"Custer's Next-To-Last Stand" was the fourth episode of Legend, and first aired on May 9th, 1995. It was written by Bill Dial and directed by William Gereghty. You can watch the episode via Amazon Prime Video or DVD.General George Armstrong Custer is coming to Colorado to visit nearby Fort Hanson, and Custer’s wife, Libbie, has invited Ernest Pratt (an old family friend) to meet them while in the area. Meanwhile, a stranger with a golden patch over one eye breaks into Pratt’s hotel room and removes a newspaper clipping from an album. When Pratt arrives a moment later, the stranger assaults Pratt, and we learn that, although neither man has actually met the other, the stranger clearly holds a grudge against the writer. While the stranger declines to kill Pratt immediately, he promises to humiliate him, just as Pratt apparently humiliated the stranger at some point in the past. 
Bartok sees Custer’s visit as an opportunity to demonstrate the potential military applications of some of his inventions, and so he and Ramos join Pratt to meet the Custers en route to Fort Hanson. Practically from the moment our heroes meet Custer, Custer says things to put our heroes on edge. While he is a bit of a boor, he has come on a noble mission. Custer has heard reports that food and supplies intended for the troops are, instead, being sold for profit. This is apparently being done with the full knowledge of corrupt officials from the War Department, and Custer intends to investigate. To this end, he publicly proclaims that Pratt (a former reporter) will be writing on the subject. This catches Pratt by surprise, but this isn’t entirely Custer’s fault. The reason Libbie invited Pratt to meet them was because she knew that Custer would need practical evidence for his investigation to have any effect, and Pratt has the experience necessary to gather such. 
Pratt visits Standing Beaver, an Indian friend, seeking information. Standing Beaver tells Pratt that the attack was unlikely to have been conducted by actual Indians so near Fort Hanson, but that a white man he refers to as “Eagle with Golden Eye” had recently been asking for Arapahoe ponies. This reminds Pratt of an article he’d written about a man who worked with the War Department who lost an eye, and so he goes home to look up the article, only to find it missing. 
Thankfully, Bartok is able to reconstruct the text, and thus Pratt is able to identify his assailant as Flintridge Caine, a former War Department employee who attempted to burgle a senator’s office, but who botched the job. Pratt had written up the account for humor, thus earning Caine’s enmity. Caine has apparently been hired by Whipple to kill Custer before Custer can deliver his report to Washington, and Caine is taking the opportunity to get revenge on Pratt at the same time. The connection now made, Pratt confronts Endicot Whipple, who naturally denies everything. When Pratt leaves, Whipple tells Caine to back off, but Caine responds by killing Whipple. 
George and Libbie Custer leave for Denver, from which they will travel to Washington, DC, and Pratt, Bartok, and Ramos follow in the Legend Balloon. From the air, Legend is able to recognize Caine as one of the drivers of the stagecoach carrying the Custers. As the other enters the stagecoach to train a rifle on the Custers, Pratt takes the Legend Wings to intercept, but misses Caine, instead landing on one of the horses in front of him. Fortunately, Bartok is able to lower a grappling hook from the Balloon, and manages to snag Caine, pulling him into the air before he can shoot Pratt. While Bartok tries to reel Caine in, Caine cuts the rope, and falls a great distance to the ground. Although a group of soldiers from Fort Hanson conduct a search, Caine’s body isn’t found. Custer invites Pratt and the others to join him as he prepares for his next campaign, and leaves awkwardly when they decline, although Bartok tells Custer that “after this battle, I'm sure your name will live throughout history.” While Custer is mollified by the assertion, he might feel differently if he knew how that battle was going to play out....
Some additional notes:
- Flintridge Caine seems like he was being set up to be a recurring villain (the parallels to MacGyver villain Murdoc seem apparent to anyone familiar with both characters). Of course, this never came to pass….
- In an interview with Bill Dial, it was suggested that, had Legend received a second season, an entirely different recurring villain would be set up, who would be implied to be a somehow still-living John Wilkes Booth!*
- The real Custer was killed on June 25, 1876, so we can safely assume that this episode takes place before then. The episode implies (but doesn’t outright state) that the Battle of Little Big Horn will take place in the near future.
- The tune played to welcome Custer to Fort Hanson was a real Irish drinking song called “Garryowen,” which really was associated with Custer and his 7th Cavalry. In the episode, Custer suggests that Legend should get such a song for himself.
- Standing Beaver’s conversation with Pratt suggests that Pratt has been operating in the area for a significant number of months, somewhat longer than might have been assumed by the four episodes seen so far.
Next week: "The Life, Death, and Life of Wild Bill Hickok"
*J. Randolph Cox, “The Legendary Exploits of Ernest Pratt; or, A Dime Novelist as His Own Hero. The Story of the Legend Television Series,” Dime Novel Round-Up 64, No. 5, (Oct. 1995): 124.
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