were savages.

After months
on the reservation,

Crazy Horse
fears his people

are on the verge
of losing their identity.

I think putting Indians
on reservations

was a despicable part
of history...

because it basically
was attacking their soul.

Now the proud Lakota warrior

knows he needs to stand up
for his people once again.

"My people are not
happy here.

I am not happy here."

"We do not want to live here
on this reservation."

"I want what I was promised,
a reservation of our own,

a place where we are free,

even if we are not."

Life on the reservation

is not what
you're accustomed to.

Give it time.

I think you'll become
quite fond of it.

Months after leading
his people onto a reservation,

Crazy Horse
is growing restless.

But since pleading his case
to U.S. authorities,

the military now fears
the Lakota warrior

could incite
an Indian uprising.

The U.S. was incredibly scared

about Crazy Horse.

There's rumors going around
that Crazy Horse

wants to kill
a visiting U.S. general.

And U.S. authorities
are forever concerned

about these rumors
of Indian outbreaks.

As fear of Crazy Horse's
intention spreads,

the Lakota warrior
decides to meet

with reservation agents
to clear his name.

Crazy Horse thinks
he's going to a meeting

with some U.S. officials.

He doesn't realize the magnitude
of what's about to happen.

They start to put him
into a jail cell.

Well, he sees...
"Wait a second.

This isn't what
I came in here for."

And he comes out
with knives.

Agh-hh!

Accounts here differ,

but I think the most
reliable interpretation

is that the white U.S. sentry

bayonets him,
and he dies.

Crazy Horse is never killed
in battle in that respect.

His vision is correct.

He's taken
completely unawares

when he's, um,
surprised by the sentry.

On September 5, 1877,
Crazy Horse,

a man who fought his entire life
to protect his people

and won battle after battle
against the United States Army,

is killed.

Crazy Horse's death
is hard to talk about

because it's just so...

fresh, even though
it's been that many years.

His death...

I think we all died
that day, really.

One of the things
that's most fascinating

about Crazy Horse
and his legacy

is simply the fact that

of all the many native leaders
across American history,

he's one of the few people

that most non-Indians
have heard about.

I think he's seen today
as a symbol

of courageous resistance
to the U.S. government...

and he is,
in many respects.

And I think that's
one of the reasons

that makes him so powerful.

With Crazy Horse gone,

the Lakota people are in
desperate need of leadership

if they're going to save
what's left of their culture.

After years on his own,
Billy the Kid

has finally found his place
in the West

and a mentor
in John Tunstall.

Tunstall's cattle business
is quickly gaining momentum

and cutting into the interests
of his biggest competition...

a group
of ruthless businessmen

known as "the House."

The House had
a monopoly on business,

but then there was
this newcomer

who arrives in Lincoln
with some money behind him

and the desire to kind of
take over and compete.

The House has some
very powerful allies,

including one
of the largest landowners

in the United States,

Thomas Catron.

Thomas Catron was linked
to the House

because Catron had loaned
the House a great deal of money.

Until the House
repaid Catron,

he had a stake
in their well-being.

So it was in his interest
that they do well

so he could get repaid.

Catron owns three million
acres of territory,

nearly equal in size
to the state of Connecticut.

His landholdings
include Lincoln County,

and Catron doesn't take kindly
to the new competitor

impeding on his business.

This is for you.

It's a writ
of attachment,

authorizes you to seize
all the property

of John Tunstall
and his business partners.

And what if he resists?

I don't care
about the means.

Just the results.

Understood.

Go check it out.

- You stay here.
- Yeah.

What's the rush, boys?

We heard a shot.

Did you, now?

Don't do anything
stupid, son.

This doesn't
involve you.

I suggest you
keep it that way.

This competition,

this feuding
between businesses,

entrepreneurial interests
is one thing.

Like so many conflicts
in the West,

it becomes personal.

Hyah!

Personal to the point
where someone is murdered.

And that person
is John Henry Tunstall.

