Hamburger Hill is one of the most famous battles from the Vietnam War. This is the complete story of that bloody conflict.

It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here.

Download episode 90 here: download link.

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).

Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).

“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.

“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle. May 15, 2013.

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.

Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.

“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.

Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.

The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.

The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).

Hamburger Hill. It’s a battle made famous by the 1987 film with the same name. But the real battle of Hamburger Hill, also known as the Battle for Hill 937, took place almost two decades before the film was released – comprising more than a week of fierce, modern combat in horrendous mountainous terrain which left thousands of men killed and dismembered, wounded and captured. This is the story of that battle. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 89 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).

Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).

“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.

“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle.May 15, 2013.

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.

Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.

“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.

Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.

The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.

The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).

Mass suicide. It’s a rare event, something unique, like an uncommonly beautiful woman – it commands our attention. Using the methods developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, this podcast is an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of mass suicide through he lens of three case studies – one ancient, and two modern.

The Siege of Masada 73 A.D.

The Siege of Masada was the culminating event of the First Roman-Jewish War. Surrounded and facing down legions of pitiless Roman troops, more than 900 Jewish zealots chose to commit suicide, with their wives and children, rather than face death and slavery. They burned all their belongings. They gave everything in their suicides. Their sacrifice is still commemorated in Israeli society today. This is the story of that black day.

The Cowra Breakout 1944 A.D.

It was an Australian prisoner of war camp containing approximately a thousand Japanese – but not any Japanese, these were Japanese steeped like tea bags in the Bushido Samurai ethic. The prisoners were literally told from the time they were infants that death was preferable to dishonor. For them, every breath they took was shameful – and the solution was in the Australian guard towers – in the bristling, gleaming machine guns and the baseball-like grenades. At the fence line, death could be found easily. This is the story of that black day.

The Jonestown Massacre 1978

They called him “Father;” they called him “God.” He led them to death. Jonestown is the sad source of the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid.” Almost a thousand of Jones’s followers, including women, children and infants did just that – they drank the poison-laden Kool-Aid, sending their bodies into flopping convulsions – “slain by the spirit” of a demon named Jim Jones. This is the story of that black day.

It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 88 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of the Cowra Breakout and The Siege of Masada are located here and here.

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References

Raven: The untold story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his people by Tim Reiterman and John Jacobs. 

Japanese prisoners of war in revolt : the outbreaks at Featherston and Cowra during World War II by Charlotte Carr-Gregg (1978).

The wars of the Jews by Josephus, Flavius (1974). 

Break-Out! – The Japanese POW Break-Out at Cowra, 1944 by Hugh V. Clarke

The Cowra Breakout by Mat McLachlan 

The night of a thousand suicides: The Japanese outbreak at Cowra by Teruhiko Asada (1972)

Dead Men Rising by Seaforth Mackenzie [aka. Kenneth Mackenzie]  

The road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn

Die like carp! By Harry Gordon (1981)

Jerusalem’s traitor by Desmond Seward (2009)

The Jewish Revolt AD 66-74 by Si Sheppard (2013)

Masada: Herod’s fortress and the Zealots’ last stand by Yadin, Yigael (1966)

Masada: From Jewish revolt to modern myth by Jodi Magness 

Jones, Jim (1978). Death Tape.

Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle. Storyville. BBC. (not dated).

Anarchy. Cannibalism. Disorder. These are adjectives, empty words, that we use to try, however futilely, to describe the total pain, the uprooted lives, the destroyed families, the ethnic cleansing that have taken place throughout human history. In this episode of Battlecast, we will tear our thesaurus in half looking up synonyms for torture and bloodshed, ruin our books in the search for words as the sordid history of The Liberian Civil Wars are told in minute detail.

Down the street from you, every October, is a haunted house. People, decent people, pay money to enter and be scared, to be frightened by chainsaws without blades, to be screamed at by men in masks who spend their days shoving boxes for UPS. But tonight, I’ll bring the haunted house to your eardrums for free. Tonight, the horror show is in your speakers.

It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

This is part three of a three part series. You can find part one here and part two here.

Download episode 87 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Liberia located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It by James Ciment. (2014). 

Degges, D.J. (2020). Black Skin, White Money. The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign to Recolonize West Africa 1786-1863. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. University of Texas at Arlington. 

Beyon, A.J. (1985). The American Colonization Society and the Formation of Political, Economic and Religious Institutions in Liberia, 1822-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of West Virginia. 

