 and his attempt to join with Maximilian's Imperial Mexican forces supported by French Imperial regiments sent by Emperor Napoleon III from Europe.In the closing days of the American Civil War, Union Army Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) and company organize one final attack on a small unit of Confederate soldiers, only to be informed after bloodily defeating them that the war had ended three days ago at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.Saddened and weary, Thomas leads his men out west towards home with the intention of rounding up and selling wild horses in the Arizona and New Mexico Territories to compensate them for their loyalty, friendship, and war service.