 The screenplay by John Twist, Albert Beich and Richard Fielder is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Paul Horgan.In 1883, U.S. Army Cavalry lieutenant Matthew Hazard, newly graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (on the Hudson River), is assigned to isolated Fort Delivery on the Mexican border of the Arizona Territory in the early 1880s, where he meets commanding officer Teddy Mainwarring's wife Kitty, whom he later rescues from an Indian attack.Soon after a new commander, Major General Alexander Quaint, (James Gregory), arriving at the fort with a large regiment of "spit and polished" cavalry / "horse soldiers" takes charge.