The Private History of a Campaign that Failed is one of Mark Twain's sketches (1885), a short, highly fictionalized memoir of his two-week stint in the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard. It takes place in Marion County, Missouri, and is about a group of inexperienced militiamen, the Marion Rangers, who end up killing a stranger in panic. (In 1887, he claimed before Union veterans that he had been in one battle in which a stranger had been killed in the summer of 1861. In fact, Twain saw no action; he quipped that during his service he spent more time retreating while being hunted than fighting.) Television film In 1981, a made-for-television film adaptation of The Private History of a Campaign that Failed was broadcast on PBS starring Edward Herrmann, Pat Hingle, Joseph Adams, Harry Crosby and Kelly Pease. The film also adapts Twain's short story "The War Prayer". Cast Edward Herrmann as The Stranger Pat Hingle as Col. Ralls Joseph Adams as Capt. Tom Lyman Harry Crosby as Cpl. Ed Stevens Kelly Pease as Cab Gary McCleery as Second Lieutenant Roy Cockrum as Sgt. Bowers References External links Full text mp3 audiobook 43:37 EPUB Short stories by Mark Twain American Civil War memoirs 1885 short stories Short stories adapted into films Marion County, Missouri Missouri State Guard 1981 television films 1981 films 1981 comedy-drama films American television films American comedy-drama films Films directed by Peter H. Hunt Works about Missouri 1980s American films