- Lieutenant Cox: [Discussing Lt. Moreno] I've even wondered how he became an officer. I mean, his speech, his looks. Well, sir, he seems... foreign.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: Lieutenant, we live in a country made up of many different kinds of people. A man's looks, his speech, make no difference if he does his job well.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: What do you want, Crazy Horse?
- Crazy Horse: You will go no farther, Custer. Turn back now to Fort Hays and I will let you go in peace.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: We're going on to Fort McPherson to meet with the Arapahoe.
- Crazy Horse: Then you and all your men will die.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: I don't see how you can stop us.
- Crazy Horse: I have many warriors, and many more coming. We will soon dance over your scalp, Yellow Hair.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: You'll have to take it first.
- California Joe Milner: I think you're gamblin' an awful lot on a uniform.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: West Point and the old school spirit, huh, California? Well, I'll tell you something. The uniform does mean something to me, and I think to Moreno, too. A man with a record like he has...
- California Joe Milner: A man can change if he's got a reason.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: Have we given him a reason?
- California Joe Milner: Well, I don't think we had to give him a reason. I think he was born with one.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: Then blood is stronger than duty, honor, and friendship?
- California Joe Milner: Well, I've always said that blood's thicker than water, and I reckon it's stronger than a uniform.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: Well, I don't think so, California. Because if that's true, then there won't be an end to this fighting. This war or any other. A man can change, learn, and be something better.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: The uniform you wear means a great deal to me. What it stands for. I presume it does to you, too?
- Lt. Carlos Moreno: Why should it? When I first put it on, I thought it would bring me justice, equality, even honor, all those high sounding words I was told. But it hasn't. It's still the same. I'm still an Indian, a creature not quite human. Well, maybe they're right. Maybe I should go out there and join them. Perhaps theirs is the just cause after all.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: Perhaps it is. That's not for us to judge.
- Lt. Carlos Moreno: You don't trust me either.
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: I don't know you, Moreno. I trust your uniform and the oath you took when you put it on. Remember one thing, Lieutenant: It's men like you who can make the word Indian mean something more than "a creature not quite human."
- Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer: California, do you know the best way to catch a spy? Give him enough rope to hang himself. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
- Sgt. James Bustard: Do you think the Colonel made it?
- California Joe Milner: Sergeant, them newspapermen back east been talkin' about Custer's luck even before the Civil War.
- Sgt. James Bustard: Yeah, but your luck's been known to change, California, and when it does, it's bad luck all the way.
- California Joe Milner: If I was you, I'd say a little prayer that this ain't the time and the place that it changes.