War Yankee - Overland

In This Episode It's after 1:00 PM May 5th, 1864 -- General James Wadsworth's center is collapsing as Cutler's and Stone's Brigades are smashed by waiting rebel forces, his last commander -- General James C. Rice, know by his men as “Old Crazy” -- has his brigade of New Yorkers in a deadly cat and mouse game with Confederates hiding in the woods nearly half-a-mile away. Will Rice be the first...

In This Episode It's 1:00 PM, May 5th, 1864 -- While the famed Iron Brigade is being destroyed on General James Wadsworth's right, his other Brigades -- commanded by Generals Stone and Rice -- are scattered and lost nearly half a mile too far to the left. When an invisible enemy attacks them out of nowhere, nobody knows who to shoot or where to run. Notable Quotes "[W]eird, uncanny contest—a...

In This Episode It's 1:00 PM May 5th, 1864 -- Brigadier General Lysander Cutler's famed Iron Brigade advanced in tandem with Bartlett through woods immediately south of Saunders Field. Although Bartlett is able to break through, Cutler meets fierce resistance as his men struggle to fight half in the openness of Saunders Field, and half in the dense thickets of The Wilderness. As the battle rages,...

In This Episode It's 1:00 PM May 5th, 1864 -- General Warren has ordered his division commanders Griffin and Wadsworth forward to pitch into the enemy now lurking on the opposite side of Saunders Field. While General Ayers's 140th New York Zouaves are the first to be bloodied, another of Griffin's brigade commanders -- General Joseph J. Bartlett -- moves across the field with enough momentum to sm...

It's 1:00 PM on May 5th, 1864 -- Grant had given the order, Warren had given the signal, and now Griffin and Wadsworth's divisions are emerging from the eastern edge of Saunders Field to pitch into the enemy. However, as the bugles sound and the men rise to their feet, a "wild and wicked roar" erupts from the Confederate defenses just as Col. Paddy Ryan and his 140th New York Zouaves charge forwar...

In This Episode It's 1:00 PM on May 5th, 1864 -- Grant has had enough of both General Meade's and General Warren's excuses and has now directed them to send Griffin and Wadsworth's divisions forward and pitch into the enemy at once. Unfortunately, Grant does not yet know that General Sedgwick's 6th Corps, overcome by the tangles of The Wilderness, will not arrive on Griffin's RIGHT flank for hours...

In This Episode It's noon on May 5th, 1864 -- The Army of the Potomac has captured the Brock Road Intersection with Orange Plank Road, has discovered Confederate cavalry probing their left flank along the Catharpin Road, and now must deal with the growing threat of Rebels digging in along the Orange Turnpike. After waiting for hours for Meade to stop talking about attacking and actually attack, Gr...

In This Episode It's afternoon on May 5th, 1864 -- Greenhorn cavalry officer Brig. Gen. Harry Wilson has stumbled onto a third Confederate cavalry force coming down the Catharpin Road. While he prepares his troopers to repel a rebel counter-attack from his former West Point classmate, Gen. Thomas "Tex" Rosser of Virginia, he is desperate to get this new information to Meade before it is too late....

In This Episode It's May 1864 -- You are an officer in the Army of the Potomac during the first week of the Overland Campaign, leading men into The Wilderness against the Confederacy. As you struggle to maneuver your soldiers in a straight enough line to engage the rebels within this 70-square-mile tract of thickets and dense forest... You may ask yourself... How did I get here? Notable Quotes “Le...

In This Episode It's May 4th, 1864 — You are a soldier in the Army of the Potomac marching towards the Rapidan River and into The Wilderness -- a 70-mile tract of thickets and dense forest that only a year before had been the location of this same army's defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Before you cross the floating bridge over the Rapidan River that will later be torn up so that you cann...

