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The Best Episodes of The Great Adventure

Every episode of The Great Adventure ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Great Adventure!

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,...
Genre:Drama
Network:CBS

Best Episodes Summary

"The Hunley" is the best rated episode of "The Great Adventure". It scored 9.5/10 based on 15 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 9/27/1963. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Story of Nathan Hale".

  • The Hunley
    9.5/1015 votes
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    #1 - The Hunley

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/1963

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Story of Nathan Hale
    9.5/108 votes
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    #2 - The Story of Nathan Hale

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/1963

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Go Down, Moses
    9.5/1013 votes
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    #3 - Go Down, Moses

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1963

    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.

    Director: Paul Stanley

    Writer: N/A

  • The Massacre at Wounded Knee
    9.4/106 votes
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    #4 - The Massacre at Wounded Knee

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/1963

    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.

    Director: Joseph M. Newman

    Writer: N/A

  • Kentucky's Bloody Ground
    9.4/108 votes
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    #5 - Kentucky's Bloody Ground

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 4/3/1964

    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.

    Director: Philip Leacock

    Writer: N/A

  • A Boy at War
    9.3/107 votes
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    #6 - A Boy at War

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/20/1963

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Wild Bill Hickok - the Legend and the Man
    9.2/1010 votes
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    #7 - Wild Bill Hickok - the Legend and the Man

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/3/1964

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

    Director: Buzz Kulik

    Writer: N/A

  • Six Wagons to the Sea
    9.0/107 votes
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    #8 - Six Wagons to the Sea

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/1963

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Rodger Young
    9.0/1011 votes
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    #9 - Rodger Young

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/24/1964

    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.

    Director: Philip Leacock

    Writer: N/A

  • The Testing of Sam Houston
    8.9/109 votes
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    #10 - The Testing of Sam Houston

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/31/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Pathfinder
    8.6/106 votes
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    #11 - The Pathfinder

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/6/1964

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Siege of Boonesborough
    8.1/1011 votes
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    #12 - The Siege of Boonesborough

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 4/10/1964

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

    Director: Philip Leacock

    Writer: N/A

  • The Death of Sitting Bull
    NaN/100 votes
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    #13 - The Death of Sitting Bull

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/1963

    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.

    Director: Joseph M. Newman

    Writer: N/A

  • The Great Diamond Mountain
    NaN/100 votes
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    #14 - The Great Diamond Mountain

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/1963

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis
    NaN/100 votes
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    #15 - The Treasure Train of Jefferson Davis

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/1963

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Outlaw and the Nun
    NaN/100 votes
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    #16 - The Outlaw and the Nun

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/6/1963

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Man Who Stole New York City
    NaN/100 votes
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    #17 - The Man Who Stole New York City

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/13/1963

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Colonel from Connecticut
    NaN/100 votes
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    #18 - The Colonel from Connecticut

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/10/1964

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Teeth of the Lion
    NaN/100 votes
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    #19 - Teeth of the Lion

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/17/1964

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Special Courage of Captain Pratt
    NaN/100 votes
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    #20 - The Special Courage of Captain Pratt

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/14/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Night Raiders
    NaN/100 votes
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    #21 - The Night Raiders

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/21/1964

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

    Director: Philip Leacock

    Writer: N/A

  • Plague
    NaN/100 votes
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    #22 - Plague

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/28/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The President Vanishes
    NaN/100 votes
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    #23 - The President Vanishes

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/13/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Henry Bergh Story
    NaN/100 votes
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    #24 - The Henry Bergh Story

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/20/1964

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Escape
    NaN/100 votes
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    #25 - Escape

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 4/17/1964

    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.

    Director: Robert Gist

    Writer: N/A