The History Things Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Pat and Matt have had some great collaborations and they are doing it again! This time the guys are working with the ladies of the Ill-Equipped History Podcast.  Morgan and Emileigh join the guys to touch on a little known story of post-World War II America, the Battle of Athens! Unfamiliar with this domestic revolt in Tennessee? So were the guys! This fascinating episode domestic...

Send us Fan Mail While Pat and Matt are very familiar with the military aspects of the American Civil War, what about the civilians of the Civil War Era? To help the guys explore the story of Maryland civilians during the war they are joined by Kyle Dalton, the Executive Director of Union Mills Homestead!  Join the guys as they discuss this piece of Maryland history, the divided loyalties of the S...

Send us Fan Mail The History Things Podcast is proud to have on one of the great personalities and guides of the American Civil War, the Historian of the American Battlefield Trust, Garry Adelman! While many of you are familiar with Garry's great content for the Trust, providing needed interpretation and understanding for the landscapes the American Battlefield Trust is trying to save. Did yo...

Send us Fan Mail With July comes thoughts of Gettysburg, but 2024 marks the 160th Commemoration of the THIRD Confederate Invasion, the 1864 Monocacy Campaign! Fought just over a year after the more famous fight in Pennsylvania, the Battle of Monocacy is remembered as the "Battle that Saved Washington". To better help the guys understand why that is, Pat and Matt spoke with Tracy Evans, w...

Send us Fan Mail It's that time of year again, the Season 5 mid year review! Join hosts Pat, Matt and their producer Parker as they discuss the season this far, get into some rabbit hole shenanigans and provide a preview of the rest of the season. It's been a great season already with fantastic guests covering a range of topics and that's going to continue with the rest of Season 5....

Send us Fan Mail Pat and Matt have a deep interest in World War One, and while they have got you down into the trenches and high above them, they have only brushed the war at sea when talking about the tragic sinking of the Lusitania. That all ends now as the guys take on the largest naval engagement of the war, the Battle of Jutland! To help the work through this clash of navies, Pat and Matt are...

Send us Fan Mail The guys are back in studio with their pal and World War II extraordinaire, Avery Lentz! After last weeks perspectus on the American involvement in the war from Dr. Jared Frederick, Avery is giving Pat and Matt the overview for the rest of the European Theater and what was happening. It's going to be another deep dive however, as they have a lot of ground, campaigns and trage...

Send us Fan Mail The History Things Podcast Cast World War II review continues! This time with a close look at the American involvement in the European Theater. For this the guys have called in Dr. Jared Frederick, the Assistant Professor of History at Penn State Altoona for a closer look.  Dr. Frederick has written three books on WWII, two of which deal with Easy Company, the other with D-Day. As...

Send us Fan Mail With the success of the Pacific Theater deep dive, the guys are at it again! Pat and Matt have brought back their buddy Avery Lentz, this time to speak on the European Theater of World War II!  Avery lays out the run up to the outbreak of the war in Europe and how the world responded. The Axis and the Allies and how some of them switch sides over the course of the war is looked at...

Send us Fan Mail Pat and Matt are back in the Pacific with their colleague Avery Lentz! With the monster episode Avery provided the guys on the Pacific Theater in World War II, they just had to break it in two!  The twin campaigns of the Army and Navy in the Pacific often left the Empire of Japan at a loss for where the allies were headed next, or how to react. Join the guys as Avery describes the...

Send us Fan Mail With the amount of time the guys have spent in military history it's a wonder that it has taken them this long to get around to the largest conflict in human history, World War II! To help them break into this topic, Pat and Matt havd brought in their old friend and colleague, Avery Lentz. Avery has a passion for the Second World War, especially in the Pacific due to his gran...

Send us Fan Mail The History Things Podcast St. Patrick's Day special is covering a heavy topic this year, the Easter Rising of 1916. Erupting in the midst of World War One, the Irish bid for independence was well planned and initially well executed. The British response however was fast and brutal.  To cover this Pat and Matt are joined by fellow ranger Anthony Trusso to discuss the details...

