Under den amerikanske borgerkrig snyder revolvermanden Jonah Hex døden så mange gange, at han opnår evnen til at kigge ind i det hinsides. Til gengæld er hans fjæs grusomt misdannet efter et sammenstød med de konføderates general Turnbull, som efter krigen ønsker hævn over De Forenede Stater. Præsident Grant lover at fjerne dusøren på Hex' hoved, hvis han kan stoppe Turnbull i tide.
I de sidste dage af Borgerkrigen mellem Nord- og Sydstaterne udspilles et mindre drama i en fjern udpost et sted i New Mexico. En bande af plyndrende apache-indianere myrder en familie på en ranch, og den lokale fængselsinspektør må samle en barsk flok bestående af civile, sorte og krigsfanger for at opspore morderne. En af krigsfangerne, som engang var hans bedste ven og nu hans værste fjende.
Filmen handler om en nordstatskavalerienhed, anført af oberst John Marlowe (spillet af John Wayne), som sendes bag sydstaternes linjer for at ødelægge et jernbanedepot i Newton Station i Mississippi. Oberst Marlowe er gammel jernbaneingeniør, så han er oplagt til opgaven. Men han er påvirket af at skulle ødelægge noget, som han var været med til at bygge.
Den amerikanske borgerkrig slutter. Anført af oberst Thomas sætter en gruppe tidligere nordstatssoldater kurs mod den mexikanske grænse med en stor flok vilde heste. Samtidig er også en gruppe sydstatsfamilier anført af oberst Langdon på vej til Mexico, hvor de er blevet lovet nyt land. Undervejs mødes de to grupper, der blot få måneder før udkæmpede en blodig krig mod hinanden.
A Southern belle frees a Rebel officer and his men from a Union captain's Arizona fort.
Alvarez Kelly er en eventyrer, der bliver fanget i den amerikanske borgerkrig.Da han hverken holder med Nord eller Syd, bliver han hyret til at drive en kvæghjord fra Mexico til unionshæren i Virginia. Undervejs bliver han taget til fange af sydstatsobersten, Tom Rossiter, som "overtaler" ham til at levere kvæget hos de sultende i Richmond. Her bliver han involveret i et blodigt slag mellem de to hære, og hans skæbne ender igen i hænderne på Rossiter.
A group of confedarate prisoners is sent to a unionist fort in the west to help the local garrison to fight the indians.
In 1902, 13-year-old Horace toils on a run-down plantation in rural Texas to buy a tombstone for the father he lost a year earlier. Soll, the crusty old Confederate who owns the plantation and depends on convict labor to keep his farm running, takes a liking to Horace. However, Soll is aging and sinking into senility, making the possibility of Horace ever getting his pay increasingly unlikely. On Christmas Eve, as Soll becomes obsessed with his own mortality, he makes a grand promise... forcing Horace to confront his fear of death and the harsh truths of a decadent society.
Through the eyes of a British "documentary", this film takes a satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.
Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap pistol. The Mason clan then flees but Gray Mason, feeling remorse, decides to return to the town. He winds up at the home of John and Nora Willoughby who, unknown to him, are parents of the dead boy. Nora recognizes him as one of the Confederates but keeps quiet, wishing to avoid more violence. However, when John learns of Gray's true identity, he determines to avenge his son's death
A group of confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.
A small Army patrol unit and a couple of former Confederates reluctantly throw in their lot together after being attacked by a band of Native Americans.
The Confederate Army wants to get an important message through to General Lee, but all the carrier pigeons have been shot down. Tweety steps in.
Peter Batty presents a gripping account of the bloodshed and horror of the American Civil War. From the origins of the unrest between North and South, the specific events of the war and the eventual assassination of Abraham Lincoln, this program is a powerful, comprehensive account of the American Civil War with large scale battle re-enactments, superb contemporary photographs and period music.
Filmmaker Dan Murdoch meets America's most infamous supremacist group - the Ku Klux Klan - who say they are in the midst of a revival, with a surge in membership and cross lightings across the Deep South.