The Great Adventure

Episode 1

The Hunley

Fri, Sep 27, 1963 60 mins

During the Civil War, an engineer working for the Confederacy develops a primitive submarine that can evade the Union ships blockading Southern ports.

Episode 2

The Death of Sitting Bull

Fri, Oct 4, 1963 60 mins

The first of a two part episode, the US Government believes that Sitting Bull has joined the Ghost Dancers, a Sioux religious movement the government believes will lead to another Indian War, and take action that ends in a double tragedy.

Episode 3

The Massacre at Wounded Knee

Fri, Oct 11, 1963 60 mins

The second of a two part episode. Days after Sitting Bull's death, the US Army's bungled attempt to disarm a party of Sioux results in the unnecessary deaths of over 300 men, women and children.

Episode 4

Six Wagons to the Sea

Fri, Oct 18, 1963 60 mins

The attempt in 1894 by farmers from California's Central Valley to get their produce to market by wagon despite attempts by the Southern Pacific Railroad to foil their efforts and preserve their monopoly of transporting produce.

Episode 5

The Story of Nathan Hale

Fri, Oct 25, 1963 60 mins

American Continental soldier turns spy against the British and gives all for a concept called Democracy.

Episode 6

Go Down, Moses

Fri, Nov 1, 1963 60 mins

The excellent Ruby Dee plays the escaped slave Harriet Tubman and her attempts to rescue enslaved family members and friends through the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad.

Episode 7

The Great Diamond Mountain

Fri, Nov 8, 1963 60 mins

In this humorous episode, two con men perpetrate the Diamond Hoax of 1872 in an attempt to swindle San Francisco banker William Ralston, played by Barry Sullivan.

Episode 8

The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis

Fri, Nov 15, 1963 60 mins

The Confederate Government of Jefferson Davis makes a futile attempt to escape Richmond and capture by the Union Army.

Episode 9

The Outlaw and the Nun

Fri, Dec 6, 1963 60 mins

A nun comes to a town to teach school and finds that education is so undervalued by the community that she has only two pupils. She sets out to change that.

Episode 10

The Man Who Stole New York City

Fri, Dec 13, 1963 60 mins

The rise and fall of Boss Tweed and his Tammany Hall political machine in 1860s New York City.

Episode 11

A Boy at War

Fri, Dec 20, 1963 60 mins

The future seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, is a 13 year old boy soldier struggling to survive the American Revolution.

Episode 12

Wild Bill Hickok - the Legend and the Man

Fri, Jan 3, 1964 60 mins

Down on his luck and in decline, Wild Bill Hickok arrives at the end of his trail in Deadwood in 1876.

Episode 13

The Colonel from Connecticut

Fri, Jan 10, 1964 60 mins

The story of Col. Edwin Drake, the first man to drill for oil in the U.S.

Episode 14

Teeth of the Lion

Fri, Jan 17, 1964 60 mins

Episode 15

Rodger Young

Fri, Jan 24, 1964 60 mins

James MacArthur plays Rodger Young. The story of a young man that enlists in the Army despite having poor eyesight and hearing and ends up earning the Medal of Honor for his deeds fighting the Japanese during WWII.

Episode 16

The Testing of Sam Houston

Fri, Jan 31, 1964 60 mins

Appointed in 1817 to manage the forced relocation of the Cherokee from Tennessee, a young Sam Houston clashes with his mentor, General Andrew Jackson and the US Government over his attempts to treat the Cherokee in a fair and humane manner.

Episode 17

The Special Courage of Captain Pratt

Fri, Feb 14, 1964 60 mins

Richard Pratt's now controversial efforts to assimilate Native Americans into "white" society by education and rejection of tribal traditions. He advocated for Native Americans and founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

Episode 18

The Night Raiders

Fri, Feb 21, 1964 60 mins

A recounting of the events leading to John Brown's disastrous raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859.

Episode 19

Plague

Fri, Feb 28, 1964 60 mins

Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse attempts to convince the US Government and the public of the value of vaccinations against small pox. One of his first patients - the President of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Episode 20

The Pathfinder

Fri, Mar 6, 1964 60 mins

The meeting of two great American Legends in 1846 California - Colonel John C. Fremont and John Sutter - on the eve of war with Mexico.

Episode 21

The President Vanishes

Fri, Mar 13, 1964 60 mins

In 1893 President Grover Cleveland embarks on a mysterious voyage into Long Island Sound aboard a friend's yacht pursued by a suspicious reporter. It was twenty four years later that it was revealed that he had surgery to remove a tumor.

Episode 22

The Henry Bergh Story

Fri, Mar 20, 1964 60 mins

A man crusades for better treatment of animals and forms the ASPCA in 1866. He later crusades for better treatment of children.

Episode 23

Kentucky's Bloody Ground

Fri, Apr 3, 1964 60 mins

The first of a two part episode recalling Daniel Boone's attempt to settle Kentucky and the events leading to the siege of Boonesborough by the Shawnee in 1778.

Episode 24

The Siege of Boonesborough

Fri, Apr 10, 1964 60 mins

This two part episode recounts the story of Daniel Boone and the 1778 Siege of Boonesborough by the Shawnee.

Episode 25

Escape

Fri, Apr 17, 1964 60 mins

The true Civil War story of an escape by Union POWs from the Confederate Libby Prison in 1864. The POWs tunneled under the walls and into an adjoining building which gave them access to the street. While some were recaptured, a few got away, including Colonel Streight [Michael Constantine] who had organized the escape.

Episode 26

The Pirate and the Patriot

Fri, May 1, 1964 60 mins

Thirty four years later, General Andrew Jackson, commanding the US Army defending New Orleans, is about to get revenge for his treatment by the British during the American Revolution with a little help from a local buccaneer.