Historical Insights

*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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

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 themselves caught up in the events in surprising ways. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

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 insightful first-person sources to these movements who witnessed it all. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

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 Shoals to find itself centerstage in the drama to come --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

We will explore the swift and stunning movement of General Forrest north of the Tennessee River late in September 1864, as the surprised and skeletal Federal garrisons scramble to meet the threat, with disastrous results --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

We will learn the fate of Atlanta and follow General Wheeler's retreat out of Middle Tennessee and across the Tennessee River at the Shoals. We'll see how the Federals were mired in misinformation, surrounded by disparate rebel groups everywhere they looked, and how local people were impacted by these events. *correction: At minute mark 17:49 I stated incorrectly that Rowett's regiment was the 9th Illinois. In fact it was the 7th Illinois. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

We will follow action in Northeast Mississippi - the largest engagement within 100 miles of the Shoals in the summer of 1864; see how the Union cavalry around Decatur didn't rule the roost unopposed; and visit action at Atlanta, as fateful strategic choices are brewing to bring the Shoals back to the center stage of the action in the climactic days to the war in the west. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

We will see how North Alabama played into the Atlanta Campaign, as General Sherman is within sight of capturing the city, despite critical losses. We'll see a massive shakeup in the Confederate command. We'll visit a skirmish at Courtland where we encounter some stunning experiences of enslavement. And we'll set the stage for a famous raid close to home as the Atlanta Campaign reaches its climax as the fateful Summer of 1864 begins to fade to fall. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss dramatic events in the Atlanta campaign in June 1864 which will set into motion fateful consequences for North Alabama before the year's end --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss lawlessness and depredations committed in and out of uniform in the Tennessee valley, and the delicate military situation revolving around Sherman's fateful thrust into Georgia in the early summer of 1864 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will explore a stunning upset in the balance of power north of the Tennessee River and examine conditions in the region at large, as General Sherman launches the Atalanta Campaign --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss havoc inflicted by the rebel General Forrest, soldiers from Illinois headquartering in very famous and familiar places, and a shocking capture of Ohio cavalry which lives on today in popular memory. *Note, I said "David" when I should have said Daniel Leib Ambrose. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss fateful and monumental shifts in the Federal high command, as well a skirmishing along the Tennessee River in North Alabama --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will explore the complicated and murky legal status of slavery in Tennessee after the emancipation proclamation, and hardships faced by local people at the hands of lawless gangs in and out of federal uniform --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will encounter some of the dramatic skirmishing that took place in North Alabama along the Tennessee River in January 1864. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will hear from two eyewitnesses - one Union and one Confederate - of the Battles at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain late in November 1863, that drove the Rebel army out of the Tennessee Valley --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss General Dodge's movement through Lauderdale County in November 1863, with the heavy impacts it had on the local population, and the increasingly bitter skirmishing among small groups as the Union presence became solidified in and around Pulaski, TN. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the military conditions that brought General Sherman, an infamous visitor, to Florence in the fall of 1863, and the impacts it had upon the lives of local people. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

This letter is very revealing of Sherman's mindset about Southern society and the war - well worth the time for us to look at in full. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will examine the events of the summer of 1863, which culminated in the horrible battle of Chickamauga, and set the stage for a very infamous visitor to the Shoals in the fall of 1863 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the dramatic details of two infamous Union raids into North Alabama - one a spectacular failure, and the other a horrible success. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will meet some of the key players in the upcoming drama of Cornyn's and Streight's Raids, and discuss the dramatic rising action that led to these two notorious events. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will review what we have discussed so far for the eventful year 1862, discuss General Buell's removal, and explore the hardships faced by the people of the Shoals as 1862 turned to 63. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the shocking acts of vengeance committed against the citizens of Athens, Alabama, by soldiers under command of the Russian-born Colonel Turchin, and the aftermath in the courts and the press regarding the government's official policy toward the seceded South. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will visit First-Person accounts of the many surprising ways the presence of the Union Army affected life in the Tennessee Valley during the hot and dusty summer of 1862 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the dramatic obstacles the Army of the Ohio faced as they moved through North Alabama in the hot and dusty summer of 1862, and the shocking reversals of fate they were destined to endure --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

In April 1862, a courageous group of Union soldiers snuck behind Rebel lines to steal a locomotive and disrupt a vital artery of the Confederacy. But all did not go according to plan --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

Immediately following Shiloh, Federal forces occupy stretegic points in North Alabama, while Rebels attempt to undermine their position in every way possible. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will explore the events of the second day's fighting at Shiloh, and the aftermath in the nation and the Tennessee Valley. At the 15:39 mark, I state incorrectly Buell's forces arrived as late as 11:00 a.m. Tuesday. I should have said Monday --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

Here you'll find unabridged eyewitness accounts of the battle of Shiloh, with brief biographical blurbs about the authors. (I let my Southern accent slip a little bit with Sam Watkins, but it seemed appropriate) You can follow the link below to see pictures of the authors as well as a transcript of this episode. Enjoy! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AAaDHAflwe0NLQAj2wOLtdrDHDHW9n51/view?usp=drivesdk --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will examine the bloody struggle which took place one lovely Sunday morning on the banks of the Tennessee River from the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand. See the link below for the excerpted quotations I gathered for my research: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pGgHWyJWPcni4TyfnWkjDWSmtuqREdVi/view?usp=drivesdk --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the historical context leading up to the monumental battle of Shiloh, early in April 1862. *At 10:53 and 16:25 I forget to say "end quote" --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

The Valley of the Tennessee is opened to Union invasion with a dramatic turn of events for life in the Shoals. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the events of the Civil War between Lincoln's inauguration and the aftermath of Bull Run; a time characterized by naive misconceptions about the bloody nature of the war to come. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will discuss the fractious election of 1860, the Alabama state secession convention, with detailed eyewitness narratives and demographic information. At the 13:33 mark, it's Seward, not Steward. I know that, just misspoke! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

What were the events that led to the Southern leaders deciding to secede from the Union in 1860? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

We will examine key terms and definitions and also explore the various sources that will be our guides as we journey back in time to the 1860s. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jordan-collier10/support