Hangman's Knot
Hangman's Knot is a 1952 American western film written and directed by Roy Huggins and starring Randolph Scott, Donna Reed and Claude Jarman. The film is about a group of Confederate soldiers, unaware that the Civil War is over, who intercept a shipment of gold escorted by Union cavalry troops and are then pursued by a renegade posse. Hangman's Knot was filmed on location in the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, California. Plot In the spring of 1865 in Nevada, a small band of Confederate soldiers disguised as civilians intercept a shipment of gold escorted by Union cavalry troops. Following a heated battle that kills all the Union soldiers, Confederate Major Matt Stewart learns from the dying Union officer that the war ended a month earlier. Matt and his men transport the gold as planned to the scheduled rendezvous with Captain Petersen, who has been scouting the area disguised as a traveling peddler. When Petersen confirms that he knew the war was over but made no attempt to tell the men, hot-headed Rolph Bainter shoots him dead, in anger over the unnecessary deaths of their own men during the ambush. The men briefly debate what to do with the gold. As ranking officer, Matt decides they will take the gold back to the South to help finance their country's reconstruction. The following day, Matt disguises himself and uses Petersen's covered wagon to transport the gold and his men out of the area. Soon they are stopped by a group of drifters posing as a posse looking for the gold thieves. Matt persuades the posse's leader Quincey that they've been caught elsewhere. Matt and his men continue on, but the mules bolt from the wagon and the rebels are forced to commandeer a stagecoach carrying a former Union war nurse, Molly Hull, and her companion Lee Kemper. Quincey's posse chases the stage to a station house, capturing one of Matt's men, Cass Browne, who they take with them. Matt and his men take the stage passengers, the aging station agent Plunkett, and his daughter Margaret Harris hostage. Mrs. Harris hates the Confederates for her husband was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg and her only son was one of the Nevada Volunteers who the Confederates had wiped out. One of the Confederates, Egon, responds that Jaime watched his parents murdered during Sherman's March to the Sea. Quincey's posse surrounds the station house, and Matt tells them the gold was left out on the trail, but they are reluctant to go back unless they are sure of it. As night descends, the posse tries to lure the Confederates out by threatening to hang Cass, but Matt is able to rescue him using the remaining sticks of dynamite from their ambush. The following day, Kemper offers Matt a plan of escape in exchange for two gold bars. Giving Matt an Indian token, Kemper explains that his good trading relationship with the local Paiute Indians and this token will guarantee fresh horses and safe