"O Lord, without consulting with Thee, we have sent thy way some souls whose evil ways passeth all understanding. We ask Thee humbly to receive them... whether you want them or not! Amen."

"Cpl. Peterson: Mrs. Rawlings, there ain't much glory in trompin' behind a plow."

"Agatha Clegg: [Lily has asked to partner-up with Agatha in a wagon train] You know something ? I got a hunch you're gonna draw men like fish to bait. Maybe I can catch one of them while they swim by. You got yourself a partner."

"It's here! The mightiest adventure ever filmed!"

"James Stewart - Linus Rawlings"

"Brigid Bazlen - Dora Hawkins"

"Robert Preston - Roger Morgan"

"George Peppard - Zeb Rawlings"

"John Wayne - Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman"

"Eli Wallach - Charlie Gant"

"Carolyn Jones - Julie Rawlings"

"Mickey Shaughnessy - Deputy Stover"

"Richard Widmark - Mike King"

"[about the Erie Canal ] About 150 years ago, an idea took shape in the mind of a man named DeWitt Clinton. And in the way Americans have of acting out their dreams, it came to be."

"[as the camera pans over the Rocky Mountains] This land has a name today, and is marked on maps. But the names and the marks and the maps all had to be won, won from nature and from primitive man."

"[about the Civil War] Evening of April 6, 1862. The guns that roared all day fell silent, around a little church called the Shiloh Meeting House. Many a man had met his God that Sunday... but not in church... It had been the bloodiest day of the war on the Western Front. In the morning it had looked like a Confederate victory, but by nightfall, no man dared use the words "win" or "lose." After Shiloh, the South never smiled."

"The west was won by its pioneers, settlers, adventurers is long gone now. Yet it is theirs forever, for they left tracks in history that will never be eroded by wind or rain - never plowed under by tractors, never buried in the compost of events. Out of the hard simplicity of their lives, out of their vitality, of their hopes and sorrows grew legends of courage and pride to inspire their children and their children's children. From soil enriched by their blood, out of their fever to explore and be, came lakes where once were burning deserts - came the goods of the earth; mines and wheat fields, orchards and great lumber mills. All the sinews of a growing country. Out of their rude settlements, their trading posts came cities to rank among the great ones of the world. All the heritage of a people free to dream, free to act, free to mold their own destiny."

"[to Zeb Rawlings] Settled down for a year, once. Took ten years off my life!"

"It ain't quite what I expected. There ain't much glory in lookin' at a man with his guts hanging out."

"One of these days I'm likely to pay you Rawlingses a little visit."

"There's only one kind of peace I know of, Marshal. That's the kind my brother's got."

"The epic journey of four generations of Americans who carved a country with their bare hands."

"A FABULOUS ROMANTIC ADVENTURE"

"24 Great Stars In The Mightiest Adventure Ever Filmed!"

"Spencer Tracy - Narrator"

"Agnes Moorehead - Rebecca Prescott"

"Walter Brennan - Col. Jeb Hawkins"

"Lee Van Cleef - river pirate"

"Gregory Peck - Cleve Van Valen"

"John Larch - a gambler"

"David Brian - Lilith's attorney"

"E. Alyn Warren as Stephen A. Douglas/General Ulysses S. Grant"

"Lucille La Verne — Mid-Wife"

"William L. Thorne — Tom Lincoln"

"Helen Freeman Corle — Nancy Hanks Lincoln"

"Ian Keith — John Wilkes Booth"

"Walter Huston — Abraham Lincoln"