A Thunder of Drums

In 1870 First lieutenant (United States) Curtis McQuade (Hamilton), a cavalry officer without field experience, arrives from the East at Fort Canby, the remote, understaffed post where he was born as the son of the then-post commander. He attempts to adjust to this new life under the once-disgraced Captain (United States) Maddocks (Boone), a wily but embittered veteran of Indian fighting who served under McQuade's father. They immediately clash when Maddocks demonstrates to the cocksure McQuade that the general knowledge of the West he gained as a child at Canby is not enough to permit him to command men in the field.