Two friends, Andy Larouche and Vince Chance, take part in an American Civil War re-enactment at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A time traveler disguised as a photographer takes their picture and transports them back to the eve of the real battle.

Opening narration

"It is said that great conflicts are not settled by words but by iron and blood. But what if we could revisit those decisions? Would we still surrender to violence?"

Plot

Andy Larouche and Vince Chance are friends who participate in re-enactments of the American Civil War, with Vince as a Union soldier and Andy as a Confederate. Andy proudly waves the Confederate flag, which some passersby are offended to see due to the flag's symbol of hatred from the period in history when African-Americans were enslaved in the American South. Andy and Vince discuss Andy's issues with his lot in life when a man appears to take their picture with an old-fashioned camera, which is actually a device that transports them back in time to the middle of the Civil War.

The two are confused about why they were sent back there and demand to be sent home. Prentice tells them that he cannot return them until he has completed his mission, which he keeps a secret from them.

Prentice's camera/time machine is confiscated by the Confederates. Their commander, Colonel Angus Devine (played by Meat Loaf) is transported through time after Vince turns on the time travelling device while the colonel is in front of it.

Vince drops his book, a textbook about historic battles of the Civil War; it is found by one of the civilians, but it has little impact on the episode. The woman returns the book towards the end of the episode.

Andy tries to stop Pickett's Charge and alter history, even after Prentice explains why he has been sent back there. Andy is deemed a coward and shot by a Confederate major.

The time traveler, Nicholas Prentice, has done this because Andy will one day assassinate the President of the United States. In 2013, at a ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Andy will shoot the president to honor the flag of the Confederate States of America. Prentice wants to show him that "there is no glory in this or any other war."

Meanwhile, Colonel Devine finds himself on November 19, 2013, at a Gettysburg monument, during an official government ceremony to finally and symbolically bury the Confederate flag – and all the hatred that it represents. Devine shoots a man symbolically dressed as Abraham Lincoln, thinking he really is Lincoln. As he is being taken down by the Secret Service, Devine fires two more shots from his revolver, hitting the real president in the chest, seemingly killing him.

The episode ends with Prentice shaking his head in despair, as he witnesses the scene.

Closing narration

"Despite everything we do, we may never free ourselves from the bonds of fate."

Notes

• The episode correctly predicted that an African-American President of the United States would be in office in 2013.
• Perhaps as importantly it also correctly predicted the controversy, handled better in this fictional world than in real life, over the symbolic and literal rewriting of America's history.
• After "Tribunal", this is the second episode in the Nicholas Prentice story arc. It would later be followed by "Time to Time".
• Footage of the Confederate Army camp was later shown on the Chronautics viewing portal in "Time to Time".
• This episode is included on The Outer Limits: Time Travel & Infinity Collection DVD set.

Cast

• Joshua Leonard as Andy Larouche
• Jonathan Scarfe as Vince Chance
• Alex Diakun as Nicholas Prentice
• Aaron Pearl as Lt. Winters
• Ocean Hellman as Pregnant Woman
• Scott Bellis as Major Drummond
• Robert Moloney as Corporal Beauregard Larouche
• Blu Mankuma as 2013 U.S. President
• Meat Loaf as Colonel Angus Devine (as Meatloaf)
• Todd Talbot as Reed Hollingsworth
• David Storch as Major Hinton
• Jason Gaffney as Joe Benton
• Adrian Holmes as James
• Haig Sutherland as Will Monroe
• James Lauder as General Robert E. Lee
• Graeme Roberts as General Lee Re-Enactor
• Lloyd Berry as Abraham Lincoln Re-Enactor
• Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)