Burin, E.A. (1999). The Peculiar Solution: The American Colonization Society and Antislavery Sentiment in the South, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Allen, W.E. (2002). Sugar and Coffee: A History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida International University. 

The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband. (1998). 

The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis. (1999).

An African Republic by Marie Tyler-Mcgraw. (2007). University of North Carolina Press. 

Shick, T.W. (1977). The Social and Economic History of Afro-American Settlers in Liberia. 1820-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Child Soldiers in Africa by Alcinda Honwana.

Akpan, M.B. (1973). Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule Over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841-1964. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, 7(2), 217-236.

Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Uppsala University.

Charles Taylor and Liberia: Ambition and Atrocity in Africa’s Lone Star State by Colin Waugh. (2011).

Sellers, H.A. (2018). Rebel Governance in Civil War: Variations in Rebel Governance – A Case Study Analysis. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Louisiana State University. 

Scruggs, A. (2010). “The Love of Liberty Has Brought Us Here”: The American Colonization Society and the Imaging of African-American Settlers in Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Harvard University. 

Dennis, D.A. (2011). The Mississippi Colonial Experience in Liberia, 1829-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Claremont Graduate University. 

Gallen, M.P. (2018). The Spirit of Enterprise: Christianity and Capitalism in the Colony and Republic of Liberia, 1816-1928. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].Carnegie Mellon University. 

Varnie, J.N. (2004). Wealth Extraction, Not Economic Development: A Case Study on Liberia. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Wilson, H.B. (2007). Firestone and Liberia: A Case Study in One-Sidedness. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Somah, S.L. (1995). Historical Settlement of Liberia and its Environmental Impact. 

Ngovo, S.B. (2011). The Bandi of Northwestern Liberia: A Study of Change and Continuity in Bandi Society to 1964.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Western Michigan University. 

Clausewitz and African War by Isabelle Duyvesteyn. (2005). 

Reese, D.G. (2018). Liberia: America’s African Stepchild. 

Collins, T.Z. (2019). A Case Study of the Impact of Civil War on the Economic Development of Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Southern University. 

Lidow, N.H. (2011). Violent Order: Revel Organization and Liberia’s Civil War. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University. 

Murray, R.P. (2013). Whiteness in Africa: Americo-Liberians and the Transformative Geographics of Race. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Garcia, B. (2020). “We feel sadly the effects:” America’s Civil War, Colonization, and Liberia’s Struggle to Build up a Nation. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. George Mason University. 

Benda, E.M.V. (2004). The Internationalization of Civil War: Liberia as a Case Study.. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. American University.

Greenwood, R. (1993). The Presidency of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia 1944-1971.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Arizona University.

Lyon, H.G. (1997). Liberia: The Quest for Democracy and the Politics of Ethnicity. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Southern Connecticut State University. 

Jones, S.S. (2016). The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Liberty: Black Settlers and Their Early Education Initiative in Liberia, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Price, R.W. (1980). The Black Republic of Liberia, 1822-1912: A Ninety Year Struggle for International Acceptance. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Norris, E.P. (1961). United States and Liberia: The Slavery Crisis, 1929-1935. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University. 

Akingbade, H.O. (1977). The Role of the Military in the History of Liberia: 1822-1947.[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Howard University. 

Walton-Hanley, J.A. (2009). Reversing the Middle Passage: The American Colonization Society and Race Relations, 1816 – 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Dillon, E.C. (2007). The Role of Education in the Rise and Fall of Americo-Liberians in Liberia, West Africa (1980). [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University. 

Sullivan, J.M. (1978). Settlers in Sinoe County, Liberia, and Their Relations with the Kru, c (sic), 1835-1920. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Boston University. 

Staudenraus, P.J. (1961). The History of the American Colonization Society. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Wisconsin. 

Arnold, G. (1995). Wars in the Third World.

This podcast is a complete history of violence in the small African nation of Liberia. This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here: A Military History of Liberia part one.

Download episode 86 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Liberia located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It by James Ciment. (2014). 

Degges, D.J. (2020). Black Skin, White Money. The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign to Recolonize West Africa 1786-1863. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. University of Texas at Arlington. 

Beyon, A.J. (1985). The American Colonization Society and the Formation of Political, Economic and Religious Institutions in Liberia, 1822-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of West Virginia. 

