F-Troop a comedy Western series set in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War in the mid-to-late 1860s. Wilton Parmenter is the latest member of a long line of distinguished military officers, but he is thoroughly clumsy and inept. He wins medals for distinguished service in the Battle of Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865), but he is also the person who accidentally instigated the battle. His superiors decide to promote him to the rank of captain, but they appoint him as the new commander of the small military outpost of Fort Courage. Located in a sparsely populated area, the Fort is used as a dumping ground for the Union Army’s least competent soldiers and for various misfits. Parmenter serves as a figurehead, while Sergeant Morgan O’Rourke remains the de facto leader in the area. O’Rourke is illegally running the local town saloon and he has an exclusive-rights treaty with the local Indian tribe (the Hekawi) to sell their “authentic” souvenirs to tourists and for the commercial market through the shady company “O’Rourke Enterprises”. The Hekawi tribe are a pacifistic and cowardly tribe, self-described as the “proud descendants of cowards”, but they are extremely obsessed with profit and industry. They have partial ownership over O’Rourke’s company, and they manufacture many of its products. They sometimes stage fake attacks on the Fort in order to justify its continued presence in the area, nearly always negotiating a price for their “performance” with O’Rourke. Their leader is the shrewd businessman Chief Wild Eagle, who often poses as a wise mentor to the younger characters. He frequently quotes “wise old Indian sayings”, even when they are irrelevant to the situation at hand.
