Threads From The National Tapestry: Stories From The American Civil War
History is, indeed, a story. With his unique voice and engaging delivery, historian and veteran storyteller Fred Kiger will help the compelling stories of the American Civil War come alive in each and every episode. Filled with momentous issues and repercussions that still resonate with us today, this series will feature events and people from that period and will strive to make you feel as if you were there.
- Update frequency
- every 29 days
- Average duration
- 55 minutes
- Episodes
- 90
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2025
049 - Concealed Stories: Sex in the American Civil War
*Listener discretion advised*
About this episode:
There have been more works written on the American Civil War than there have been days since it ended, and the number of topics can be overwhelming…
048 - The Trent Affair
About this episode:
James Murray Mason was a Virginian. As a former member of the U.S. Senate, he once served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. His credentials made him a na…
047 - ”Into the Belly of the Beast” - Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign
About this episode:
In July of 1863, Major General Henry Halleck posed a question to a fellow Major General, one who was encamped along the Big Black River down in Mississippi. Asked about the cont…
046 - Reaping the Whirlwind: Sherman’s March to the Sea - Part 2
About this episode:
On Wednesday, November 16, 1864, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman initiated a campaign that, as one military publication would put it, was either “one of the most brillian…
045 - Reaping the Whirlwind: Sherman‘s March to the Sea - Part 1
About this episode:
In the same month that Abraham Lincoln was re-elected, Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman began a campaign that cut a swath through the very heart of Dixie. Severing his sup…
044 - Five Fateful Hours: The Battle of Franklin
About this episode:
Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was a native of the green jewel that is Ireland and commanded a division in the Confederate Army of Tennessee. For his military prowess, h…
043 - The ”Rock”, The ”Sledge”: George Henry Thomas
About this episode:
While most history enthusiasts are aware that Virginia was the leading theater of the war, many of those same people are surprised when they learn that Tennessee was second. In…
042 - The Southern Home Front
About this episode:
While actual combat was, indeed, nightmarish, being at home - helpless, constantly wondering about loved ones, fending for one’s selves - proved to be equally harrowing. That p…
041 - The Northern Home Front
About this episode:
While fighting raged at the front, loved ones back home waged their own battles. While worried about those in uniform, each day brought the additional burden of trying to cope …
040 - July 3, 1863 - Climax - The Third Day at Gettysburg
About this episode:
In 1948, the Southern novelist, William Faulkner, wrote in Intruder in the Dust, ”For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the inst…
039 - July 2, 1863 - A Rolling Thunder - The Second Day at Gettysburg
About this episode:
On Thursday, July 2, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg tumbled into its second day. What on Wednesday, the 1st, had been a meeting engagement was now a set battle - one with far m…
038 - July 1, 1863: A Meeting Engagement - The First Day at Gettysburg
About this episode:
From the Battle of Gettysburg, there are as many stories as participants. For this episode, selections from the first day: stories about the first shot, the arrival and instanta…
037 - The Confederacy's "Greatest" Surrender - The Bennett Place
About this episode:
It was a Tuesday, April 11, 1865 - only two days after Robert E. Lee had surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia. Down in North Carolina, with Major General William T. Sherm…
036 - Avenging Angel - John Brown
About this episode:
The stage: the town of Alton in southern Illinois. The date of the act committed: the 7th of November, 1837. On that Tuesday, an angry mob murdered Elijah Lovejoy, the Presbyte…
035 - Nathan Bedford Forrest - Part 2
About this episode:
Thus far, we have offered anecdotal insight as to Bedford Forrest’s humble origins: his makeup and antebellum experiences. We’ve detailed his entrance into the great conflict an…
034 - Nathan Bedford Forrest - Part 1
About this episode:
Major General William T. Sherman, the officer who disemboweled the Confederacy with his marches across Georgia and through the Carolinas, understood the nature of total war. Tha…
May We Suggest - Bullets And Bandages: The Aid Stations and Field Hospitals at Gettysburg
About:
Through our continuing research on The Civil War, we here at Threads From The National Tapestry will come across some truly remarkable works that deserve to be shared with you, our loyal list…
33 - "The Union Is Dissolved!" - South Carolina Secedes
About this episode:
For those in power in the state of South Carolina, the November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln was the final straw. Convinced that he and the Republican party were certain to …
32 - The Election of 1860
About this episode:
The year was 1860. The nation was coming apart and yet, its political parties made plans to come together - to gather in convention despite deep-seated and festering sectional i…
31 - Mr. Lincoln's Pilgrimage to the Banks of Antietam Creek
About this episode:
A few nights after September the 22nd, 1862, a band came to serenade the 16th president. Moved by the music and supportive crowd, Abraham Lincoln stepped onto the executive mans…