The Sam Elder Story

Wagon Train has very few poorly done episodes and in a crowded field of excellent storytelling this episode stands out. My favorite Wagon Trains are the ones who pack a full movie's worth of stpry into a 1 hour episode and The Sam Elder story does that very well.

As you will note by the lead credits John McIntire had already been hired to replace Ward Bond who died suddenly in early November of 1960. But McIntire hadn't made his debut yet and the script had Terry Wilson taking a part that was clearly originally meant to be for Ward Bond. Wilson pinch hit admirably and Frank McGrath as always provided the comic relief which he would do more and more of as the series progressed.

The title role of the Sam Elder Story is played by Everett Sloane who was a medal of honor winner in the Civil War. He's traveling with a bunch of boys all of them orphaned in the late war. His intention is to establish a military school on a land grant he now has in California and he's got the makings of his first class. The kids are run with strict military discipline. The episode heavily suggests what Robert Baden-Powell did with the establishment of the Boy Scouts after the Boer War.

Sloane has some problems with Walter Coy who lost a son under Sloane's command in the Civil War and in a battle where Sloane got the Congressional Medal Of Honor. They're exacerbated by the fact that his cadet sergeant Ray Stricklyn is paying attention to Coy's daughter Roberta Shore.

This is a good family oriented episode for Wagon Train that still holds up well after 50 years.