Burin, E.A. (1999). The Peculiar Solution: The American Colonization Society and Antislavery Sentiment in the South, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Allen, W.E. (2002). Sugar and Coffee: A History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida International University. 

The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband. (1998). 

The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis. (1999).

An African Republic by Marie Tyler-Mcgraw. (2007). University of North Carolina Press. 

Shick, T.W. (1977). The Social and Economic History of Afro-American Settlers in Liberia. 1820-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Child Soldiers in Africa by Alcinda Honwana.

Akpan, M.B. (1973). Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule Over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841-1964. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, 7(2), 217-236.

Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Uppsala University.

Charles Taylor and Liberia: Ambition and Atrocity in Africa’s Lone Star State by Colin Waugh. (2011).

Sellers, H.A. (2018). Rebel Governance in Civil War: Variations in Rebel Governance – A Case Study Analysis. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Louisiana State University. 

Scruggs, A. (2010). “The Love of Liberty Has Brought Us Here”: The American Colonization Society and the Imaging of African-American Settlers in Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Harvard University. 

Dennis, D.A. (2011). The Mississippi Colonial Experience in Liberia, 1829-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Claremont Graduate University. 

Gallen, M.P. (2018). The Spirit of Enterprise: Christianity and Capitalism in the Colony and Republic of Liberia, 1816-1928. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].Carnegie Mellon University. 

Varnie, J.N. (2004). Wealth Extraction, Not Economic Development: A Case Study on Liberia. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Wilson, H.B. (2007). Firestone and Liberia: A Case Study in One-Sidedness. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Somah, S.L. (1995). Historical Settlement of Liberia and its Environmental Impact. 

Ngovo, S.B. (2011). The Bandi of Northwestern Liberia: A Study of Change and Continuity in Bandi Society to 1964.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Western Michigan University. 

Clausewitz and African War by Isabelle Duyvesteyn. (2005). 

Reese, D.G. (2018). Liberia: America’s African Stepchild. 

Collins, T.Z. (2019). A Case Study of the Impact of Civil War on the Economic Development of Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Southern University. 

Lidow, N.H. (2011). Violent Order: Revel Organization and Liberia’s Civil War. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University. 

Murray, R.P. (2013). Whiteness in Africa: Americo-Liberians and the Transformative Geographics of Race. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Garcia, B. (2020). “We feel sadly the effects:” America’s Civil War, Colonization, and Liberia’s Struggle to Build up a Nation. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. George Mason University. 

Benda, E.M.V. (2004). The Internationalization of Civil War: Liberia as a Case Study.. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. American University.

Greenwood, R. (1993). The Presidency of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia 1944-1971.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Arizona University.

Lyon, H.G. (1997). Liberia: The Quest for Democracy and the Politics of Ethnicity. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Southern Connecticut State University. 

Jones, S.S. (2016). The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Liberty: Black Settlers and Their Early Education Initiative in Liberia, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Price, R.W. (1980). The Black Republic of Liberia, 1822-1912: A Ninety Year Struggle for International Acceptance. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Norris, E.P. (1961). United States and Liberia: The Slavery Crisis, 1929-1935. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University. 

Akingbade, H.O. (1977). The Role of the Military in the History of Liberia: 1822-1947.[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Howard University. 

Walton-Hanley, J.A. (2009). Reversing the Middle Passage: The American Colonization Society and Race Relations, 1816 – 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Dillon, E.C. (2007). The Role of Education in the Rise and Fall of Americo-Liberians in Liberia, West Africa (1980). [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University. 

Sullivan, J.M. (1978). Settlers in Sinoe County, Liberia, and Their Relations with the Kru, c (sic), 1835-1920. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Boston University. 

Staudenraus, P.J. (1961). The History of the American Colonization Society. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Wisconsin. 

Arnold, G. (1995). Wars in the Third World.

In the 1820s, a small number of freed Black Americans settled in West Africa. They called their country Liberia, land of freedom. From the beginning, conflict with the more than 15 indigenous ethnic groups ensued, and the American-Liberians formed themselves into a new ruling class, dominating natives in the country for more than 150 years, until the nation exploded in anarchic violence. This is the story of that explosion. It’s ethnic cleansing. It’s the universal human yearning for sovereignty. It’s conflict and it’s pain. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 85 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Liberia located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It by James Ciment. (2014). 

Degges, D.J. (2020). Black Skin, White Money. The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign to Recolonize West Africa 1786-1863. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. University of Texas at Arlington. 

