Plot
Captain Tom Benson has been granted a furlough to bring his bride-to-be Martha back to Fort Abraham Lincoln and his Regiment, the 7th Cavalry. Benson is mystified when he sees the fort apparently deserted with the colours not flying. Exploring the vacant post he is met by the hysterical Charlotte Reynolds whose husband replaced Benson as commander of his "C" Company and was killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Only a small group of misfits and guardhouse prisoners led by an old sergeant remain who have held a wake by drinking themselves into oblivion.
Once the commands of Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen have returned, they and the widows hold Benson in contempt, not only for not being at the battle in command of his men, but what they perceived as George Custer's liking for him, Benson's non-West Point background, and his career as a gambler until commissioned into the Regiment.
Martha's father Colonel Kellogg comes to the post to conduct a Board of Inquiry into Custer's actions that Benson sees as a smear against a man he admires who can not defend himself.
Held in contempt by his Regiment, when the President of the United States orders the recovery of the slain officers and the burial of the cavalrymen who fell in the battle, Benson takes his misfits and military prisoners into Indian Territory to perform the task.
The Indians have made the land sacred ground and do not want to see the enemies they respected taken away from their burial site. A standoff develops as the cavalry insist on leaving the battleground with the dead officers' bodies. As the situation becomes tense a cavalryman is shot dead with an arrow whilst trying to escape. Then Custer's horse appears, surprising everyone with the fact that it has survived the battle that killed its master. The bugler blows the call to charge and the horse gallops towards the cavalry's position. The Indians are said to believe that Custer's spirit has returned and allow the cavalry to leave the field.
Back at the camp Captain Benson is reconciled with his father-in-law.
Read more about this topic: 7th Cavalry (film)
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