Hard West Ultimate Edition

You'll start the mission by hiring peons and buying food. Peons have a handful of uses throughout the mission, but each time they're used they run the risk of being injured or killed. To stay on the safe side, use them only when it's necessary for the scenario. Your posse can be used for some things instead, though they also run the risk of getting injuries that affect them in combat. If you have injured peons, you can use the food to heal them.

There are some times where using the peons is mandatory like scouting, gathering wood, clearing the barrows and some main story locations. The barrows are probably the trickiest part so make a quicksave beforehand. I'm not sure how it impacts it, but burning down the forest area and hiring extra peons seemed to increase my chance of success in the barrows spots. Play it safe and you should be able to complete the scenario with less than 20 deaths.