ASHTON BLACKMAILS MADELINE -- At the Battle of Antietam, Charles (Lewis Smith) and Billy (Parker Stevenson) nearly kill each other but ultimately let one another escape. During the fighting, Charles’s friend dies after Confederates capture a defective Hazard Iron cannon and unknowingly turn it against Union troops. Following the battle, President Abraham Lincoln (guest star Hal Holbrooke) issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the rebellious Southern states. Many slaves leave the Main plantation in South Carolina, though Ezra (Beau Billingslea) and Semiramis (Erica Gimpel) remain while deciding their future. Ashton (Terri Garber) visits her family’s plantation under the guise of checking on her recovering mother (Jean Simmons) and sister Brett (Genie Francis), but secretly blackmails Madeline (Lesley-Anne Down) with the truth about her mixed-race heritage and her mother’s past. Madeline flees to Charleston, where gambler Rafe Baudeen (Lee Horsely) befriends her as she helps the city’s war-stricken poor. After the Union victory at Gettysburg, Billy briefly reunites with Brett before escaping local authorities thanks to Brett’s protection. Kirstie Alley, Philip Casnoff, Mary Crosby, Jonathan Frakes, Wendy Kilbourne, James Read, and Patrick Swayze also star. TVPG