Beyon, A.J. (1985). The American Colonization Society and the Formation of Political, Economic and Religious Institutions in Liberia, 1822-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of West Virginia. 

Burin, E.A. (1999). The Peculiar Solution: The American Colonization Society and Antislavery Sentiment in the South, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Allen, W.E. (2002). Sugar and Coffee: A History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida International University. 

The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband. (1998). 

The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis. (1999).

An African Republic by Marie Tyler-Mcgraw. (2007). University of North Carolina Press. 

Shick, T.W. (1977). The Social and Economic History of Afro-American Settlers in Liberia. 1820-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Child Soldiers in Africa by Alcinda Honwana.

Akpan, M.B. (1973). Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule Over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841-1964. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, 7(2), 217-236.

Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Uppsala University.

Charles Taylor and Liberia: Ambition and Atrocity in Africa’s Lone Star State by Colin Waugh. (2011).

Sellers, H.A. (2018). Rebel Governance in Civil War: Variations in Rebel Governance – A Case Study Analysis. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Louisiana State University. 

Scruggs, A. (2010). “The Love of Liberty Has Brought Us Here”: The American Colonization Society and the Imaging of African-American Settlers in Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Harvard University. 

Dennis, D.A. (2011). The Mississippi Colonial Experience in Liberia, 1829-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Claremont Graduate University. 

Gallen, M.P. (2018). The Spirit of Enterprise: Christianity and Capitalism in the Colony and Republic of Liberia, 1816-1928. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].Carnegie Mellon University. 

Varnie, J.N. (2004). Wealth Extraction, Not Economic Development: A Case Study on Liberia. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Wilson, H.B. (2007). Firestone and Liberia: A Case Study in One-Sidedness. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Somah, S.L. (1995). Historical Settlement of Liberia and its Environmental Impact. 

Ngovo, S.B. (2011). The Bandi of Northwestern Liberia: A Study of Change and Continuity in Bandi Society to 1964.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Western Michigan University. 

Clausewitz and African War by Isabelle Duyvesteyn. (2005). 

Reese, D.G. (2018). Liberia: America’s African Stepchild. 

Collins, T.Z. (2019). A Case Study of the Impact of Civil War on the Economic Development of Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Southern University. 

Lidow, N.H. (2011). Violent Order: Revel Organization and Liberia’s Civil War. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University. 

Murray, R.P. (2013). Whiteness in Africa: Americo-Liberians and the Transformative Geographics of Race. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Garcia, B. (2020). “We feel sadly the effects:” America’s Civil War, Colonization, and Liberia’s Struggle to Build up a Nation. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. George Mason University. 

Benda, E.M.V. (2004). The Internationalization of Civil War: Liberia as a Case Study.. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. American University.

Greenwood, R. (1993). The Presidency of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia 1944-1971.  [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Arizona University.

Lyon, H.G. (1997). Liberia: The Quest for Democracy and the Politics of Ethnicity. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Southern Connecticut State University. 

Jones, S.S. (2016). The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Liberty: Black Settlers and Their Early Education Initiative in Liberia, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Price, R.W. (1980). The Black Republic of Liberia, 1822-1912: A Ninety Year Struggle for International Acceptance. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Norris, E.P. (1961). United States and Liberia: The Slavery Crisis, 1929-1935. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University. 

Akingbade, H.O. (1977). The Role of the Military in the History of Liberia: 1822-1947.[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Howard University. 

Walton-Hanley, J.A. (2009). Reversing the Middle Passage: The American Colonization Society and Race Relations, 1816 – 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky. 

Dillon, E.C. (2007). The Role of Education in the Rise and Fall of Americo-Liberians in Liberia, West Africa (1980). [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University. 

Sullivan, J.M. (1978). Settlers in Sinoe County, Liberia, and Their Relations with the Kru, c (sic), 1835-1920. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Boston University. 

Staudenraus, P.J. (1961). The History of the American Colonization Society. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Wisconsin. 

Arnold, G. (1995). Wars in the Third World.

The Battle of New Market took place on May 15, 1864 and has been made famous in numerous films and literary works. Hundreds of cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, many of them children, fought toe-to-toe with Union veterans, their small frames the only thing holding back the Federal blue tide. For years, the boys were honored in both Virginia and American history. New Market was a battle for the crucial Shenandoah Valley, the breadbasket of the South and a major southern transportation nexus. Tens of thousands of men met on the lush, mud-infused battlefield at the crossroads of New Market. This is the story of that battle. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 84 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the definitive historical atlas of the Battle of New Market located here.

