Stories of the Civil War

In today's episode we dive into the grueling Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, a pivotal clash spanning May 8 to May 21, 1864. We'll explore how the relentless Overland Campaign birthed modern military tactics and forever altered the character of the American Civil War. The narrative traces the desperate early race to control the Spotsylvania crossroads, the sudden death of beloved Sixth Corps commander John Sedgwick to a Confederate sharpshooter, and Ulysses S. Grant's steadfast declaration to "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer". At the core is twenty-four-year-old Colonel Emory Upton, who knelt in a Virginia clearing to diagram a revolutionary assault strategy. Bypassing traditional doctrine, Upton led a sprinting, tightly packed column of twelve Federal regiments across two hundred yards of open ground to briefly pierce the supposedly impenetrable Confederate salient known as the Mule Shoe on May 10. We then break down Winfield Scott Hancock's massive dawn attack on May 12, which sparked the legendary horrors of the Bloody Angle. For twenty-two continuous hours in driving cold rain, Union and Confederate soldiers fought muzzle-to-muzzle, resulting in stacked casualties in flooded trenches and a twenty-two-inch oak tree entirely severed by sustained rifle fire. Ultimately, this brutal engagement forced Robert E. Lee to report to Jefferson Davis that the Army of Northern Virginia would be obliged to take a defensive position, signaling the beginning of the Confederacy's long, slow defeat.

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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 relentless, mathematically driven strategic vision of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Listeners are taken through the chaotic, close-quarters combat where artillery was rendered useless, troops fought blindly through blinding smoke, and Confederate General James Longstreet tragically fell to friendly fire in an eerie echo of Stonewall Jackson's fate on the exact same ground. Ultimately, the episode culminates in a moral transformation for the Army of the Potomac, highlighting Grant's unprecedented decision to march south to continue the attack instead of retreating, forever changing the conflict into a grueling war of attrition.

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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 view of Jackson's generalship, moving past the romanticized history to examine his actual performance. We explore his undeniable tactical triumphs, including the brilliant use of mobility and geography during his legendary Shenandoah Valley Campaign. However, we also shine a necessary light on his glaring weaknesses and structural failures.
Join us as we examine the other side of his command: his disastrous, lethargic performance during the Seven Days Battles, his near-fatal tactical blunders and negligent defensive planning at Fredericksburg, and the deeply toxic, hostile relationships he fostered with capable subordinate generals like A.P. Hill and Richard Ewell.
Step beyond the marble monument to discover the eccentric, deeply flawed, and complex man who wore the Confederate gray.


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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, military ambition, and paternalistic humanitarianism shaped Howard's extraordinary and highly unusual life. We trace his journey through the ranks of the Union Army, detailing his catastrophic battlefield injury at Fair Oaks, his controversial and humiliating tactical failures at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and his eventual redemption operating under General William T. Sherman in the Western Theater


Beyond the battlefield, we examine Howard's monumental and conflicting post-war legacy:

The Freedmen's Bureau: Learn about his tenure as the first and only commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, where he championed civil rights and established thousands of schools for newly freed African Americans, ultimately helping to found Howard University.



The Indian Wars: We confront the tragic irony of his later military career, where the former abolitionist led a brutal, relentless campaign to drive Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce from their ancestral homelands in the Pacific Northwest.


Educational Legacy: Discover his final educational pursuits, including his instrumental role in founding Lincoln Memorial University to serve the impoverished populations of Appalachia.


Join me as we unpack the sweeping narrative of a man who embodied both the highest ideals and the darkest hypocrisies of the American experiment.


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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 nature is an undefeated battlefield commander.  But the mud isn’t the only thing swallowing the campaign. Behind the scenes, a crisis of command is tearing the Army of the Potomac apart: factional feuds, backchannel visits to the White House, ambitious rivals, and a stunning breakdown in loyalty that pushes Burnside toward an explosive purge. The result is a showdown with Abraham Lincoln that reshapes the army’s leadership—and sets the stage for what comes next. This episode dives into the “Mud March” and the “Generals’ Revolt”: the storm, the sabotage (or was it?), the whiskey-fueled chaos, the Confederate mockery, and the cold political math that ended Burnside’s command and elevated “Fighting Joe” Hooker

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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 to Middle Tennessee, where two armies coil along the rocky bends of the Stones River outside Murfreesboro. This episode tells the story of Stones River—a battle so brutal that roughly one in three men who fought there became a casualty. Follow the clash of commanders William S. Rosecrans and Braxton Bragg, the near-disaster at dawn on December 31, and the frantic stands that kept the Union army from being cut to pieces: Sheridan in the “Slaughter Pen,” Hazen’s brigade holding the “Round Forest” at “Hell’s Half Acre,” and the haunting “battle of the bands” where enemies traded tunes across the darkness—ending together on “Home, Sweet Home.” The finale is as tragic as it is thunderous: Breckinridge’s “Orphan Brigade” charge on January 2, and the moment Captain John Mendenhall unleashes a massed line of artillery—58 cannons—turning the battlefield into a study in lethal physics. A hard-earned victory. A river of blood. And a turning point the nation might not have survived without.

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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.
Inside this episode:

• The Telegram War: Discover how Major General George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," defied Ulysses S. Grant's relentless orders to attack, waiting for the ice to melt before launching his master plan.
• The Battle for Honor: Hear the story of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), former slaves fighting on the soil where they were enslaved, who proved their valor at Granbury’s Lunette and Peach Orchard Hill, suffering the highest casualties of any regiment in the battle.
• The Collapse: Witness the Union's "Grand Wheel" maneuver and the final, crushing assault on the Confederate left at Shy's Hill. The episode details the death of Colonel William M. Shy and the total disintegration of Hood's army.
• The Retreat: Follow the heartbreaking, barefoot march of the shattered Confederate army south into the dead of winter, leaving bloody footprints in the snow.

This is the complete, visceral story of the death of one army and the vindication of another, told through diaries, letters, and the voices of the soldiers and civilians on the front lines.


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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 a brilliant psychological ploy, to his daring journey commandeering a river steamer to feed his starving men. We'll uncover his role as the strategic "brains" of the brilliant Tullahoma Campaign and climax with his defining moment of raw courage—the legendary ride at Chickamauga. After the Union army was shattered and his commander fled the field, Garfield rode alone under a hail of bullets to find the last standing remnants of the army and coin the immortal nickname, "The Rock of Chickamauga"

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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 civilian disaster of the American Civil War.  
 
This episode tells the forgotten story of the Allegheny Arsenal tragedy. While the nation’s attention was consumed by the news from Antietam, the horrific events in Pittsburgh were relegated to the back pages and quickly faded from public memory. We delve into the lives of the female workers—many of them teenage daughters of immigrant families—who toiled in hazardous conditions to produce the ammunition that armed the Union army. We investigate the chain of negligence that led to the disaster, from spilled gunpowder on a newly laid stone road to ignored warnings from the workers themselves. Through harrowing eyewitness accounts, this episode reconstructs the "horrid shower" of fire and debris that rained down on the city and honors the victims whose stories were silenced by the thunder of war

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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 every objective but became an iconic legend of the Civil War, leading to the first awards of the Medal of Honor and inspiring one of the greatest silent films ever made

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