Historical Insights

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.

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 Shoals to find itself centerstage in the drama to come

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

We will discuss fateful and monumental shifts in the Federal high command, as well a skirmishing along the Tennessee River in North Alabama

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

We will encounter some of the dramatic skirmishing that took place in North Alabama along the Tennessee River in January 1864.

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

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.

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 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.

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

We will discuss the dramatic details of two infamous Union raids into North Alabama - one a spectacular failure, and the other a horrible success.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Immediately following Shiloh, Federal forces occupy stretegic points in North Alabama, while Rebels attempt to undermine their position in every way possible.

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

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"

The Valley of the Tennessee is opened to Union invasion with a dramatic turn of events for life in the Shoals.

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.

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!

What were the events that led to the Southern leaders deciding to secede from the Union in 1860?

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.