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Seed corn of the Confederacy : the story of the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute at the Battle of New Market by James Gindlesperger (1997)

The Battle of New Market by William Davis (1975).

Long gray lines: The Southern military school tradition by Rod Andrew.

Cadets at war: the true story of teenage heroism at the Battle of New Market by Susan Beller

The Battle of New Market. A story of V.M.I. by Paxton Davis

Valley thunder: The Battle of New Market by Charles Knight (2011).

Harrison, L.H. (1951). John Breckinridge: Western statesman. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. New York University.

Engle, S.D. (1989). Yankee Dutchman: A biography of Franz Sigel. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida State University.

Van Kirk, J.A. (1937). The public career of John Breckinridge. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northwestern University.

Tucker, M.T. (1968). Political leadership in the Illinois-Missouri German Community, 1836- 1872. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois.

Work, D. (2004). Lincoln’s political generals. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Texas A&M University.

Shapira, Ian. December 7, 2020. “VMI removes statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson after long resistance.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vmi-stonewall-jackson-statue-removed/2020/12/07/a4721c98-3891-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html

Moody, Josh. January 30, 2022. “VMI Leader Issues Rare Public Rebuke of Alumnus.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/31/vmi-leader-issues-rare-public-rebuke-alumnus

The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. Fort Fisher was the last shield of Wilmington, North Carolina – the final port open to the Confederacy in 1864. Outnumbered and outgunned, facing one of the largest armadas ever assembled in human history, the Confederates fought to the last man while the fate of a nation and more than one ethnic group hung in the balance. This is the story of that battle. It’s all here and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact. This is part three of a three part series. You can find part one here and episode two here.

Download episode 83 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the definitive historical atlas of The Battle of Fort Fisher located here: Battle of Fort Fisher Atlas link

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

The Wilmington Campaign: Last rays of departing hope by Chris Fonvielle Jr. 

Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher by Rod Gragg

The last stronghold: the campaign for Fort Fisher by Richard McClaskin

Spring 1865 : the closing campaigns of the Civil War by Perry Jamieson

The Civil War in North Carolina by Barrett, John Gilchrist

The Tar Heel State: A New History of North Carolina by Milton Ready

Faces of Fort Fisher, 1861-1864 by Chris Fonvielle

Clayton, B. (2013). Applying GIS to locate the USS Louisiana: A study of the Fort Fisher Civil War Naval Battlefield. [Master’s Thesis, East Carolina University].

Ludwick, M.P. (1995). Your most obedient son: The Civil War letters of William Tell Cobb. [Master’s Thesis, The College of WIlliam and Mary].

Longacre, E.G. (1988). The army of the James, 1863-1865: A military, political, and social

history. (Volumes I – IV) [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University].

Washington, V.F. (1995). Eagles on their buttons: The Fifth Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops in the American Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Ohio State University].

McAllister, R.M. (1968). The amphibious Battles of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December, 1864 – January, 1865; Showing the role of conflicting personalities and the chaos inevitable in the waging of war. [Master’s Thesis, University of Southern California].

Megelsh, M. (2015). A Mainer from Rockland: Adelbert Ames in the Civil War. [Master’s Thesis, Liberty University]. 

Henry C. Lockewood “The Capture of Fort Fisher,” The Maine Bugle, (January 1894).

Capture of Fort Fisher by Adelbert Ames

Jean Vial Pays des lions fidèles.

Anonymous. Assault on Fort Fisher. On Point Magazine, Spring 2010, Vol. 15, No. 4 , p. 48.

Black Troops in the Army of the James, 1863-65 by Edward G. Longacre.  Military Affairs, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), pp. 1-8.

Butler’s Folly: The First Battle of Fort Fisher, December 1864 by Taylor Hess. On Point, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Spring 2011), pp. 6-13.

Lamb, W. (1893). The defender of Fisher; Col. Lamb’s address in Wilmington, N.C.. 

Fleet against Fort by: John Hayes. Ordnance, Vol. 45, No. 243 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1960), pp. 357-360.

Fort Fisher: Amphibious Victory in the American Civil War by: Gary J. Ohls. Naval War College Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Autumn 2006), pp. 81-99.

Fort Fisher (1865) by A.G. Lawrence. 

Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher by Charles Robinson

Rebel Gibraltar: Fort Fisher and Wilmington, C.S.A. by James Walker

Running the blockade. A personal narrative of adventures, risks and escapes during the American civil war by Thomas E. Taylor (1896).

Shock and Assault in the First Battle of Fort Fisher by Charles L. Price and Claude C. Sturgill. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 47, No. 1 (January, 1970), pp. 24-39.

Wightman, S.K. In search of my son. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 14, No. 2 (February 1963). 

Turner, H.M. “Rocked in the cradle of consternation. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 31, No. 6. (October/November 1980). 

“Welcome Brothers!” The 1865 Union Prisoners of War Exchange in North Carolina by Chris Fonvielle Jr. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 3 (JULY 2015), pp. 278-311.

Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War by Admiral David Dixon Porter. 

A Sailor’s Log: Recollections Of Forty Years Of Naval Life by Robley Evans

History of the 117th New York by J.A. Mowris. 

The autobiography of Admiral Dewey by George Dewey. 

Fonvielle, C.E. Jr. (1994). “The last rays of departing hope”: The battles of Fort Fisher, the fall of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the end of the Confederacy. [Doctoral Dissertation, University of South Carolina].

Fort Fisher, December 1864-January 1865 by David W. Kummer, (2012).

The Fall of Fort Fisher: Contested Memories of the Civil War by Warren Ellem.The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 79, No. 2 (APRIL 2002), pp. 198-233. 

Merrill, J.M. The Fort Fisher and Wilmington Campaign: Letters from Rear Admiral David D Porter. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 35, No. 4 (OCTOBER 1958), pp. 461-475.

Ryan, J.T. (1997). On Land and Sea:The United States Marine Corps in The Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University]. 

Thompson, B. and Owsley, F.L. Jr. The War Journal of Midshipman Cary. Civil War History, Vol. 9, No. 2, June 1963, pp. 187-202.

Helsley, A.J.  Vox Populi and the Fall of Fort Fisher. The South Carolina Historical Magazine,  Vol. 96, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 71-73. 

Wood, R.E. (1976). Port town at war: Wilmington, North Carolina 1860-1865. [Doctoral Dissertation, Florida State University].

Hoole, S.W. (1956). Vizitelley covers the Confederacy. 

Freeman, D.S. (1936). R. E. Lee: A Biography 

Shea, A. June 3, 3020. 16 Statues And Memorials Were Damaged During Sunday’s Protests, Including One Dedicated To African American Soldiers https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/06/03/16-statues-memorials-damaged

In this podcast history of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, Dr. Luke Wolf recounts the epic battle in all it’s gory detail. This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here: part one.

Download episode 82 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the definitive historical atlas of The Battle of Fort Fisher located here: Battle of Fort Fisher Atlas link

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

The Wilmington Campaign: Last rays of departing hope by Chris Fonvielle Jr. 

Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher by Rod Gragg

The last stronghold: the campaign for Fort Fisher by Richard McClaskin

Spring 1865 : the closing campaigns of the Civil War by Perry Jamieson

The Civil War in North Carolina by Barrett, John Gilchrist

The Tar Heel State: A New History of North Carolina by Milton Ready

Faces of Fort Fisher, 1861-1864 by Chris Fonvielle

Clayton, B. (2013). Applying GIS to locate the USS Louisiana: A study of the Fort Fisher Civil War Naval Battlefield. [Master’s Thesis, East Carolina University].

Ludwick, M.P. (1995). Your most obedient son: The Civil War letters of William Tell Cobb. [Master’s Thesis, The College of WIlliam and Mary].

Longacre, E.G. (1988). The army of the James, 1863-1865: A military, political, and social

history. (Volumes I – IV) [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University].

Washington, V.F. (1995). Eagles on their buttons: The Fifth Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops in the American Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Ohio State University].

McAllister, R.M. (1968). The amphibious Battles of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December, 1864 – January, 1865; Showing the role of conflicting personalities and the chaos inevitable in the waging of war. [Master’s Thesis, University of Southern California].

Megelsh, M. (2015). A Mainer from Rockland: Adelbert Ames in the Civil War. [Master’s Thesis, Liberty University]. 

Henry C. Lockewood “The Capture of Fort Fisher,” The Maine Bugle, (January 1894).

Capture of Fort Fisher by Adelbert Ames

Jean Vial Pays des lions fidèles.

Anonymous. Assault on Fort Fisher. On Point Magazine, Spring 2010, Vol. 15, No. 4 , p. 48.

