S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. General Grant found himself caught between a hostile President Johnson and Secretary Stanton. Vorenberg describes the disastrous "swing around the circle" tour, where Johnson used Grant's popularity as a shield while making embar

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. To undercut radicals, Johnson followed Seward's advice to declare the insurrection ended by executive proclamation in 1866. Vorenberg notes this "official" peace ignored realities like the New Orleans massacre. Simultaneously,

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. Vorenberg explains how President Johnson's racism and desire for a hasty peace alienated Congress. Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights and Freedman's Bureau Acts, arguing the war was over. Republicans, however, insisted war powers re

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. Vorenberg discusses Richard Henry Dana's "Grasp of War" speech, which argued the war could not end until the victor secured guarantees against future conflict. This philosophy, demanding the enemy be held down, contrasted sharply

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. The government utilizes military tribunals to try Lincoln's assassins and Andersonville commandant Henry Wirz, arguing the war is ongoing. Prosecutors hope to pressure Wirz into implicating Jefferson Davis in prisoner atrocities

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. While the Grand Review celebrates victory in Washington, General Sheridan is sent to the Texas border with 50,000 troops to counter French imperial ambitions in Mexico and suppress remaining Confederate resistance. Meanwhile, Con

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. Following Lincoln's assassination, General Sherman negotiates a surrender with Confederate General Johnston at Bennett Place. Sherman attempts to secure a comprehensive peace including civil matters, but officials in Washington,

S8 Ep472: Guest: Michael Vorenberg. At Appomattox, Grant offers generous terms allowing Confederates to keep horses and sidearms. However, Lincoln does not immediately declare the war over; in his final speech, he focuses on the complex path to peace and suffrage,

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Robert E. Lee rejects the option of guerrilla warfare at Appomattox, choosing surrender to preserve the nation. Years later, former partisan John Singleton Mosby becomes close friends with U.S. Grant and joins the Republican P

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Harry Harrison Young takes command of the Jesse Scouts, serving as Sheridan's strategic eyes in Confederate uniforms. These daring scouts deceive enemy forces and carry messages through enemy lines, enabling Sheridan to move h

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Lewis Powell, the Ranger who captured Blazer, is revealed to be a Confederate Secret Service operative working with John Wilkes Booth. Powell returns to Baltimore to aid in a plot to kidnap Lincoln, while Mosby deploys troops

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Grant orders total war in the Shenandoah Valley to crush Mosby's Rangers. Although Richard Blazer's scouts initially have success with Spencer carbines, they are eventually lured into a trap and annihilated by Mosby's men at K

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Confederate General Jubal Early threatens Washington, D.C., where Lincoln witnesses the battle at Fort Stevens. Meanwhile, partisan leader John Mosby operates independently, capturing Union forces at Mount Zion Church. O'Donne

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. A failed Union raid on Richmond carrying orders to kill Jefferson Davis prompts the Confederacy to escalate irregular warfare and political influence operations. As the Confederate Secret Service aids the Copperhead movement,

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. Richard Blazer leads the "Legion of Honor," a hunter-killer team using Jesse Scout tradecraft to fight Confederate partisans in West Virginia. Blazer employs detective work to track down the ruthless Thurman brothers, who atta

S8 Ep472: Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. This segment introduces the "Jesse Scouts," a Union special forces unit formed by John Frémont and named after his wife. Led by figures like John Charles Carpenter, these men wore Confederate disguises to infiltrate enemy line

S8 Ep471: PREVIEW FOR LATER TODAY Guest: Michael Vorenberg. Vorenberg discusses how President Johnson's obstructionism inadvertently unified Republicans, enabling the passage of the Reconstruction Acts and the 14th and 15th Amendments.

S8 Ep471: PREVIEW FOR LATER TODAY Guest: Patrick O'Donnell. O'Donnell details the Confederate Secret Service's original, failed plot to kidnap President Lincoln and whisk him to Richmond using a network of safe houses.

S8 Ep471: PREVIEW FOR LATER TODAY Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell. O'Donnell explains how General Sheridan utilized "special forces" scouts to identify Confederate weak points at Five Forks, leading to Lee's evacuation and surrender.

S8 Ep471: TARIFFS: Guest: Richard Epstein. Epstein discusses President Trump's reported plan to roll back aluminum tariffs, a reaction to rising consumer costs and the president's falling poll numbers.