By Fred Kiger
4.8
140140 ratings
The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.
About this episode:
For millennia humans have reflected on historical events. Quite often, one poses the timeless question: what if - had a life been spared or taken, had a candidate won rather than lost and, as it relates to this episode, what if a battle or war ended differently? So, with a degree of trepidation, we address that last question and will do so through the works of a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and two university professors. With writing fueled by incredible imagination and plots, characters and consequences drawn from factual trends and themes, we offer three stories from the genre of alternative and counterfactual history. Three stories that address “what if” the South had won the American Civil War.
----more----
For Further Reading:
If The South Had Won The Civil War by MacKinlay Kantor
The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove
The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been by Roger L. Ransom
Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War by William Forstchen and Newt Gingrich
Grant Comes East: A Novel of the Civil War (The Gettysburg Trilogy, 2) by William Forstchen and Newt Gingrich
Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory: A Novel of the Civil War (The Gettysburg Trilogy, 3) by William Forstchen and Newt Gingrich
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant understood numbers. And, in the spring of 1864, he intended to use the North’s advantage in men and materiel to pressure, stretch and snap the Confederacy at multiple points. And so, he ordered simultaneous campaigns. As Abraham Lincoln put it, “those not skinning can hold a leg.” Three were to begin in Virginia: at Bermuda Hundred, into the Shenandoah Valley and across the Rapidan into the Wilderness. One was to be launched on the Red River in Louisiana and, finally, a campaign from Chattanooga, Tennessee. One that was aimed at the very heart of the Confederacy. This is the story of that campaign. This is the story of William Tecumseh Sherman’s drive on Atlanta.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
William T. Sherman
James B. McPherson
George Henry Thomas
Joseph E. Johnston
William J. Hardee
John Bell Hood
Additional Resources:
Movements and Battles of The Atlanta Campaign, May 7th - September 1st, 1864
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
Too often, we think only of wild assaults, the terrible collision of armed men, the desperate fighting of soldiers - often, hand to hand - and the killed and wounded but, in the American Civil War, we tend to overlook what happened to another element that comprised battle casualties: Those captured. This is the story about the American Civil War’s prisoners of war. This is also the story of the prisons that contained them.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Montgomery C. Meigs
William Hoffman
Henry Halleck
Thomas Rose
Henry Wirz
Edwin Stanton
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
As we’ve seen in the one presidential debate this election year, a performance has consequences. Although it was not for the office of chief executive, we turn over time’s shoulder to speak of another storied debate - in 1858 and for the office of U.S. senator. This is the story of a series of face-to-face confrontations that may not have had immediate ramifications but most certainly resonated two years later when, on the eve of civil war, the two both pursued the office of President of The United States. This is the story of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Stephen A. Douglas
Lyman Trumbull
John C. Frémont
Dred Scott
James Buchanan
For Further Reading:
Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America by Allen C. Guelzo
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
Washington City was buzzing with anxiety. It was the middle of May 1864 and no news had arrived from Virginia for days. Then, finally, in flurries, it came - word from the front and it was most welcome. Grant was posed to strike a mortal blow. Readers clutched papers that, in bold print, screamed “Extra.” Unable to concentrate, Congress adjourned for three days. At 10 pm on the evening of May 11th, the President moved out onto the Executive Mansion portico where, before him, a massive crowd sprawled on the lawn. He announced the times as dramatic and, in his high, reedy voice, Mr. Lincoln read a message from Grant, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” And, indeed, it would. To the tune of Union casualties that numbered as many or more as Robert E. Lee had in his Confederate army. This is the story of two more Overland Campaign collisions between Lee and Grant. Two more that continued to bleed both armies. This is the story of the battles at the North Anna and Cold Harbor.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
A. P. Hill
Richard S. Ewell
John B. Gordon
Gouverneur Warren
George Gordon Meade
Franz Sigel
Additional Resources:
Fighting at North Anna, VA - May 24th, 1864
Actions, Battle of Cold Harbor - June 3rd, 1864
For Further Reading:
To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13–25, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea
Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26–June 3, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
With gray cape lined with red satin and ostrich plume in hat, he was the beau ideal of the cavalier South. He rode and campaigned with Sam Sweeney on banjo and Mulatto Bob on the bones. At times, one wondered was it war or just a lark. Despite all the showy display, he was Robert E. Lee’s “eyes and ears” and his reconnaissance set the table for battles and campaigns. And, in doing so, he came across as a knight in shining armor on a holy quest - a happy warrior in the middle of a desperate war. A dashing adventurer who loved to see his name in headlines, there were some who believed that for him, the contest was a constant quest for glory. And, sometimes, that propensity got himself, his comrades and the commander he dearly loved in trouble. This is the story of a man whose exploits paved the way for Confederate victories, and, to many, one of its greatest defeats. This is the story of James Ewell Brown Stuart.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Fitzhugh Lee
