Fighting Pioneers

The elderly Crow Indian chief Black Hawk decides to lead an attack on a wagon train to prevent the loss of Indian land and buffalo to white men. After a wagon train scout intercepts a cavalry detachment under the command of Lieutenant Bentley and his men ride to protect the wagon train and defeat the Indians. Bentley allows the chief's daughter Wa-no-na to take her mortally wounded father back to their village, and before dying he makes Wa-no-na the new leader of the tribe. Back at the fort, rifles captured from the Indians are discovered to be the cavalry's old model, some of which were stolen from the supply armory. Major Denton, the squadron commander, questions Bentley and another officer, Sergeant Luke, because they both had keys to the armory. Although Bentley and Luke deny complicity in the weapon theft, Luke clears himself and then casts suspicion upon Bentley. After being ordered to find the traitor, Bentley has Argo, an Indian who works in the fort, follow Luke and Hadley, a trader, to the Indian village, where Hadley demands advance payment from the Indians for a new shipment of rifles, with the intention of taking their money and leaving the area. However, Wa-no-na and her tribe have tired of Hadley's crooked dealings and take both he and Luke prisoner. Bentley enlists the aid of "Splinters," a young wagon train scout who wants to join the cavalry, and leaves the fort dressed in civilian clothes in order to investigate the dealings of Luke and Hadley and to clear himself. After Denton learns of Bentley's plan, he becomes suspicious and sends another officer, Captain Burton, to follow Bentley to the Indian encampment. Bentley sneaks into the Crow village and releases Hadley and Luke, but before they can escape undetected, an Indian guard sounds the alarm. The Indians pursue the escaping whites, and Wa-no-na succeeds in capturing Bentley, but does not kill him. Burton and his troops arrive, taking Wa-no-na prisoner, but Denton, refusing to believe Bentley's account of the incident, confines him to the stockade. One night Bentley manages to visit Wa-no-na, telling her that he regrets her confinement and asking her to reveal the identity of the gunrunner. Meanwhile, the Indians release Hadley after he promises to set Wa-no-na free, and once Wa-no-na has been released, he then takes Bentley back to the Indian village. There Wa-no-na releases Bentley, even though she is aware that her people will regard her as a traitor. Upon returning to the fort, Bentley finds Hadley and Luke quarreling and has them arrested, after which he alerts the cavalry to an upcoming Indian attack on a wagon train. Burton and his cavalry rescue the wagon train and win the battle, and Wa-no-na is forced to agree to a peace treaty, after which she bids farewell to Bentley.