At the West Point Military Academy in 1854, the villain Cadet Carl Rader (Van Heflin), a disciple of the fanatic abolitionist John Brown, is dishonorably discharged for spreading anti-slavery pamphlets. His classmates Jeb Stuart (Flynn) and George Custer (Ronald Reagan) become second lieutenants and are posted to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, the most dangerous duty in th…