In This Episode It's May 4th, 1864 — You are a soldier in the Army of the Potomac marching towards the Rapidan River and into The Wilderness -- a 70-mile tract of thickets and dense forest that only a year before had been the location of this same army's defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Before you cross the floating bridge over the Rapidan River that will later be torn up so that you cann...

In This Episode It's May 4th, 1864 — You are a soldier in the Army of the Potomac marching towards the Rapidan River and into The Wilderness -- a 70-mile tract of thickets and dense forest that only a year before had been the location of this same armies defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Before you cross the floating bridge over the Rapidan River that will be later be torn up so that you c...

In This Episode It's noon on May 5th, 1864 -- Greenhorn cavalry officer Brigadier General James Harrison "Harry" Wilson started the Overland Campaign with high expectations. Now, after a series of tactical shortcomings and conflicting orders, his actions have allowed rebel forces to approach the Union army almost undetected. To make matters worse, Wilson's entire cavalry division -- over 3,000 men...

In This Episode It's the mid-morning of May 5th, 1864 -- The Army of the Potomac has now discovered two massive rebel forces forming on both sides of Warren's 5th Corps still stung out over 5-miles within the tangles of The Wilderness. Now, as new intelligence arrives, they are becoming painfully aware that General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia has launched a counter-crossing attack al...

In This Episode It's dawn on May 5th, 1864 -- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Major General George Meade, and the Army of the Potomac have spent the night in the fabled WILDERNESS. Now, as the morning sun rises on a new day, what started as an easy march out of the thickets quickly spins out of control after a series of unexpected enemy surprises. Notable Quotes "My pickets report nothing new...

In This Episode It's May 4th, 1864 -- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General George Meade have moved the vast Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River and into the fabled Wilderness. Now at the end of their first day, the Union Army believes they are miles away from any real danger. When they wake on the morning of May 5th, 1864, they will soon discover a very different and dang...

In This Episode It's May 3rd, 1864 -- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General George Meade plan to move the 120,000 man Army of the Potomac is underway. They will move the Union War Machine under the cover of darkness, cross the Rapidan River far EAST of the Confederate Left Flank and make an end-run around to the Confederate Rear before Lee has a chance to react. It is a good plan e...

In This Episode It's April 1864 -- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant has placed his command in the field with the largest arm of the Union War Machine -- The Army of the Potomac. With his Headquarters now in Culpeper, Grant begins coordinating with the other forces arrayed around the Confederacy while also inspecting, talking to, and getting to know the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. It is...

In This Episode It’s March 1864 — Newly promoted Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the newly formed United States Army, has decided to place his command in the field with the largest arm of the Union War Machine -- The Army of the Potomac. Still encamped outside Culpeper, Virginia, this 120,000 man force has been staring across the Rapidan River at their Confederate adversaries to...

In This Episode It is May 1864, and President Lincoln has now promoted Ulysses S. Grant -- the hero of the Western Theater -- to the rank of Lieutenant General -- a rank only held in wartime by George Washington. Grant's task is to now lead the Union army against the Confederate rebels during the most unstable time in United States history. If Grant fails, it could lead to peace with the Confedera...

In This Episode It is March 1864, and President Lincoln is concerned. The first real victory in the East -- The Battle of Gettysburg -- is short-lived when General George Meade, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, fails to capture General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia before they slip back into the Virginia wilderness. Now political pressure is mounting on Lincoln with Northern Democrats...

In This Episode Introducing War Yankee - Overland, my American Civil War history podcast that follows General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac on its 47-day, 113-mile military campaign south from Culpeper to Petersburg, Virginia. This is the first episode in this War Yankee series and begins by setting some expectations. You may be asking yourself: - Who is the War Yankee, why the Over...

It's May 1864 and the Union has entered its fourth year of war against the Confederacy. President Abraham Lincoln has fired yet another general and is looking for an officer who will take the fight to the rebels. Enter Major General Ulysses S. Grant, the Hero of Vicksburg, and the type of general Lincoln knows will change the direction of the war in favor of the Union. Promoted to the rank of Lieu...