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Originally networkcast in three installments, the 8-hour Blue and the Gray is a sprawling adaptation of a story concept by Civil War historian Bruce Catton. The drama begins in 1859, with young war correspondent-to-be John Hammond meeting future Union officer Stacy Keach at the trial of abolitionist John Brown (Sterling Hayden). They are reunited two years later during the presidential campaign of Abraham Lincoln (Gregory Peck) and are eyewitnesses at the battle of Bull Run. Keach marries Julia Duffy in 1862, while Virginia-born Hammond writes his dispatches from the Deep South. A subplot concerning a family torn by North/South loyalties is resolved just before Appomattox. The Blue and the Gray was first telecast November 14, 16 and 17, 1982.