The Great Adventure

1h

Drama

The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, narrated each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented a weekly one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important historical events in American History.

Episodes

Cast

The Hunley

1. The Hunley

27th Sep 1963

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

The Death of Sitting Bull

2. The Death of Sitting Bull

4th Oct 1963

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.

The Massacre at Wounded Knee

3. The Massacre at Wounded Knee

11th Oct 1963

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.

Six Wagons to the Sea

4. Six Wagons to the Sea

18th Oct 1963

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.

The Story of Nathan Hale

5. The Story of Nathan Hale

25th Oct 1963

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

Go Down, Moses

6. Go Down, Moses

1st Nov 1963

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.

The Great Diamond Mountain

7. The Great Diamond Mountain

8th Nov 1963

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.

The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis

8. The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis

15th Nov 1963

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

The Outlaw and the Nun

9. The Outlaw and the Nun

6th Dec 1963

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.

The Man Who Stole New York City

10. The Man Who Stole New York City

13th Dec 1963

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

A Boy at War

11. A Boy at War

20th Dec 1963

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

Wild Bill Hickok - the Legend and the Man

12. Wild Bill Hickok - the Legend and the Man

3rd Jan 1964

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

The Colonel from Connecticut

13. The Colonel from Connecticut

10th Jan 1964

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

Teeth of the Lion

14. Teeth of the Lion

17th Jan 1964

Rodger Young

15. Rodger Young

24th Jan 1964

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.

The Testing of Sam Houston

16. The Testing of Sam Houston

31st Jan 1964

In 1817, Andrew Jackson appoints a young Sam Houston to oversee the forced relocation of the Cherokee from Tennessee. He soon clashes with both Jackson and the US Government over his fair and humane treatment of the Cherokee.

The Special Courage of Captain Pratt

17. The Special Courage of Captain Pratt

14th Feb 1964

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.

The Night Raiders

18. The Night Raiders

21st Feb 1964

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

Plague

19. Plague

28th Feb 1964

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.

The Pathfinder

20. The Pathfinder

6th Mar 1964

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

The President Vanishes

21. The President Vanishes

13th Mar 1964

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.

The Henry Bergh Story

22. The Henry Bergh Story

20th Mar 1964

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

Kentucky's Bloody Ground

23. Kentucky's Bloody Ground

3rd Apr 1964

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.

The Siege of Boonesborough

24. The Siege of Boonesborough

10th Apr 1964

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

Escape

25. Escape

17th Apr 1964

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.

The Pirate and the Patriot

26. The Pirate and the Patriot

1st May 1964

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.

First air date

27th Sep 1963

Last air date

1st May 1964

Status

Ended

Type

Scripted

Original language

en

Networks