Academy Award winners Henry Fonda and John Wayne star in an epic of clashing wills, pointless heroism and deadly arrogance as a band of American cavalrymen fight to hold the Western outpost Fort Apache. Arizona Territory. Following the United States' Civil War, decorated Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Fonda) resents his transfer to the desolate frontier. He strives to impose strict military discipline on the ragged troops stationed under his command and plans to violently subdue the Native Americans he views as savage and unruly. Thursday is opposed by seasoned Western fighter Captain Kirby York (Wayne), who believes the army should be making peace with the local tribes. York is proven correct when Thursday leads his troops into a slaughter at the hands of the legendary Apache leader Cochise. But, perhaps, the biggest victim is truth, as the story of the pointless massacre quickly becomes a legend of heroic American soldiers battling evil savages in a defense of Fort Apache.