He is murdered
over a business dispute.

That's as personal
as it gets.

With Tunstall dead,

Billy loses
the only family he knows.

Billy swears vengeance
over Tunstall's grave

and says he'll get every man
who is a part of this.

John Tunstall's death

sets Billy on a path
to find his killers.

And it will turn him
from an unknown gunman

into a legend of the West.

As the country
continues to expand,

men like Billy the Kid
are realizing

just how lawless
the frontier is.

But over 400 miles away
from New Mexico,

one man is about to
bring order to the West.

In the plains of Kansas
where men take what they want...

and every day
is a struggle for survival,

no one is tougher...

than Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt Earp was a big guy,

he was about six feet tall
and he was very strong.

He was large by
19th century standards.

He used that size
to be imposing.

Wyatt Earp is one
of thousands of Americans

who have flooded the West

in hopes
of striking it rich.

Wyatt was bit by the incurable
Western disease.

And that was the need to
always find the next frontier.

The frontier might be mining,
it might be real estate,

but it was the search itself,
the adventure itself.

That's what
really drove Wyatt.

To get by,
he's done nearly every job

on the frontier.

From laying tracks for
the Union Pacific Railroad...

to hunting buffalo
on the plains

and even working
as a bouncer at a brothel.

Wyatt's search for fortune

has landed him
in Dodge City, Kansas,

a place like
thousands of others

popping up across the West
called "boomtowns."

To move cattle from wide-open plains
to eastern cities,

they must first be driven
to railroad hubs

that soon turn into
bustling towns.

A boomtown explodes
on the scene.

You had that barren landscape
and then suddenly

you would have
a hotel with 50 rooms.

Boomtowns are
quickly populated

by the men working
the cattle drive,

a group that will become
synonymous with the West...

cowboys.

You have a lot of young men
that would get to those towns

and they're all fueled
on whiskey, carrying guns.

So you've got young men
drinking heavily and armed.

And this is, indeed, one of
the reasons the West was wild.

Wyatt sees that
in Dodge City

the law is nonexistent

and disputes are settled
with violence.

In that day, you could shoot
somebody dead in the street

for looking at you
the wrong way

because there's
no repercussion.

It's a different time...
the values were different,

life was different.

After years of moving

from one job in the West
to another,

Wyatt isn't satisfied.

It was a rough, tough life.

And a lot of them said,

"I think I'll just
turn in my chaps

and do something else."

And they'd either go back East
or they'd turn bad.

But Wyatt Earp feels
he's destined for something more.

And it's in Dodge City
that he demonstrates a skill

that will mark his place
in history.

You cheated the wrong man.

That's my money.

The guy cheated.
The guy's a cheater, huh?

Don't do it!
Don't do it!

Nobody move.
He pulled his gun, he pulled his gun.

Easy does it.

Nobody move!
Don't move!

Easy there.

- He's a cheat.
- Easy there.

- The guy cheated.
- Put the gun away.

- His gun, did you see it?
- Everyone saw him reach for his gun.

Just hand it over.

- You have to give over your gun.
- Back off! Back off!

- Take it easy.
- Back off!

I'll shoot you!

Come on.

The town of Dodge

is in desperate need
of a lawman.

And Wyatt Earp
is the perfect man for the job.

It isn't long before
Wyatt Earp is recruited

to be deputy marshal
of Dodge City.

There was no particular
training for a lawman.

They were just people
for whom the work suited,

and then there was a lot
of on-the-job training.

But Wyatt brought
a cool demeanor,

a knowledge of people,

and that presence
that he had

that worked on
pretty much everybody.

That's not how things work
in this town.

It's all about intimidation.

Wyatt Earp
didn't ask questions.

He'd smack you
with the barrel of his gun.

"Pistol-whip,"
that comes from him.

Wyatt Earp is
quickly making a name for himself

in Dodge City.

And it's in his role
as a lawman

that he will soon become
one of the most famous figures

of the West.