How the West Was Won (TV series)

How the West Was Won
Also known as	The Macahans
Genre	Western
Directed by	Bernard McEveety Irving J. Moore (one episode) and others
Starring	James Arness Bruce Boxleitner Fionnula Flanagan Kathryn Holcomb William Kirby Cullen Vicki Schreck
Composer(s)	Jerrold Immel
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	28 (and 1 pilot) (list of episodes)
Production company(s)	MGM Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television (current)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	Pilot: January 19, 1976 Official: February 6, 1977 – April 23, 1979

How the West Was Won is an American western television series that starred James Arness, Eva Marie Saint, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner, and Richard Kiley. Loosely based on the 1962 Cinerama film of the same name, it aired as a mini-series in 1977, and as a regular series in 1978 and 1979. A 2-hour pilot film, The Macahans, ran in 1976. A total of 25 episodes were aired.

The show was a great success in Europe, apparently finding a larger and more lasting audience there than in the United States. It has been rebroadcast many times on various European networks, e.g. in France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, and has built a cult following. It was released on DVD in Europe in November 2009.

A sequence of paintings by Charles Marion Russell was shown during the end credits.

Zebulon Macahan is a well known mountain man, trapper/trader, and scout working for the U.S. Army in the Indian Territories. The Sioux and many other Indian tribes have given Zeb Macahan the name, White Eagle. The legend among the Indian tribes is that "a bullet has not been made that can kill him." In the early 1860s, as the Civil War is beginning, he is reminded that he has family back in Manassas, Virginia that he has not seen in far too long. He journeys back there. When the war comes too close to home, Zeb's sister in law, Kate convinces her husband Tim, Zeb's brother, to pack up their family, including two sons (Luke and Josh (named Seth and Jed in the pilot episode)) and two daughters (Jessie and Laura) and make the move out west.

Once out west the family learns from an Army unit heading east that the first battle of the war is likely to occur at Bull Run, right near Zeb and Tim's parents' home. Tim argues that he, not Zeb, should go east to fetch their parents because Zeb knows the west and can care for his family while he is gone. Tim leaves to return to Virginia, while the family winters in the Indian Territories. After that Zeb builds a sod house for the family. Then Zeb is told by a fellow frontiersman that an Army Scout named Billy Joe, who was a close friend of Zeb's has been murdered by a renegade mountainman, named Dutton, who has escaped from an Army Guardhouse that Zeb originally helped put him in for murdering innocent Indians. Zeb knows that Dutton swore vengeance on Zeb. Fearing for the safety of his family Zeb leaves the family in order to intercept Dutton before he can reach the Macahan homestead. He intends to be gone for only a short time. When he and Tim are gone too long, Luke goes back east as well to look for his father and grandparents. Luke returns home to find his grandparents were killed by artillery fire that struck their home during the First Battle of Bull Run. Luke learns from a family friend that his father was involuntarily conscripted into the Union Army. He also learns that the Union Army unit that took his father was headed towards Tennessee. Luke arrives in Tennessee just as the Battle of Shiloh starts. During the battle, Luke is unwillingly conscripted into the Union Army by a desperate officer whose unit has taken heavy losses during the Battle. Luke is wounded during the battle and is taken to a field aid station on the battle field. He finds his father, who has been mortally wounded, at the aid station. After the brutal battle where all of Luke's platoon is killed Luke decides to head west to find his family. While traveling west through Missouri he finds an abandoned horse. He rides the horse until nightfall and then takes shelter in a barn. A local sheriff with two men find Luke sleeping in the barn. They accuse him of being a horse thief. These men are southern sympathizers and because Luke is wearing Union army trousers they decide to try to lynch him. While escaping from the attempted lynching Luke grabs a pistol and he wounds the sheriff in the arm.

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