The John Batchelor Show

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, explains that following Blazer's capture, Harry Harrison Young took command of the Union's special forces assets under Phil Sheridan. Only 5'5" but "absolutely fearless," Young transformed the Jesse Scouts into a vital strategic asset. These scouts, often operating in Confederate uniforms, conducted suicide missions and used elaborate disguises—such as peddlers or Southern recruiting officers—to gather real-time intelligence. The hazards were so extreme that most Jesse Scouts did not survive the war, though the unit ultimately earned seven Medals of Honor. As Sheridan moved to join Grant at Petersburg, the scouts performed an epic mission: delivering messages to Grant by riding 100 miles through enemy territory with the orders wrapped in tin foil in their mouths. During the final campaign, the Jesse Scouts acted as Sheridan's "eyes," seizing critical bridges and providing the intelligence needed to find weak points in Lee's lines. They played a pivotal role at the Battle of Five Forks, where they discovered that Confederate leaders were distracted by a "shad bake" (fish luncheon) and failed to hear the opening of the battle due to an atmospheric anomaly. The scouts even used misinformation to direct retreating Confederates to the wrong locations and intercepted orders meant to supply Lee's starving army at Amelia Courthouse. By disrupting Lee's logistics and securing vital supply trains, the Jesse Scouts and Sheridan's cavalry effectively "sealed the coffin" for the Army of Northern Virginia. The Unvanquished (7)

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, details the final confrontation between Richard Blazer and Mosby's Rangers at Cabletown (or Meyerstown). After Blazer's scouts had embarrassed the Rangers twice, Mosby orchestrated a massive 300-man ambush. During a running gun battle across farmland, Lewis Powell, a Ranger known as "Terrible Powell," personally captured Blazer. The significance of Powell's role extends far beyond the battlefield; he was an operative for the Confederate Secret Service who had previously escaped Union custody in Baltimore. After delivering Blazer to a Richmond prison—likely a cover for meeting his handlers—Powell returned to "Mosby's Confederacy" briefly before "deserting" to Union lines to pose as a civilian. In reality, Powell had joined John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy to kidnap President Lincoln. The plot was a well-funded, large-scale operation involving hundreds of people and a network of safe houses. Evidence suggests that Mosby's command was aware of the kidnapping plan, as Mosby moved hundreds of men 80 miles away from his usual territory to secure the exact area of the Potomac River where the kidnappers intended to cross. This indicates that the kidnapping plot was not merely the work of a few actors but a coordinated special operation supported by the Confederate military infrastructure. Powell eventually became one of the primary Lincoln conspirators, transitioning from a feared scout to a pivotal figure in the war's final, tragic act. The Unvanquished (6)

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, recounts how, by August 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant had grown enraged by the disruption caused by irregular partisans and ordered Phil Sheridan to initiate "total war" in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant's instructions were severe: hang captured Rangers without trial, destroy all crops and livestock, and take all men under 50 as prisoners. While Sheridan did not follow these orders entirely to avoid political backlash before the election, he did launch the "Burning Season," putting farms and mills to the torch. The trigger for this escalation was the Berryville Great Wagon Raid, where Mosby's men devastated a massive Union supply train. To counter Mosby, Sheridan deployed Richard Blazer and his scouts, arming them with the Spencer carbine—the "machine gun of the Civil War"—which allowed for rapid-fire lever action. Blazer used his signature detective work to track the Rangers, successfully capturing a portion of Mosby's command at Myer's Ford. This segment also addresses the presence of independent "bushwhackers" like Moberly, a ruthless figure who tortured prisoners. Although Mosby occasionally operated in the same vicinity as Moberly, he did not tolerate such lawlessness within his formal command. The conflict transformed into a personal and lethal game of cat-and-mouse between Blazer's "Legion of Honor" and Mosby's Rangers, characterizing the brutal "brother against brother" nature of the Civil War in the Valley. The Unvanquished (5)

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, explains that in the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early, known as Lee's "mean old dog," launched a bold campaign that brought the war to the gates of the nation's capital. After repelling Union forces at Lynchburg, Early marched through the Shenandoah Valley and into Maryland, winning a time-consuming victory at Monocacy against Lew Wallace. This delay proved critical, as it allowed the Union's Sixth Corpsto rush to Washington's defense just as Early reached Fort Stevens. During the skirmish, President Abraham Lincolnfamously stood on the parapet under fire from Confederate sharpshooters before being told to step down for his safety. Simultaneously, the Confederate Secret Service planned a complex special operation to free 10,000 prisoners of war at Point Lookout, though the plot was eventually scuttled. While Early lacked direct coordination with Mosby, the Rangers supported the campaign by conducting the "Calico Raid" at Point of Rocks, severing the B&O Railroad and cutting off Union reinforcements. Mosby's tactics remained centered on swift, close-range attacks using pistols and shotguns to overwhelm the Union's Second Massachusetts Cavalry. Despite the brutality of these "running gunfights," Mosby was noted for treating high-ranking captives with respect, eventually forming post-war friendships with former enemies like the Union officer Forbes. This segment illustrates how close the Confederacy came to winning the war through a back-door strike on Washington. The Unvanquished (4)
1863

