How the West Was Won

The westward expansion led by settlers, the annexation of Texas and the incorporation of Arizona, New Mexico and California after a war won by the United States marked a spectacular advance of the American frontier toward the Pacific. The film consists of four episodes about the colonization of the West, set between 1830 and 1890. The first two and the last were directed by Hathaway, and the third by Marshall, but it also includes an interlude directed by John Ford, set during the Civil War, featuring a dialogue between the Union generals Sherman and Grant.