In the late 1880s, Colonel Carrington and his command are assigned the job of constructing a chain of forts in the Sious Indian territory of Wyoming. Carrington recruits former cavalry scouts Jim Bridger and "Dakota Jack" Gaines to lead the project. Bridger and Gaines are friendly with Sioux chief Red Cloud, and they feel a peace treaty with the Indians can be made. If an Indian-war breaks out, the cavalry is depending on getting a new type of Springfield rifle. Bridger, Gaines and Gaines wife, Maxine, arrive at the fort for the conference. Gaines, in a drunken fit, tries to intimidate the Indians unto signing a treaty. Chied Red Fox threatens war if his territory is invaded by any troops building forts.
Murders, with victims dying from spines broken by brute strength, erupt in the city and the killers, when encountered, walk away unharmed by police bullets which strike them. A police doctor's investigation of the deaths leads to the discovery of an army of dead criminal musclemen restored to life, remotely controlled by a vengeful former crime boss and a former Nazi scientist, from the latter's laboratory hidden in the suburbs.
Filled from front to back with stock footage taken from the Columbia serials "The Phantom-1943" and, primarily, "The Desert Hawk-1944", with John Hart and the always-dull Rick Vallin making less-than-adequate substitutes for Tom Tyler and Gilbert Roland, this Sam Katzman "production" finds the mighty jungle avenger and legendary Captain Africa - A "Phantom" rip-off that side-stepped the need to pay King Features another fee for using the character - pledging to see that the legitimate Arabian caliph, Hamid, is restored to the throne which a tyrannical rival has usurped. He is joined in this enterprise by adventurer Ted Arnold, wild-animal trapper Nat Coleman, and his assistant Omar and, to cover all bases
Down-on-his-luck Mike Cormack is hired to fly to a Caribbean island to retrieve a missing ruby. On the island, possibly involved with the ruby's disappearance, is his ex-girlfriend.
Columbia Pictures elevated a run-of-the-mill B-western supporting player, Marshall Reed, to the title role in this equally run-of-the-mill western serial released in 15 chapters. Like most serials in the '50s, Riding with Buffalo Bill consisted of quite a bit of budget-stretching stock footage telling a highly fictionalized account of Buffalo Bill Cody aiding a group of ranchers in their defeat of a local crime lord. The serial's assistant director, Leonard Katzman, later produced the long-running television series Gunsmoke and Dallas.
Pathfinder, a white man raised by the Mohican Indians, joins forces with the British army to avenge himself on the Mingo warriors and the French, who have brought death and pillage to his people. He takes on a mission to retrieve secret plans from within the French fort at St. Vicente.
Brothers Dan and Neil Hammond return to Texas after the Civil War. Ambitious Dan turns to rustling and then shady land deals to build an empire. Being held for a murder, he is rescued from a lynch mob by Neil, who is now the Marshal, but there is eventually a falling out between the brothers, good triumphing over evil.