Bugles in the Afternoon

Bugles in the Afternoon is a 1952 Western feature film starring Ray Milland, based on the novel by Ernest Haycox. The story features the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It was filmed in Technicolor and released by Warner Bros..

Kern drifts for a while and is attracted to Josephine Russell, a woman he meets before a stagecoach to Fargo. When they reach Bismarck in the Dakota territory, Kern then heads to Fort Abraham Lincoln and enlists in the 7th Cavalry. He is assigned to a company headed by an old friend and former sergeant major, Capt. Myles Moylan, and assigned the rank of sergeant. He is pleased until he learns that Capt. Garnett is there at Fort Lincoln as well, who is the commander of a different company, but is referred to as top dog by Moylan.Kern makes a friend named Donovan, a private. Donovan was formerly a sergeant until he punched a sergeant major. The two of them are assigned to investigate the murder of local miners by Sioux tribesmen, leading to a dangerous encounter. When these risky missions continue, Capt. Moylan begins to realize that Garnett is deliberately putting Kern at risk. ........

Source: Wikipedia