The Fence

Ben and Hoss are visiting Sam Masters (John Anderson) and his daughter Ellen (Verna Bloom) at a mining cabin in the snowy mountains.

They come under siege because Colonel Jim Hudson (J.D. Cannon) thinks Sam Masters is really Thomas Andrews who commanded a Confederate prisoner war camp. Colonel Hudson was in that camp and watched many of his men die due to lack of food and dirty water. He wants to bring Thomas Andrews to a war crimes trial. Stop reading now if you don't want to read any spoilers.

SPOILERS: Hoss tries to escape to get help and gets shot at. This, surprisingly, causes him to fall off his horse, so he is captured. I was also surprised that Ben, in the cabin, heard the rifle shot and didn't try to go see what happened to Hoss.

Colonel Hudson's young nephew Teddy (Frank Webb) sneaks in to spy on the cabin and gets shot in the derriere and captured.

Conclusion: Ben brokers a discussion between Hudson and Masters. Masters' wife died at the end of the war because she was subject to the same conditions Masters thought the prisoners were experiencing. During the discussion it becomes clear that the cause of not being fed every day resides with Master's (Thomas Andrew's) quartermaster who is Lieutenant Will Tyler (Larry Linville). Tyler sold much of the food he was supposed to distribute.