The Gray Ghost

I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where Mosby made a name for himself. In all the political correctness of recent times history is forgetting that the South, and this area of Virginia in particular, was invaded and systematically damaged by a marauding foreign army and many people fought against this invasion not necessarily defending the institution of slavery but defending their homes and friends. The Gray Ghost series certainly portrays this part of history with a dashing hero and gallant soldiers. It made an impression on a young Virginian and has stuck with me for all these years. I still think of Mosby and his men as heroes (as well as many other Confederate soldiers/sympathizers, including my g-g-grandfather). Enjoyed the series immensely !

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.

As an 11 year old, I'd always schedule my time to see this show. The theme song was the tune to 'Yellow Rose of Texas' which played during the opening lines. While saddened by it's end, I was not aware, until now that it (not surprisingly)had been a victim of early 'political correctness'.

To read that it attempted historical accuracy was a pleasant surprise, considering many westerns of that era. There were other shows and movies of that time which also were kinder to the Confederacy. One was 'Drums in the Deep South' with Guy Madison.

I'm now pretty fuzzy on most of the episodes. Having more recently read about the main character, I learned a couple more facts:

(1) Yes, Grant wanted him dead, and the main person Mosby often outfoxed was a young officer named Custer. (2) After the war, Mosby joined the Republican Party, which ironically had played a part in pushing the South into the war to begin with. Coincidentally, another general (Longstreet) earned more ire from many of his former compatriots for doing the same thing.

Maybe some day, I'll get to see the series again through more mature eyes.

The series tried to do justice to a man who would require a full length movie for that purpose with a great deal more violence then television in the 1950s was able to display.

However, the overall thrust of the show was excellent in that it showed the humanity and valor of BOTH sides of the war, Confederate and Union. There are villains, but often they are people trying to take advantage of a tragic situation rather than being members of the opposing armed forces. Naturally, as it was only a half hour long and aimed at a younger audience, every effort was made to keep the violence and bloodshed to a minimum - but that didn't preclude a lot of great adventure and more than enough 'fightin'.

No effort was made to present Mosby realistically PHYSICALLY on the show. Tod Andrews was a fairly good sized fellow while Mosby was quite small (delicate actually) who wasn't more than about 5 foot 3 inches or so and never weighed more than about 128 pounds. As well, the producers of the series avoided the reality that had Mosby been captured by the Yankees he would have been hanged without trial by order of Ulysses S. Grant! Even at war's end, it took John Singleton Mosby over six months longer than just about every other Confederate officer to be paroled and return to civilian life! Up until Grant finally allowed him to be paroled, he existed as an outlaw with a price on his head hiding out in Northern Virginia where he had fought as a partisan.

I was reading the letters in the local fish-wrap's TV page yesterday, & somebody asked about The Gray Ghost, saying his friends thought he was crazy. I used to love that show....I couldn't think of any theme music for it, so had to content myself with the theme from "Swamp Fox"(of course, starring Lt Frank Drebbin, aka Leslie Nielsen as Francis Marion), but when I got to the part "...got no shelter when it rains, all we've got are Yankee brains.." I went, "Hey, that ain't right." Tried to find something on YouTube, but no luck, but actually, I think maybe I'd rather just remember it as really good. I've only run across a few shows that really have stood the test of time besides the mega-classics: I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, Real McCoys, Dobie, and The Bob Cummings Show/Love That Bob.