Zane Grey Theater Medal for Valor (1956–1961) Online

Here in Buffalo the mayor who became President named Grover Cleveland during the Civil War paid a substitute to serve in the Union Army in his stead. But Grover's substitute did not win a Congressional Medal of Honor while being a substitute.

That's what happened to Richard Basehart who took $500.00 from Paul Fix to serve in the place of Fix's son Richard Anderson. The war is over and Basehart now wants his 40 acres for a farm promised to Civil War veterans, but he needs Fix to sign an affidavit swearing to the substitution.

Anderson is now running for Congress and Fix has big plans for him and that affidavit isn't about to happen. But Basehart isn't going away.

This was an interesting story about a man just looking to collect his due. Basehart plays a most determined man who does pretty well considering he only has one good arm, courtesy of the war.

The premise of this episode is that a man (Richard Basehart) is hired to take the place of another man (Richard Anderson) who has been drafted into the Civil War. In reality, that was not unusual at all. In fact, wealthier men, who could afford to pay a $300 (equivalent to $5,746 in 2014) commutation fee to hire a substitute to go to war in their place, were spared from the draft...This is what led to the Draft Riots (July 13–16, 1863) in New York. At least 120 civilians were killed, and at least 2,000 people were injured...The Draft Riots were a major part of Martin Scorsese's film "Gangs of New York." So, the entire premise of this episode is phony. There would have been no reason for Basehart to use Anderson's name when taking his place in the military. It was perfectly legal (and even expected among the wealthy) for this to occur.

As usual for this series, the episode is entertaining, but its lack of historical accuracy is more than a bit annoying.