Product: Fort Apache (Color Enhanced) [VHS] (1948)
Rating: 3.0
Real story of Fort Apache
My great-great grandfather was John Byrnes, an Irishman working as an indian scout at Ft. Apache in Arizona. What REALLY happened was this... a new officer arrived to take over the fort and wanted to arm the Indian scouts working at the fort. John Byrnes was a white man but was serving as a scout too. He objected and insisted the indians would simply take the guns and run. The officer thought he knew best and went ahead and armed the indian scouts. Before night fell, the indians had scaled the walls with the guns and vanished. John and the troopers went out in search of the (now armed) renegades, but during the outing, John contracted pneumonia and later died. His young bride took their infant daughter (my great grandmother) and left the fort to join her family on the Salt River (Phoenix). It has been 4 generations, but the family still carries some lingering anger over the officer who took command (played in the movie by Henry Fonda). Well, that's the real story of Fort Apache.