Civil War Sketches: Recent Episodes
Jersey Jim
Getting close to Halloween! In this episode the art of photography meets the Spiritualism movement.
James Bulloch left the United States Navy to travel to Europe and begin building... the Confederate Nevy.
Butler is hated in the South for his heavy-handed governance of New Orleans during the occupation. Did he really deserve it? Was he a monster, or just in over his head?
January 1, 1863; the whole character of the war changes when Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Now those who always believed the war was about slavery had their proof, and countries considering recognizing the Confederacy had a problem.
The Confederacy believed that Europe, especially England, could not last long without a steady supply of Southern cotton. Cotton was King, and was the tool Jefferson Davis would use to gain Europe's recognition of his nation.
This week two diplomats are captured on their way to Europe, and the efforts of King Cotton to legitimize the Confederacy and avoid a war.
After the war ended many faced the prospect of reconstruction under Andrew Johnson and... decided to leave. Some travelled to Mexico, those who emigrated to Brazil had better luck and established a community that still exists today.
The fall of Richmond and the saga of Jefferson Davis as he travels south and plans to continue the war.
From Librivox- South Carolina explaining their intent to secede and their reasons. Issued in December of 1860.
Three stories. First, what were the advantages to joining the Union Navy?
Then, the Virginia, the Merrimac and the Monitor fight, but that's only two ships.
Lastly we look at how the people of Japan saw the Civil War, and it was remarkably similar to their own civil war.
An 1866 history of the Civil War spread the story that the Confederacy had used explosive or poisoned bullets during the fighting at Gettysburg. In 1879 the Reverend Horace Hayden wrote a paper refuting those claims and making a few of his own. Did either side use bullets containing poison or explosives?
We close with a reading from an 1861 Richmond newspaper describing the scene in Baltimore as Fort Sumter is bombarded.
A first look at technological innovations in weaponry and tactics from the Civil War. Minie Balls, land mines, coal torpedoes, submarines and balloons.
From buried artillery shells to methods for creating hydrogen, the Civil War would see an astonishing amount of invention. Today we focus on weapons and those new creations intended to main, kill or destroy.
Abraham Lincoln's inauguration was the last straw for many southern states- but first he had to get to Washington safely. Alan Pinkerton and others would work behind the scenes to make sure Lincoln survived the trip. Plus, a few other assassination attempts.
We'll close with David Freeman, who enlisted in the Confederate Army when he was eleven.
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Two stories: First, a tired Union soldier finds three cigars on the ground, wrapped in the battle plans for Lee's Maryland Campaign. Then the story of Richard Dowling, and Irish immigrant who led forty men to repel the Union invasion of Texas in an incredibly lopsided victory.
We start the podcast with two stories. First, Lincoln starts the Civil War by not firing on the Confederates at Fort Sumter, then a look back at Lincoln's earlier career when he was challenged to a duel.
Did Lincoln manipulate the Southern leaders to fire the first shots of the war, and were those shots fired three months before Fort Sumter was bombarded?
-then-
Lots of Nineteenth century figures fought in duels, but we usually think of pistols at fifty paces- not standing in a box with a broadsword.
Welcome to the podcast- The Civil War and the world around it!