Series Description

The Broken Arrow TV show was a 30 minute western drama series on ABC about a U.S. government Indian Agent and a Apache Indian Chief who worked together in an attempt to make the wild west a place where Indians and the white man could live together as friends!

Broken Arrow Cast

John Lupton .... U.S. Indian Agent Tom Jeffords
Michael Ansara .... Apache Chief Cochise
Tom Fadden .... Duffield
Steven Ritch .... Nukaya

Broken Arrow Trivia:

Before becoming an Indian Agent, Tom Jeffords was an Army Officer who got the U.S. mail moving through the Arizona Territory where the Apache tribe lived. After several other officers failed using military force, Jeffords succeeded by gaining the trust of the Apaches and becoming their friend!

Jeffords and Cochise formalized their friendship in the "traditional" Indian way by exchanging blood and becoming "blood brothers". Indian tradition said that blood brothers could trust each other in all things including trusting each other with their lives!

The Broken Arrow TV show was based on a novel by Elliott Arnold titled, "Blood Brother". The novel was also adapted into a movie in 1950.

Jeffords and Cochise worked together against evil from both of their peoples. They fought side-by-side against renegade Indians who wanted to drive the white man out of their homes and they fought against the white men who stole from the Indians or did even worse!

The Broken Arrow TV show had a pretty fine time slot for its premiere season. It followed two other popular western series, "Cheyenne" and "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp"!