Black Troops in the Army of the James, 1863-65 by Edward G. Longacre.  Military Affairs, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), pp. 1-8.

Butler’s Folly: The First Battle of Fort Fisher, December 1864 by Taylor Hess. On Point, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Spring 2011), pp. 6-13.

Lamb, W. (1893). The defender of Fisher; Col. Lamb’s address in Wilmington, N.C.. 

Fleet against Fort by: John Hayes. Ordnance, Vol. 45, No. 243 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1960), pp. 357-360.

Fort Fisher: Amphibious Victory in the American Civil War by: Gary J. Ohls. Naval War College Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Autumn 2006), pp. 81-99.

Fort Fisher (1865) by A.G. Lawrence. 

Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher by Charles Robinson

Rebel Gibraltar: Fort Fisher and Wilmington, C.S.A. by James Walker

Running the blockade. A personal narrative of adventures, risks and escapes during the American civil war by Thomas E. Taylor (1896).

Shock and Assault in the First Battle of Fort Fisher by Charles L. Price and Claude C. Sturgill. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 47, No. 1 (January, 1970), pp. 24-39.

Wightman, S.K. In search of my son. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 14, No. 2 (February 1963). 

Turner, H.M. “Rocked in the cradle of consternation. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 31, No. 6. (October/November 1980). 

“Welcome Brothers!” The 1865 Union Prisoners of War Exchange in North Carolina by Chris Fonvielle Jr. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 3 (JULY 2015), pp. 278-311.

Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War by Admiral David Dixon Porter. 

A Sailor’s Log: Recollections Of Forty Years Of Naval Life by Robley Evans

History of the 117th New York by J.A. Mowris. 

The autobiography of Admiral Dewey by George Dewey. 

Fonvielle, C.E. Jr. (1994). “The last rays of departing hope”: The battles of Fort Fisher, the fall of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the end of the Confederacy. [Doctoral Dissertation, University of South Carolina].

Fort Fisher, December 1864-January 1865 by David W. Kummer, (2012).

The Fall of Fort Fisher: Contested Memories of the Civil War by Warren Ellem.The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 79, No. 2 (APRIL 2002), pp. 198-233. 

Merrill, J.M. The Fort Fisher and Wilmington Campaign: Letters from Rear Admiral David D Porter. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 35, No. 4 (OCTOBER 1958), pp. 461-475.

Ryan, J.T. (1997). On Land and Sea:The United States Marine Corps in The Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University]. 

Thompson, B. and Owsley, F.L. Jr. The War Journal of Midshipman Cary. Civil War History, Vol. 9, No. 2, June 1963, pp. 187-202.

Helsley, A.J.  Vox Populi and the Fall of Fort Fisher. The South Carolina Historical Magazine,  Vol. 96, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 71-73. 

Wood, R.E. (1976). Port town at war: Wilmington, North Carolina 1860-1865. [Doctoral Dissertation, Florida State University].

Hoole, S.W. (1956). Vizitelley covers the Confederacy. 

Freeman, D.S. (1936). R. E. Lee: A Biography 

It was Christmas Day, 1864 when one of the largest armadas ever assembled by mankind began to deluge Fort Fisher, one of the largest forts in the world, with tens of thousands of shells. The Confederates refused to surrender and fought to the last man. Their fort guarded the last remaining port of the Confederacy, an essential lifeline of the fledgling nation. If Fort Fisher fell, so too would fall the Confederate States of America and the men on the ground knew it, felt it, and their actions demonstrated they knew it. Death rained from the sky. The earthen walls absorbed the explosive shock. Humans were split apart, their entrails ticker-taping from their split-open torsos. Terror played concertos on human visages. And you should have seen the animals – butchered by shot and shell. Fort Fisher was a milestone in the human development of killing and this episode will provide the exhaustive details, an examination of mass-produced pain. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 81 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the definitive historical atlas of The Battle of Fort Fisher located here: Battle of Fort Fisher Atlas link

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

The Wilmington Campaign: Last rays of departing hope by Chris Fonvielle Jr. 

Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher by Rod Gragg

The last stronghold: the campaign for Fort Fisher by Richard McClaskin

Spring 1865 : the closing campaigns of the Civil War by Perry Jamieson

The Civil War in North Carolina by Barrett, John Gilchrist

The Tar Heel State: A New History of North Carolina by Milton Ready

Faces of Fort Fisher, 1861-1864 by Chris Fonvielle

Clayton, B. (2013). Applying GIS to locate the USS Louisiana: A study of the Fort Fisher Civil War Naval Battlefield. [Master’s Thesis, East Carolina University].