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, describes how, in early 1864, the Union launched the Dahlgren Raid, a daring "decapitation raid" aimed at infiltrating Richmond to burn the city and kill or capture Jefferson Davis. Led by Ulric Dahlgren and General Kilpatrick, the mission disintegrated in the Richmond suburbs, and Dahlgren was killed. Orders found on his body—initially dismissed as a Southern plant but later proven authentic through forensic analysis—sparked massive controversy over "ungentlemanly warfare." While the Union struggled with these covert actions, the Confederacy developed a highly sophisticated Secret Service. This shadow organization utilized a signal corps for coded telegraphy and conducted influence operations in the North, plying Democratic editors with gold to write defeatist stories about the "forever war." These agents even helped draft the 1864 Democratic campaign platform, which called for an armistice. Amidst this shadow war, the author Herman Melville embedded with the Union's Second Massachusetts Cavalry to observe Mosby's Rangers. Melville's subsequent poetry captured the terror Mosby inspired as his men lurked in the shadows of "Mosby's Confederacy." By this point, Mosby's force had mushroomed into multiple companies totaling nearly 1,800 men, gaining fame for daring coups like kidnapping a Union general from his encampment. This segment underscores the integration of partisan activity and political subversion used to undermine the federal government's credibility. The Unvanquished (3)

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, recounts how, in 1863, Richard Blazer emerged as an unlikely Union hero, leading "Blazer's Scouts," also known as the Legion of Honor. A former barge driver who was often disheveled on the parade ground, Blazer possessed a unique talent for "hunting people." His unit functioned as the first modern hunter-killer team in the U.S. Army, specifically tasked with neutralizing Confederate partisans in the rugged mountains of West Virginia. Blazer integrated veterans from the Jesse Scouts and utilized their specialized tradecraft, including riding in enemy uniforms to conduct deep reconnaissance. Their primary targets were the Thurman brothers, ruthless bushwhackers who led the Thurman Rangers in attacks against Union supply lines and the vital B&O Railroad. This conflict was exceptionally brutal; the Thurmans were known for executing prisoners, which meant Blazer's men often fought with the knowledge they would not survive capture. Operating under General Averell, the scouts acted as the "eyes" of the army, conducting battlefield reconnaissance and leading raids against Confederate supply routes. Blazer's success was built on sophisticated "detective work," where he interviewed slaves, children, and civilians to build a mosaic of Confederate hiding spots. This segment highlights how the Union transitioned from standard infantry tactics to specialized counter-insurgency operations to protect the buffer zone of the newly formed state of West Virginia. The Unvanquished (2)

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, introduces Captain John Charles Carpenter and the origins of the Jesse Scouts, a Union special operations group formed in Missouri in 1861. Named after Jesse Fremont, wife of General John C. Fremont, these scouts utilized 21st-century tradecraft, such as wearing Confederate uniforms to infiltrate enemy lines and conduct daring reconnaissance missions at sites like Fort Donelson. Despite their tactical brilliance, the scouts often possessed a darker side involving theft and lack of discipline, leading to Carpenter being cashiered for lying and stealing. Simultaneously, the Confederacy enacted the Partisan Ranger Act to organize irregular guerrilla groups under formal military control. This era saw the rise of John Singleton Mosby, who, after an initially disastrous start as a guerrilla, redeemed himself by providing General Lee with vital intelligence regarding Union reinforcements before the Battle of Cedar Mountain. Mosby established "Mosby's Confederacy" in Northern Virginia, employing asymmetric tactics to tie down tens of thousands of Union troops who were unable to defeat his elusive rangers. While commanders like Lee and Davis remained ambivalent about the lack of discipline inherent in irregular warfare, they recognized its strategic value for a South lacking in men and material. Mosby's operations became the blueprint for modern irregular warfare, deeply supported by a local population that made the insurgency nearly impossible to suppress. The Unvanquished (1)

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, explains that the ultimate turning point came when Grant decided to back down from Sheridan's aggressive mission. As the news reached New Orleans, telegraph operators shouted, "Grant backs down," a moment celebrated by the White League as a definitive victory. Although Republicans attempted to pass new enforcement legislation, the effort was stalled by Democrats who took control of the House in March 1875. Grant later confessed to Black official John R. Lynch that his decision to refrain from sending more troops—particularly to help Mississippi Republicans—was motivated by political survival in the North. Specifically, he feared that aggressive military action in the South would alienate voters in Ohio's state elections, potentially ruining the political future of Rutherford B. Hayes. By prioritizing Northern electoral success over the protection of Southern Black citizens, Granteffectively signaled the end of the Civil War's "fruits of victory," allowing the South to re-establish white supremacy through segregation and terror for the next century. Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War (8)
1873

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, describes how, following the legislative intervention, Sheridan sent his infamous "Banditti" telegrams to Secretary of War William Belknap. He proposed that Congress declare the White Leagueringleaders "Banditti" so they could be tried by military commissions and executed. Sheridan's blunt call for military justice against "respectable" white citizens sparked national outrage, leading to "indignation meetings" across Northern cities. Even prominent Republicans like Senator Carl Schurz denounced the move as unconstitutional and lawless, reflecting a growing Northern desire to end Reconstruction. Grant was forced to defend his administration to the Senate; while he refused to apologize for restoring order, he stopped short of endorsing Sheridan's proposal. Grant noted that while military tribunals might be effective, they were no longer strictly legal because his habeas corpus suspension powers had expired in 1871. This episode became a massive self-inflicted wound for the Reconstruction effort, turning public opinion against further federal enforcement of Black rights. Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War (7)

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, explains that Sheridan arrived in New Orleans in late 1874, but his presence immediately sparked suspicion and sarcasm from the local white press. On January 4, 1875, the situation reached a breaking point during the organization of the Louisiana legislature at the St. Louis Hotel. Democrats staged a violent takeover of the House floor, installing their own speaker and seating five contested members illegally. Acting on Sheridan's advice, Colonel Philippe de Trobriand led Union troops into the legislative hall to forcibly remove the five Democraticclaimants at bayonet point. While Republicans saw this as restoring order, the White League and Democrats utilized the scene to frame themselves as victims of federal tyranny. They successfully manipulated the optics of the event to suggest that the Union Army was illegally interfering with a sovereign state's governance, a narrative that quickly resonated with a Northern public increasingly weary of prolonged military occupation in the South. Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War (6)