The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year after Horton had decided to leave the series. The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.
Cast: John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Michael Burns
TV-PGHDCC
39 episodes
1. The Willy Moran StoryWilly Moran, a drunk, is hired by a wagon as a driver. He is an army buddy of the Major, but is used as a fall guy by a member of the train who wants to rob it. When the battle starts, Willy uses his army skills to turn the battle.TV-PGCC51minSep 18, 1957
2. The Jean LeBec StoryThe train cannot get supplies after a member kills the son of the man who owns most of St. Joseph in self-defense. He escapes with the help of Flint but when he learns the train is still being denied supplies he returns to face hanging.TV-PGCC51minSep 25, 1957
3. The John Cameron StoryJohn Cameron, from Philadelphia, heads west with his wife to start a new life. Her flirtatious ways may get the better of her when three trappers come into camp offering fresh buffalo and thinking she might be more available than she is.TV-PGCC51minOct 2, 1957
4. The Ruth Owens StoryRuth Owens remarries and is moving west with her new husband. When her brother comes looking for her, he stirs up trouble for her about her past and himself because he just killed a man.TV-PGCC51minOct 9, 1957
5. The Les Rand StoryLes Rand, just released from prison for murder, goes back home to kill the man he held responsible; his father, the doctor. Meanwhile, Flint is there to fetch the doctor to help someone injured. Les vows that no one will stand in his way.TV-PGCC51minOct 16, 1957
6. The Nels Stack StoryA pacifist since the war, Nels Stack stands up to any man prejudiced against another. When his own beliefs are tested in the face of an impending Indian attack against the wagon train, he has to decide who he is going to defend.TV-PGCC50minOct 23, 1957
7. The Emily Rossiter StoryEmily Rossiter had a young daughter to care for. She met and married someone she felt she could trust. When she found out this was misplaced, getting the daughter away from him and into a better life becomes her main goal.TV-PGCC50minOct 30, 1957
8. The John Darro StoryWhen the train picks up an abandoned drunk on the trail, he exposes John Darro to be the reviled coward John Thurman who abandoned a previous train during a massacre. Darro's young son Tommy is unable to cope with the truth.TV-PGCC50minNov 6, 1957
9. The Charles Avery StoryLieutenant Avery has a mission. Deliver a peace treaty and the chief's daughter. But he has a secret vendetta that may jeopardize everyone's hope for peace.TV-PGCC50minNov 13, 1957
10. The Mary Halstead StoryMary Halstead is in search of a son she gave up a long time ago. With months to live, she comes west on the trail of someone who could be her son, but he may also turn out to be a notorious outlaw.TV-PGCC50minNov 20, 1957
11. The Zeke Thomas StoryThe wagon train stops in a newly built town to get water they had always been able to get before for free. Wanting money now, and at a steep price, has the Major upset. Sending Flint also uncovers a wife of a passenger thought dead.TV-PGCC50minNov 27, 1957
12. The Riley Gratton StoryRiley Gratton has always drifted from here to there, a smooth tongue getting him whatever he needed. When he tries to do the same with some folks on the Major's wagon train, what comes next may be the least of his worries.TV-PGCC51minDec 4, 1957
13. The Clara Beauchamp StoryWhen a new officer and troops kill an Indian brave and the post commander's drunken bored wife insults the Chief, Flint is forced to act as a neutral agent between the Army and Indians and save the wagon train.TV-PGCC50minDec 11, 1957
14. The Julie Gage StoryA head strong Julie Gage is determined to ride her wagon to California. Losing her pa to fever, many suitors step up to help but she'll have none of it until one comes down with fever himself and she's the only one who will tend to him.TV-PGCC50minDec 18, 1957
15. The Cliff Grundy StoryMortally wounded in a buffalo stampede, Cliff Grundy's friend Flint stays when the wagon train leaves. Manson says he will help but his reasons for staying become clear as Cliff keeps saying he has a goldmine somewhere and he's recovering.TV-PGCC50minDec 25, 1957
16. The Luke O'Malley StoryLuke O'Malley is running from an outlaw who said he would kill him for turning him into the law. Since he won't believe he didn't do it, he takes his two kids and joins Adams' wagon train disguised as a parsons, who doesn't act like one.TV-PGCC50minJan 1, 1958
17. The Jesse Cowan StoryThe Cowans and Beals have been feuding a long time. Bob and Jesse return from the war and find their family dead and the Beals have joined a wagon train. Revenging their family is just the start of what Major Adams must now deal with.TV-PGCC50minJan 8, 1958
18. The Gabe Carswell StoryGabe Carswell wants his son to join the whites because of what he sees coming for the Indians. When his son refuses he takes him to the wagon train heading for California but the Arapaho are getting set to attack.TV-PGCC50minJan 15, 1958
19. The Honorable Don Charlie StoryDon Charlie is a gambler and womanizer and makes no excuses for it. When he meets a woman who wants to marry him there may be trouble because the Major promised her uncle that she would make it safely to San Francisco.TV-PGCC50minJan 22, 1958
20. The Dora Gray StoryDora Gray has made some poor choices in her life. Just wanting to get to San Francisco, her latest one involves someone who sells army guns to the Indians and Flint finds himself right in the middle of it.TV-PGCC50minJan 29, 1958
