Set during the American Civil War, the series focuses on two brothers fighting on opposite sides of the conflict.
Guest stars included Lee Marvin, Jack Elam, Brian Keith, Kathleen Crowley and Robert Redford, among many others.
It aired as a mid-season replacement[2] for the canceled western series, Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin and Noah Beery, Jr., broadcast in the 7:30–8:30 p.m. timeslot on Monday evenings.
Most of the supporting cast appear in only a single episode though several actors played the same role in more than one episode: Among the more well-known actors to appear in this series were the following: Lee Marvin, Robert Redford, Jack Elam, Brian Keith, Robert Culp, Jack Lord, Michael Rennie, Nina Foch, Dan O'Herlihy, James Franciscus, Susan Oliver, Ray Walston, Lloyd Bochner, Dick York, Jackie Coogan, L. Q. Jones, and Carroll O'Connor.
A tie-in novel called The Americans, written by Donald Honig, was released in paperback by Popular Library publishers in 1961.