Love Me Tender

(TRAIN WHISTLING)

(TRAIN CONTINUES WHISTLING)

(HARMONICA PLAYING)

Listen to this! Listen to this,

you fellows! You fellows, listen!

General Grant chased the Rebs

out of Richmond four days ago.

And it's rumored that Lee's

already surrendered.

(CHEERING)

The war is over!

(HARMONICA PLAYING)

(CHEERING AND CHATTERING)

(GUNSHOTS)

(PEOPLE SHOUTING)

(HORSE WHINNYING)

(GRUNTING)

(GUNSHOTS)

(GRUNTING)

(LAUGHS)

(TRAIN WHISTLING)

- Here's the captain's papers.

- Get those Yanks out of here quick.

All right, you two, get this body out

of here. Get him out of here, Davis.

- Pardee, get these men out of sight.

- Come on.

Now come on, let's go.

VANCE:
Hurry it up, Mike. Hurry it up.

(TRAIN BELL RINGING)

- HARRIS:
Captain Cagle?

- Yes, sir.

- Brevet Major Harris.

- We've been expecting you, major.

Here's the warrant for the payroll.

Well, you brought a very small

guard for this much money.

- There's no Rebs within 50 miles.

- What about Randall's raiders?

We drove those bushwhackers

clear out of Louisiana

with their tails between their legs.

Well...

All right. Hand it down.

Where's the station agent?

He got taken sick all of a sudden.

One of the boys took him back to camp.

Where you going?

- Back to the train.

- Go ahead.

Just stand beside it with your mouth shut

and get on when it pulls out.

I'll be watching you from this window.

Sign this receipt. And get that

money to your camp in a hurry.

(TRAIN WHISTLES)

Stop them, major! They're rebels.

- They shot the station agent!

- What?

Get after them, you darn fools!

They stole your payroll.

(GUNSHOTS)

- You all right?

- Yeah. Let's get out of here.

Fire at them, they're rebels!

(GUNSHOTS CONTINUE)

Hey, lieutenant. Ain't that a federal

offense, breaking open them boxes?

(CHUCKLING)

Ain't that a beautiful sight?

Makes you feel like a sore-eyed kitten

with a whole basin full of milk.

Yeah. What a pity it don't belong to us.

How much you figure it comes to?

$12,250.

(WHISTLES)

Lieutenant, how about making

that a neat, round sum?

Say $10,000, and us fellows

dividing up the difference?

Why, you thieving river rat.

The Army'd shoot us for that.

How'd they know about it? Who would tell?

- I wouldn't, for one.

- Me neither.

Look at us. A bunch of starved

scarecrows, whipped and dead broke.

We got nothing coming out of this war

except shriveled guts and saddle sores.

You got a mighty tempting argument.

But I kind of doubt if it's legal.

It ain't legal, Vance, or moral.

Confederacy can use that money

a heap more than we can.

You're right. Tomorrow we're

taking this to General Randall.

Well, we tried anyway.

Let's get into this grub.

The regiments broke camp and moved out.

Yeah. But where to?

I don't know. The general said

they'd wait for us right here.

Been away eight days.

Might've been attacked.

Or ordered away all of a sudden.

We better ride into Claysville and find out.

VANCE:
What's your regiment, soldier?

Fifth Louisiana Rifles,

or what's left of them.

Where's Randall's outfit?

The cavalry disbanded

two or three days ago.

Scattered every which way

so as not to give up the horses.

You fellows would be wise to do likewise

before the Yanks confiscate them.

Wait a minute. What are you

talking about? What's happened?

What's happened?

You mean you ain't heard?

General Lee surrendered

to Grant four, five days ago.

Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.

Surrendered? You're crazy.

No, that's a fact, lieutenant.

All of us gave up our guns

in Shreveport last Monday.

So the war's over. We can all go home.

MAN:
If you've got one left to go to.

Now that the brigade's scattered,

how we gonna find the general?

- That's just it. We can't.

- We gotta try, Vance.

- Why?

- Why?

To give him the money, of course.

I don't know.

The surrender changes everything.

We gotta talk it over.

We can't take this money, Vance.

It don't rightly belong to us.

Then tell us who it does rightly belong to.

Well, it belongs to the Confederate

government, I suppose.

Confederate government? There ain't

no more Confederate government.

- It's finished.

- That's the truth, Brett.

They'll probably hang Jeff Davis

and throw all the others in prison.

Well, then it must still be Federal property.

You mean we ought to give it back

to them? Like thunderation we will.

I got a minnie ball in my leg

that's gotta be paid for.

Your own brother nearly died

of gangrene in a Yankee prison.

- Ain't that worth nothing to you?

- Listen.

We didn't steal this money.

We took it in battle, fair and square.

It's what they call "spoils of war,"

like capturing a horse or anything else.

We didn't know the war was over

and neither did the Federals.

So it's still prize money.

It's ours. You don't have to take

your share, if it sticks in your craw.

How do you feel about this, Ray?

What Vance says makes sense to me.

If we got a right to it,

we'd be plumb fools not to take it.

So it's settled. I got it all figured out.

We got $1750 apiece coming to us.

Wait till I get back to Georgia with this.

I'm gonna buy me a hog and

a dog and a rocking chair.

And we all three just gonna

sit there and scratch.

(CHUCKLING)

Not us. We're gonna fix us up

the best farm in east Texas, huh?

You bet. But first,

I'm gonna get married.

Cathy's been waiting four years.

It seems more like 40 to me.

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