A Thunder of Drums is notable for the involvement of James Warner Bellah, a controversial author who made a name for himself by writing a series of pulp magazine stories about the U.S. Cavalry. Famed director John Ford took early notice of Bellah, adapting many of his cavalry stories printed in The Saturday Evening Post for his informal "Cavalry Trilogy," Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950) and later Sergeant Rutledge (1960). Bellah, an unrepentant misanthrope once described by his own son as "a fascist, a racist, and a world-class bigot," saw Native Americans as the "red beast in the night." In most of his films adapted from Bellah stories, Ford countered this contemptuous viewpoint by granting Indians a sense of dignity and humanity. In Fort Apache, for example, the Indians are not the villainous, mysterious "Other," but the victims of government-sanctioned scoundrels. Despite their racial disagreements, Ford and Bellah agreed on one thing: the valor and pride of the military. The cavalry was basically honorable and uncomplicated by psychological neuroses or social bugaboos.
Richard Boone was well-known at the time for his successful TV series Have Gun - Will Travel (1957).
The film recorded a loss of $42,000, according to MGM records.
Many in Hollywood found it odd that a film with such a solid cast, an accomplished writer and director, and three young up-and-comers like George Hamilton, Richard Chamberlain and rocker Duane Eddy was such a box-office failure.
There actually was a Fort Canby. First laid out in 1852, actual construction didn't begin until 1863 at Cape Disappointment, WA. It was occupied by Union troops in 1864. It became a combination lighthouse and coastal battery. While it was heavily fortified, it never fired a shot in anger. It was deactivated after World War II in 1947. It was named after Gen. Edward R.S. Canby, whose military career was spent in the west, including Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and California. During the Civil War he won a major battle in New Mexico that led to his promotion from colonel to general. He was murdered along with a minister at peace conference by a Modoc Indian, who attacked him without warning while they talked. The general was shot twice in the head and his throat was cut.