Fort Apache 

For two years, this reference has been troublesome. Clearly, John Ford wanted to draw a parallel between Col. Thursday and GAC. However, Ford's intent and the extent of the parallel have been distorted in the previous edit. The similarities are vague at best, and film depicts a clear verbal confrontation and  agreement to do battle between the Apaches and the cavalry; Thursday's "last stand" troop consists of about 20 soldiers, not hundreds; the Apaches create a deliberate ambush of the cavalry with no similarity to LBH; the John Wayne character inherits Thursday's mantle (and head gear) and affirms the value and worth of "the regiment." All of this indicates that Ford utilized fragments of the GAC/LBH history to make a very different and pro-military point that the previous edit ignored. Nothing wrong with what Ford was doing in this classic film - but the previous edit stretched itself to great lengths to make parallels to Custer that do not in fact exist. I have reduced the edit to the only clear parallels that actually occur in the film.