The Gray Ghost

This show was the best show on TV when I was a small child. I have had a lifetime obsession with the "Confederacy" and the Civil War, and the man I most admire in history is Colonel John Singleton Mosby.

He started out as a private in JEB Stuart's cavalry and one winter convinced Stuart to let him take 10 or 12 men to harass the enemy out of boredom and the legend was born. He was the only partisan ranger group that Robert E Lee approved of and unfortunately was instrumental in lengthening the war by keeping tens of thousands of Union soldiers out of the main thrust against Lee for fear that Mosby would sneak into Washington city and kidnap Abraham Lincoln. And because of his slight build was once captured and exchanged because the Yankees thought he was just a private. Someone MUST find this and let us die-hard fans see it just one more time.

Or better yet have HBO develop a new series. Two seasons would be great.

I have fond memories of this particular TV show from my youth. I think there may have been repeats in the next few years after wards but I have not seen any of the episodes since the early 60s. Is there any repository that might market this show? One commenter stated that he was looking to get all of the episodes. As another commenter noted, there was a lot of historical correctness in this show but the western scenes did leave a sore spot but 50 years ago, TV did not stray far from the coast. Tod Andrews, who portrayed Mosby, died quite young and I only remember seeing him in one other venue, a navy officer in one of those WWII wide screen battles. I don't remember which one, but IMDb has it in his biography. As another commenter made a statement, Mosby definitely was on Grant's "kill on sight" list. He eventually resettled into Washington, DC after the war and resumed his law practice there.

This series first aired when I was 12; at that time, and I had just begin to develop an interest in the War between the States. Although it was hard to find at times due to the limitation on available channels, I did manage to watch even syndicated showings over the two or three years following its initial telecast season (1957-58). I would love to get this 39-episode series on DVD, but I have been able to find only one set, which has 27 episodes, with the note that the remaining ones apparently have been lost forever :-(

I have the two books by Virgil Carrington Jones upon which this series was based, and they are great reads. Maybe I will go with the "short" set since no complete set seems to be available, but I do recommend it as great adventure without the graphic violence seen in so much television nowadays.

I think this was one of the better shows on TV. It was fairly accurate to history which was unusual for Hollywood. Tod Andrews was great as Mosby. This show showed a side of the Confederacy that some people didn't like. It actually showed a confederate as a hero. I believe that this was the reason the show did not last more than one season. All in all this was a very good show and one I would recommend especially to civil war buffs. The shows were based on events that happened as Major Mosby and his troops fought for what they believed. It is a shame that we do not have more episodes of this show to be able to view now. I plan on getting all of the episodes on DVD so that I can enjoy them again. I watched this show when I was a kid and I like it as much now as I did then.

The Gray Ghost aired in Australia in about 1959, when I was 9 or 10. I can remember the theme song, and little bits from various episodes. The show was my introduction to the American Civil War, including some basic US geography. To my young mind the northern capital, Washington, was farther north. The show taught me that Washington was a southern city, and that there was military activity around it.

I remember allusions to the Mason-Dixon line, and West Virgina--where one of the main characters (Sgt Miles?) came from. I remember an exchange between Mosby and a young lady driving a buck-board outside Washington. She had a picnic basket--perhaps delivering it to her Union boyfriend, which was confiscated by Mosby, and after indicating that she had prepared one of the items herself, Mosby called back with "Miles, save the (whatever) for me". And then he gave a salute and a half- wave." It was romantic and gallant.

Through the mists of my memories, it was a good show that taught me that there are two sides to every war.