The Outer Limits (1995)
Season 1	"Sandkings" • "Valerie 23" • "Blood Brothers" • "The Second Soul" • "White Light Fever" • "The Choice" • "Virtual Future" • "Living Hell" • "Corner of the Eye" • "Under the Bed" • "Dark Matters" • "The Conversion" • "Quality of Mercy" • "The New Breed" • "The Voyage Home" • "Caught in the Act" • "The Message" • "I, Robot" • "If These Walls Could Talk" • "Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason"
Season 2	"A Stitch in Time" • "Resurrection" • "Unnatural Selection" • "I Hear You Calling" • "Mind Over Matter" • "Beyond the Veil" • "First Anniversary" • "Straight and Narrow" • "Trial by Fire" • "Worlds Apart" • "The Refuge" • "Inconstant Moon" • "From Within" • "The Heist" • "Afterlife" • "The Deprogrammers" • "Paradise" • "The Light Brigade" • "Falling Star" • "Out of Body" • "Vanishing Act" • "The Sentence"
Season 3	"Bits of Love" • "Second Thoughts" • "Re-generation" • "Last Supper" • "Stream of Consciousness" • "Dark Rain" • "The Camp" • "Heart's Desire" • "Tempests" • "The Awakening" • "New Lease" • "Double Helix" • "Dead Man's Switch" • "Music of the Spheres" • "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" • "Bodies of Evidence" • "Feasibility Study" • "A Special Edition"
Season 4	"Criminal Nature" • "The Hunt" • "Hearts and Minds" • "In Another Life" • "In the Zone" • "Relativity Theory" • "Josh" • "Rite of Passage" • "Glyphic" • "Identity Crisis" • "The Vaccine" • "Fear Itself" • "The Joining" • "To Tell the Truth" • "Mary 25" • "Final Exam" • "Lithia" • "Monster" • "Sarcophagus" • "Nightmare" • "Promised Land" • "The Balance of Nature" • "The Origin of Species" • "Phobos Rising" • "Black Box" • "In Our Own Image"
Season 5	"Alien Radio" • "Donor" • "Small Friends" • "The Grell" • "The Other Side" • "Joyride" • "The Human Operators" • "Blank Slate" • "What Will the Neighbors Think?" • "The Shroud" • "Ripper" • "Tribunal" • "Summit" • "Descent" • "The Haven" • "Déjà Vu" • "The Inheritors" • "Essence of Life" • "Stranded" • "Fathers & Sons" • "Starcrossed" • "Better Luck Next Time"
Season 6	"Judgment Day" • "The Gun" • "Skin Deep" • "Manifest Destiny" • "Breaking Point" • "The Beholder" • "Seeds of Destruction" • "Simon Says" • "Stasis" • "Down to Earth" • "The Inner Child" • "Glitch" • "Decompression" • "Abaddon" • "The Grid" • "Revival" • "Gettysburg" • "Something About Harry" • "Zig Zag" • "Nest" • "Final Appeal"
Season 7	"Family Values" • "Patient Zero" • "A New Life" • "The Surrogate" • "The Vessel" • "Mona Lisa" • "Replica" • "Think Like a Dinosaur" • "Alien Shop" • "Worlds Within" • "In the Blood" • "Flower Child" • "Free Spirit" • "Mindreacher" • "Time to Time" • "Abduction" • "Rule of Law" • "Lion's Den" • "The Tipping Point" • "Dark Child" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials"

Story Arcs
Innobotics Corporation	"Valerie 23" • "Resurrection" • "The Hunt" • "Mary 25" • "In Our Own Image"
Major John Skokes	"Quality of Mercy" • "The Light Brigade"
Alien Infiltration	"Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason"
Strong Brothers Investigate Conspiracies	"The Voice of Reason" • "A Special Edition"
Dr. Theresa Givens' Time Machine	"A Stitch in Time" • "Better Luck Next Time" • "Final Appeal"
Genetic Rejection Syndrome	"Unnatural Selection" • "Criminal Nature"
The New Masters	"The Camp" • "Promised Land"
Dr. Martin Nodel	"Double Helix" • "The Origin of Species"
USAS	"The Joining" • "The Vessel" • "In the Blood"
Earth Coalition-Free Alliance Conflict	"Phobos Rising" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials"
Jack the Ripper	"Ripper" • "Better Luck Next Time"
Nicholas Prentice	"Tribunal" • "Gettysburg" • "Time to Time"