Battlefield history, measured yard by yard.
The Civil War & Reconstruction follows the war through careful, episode-by-episode narration, with recent installments locked onto the Atlanta Campaign and Kennesaw Mountain. It suits listeners who want terrain, orders, regiments, commanders, and testimony arranged into a clear military sequence.
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The Civil War & Reconstruction is a chronological military history podcast with the habits of a campaign map and the patience of an archive. Recent episodes concentrate on the Atlanta Campaign, especially the fighting around Kennesaw Mountain. The show does not rush past the geography. It names roads, ridges, hills, trenches, ravines, and angles, then explains how those features shaped what commanders ordered and what soldiers could actually do. The result is a battlefield narrative built from position, pressure, and sequence. Rich and Tracy appear across the recent episodes, with one installment noting Tracy’s absence while Rich carries the account alone. Their style is restrained and purposeful. They recap the last movement, fix the listener in time, and then move through the next assault or defensive crisis. Recent material follows the decision to attack, the role of an army, Federal assaults, and the brutal struggle at the Dead Angle. The show is strongest when it slows down at close range. It tracks brigades under commanders, while also bringing in Confederate figures. Soldier testimony gives the narrative its grain. Sam Watkins and others appear through recollections of bombardment, trench work, stalled advances, and point-blank fighting. The episodes often quote reports, letters, diaries, and memoirs, then step back to explain the operational meaning. That balance matters. The series is not just a roll call of units, and it is not a dramatized battlefield performance. It is a careful reconstruction of how armies moved, why attacks failed, how defensive works were strengthened, and what combat looked like from a few yards away. Closing segments regularly point listeners toward Civil War books and the show’s website. The center of gravity remains the narrative. This is a show for people who want exacting Civil War history, not a quick overview.
Made for: Best for Civil War listeners who want chronological depth, tactical clarity, and extensive use of soldier accounts. It particularly suits readers of military history who enjoy maps, unit movements, commanders, and campaign logic.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its granular reconstruction of battlefield action, where terrain, formations, entrenchments, and firsthand accounts all carry explanatory weight. It treats a single fight as a sequence of decisions and physical constraints rather than a simple clash of famous names.
A history podcast in which Rich & Tracy weave together a chronological narrative of the Civil War era. Visit us at www.civilwarpodcast.org
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Close battlefield reconstruction and careful use of primary sources make Civil War campaigns legible from headquarters down to individual regiments.
Rich and Tracy reconstruct Civil War campaigns at ground level, tracking command decisions, terrain, troop movements, and the disorder that follows once an assault begins.
At Kennesaw Mountain, 25 yards from the Confederate works is where your curiosity gets pinned.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A tightly focused account of Mitchell's assault and the Confederate stand at the Dead Angle.
John Grant Mitchell's assault on the Dead Angle makes the Confederate line on Cheatham Hill feel less like a fixed position than a place held by men with almost no room left to maneuver.
A close look at the Dead Angle fight, where shelling, testimony, and casualty counts tighten the story yard by yard.
The Civil War Podcast episode stays with the fighting at the Dead Angle on June 27, 1864, beginning at the 8 a.m. start Sherman set for the federal assaults.
Kennesaw Mountain turns on Sherman's orders, skirmishers, and Harker's hard edge.
This episode stays at Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864, with Sherman's Special Orders 28 serving as the clear setup for the action. Schofield presses the Confederate left near Powder Spring Road, McPherson sends skirmishers toward Big and Little Kennesaw, and the account…
A clear battlefield account that makes the Kennesaw terrain feel decisive.
Episode 519 gives a steady, map-first account of Sherman’s assault on the Kennesaw Line, following how Federal attacks ran up against strong Confederate ground around Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill.
Sherman's stalled flanking effort turns toward an assault defined by ridgelines, ravines, and Confederate earthworks.
Kennesaw Mountain follows Sherman's effort to keep stretching the Federal line until the ground and the Confederate position stop offering room. Once George Thomas reports that the army can no longer keep pushing south for a weakness, Sherman shifts toward assault.
A steady march from Morris Island to Lawrence, with the home front in view.
The episode threads July and August 1863 together by placing Charleston, New York City, and eastern Kansas under the same wartime pressure. It follows the landing on Morris Island, the first Federal assault on Battery Wagner, and the opening of the draft drawing in New York, so…
A tight battlefield walk-through that turns one assault into a vivid study of collapse.
This episode narrows the Atlanta Campaign to the Dead Angle at Kennesaw Mountain, staying close to the ground as McCook's brigade climbs into heavy artillery and musket fire.
Outnumbered units, remembered under fire.
Battle maps, war films, and patient context.
War news, tested against military reality.
Antique European history, read aloud.
This episode covers July to September 1863, a pivotal period in the Civil War.
Episode 523 details the Federal assault on the Dead Angle at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864.
Rich hosts solo because Tracy is out for work, and he continues the June 27, 1864 assault on the Dead Angle at Cheatham Hill that followed McCook’s brigade in the previous episode.
The episode returns to the Dead Angle on June 27, 1864.
This episode continues the detailed analysis of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta Campaign, focusing on Federal attacks against Confederate positions held by Patrick Claiborne and Benjamin Franklin Cheatham's divisions.
The episode opens at Kennesaw Mountain.
This episode continues the narrative of the Atlanta Campaign during the Civil War, focusing on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the actions of Union forces under Sherman.
Sherman’s choice to attack the Kennesaw Line sets the episode in motion.
Sherman told George Thomas, "I propose to study the ground well and the day after tomorrow break through."
This episode examines Ulysses S.
This episode continues the Civil War narrative from May 8, 1864, focusing on the Confederate victory in reaching Spotsylvania Courthouse first and their defensive stand at Laurel Hill that halted the Union advance.
This episode continues the narrative of the Civil War's Wilderness campaign, focusing on Confederate General James Longstreet's planned surprise attack on the Federal Army's left flank on May 6, 1864.
This episode discusses the concept of multiple turning points in the Civil War, focusing on events like the Emancipation Proclamation and federal victories in 1936, with a title suggesting Grant's role in Washington.