Historical Insights

We will press pause on the progression of events, and zoom into some of the lives caught up in those events

We will slow down and parse the increasing volume of dispatches related to Lauderdale County, Alabama, in the context of the Civil War in the western theatre. Any information may yet prove crucial, and no one knew where the tide would turn next.

*This is my first episode I've recorded since Spotify eliminated mobile recording. The sound may be different than what you're used to. Feedback will be appreciated as I consider how best to adapt to the transition.

We will examine the events of a very tense five days at the start of 1864, as General Croxton cautiously watches the alarming Confederate movements at the Shoals, Federal high command scramble to make sense of the developments, and local people find ... more

We will examine the details of Hood's movements from October 29 to November 1, 1864, culminating in the Confederates establishing a foothold at Florence, and the at times awkward Federal response. We will hear from surprisingly detailed and insightfu... more

We will follow the frustrated and often inscrutable events that placed General John Bell Hood at Decatur, Alabama in the last week of October 1864.

We will examine the tense time between the end of the pursuit of Forrest and the movement of General Hood out of Georgia toward the Shoals. We'll see how reaction, contingency, uncertainty and strategy all coalesced to lay the groundwork for the Shoa... more

We will follow Forrest from Elk River to his incredibly daring crossing of the Tennessee at Florence, as he continues his destructive path throughout Middle Tennessee - with wide reaching and unintended consequences.