The American Civil War Podcast

I know this is really delayed, but it’s also three or four episodes in one. Robert E. Lee came, in time, to become the arch-nemesis of the Union. Yet from his family history and life until that point, you would never have believed it. What drove this man, and why did he make the choices he made? What shaped him, and how? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscr...

Three weeks into command of the Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee embarked on a daring, do-or-die assault on the Army of the Potomac. Though not without failure and mistakes, he successfully drove his foe away from the very gates of Richmond in a brutal seven-day struggle of nearly-constant battle. By the end, he proved he might very well be the champion the Confederacy sorely neede...

After routing Banks at Winchester, Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson found himself exposed and vulnerable to total destruction - and Abraham Lincoln most certainly intended just that. Fortunately for him, Jackson had assistance in form of Union General John C. Fremont’s complete failure. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus e...

By the end of May, 1862, Confederate Gen. Joe Johnson knew he must attack. A crucial Union strategic choice gave him room to pick his preferred point. But a key failure sent the entire battle spinning out of control. As a side note, Union sources at the time called the battle “Fair Oaks”. However, most of the fighting was around the crossroads of “Seven Pines”. The two locations are not far distan...

McClellan’s advance upon Richmond proved an uneven, start-stop affair instead of a Napoleonic stride. Nonetheless, he managed to finally get himself to the gates of Richmond. Once there, however, he proved curiously unwilling to fight a battle, always waiting for reinforcements that never quite arrived. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acces...

Starting May 19th, General Thomas J. Jackson launched a campaign turned the entire union strategy in the Shenandoah Valley on its head. Within seven days he fought three battles and cleared the Union from nearly the entire Valley, undoing six months of northern effort. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilw...

Today we approach a question regarding the slave economy. Was it profitable? Was it economically efficient? How did slavery affect the US economy? And if slavery wasn’t good for the country, why did slaveholders keep it? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

The tiny Battle of McDowell represented only a skirmish in the larger Civil War, but it represented a key step in allowing General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to unite all the Confederate forces in the region. To do this, he rapidly marched all over the place. For once, however, he met his match in aggression in the person of Brigadier Robert H. Millroy. Side note: I didn’t describe Brigadier Ro...

The Civil War would be fertile ground for weapons development, including the widely-successful use of naval explosives. Confederate “torpedoes” proved more than capable of sending Union ships to the bottom of rivers, harbours and seas alike. But The Union learned to strike back with a few of its own. So what is a torpedo, where did they come from, and why did anyone use them? This is a public epis...

On March 4th, 1862, the Confederates abandoned the Yorktown line and began retreat up the Virginia Peninsula towards the Richmond defences. On March 5th, McClellan’s forces caught up to the rear guard outside Williamsburg. But the Union command was confused, uncertain and hesitant to commit to attack. Plus: Joe Hooker becomes Fighting Joe, and Lincoln undertakes an extraordinary role in the field....

General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Valley Campaign of 1862 began with failure after failure. Through fortune or skill, he would endure and learn, while the dance of armies left opportunities. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

Thomas J. Jackson’s journey both began and ended in Virginia. An unusual man at the best and worst of times, he harbored both great ambition and ruthless self-will. Yet his path did not begin with glory, and much like several other Civil War legends, success began with great failure. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,...

Throughout April of 1862, Gen. Henry Halleck pulled together nearly all the major field forces in the western armies, while Beauregard awaited him at Corinth. Halleck’s delayed attack ranks among the slowest and least aggressive military campaigns in history. Halleck intended to avoid bloody battles and in this, he succeeded. But the Union would learn the hard way that you can capture a town witho...

In May of 1862, the Union and Confederacy vied for control over the Upper Mississippi. Strangely, the stage was set for a mountain-dwelling bridgebuilder to attain immortal martial glory. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

In the last months of 1861, Gideon Welles found himself in need of a leader to take the fight to the very gates of New Orleans. He had few options, few naval leaders with the skill, daring and reputation to undertake this task. in the end, he finally selected David Glasgow Farragut. Join as we explore Farragut’s history, his own family’s tangled legacy with New Orleans, and the battle that reshape...

This episode offers a final look at Shiloh, covering the immediate aftermath of the battle, the repercussions in the press and Washington, and a look at some controversies related to the battle. Shiloh is very well-preserved today if you would like to visit, with good paths explaining the battlefield. Also you can visit the Cherry Mansion in nearby Savannah. It served as Grant’s headquarters and h...

On April 6th, General Albert Sidney Johnston launched an all-out assault against the Union army camped around Pittsburg Landing. The armies would battle over three miles of earth in a contest that stretched over two days and shattered the existing notions of war. Generals to Privates alike found glory, death or both in the Devil’s Own Day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss thi...

In the weeks before the Battle of Shiloh, both Union and Confederate generals fought different kind of battles. Their decisions, wise and foolish alike, would shape the coming campaign. Happenstance, stupidity, and cunning worked together to forge the deadliest day in American history to that date. And came to pass that the little church of Shiloh would receive a baptism of blood. This is a public...

In March of 1862, General George Brinton McClellan launched his Peninsula Campaign. Intended as a lightning-strike, it would stretch on for six weeks. In a way, the campaign showed McClellan’s strengths and weaknesses in stark clarity. By the end, he would achieve the position he sought - but a cost in time the Union could ill afford. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this wit...

In early 1862, General-in-Chief George Brinton McClellan embarked on a new campaign - a political one. But while he kept getting his way, he also failed to realize how tenuous his position had become. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

This episode explains some of the practice and consequences of how forced labor and Conscription were applied to free African-Americans, slaves, and free white men in the Confederacy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit uscivilwar.substack.com

In early 1862, Joe Johnston began to plan a withdrawal before he fell to a planned Union attack. This he did, but at the cost of worsening his relationship with Jefferson Davis. But Davis had many other problems, including an ineffectual Secretary of War, leading to a rapid change in the Confederate Cabinet. And finally, the new Secretary of War had not only to quickly find problems to pressing ma...

Today’s episode covers some of the related stories around the events we’ve discussed in the fight for New Mexico between the Union and Confederacy. In the process, I acquired some tales that didn’t quite fit into the overall narrative but still felt worth telling. In this episode we discuss the incredibly silly and tragic spark that set off the Apache Wars in 1861, the violence of John Baylor, and...

After the Battle of Valverde, Confederate General Henry Sibley advanced into new Mexico and seemingly captured its most important towns. Yet he soon discovered that the Union was far from beaten, and a mixture of amateur and professional Union soldiers would meet the Confederates in the tight confines of Glorietta Pass. This clash promised to decide the fate of New Mexico forever. Note: Some of th...

On March 8th and 9th of 1862, ironclad warships would emerge onto the pages of history. The USS Monitor and Merrimack (or CSS Virginia) weren’t the first ironclads, nor even the first into battle. Yet the legendary Battle of Hampton Roads would overturn centuries of naval doctrine in a matter of hours. Success and failure, calamity and courage, and a few remarkably coincidences would combine to re...