Stories of the Civil War

In this gripping episode of Stories of the Civil War , listeners are transported to the dense, burning thickets of Virginia to explore the harrowing Battle of the Wilderness during the opening days of the Overland Campaign. The narrative contrasts the desperate, starving condition of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia with the overwhelming might of the Union forces, now guided by the relent...

In this episode of Stories of the Civil War , host Chris Mowery peels back the layers of myth built up over the decades to examine the real Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. For generations, Lost Cause ideology has painted Jackson as an infallible, flawless military genius and a saintly martyr. But does the actual historical record fully support the legend? This episode takes a balanced, objective vi...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the life of one of the nineteenth century's most contradictory figures: Major General Oliver Otis Howard.  Known to the press and public as "The Christian General" and mockingly referred to by his own troops as "Old Prayer Book," Howard navigated America's bloodiest era guided by an unwavering, rigid evangelical piety We'll explore how religious fervor, mi...

January 1863: the Union war effort in the East is wobbling like a cannon on a wagon axle—and then it starts to rain. In the bleak aftermath of Fredericksburg, Ambrose Burnside gambles on a smart flanking move to restore momentum and morale. For a few shining hours, it almost works. Then Virginia’s red-clay roads liquefy, pontoon trains sink, mules die in harness, and an entire army learns that nat...

In the freezing rain of late December 1862, the United States wasn’t marching toward “inevitable” Union victory—it was teetering on the edge of political and military collapse. With Fredericksburg still bleeding, Union fortunes sagging in the West, and the Emancipation Proclamation only days from taking effect, Abraham Lincoln needed a win badly. That desperate need points the nation’s attention t...

This Extended Special Edition of  Stories of the Civil War chronicles the brutal and decisive Battle of Nashville in December 1864, which effectively ended the war in the West. Join us as we explore the "Paralysis of Ice" that gripped Middle Tennessee and the desperate circumstances of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood, fresh from the catastrophic loss at Franklin. Ins...

He was the classic "political general" who was supposed to fail—a 29-year-old college president and lay preacher with zero military experience. But James A. Garfield defied every stereotype. In just two years, he went from a raw colonel studying tactics by candlelight to one of the Union's most effective leaders. This episode charts his meteoric rise: from the icy victory at Middle Creek, won with...

On September 17, 1862, as the nation reeled from the slaughter at the Battle of Antietam, a different kind of battle unfolded on the home front. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a series of catastrophic explosions ripped through the Allegheny Arsenal, the industrial heart of the Union war effort. The blast killed 78 people, most of whom were young women and girls, in what remains the single worst civi...

In the spring of 1862, a team of Union spies went deep behind Confederate lines with an audacious plan: steal a locomotive, destroy a vital railway, and cripple the Southern war effort. What followed was the Great Locomotive Chase, a nearly 90-mile pursuit that pitted daring saboteurs against a relentlessly determined train conductor. This is the story of the Andrews Raid—a mission that failed in...

In the desperate summer of 1863, with the Confederacy facing defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan—the "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy"—was ordered to create a diversion in Kentucky. But Morgan had a grander, more reckless plan. Defying direct orders, he led over 2,000 cavalrymen across the Ohio River on a thousand-mile raid through Indiana and Ohio, seeking to br...

Fifteen men. Two families. One war. The McCooks of Ohio—known as “The Fighting McCooks”—sent fathers and sons alike to the Civil War, where their courage and sacrifice became legend. This is their story of duty, loss, and legacy. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stories-of-the-civil-war--6675279/support .

In this episode, we explore the fascinating life of Confederate General Patrick Cleburne, whose story stretches from the green hills of Ireland to the blood-soaked battlefields of Tennessee. Known affectionately as the "Stonewall of the West," Cleburne rose from immigrant pharmacist to one of the Confederacy's most respected and feared commanders. Through vivid storytelling, we retrace his incredi...

In this gripping second episode of The Saltville Raid, we follow General George Stoneman’s relentless cavalry raid through snowbound Appalachia in December 1864. With brutal efficiency and poetic devastation, Union forces descend upon the Confederate saltworks at Saltville, Virginia—obliterating the South’s last critical supply of salt. Told with immersive detail and haunting firsthand accounts, t...

In this powerful episode of Stories of the Civil War, host Chris Mowery guides listeners into the heart of a brutal and often overlooked campaign—the Saltville Raid of 1864. What began as a strategic push to cripple the Confederacy’s vital saltworks spiraled into a desperate mountain battle and one of the war’s darkest atrocities. From the high-stakes Union assault led by “Butcher” Burbridge to th...

In December 1862, amidst one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles, a young Confederate sergeant named Richard Rowland Kirkland stepped beyond the protection of his lines to bring water and comfort to wounded Union soldiers. Known as the "Angel of Marye’s Heights," Kirkland’s remarkable act of compassion became a symbol of humanity amidst brutal conflict. In this episode, Chris Mowery takes you ont...

In this episode of Stories of the Civil War, host Chris Mowery traces the astonishing journey of John Alexander Logan—from fiery Illinois congressman and staunch anti-abolitionist to one of the Union’s most fearless generals and the founder of what we now know as Memorial Day. Follow Logan as he sheds the title “Dirty-Work Logan” earned from enforcing fugitive slave laws, and earns the nickname “B...