Flora Cooke
Philip St. George Cooke
John Mosby
John Pope
Joseph Hooker
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
She was witty, intelligent and a great conversationalist: everything that raised the eyebrows of proper Southern women in the mid-19th century. And then, she married the man who became the first and only President of the Confederacy. Wedded to her fate with him and a doomed nation, her life was filled with trying times. She was, if you will, locked in a personal civil war as she struggled to reconcile her societal duties with strong individual beliefs. This is the story of a remarkably resilient woman who served as the Confederacy's First Lady. This is the story of Varina Howell Davis.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Jefferson Davis
Sarah Childress Polk
Washington Irving
Jane Appleton Pierce
Elizabeth Keckley
Alexander H. Stephens
Additional Resources:
First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War by Joan E. Cashin
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
For those aboard the fifty-gun USS Congress, it had been a quiet morning. Its crew, as usual, prepared the twenty-year-old vessel for inspection which would be held the next day. Meanwhile, the ship’s quartermaster gazed out over Hampton Roads which glistened under a late winter sun. All seemed normal. And then, at 12:45 p.m., a column of heavy black smoke. Curiosity aroused, the quartermaster turned to a fellow officer, handed him his glass and asked for him to take a look. Their gaze created concern. Indeed, as the quartermaster put it, at last, “that thing is a-comin”. Something no one had ever seen before. Its mission - to change the course of the war. It was Saturday, March 8, 1862, and one vessel, an ironclad, was about to alter centuries of naval warfare. This is the story of technology turning a page. This is the story of the Duel between the Ironclads.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Stephen Mallory
John Mercer Brooke
John L. Porter
Gideon Welles
John Ericsson
John Worden
Additional Resources:
Monitor: The Story of the Legendary Civil War Ironclad and the Man Whose Invention Changed the Course of History by James Tertius De Kay
Duel Between The First Ironclads by William C. Davis
The Blockade: Runners and Raiders (The Civil War Series, Vol. 3) by Time-Life Books
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
*Title Image by Ivan Berryman
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
When exercising power, the 16th President’s stocky and sphinxlike Secretary of War could demonstrate a Jekyll and Hyde personality. Personally honest, he could be unforgiving and given to histrionics when he thought them necessary. And again, when required, warm hearted, selfless and patriotic. In charge of the Union’s land-based operations, he made tough decisions and did so with little regard for those affected by those decisions. His mission was to win the war and he pursued that purpose with relentless fury. In doing so, far too many simply remembered him as the “unloved Secretary of War”. In the pantheon that was Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet, this is the story of his Mars. This is the story of Edwin McMasters Stanton.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Salmon P. Chase
Daniel Sickles
Simon Cameron
William Seward
Lorenzo Thomas
Manton Marble
Additional Resources:
Lincoln's Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton by William Marvel
Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary by Walter Stahr
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
*Title Image by The McMahan Photo Archive/RMP Archive/Mathew Brady / The Brady Studio
Producer: Dan Irving
About this episode:
For most of us, our mental snapshot of 19th-century battlefield medicine is captured when Union Major General Carl Schurz recorded a ghastly scene at Gettysburg: “There stood the surgeons, their sleeves rolled up to their elbows … [One] surgeon snatched his knife from between his teeth …, wiped it rapidly once or twice across his bloodstained apron, and the cutting began. The operation accomplished, the surgeon would look around with a deep sigh, and then – 'Next!'” Relying on first-hand accounts, meticulous statistics and research, we share a side of the conflict that few who fought wanted to think about and, particularly, experience. For our 70th episode, we tell the story of Civil War Medicine.
----more----
Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
William A. Hammond
Jonathan Letterman
Samuel Preston Moore
Sally Tompkins
Dorothea Dix
Clara Barton
Additional Resources:
The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy by Bell Irvin Wiley
The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union by Bell Irvin Wiley
Voices of the Civil War by Richard Wheeler
Civil War Medicine 1861-1865 by C. Keith Wilbur
Subscribe to the Threads from the National Tapestry YouTube Channel here
Thank you to our sponsor, The Badge Maker - proudly carrying affordable Civil War Corps Badges and other hand-made historical reproductions for reenactors, living history interpreters, and lovers of history.
Check out The Badge Maker and place your orders here
*Title Image by Alexander Gardner
Producer: Dan Irving
The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.
3,901 Listeners
4,626 Listeners
1,145 Listeners
1,404 Listeners
3,915 Listeners
5,209 Listeners
18,849 Listeners
3,452 Listeners
905 Listeners
595 Listeners
379 Listeners
118 Listeners
855 Listeners
66 Listeners
1,317 Listeners