Ludwick, M.P. (1995). Your most obedient son: The Civil War letters of William Tell Cobb. [Master’s Thesis, The College of WIlliam and Mary].

Longacre, E.G. (1988). The army of the James, 1863-1865: A military, political, and social

history. (Volumes I – IV) [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University].

Washington, V.F. (1995). Eagles on their buttons: The Fifth Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops in the American Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Ohio State University].

McAllister, R.M. (1968). The amphibious Battles of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December, 1864 – January, 1865; Showing the role of conflicting personalities and the chaos inevitable in the waging of war. [Master’s Thesis, University of Southern California].

Megelsh, M. (2015). A Mainer from Rockland: Adelbert Ames in the Civil War. [Master’s Thesis, Liberty University]. 

Henry C. Lockewood “The Capture of Fort Fisher,” The Maine Bugle, (January 1894).

Capture of Fort Fisher by Adelbert Ames

Jean Vial Pays des lions fidèles.

Anonymous. Assault on Fort Fisher. On Point Magazine, Spring 2010, Vol. 15, No. 4 , p. 48.

Black Troops in the Army of the James, 1863-65 by Edward G. Longacre.  Military Affairs, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), pp. 1-8.

Butler’s Folly: The First Battle of Fort Fisher, December 1864 by Taylor Hess. On Point, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Spring 2011), pp. 6-13.

Lamb, W. (1893). The defender of Fisher; Col. Lamb’s address in Wilmington, N.C.. 

Fleet against Fort by: John Hayes. Ordnance, Vol. 45, No. 243 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1960), pp. 357-360.

Fort Fisher: Amphibious Victory in the American Civil War by: Gary J. Ohls. Naval War College Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Autumn 2006), pp. 81-99.

Fort Fisher (1865) by A.G. Lawrence. 

Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher by Charles Robinson

Rebel Gibraltar: Fort Fisher and Wilmington, C.S.A. by James Walker

Running the blockade. A personal narrative of adventures, risks and escapes during the American civil war by Thomas E. Taylor (1896).

Shock and Assault in the First Battle of Fort Fisher by Charles L. Price and Claude C. Sturgill. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 47, No. 1 (January, 1970), pp. 24-39.

Wightman, S.K. In search of my son. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 14, No. 2 (February 1963). 

Turner, H.M. “Rocked in the cradle of consternation. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 31, No. 6. (October/November 1980). 

“Welcome Brothers!” The 1865 Union Prisoners of War Exchange in North Carolina by Chris Fonvielle Jr. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 3 (JULY 2015), pp. 278-311.

Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War by Admiral David Dixon Porter. 

A Sailor’s Log: Recollections Of Forty Years Of Naval Life by Robley Evans

History of the 117th New York by J.A. Mowris. 

The autobiography of Admiral Dewey by George Dewey. 

Fonvielle, C.E. Jr. (1994). “The last rays of departing hope”: The battles of Fort Fisher,

the fall of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the end of the Confederacy. [Doctoral Dissertation, University of South Carolina].

Fort Fisher, December 1864-January 1865 by David W. Kummer, (2012).

The Fall of Fort Fisher: Contested Memories of the Civil War by Warren Ellem.The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 79, No. 2 (APRIL 2002), pp. 198-233. 

Merrill, J.M. The Fort Fisher and Wilmington Campaign: Letters from Rear Admiral David D Porter. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 35, No. 4 (OCTOBER 1958), pp. 461-475.

Ryan, J.T. (1997). On Land and Sea:The United States Marine Corps in The Civil War. [Doctoral Dissertation, Temple University]. 

Thompson, B. and Owsley, F.L. Jr. The War Journal of Midshipman Cary. Civil War History, Vol. 9, No. 2, June 1963, pp. 187-202.

Helsley, A.J.  Vox Populi and the Fall of Fort Fisher. The South Carolina Historical Magazine,  Vol. 96, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 71-73. 

Wood, R.E. (1976). Port town at war: Wilmington, North Carolina 1860-1865. [Doctoral Dissertation, Florida State University].

Hoole, S.W. (1956). Vizitelley covers the Confederacy. 

Freeman, D.S. (1936). R. E. Lee: A Biography