LEE TAKES COMMAND
In which we set the stage for the Seven Days’ Battles (June 25- July 1, 1862) by looking at Jefferson Davis’s decision to appoint Robert E. Lee to command the Confederate army defending Richmond.
Our book recommendation for this episode isn’t a book! It’s The Great Courses’ “Robert E. Lee and His High Command,” which is a series of twelve lectures by Gary W. Gallagher.
PENINSULA CAMPAIGN (Part the Sixth)
In which we set the stage for the Battle of Fair Oaks, which took place outside Richmond over May 31-June 1, 1862.
Our book recommendation for this episode is “The Civil War: An Illustrated History” by Geoffrey Ward with Ric Burns & Ken Burns.
PENINSULA CAMPAIGN (Part the Third)
In which we continue our discussion of the Peninsula Campaign and see that George McClellan won Yorktown as he always hoped- without a fight.
Our book recommendation for this episode is “The Peninsula Campaign & the Necessity for Emancipation: African Americans & the Fight for Freedom” by Glenn David Brasher.
“DO YOU SMELL BACON?”
In which we finish setting the stage for McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.
Our book ecommendation for this episode is “Echoes of Glory: Illustrated Atlas of the Civil War” by the Editors of Time-Life Books.
THE PURSUIT OF VICTORY
In which we discuss the Confederate and Union war aims & strategy at the beginning of the Civil War. Plus, we look at the Union’s move in May, 1861 to seize Alexandria, Virginia- just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
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| Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (1837-1861) |
Our book recommendation for this episode is The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War by Donald Stoker.
“Donald Stoker’s book offers a new way of looking at both the military and political history of the Civil War, and does so from a strategic vantage point far above that to which we have been accustomed. The Grand Design represents an important advance in our understanding of this momentous event.” ~ Steven E. Woodworth
Listen to Episode 41: PursuitOfVictory
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| Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) |
JEFFERSON DAVIS (Part the Second)
In which we continue the biographical sketch of Jefferson Davis’s life in order to bring him up to speed with where we are on the podcast timeline, the year 1861. We end this episode by taking a look at the formation of the Confederate cabinet.
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| Alexander H. Stephens (1812-1883) |
Our book recommendation for this episode is The Confederate Nation: 1861-1865 by Emory M. Thomas.
“Drawing on his own research and the voluminous historical literature, Thomas has provided an original and readable narrative of the Confederate experience.” ~ Eric Foner
Listen to Episode 27: JeffersonDavisPartSecond
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| Jefferson (1808-1889) and Varina (1826-1906) Davis |
JEFFERSON DAVIS (Part the First)
In which we use a special two-part biography of Jefferson Davis to bring his life up to speed with where we currently are on the podcast timeline, the year 1861.
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| Sarah Knox Taylor (1814-1835), age sixteen |
Our book recommendation for this episode is Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper, Jr.
“Jefferson Davis lived seventy-seven of his eighty-one years as an American, and only four as president of the Confederacy. Yet it is for those four years he is chiefly remembered. William J. Cooper’s splendid biography- the best yet- does good service in reminding us that even during his years at war with the United States, Davis professed to be fighting for American institutions and ideals as he understood them.” ~ James M. McPherson
Listen to Episode 26: JeffersonDavisPartFirst