Battles Of The American Civil War

The Confederates came closer to victory at Shiloh than most people realize. After driving Ulysses S. Grant's army across miles of battlefield on April 6, 1862, it looked like the South might destroy an entire Union army in a single day. Instead, delays, confusion, exhaustion, and lost opportunities turned one of the Confederacy's greatest chances into one of its most painful failures.

John Buford was one of the Union Army’s smartest and most reliable commanders during the Civil War. Best known for his actions at Gettysburg, Buford built a reputation as a calm, fearless cavalry officer who could read a battlefield better than almost anyone. This episode covers the life, career, and legacy of the man who helped shape the outcome of the war.

What if the Confederacy’s greatest battlefield commander had survived? After being mortally wounded by friendly fire at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson was gone just weeks before Gettysburg. But what if he lived? In this episode of Battles of the American Civil War, we dive into one of the biggest “what ifs” in American history and explore how the Battle of Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North, and maybe even the entire Civil War could have unfolded differently with Stonewall Jackson still at Lee’s side. Would Jackson have taken Cemetery Hill on the first day? Would Pickett’s Charge even happen? Or was the Confederacy already doomed no matter who survived? This is the story of the man Lee called his “right arm” and the alternate timeline that still haunts Civil War historians today.

As the Union line collapses at Chickamauga, George Henry Thomas gathers whatever troops he can on Snodgrass Hill and makes a stand that saves the Army of the Cumberland from destruction. This is the story of the desperate last stand that earned him the name “The Rock of Chickamauga.”

Richard Ewell was one of the Confederacy’s strangest and most controversial generals. Aggressive under Stonewall Jackson, respected by Robert E. Lee, and badly wounded before Gettysburg, Ewell suddenly found himself commanding Jackson’s old corps during the most important campaign of the war. This is the full story of the man remembered for the order he never gave.