Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Flora Cameron
Col. Ben Cameron
Margaret Cameron
Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia
Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman
Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch
Gus
Tod
Jeff, the Blacksmith
Abraham Lincoln
Stoneman's Elder Son Phil
Mrs. Cameron
Dr. Cameron
Wade Cameron
Duke Cameron
Mammy
Gen. U.S. Grant
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Senator Charles Sumner (uncredited)
He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; thebirth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man. - James Agee Griffith demonstrated to every filmmaker and moviegoer who followed him what a movie was, and what a movie could be. - Roger Ebert
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Flora Cameron
Col. Ben Cameron
Margaret Cameron
Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia
Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman
Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch
Gus
Tod
Jeff, the Blacksmith
Abraham Lincoln
Stoneman's Elder Son Phil
Mrs. Cameron
Dr. Cameron
Wade Cameron
Duke Cameron
Mammy
Gen. U.S. Grant
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Senator Charles Sumner (uncredited)
He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; thebirth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man. - James Agee Griffith demonstrated to every filmmaker and moviegoer who followed him what a movie was, and what a movie could be. - Roger Ebert