Send us Fan Mail Building off their first of the year topic, Pat and Matt got the chance to discuss the most famous soldiers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, the coal miners of the 48 Pennsylvania Infantry! To help flesh out the history of this well known and documented regiment is fellow ranger, John Hoptak. John and Matt go way back, having both previously worked at Antietam National Battlefi...

Send us Fan Mail As we kick off Season 5, we thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce ourselves and The History Things Podcast. Matt and Pat are Park Rangers with a passion for history and telling those stories. While they get to do this as part of their day to day work, The History Things Podcast allows them to reach out to an even wider audience and talk on any number of historic subjects....

Send us Fan Mail What better way to kick off Season Five than by getting down into the weeds on some regional history!? This month the guys are speaking to Jake Wynn about the proud, but controversial history of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania and the Coal Miners strike that occured there during the Civil War. For those who have spent some time with the Civil War, Schuylkill County is likely a Pen...

Send us Fan Mail Woooo! We have made it to the end of Season 4 and another calendar year! It has been an intense season, with a wide variety of subjects covering everything from European conflicts, the Civil War, true crime, sailors in the wilderness and of course, historic recipes. The guys also experimented with even more visual elements for the show, from a watch through of a tragic sinking, to...

Send us Fan Mail This seasons Black Friday Bonus Episode has the boys hacking through the wilderness of western Maryland and Pennsylvania with some rather unusual companions. The Braddock Expedition of 1755 and the disaster of the Battle of the Monongahela, fought July 9, 1755 is fairly well known in this part of the world, but what was completely unknown to us was the presence of sailors on the e...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Halloween from The History Things Podcast! For the last couple seasons the guys have brought you fun, spooky episodes for the Halloween holiday and this year is no different.  Ever notice how dark children's rhymes can be? One of the better known in the late 19th and early 20th century, though mostly forgotten today, featured the story of Lizzie Borden and what she may...

Send us Fan Mail The guys at The History Things Podcast have had the opportunity to work with famous historians, to world class museums, as well as with our colleagues in the history community. This conversation fits into two of those categories.  Sarah Morgan is the brilliant YouTuber behind Cooking with the First Ladies, a channel that looks at the history of the First Ladies of the United State...

Send us Fan Mail As a follow up to the summer discussion with Melissa Winn about the important relationship between Ulysses S. Grant and his Chief of Staff John Rawlings, the guys have brought Melissa back to look at the specifics of the Vicksburg Campaign and how these men coordinated that operation.  Rawlings continued to be the support Grant needed to protect him from his own vice's during...

Send us Fan Mail After a rollicking adventure on the water the boys are back in their element, the American Civil War. This time they are hosting Eric Money, formally of the Addressing Gettysburg podcast to discuss the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps! Better known as the Pennsylvania Reserves, these were enthusiastic patriots who signed up to serve the Nation even after Pennsylvania had hit it's i...

Send us Fan Mail Hope you are ready to weigh anchor, because it's Pat's birthday week and The History Things Podcast is taking on a topic he has wanted to do for a long time, that's right, Piracy! First off, the boys dive into some of their home states stories of piracy, ranging from the Chesapeake Bay, the coast of Maine and even the Great Lakes. Afterwards they bring in a heavy hi...

Send us Fan Mail As the guys wrap up the 160th Gettysburg offensive, Pat and Matt have brought the legendary Scott Hartwig back on the show to talk about the aftermath of the battle, but also its place in historical memory.  How did the veterans remember the largest battle ever fought on the western hemisphere? How did that memory affect the memorials and monuments of the time? Just as interesting...

Send us Fan Mail The History Things Podcast has said it before and on this 160th commemoration of The Most Glorious Fourth, we will say it again. There is so much happening in the Summer of 1863!! To help Pat and Matt better understand one of the major events of that summer is historian Andrew Miller who dives deep into the Vicksburg Campaign, the Siege and ultimate fall of the "Gibraltar of...

Send us Fan Mail As part of The History Things Podcast continued Gettysburg 160th Blitz, the guys are speaking to historian Codie Eash about one of the most dynamic and indeed provocative actions to occur right at the end of the Battle of Gettysburg. Following the repulse of the famed Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge, or as Pat likes to call it, Longstreet's Charge, Brigadier General Alexande...