21. The Annie MacGregor StoryThe MacGregor clan decides to come to America and start a new life. The wagon trains going to California have had a hard time dealing with their different customs. Can Major Adams' be any different?TV-PGCC49minFeb 5, 1958
22. The Bill Tawnee StoryBill Tawnee served his country heroically. When Major Adams recognizes him on the trail and sees he is unable to wake, he asks his wife to join his wagon train even though there is plenty of anti-Indian sentiment afloat.TV-PGCC50minFeb 12, 1958
23. The Mark Hanford StoryJack Hanford built his wealth to give his son. He turns it all down to honor his Cheyenne heritage when his mother dies. To make matters worse in his son's eyes, he had sent for a woman he briefly met to replace her even before she died.TV-PGCC50minFeb 26, 1958
24. The Bernal Sierra StoryRevolutionary Bernal Sierra joins the train finding the wife of his dead friend married to Casey Reardon who sold guns to the Mexican revolutionaries. Bernal is suspicious of Casey, his brothers, and Perdita over missing gold.TV-PGCC50minMar 12, 1958
25. The Marie Dupree StoryA beautiful woman riding with the train likes flirting. When she gets mixed up with the wrong man, she strings along a boy on the train in order to make him jealous, playing one man's love against another's.TV-PGCC50minMar 19, 1958
26. A Man Called HorseHorse, a name he comes to be called, is searching for himself. Since he doesn't feel that he found it in Boston, where he grew up, he tries out west, under the watchful eye of a small tribe of Crow.TV-PGCC50minMar 26, 1958
27. The Sarah Drummond StoryDuring a storm, Flint takes shelter at a farmhouse. He soon discovers the husband is refusing his wife the care of a midwife and before it's too late for her he needs to find out why.TV-PGCC50minApr 2, 1958
28. The Sally Potter StorySally Potter hitches a ride on the wagon train but being pretty helps and hurts her. Someone she knew catches up to the train and wants to remind her of who she is and where she came from, possibly ruining what she wants for her future.TV-PGCC50minApr 9, 1958
29. The Daniel Barrister StoryFaith is tested when a man's wife is injured and he refuses medical aid. When Flint rides to the nearest town to get a doctor, he finds they have their own problems: a smallpox epidemic.TV-PGCC50minApr 16, 1958
30. The Major Adams Story (1)During the Civil War Charlie Wooster joins Bill Hawks under the command of Major Seth Adams. When Adams is seriously wounded saving Hawks's life he must struggle to survive, while dreaming of the girl he left behind.TV-PGCC50minApr 23, 1958
31. The Major Adams Story (2)Years after the Civil War, Major Adams gets a second chance with his lost love Ranie, who had married in his absence. But happiness doesn't always come easy, as a sinister rival and a dark secret attest.TV-PGCC49minApr 30, 1958
32. The Charles Maury StoryDisguised as Yank soldiers, a band of confederate marauders blend into the wagon train, planning on robbing everyone. They are at first stopped but a member of the train helps the man in charge when she discovers the truth to his identity.TV-PGCC50minMay 7, 1958
33. The Dan Hogan StoryIn a growing town, Seth meets a friend from his distant past. He remembers how they met and the circumstances bringing them west. When his friend's home is threatened, not ever wearing a gun surprisingly helps him rather than the reverse.TV-PGCC50minMay 14, 1958
34. The Ruttledge Munroe StoryRuttledge Munroe joins the wagon train on the trail. It's noticed right off his odd sense of humor but when he saves the major's life, it is forgotten until he kills someone else and the real reason he joined up is revealed.TV-PGCC50minMay 21, 1958
35. The Rex Montana StoryOn one final push to the west, a wild west showman runs into some old friends. Some that were part of a massacre that almost cost them their lives and one man his sanity.TV-PGCC50minMay 28, 1958
36. The Cassie Tanner StoryTrail hardened Cassie Tanner joins the train, and sets her eye on Major Adams. But the train desperately needs horses, and she may be the only one who can make the dangerous journey to buy them.TV-PGCC50minJun 4, 1958
37. The John Wilbot StoryTensions are running high in the train between northerners and southerners traveling west. As trouble escalates one passenger with a noticeable limp, John Wilbot, is accused of being John Wilkes Booth, who many believe is still alive.TV-PGCC49minJun 11, 1958
38. The Monty Britton StoryLow on water, Flint scouts for more. When three water holes are dry or poisoned, Fort Paiute seems their only hope but he has to make it back to the wagon train on foot and the only other man who knows the way is believed to be a deserter.TV-PGCC50minJun 18, 1958
39. The Sacramento StoryAt the end of a long journey, lives were lost. Some made it with their dreams intact. Flint tries to help two of the passengers with theirs and almost bites off too much. Politics are involved as well as unsolicited trips to the Far East.TV-PGCC49minJun 25, 1958
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Wagon Train
★ 6.6/1019578 seasons284 episodesEnded
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year after Horton had decided to leave the series. The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.
Creators and cast
- Studio
- Universal Television, Revue Studios
Maturity rating
TV-PGCheck the rating before watching with younger viewers.
